Unit 24 Sound Editing
Task 1
Assignment 1
Compressing and summarizing sounds to fit to what the media is presenting can be shown through trailers. The reason they would do this is either that the song is too long, and they would have to choose specific parts of the song to support the film, or create a new meaning to the song entirely. A good way to see this in effect would be from Gapar Noe's Climax trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNp0jlfbgqM
This trailer continues a loop of a specific part of the song to match the hyper mood of the film.
The actual song is less active after this specific part:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ5V3OZdIZM
The reason they would choose this part instead of another is one because it wants to match the mood and another is because the original song has lyrics. If you were to use the lyrics, this would distract from the films dialogue and make certain parts of the trailer less effective. The use of this part of the song creates a repetitive chaos, a selling point of the films and narrative and directors reputation. Using the ending of the song means that the trailer has a justified reason to end and a fitting conclusion, if it were to end abruptly it could distract the viewer and cut away it's momentum.
Eliminating flawed, repetitive, uninteresting or irrelevant material from recorded clips, this would occur mainly to highlight a specific area and/ or take away parts of the whole product that doesn't present as significant quality to the rest. The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast, includes full interviews with celebrities, whilst clipping specific parts of the interviews into easily consumable portions. An example of this is when Joe Rogan invited Elon Musk to the podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycPr5-27vSI
However, because of its large length, they have taken small amounts of the interview and made them into more easily and specific parts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfqtKPP2_6M
This part shows Elon Musk with his flamethrower idea, a part that was of higher quality, and has became a highlight from the interview/ podcast. The reason they would do this is because people wouldn't normally want to sit through a long interview and rather watch the best bits, an easier and quicker way to understand the height of the interviews.
Keeping recorded speech legal may be to keep it safe for television limits, or any shows that censor themselves. If any swearing, nudity or any other adult content is revealed during the show, they would have to remove it. an example of this was when Ricky Gervais swore during the Golden Globes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j71bDdVbjp4
They had to remove the audio from that part of the program to remain legal and keep a family friendly rating. It is a global awards ceremony that occurs annually, and due to a need to target towards families to ground this further into a tradition, they have to target and popularize to each household, meaning that they will have to remove any adult related content.
Taking out any inappropriate language or incident from a product usually is done because of the fact that younger audiences may watch it due to its availability. Vevo does this to music videos for YoutTube and earlier companies achieved the same effect for places such as MTV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN-hfMtY
This music video by Eminem presents a censored version of the original song. Due to inappropriate language the censoring company take away the layer of audio or entire part of the song and send it off the be broadcasted on the radio and TV. Another reason they would censor a product is to be able to show adult content during day time television. Trailers are known to remove language, content etc. from trailers in order to have it green banned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kSuas6mRpk
Kill Bill had tinted the colour of the scenes to make the blood blacker and look less like blood, any swearing hadn't been included and a lot of the violence isn't shown. Doing this ensures that they will be able to have a green band trailer and is able to be seen by all audiences. One incident that didn't manage to be edited out and changed TV was the John F Kennedy assassination.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie5XMXZvB_Y
This content was one of the first harsh content to be shown on TV and had changed TV because of their firm grasp on censorship. Censoring the language or actions is used to make the product legal to be broadcasted to radios and TV's during the day, making it more available to other people and has a higher chance of it being heard by people. Not censoring content means that it can only be shown after Watershed, where more adult content is allowed.
Changing the chronological order of sound/ speech has been used throughout trailers, they intend to do this to either confuse the viewer and/ or drip feed them enough information about the film that it peeks their interest, which, if not in order, offers them a different idea of the film, subverting their expectations. A trailer such as The Handmaiden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whldChqCsYk
is able to present the footage in a disorderly way which makes the spectator question the article, furthering the interest and obsession of the film. The film would not play these sound effects in order throughout the film, it wouldn't have people breathing in and out then a chair falling. they limit the amount of sounds to engage the audience, keeping them aware, offering an active viewing.
On the other hand, a film such as Amour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7D-Y3T0XFA
is able to use dialogue to explain the tones, genre and events of the film, it reveals personality in the characters we are going to be spending the trailer and the film with. You can understand by their accent and pitch that they are French and either male or female. The film has music playing over the trailer, by the end of it, the music is cut out by a button, this means that there won't be conversations and days turning into nights as this one piece of music playing at this speed will be throughout these events of the movie, instead they change the order and the amount of sounds in the trailer, feeding you a lot about the film by only using a little.
