A presentation I made for A2 media about sound in trailers.

1. Sound in Trailers
Georgina Gilbey
A2 Media Studies

2. Why is sound important?
Sound is a very important component of any film
trailer because it helps to set a mood and give
the audience an additional 'feel' for the theme,
besides the other content being shown. It helps
to convey the genre and can be used to evoke
certain emotions from the audience, such as the
'adrenaline rush' feeling of a fast-paced,
powerful drumming soundtrack, or a feeling of
sympathy and sadness from a slow violin piece
alongside a scene of tragedy.

3. Example #1:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2017)
(click to watch)
In this trailer, suspense and a sense of
urgency is built up through the use of
a soundtrack made up of the repeated
sound of an alarm, and a bass-y
‘bwaar’ noise that gets more incessant
as the pacing of the trailer gets faster.
This soundtrack starts about halfway
through the trailer, after the basic plot has been explained and the action begins to
intensify. The alarm also acts as a teaser for the audience because if they are
familiar with the series, they will know that the ominous alarm sound being played
is a reference to when the Rebels attacked the ‘Death Star’ in a previous film, which
would evoke a feeling of unease. Additionally, at the beginning of the trailer, the
first few notes of a piano version of ‘The Imperial March’ are teasingly played, a
theme previously used as a motif for the villainous Darth Vader in the franchise’s
old series.

4. Why is sound important?
Besides the soundtrack itself, films also need particular
sound effects, which are created by 'foley artists', whose
job it is to tailor these sounds according to what is on-
screen, for example: a slap, footsteps on snow, kissing, or
a punch.
To research this role further and find out how the sounds
are made, I watched 'Foley Artists: How Movie Sound
Effects Are Made' by The Academy of Motion Picture
Arts & Sciences and ‘Behind the Scenes with Foley Artist
Cami Alys’.

5. Foley Artists: How Movie Sound Effects
Are Made (click to watch)
In this video by Academy Originals on
YouTube, I saw a range of sound
effects being performed, from
Superman’s cape rippling in the wind
(pictured left), to the sound of a blade
being unsheathed. The foley artists
have a specialised studio with a wide
variety of equipment and props:
bicycles, seemingly hundreds of pairs of shoes to ensure they get just the right
sound for each character according to what kind of air or atmosphere they want
to create, and different materials such as silk. The artists are sent reels of film
with durations of about fifteen minutes, called ‘AB reels’, along with a list of
sounds they need to create. The sounds are also perfected through editing by the
‘mixer’, so often different sounds can be layered together to achieve the desired
effect.

6. Behind the Scenes With Foley Artist Cami Alys
(click to watch)
Next, I watched a behind the scenes
video by the foley artist Cami Alys to get
a further demonstration of how
particular sounds are made, as I then
knew the basics of the studio set-up.
Alys explained that besides traditional
effects such as footsteps that are self-
explanatory and can be done with
different kinds of shoes, some sound effects have to be improvised with other
props. For example, she demonstrated that the sound of a train can be made with
a packet of dry pasta being shaken rhythmically and a whistle, and that the sound
of a fire crackling can be made by a children’s book that was made of velcro.
However, there are also standard pieces of equipment used in foley, such as a
mini door (where the sound of it closing can be amplified in editing), a wind
machine and a device that creaks when you turn its handle.

7. An Example of When Foley May Be Used:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) – Fight Scene
(click to watch)
In this scene of The Perks of Being a Wallflower,
there is a confrontation between two high-school
students in a canteen, sparked by one tripping the
other, causing them to fall and drop their tray of
food (sound effects for which could be made by
dropping similar objects in a studio, as the camera
likely wouldn’t catch the sound the actors made
originally).
A fight breaks out after one punches the other and
a conflict involving multiple characters ensues.
Foley would be used in this scene for sound effects
such as the punches they inflict on one another (one method to make this sound is to hit a watermelon), a
moment where a girl who wants to break up the fight is shoved out of the way and hits the ground with a
thud, the squeaking of shoes on the polished canteen floor as the characters scuffle, and standard
footsteps (which can be made in studio by people recording footsteps and movements as they watch the
scene). When the fight comes to an end after the protagonist steps in to save his friends, it cuts to him
sitting outside a school office. Another character arrives (so the sound of a door opening is needed, most
likely made with a smaller model door with the sound amplified in editing). The scene then ends with this
character’s exit, cueing the door sound effect once more.

