Sound Design In Django Unchained

Sound design consists of three components; dialogue, music and sound effects. Each component carries a significant role to enhance the overall intention of the medium in which it is being used for. In film, for example, sound design and location recording is perhaps one of the last aspects of a production to be addressed. However specifically in a film where the dialogue is of utmost importance, it is an aspect that should not be dismissed. Unlike many directors, Quentin Tarantino is a director who puts a lot of care into sound design and this is reflected within each of his films.

Tarantino’s exquisite spaghetti western (based in the south but with spaghetti western characteristics) ‘Django Unchained’ is a prime example showing the impact sound design can have on the viewer, as they are engrossed in the experience of a film.

It is clear that within Django Unchained no matter how small the action is, it should be audible. Similar to Tarantino’s visual aesthetic, his sound design is not subtle. A prime example of this can be seen within the bar scene, just as Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) brings Django (Jamie Foxx) to a saloon where Django tastes beer for the first time. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IeK-V-Dlbo )
The sounds of Dr Schultz pulling the beer, the liquid filling up the pint glass and swiping the overflowing liquid from the pint glass are all clearly heard over the normal surroundings. Moments like this show that Stateman and Cohen took the common approach of sound design for spaghetti westerns where sound is often presented in an extremely exaggerated form. Similarly, the continuous use of whip cracks and high-pitched pistol gunshots show that although Stateman and Cohen like to add their own twist to the sound design, they also understand the genre characteristics of spaghetti western