Dialogue Editing

194 DAMAGE REPAIR
noise is almost certain to get in the way of story and character development.
There’s a chance that the character’s persona calls for such unenviable dental
problems. If that’s the case, the supervising sound editor may elect to remove
all dental details from the dialogue and have the effects or Foley department
provide something more stylized, personalized, and controllable.
Mouth Smacks and Clicks People make lots of nonverbal sounds with their
mouths. Sometimes these sounds have meaning that would be diffi cult to
express in words: a sigh or a long, dramatic breath can say worlds; a contemplative
wetting of the lips can imply a moment of refl ection before words of
wisdom; a clicking of the teeth or tongue may suggest thought or nervousness.
An actor’s clicking, chomping, snorting, and sighing may be just what
the scene calls for, or it may be just more commotion that comes between the
scene and the audience.
Your job is to spot each nonverbal sound and decide if it conveys the mood
and information you want for the scene or if you need to thin out or replace
or eliminate it. Things to think about when listening for smacks:
Is it off-screen? Probably lose it. Here taste and style are more important
than rules of thumb, but in general if you don’t see the lip smack
there’s probably no real reason to keep it. All those unseen noises are
just that: more noise to get in the way of the story and mood.
Is it appropriate? If not, replace it. Just because the actor made a vulgar,
slippery onscreen smack immediately before tenderly saying “I love
you” doesn’t mean you have to use it. Yes, it’s on-camera, so you
must have something in order to avoid lip fl ap, but need it be so
ugly? Did that phlegm-soaked snort really make the scene more
effective? What does it do for your emotional reaction to the lines?
Wouldn’t a nice, moist lip opening sound better than the original
slurp? Also, if any mouth noise attacks sharply, sounding more like
a click, replace it.
Is it missing? Sometimes the problem is a missing mouth noise. When you
see a character open her lips, you may need to reinforce the action
with some sort of smack, small though it may be. Otherwise the
viewer senses lip fl ap, the annoying movie sensation when you see
mouth action but don’t hear any corresponding vocalization to make
it real.
The sounds a character makes between sentences or words can be as important
as the information contained in the text. Get it right and you’ll dramatically
increase the drama and emotion of the scene.