Ben Burtt
Sound Designer
Skywalker Sound
San Francisco, CA USA
“It's important to have clear goals in mind...but you can always change a goal. There's no need to suffer if something isn't working out.”
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Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
As a teen, he'd make movies with his friends; says going into the movie business would be a way of "not growing up."
When he went to college, he studied physics-thought he wanted to be involved in the moon landings-but kept making movies on the side.
One of these side films won him a scholarship to USC's film school; he moved to L.A., was preparing to start school, then chickened out and moved home.
After freaking out and thinking he'd blown his one chance, he started doing some sound work for local stations near his home.
Once he'd gained some more experience, USC said he could try again, so this time he went for it; got his master's degree in film production.
Got the call from Lucasfilm; realized in his interview that this Star Wars job would synthesize his interests-aerospace, physics, electronics.
Says you have to be okay with rejection-one of his sounds was rejected from Alien so he used it in an Indiana Jones film, won an Academy Award.
Gets anxious when he thinks about his twenties, when he felt "stuck," but says feeling stuck is a "rite of passage" everyone experiences at some point.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Bachelor
Physics, General
Allegheny College
Physics, General
Allegheny College
Graduate
Film/Cinema/Video Studies
University of Southern California
Film/Cinema/Video Studies
University of Southern California
Career
Sound Designer
I create sound effects for motion pictures like "Star Wars," "Indiana Jones," and "Wall-E."
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Film
Technology
Being Creative
Day to Day
I experiment with various materials and technologies to develop sound effects for movies. I spend a lot of time recording, editing, and manipulating different sounds to create something new.
Skills & Qualities Beyond School
Having a background in science has helped me understand the way we react to sounds and how they can be manipulated to generate specific emotions.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
You have to get used to rejection and be willing to keep going. I have a library of sounds that didn't work out for the project I was developing them for, but some have worked for others and succeed.
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Myself:
"I can't do this. I'm just going to fail. "
My first attempt at film school, I got so intimidated that I left after 10 days. After exhausting all opportunities back home, it pushed me to give it another try. Luckily, the film school allowed me to come back to try again.
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