Sound should elevate visual experience: Sound designer Vishnu

For unforgettable cinema entertainment, there should a perfect synthesis of sound and visuals, says sound designer and mixer Vishnu, who is currently busy with the much anticipated Tamil horror-thriller "Pizza 2: The Villa", a sequel to highly successful "Pizza" in the same language.

"To give audiences an unforgettable experience of watching cinema, sound should be given due importance in a film. In other words, sound should elevate the overall visual experience of viewing cinema," Vishnu told IANS.

"There should a perfect synthesis of sound and visuals for audiences to get immersed in the film. 'Pizza' was specially lauded for the sound experience and we all know the importance of sound particularly in a horror film," he added.

While "Pizza" was mixed 7.1 sound format, its sequel is being mixed in Dolby Atmos - an object based sound platform - popularised by films such as "Life of Pi" and "Brave".

"Pizza 2: The Villa" is the second film after "Sivaji 3D" to use Atmos. Vijay-starrer Tamil action-drama "Thalaivaa" will also be coming out in the same sound format soon.

Did the success of "Pizza" have an effect on you work?

"Absolutely and that's why we wanted to take the sound experience up by a notch. If 7.1 could scare bejesus out of the audiences, then you can imagine what Atmos could do," he said.

Vishnu, however, clarifies that this sound format is not necessarily for horror genre.

"I disagree with the fact that you need advanced sound platform only for horror films or any particular genre. It can effectively be used even for a musical. It basically gives the freedom to a sound engineer to improvise with sound within a closed environment," he added.

"Pizza 2: The Villa" is directed by debutant Deepan Chakravarthy. It features Ashok Selvan and Sanchita Shetty in the lead.

The film, which is nearing completion, is produced by C.V Kumar, who had previously produced "Pizza". Santhosh Narayan has been roped in to compose music for the movie.