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Intro to Film: Sound and Music

The document discusses the role of sound in film production. It describes the sound production process from pre-production through post-production. In pre-production, the sound mixer scouts locations to identify acoustic issues. On set, the production sound team, including boom operator and mixer, records dialogue and effects. Additional dialogue may be recorded later in ADR. In post-production, dialogue is edited and effects/Foley are added. Music is also composed or licensed. Finally, a re-recording mixer combines all sound elements into the final mix. Throughout, the goal is to capture high quality sound that enhances the story without drawing attention.

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WEEK 10 LECTURE Sound and Music
The Role of Sound in Film • Sound is one of the most overlooked aspects of film production. • Money and time could be spared if more care were given to it in the production phase • Sound has to be considered in the pre-production / production / post-production phases of a project • For those of you who have done production: • What has your experience with sound been like? • What is the typical experience like?
Who’s involved in the Process?
Pre-production and Production Sound • Before a film begins production, the sound mixer will often go on a location scout to ensure the ability to capture quality audio on set • They identify any sound problems such as bad acoustics or uncontrollable noise • The problem with Food Boy • Once on the set, it is the Sound department’s responsibility to capture the best quality dialogue possible • The sound department may capture other unique sounds that are found on sets, but most sound effects will be added during post- production
Production Sound Team • Team consists of: • Production Sound Mixer • Boom Operator • Cable Utility • Job is to gather the best quality production audio possible through many sources • Boom: A shotgun mic is the preferred method for capturing sound, boom operator hovers microphone over the actors to capture their dialogue • Wireless Lavaliers: Wireless microphones are placed on actors bodies. Useful for wider shots and shots when there is a lot of movement from the actors. Does not have as good as quality as boom microphone
Production Sound Team (cont.) • Often shooting circumstances make a production incapable of using the dialogue that is recorded on set. In these situations, the sound mixer’s job is to get dialogue that will be used as reference in ADR • Complete ADR: • Running scene from Pride and Prejudice • A good example of production dialogue: • Moving McAllister, basement scene
Post-Production Sound • Post-production sound is the editing and mixing of sounds after the editing is finished and before the film is mastered to the output medium • There are three main areas of focus within post- production sound: • Dialogue and ADR • Sound Effects and Foley • Music
Dialogue Editing and ADR • The dialogue editor will find, edit, and sweeten the best dialogue taken from set for each scene. • If any of the dialogue tracks are unusable, the dialogue editor will perform ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement aka “Looping”) to replace the unusable audio • ADR is less desirable to do because it is hard for actors to recreate their performance when they are away from set • Some fantasy films, such as Lord of the Rings, which used extensive special effects contains mostly ADR because of the noisiness of the shooting conditions • Poorly done ADR is noticed easily (example: Low budget Kung Fu movies)
Sound Effects Editing and Foley • It is the sound supervisor’s job to determine what sounds will be created by the effects editor and what will be created by the Foley artist • The Sound Effects editor’s job is to create sound effects that can be used in the final sequence. These effects come from a wide variety of sources. Often they are manipulated stock sound effects, or original effects recorded by the effects editor • Foley is the recreation of any manmade or natural sound, such as footsteps, rustling or other special easily made effects such as fire crackling.
Music • A composer is sometimes hired to create original music for a film. They look at a cut of the film and write music to go along with specific moments in the film • Music supervisors works with the composer to create original material with a film, as well as license pre- existing music to be used in a film
The Final Mix • Once a film has all of the sound effects, dialogue and music recorded and edited, it is the job of the re-recording mixers (aka dubbing mixers) to take the separate parts and bring it together into the final mix
Sound Theory Terms • Diegetic vs. Non-diegetic sound • Diegetic: Sound coming from within the world of the film • Non-diegetic: Outside the world of the film • Voice Over and Off-Screen sounds • Sound/Camera Perspective • Do we hear things as the camera would hear them? Or are the voices closer?
Directions in Sound and Music • Like other aspects of filmmaking, directors can take a more realistic or more formalistic approach to sound in their films – Films with realistic sound embrace louder ambient noises, background noises (such as traffic and airplanes) and have lower quality dialogue – Films that are more formalistic in their approach will recreate all of the sounds. Often manipulating sounds from how they would sound in the real world (example: the sound of someone punching someone in the face varies from real life to the screen) • Overall the goal of sound is to be invisible. If it is good, then people will hardly notice it and will instead be involved in the story.