128 - Thor: Love and Thunder and Sound Design for Comedy

If you caught the last installment of the Thor franchise, then you already know that director Taika Waititi has taken this particular series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a considerably more comedic direction. And Thor: Love and Thunder continues that trend. This film has some very funny sound moments, including a jealous battle axe, Russell Crowe doing an over-the-top Greek accent, and a pair of screaming goats. Literally. But how does creating a soundtrack for comedy — and specifically a superhero comedy — differ from crafting a typical superhero action movie? Joining us to discuss that on today's episode are the film's re-recording mixers Onnalee Blank and Brandon Proctor, supervising sound editors Daniel Laurie and Baihui Yang, and sound designer Samson Neslund."We were like, 'well, how do we make that sound fun and magical and ridiculous, but still be grounded somehow? And actually feel like it's a boat?' I mean, that goat boat is ridiculous. And of course the goat [is] screaming. They're just screaming throughout the whole film. And we kept talking like, 'is it gonna be too much screaming? Do we outplay that joke?' You just never could get enough screams. You just need more. And [supervising sound editor] Baihui [Yang] would laugh every time a scream happened. [So] you're like, 'nope! Still working.'"— Brandon Proctor, Re-recording Mixer, Thor: Love and ThunderThor: Love and Thunder is in theaters now! And be sure to check it out in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® where available.Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.