post production sound : research15/1/19
3 aspects of film sound
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Music (Soundtrack)
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Sound effects
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Spoken words (Dialogue)
In order to develop our knowledge and skills in post production sound, we are conducting a secondary research into this field, using examples from different films.
Sound is a micro element of Film making.
‘Sound refers to everything we hear in a movie — words, sound effects, and music. Sound is used in film to heighten a mood, provide us with information about the location of a scene, advance the plot, and tell us about the characters in the story.’
categories of film sound
Diegetic: Refers to all those audio elements that come from sources inside the world we see on the screen. Everything the characters hear. Including dialogue, doors slamming, footsteps.
Non-Diegetic: Refers to all those audio elements that come from outside of the fictional world we see on screen. Everything the audience hears but the characters do not. Includes the musical score and sound effects.
diegetic switch
A diegetic switch is when a piece of diegetic sound, often a piece of music the character hears in the scene gradually transform into the soundtrack of that scene, a non-diegetic sound. This can be used as a transition or used to tell a story during a certain scene. This example is from the film The Amazing Spider Man 2 where the music the protagonist was listening gradually transferred into the soundtrack of this scene.
famous film
sound quote
The reason I have chosen this quote of George Lucas is because I strongly believe that, without the sound aspect ; soundtrack, sound effects, every film made would look the same, regardless of their genre or story, because there is no sound to enhance the plot or even inform the audience the genre of the film. Without sound, the film industry would turn into something much shallower and blander.
sound effects
why would you add sound effects to films?
I would add sound effects in order to enhance the authenticity of the film, giving out the sense of verisimilitude to the audience, engaging them even more to the film. Even possibly giving them a gratification of escapism, allowing them to escape into the world of the film. Sound effects can be added to build up the mood and tone, including the atmosphere of the film. Different sound effects can be used to create a totally different meaning in different scenes.
what aspects of sound effect can you alter and why?
Pitch, tempo and volume may be altered to indicate how the filmmaker expects the audience to respond to a given noise.
what meaning do high-pitched and low-pitched sound communicate, can you think of any more different types of sounds?
High-pitched sound effects are often used to create excitement, panic, fear, or anxiety or create a surprise to the audience. Low-pitched sound effects are used to create a calm, power, horror, or even mystery, creating an enigmatic effect to the film.
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Silence can also be used in key scenes in the same way that they would use a freeze frame. Both tend to grab the audience’s attention to highlight some action or change in story direction. Silence can be used to build up a scene’s intensity or to foreshadow impending doom.
These are examples of film opening that include a soundtrack. This shows the importance of soundtrack to a film.
music
In this video, top 10 compositions created by John Williams is shown, including soundtracks from films such as Harry Potter, Star wars, Jurassic park and Superman.
Music can be used for a number of effects in a movie. The most obvious way music scores are used is to guide the emotional response of the audience. They provide clues, or, in most cases, huge signposts, that tell audiences how the filmmaker wants them to react to a given scene.
Music can also provide an overture for a movie when it’s used as the backdrop for the opening credits.
Directors use music to foreshadow upcoming events. In horror movies, for example, the score is often used to build up tension and suspense just before the monster attacks one of its victims.
Music can be used to shape the ethnic or cultural context of a film.
film opening sound design ideas
In this extract from the film Atonement, diegetic switch is used to turn the diegetic sound of a typewriter into the soundtrack of the opening scene. The sound of the typewriter intensifies as time passes, which builds up tension/excitement for the audience, I believe it is a highly unique and interesting method to add sound into films as it is not as used commonly in the films industry compared to normal sound techniques.
In addition to giving voice to the characters (DIALOGUE) in a movie, two of the more interesting ways the spoken word can shape a movie are through VOICE-OVERS and by providing subtext to a scene.
Voice-overs are typically used to provide background to a story or to help move a story from one set of events to another. Used well, they can be unobtrusive. Used poorly, voice-overs can often seem like “the voice of god”, bringing forth wisdom audiences are supposed to accept unquestioningly. E.g. Shawshank Redemption
We all know from our own personal conversations that there is often a subtext to the words we hear. Subtext means there is an implicit (hidden) meaning standing behind the language we actually hear. Tutorial on Subtext.
dialogue
Watch the following ‘Forest Gump’ clip and evaluate how effectively the meaning is communicated through the sound?
In this extract from the film forrest gump, a sense of danger and war were communicated through the use of sound effects and spoken words, added by the sound designer during post-production of the film. there were both use of diegetic and non diegetic sound. The diegetic sounds were sounds of explosives, gunshots and footsteps, these sound effects were used to create the authenticity, making the audience feel that they are also in the scenario, giving them the sense of visceral and voyeuristic. The sudden entrance of these sounds show that the protagonists were not aware that there will be gunshots at the time. the sound of explosives senses danger and therefore forces the protagonist to stay at one place, not being able to move. The shouts of soldiers amongst the atmosphere of the war is almost incomprehensible, filled with rush and panic, and the will to survive. When forrest was running, the use of explosive sounds were enough to inform the audience what he was running away from, without explicitly showing the explosions. This shows the effectiveness of the use of diegetic sounds, making the audience feel the verisimilitude of the film.
The use of non diegetic sound in this extract is the voiceover of the protagonist, what Forrest was thinking when he was in the war. This use of voiceover gives the audience more information regarding the personality and characteristics of the protagonist, how his only will was to find his friend Bubba, and how he had the generosity to help others first even though he was searching for another person. This shows that Forrest is kind and he thinks of the others before himself. he doesn’t care if he died in the war, but he would be in more regret if he couldn’t find Bubba. The voiceover also gives the audience a sense of vicarious, putting the audience in Forrest's mind. In addition, no soundtracks were used to enhance the verisimilitude of this scene. instead, silence was used in some scenes to enhance the emotional response of the audience. In conclusion, the sound designer had effectively used different aspects of sounds to create a sense of danger and war in this extract.
sound editing
After completing the visual editing, we carried out picture lock in order to stop the picture editing and move on to sound. From this process we went into post production sound, adding sound effects, soundtracks and/or narrations.
sound effects 9/3/19
For sound effects, we are using diegetic sounds such as door opening and closing, taking of heels and dropping them on the floor, walking bare feet on a wood floor, etc. As the audience hears the same noise as the character, it would create a sense of authenticity and verisimilitude to the film, as it makes the audience feel they are in the same environment as the character.
soundtrack 5/2/19
For the soundtrack, we decided to use "Love Theme" from Romeo & Juliet as it portrays the message of love and tragedy. The plot of Romeo and Juliet is already slightly similar to ours, involving love, tragedy and death. To the left is the original soundtrack played by Malino. To the right is the opening with only the soundtrack and without any sound effects, and below the opening is the video when our friend Bun, played the soundtrack on piano.