J.R. Hudson
Spirit Animal
INitially I was going to place this inthe Directing thread; but after umpteen million posts that link us to a short film and ask the never-ending question "What do think?"
How many times do we ask or hear this question? I am not referring to Music Videos or Event Photography but for short films that are submitted. One thing I always; and literally always see (hear) missing is AUDIO. Sound Design. Foley, FX, ADR. This is something I am starting to explore in more detail and strongly feel that it is something that is as important as Comp and Framing and Musical Score.
Most short films I see have just that; a Score. No design or FX or any type of Foley work whatsoever. You don't need a sound proof stage to make this happen you just need to use your MIC (Boom MIC) to record certain key sounds in your film.
There are so many films submitted here that just don't feel like films; and that feeling that is missing is the 'sense surreal' of Sound Design.
Ambient sound:
Ambience helps establish the scene and works editorially to support the picture editing by, for example, staying constant across a picture cut to indicate to the audience that no change of space has occurred, but rather only a simple picture edit. Conversely, if ambience changes abruptly at a picture cut, an indication is made to listener that the scene also has changed.
Room tone
Each room has a distinct presence of subtle sounds created by the movement of air particles in a particular volume. A microphone placed in two different empty rooms will produce different room tone for each.
Soundscape
For example, the late nineteenth-century American soundscape was largely limited to unamplified, live sounds, while the soundscape of the mid twenties included radio, electrically recorded disks, and public address, as well as live music, theater, and an increasing number of unmuffled motors. In much of the world, today soundscape is characterized by competition among multiple amplified sounds, along with attempts (like the Walkman and acoustic panels) to restore individual aural autonomy in sound micro-atmospheres. Rural, maritime, and Third World soundscape of course offer their own particularities, as do early morning and late evening soundscapes.
Foley
Foleying is an excellent means of supplying the subtle sounds that production mikes often miss. The rustling of clothing and a queak of a saddle when a rider mounts his horse give a scene a touch of realism that is difficult to provide using other effects methods. A steamy sex scene was probably created by a foley artist making dispassionate love to his or her own wrist.
Walla group[size=-1](another term is ADR group) [/size]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]Today the walla group use real words and real conversations. The walla actors come prepared. They have been informed of the period and locale of the film and have researched the local jargon and geography so that the background dialogue will be authentic. The material is mostly improvised. Group walla has to be cut very skillfully like sound effects so that it does not sound artificially placed. The audience do not what to hear too much every time the principal actors pause. The editor weave the group walla in and out. [/font]
And of course the Musical Score.
Within the site: http://www.filmsound.org/ is an interesting start for beginners
http://www.filmsound.org/marshall/index.htm
A Quote I found:
"When we make a film, we´re in fact also trying to distort the perception of reality in the audience. For 90 minutes we want to create the illusion that the screen at the far end of the theatre is in fact the reality, and that the flat images are three dimentional. To a large extent it´s the sound that creates the third dimension, the depth, but our minds fool us into believing that we see it."
This is some food for thought and the next time someone says "Please Critique my Short Film" and no attention whatsoever has been paid to the Sound Design of the picture; we need to call attention to it.
I feel this is as important as Composition and Framing, as important as lighting, as important as first rate talent, as important as tight editing and as important as the story itself. We all want to Direct it seems; but it is our best interest to learn all facets of what makes our films 'Sense Surreal'.
How many times do we ask or hear this question? I am not referring to Music Videos or Event Photography but for short films that are submitted. One thing I always; and literally always see (hear) missing is AUDIO. Sound Design. Foley, FX, ADR. This is something I am starting to explore in more detail and strongly feel that it is something that is as important as Comp and Framing and Musical Score.
Most short films I see have just that; a Score. No design or FX or any type of Foley work whatsoever. You don't need a sound proof stage to make this happen you just need to use your MIC (Boom MIC) to record certain key sounds in your film.
There are so many films submitted here that just don't feel like films; and that feeling that is missing is the 'sense surreal' of Sound Design.
Ambient sound:
Ambience helps establish the scene and works editorially to support the picture editing by, for example, staying constant across a picture cut to indicate to the audience that no change of space has occurred, but rather only a simple picture edit. Conversely, if ambience changes abruptly at a picture cut, an indication is made to listener that the scene also has changed.
Room tone
Each room has a distinct presence of subtle sounds created by the movement of air particles in a particular volume. A microphone placed in two different empty rooms will produce different room tone for each.
Soundscape
For example, the late nineteenth-century American soundscape was largely limited to unamplified, live sounds, while the soundscape of the mid twenties included radio, electrically recorded disks, and public address, as well as live music, theater, and an increasing number of unmuffled motors. In much of the world, today soundscape is characterized by competition among multiple amplified sounds, along with attempts (like the Walkman and acoustic panels) to restore individual aural autonomy in sound micro-atmospheres. Rural, maritime, and Third World soundscape of course offer their own particularities, as do early morning and late evening soundscapes.
Foley
Foleying is an excellent means of supplying the subtle sounds that production mikes often miss. The rustling of clothing and a queak of a saddle when a rider mounts his horse give a scene a touch of realism that is difficult to provide using other effects methods. A steamy sex scene was probably created by a foley artist making dispassionate love to his or her own wrist.
Walla group[size=-1](another term is ADR group) [/size]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]Today the walla group use real words and real conversations. The walla actors come prepared. They have been informed of the period and locale of the film and have researched the local jargon and geography so that the background dialogue will be authentic. The material is mostly improvised. Group walla has to be cut very skillfully like sound effects so that it does not sound artificially placed. The audience do not what to hear too much every time the principal actors pause. The editor weave the group walla in and out. [/font]
And of course the Musical Score.
Within the site: http://www.filmsound.org/ is an interesting start for beginners
http://www.filmsound.org/marshall/index.htm
A Quote I found:
"When we make a film, we´re in fact also trying to distort the perception of reality in the audience. For 90 minutes we want to create the illusion that the screen at the far end of the theatre is in fact the reality, and that the flat images are three dimentional. To a large extent it´s the sound that creates the third dimension, the depth, but our minds fool us into believing that we see it."
This is some food for thought and the next time someone says "Please Critique my Short Film" and no attention whatsoever has been paid to the Sound Design of the picture; we need to call attention to it.
I feel this is as important as Composition and Framing, as important as lighting, as important as first rate talent, as important as tight editing and as important as the story itself. We all want to Direct it seems; but it is our best interest to learn all facets of what makes our films 'Sense Surreal'.
