The sounds that surround us
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Velcrow Ripper is a filmmaker, writer, web artist, and sound designer. For over three decades his work has addressed the most pressing issues of the day. This week, a notable gathering will occur with himself and Nettie Wild. The two are among the foremost of Canada's documentary creators, and will to convene at Cineworks Studio to discuss the importance of sound design in their work. In anticipation of the salon, The Peak spoke with Ripper about his ideas on sound, inspiration, and the human spirit in crisis. The conversation moved from the particulars of sound design to the vagueries of what drives the creative process.
Sound design is not always understood for its potency in the filmic medium. Some in the filmmaking industry approach the element of sound with a laissez-faire attitude, using mostly ambient noise picked up on tape for the aural narrative, or resorting to a stock palette. Ripper takes a different approach, building a library of sounds that can be used to assemble a metaphoric soundscape in the post-production phase of the filmmaking. Often, musicians or other sonic specialists are hired to contribute to the fabrication of the soundtrack. For example, in A Place Called Chiapas, the musician Chelso Machado used an array of sonic tools, such as rocks to create cricket sounds, or a flute for birdsong. Combined with jungle sounds, the music and effects filled all the cracks to create a seamless blend. Ripper noted that nearly 90 per cent of the sound for this film was manufactured.
People are sometimes surprised that an element of artifice or construction is involved in the production of a documentary. "Not just an element," declares Ripper, "my sound is entirely invested in the metaphoric intent of the documentary, what it's about and storytelling. I only work on theatrical feature documentaries."
Working with both local and international underground musicians serves as a wellspring for Ripper's sonic manipulations. Musicians provide a sound designer with "stems," separate tracks of a song that can be brought in as needed in a composition. The drum, lead, or ambient element can be cut and pasted to sync with the image.
"I treat sound as a plastic material," says Ripper. When building the sound tracks into a film, a sound designer. will cut "temp-tracks" of music, which reflect the mood of a film. These may be inserted in the progression of the film even before images appear. In his work for The Corporation, Ripper worked as the sound designer and music supervisor, in addition to working with the composer. The film features 18 different musicians, reflecting his belief in supporting local musicians as well as his malleable approach to sound design. Each temp-track may use one or more stems, or a full composition to forge the temper of the moment.
Creative divinity
Of the many occupations involved with the production of a film, the sound designer has more creative leeway than most. This freedom allows for an inspiration to emerge that, in Ripper's mind, enables an interface between the human and the divine.
Asked if his conception of divinity is about a unity of humankind, or challenging some higher being, Ripper responds: "I think if you personalise it, you limit it in a way. Like for example, when I write the word 'God,' I would write it G, cedilla, D. I think the useful thing about that concept is that there is something ultimately unknowable. You could say that we get in touch with the mystery but it would limit it to put it into concepts."
For Ripper, gaining meaning from the world involves accessing experiences that serve as doorways to understanding. Opening oneself to a higher self, or a higher dimension of the self, is where unity is achieved. The intrinsic interwoven nature of all things is an important theme, underlying much of his work and personal outlook on life. In the moment of creation, one of Ripper's major concerns is to get out of the way and allow intuition to emerge. This can later be combined with the rational mind. He calls it "effortless, with a lot of work."
The idea of interconnectedness underlying Ripper's film theory emerges in his take on the effect of film. "It is good at giving you an almost direct experience and bringing you into that place. Sound has the ability to trigger deep-seated emotions, like scent can." Set into the multi-dimensional space of current sound reproduction technology, sound has an increasingly powerful capacity to convey an almost lived, encapsulating experience, rather than just a conceptual understanding. This contributes to the level at which an audience may feel or comprehend the issue addressed in a film, and ultimately, feel connected to stories that may have occurred at the other ends of the earth. There is a sense that Ripper is striving to generate an empathic flashpoint through his work, the better to bring understanding and compassion to his viewers.
Tragic inspiration
One of the most prevalent themes in Ripper's most recent film, Scared Sacred, is that of moving towards darkness rather than running away from it, in order to understand and emerge from pain or suffering. During the five years spent filming Scared Sacred, he visited a number of the most monstrous ground zeros in the world, including Hiroshima, Bhopal, India, and New York City. After years of creating films of this variety one might anticipate an encounter with a depressed and embittered human being. On the contrary, he feels his experiences have been only strengthening and inspiring. Above all, the resilience of the human spirit, present without fail in each location, is what has kept the filmmaker going. In crisis, there is always opportunity for growth. Finding people who have faced immense catastrophe and not only moved through them to physically survive, but also kept their spirit intact, provides a glimpse at the immense possibility of human inspiration.
Although many of Ripper's films depict events outside of the Western, industrialised world, he is quick to point out that all of us encounter crisis at some point during our lives, if only due to the fact that we all will die. The important thing to remember is that such moments can be taken as opportunities for growth, rather than as moments to shut down and retreat to the easier paths of violence and vengeance.
Scared Sacred represents this quandary on a personal level. His next film, tentatively titled Essolve or Dissolve, will address it on a global scale. Ripper foresees important changes resulting from the increasing presence of political, ecological, and economic imbalances that threaten to send the world into a state of unbridled turmoil. Viewing this as a large-scale crisis, Ripper sees it as a moment where humanity will either devolve into a dark age, or there will be an evolutionary bounce, wherein a paradigm shift will carry humanity forward into a peaceful era.
"We are part of a living universe. We need to move out of the mechanistic view - that we're a bunch of machines interacting and move toward the recognition that we're part of a web - an organic whole. We can't survive as isolated, hard little egos. There must be a collective awakening to community, which is necessary for surviving crisis. The idea of the film is that you align yourself with the evolutionary impulse."