José Vasco Carvalho: “Sound is an essential element of stories.”

In 1997, you began studying Sound and Image at Católica. Just debuted…

Let's say that until I arrived at this University, I tried a little bit of everything. I went through Economics, then Science thinking about Engineering and then I also considered Sports, because I was a basketball player. At the time, when I applied for Sound and Image at the School of Arts, I also applied for Environmental Engineering at the Faculty of Biotechnology. There was a moment of indecision there. It was decisive that I heard an interview with Father Luís Proença, the course coordinator at the time. I remember in the interview he introduced the course and described it as disruptive and comprehensive across new and old media. From then on, I had no more doubts.

Why the interest in Sound?

I had a musical background, I played instruments, and I was in a series of bands. I also had some stage experience. There was already a certain connection with the Sound area. In 2001, Porto was the Capital of Culture and, suddenly, there was so much movement in Culture that the city didn't even have means of production available. It was around this time that I started capturing sound for films. I was still in my third year of the course and was already working. I soon became very interested in the area and it is my life to this day…

What sparked your interest?

It's a fascinating area. I remember being very excited about capturing sound in context, the filming, and the close contact with the actors. But what holds me back in this area to this day is the mathematical and analytical dimension. There is an analytical relationship whenever we work with signal processing.

“We believe that it is through project and practice that students evolve.”

To work with Sound, do we need to have a particularly keen hearing?

First, working with Sound requires physical capacity, that is, not everyone has a keen hearing capacity. But training is essential. Hearing is trained and this sense is refined. Hearing loss begins to appear between the ages of 50 and 55. We are losing our hearing capacity, but this loss can be compensated with experience and the ability to render sounds. Many sounds go completely unnoticed by us. The attentive ear is trained. We always talk a lot about silence, but absolute silence doesn't even exist. My hearing is so alert that I'm terrible at talking in noisy environments because I'm easily distracted by what's around me.

You are the coordinator of the Masters in Sound and Image. What is the biggest mark of the School of Arts?

The School of Arts has two different fortes. The first is its artistic context. We work on cinema, sound art, and music in an artistic context. We have a group of guest resident artists who bring different perspectives. We live in an internal and external artistic community, and we allow ourselves to be contaminated.  The other factor that sets us apart is project-based learning. We believe that it is through design and practice that students evolve and that they are also able to find their conceptual and artistic definitions.

Why at a certain point did academic life start to make sense in your life?

I felt comfortable teaching, because, in fact, I already had some accumulated experience. Since I started working, I never stopped, and I did a lot of Sound for Cinema. At a certain point, it started to make sense to systematize the knowledge I had acquired. Furthermore, I also started working with nimes, which are new musical instruments. Creating interfaces that mediate the computer and our musical practice. I wanted to research this area. I completed my master's degree and then pursued my doctorate, where I explored the subject of public art and sound sculptures. When I started teaching at Católica, I continued making films all the time. It was never an option to be solely dedicated to academic life and, therefore, my life is between the University and Sound for Cinema. Practice is crucial because it is what enriches my classes.

“Sound makes 50% of the story.”

Not everything that seems is...

There is something I tell my students that illustrates this situation well. I once made a period film. There was a beautiful car, it was a Porsche from the 60s. At the time, Porsche already belonged to the Volkswagen Group and had the same engine as the Beetle (laughs). As it will be easy to see, the appearance of the car did not match its sound at all, so it created a very strange situation for us there, because the sound of the engine did not do justice to the car. Using the real car sound would be much stranger than working on the sound in post-production.

Does working on sound involve being fully aware of what the film is about?

Yes, there is total alignment with the director and production. There is a narrative effort because Sound is an essential element of the story. Sound makes up 50% of the story. Horror films are a good example. If we watch a horror film without sound, we will have a ridiculous film in front of us. Sound gives authenticity, gives texture to things, and even gives objects their weight. When we talk about the decor of a film, we often talk about walls that are made of styrofoam. Even though they are made of styrofoam, in the film they cannot look like they are, and it will be the Sound that will give it the structure and reality we want.

We have already seen that there is no absolute silence, but in films there is.

It may exist, although it is very rare. We call this radical silence, and it is only used when we want to put the viewer in the movie theatre seat. It's so radical that there is no one in the movie theatre who doesn't suddenly disconnect from the action and feel like they're in the movie theatre watching a movie. There is a total fall.

Have you ever used radical silence?

Just two or three times. One time it was with Atsushi Funahashi, a Japanese director. He wanted total silence in the last scene where the character throws himself off a cliff. The director wanted absolute silence because it emphasized and dramatized that moment.

“It excites me to learn a little more every day.”

You have made films that have been in practically every class one festival and some of them even won. Any that are especially worth remembering?

The biggest animation festival in the world is Annecy and I did the sound mixing for the film that won its latest edition: Percebes, by Laura Gonçalves and Alexandra Ramires. It is the most important animation award in the world. I also did the sound for a film by Gabe Klinger that won the award for best documentary in Venice - Double Game: James Benning and Richard Linklater.

Are awards important?

They're not very important. More than the awards, the most important thing is the presence at these festivals, because it brings visibility and that is what helps in attracting investments.

What moves you?

Family is the main engine of my life. Work also moves me a lot. Sound construction for films and, of course, the School of Arts where I have been for so many years. It excites me to be able to learn a little more every day. There is always a desire to do more and to be able to present new perspectives and bring the best to my students.