SOUND RESEARCH
- Jan 15 2019
In order to develop our knowledge and skills in Post Production Sound, we w∂ill conduct secondary research into this field.
Sound is another micro-element aspect of films. We hear sounds and it is the aural sense of our body .
List of sounds we hear:
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violin suspense (music bgm) ND
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orchestra (music bgm) ND
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xylophone? (music bgm) ND
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like across the wood (digest sound, sfx)
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dialouge
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child screening (dialogue) D
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englihtment music (bgm) ND
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Not so high, not so high, (dialogue) D
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sprinkle sfx ND
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eagle sfx D
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trumpet soundtrack ND
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drums soundtrack ND
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children laughing dialouge D
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bike crash sfx D
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.
What are the two different categories of film sound?
Diegetic: Refers to all those audio elements that come from sources inside he world we see on the screen. Everything the characters hears. 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 transition to non-diegetic sound - called Diegetic switch:
When the character is listening to the music but then it becomes
non-diegetic sound which the audience can only hear (the soundtrack)
What filmmakers say about film sound?
"The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie" - George Lewis (director of Star Wars)
I agree with this quote from George Lewis the most because I too believe that sound and music is of equal importance to film visual when it comes to entertainment. Some films are iconic by their film soundtrack and some even went viral for a certain sound effect used for example the soundtrack of StarWars would make anyone know where's the film from, and there is this one non-diegetic backing track used in Inception which became viral and became a meme. There are many of us out there which enjoys listening to music and takes more interest in sound effects which attracts us even more to a film.
"Sound will make or break your film!" - Mr. Simpson.
SOUND EFFECTS
1. Why would you add sound effects to films?
To add dynamics (to build up tension) to the film that we're watching. To induce intense emotions and to give audience the gratification of watching the film. Verisimilitude. Sound effects can be used to add mood or atmosphere to a film by creating a soundscape that accents or adds another layer of meaning to the images on the screen.
2. What aspects of sound effects 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.
3. What meaning do high-pitched and low-pitched sounds communicate; can you think of any more different types of sound?
High-pitch - screaming or dolphin or bird screeching sound. a sense of emergency communication. help to create a sense of anxiety.
Low-pitch - ghostly, used in more of a suspense horror theme. used to create a sense of calm or mystery.
Silence: At key point in a film, directors may use silence in much the same way that the 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.
MUSIC
listen to 10 sound tracks
1. Snowwhite? Death? from Saving Private Ryan.
2. royal, enlightenment, romance, ballroom dancing, suspense, fairytale. from E.T
3. disney? from Empire of the Sun
4. horror. quiet chiming. from Harry Potter
5. from Jaws. approaching suspense, drum and trumpet.
6. powerful. a lot of violin. orchestra. from Superman.
7. sad violin. drama. from Schindlet's List
8. happy, uprising. upcoming of something. from Indiana Jones
9. from Star Wars
10. from Jurassic Park
How Music can change a Film
Music can be used for a number of effects in a movie. The most obvious way music scores are used to guide the emotional response of the audience. They provide clues, or, in most scenes, 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 b before the monster attracts one of its victims.
Music can be used to shape the ethic or cultural context of a film.
SPOKEN WORDS
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, voicer overs can often seem like 'the voice of god', bringing forth wisdom audiences are supposed to accept unquestioningly.
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.
Film Opening sound design ideas
SOUND EFFECTS
Are there any sound effects to be used?
Currently in the film
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Mostly non-diegetic sounds.
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One diegetic sound with the scene with the girls.
BACKGROUND MUSIC
Soundtrack.
Background music.
Official sound
DIALOGUE
Are there going to be any dialogue?
Narration of the protagonist is used to project the character's mind directly to the audience.
Watch the following "Forest Gump" clip and evaluate how effectively the meaning is communicated through the sound?
Keywords to include: post-production sound, diegetic, non-diegetic, sound effects, music, spoken word, dialogue, pitch, tempo, high pitched sounds, low pitched sounds, silence, soundtracks, composer, John Williams, emotional responses, overture for a movie, foreshadow upcoming events, build tension and suspense, shape ethic cultural context, voiceovers, subtext, Randy Thom, sound designer.
- non-diegetic sound. narrative. the rain stopped and the sun came out. gun sound effects. soldier screaming, diegetic sound. whistling sound of bombs. I ran and ran diegetic narrative. I was all by myself. project through the protagonist's mind. he talks about what he did and what he was thinking of. somebody was saying 'help me'. thunder. dialogue. then I felt 'foreshadow'. dramatist. screaming out their intention. what does it mean to yell out an intention? there is no music used. high pitched yells and screams and sound effects. there was a moment of silence at the very start. foreshadowing. what is my emotional response? small background music when the protagonist realized his friend was missing. soft trumpets. sad. non-diegetic. the title was Vietnamese war. a subtext of the narrative. his true intentions. context, a war zone, suffering in defeat. 'get yourself, goddammit' 3 paragraphs.
