An Introduction to Film Sound

A lecture in three parts:1. The key role of film sound

2. Different layers of film sound3. The process of assembling film

sound

King Kong (Merian Cooper, 1933)King Kong (Peter Jackson, 2005)

Giving King Kong (2005) the

‘silent treatment’1. We are going to watch a short excerpt

from the film – first without sound, then with sound.

2. After the second viewing, ask yourself the key question:

What does film sound do?Kong climbs The Empire State Building (1933)

King Kong Battle of the airplanes (2005)

What can sound do?

1. Create a mood

2. Create a sense of rhythm or pace

3. Provide a sense of space and place

4. Accentuate the action

5. Punctuate the scene

6. Draw our attention to certain things or people

7. Smooth transitions from one scene to another

8. Refer to something or someone out of frame

9. Act in opposition to what we see

Sound is50% of themovie-goingexperience.

Film producer and directorGeorge Lucas

Sound designer Randy Thom says: “I'm

always amused when I'm introduced to

somebody as a sound person. They often say

something like, ‘Well, sound is so important to

film.’ Saying that tells me that they don't really

think sound is important at all, because they

would never, if they were introduced to the

director of photography, say, ‘You know,

visual images are so important to film.’

Clearly somebody who says that doesn't

understand how important sound really is.”

Michel Chion explains that sound

provides the image with added

value: “a sound enriches a given

image so as to create the definite

impression… that this information or

expression ‘naturally’ comes from

what is seen, and is already

contained in the image itself.”

Film music and added value

The contribution of film sound

“Added value is what gives the

(eminently incorrect) impression that

sound is unnecessary, that sound

merely duplicates a meaning which

in reality it brings about, either all on

its own or by discrepancies between

it and the image.” (Michel Chion)

Some misconceptions about film sound

Film sound is more than simply just dialogue and

music. There are several common misconceptions

about film sound.

• First, that the sound is recorded along with the image.

• Second, that the sound is simply ‘captured’ and

simply paired with the image.

• And third, that sound requires much less work than

the tedious labour undertaken for the presentation of

the visuals.

Some misconceptions

Film sound is more than simply just dialogue and music. There are several common misconceptions about film sound.

• There is no single, magical microphone which records the dialogue, sound effects, and music, on-set in perfect balance.

Where does film sound come from?

Ronin (1998) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVaNBrYLvFg

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGKAFeYXMbA&feature=related

• http://filmsound.org/t2/

THE ART OF FOLEY

Foley effects arephysical movementsounds made byFoley artists that arelater matched upwith visuals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AakEOPIJcB4&feature=related

Use of sound effects

Sound effects help to:

• Give weight to a giant boulder that maybe only made from Styrofoam

• Give life to objects made up of millionsof tiny pixels animated through CGI

• Give dimensionality to a hugespaceship that is really a tiny model

1. Much of film sound is recorded separatelyfrom the image – including a significantpercentage of dialogue.

2. Film sound is constructed and painstakinglysynchronised with the cinematic visuals.

3. The production and postproduction ofsounds calls for a lot of work that, ifsuccessful, reinforces the apparentseamlessness of the sound-image event.

Just as every visual component in a filmis designed and executed by the writer,director, cinematographer, and designteam, each single sound in a film iscarefully conceived, chosen, recorded,edited, and mixed by an array of soundartists and technicians.

Categories of film sound

• Music• Dialogue• Sound effects

Production soundtrack• Production dialogue• Ambient backgrounds• ADR (and group Walla)• Foley effects• Sound effects• Music (diegetic and non-diegetic)

Sound production crew

• Production mixer• Boom operator• Cable man• Effects recordist

Sound designer

Frank Serafine: “A sound designer isvery much like the film composer. Acomposer sits down and writes a scoreout. Then he gives it to the conductorand orchestra who plays it. As a sounddesigner, you first sit down and designand write out what you think everythingis going to be.”

Sound postproduction crewSupervising sound editor• Dialogue editor• Effects recordist• Effects mixer• Effects editor• Foley artist• Foley mixer• ADR editor• ADR mixer• Composer• Music mixer• Music supervisor• Music editor• Rerecording mixer

Sound design of King Kong

Excerpt from thepostproduction diaryof King Kong (2005,directed by PeterJackson).

• http://filmsound.org/kingkong/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OexxFXUvit8

A fantastic website to look at if you are interested infilm sound: