‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ - A Conversation with Composer Volker Bertelmann & Sound Designer Markus Stemler
All Quiet on the Western Front is the third film adaptation of the iconic novel of the same name, but it is the first version to be told from the German perspective, entirely in German, and made by Germans. Following the novel's themes, the film is an anti-war epic that scored 9 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Offscreen had the privilege of chatting with Composer Volker Bertelmann & Sound Designer Markus Stemler to discuss the tone-setting opening sequence, connecting sound to the story, and using sound to communicate varied perspectives.
Jillian Chilingerian: I am very excited to talk to both of you today. As I've been getting older while watching movies, I'm very into the sound of it and how it makes me feel as an audience member and just want to know all about the thoughts and processes behind it. In this film sound, is its character and so I'm very excited to talk to both of you today.
Volker Bertelmann: Thanks.
JC: Congratulations on the nominations. So, first, I want to talk about the opening sequence, because it just sets the tone for what is to come. It almost feels like you're scoring the life cycle of a soldier in the war. So, I want to hear about the process of putting together musical elements blending with the sound of sewing and guns.
VB: When I received the first film or when I was watching the first version of it, Marcus and Frank had already put examples of sewing machines, but I could see already the industrial, you know, way of the uniforms. It's a very well-made 10 minutes of a film I would say I haven't seen such for a long time such a sequence because it's there's no talking. We come from a very naturalistic area with the foxes being very cozy in their homes and then we go slowly into the battlefield and that goes into soldiers dying. The uniforms are taken off and then they are washed in the laundry and then you see the blood coming out of it and then the uniforms get new name tags. When I saw that, I had the feeling everything that is in there sound-wise needs to be a part of the music because if I'm starting to battle against something like that, we lose all the mechanics. Gunfire is in a way as well, a rhythmical element. It's like something that is if you are starting to put something against it that is a high head of a rock band, then you know, you feel like, Oh, there's something straight. But everything around it is chaos. That can be sometimes very nice, but in this case, for that first scene when this big truck is coming in that's where you hear the first time these three notes and I had the feeling that it's good to find a significant kind of war horn signal but that it's not played by a war horn like in let's say in old Rome, you know, or in these type these big battle films where you get like these huge horns. I wanted to have something similar but played more with an instrument maybe from that time and so I had the feeling that this is much more like a collage of pictures and sound.
Markus Stemler: As you mentioned, it sets the tone really for everything that would follow on to that, especially as we learn, we get a prospect of what the soldiers will run into, and they don't know that yet. So, it's very important to explain what's taking place in the background. So, this whole economy had kind of turned into just a military industry. And I think that. That moment with the sewing machine is probably the key moment of that sequence when the sewing machine kinds of kind of blends into the machine guns. We see that uniform because it tells us about the past that is connected to this uniform. It is probably also the future for the soldier who is that that's going to get that uniform. Again, it's a very brutal cycle, actually and Eddie was talking a lot about the machine machinery of war, and I think it's all condensed in that first montage.
JC: I like that you bring that up because to me it felt very industrial, which I don't think is something we associate with the First World War much. It's more with like the second. And so, I loved hearing that utilized in the score. It's like something you never heard of and it's so otherworldly. When I heard it for the first time with that sequence it felt modern, but also perfectly matched the period. It ties back to what you both mentioned like the industrial element you see with the machine guns and the sewing machines.
VB: To tell a story that you already see is one thing, but to find elements that in a way complement what you see but in a way that you are not looking at the acting differently, it's just more like there's a level that suddenly opens up that is already in the acting, but it is in a way elevated in certain areas or perspective is elevated. I think as a watcher specifically, I would say when you watch it in the cinema because you get also the sound in a space, I have the feeling that this is extremely important for that film to find, to change between perspectives.
JC: Going back to that like the difference between it being theatrical and someone that might watch it through streaming. Is there a thought behind that when putting together the sound, obviously you can't recreate the sound experience of the theater, but still be immersive for someone that might watch it at home.
MS: Yeah, well, we approached the whole process of creating the sound with the goal in mind that this film would play in the theater first. So, you go for the full use of Dolby Atmos, and you think about you approach it in the way, you think about the dynamics that work in the theater at first. Once you've created the theatrical version, then you do those downmixes that are adjusted for the whole theatrical use. But I agree, you can't reproduce the experience of proper cinema at home yet, and hopefully, that will stay.
VB: Yeah, but at the same time, I have to say in my case, I'm when I'm doing mixes for the 7.1 mixes, I always have a stereo reference and I listen to the stereo reference a lot of times on my laptop, on my laptop speakers, because what is important for me is no matter where we are in the world where people are watching movies everywhere. They watch it on their iPhones, they watch it on their laptops, they watch it in the cinema, and I think, too, in consideration, that you want to give them the best experience no matter what. It's always good to listen back on let's say, cheap speakers. We did that always with records, when I'm releasing a record, I'm mixing it on very good speakers, but I have a mono speaker that is like an old radio that is in the center and you just listen to that as well because certain frequencies, for example, bass frequencies, need to be adjusted to be heard in. Otherwise, the whole experience falls apart.
