Chapter 7: Sound in the Cinema
This chapter looks at how sound in film is constructed separately from the images and is not a natural occurrence. Because it can be manipulated independently of the visuals, it gives flexibility to the sound designer. The writers go into detail about the history of sound in cinema, from 1920's talkies to old classics like 'Casablanca,' to contemporary works such as 'Star Wars.'
Psychologically we are conditioned to connect with the things that engage most of our senses. The viewer gets a more complex perceptual experience both watching and listening at the same time.
Sound serves multiple functions in film: to focus our attention in one direction, eg the creaking of a door off camera signifies something about to happen, and makes us more wary. It cues us to form expectations. Horror genre films often use this to their advantage. Sound also gives another value to silence. This is a feature that I hope to employ in my own animation. It can act as a counterbalance and negative, bringing contrast and a moment of reflection or tension to the visual piece.
Sound is divided into speech, music, noise (or effects).
Loudness is the volume of the audio. Soundscape often drops when dialogue is introduced. Loudness helps to perceive distance.
Pitch is the highness/lowness of sound. It helps us distinguish music and speech from noises, also between different objects, e.g. a hollow sound created with a thump. Important in casting vocal actors,
Tibre is the colour or tone quality of sound. An example is a voice being nasal. It is what the listener feels when they hear a sound.
Mixing is the process of combining and working on sounds. It is the construction of the stream of auditory information that plays across the images. Mixture can be sparse or dense.
Synchronous sound is the matching of audio with visuals. It can by rhythmically related.
Animation typically records the music, dialogue and sound effects before the image track is made. My friend is not composing a piece to go alongside the animation, while I have just shown him initial ideas and designs. I will not have any dialogue in my animation, so there is no need to record vocals or have voice actors. I don't want to make a feature or focus of sound effects. This is both for practical reasons, because I do not find myself that strong in sound editing or recording, and also because I want to make the two minutes more like a music video with a narrative, than a story enhanced by music. I want the track to be one of the main features, undistracted by other elements. Because I don't have particularly action filled sequences there is no need to give effects to them to enhance the atmosphere.
Diegetic vs. Non-diegetic sound
Diegetic sound has a source in the story world. It appears to be created in the on-screen image. Dialogue, sound effects, atmospheric noise, and music of which we can see the musicians playing are all included in this. Sound perspective can be suggested by the loudness, pitch and timbre of the sounds. Non-diegetic sound would be that which is purposefully constructed off screen. It comes from outside the story world, such as a narrative voice-over, the score tracks and most music. My piece will feature mainly the latter, because I will have no dialogue, and the soundtrack will have music that will not be visibly played on-screen.
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