The sound designer in post-production from Forrest Gump mainly focuses on voice-over/spoken words to project the protagonist's mind to the audience. This usage of narration gives the audience gratification of vicarious engagement and also tells the audience about what kind of character the protagonist (Forrest Gump) is but also non-diegetic at the same time as other characters in the scene do not hear it. In the particular scene where Gump was running from the shooting, we could hear him say "I ran and ran just like the Captain(?) told me to. But then when I looked back, I was all by myself." The subtext behind these spoken words are that Gump had no idea what do to but to follow the captain's order, but only to realize that he may have done the wrong thing as all his colleagues were nowhere behind him and had caught up in the bomb. The meaning of Grump wanting to save his friends (good intention and kindness) and the idea of a sense of defeat is effectively portrayed through the character's narration to the audience as we listen to what Gump has to say considering his character to be a little dense and of low IQ.
Another type of sound used is the diegetic sound effect of the bombing and the shooting of guns in the scene to give the meaning of a serious war-like genre. It was obvious to the audience as the character goes through a war period but they are effectively used along with other sounds such as the narration and silence in the clip to trigger an emotional response from the audience. At the very beginning of the clip in the video where Gump narraters "as if someone turn of the rain, the sun came out" followed by a short silence before the intense gunfight takes place, it was a short series of build up that stimulates tension in the audience about some kind of foreshadowing, considering Gump's character and the sudden bright sun. It was an ironic scene as it was interrupted by several gunshots from the enemy side. The meaning of intense horror, devastation, death and anxiety is successfully conveyed to the audience through these high-pitched and loud sounds of guns and bombs as it prompts the audience to feel engaged in a vicarious way.
A good topic sentence:
In this extract of Forrest Gump, the meaning of action and war is created through the use of sound effects.
SOUND EDITING PROCESS
After completing the visual editing, we went in to picture lock. From this process, we then had to move in to sound editing. We had to add in any sound effect and any soundtracks.
Our film did not include any sound effects, and in fact, almost no sound effects at all. The only diegetic sound included in our film is the dialogue with young Aiden and the (fan)girls screaming and Aiden's friend in his room. Therefore, for the most part, the sound was muted in the video because we intended to use narrations in general.
Voice over / Narration
In the first attempt for the voice over, as seen in the first assembly, it was recorded by a woman. We did not have time to record it in time for the editor to put it in the sequence so a relative is asked for help to record the voice over. It was on the spot when the script was changed and new suggestions were made. The narration now follows the pace of the editing, as changed by the editor. The script was now in the Thai language, where we also did not have time to translate the English language into Thai.
As for the feedback, the recording could've done better, in terms of quality. It was also obvious it was a woman, even though the pitch was turned down.
In my second attempt to change this after the editor left, I have got the actor for the protagonist to record his voice. He was reluctant to do so but helped out in the end anyway.
As I reviewed the recording immediately, it was recorded with his phone and his voice was quieter than expected. As I got other Thai friends to review the recording, they then said his accent/dialect was a bit incomprehensible. But I decided to leave it like that as it adds to the characteristic of the protagonist as well as there is the help of subtitles which the audience can rely on. But for next time, it is a point of improvement.
Soundtrack
The violin track in the beginning - Jin (BTS) Awake
Why choose this song?
The lyrics of this song represents the life that the protagonist (Aiden) have been leading according to his background story. It is also a Korean song in which we are trying to aim for (to remake a K-drama) and we believe that this would attract the audience in the particular field that has high interest in Korea.
Why violin?
Violin has a sad tone to it. In the original song, the opening also had an orchestra playing which made me think of doing a violin cover with a violinist from school (Ken). We have made this cover ourselves to prevent copyright if possible (even though there are many violin covers on Youtube). As the narration of Aiden (the protagonist) is played, the violin would add a serious and melancholic atmosphere to the setting of the film. This is to represent his life and his current feelings
Where the music score is taken from.
Original song.
The piano track -
We have decided to add a mellow piano track to set the mood of the opening. Our sound director has chosen a list of piano covers of well known Korean songs as well as with really good melody.
The soundtrack for the ident - the lively piano playing at the beginning of the opening was to set a branding sound effect of kind music to identify our production company. It is to accompany the sparkles and the stars that appear on the screen to make it seem dreamy of some sort.
The soundtrack for the opening title - Joy (featuring Mark) Dream Me.
This is an original soundtrack for another movie film, which is of similar genre but more action and fantasy wise. We have chose this song because similar to the violin soundtrack, the lyrics really speak to the protagonist and music wise it adds to the genre of romance (comedy) drama.
Post-Production Sound Editing
Adding Reverb and Audio Gain
Audio Gain (and loss)
For the narration: As I have mentioned, in the second attempt to record, the narration voice has been quieter than the background music. I have fixed it by setting the to +11 decibels. That's how quiet it was compared to the soundtrack.
For the violin: In some parts, the recording has feedback as part of the track. It was due to the lack of a microphone when recording the song. Therefore I have tried to quiet down in parts where the feedback is present.
For the piano soundtrack: Since there will always be two audio layers playing (soundtrack and narration), in some places I have adjust the audio gain and loss to make it sound better.
Reverb
This was mainly placed on the violin playing as I have mentioned before, it was not recorded professionally. Therefore, a lot of faults can be found in this track, not just the feedback. I have added some reverb to the track to make it sound a little better and to improve the quality of the sound it makes. At first, I may have added too much to make it sound weird. That's why I got removed of it later. Only to add only a small layer of studio reverb into it.
Final Film with Sound
