My Squirrel Recording is in a MOVIE! 📽 DUNE: Mark Mangini, Oscar Winning Sound Designer
Why Hacker News recommends it
Linked in threads about Dune's sound design as a first-hand interview about the squirrel recording.
What it is
Wildlife videographer Dani Connor Wild talks with Oscar-winning sound designer Mark Mangini about how her red squirrel recording became the desert mouse sound in Dune.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2021 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Recommends throw0101a · 2022-03 · on “The secret sounds of Dune: Rice Krispies and Marianne Faithfull”
Two good videos on the topic of sound in Dune . The first from Vanity Fair , "How 'Dune' Composer Hans Zimmer Created the Oscar-Nominated Score": * [LINK] Interesting tidbit: a good number of the "bagpipe" sounds were not created with bagpipes. The second is from wild life photograph Dani Connor, "My Squirrel Recording is in a movie: Interview with Mark Mangini, Oscar Winning Sound Designer": * [this video] A squirrel recording of hers was used to make the sound in the desert mouse ( muad'dib ) scene.
Cites throw0101a · 2021-10 · on ““Dune” (The Movie), Annotated”
> The sound editor could have done that more tastefully. An interview with Mark Mangini, the sound designer, with someone whose sound was used in Dune (for the desert mouse, muad'dib ): * [this video]
Cites throw0101c · 2024-04 · on “Dune ornithopters flap their blades in the wrong plane for vertical takeoff”
The scene in the movie where they're first shown: * [LINK] Somewhat related, the sound design team (who won an Oscar for their work) used cats purring, beetles fluttering, and the canvas strap of a tent in a 100mph wind for the sound of the ornithopters (at 2m40s) * [LINK] Also, for the desert mouse (muad'dib) they used a Swedish baby red squirrel (named Baby Pear); interview with the person who originally recorded the squirrel (Dani Connor): * [this video]
Cites throw0101d · 2026-03 · on “My Astrophotography in the Movie Project Hail Mary”
Somewhat related, nature photographer/youtuber Danni Connor had her recording of a red squirrel used in the movie Dune (Part 1) for the sound of the desert mouse ( muad'dib ). Her interviewing with (Oscar-winning) sound designer Mark Mangini on it: * [this video] * transcript: [LINK] * [LINK] * [LINK] Story of her 'adopting' the squirrels: * [LINK] The name of the squirrel is "Baby Pear"; her viral tweet: * [LINK]