Behind the Bonkers Sound of ‘A Minecraft Movie’ – with Jay Jennings and Polly McKinnon

A Minecraft Movie was a wild cinematic experience. The fun and fast-paced film created quite a stir (even chaos) at theaters, with some showings being a bit more 'interactive' than expected. Brave parents can now recreate the experience at home with A Minecraft Movie via VOD, or streaming on Max (coming soon!) Here, Supervising sound editors Jay Jennings (credited as Jason W. Jennings) and Polly McKinnon, at Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, talk about all the fun they had creating the sound for the film – recording loop group sessions of pig snorting, recording chain rattlings and drops inside a massive empty Bulk Storage Tank, and worldizing existing sounds using transducer microphones, what went into the sound of the Chicken Jockey scene, how they worked the sound design against the film's musical numbers, and much more!

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Interview by Jennifer Walden, photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

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Since working on the sound of A Minecraft Movie, supervising sound editor/sound effects editor Jay Jennings jokingly said he earned the “temporary status as ‘Most Popular Dad’ for a few months now!” He and co-supervising sound editor Polly McKinnon – at Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services – undoubtedly had a blast doing loop group recordings of pig snorts, recording in interesting reverberant spaces like a massive bulk storage tank, using transducer mics to create new sounds from pre-recorded effects, recording a co-worker making a wide range of chicken noises, and more. Sure, there was real work to do, but creating sound for this film wasn’t just another day in the studio.

A Minecraft Movie – now available to rent or buy via VOD and soon to be streaming on Max – brings the beloved game franchise to the big screen. Director Jared Hess’s wanted to integrate the game’s sound into the film’s sound design, so the film sound team worked closely with the team at Mojang Studios to ensure that sounds created for the film accurately represented the game sounds that fans know and love.

Here, Jennings and McKinnon talk about their adventure of designing sound that resonated with Minecraft fans and that added to the merriment of the Hess’s film.

A Minecraft Movie | Final Trailer

How did director Jared Hess want to honor the sound of the Minecraft game in the film? Also, what did he want to bring to the sound of this IP/franchise in his film?

Sound Supervisor Jay Jennings

Jay Jennings (JWJ): Before I answer, I’d like to introduce and thank my team of talented soundies who not only poured their time and talent into this very special film but also worked their tails off and had my back the whole way:

Polly McKinnon (co-supervising sound editor), Ryan Cole (dialogue editor), Melanie Graham (sound effects editor), Stefanie Ng (dialogue editor), Andrew Moore (sound effects editor / 1st assistant), Matt Stutter (sound effects editor), Craig Tomlinson (foley supervisor), Dave Whitehead (sound designer)
 

The sounds of Minecraft are truly iconic and have been heard and loved by millions of people for over a decade. An entire generation grew up with them!

Sound Supervisor Polly McKinnon

It was always Jared’s intention to integrate them into the film’s sound design. We worked closely with the team at Mojang Studios to ensure any assets we used or referenced from the game library were accurate to the characters and actions in the movie. I’d say we all learned a lot from that process; Villagers have specific “words” that are different from Wandering Traders, Pandas sneeze only at certain times, and Skeletons have a seriously limited vocabulary!

Polly McKinnon (PM): Honoring the game sounds was really important to the sound team, because the fans are so central to the whole Minecraft universe. They love the game so much, and we all wanted them to love the movie just as much. I agree with Jay that it was a learning curve to get our heads around the Minecraft world – I hadn’t played the game before – but my two kids are huge fans and were great consultants! I think it’s fair to say we all enjoyed researching for this one.

Watch: How the sounds of the iron golem were made

Did you do any custom recordings for the film? Can you talk about what you recorded and how it fit into the sound design?

JWJ: You bet we did! Fresh material is essential to a unique and vibrant track, and recording sessions are an opportunity for the whole team to collaborate in a fun way. We had many recording outings – some quick-and-dirty and others more elaborate. A few highlights are:

To create the Orb Of Dominance palette we experimented with an assortment of glass objects; the most successful were my wedding ring furiously spinning inside a vase (until it shattered!), a metal spoon rubbing inside a cube-shaped candle holder, and a transducer microphone playing a file of bubbling water against an empty drinking glass. Those building blocks proved very useful for the scene where Henry combines and activates the Orb and the Crystal.