Both pieces show that you can change the order pieces of sounds to create a brand new interpretation of an entire source or become interested into wanting to learn more about it. These pieces are used to grab your attention, pick apart the pieces of sounds and try and fit them together to make an understanding that seems right for the film, it makes you an active listener.
Adding sound effects and soundtracks/songs during moments of recorded speech can make an easy impact on the audience and through a small clip, could be able to understand what sort of film the genre fits into. Adding songs into dietetic existence of the film during a tense moment can make the film feel like a comedy, such as Shaun of the Dead during the bar scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4tVH7BPb-Q&t=62s
This scene creates a danger and introduces a light heart, upbeat rock song, this cuts into conversation between the characters and would have had to have been layered on top of the recorded footage to make it sound more cinematic, this provides contrapuntal sound between the music played and the characters situation and the danger they are faced with.
Using sound effects when cutting off characters dialogue mid sentence can also be used in a dramatic way, Synecdoche New York during it's ending scene has the main character Caiden talking to another actress, and as he is going through his sentence, a voice over commanding script queues from him commands him to die, distant shouting and screaming matches the tone of the scene and supports the visual effect of the scene. It establishes distant action, bringing what is near us lower in urgency and a slower atmosphere. The music is parallel to what is being shown, high strings to evoke a sad emotion to reinforce what is being shown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0j3xN5UWDY
This is scene is used to provoke sadness from the viewer, used in a drama film.
Although I have shown how music can be used as a comedic way of cutting off dialogue and sound effects/ voice overs can be used to cut off dialogue for drama, they both can be used vice versa and outside the emotion of comedy and sadness, it's just the way you use them and the context of it's use.
Friday 25 January 2019
Friday 18 January 2019
Sound Editing Task Unit 24
Mood and Atmosphere
Mood is created through all three elements of sound created in a film. Since these elements were introduced into movies, they have since been used to get specific reactions from audiences, the large variety of reactions from sounds puts them into categories for certain films such as silence to loud in a matter of a second would fit in today's horror calming piano or pop songs may be used in romantic films, because of the large amount, it is difficult to break apart each three elements of sound that creates moods and atmospheres.
Film has the ability to use music to build up suspense, subtly such as the diner shootout scene from Mr Robot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVa2IPenc_E
This scene uses a repetitive drone from the music and motorcycle to build up a mood of suspense to what seems inevitable and create dread. As soon as it also shows the use of gunfire, a sound effect to cut away the music and make the viewer in a state of shock.
The scene also creates an added emotion by using silence in the diner, not knowing if people had survived the shootout. Having the ability to use quiet and silent points in the scene presents that you can create an atmosphere and mood from the audience without having to use too many sound effects.
People have been able to use music to create a mood and atmosphere for the audience since the silent era. Films such as Nosferatu had used music for the intent purpose to get a reaction from the audience, since then filmmakers have been doing the same thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6jFoYm3xs
In Nosferatu, they included slow eerie music when things may not be happening in the film to give off the idea to never let your guard down, creating a horror atmosphere even at the low points of the film.
Another way music can be used is for surprising effect, horror films today are hell bent on jump scaring all the time and it's no exception for films, such as the Insidious theme. However, music today can present real, personal horror. Michael Haneke had ingeniously used music to reveal more about the characters, moment and how far a we are into the film. He had done this in a scene from Amour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuuCpX2TpoI
This music at the beginning of the scene creates a soothing atmosphere, absolute skill from the pianist, not hitting a wrong note once, it shows the dedication and ability. Cutting this off out of nowhere and a radio button to switch this to silence forms shocking mood and a very backwards and horrific atmosphere.
Sound effects are able to make an impact of peoples mood to a clip/ film. Films try to heighten the sounds in scenes compared to real life, especially when trying to give atmosphere to a clip. A film such as American History X is able to create a cringing mood and unpleasant atmosphere during the scene that Edward Norton curbs stomp someone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1zp953kVLs
Heightening the sound effects adds impact to the scene.
Another sound effect that throws you into a new mood and creates an entirely different atmosphere may be jump scares, creating an instant mood for the audience, however lasting a few seconds. A clip that is able to create a jump scare, whilst keeping you in the moment would be from PTA's film There Will be Blood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxQEZIDws7Y
This clip is able to create a scary, overwhelming atmosphere by sparingly using loud noises for the scene and dumping them all in one moment, however because it draws out the sound effect, it creates a cathartic and hostile atmosphere and sets the mood way up, keeping the audience on alert.
Audio Fade
Audio fades are used to be able to gradually silent a sound that bears no use, it fades instead of stopping at a sudden to make the sounds less jarring.
