“The eye sees better when the sound is great” -Steven Spielberg
Analog vs Digital Sound
What does sound do? directs our attention to specific parts of the image allows us to anticipate an element in the film and to form expectations sound can clarify images, contradict images or make images ambiguous creates and defines offscreen space sound also gives new value to silence
Types of Film Sound Vocal Sounds (Dialogue & Narration) Environmental sounds (ambient sounds, sound effects, Foley sounds) Music Silence
Sound effects Recorded for the film then added in (after) Foley sounds created and recorded in sync with image (during)
Sound crew Sound recordist Sound mixer Microphone boom operator Gaffers (electricity and cables) Foley artist
1. Loudness: “sneaking in & sneaking out” “sound perspective” Perceptual Properties: 1. Loudness: “sneaking in & sneaking out” “sound perspective”
Perceptual Properties: 2. Pitch: the perceived highness of lowness of a sound
Perceptual Properties: 3. Timbre: tone quality, texture or feel of a sound
Several sounds can be edited together to form a new, artificial soundscape just as several shots can be edited together to form a new, artificial soundscape.
Ambient sound (sound captured in the real world) Vs Dry recordings (sound captured in studio)
Fidelity: refers to the extent to which sound is faithful to the source we believe it to be coming from
Is diegetic or nondiegetic? Is it onscreen or offscreen? (Offscreen sound can only ever be DIEGETIC, sez Dr K) Is it internal or external?
Others weigh in…
http://www. youtube. com/watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuwZ5kvisbo Blazing Saddles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzKUVsHL7ac Tenenbaums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QcP-XeD9bo Sat Night Fever (46) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0FphcAh3T8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APUQeQalRsU Foley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GPGfDCZ1EE Wise Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNmKghTvj0E Hush https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH_O5h2109M All that Heaven Allows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBH97bWmAfM DREAMGIRLS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvbHJfxpGAE https://digitalcampus.swankmp.net/ecudatabase#/play/230