Love, Death + Robots is an original animated Netflix anthology that is made up of different science fiction short films with the central themes of love, death, and robots, as the name already indicates. The series is produced by Joshua Donen, David Fincher, Jennifer Miller and Tim Miller. One of the interesting peculiarities is that each episode is animated by a different audiovisual team, thus making each one look very different from the others.
As for the episode in question called “Jibaro“, it is the ninth episode of the third season directed by Alberto Mielgo and it deals with a creature who, through her singing, attracts conquerors who kill each other in order to reach her. However, there is one of them who is deaf and dumb, thus making it not affect him, and consequently making him draw the attention of the creature who doubts whether she has lost his qualities and changes violence for seduction and attraction.
THE SOUND DESIGN
The sound design in this short film is one of the most fundamental pieces. The fact that one of the protagonists does not have the ability to hear means that he must be very careful in being able to convey this sensation, and it can be said that they nailed it perfectly. From the beginning, the director is playing with silences and sounds to make the viewer get to put themselves in the shoes of the young soldier as you can see in this clip below.
SOLDIER
He is one of the soldiers who is looking to conquer lands, but the peculiarity that he has compared to the others is his deafness. At first he does not know what is happening, and the sound shows it by making the relevant silences to make it clear what he is experiencing in the first person. From there, this method is repeated several times including a low sound at times and also some shrill sounds, but always with subtle changes in sound to make it clear to the viewer. Eventually, he can magically hear causing him to go insane like the rest of his companions ending up dying under the lake.
CREATURE
The creature is a fantastic being covered in precious materials that tries to seduce the army by falling into its trap, thus being able to obtain all the armor and other valuable objects they carry. Through digital cuts and the implementation of effects to distort the voice, this creature is shown as a diabolical character, its cries that force you into instability express this vice to power. Her crying also brings the recreation of a very disturbing situation.
AMBIENT SOUND
A lot of time is also played with the reconstructions of sound in different media, such as the change from being on the surface to being under water. The ambient sound is continuous, in most parts, taking out some that want to give more emphasis to the narrative of the characters, you can hear the water, the armors, the horses, the birds, etc. bringing you more into the scene.
MUSIC
The music chosen in this animation is very interesting, as it is the possible reconstruction of a myth, and therefore an ancient and fanciful story, powerful electronic music is used that enhances the uncomfortable feeling that the piece wants to convey to you. Apart from this, dramatic music is also used in parts of the narrative where they serve to make the situation sad.
In the Instagram post below you can see the final sound project within Premire Pro by director Alberto Mielgo.
Mielgo explains that many of the sounds you can hear in the final piece were recorded by himself and even using material he found around his house.
“The sound in Jíbaro, as you know, was very important, and the vast majority are sounds that I recorded in the forest or even in my house with kitchen utensils for the armors and jewelery ( this is true, all the armor sounds are knives, pans, forks and everything that I was able to find in my kitchen ).”
Alberto Mielgo (Director of “Jibaro”)
Even telling us that he recorded it with his IPhone since it offers the quality to be able to include it directly in the project.
“And surprisingly: everything recorded with my phone. The iPhone microphone is brutal, after having used numerous microphones I have to say that I prefer the comfort and quality of this little gadget, specially while traveling. The important is the final result.”
Alberto Mielgo (Director of “Jibaro”)
In conclusion, “Jíbaro” can be postulated as a surprising and eccentric audiovisual work that leaves no one unsatisfied, a mixture of auditory sensations that takes you further. From the first moment you look at it, it fascinates you, and from there on the following times you find details of the sound design that make you even more fascinated by this amazing animated shortfilm.
WEBGRAPHY
- Revealing the techniques behind the production of jibaro “Love, death & robots”, which took two years to draw the storyboard (no date) FoxRenderfarm. Available at: https://www.foxrenderfarm.com/share/techniques-behind-the-production-of-jibaro-love-death-and-robots
- (2022) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvCDnirl7mc&ab_channel=HTS-Quietpossible%21
- Love, death + robots. vol. 3: Jíbaro (c) (2022) (1970) FilmAffinity. Available at: https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film935584.html
R/lovedeathandrobots – jibaro sound design blew my mind. One of the most intelligent and arresting uses of Sound/Music/FX I’ve heard in a long time. absolutely made the episode for me. (no date) reddit. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveDeathAndRobots/comments/uvo7fj/jibaro_sound_design_blew_my_mind_one_of_the_most/
- Clarendon, D. (2022) ‘love, death + robots’ viewers see a toxic relationship unfold in “jibaro”, Distractify. Distractify. Available at: https://www.distractify.com/p/jibaro-meaning-love-death-and-robots
- Gulati, S. (2022) Love, death & robots ‘jibaro’ ending explained, DualShockers. Available at: https://www.dualshockers.com/love-death-robots-jibaro-ending-explained/
Digital Audio 