Enter the Void was able to use an audio fade a the beginning of the scene when Oscar take DMT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxQEZIDws7Y
The purpose of this is to subtly change from realism into imagination, from sober to high, its a subtle and quick way of changing audio, fading the traffic and background noises in favor of loud prolonged sounds.
Dialogue
Dialogue is the one of the best ways for characters to reveal more of themselves, world, circumstances or exposition if visuals aren't capable of having an as effective way or less efficient way of doing so. It can be used as comedy, disturbing, suspense, a way to pad out the run time and other means.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Zw0p9qOkg
In this scene, Paul Thomas Anderson is able to create a very uncomfortable and incredibly engaging moment that is drawn out in the best of ways.
Lengthening the scene means that they can extract deep emotion and secrets from the character from a simple "Do you get muscle spasms for no reason?" to "Have you ever had intercourse with someone inside your family?". This dialogue had the ability to bring out as much of the character in six and a half minutes that, if visually, would take an entire film to present. This scene fits perfectly with the movie and a great presentation of a drama genre film, a realistic, intriguing scene that focuses entirely on it's characters. This scene is able to describe the characters with parts that may not appear in the film with no exposition dump.
Another way to use dialogue is to explain the plot that's coming up or something they're about to do, a lot of films make fun of this, one being Austin Powers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8w95xIdH4o
This scene explains everything they are about to do, the character saying all of what they are about to do that could easily be explained through visuals is called Basle Exposition.
Voice Over
Voice overs have been used across the board in media. In the news, they have been used to inform you with what they are saying, whilst they show the effects of the place/ people. This way of voice over keeps a brisk pace in the news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9TytNU6hsg
Fiction films use voice over mostly to explain what they are doing/ do/ going to do. The reason they use voice over instead of dialogue to do this is normally because they are alone at these moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IacpphyPpNY
The lobster has been able to use voice over to explain a lot about the character, and breaks what would be a long scene into explaining what they had done previously, the way they do this is to have a character besides the protagonist to explain this, removing the personal element, something that the entire film rids itself of, further supporting the films themes. This example of voice over is primarily comedic, dark humor, the film being a comedy drama/thriller.
A different genre that uses a character inside the universe that is a comedy crime film was Snatch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Hj6YsAfu0
Once again the film uses exposition in its narration, they use this as humor, matching the rest of the style comedy. This proves that if your going to have voice over, it has to match the rest of the dialogue and story style of narrative telling.
Ambient Sound
Ambient sounds are sounds that are used in the background, almost like foley, it's used to express the world further and add realism. such things include water, wind, animals in the background such as chirps and barks. Almost if not every film features ambient sound effects to widen the credibility of it's film and set the audience in the mood of the rest of the film before any line of dialogue or foley sound. A film such as Being John Malcovich uses ambient sounds in a realistic volume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSGYElDi38s
This scene subconsciously tells you to keep in mind that they are in the city by having cars driving below. It keeps the city alive and doesn't have to put too much effort in doing this, its a very easy process and the result is very good.
SoundBridge
Filmmakers try to include soundbridges, adding an illusion of pace to scenes when sound carries through to another shot. Because of this, soundbridges are used in all types of genres.
A film called Amadeus, a drama comedy, is full of soundbridges, one scene being:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORpIfsPa1TY
This scene doesn't have a sound that doesn't carry through to the next shot. This creates a faster looking pace to the scene and makes the time go quicker without having to slow down the pace to move on to the next camera angle.
Anomalisa, an animated fantasy drama uses sound bridges to make dialogue flow more naturally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xALTK9T0jks
They would do this because, people may think it's an amateur made film, if conversational momentum had to stop and start at the convenience of the shot, the scene would seem false and unrealistic.
Foley Sound
Foley artists are people that create clear sound effects that weren't captured in production to make the sound more cinematic. Their methods are done during post production, so that they can ensure that they are hitting their marks when sound has to be made. A scene from a film such as Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0ZEmLosVXE
This scene in particular would have the foley artist recreate every sound besides dialogue, such as footsteps, removal of gun belt, cards sliding on a wooden table and moving in leather jackets.
Synchronous/ Asynchronous sound
Synchronous sounds is when the audio matches what is being shown on screen , such as music matching the sound effects. Edgar Wright is very good with this in all of his films and tries to synchronize the music to the sounds every time, to the point that he would have the music first and build a scene around it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4tVH7BPb-Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWOHCCV4WM
In these two scenes it shows the beat of the music matching the beat on the zombie, flicker of lights, the pace of the music matching the pace of their arcing around the zombie, something may not have noticed on first viewing, proving the hard work and dedicated behavior that it takes to pull off a task such as this. In the worlds end the music matches their footsteps, the pace of their drinking and dialogue between the characters.
