Introduction: Sound in film can make or break a movie. It's the noises you hear in a movie and with the right ambience it really has a power like no other. Whenever I watch a movie I hear mainly the music and the dialogue, however the other sounds are just as important. Cars passing by, wind blowing, etc. make a scene come to life. Little details and sounds like these really show how much care a director or filmmaker put into their movie and this assignment is supposed to show this accordingly.
Section A: Definitions and Examples
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| Background noises, ambident noises, or sound effects in a movie. For example wind blowing in the air or a song playing during an action scene. |
| Someone who builds sounds for a film, for example Ben Burtt. |
| The list of recorded music in a movie. After a movie’s release, a movie will typically release them in albums for example the Star Wars original soundtrack. |
| A piece of music containing a solo or many parts in an orchestra. Star Wars has many scores and orchestras in it’s movies. |
| Music in a piece of media that has music even though the media isn’t musical. It’s like a score however the term is used less for movies as opposed to say TV shows or videogames. |
| The song most associated with a film, usually played in the beginning or is really standout. Once again, Star Wars comes to mind with it’s iconic theme song which plays as the just as iconic text scrolls. |
| The noises in a movie besides the music, for example the sound of a lightsaber or Godzilla’s iconic roar. |
| 2 or more people talking in a film, it tells how we’re supposed to feel about these characters. Like someone evil such as Voldemort talks down to people and is manipulative. |
| Atmospheric sounds in a film, they help build the world. Things such as cars passing by or wind blowing shape how a world is formed in a movie and without it the environments feel bland and lifeless. |
| Narration in a movie, for example the majority of the film “Good Fellas” has a lot of narration. |
Section B: Becoming a sound engineer. Identify the types of sounds to support each theme.
What types of sound would you select to support the visuals in the introduction to movie set at a Cabin/The Woods?
A Cabin/The Woods (Horror)
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(List 6 words used to describe this music) | Suspenseful, build up, scary, tense, creepy, and ominous. |
| Wind blowing, a wolf howling, footsteps, birds flying away, bats, flashlights turning on, trees flowing in the wind, owls, thunder, creaking wood, and rain pouring down. |
(List 4 lines or words used in popular movies to support your answers.) | “Guys, let’s turn back I don’t like it here.” “One of you will die in this cabin, and I know who will kill said person.” |
Basketball Game (Teen Drama)
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(List 6 words used to describe this music) | Thrill, suspense, intense, fast pace, motivational |
| Shoes screeching, crowd, whistle, net swooshing, home teams anthem, buzzer, backboard, announcers, footsteps, crowd stumping, ball bouncing |
(List 4 lines or words used in popular movies to support your answers.) | “The shot clock is almost down” |
Urban City Scene (Triller)
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(List 6 words used to describe this music) | Suspenseful, tense, quiet, calm, frantic, not too fast but not too slow either. |
| Cars passing by, people talking, lots of footsteps, doors opening, police sirens, subway trains, if it’s an action scene there could be screaming, hitting, gunshots, and cars drifting by. |
(List 4 lines or words used in popular movies to support your answers.) | “Quiet! Do you want to get caught? Keep a low profile.” “Phew, that was a close one.” “ Hide before they see us again!” “There they are! Seize them!” |
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(List 6 words used to describe this music) | Intense, suspenseful, hyper, wild, electrified, heated, fury. |
| Car vrooming, second car vrooming, tires screeching, cars honking, car collision, police siren, sounds of the other car on the road, people screaming from the outside, swtiching gears, car door. |
(List 4 lines or words used in popular movies to support your answers.) | |
Giant spaceship ( Sci-Fi ) Create your own!
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(List 6 words used to describe this music) | Wonderous, exciting, curious, optimistic, almost cheerful, triumphant. |
| Jet boosters, lasers, that noise that's made when something breaks the sound barrier, twinkling stars, beeping, a robot activating, buttons being pressed, a futuristic door opening, a robot floating, a robot beeping, and the ship entering hyper speed. |
(List 4 lines or words used in popular movies to support your answers.) | “Set course for the base on Neptune.” “Captain’s log, star date: December 12th, 3023.”
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Reflection: In this assignment my team and I created this graph to show sound design's meaning and many examples. The goal was to show how it can be used in different scenarios to horror, teen dramas, or even action movies. My group and I made sure that these examples were valid and correct to use and corrected inaccuracies accordingly. I believe however that my teammates and I did a great job and everyone did their part great, we worked on these graphs and we were all responsible to help each other out.
Sources:
https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/exploring-movie-construction-and-production/chapter/8-what-is-sound/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_engineer https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soundtrack https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/score https://incidental-music.com/ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theme%20song#:~:text=1,sometimes%20recurring%20during%20its%20course https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/sound-effect#:~:text=%2F%CB%88sa%CA%8And%20%C9%AAfekt%2F,to%20make%20it%20more%20realistic https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/dialogue#:~:text=(also%20dialog),descriptions%20and%20not%20much%20dialogue. https://visual-tone.com/2020/11/15/why-use-ambient-sound-effects-in-film-where-to-find-it/#:~:text=In%20short%2C%20ambient%20sound%20is,every%20other%20sound%20is%20added. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/voice-over#:~:text=%2F%CB%88v%C9%94%C9%AAs%20%C9%99%CA%8Av%C9%99r%2F,not%20seen%20on%20the%20screen
