Creative Sound: inspiring film

“You don’t watch a film only with your eyes, you watch it with your ears too,” says Cristinel Sirli, sound engineer and general manager of Creative Sound. “The sound adds emotion and connects you to what you see. If you cut off the sound, you will miss most of the movie but if you cut the image, you can still experience the movie just by listening. This is why we still have radio, right? Try watching a horror movie without sound - you won’t be scared. Our job is to enhance your cinema experience by finding and creating the perfect sound.”

Cristinel started the business about 20 years ago and has been creating and mixing sounds for cinema, TV, internet for international production companies as well as dubbing for blockbuster films. The company runs a total of 12 studios in Paris. With an EU-guaranteed loan, backed by the EIF, from Bpifrance in 2019, Cristinel was able to purchase audio material and upgrade one of the existing auditoriums. “The Dolby Atmos system we purchased gives a 360° amplitude, creating a more immersive sound. It’s a technology that helps us attract more clients gives us more flexibility in our work. New platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime for example, always want Dolby Atmos.”

The process of getting a loan isn’t always easy, but Cristinel has figured out how to speak the right language. “Bankers are not experts in sound. I always had to approach them with numbers, explain our project clearly, convey a solid business plan. We’re a small business but we work on big movies, with big names and major companies trust us with their projects.” So far, this has worked well.

While technology is helping improve sound engineering, the artistic and creative touch will always be human. “The message, the emotion that we want to transmit…the machines won’t be able to appreciate that,” he says. “It’s the same with music. Nothing will ever replace a real live orchestra.”

Sound engineers work their magic behind the scenes to captivate the audience: “We analyse the image with our eyes and imagine the sound that fits best. The director is the one in the driving seat, he gives us instructions and we come up with the sound. He might ask for example for a pink or a blue sound and we will work on finding it. We can create tension between two people in a scene just by playing with the sound, without any commentary or exchange going on between them,” Cristinel explains.

Company: Creative Sound (France)

Type of business: audio-visual

EIF financing: Cultural & Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility (CCS)

Financial intermediary: Bpifrance

For further information about EIF intermediaries in France, please refer to: http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/fr