Asynchronous sounds are the opposite to synchronous sounds, where audio from sound effects or music does't match what is being shown on screen. Music that doesn't match the pace or fitting sound of the film can be found in Martin Scorsese's film Mean Streets, during the pool scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtAl0bXSmzI
This music has nothing to do with what is being shown and there is no clear presentation of pacing in the violence that matches the audio.
Sound Motif
Sound motif is the reason they put specific audio into that specific part of the film. It is easy to understand motif when considering the circumstances, setting and characters.
Sound Motif (TV/Film)
ADR what is it ?
Mood is created through all three elements of sound created in a film. Since these elements were introduced into movies, they have since been used to get specific reactions from audiences, the large variety of reactions from sounds puts them into categories for certain films such as silence to loud in a matter of a second would fit in today's horror calming piano or pop songs may be used in romantic films, because of the large amount, it is difficult to break apart each three elements of sound that creates moods and atmospheres.
Film has the ability to use music to build up suspense, subtly such as the diner shootout scene from Mr Robot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVa2IPenc_E
This scene uses a repetitive drone from the music and motorcycle to build up a mood of suspense to what seems inevitable and create dread. As soon as it also shows the use of gunfire, a sound effect to cut away the music and make the viewer in a state of shock.
The scene also creates an added emotion by using silence in the diner, not knowing if people had survived the shootout. Having the ability to use quiet and silent points in the scene presents that you can create an atmosphere and mood from the audience without having to use too many sound effects.
People have been able to use music to create a mood and atmosphere for the audience since the silent era. Films such as Nosferatu had used music for the intent purpose to get a reaction from the audience, since then filmmakers have been doing the same thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6jFoYm3xs
In Nosferatu, they included slow eerie music when things may not be happening in the film to give off the idea to never let your guard down, creating a horror atmosphere even at the low points of the film.
Another way music can be used is for surprising effect, horror films today are hell bent on jump scaring all the time and it's no exception for films, such as the Insidious theme. However, music today can present real, personal horror. Michael Haneke had ingeniously used music to reveal more about the characters, moment and how far a we are into the film. He had done this in a scene from Amour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuuCpX2TpoI
This music at the beginning of the scene creates a soothing atmosphere, absolute skill from the pianist, not hitting a wrong note once, it shows the dedication and ability. Cutting this off out of nowhere and a radio button to switch this to silence forms shocking mood and a very backwards and horrific atmosphere.
Sound effects are able to make an impact of peoples mood to a clip/ film. Films try to heighten the sounds in scenes compared to real life, especially when trying to give atmosphere to a clip. A film such as American History X is able to create a cringing mood and unpleasant atmosphere during the scene that Edward Norton curbs stomp someone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1zp953kVLs
Heightening the sound effects adds impact to the scene.
Another sound effect that throws you into a new mood and creates an entirely different atmosphere may be jump scares, creating an instant mood for the audience, however lasting a few seconds. A clip that is able to create a jump scare, whilst keeping you in the moment would be from PTA's film There Will be Blood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxQEZIDws7Y
This clip is able to create a scary, overwhelming atmosphere by sparingly using loud noises for the scene and dumping them all in one moment, however because it draws out the sound effect, it creates a cathartic and hostile atmosphere and sets the mood way up, keeping the audience on alert.
Audio Fade
Audio fades are used to be able to gradually silent a sound that bears no use, it fades instead of stopping at a sudden to make the sounds less jarring.
Enter the Void was able to use an audio fade a the beginning of the scene when Oscar take DMT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxQEZIDws7Y
The purpose of this is to subtly change from realism into imagination, from sober to high, its a subtle and quick way of changing audio, fading the traffic and background noises in favor of loud prolonged sounds.
Dialogue
Dialogue is the one of the best ways for characters to reveal more of themselves, world, circumstances or exposition if visuals aren't capable of having an as effective way or less efficient way of doing so. It can be used as comedy, disturbing, suspense, a way to pad out the run time and other means.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Zw0p9qOkg
In this scene, Paul Thomas Anderson is able to create a very uncomfortable and incredibly engaging moment that is drawn out in the best of ways.