8. Diegetic Sound
Definition: Diegetic sound is a sound in a text (film, TV show, etc) that can be heard
by the characters. For instance, an alarm clock beeping or a howling wind through a
forest.
An Example of Diegetic Sound:
The Breakfast Club (1985) – ‘Don’t Mess With the Bull’
(click to watch)
In this scene of The Breakfast Club, five students
have just arrived at school for a Saturday
detention and are being instructed to write an
essay as a punishment for their (not yet revealed)
wrong-doings. The scene contains no non-
diegetic sound such as a soundtrack or any
motifs, and is instead composed entirely of
dialogue and diegetic sounds made by the
characters: footsteps, a girl biting her nails, a boy
shifting in his seat, and the popping of another
boy’s buttons on his jacket.
I believe that the scene’s use of no non-diegetic sound is a technique chosen to create a sense of realism
and make the situation more credible to the audience- for instance, the girl’s habit of biting her nails and
the dialogue of the characters (such as one of the boys being timid and polite to the teacher implementing
the punishment, representing him as the stereotypical ‘teacher’s pet’) immediately expresses their
personalities and brings them to life. As well as this, the use of no soundtrack makes the scene more
intriguing for the audience because no clues are given about the mood or how the plot may develop.

9. Non-Diegetic Sound
Definition: Non-diegetic sound is sound that the characters in a text can’t hear. For instance, a
film’s soundtrack, or a motif that aims to create suspense for the audience (partly through the other
unassuming or oblivious characters who won’t know what the motif signifies).
An Example of Non-Diegetic Sound:
The Shining (1980) – ‘All Work and No Play’
(click to watch)
In this scene of The Shining, one of the main
protagonists, a woman named Wendy, discovers
that her husband Jack’s “writing work” is pages and
pages of the line “All work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy”, over and over, in different type formats.
During the scene, Wendy gets more and more
frantic as she searches through the papers,
becoming disturbed. At the same time, a non-
diegetic and unnervingly discordant soundtrack of
screech-y violins plays. It intensifies as she goes
through the large pile of papers (with the diegetic sound of the papers rustling) and becomes
increasingly discordant, to match the rate at which her discomfort is rising. The soundtrack matches the
surrealism of the scene, as both Wendy and us as an audience realise the extent of her husband’s
madness. The soundtrack very suddenly becomes quiet nearing the end of the trailer, when the camera
switches to behind Wendy and we see Jack approaching. There is the non-diegetic sound of the
scratching of violin chords, and we hear Jack say, “How do you like it?”.

10. (click to watch)
The trailer for Hush is an interesting
example of a combination of diegetic
and non-diegetic sound: the film’s
plot revolves around a woman (who
can’t hear or speak) who is attacked
by a masked killer who appears at
her window. Knowing this context,
the trailer seems to challenge the definitions of diegetic and non-diegetic sound,
because although we can hear diegetic sounds in the trailer such as birdsong,
wind blowing through the trees where she lives, and any sounds the killer makes-
the protagonist can’t. This means that what is diegetic sound to us, is effectively
non-diegetic to her, also meaning that it is more suspenseful for the audience.
The trailer is also unique because for most of it, there is no soundtrack, and
instead just silence (besides the sounds aforementioned). In this, it seems that
the trailer is introducing us to her daily life being an isolated deaf woman.
Overall, the trailer is an intriguing in how it challenges conventions of using
sound in film.
Additional Example:
Hush (2016) Trailer