SUNDANCE 2023: Making the Magical/Supernatural Sound of ‘Sorcery’ – with Sound Designer Sergio Diaz

Director Christopher Murray's film Sorcery – in World Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2023 – transports audiences back to 1880, to Chiloé Island off the coast of Chile, where a young girl named Rosa turns to witchcraft in the hopes of avenging her father's death by German colonists. Here, sound supervisor/sound designer/re-recording mixer Sergio Diaz reveals how he created an authentic, magical sound that ties in the film's geography.

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Interview by Jennifer Walden, photos courtesy of Sundance

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MPSE and Ariel Award-winning supervising sound editor/sound designer/re-recording mixer Sergio Diaz – who earned an Oscar nomination for his work on Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma and a BAFTA nomination for Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland – worked with director Christopher Murray to create a natural yet magical sound for Sorcery, which is in World Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2023. The story unfolds on Chiloé Island off the coast of Chile, so the sound of the location needed to influence and meld with the spiritual and magical sounds that Diaz created.

Sorcery tells the story of Rosa, a young girl whose father is killed by German colonists in 1880. Rosa decides to learn the art of sorcery and use witchcraft to avenge her father’s death. Director Murray blends the historical conflict between German colonists and the Huilliche people of Chile with the supernatural aspects of Rosa’s struggle to find her inner power and overcome the atrocities she and her people have endured.

Here, Diaz talks about gathering natural sounds from Chile and Mexico to use as inspiration and source for his magical sounds, his approach to creating sounds for spiritual entities, creating natural, magical sounds, and so much more!

SORCERY (2023) | Trailer | Christopher Murray

What were director Christopher Murray’s goals for sound on Sorcery? And what were your creative ideas on how sound could help to tell or support this story?

Sound supervisor/re-recording mixer Sergio Diaz

Sergio Diaz (SD): In July 2021, Christopher and I began having creative conversations to define the sound concept, where the story takes place on Chiloé Island in 1880, for which we broke down the concept into these areas:

FOG SOUND:
We had to create a dense sound with many layers, foggy like the island itself, and connected to the photography that depicts the period.

DENSITY OF BEINGS:
It was important to make the audience feel that, just like Rosa, they were immersed and surrounded by presences that, although we cannot see them, move around, watch and accompany them, creating a dense atmosphere of SPIRITUAL entities that inhabit this territory.

ANIMALITIES:
These are typical of the geographic context of Chiloé and, above all, of the birds that are difficult to find, and of course, we had to go for them.

SOUNDSCAPE:
My job was to harmonize and procure atmospheres with textures that would contribute to telling the story honoring his idea, which turned out to be a task that involved a lot of gathering from different geographical areas between Chile and Mexico. A subgroup of beds/pads always had to coexist with these layers. They were recreated by indistinct sound elements that, when re-recorded in my studio, contributed a very interesting medium and low frequency which, when bringing those complex worlds together in harmony, would accompany the magical and somber density sought, focusing the energy on what was authentic and organic that should be heard in order to convey that emotion to the audience.

If you had to pick one scene that best represents your sound work on this film, what would that be? Can you describe the scene (in general terms) and what went into your sound work on it?

SD: The entire movie has a specific treatment, but there is one that was very interesting to address because of its dramatic arc, and that was at the beginning of the movie where we see Rosa walking in a field of damp soil until she arrives at a large, German-style wooden house. During her journey, we hear the nature of the geographical area and the panting and growling of dogs in the distance that did not intimidate her.

Once inside the house, Rosa sets the table for the German family’s breakfast.

…we recreated everything from scratch, every breath, every actor’s movement, every animal sound, every layer of environment with its own density…

While the family prays in German, Rosa, at a distance, also prays, standing near the sink in the kitchen. Looking out a small window, she watches a lamb approaching the German house a few feet away while in the background, murmurs of the prayer in German are heard. Suddenly something startles her, and her expression changes. She seems scared and runs out of the house breathing heavily and continues on in the muddy soil, paying no attention to where she steps. Rosa looks up; there are dozens of dead lambs on the land.

A natural rope braided in a peculiar manner hangs from the neck of each dead lamb. The image shatters Rosa. The cold runs through her in every sense possible.

Throughout this segment, we recreated everything from scratch, every breath, every actor’s movement, every animal sound, every layer of environment with its own density, ending with the brutal dog attack that killed Rosa’s father. Throughout this journey, there is a specific treatment for each camera angle that crescendos as the dramatic arc unfolds.

What was the most challenging (or second-most challenging, if the above scene was the most challenging) scene for sound? What went into it?

SD: Molding an authentic, magical sound in these two worlds throughout the entire movie was without a doubt the greatest challenge because the dramatic tone between what is real and what is supernatural always entails exploring the proper balance between harmonic and subharmonic sounds in order to evoke emotion in each sequence without sounding dramatic. This treatment makes Sorcery an authentic piece, taking the audience on a journey filled with sound details.

Indie films typically have restricted budgets and therefore don’t use a lot of CGI for supernatural/fantasy elements. But what these films lack in funds, they make up for in creativity. How were you able to use sound to help the filmmakers achieve a cool supernatural/fantasy illusion without having to put it all on-screen?

SD: As a sound designer and re-recording mixer, I strongly believe that we do not need to see something as an image in order to hear it and feel it, therefore, my creative intention and energy focused more on that scenario, contributing off-screen sound elements to each sequence that would serve a more specific purpose, sensorial and emotional, without losing sight of the fact that we were traversing a border between what is real and what is supernatural.

What have you learned while working on this film that has helped you to grow your craft – as a sound artist and sonic storyteller?

SD: Sorcery invited me to explore and gather sounds that only existed in my imagination, and they became real in the context of the movie between what is real and what is surreal.

Undoubtedly, every project is an adventure, which I enjoy to the fullest extent, and this one was no exception.

This fantastic project allowed me to explore and experience those two worlds, using specific elements such as the sound of nature, glassware sounds, leather sounds, wood sounds, and wind sounds, among others. All of them were molded using recording techniques to enrich the sounds so they became very sonic, crossing between what is natural and what is magical, to be able to go beyond the conventional and form an effective sound proposal capable of evoking that emotion that connects with the audience.

Undoubtedly, every project is an adventure, which I enjoy to the fullest extent, and this one was no exception. I am very grateful to Christopher Murray for putting all his trust in me and thus taking Sorcery to a level where the natural and supernatural coexist in a magical and plausible manner.

A big thanks to Sergio Diaz for giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the sound of Sorcery and to Jennifer Walden for the interview!

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