NMC512: Audio Design & Effects: Sound Design: Step by Step
NMC512: Audio Design & Effects: Sound Design: Step by Step
NMC512: Audio Design & Effects: Sound Design: Step by Step
AUDIO DESIGN
& EFFECTS
CHAPTER 2:
SOUND DESIGN: STEP BY STEP
VISUAL MIND MAPPING:
• Previously, Picture editor handled the same task done by the sound
editor nowadays. They understood how the picture editor directed
the flow of images, established a rhythm, maintain continuity,
facilitated the narrative, as well as being sensitive to the implications
of camera angles, camera movements, and framing.
• Due to this, sound designers and composers must develop awareness
of visual cues and their implications to sound design, while being able
to establish a common language for both picture and sound.
• Interpreting Picture Edits explain the importance of understanding
the elements of Shots, Cuts, Transitions and Scenes to ensure the
symbiosis between sound and image.
INTERPRETING PICTURE EDITS:
SHOTS
In filmmaking and video production, a shot is a series of frames, that runs for an
uninterrupted period of time. Film shots are an essential aspect of a movie where
angles, transitions and cuts are used to further express emotion, ideas and
movement.
• FRAMING – One aspect of the shot is framing, which establishes the distance of
the audience from the subject. The soundtrack support this perspective by
minimizing off-screen sound. Example; long shot provide more global perspective
and suitable with ambient / nature sound.
• CAMERA PLACEMENT – Offer variety ways to portray a character. (Eye level, Over
the shoulder etc.). When a camera angle points up to a character, it indicates a
positions of power.
• CAMERA MOVEMENT – Panning, Zooming and Tilting. Background Music can be
increase drastically to create suspense feel when zoom in speed is increase.
INTERPRETING PICTURE EDITS:
• MOVEMENT OF OBJECTS – an objects is moving to a fixed camera position to create the illusion that
an object is passing left to right or from front to back. It involves sound panning and example is
surround sound.
• PERSPECTIVE SHOT (POV) – POV allow us to experience the action subjectively through the eye of a
specific character, so too are we hearing through their ears. Example; when a character is wearing a
mask, the sound of breathing is different from the inside view (POV) and from the exterior which
sound more muffled.
• INSERT SHOTS & CUTAWAYS – Insert Shot cuts from a shot frame at a greater distance to a close-up.
(focusing a time on a watch or a message written on a note). Cutaways Shot move to a framing of a
greater distance, providing information from larger objects like a grandfather clock or a billboard.
CUTS
Common type of edit and consists of two shots joint without any transitional treatment. Sound editors
use the term audio clip & audio region (beginning of clip known as header, end of the clip call the tail,
and the specific point within the clip as a sync point). The point where two clips are joined is called the
edit seam.
INTERPRETING PICTURE EDITS:
TRANSITIONS
• DISSOLVES – Visual dissolves is a gradual scene transition using overlap
similar to an audio cross-fade. Dissolves are used to indicate the passage of a
time or a change in location.
• WIPES – transitional devices that involves pushing one shot off and pulling
the next shot into place. No overlap like dissolves.
• FADES – uses black to transition the audience in and out of scenes, while
indicates closure with timed to allow audience to digest what has recently
transpired. Fade-ins invite audiences into a new scene.
• SOUND TRANSITIONS – Pre-lapping sound or score to a subsequent scene
can be effective when moving two shots, whereby hard cut of SFX or BG can
advertise the transition and quickly place the audience in a new place.
INTERPRETING PICTURE EDITS:
SCENES
• PARALLEL EDIT – also known as cross cutting, designed to present two separate
but related characters or actions through a series of alternating shots, where the
actions are occurring simultaneously.
• MONTAGE SEQUENCE – consists of rapid visual edits designed to compress the
narrative, typically feature songs or thematic score with little or no dialogue or
SFX. The song used in montage sequences often contain lyrics that related to the
narrative (Narrative Lyrics).
• TIME-LAPSE & FLASHBACK SEQUENCES – Compare to montage, Time-Lapse are
design also to compress the narrative, where individual shots are transitioned
and in its used of diegetic sound. It was created to exaggerate the passage of
time. While Flashback are effective means of delivering backstory. This sequence
has a more subjective look and feel than scenes in the present time. The contrast
can be achieve by adding reverb or allowing the underscore to drive the scene.
