1. Sound Design – How Does It Impact Storytelling?
Thisessaywill demonstratewhysounddesignisanimportantfactornotto be ignoredwhen
producingFilms,TV ShowsorVideoGames. Todo this,I will answerthe followingquestionsoverthe
course of thisessay; when didwe startusingsounddesign,whydowe use sounddesign and,finally,
whyis itimportant?Bydoingthis,I hopefullywillbe creatinganunderstandingintowhywe should
be focusingonsounddesignasa medium. Sounddesign,asaterm, was coinedin1979 byWilliam
Murch whilstworkingonFrancisFordCoppola’sVietnamwarfilmApocalypseNow todescribe ‘his
innovative soundwork’ (Whittington,2007). Up until thispoint,soundwassimplysomethinginthe
backgroundthat wassecondaryto the visual storytellingof afilm.Murch’sapproach broughtsound
to the forefront,creatingafullyimmersiveenvironmentwhichpullsthe moviegoerintothe
environmentof the film.
Accordingto the GuinnessBookof World Records (2019), the firstfeature lengthfilmis“The Storyof
the KellyGang”(Tait, Johnson& Gibson, 1906). There is no soundandno music. Until 1915, all films
were like this.In1915, D. W. Griffithreleased The Birthof a Nationwhichwasthe firstfilmto
feature a live orchestral ensemble. Thenin1927, AlanCroslandreleasedthe firstfinancially
successful feature lengthmovie with soundin.“The JazzSinger”Thissparkedaphenomenonof films
withsounds.Bythe 1930s, these “Talkies”(talkingpictures) weregloballysuccessful andbecoming
the predominantmediumforfilm. “The JazzSinger”wasthe firstcommerciallysuccessfulfilmwith
soundand itachievedthatbyusingthe analogue sound-on-discsystemknownas“Vitaphone”.
Sound-on-discmeantthatwhilstafilmwasplaying,arecordwouldbe playingatthe same time and
broadcastingthe recordedsound separatelyfromthe film.Afterthe WarnerBros’Vitaphone,the
nextevolutionof soundinfilmwas the incorporationof the soundtrackontothe actual film.This
came intwoforms.Optical sound-on-filmandmagneticsound-on-film(Beck,2010).Optical sound
imprintsthe capturedaudioontothe filmasa waveform.Whereas “Magnetictape recordingworks
by convertingelectrical audiosignalsintomagneticenergy,whichimprintsarecordof the signal
ontoa movingtape coveredinmagneticparticles.Playbackisachievedbyconvertingthe recording
on tape back intoelectrical energytobe amplified.”(Fumo,2018). Both optical andmagneticsound-
on-filmwere renderedobsoletebythe introductionof optical digital soundusedbyvarious
companiesinthe early1990s. These technologiesdeliveredsoundtoaudiencesgloballyand
continue todo so.However,the howisn’tnecessarilyasimportantasthe what.The contextof the
use of soundisequallyasimportantasdeliveringit. AccordingtoThom(2016) “Soundisimportant
because itcan tell usabout character,place,and time. It’simportantbecause itinformsusand
movesusin waysvisualscan’t,andbecause certaincombinationsof soundandvisualscanevoke
whatneithercando alone.”
The nextpart of thisessaywill focusonsome of the mosticonicsoundfrom moviesandwhythey
are so iconic. The firstsoundI have selectedisthe ignitionof the famouslightsaberfromStarWars
(Lucas,1977). Ben Burtt isthe man responsiblefornotonlythe soundof a lightsaber,butalso
workedonotherfamousproductssuch as IndianaJones(Spielberg,1981) and Disney’sanimated
filmWALL-E(Stanton,2008). The significance of the lightsaber isheavilyunderstatedinmodern
media.The soundevokesfeelingsof nostalgia,memoriesof adifferenttime.Where somethinglikea
gun will make people alertforbadreasons, the soundof a lightsabermakespeople feelalert
2. because of the ensuingaction.The fightof goodvs.evil. Ina time where the mainbattle between
goodvs. evil wasa fightbetweenthe Americansandthe Nazis,StarWarsstood outbecause despite
havingsimilarthemestosomethinglikeA Bridge TooFar (Attenborough,1977),it was an entirely
newstorythat seemedtoinspire millions.If youwere togoback and watchthe original 1977 release
withoutanysound,the whole film wouldlose the atmospherictone andnarrative.Similarly,the
secondsoundI’mlookingatis notonlyfamousinthe west,butglobally.Originally,the roarof
Godzillainvokedhorroranddread.In 1954, IshirōHonda releasedGodzilla. Initialreleaseswere
confinedtoJapan,butover 59 years(IMDB,2020) it wasreleasedgloballyandgainedcultstatus.