JC: Weirdly, the sound reminds me of musical theater in a way that you can listen to the tracks and put together the story without seeing the visuals, which is a very weird analogy. When I was listening to it again this morning, I can kind because there are so many details going on, but they're not distracting at the same time. I love everything about this movie and how it all is just in perfect sync. So, I'm kind of curious about making sure different points match up, whether it's the explosions or when the score comes back or there are moments when, it moves to silence, but it's not awkward like that makes sense for this moment to go there.
MS: Yeah, well, everything we do and tries to sound design is always connected to the story and if it's not connected, then it wouldn't work. So, when we switch from intense battle scenes to complete silence, I think it works because the way it is edited allows it. Our editor as well, he pays a lot of attention and on to this aspect. He always has a mind like what sound can contribute to the story and because as you said, when when you're only listening to the sound, it kind of works for you. It’s interesting because quite often when I put together some or create some backgrounds, I would at some point just switch off the projector or close my eyes and kind of check if and feel if I'm really at that place if it feels like I'm there. That works best when you don't see anything, that is when a lot of details come in that would help you drag into the scene. It's I think it's always a good checkup if the sound kind of works.
VB: I received an email from somebody at some point who actually exerted the same thing that he just switched off the picture and just listened to the film without the picture and he was completely overwhelmed and he's doing that now more often. The film is the picture in the center of it, but what I like about the idea is that you can experience it on all sorts of different levels. That says something about our collaboration in a way it's maybe one of the few films where I have the feeling that all the departments were so connected that they worked on the same movie and not in an egoistic sense or in a different driven way, working on something where they just did their own thing. A lot of times or it's very hard to coordinate the intention of everyone and just let them freely do what they want.
JC: From an audience perspective, I agree. Because I just saw Titanic for the rerelease recently and I'm like, Oh, wow. I can't think of many movies that have come out recently where you can tell that everyone is really in sync with making the same thing. While rewatching this one, all the elements must come together to get that masterpiece to communicate the idea. It's really about the German perspective throughout World War One and how you communicate guilt and shame, whether it's coping with it, whether it's through sound or makeup or visual effects. It's so beautiful to see everything come together through everyone's work. And obviously, it paid off.
VB: We are so happy to receive this. You know, it's a little bit like you're standing at your record table after a concert and a lot of people are following the record. It's wonderful. It's it gives you a lot of satisfaction and of course, feedback and it also empowers you to work on things that you are now experiencing as functioning.
JC: Something I observed when I was watching was the difference in perspectives. A lot of this film is following Paul but then it also like kind of lets the audience know the scale of what is going on and then goes back and forth, whether that is through sound or camera work. I'm curious about those thoughts going into perspective, mainly with the sound.
MS: Yeah, there is a really good point there. There are some very strong contrasts and sound wise in this film, and we have this world with the world around us. Paul But there's also this other world. It's the world of the people in the high command and the generals and all these people. It's a very different sound environment because they are in a very different situation where the soldiers are like every day. They are trying to stay alive that these other authorities, the people are in high command. They are still in a very safe environment. So, we don't hear any battle activity in the background when we film with them. Instead, we focused on enhancing the kind of coziness, that they are in because they still have fireplaces, they have record players, they have.
VB: Meat for the dog.
MS: Meat for the dog, they smoke their coffee, and these were actually all sound elements that we focused on to really, point out the difference between the two of them and this is how this film also gets a lot of contrast on the soundtrack.
JC: I think the perspective part is fascinating seeing the people that are on the ground putting their lives on the line without knowing what is to come versus the people that are absent making all the decisions that often happened in the war. Seeing both aspects of that is powerful having them each have their characteristic works too.
VB: That was like maybe one example as well where we, a couple of times talked about when we come from the battlefield into the crater and then all the outside battle sounds are disappearing. Paul is fighting the Frenchman and killing him and the sound world in that crater is a little bit like they have fallen into a hole in the ground and then there is suddenly this whole completely different world where even the music is also changing because it's very muffled and damped in a way. Sound and music are in a way switching into each other and taking place in a way and creating over that quite long scene. Normally I would say in other films where the craftsmanship is not so strong, this scene would be cut right away, like let's say at least half of it would go because it wouldn't make any. People would think that it doesn't make any effort or that it's not creating any sense in the film, but to have it in that length, you go with Paul through this whole metamorphoses of being in a way, an animal, a machine, killing someone, then finding out that it was wrong, and then finding out what the human being was in a way which is in a way, the full the whole sense of the film compressed in that creative scene, which we also saw in the beginning. We go through these circles of learning that it's always about the same question about humanity, caretaking, and why these guys are in that situation. Free willingly.
JC: Well, thank you both so much for the time. I loved hearing more about the thoughts behind the sound. When that comes out on vinyl, I am going to get that so I can listen to it on record.
VB: It will come.
JC: I am excited.
All Quiet on the Western Front is now streaming on Netflix and in select theaters.