Crafting the Sound of Heritage for Golden Globe Nominated Film ‘A Real Pain’

‘A Real Pain’, the 2024 film from writer, director and actor Jesse Eisenberg, has been racking-up rave reviews following its theatrical release in November this year. Premiering at Sundance in January, the film stars director Jesse and actor Kieran Culkin as a mismatched cousin duo, as they undertake a tour of Poland in the wake of their beloved Grandma’s passing. 

 

The film’s sound design was the work of audio post production company, Dungeon Beach, who were brought onto the project thanks to an-existing relationship with post producer Jennifer DiLullo, who they’d previously worked with on ‘I Saw the TV Glow’. To find out more, we met with Dungeon Beach’s ADR supervisor and partner, Jennifer Ruffalo. 

Gearing up to work on a feature length film is no easy feat. When asked how the team prepared to take on the task, Jennifer explained, “Typically, I will manage the dialogue edit, ADR recording and editing, and all tasks related to production sound. Tim [Korn, supervising sound editor and partner] will manage the sound design, Foley, mix and deliverables. Then we have our ‘go-to’ sound engineers that we bring on board for various pieces of the process.”

‘A Real Pain’ is a dialogue-heavy film, as the protagonists, Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David (Jesse Eisenberg) navigate the complexities of grief, family history and intergenerational trauma. With a heavy subject matter, based around the historical context of the Holocaust, it was important that the sound allowed for the storyline to be clearly and concisely conveyed, allowing space and time for the line deliveries. To achieve this, Jennifer tells us that she “put in extremely long days to have enough time to scour through every word, every mic, multiple times”, but was aided in part by the technology at her disposal. 

“Izotope RX was definitely my best friend for cleaning the lavs [lavalier microphones]. The signal was not that clean coming into these mics for the most part, so using De-rustle within the RX Spectrogram was one of the more efficient ways to remove that unwanted noise. Also Supertone’s CLEAR [voice separator plugin] is so adaptive and gentle. We used that to smooth and balance the broadband issues whenever they arose.”

Working closely with editor Robert Nassau to scrub through takes and find something different helped to add the finishing touches to the sound quality, and in some instances automated dialogue replacement (ADR) came into play. “When we could not find what we needed, we recorded it with the actor.”

Diving into the sound design, Jennifer explains, “The approach was realism, with sound supporting the natural environments that the characters were in.” Balancing the sound with the story unfurling onscreen was important, with one moment in particular having to be carefully crafted – when the cousins visit a concentration camp. 

“This is the one portion of the film where there is minimal dialogue and sound altogether. It was an intentional choice so that the scene breathes and allows the viewer to take it in. Here, the absence of sound plays a key role in the experience of the characters, which of course translates to the audience. So in these moments, it is even more impactful when there is sound, because of the bed of silence it lays in.”

To enhance the film’s authenticity, Dungeon Beach collaborated with Aeroplan in Poland for the Foley, describing the partnership as “invaluable”, and “key for the loop group recordings in Polish”. Moreover, the added reinforcements and expertise to the sound team helped to get everything completed within the narrow window of time before the Sundance Film Festival. 

Jennifer adds that the production was an overwhelmingly positive experience, thanks in part to the close relationship shared with director, Jesse. She says, “Jesse is amazing to work with! His vision is intense and clear and he knows how to get what he wants quickly and effectively. The collaboration was very special for all of us. He is also very kind and personable, making our weeks together both productive and enjoyable.”

However, Jennifer’s proudest moment during dialogue editing ‘A Real Pain’ was the cemetery scene. “That scene took by far the most amount of time to clean up and balance. There was a main road nearby and there were cars and sirens and even airplanes cutting in and out of the takes. The re-recording mixer Dan Timmons has a lot to do with why this scene sounds so great as well.” 

Sharing her parting thoughts, Jennifer concludes, “The film has been receiving many glowing reviews and the buzz all year has been so positive! Honestly, we all did expect positive reviews and reactions to this film. It is beautiful, heartfelt, and humourous all at the same time. The Dungeon Beach team is very proud to have been able to have a hand in this project and to get to know Jesse, as we have.”