Sound Design "The Rule of Jenny Pen" #2 The Laundry

The Rule of Jenny Pen

The Laundry (2 of 5)

Dir. James Ashcroft
A series of posts on the sound design for The Rule of Jenny Pen

In a retirement home, as with any facility that harbours a lot of people, washing is a constant theme. Clothes, bodies, surfaces, utensils, rooms all need constant cleaning. As Stefan tries to wash away the stark realities of aging, the futility of delaying the inevitable is reflected in the never-ending attempts at cleanliness by the carers.

Many pivotal and often rather disturbing scenes involve water, and watery substances of various thicknesses. Its power as a substance that can intimidate and threaten is on full display, even though it is essential to us at all times. 

The sonic heart of this motif is the laundry. Deep in the cavernous belly of the building, the laundry chunders on, hour after hour. It is the churning guts of the place, audible at all hours through the walls or through the air ducts, or from out in the courtyard and grounds. Naturally the laundry area itself is the setting for some of the most pivotal scenes. Though rumbling and noisy, it is a safe-haven for one of the terrorised residents; but at the cost of being far out of the way, hidden from view, where any manner of evil could flourish. Like a living organism, the laundry continually revolves through its various cycles of washing and drying, reflecting the beastliness of Stefan’s surroundings and his entrapment within them.

We recorded several older washing machines, dishwashers and dryers for this element; modern ones being too quiet and boring. The gurgles of water and sludge moving through pipes, the repetitive thrum of a washing cycle, even the vibration of furniture and glassware caused by the tumbling machines contribute to this soundtrack. We also matched the action of the machines to reflect Stefan’s state of mind – repetitive for his state of boredom and entrapment; wild and chaotic for more intense scenes, ominous and subby for his sense of fear and doom; but above all, constant. Also, the ironic allegory to the ever-present bodily functions we witness in the home gave us ample scope to reflect that in the guttural, sloshy laundry soundscape.

The cleaning metaphor is expanded through the idea of water, and by extension, all liquids (both clean and gross). Water, just as in life, is both a vital and a deadly element. Healing and cleansing, but also can be weaponised and potentially life-threatening. We contrasted these two ideas with careful attention on the mix stage. The ‘dangerous’ water took particular attention to make it sound chaotic as well as starkly real. Sometimes music enhances the distress in the soundtrack, other times the bare reality of the agitated slopping and sloshing of the water without music was more effective.