The reverbs inside are absolutely incredible! It was the perfect place to record chain drags and drops for the hundreds of Piglins milling about the place.

For the Nether (the hellish domain of the Piglins), we ventured over to the Miramar Installation Bulk Storage Tank, next door to Park Road Post in Wellington. It was originally used for storing petroleum and other liquid fuels in the 1920s, but now sits mostly empty. The reverbs inside are absolutely incredible! It was the perfect place to record chain drags and drops for the hundreds of Piglins milling about the place.

Lastly, the whole team got together to perform the Vindicator mob for the Chicken Jockey fight club scene. I think we did that during my first week on the job, so it also functioned as an icebreaker! We put mics in the middle of a large room and marched around doing our best impressions of ax-murdering Pillagers and trying not to laugh out loud.

Watch: The real dog behind the sound of ‘Dennis’

PM: On the dialogue side, we did probably the most enjoyable (and ridiculous) loop group recordings I’ve ever been a part of. We saw how Mojang had created the Villager voices using their voices through cardboard tubes – toilet paper tubes, basically! So I had the whole loop group BYO cardboard tubes to honk through, and the group recording sessions sounded and looked completely hilarious. I’m still kicking myself for not taking any photographs or video footage.

Getting a room full of adults to snort like pigs for several hours was really fun

We also contributed some elements for the piglins, which were used alongside the amazing piggy sound design work Jay and Dave Whitehead had already done. Getting a room full of adults to snort like pigs for several hours was really fun, but also really hard work. It’s surprisingly taxing on your voice and vocal cords – they were troopers!

The hugely popular Steve’s Lava Chicken song from A Minecraft Movie

Can you talk about working with the songs in the film, like “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” “Ode to Dennis,” “Birthday Rap,” “When I’m Gone (Garrett Intro Movie Scene),” etc. – and how that influenced your approach to sound for those scenes?

JWJ: Showcasing Jack Black was 100% the approach, no question. The sound design stepped back for those moments. But when Garrett is introduced with “When I’m Gone,” music and sound design had the chance to play as equals. Jamieson Shaw (music editor) and I collaborated closely on this sequence, which was a moving target for several months. Music changed at least 5 times, and with each new cue came new picture edits, so he and I were in lockstep with tempo maps, sync points, tuned sound effects, etc. What’s in the movie is super energetic and tons of fun – a perfect way to introduce Jason Momoa’s character.
 

What went into the sound of the (infamous) Chicken Jockey ring fight scene?

JWJ: Ah, Chicken Jockey! First, let me say that none of us (save for Jared, who I think knew all along that it would go viral) expected it to turn into a massive pop culture moment and the bane of every theater maintenance worker in the world. It was so rewarding to watch the social media clips of absolute insanity breaking out in AMCs across America.

I recorded myself doing maniacal screams and efforts in my office […] then [Jared] added some efforts of his own, so the Jockey ended up being a mashup of the two of us.

Our Vindicator fight club group recording was one element that went in before we had any meaningful animation. Next up was the voice of the Jockey. I recorded myself doing maniacal screams and efforts in my office (which was hours of throat-scorching fun) and played them for Jared (which he loved), then he added some efforts of his own, so the Jockey ended up being a mashup of the two of us. The VIP badge really goes to another member of our crew (who shall remain nameless) who does incredible chicken vocals!

Any fun sound tools (or interesting plugin processing chains) or helpful sound libraries on A Minecraft Movie? Can you share some examples of how you used them?

JWJ: I think the most valuable and productive processes were experimental recording and worldizing. Dave Whitehead was instrumental in this regard. He has a deep knowledge and love of getting out in the world and mining it for interesting textures and colors, which was so fun for all of us. We recorded ruler twangs for arrow hits, tiny cordial glasses for Steve’s diamond boots, threw stuff around in a storage container for Garrett’s auction scene, and hurricane-force winds whipping through a radio tower for the wingsuit chase.