The roar itself wasmade bythe composerof the score AkiraIfukube byrunninghishanddowna
double basswhilstwearingaleatherglove. Interestingly,the contextof whichwe hearGodzilla’s
roar has changedoverthe 65 yearssince it’sdebutin1954. In Ghidorah, The Three-HeadedMonster
(Honda,1964), Godzillabecame ahero.A protectorof Earth. What happened afterthatwasthat the
Japanese publicstartedtoassociate the roarwithpositivity.The roaritself wassomethingthat
startedto inspire hope andbydoingthat,the story of Godzillabecame one of an anti-hero.
“Non-diegeticsoundcomesoutside the frame,suchasthe orchestrawhichoftenstarts
playingata crucial momentina romanticcomedy.Diegeticsoundissoundwhichcomes
fromwithinthe frame,suchas a telephone ringingorthe noise fromaradio playinginthe
backgroundof a scene.”
Usingthis definition,diegeticandnon-diegeticsound canhave a majorimpact onthe storyof a
piece of media.Forexample, inthe introof Guardiansof the Galaxy Vol.02 (Gunn, 2017), the
character Groot playsMr. Blue SkybyElectricLight Orchestrathroughspeakers.Thisisdiegeticand
it impactsthe storyas the othercharactersin the team have to stop fightingthe villaintomake sure
Groot is okay.Thisleadstoone of the characters beingswallowedbythe villain,agiantmonster,
afterthe intro isfinished.The impactisn’tpartof the majorplot,but itstill movespartof a sub-plot.
In the web-showTitans(DC,2018) there are multiple examplesof diegeticandnon-diegeticsound.
However,inthe secondseries,episode 5titledDeathstroke(Gomez,2019) there isa fantastic
example of transdiegeticsound.Thismeansthatwhilstthe source isinthe film, itthendisappears
but the musiccontinuesplaying.The musicstartsina car radio,but thenthere’sacut to the villain
and the musiccontinuesplaying,despite the carnow beingina differentlocation. The impacthere is
that the musicis rock,whichhas connotationsof “the badguy”. In the 1950-60s, rock was labelled
as the musicof the Devil,sowhenrockplaysand the bad guyis on screen,subconsciouslythe viewer
will associate the villainwiththe devil. Despite whathappensinthe restof the show,Slade Wilson,
the mainvillainof the seasonhasotherimagerythathe’sthe devil.Aneyepatch,lotsof redand
orange.The soundtrackwheneverhe’sonscreenbecomesmore sinister,andthatmakesthe viewer
alert.It maynot be huge,but evenafewstringscan change the tone of a piece of mediaandchange
the story completely. InJaws(Spielberg,1975),for example, the scenesare intenseandfull on.But
withoutthe music,itfeelslikeablackand white picture.JohnWilliams’score fillsthe scene with
colour.Most of Williams’scoresare non-diegetic,theyplayforthe audience,butthe characters
withinthe filmsdon’thearit.Charactersalsotendtohave a thematiccue.Nomatterthe iteration,
Alyn,Reeve,RouthorCavill,Superman’stheme will alwaysbe some kindof fanfare,thisisbecause
he’sa bombastic,proudhero.Comparedtothe differentBatmanthemes,whichare usuallydarkand
broody.Bothare representative of the charactersandthe tonesof theirmovies.There canalsobe a
songthat fitsa character, Stayin’Alive byBee Gees inSaturdayNightFever(Badham, 1978) for
example. The protagonistplayedbyJohnTravoltaisabit of a womaniserandthe songseemsto
3. reflecthisactions. Despite beingwritten forthe movie,itisaperfectrepresentationof whena
song’slyricsshowthe character.Iron Man byBlack Sabbathand the creditsfrom Iron Man (Favreau,
2008) alsoshowthis.
In conclusion,thisessayhasattemptedtodescribewhensounddesignbecameanimportant
medium,the purpose of sounddesign,how some iconicsoundsare made andconsiderthe future of
sounddesign. The essayhasshownthat soundinfilm, inthe formof an orchestral soundtrack,was
firstusedin1915 and in1927 whenthe firstfull feature lengthfilmwasreleasedwithfull sound.The
essayhas demonstratedthatsounddesignisimportanttoprovide informationaboutacharacter,a
place and time allowing anaudience tocome to theirownconclusionsaboutanelementof amovie.
Thisalsoexplainswhywe make soundsand,toa certainextent,explainsthe importance of sound
withinfilmmakingbyallowingthe audience tolive theirownindividualizedexperience throughthe
use of soundandpullingontheiremotionstointerpretthe soundstheyhear.
