“The Lighthouse” is among the most stylistic films in recent memory and a good conversation piece given that Zack Snyder is rolling out a black and white version of his “Justice League” cut.
“The Lighthouse” ranges in themes from artistic to avant-garde, and while some scenes push viewers towards a sense of discomfort, the overall merit of Robert Eggers’ filmmaking isn’t to be taken lightly. Furthermore, while Robert Pattinson remains the hottest actor in Hollywood, Willem Dafoe gives an absolute powerhouse performance that astonishingly raises the bar of his decades-long excellence even higher.
One of the starkest and most intriguing aspects of “The Lighthouse” is the sound design. Throughout the film, we’re given an ominous vibe from the sound of a moaning foghorn wailing across the island and out to sea. Per the backstory:
“Central to the sound design is a bellowing foghorn, so sound designer Damian Volpe turned to J.J. Jamieson, a craftsman in Shetland, Scotland who makes YouTube tutorials on operating and maintaining foghorns, for recordings of a period-accurate foghorn. Using Jamieson’s samples, Volpe manipulated the sound and created a foghorn that was ominous, memorable, and unique to the film. The fog horn heard throughout the film is a recording of the Nash Point Lighthouse Fog Horn (located in Wales, UK). The Nash Point Fog Horn is sounded with compressed air.”
Check out the clip above of the Nash Point Lighthouse foghorn. It’s incredibly striking. And since we’re now on a lighthouse and foghorn kick, below is an amazing video of how these behemoths mechanically operate.