Lengthening the scene means that they can extract deep emotion and secrets from the character from a simple "Do you get muscle spasms for no reason?" to "Have you ever had intercourse with someone inside your family?". This dialogue had the ability to bring out as much of the character in six and a half minutes that, if visually, would take an entire film to present. This scene fits perfectly with the movie and a great presentation of a drama genre film, a realistic, intriguing scene that focuses entirely on it's characters. This scene is able to describe the characters with parts that may not appear in the film with no exposition dump.
Another way to use dialogue is to explain the plot that's coming up or something they're about to do, a lot of films make fun of this, one being Austin Powers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8w95xIdH4o
This scene explains everything they are about to do, the character saying all of what they are about to do that could easily be explained through visuals is called Basle Exposition.
Voice Over
Voice overs have been used across the board in media. In the news, they have been used to inform you with what they are saying, whilst they show the effects of the place/ people. This way of voice over keeps a brisk pace in the news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9TytNU6hsg
Fiction films use voice over mostly to explain what they are doing/ do/ going to do. The reason they use voice over instead of dialogue to do this is normally because they are alone at these moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IacpphyPpNY
The lobster has been able to use voice over to explain a lot about the character, and breaks what would be a long scene into explaining what they had done previously, the way they do this is to have a character besides the protagonist to explain this, removing the personal element, something that the entire film rids itself of, further supporting the films themes. This example of voice over is primarily comedic, dark humor, the film being a comedy drama/thriller.
A different genre that uses a character inside the universe that is a comedy crime film was Snatch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Hj6YsAfu0
Once again the film uses exposition in its narration, they use this as humor, matching the rest of the style comedy. This proves that if your going to have voice over, it has to match the rest of the dialogue and story style of narrative telling.
Ambient Sound
Ambient sounds are sounds that are used in the background, almost like foley, it's used to express the world further and add realism. such things include water, wind, animals in the background such as chirps and barks. Almost if not every film features ambient sound effects to widen the credibility of it's film and set the audience in the mood of the rest of the film before any line of dialogue or foley sound. A film such as Being John Malcovich uses ambient sounds in a realistic volume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSGYElDi38s
This scene subconsciously tells you to keep in mind that they are in the city by having cars driving below. It keeps the city alive and doesn't have to put too much effort in doing this, its a very easy process and the result is very good.
SoundBridge
Filmmakers try to include soundbridges, adding an illusion of pace to scenes when sound carries through to another shot. Because of this, soundbridges are used in all types of genres.
A film called Amadeus, a drama comedy, is full of soundbridges, one scene being:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORpIfsPa1TY
This scene doesn't have a sound that doesn't carry through to the next shot. This creates a faster looking pace to the scene and makes the time go quicker without having to slow down the pace to move on to the next camera angle.
Anomalisa, an animated fantasy drama uses sound bridges to make dialogue flow more naturally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xALTK9T0jks
They would do this because, people may think it's an amateur made film, if conversational momentum had to stop and start at the convenience of the shot, the scene would seem false and unrealistic.
Foley Sound
Foley artists are people that create clear sound effects that weren't captured in production to make the sound more cinematic. Their methods are done during post production, so that they can ensure that they are hitting their marks when sound has to be made. A scene from a film such as Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0ZEmLosVXE
This scene in particular would have the foley artist recreate every sound besides dialogue, such as footsteps, removal of gun belt, cards sliding on a wooden table and moving in leather jackets.
Synchronous/ Asynchronous sound
Synchronous sounds is when the audio matches what is being shown on screen , such as music matching the sound effects. Edgar Wright is very good with this in all of his films and tries to synchronize the music to the sounds every time, to the point that he would have the music first and build a scene around it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4tVH7BPb-Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWOHCCV4WM
In these two scenes it shows the beat of the music matching the beat on the zombie, flicker of lights, the pace of the music matching the pace of their arcing around the zombie, something may not have noticed on first viewing, proving the hard work and dedicated behavior that it takes to pull off a task such as this. In the worlds end the music matches their footsteps, the pace of their drinking and dialogue between the characters.
Asynchronous sounds are the opposite to synchronous sounds, where audio from sound effects or music does't match what is being shown on screen. Music that doesn't match the pace or fitting sound of the film can be found in Martin Scorsese's film Mean Streets, during the pool scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtAl0bXSmzI
This music has nothing to do with what is being shown and there is no clear presentation of pacing in the violence that matches the audio.
Sound Motif
Sound motif is the reason they put specific audio into that specific part of the film. It is easy to understand motif when considering the circumstances, setting and characters.
Sound Motif (TV/Film)
ADR what is it ?
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