A palette of vocal phrases created for the Iron Golem […] took on a new life once played through metal I-beams and sheets of diamond plate.

His most interesting trick, and one that I’d never tried before, was worldzing existing sounds using transducer microphones, which convert acoustic sound into vibrations which in turn excite the objects you attach them to. A palette of vocal phrases created for the Iron Golem, which on their own sounded OK, took on a new life once played through metal I-beams and sheets of diamond plate. It was truly amazing to watch the master at work.

The production mixer Tony Johnson did an incredible job. We preserved nearly all of the production dialogue

PM: On a show like this, shot on soundstages and New Zealand outdoor locations, I expected the production dialogue to be trouble – but the production mixer Tony Johnson did an incredible job. We preserved nearly all of the production dialogue and did hardly any technical ADR at all – but we did make great use of Hush Pro and the whole iZotope suite, cleaning it all up. I don’t know how we ever managed in the past without those plugins! It’s not exactly fun processing chains, but definitely incredibly valuable tools.

 
fimportantly, they all needed a shared DNA in their sound.

What was your favorite scene for sound? What went into it?

JWJ: The “First Night” sequence was quite satisfying from a sound design point of view. As the characters see day turn to night in seconds, we see the Overworld turn from safe to dangerous, populated by skeletons and zombies.

Watch: Jay Jennings on creating the sounds of the skeletons

I wanted to present an option that played without music, letting sound design be the score and hopefully putting the audience on a bit of an edge.

The earliest versions had temp music running through them; I wanted to present an option that played without music, letting sound design be the score and hopefully putting the audience on a bit of an edge. Using sounds that would be familiar to fans of the game – the slight clink of a skeleton bone, the stretched moan of a zombie – we constructed a bridge from one bit of music to the next, using an accelerating heartbeat as a pulse and building to a brief pause before a volley of flaming arrows is launched. We presented it to Jared, and he absolutely loved it, which was so gratifying.

the few moments of the movie where you can hear the small details like bees and animals […] are also the moments you can really feature the game sounds.

PM: I actually love the quiet moments. The Minecraft game is surprisingly quiet and serene, but a big movie like this can’t really be like that. So the few moments of the movie where you can hear the small details like bees and animals (so many chickens!) and Villagers are quite special, and those are also the moments you can really feature the game sounds.

What was the most challenging single sound you had to create? What went into it?

Of all the sounds required, I think the Piglins were the trickiest to nail down.

JWJ: Minecraft was a huge challenge in that regard. Of all the sounds required, I think the Piglins were the trickiest to nail down. There are so many of them – different shapes and sizes, all wearing different kinds of kit and doing different kinds of things. They ranged from tiny, goofy, zombified, annoyed, and clumsy. General Chungus and the Great Hog were enormous and needed to sound scary. Most importantly, they all needed a shared DNA in their sound.

Watch: How the sounds of the wingsuit was created

Pooling our resources, we came up with a vast library to draw from — everything from actual pigs to group actors imitating pigs, to each of us getting in front of the mic and making crazy human-pig hybrid noises that carried a fairly high cringe factor. But nothing was wasted; we used it all in one form or another.

What’s been your favorite part of working on the sound of A Minecraft Movie? Any stories from your experience that you’ll be telling for years to come?

JWJ: Having the opportunity to collaborate on a movie that celebrates the most popular game in history and which is beloved by millions of people was an absolute honor and a pleasure. Hands down. It’s given me temporary status as “Most Popular Dad” for a few months now! Add to that the adventure of living and working in New Zealand for 9 months, and working with a team of talented sound artists who welcomed me in is something I will always hold dear.

Our whole soundpost crew had really great people […] and it felt like a super positive and supportive environment.

PM: It’s always the team. Collaborating with Jay was wonderful; we’ve worked alongside one another a few times over the years, but this was the first close collaboration, and it was terrific. Our whole soundpost crew had really great people, incredibly creative, skilled, and dedicated, and it felt like a super positive and supportive environment. No silly ego stuff! Loved it.

A big thanks to Jay Jennings and Polly McKinnon for giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the sound of A Minecraft Movie and to Jennifer Walden for the interview!

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