ELEMENTS OF SOUND DESIGN:
DIALOGUE
• Since the late 1920s when synchronous sound became a permanent feature of the
movie, two primary kinds of dialogue have been employed in the cinema.
• Speech is delivered by characters on screen usually in conversation with one
another.
• Voice-over narration accompanies images and scenes but is not delivered by a
particular character from within the scene. Voice-over narration typically is
provided by an all-seeing, all knowing, detached narrator or by a character in the
story, usually from some time later than the events portrayed on screen.
• Most of the dialogue heard in the average feature originates from the production
track (the soundtrack recorded at the point of filming), but 30 percent or more of a
film's dialogue is the result of ADR (automated dialogue replacement). Following
shooting, actors recreate portions of a scene's dialogue in a sound studio, and this
postproduction sound is mixed in with dialogue from tie production track.
ELEMENTS OF SOUND DESIGN:
• The mixer must smooth out the audible differences of tone and timbre and
make sure that no audio cuts are apparent to the listener. Digital software
facilitates the ADR process, alleviating the need for an actor to speak in
perfect synch with the picture; the software can match the ADR speech with
the lip movements on screen. ADR is typically used when portions of the
production track are unusable or unsatisfactory.
SOUND EFFECTS
• Sound effects are the physical (i.e., non-speech) sounds heard as part of the
action and the physical environments seen on screen. They include ambient
sound, which is the naturally occurring, generally low-level sound produced
by an environment (wind in the trees, traffic in the city). They also include the
sounds produced by specific actions in a scene, such as the rumble of the
spaceship.
ELEMENTS OF SOUND DESIGN:
• Many, effects are created using Foley technique. Foley technique refers to the live
performance and recording of sound effects in synchronization with the picture. As the film
is projected in a sound recording studio, a Foley artist watches the action and perform the
necessary effects.
• A Foley artist might walk across a bare floor using hard shoes in synchronization with a
character on-screen to produce the needed effects of footsteps. The Foley artist may open
or close a door or drop a tray of glasses on the floor to create these effects as needed in a
given scene.
MUSIC
• The production of movie music involves five distinct steps: spotting, preparation of a cue
sheet, composing, performance and recording, and mixing.
• The first stage is spotting, during which the composer consults with the film's director and
producer and views the final cut in order to determine where and when music might be
needed. Spotting determines the locations in the film that require musical cues, where and
how the music will enter, and its general tempo and emotional colour.
ELEMENTS OF SOUND DESIGN:
• The first stage is spotting, during which the composer consults with the film's
director and producer and views the final cut, in order to determine where and
when music might be needed. Spotting determines the locations in the film that
require musical cues, where and how the music will enter, and its general tempo
and emotional colour.
• After the film has been spotted, the music editor then prepares a cue sheet. The
cue sheet contains a detailed description of each scene's action requiring music
plus the exact timings to the second of that action. This enables the composer
to work knowing the exact timing in minutes, seconds, and frames of each
action requiring music.
• Once the cue sheet has been prepared, the third step is actual composition of
the score. This is done by the composer using a video copy of the film. The video
contains a digital time code that displays the reel number and minutes, seconds,
and frames into each reel for all the action. Using the cue sheet and video, the
composer creates the score, carefully fitting the timing of music and action.
ELEMENTS OF SOUND DESIGN:
• Once the music has been composed, the next step is performance and
recording of the score on a sound stage while a copy of the film is
projected on a large screen or video monitor.
• Timing of music to film action is facilitated by the use of clicks to establish
tempo, streamers-line imprinted on the film or video; that travel across the
screen and mark the beginning and end of each cue, and a large analog
clock with a sweep second hand.
• The final stage in the creation of movie music is the process of mixing,
which is the blending of the various sound tracks, effects, music, and
dialogue. The fact that movie music is mixed along with dialogue and
effects has influenced the attitude of composers to the kind of music they
create.
• Because dialogue is regarded as the most important sound in a movie,
music typically is mixed at a lower volume when it accompanies dialogue.