Sound Design

1. SOUND DESIGN

2. Sound Design
❏ the expressive use of sound throughout a film in
relation to its images and the contents of its narrative
❏ the “sound designer” executes this design, which
became the name for this job during the production of
Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979).
❏ Walter Murch’s brilliant work on that film elicited the
credit for that term

3. Basic types of sound
❏ Realistic sound – derived from actual sources
(footsteps, voices, cars, etc.)
❏ Synthetic sound – invented and have no counterpart
in real life (light sabers in Star Wars, for example)

4. Characteristics of Sound
❏ Direct sound – sound that comes immediately
from the source (spoken directly into the
microphone)
❏ Reflected sound – sound that is first reflected off
surrounding surfaces in the environment to
produce a slight reverberation. Does not come
directly to the microphone
❏ Ambient sound – generalized noises in the
recording environment (plane flying overhead,
for example)

5. Codes of Sound Design
1) The Sound Hierarchy
- Dialogue – most important
- Music – 2nd
- Sound Effects – third
Robert Altman’s Nashville
(1975) plays with this
hierarchy

6. Codes of Sound Design
2) Sound Perspective
- Sound that embodies the properties of the physical
spaces seen on screen
- use of sound to convey information about physical
space
- often, but not always, correlates with visual
perspective (long shot = sound farther away from
audience)

7. Codes of Sound Design
3) Synchronous and
Nonsynchronous Sound
- Synchronous – matched with
a clear source on screen
- Non – does not match with
any source

8. Codes of Sound Design
4) Sound Bridge
- dialogue or sound effects are laid across, or bridge, two
or more shots or scenes
- shift of synchronous and non-synchronous in a way that
establishes unities of action and time across the edit
Alternative Sound Bridge
- Switch to non-synchronous occurs before the cut, rather
than after it
- The Graduate (1967)

9. Codes of Sound Design
5) Off-screen Sound Space
- the area just beyond the frame
of the line whose existence is
defined through sound
- non-synchronous
- Jackie Brown (1997)
Check out how off-screen
sound space is manipulated in
this clip

10. Codes of Sound Design
6) Sound Montage
- editing of sounds into highly intricate and
complex patterns that create meaning and
emotion
- Apocalypse Now (1979)

11. Types of Sound (more specific)
❏ 1) Dialogue – characters speaking
- Voice over narration – monologue that accompanies
images that may or may not be delivered by someone
on screen
❏ ADR – Automated Dialogue Replacement
actors dubbing dialogue in post-production
- Character Speech
- Consistent with characters
- Hamlet (1996) vs. Any Given Sunday (1999)

12. Types of Sound (more specific)
2) Sound Effects
- Falls into one of two categories:
- Effects design – creative manipulation of sound
sources (layering sounds in instead of a direct, live
recording)
- Foley technique – direct recording of live sound
effects that are performed in synchronization with
the picture after filming is complete

13. Types of Sound (more specific)
3) Movie Music
- Has always been a part of film, dating back to silent film
era, however not original music was used
- used to follow action on screen and to illustrate a
character’s emotions

14. Movie Music
❏ The process:
❏ spotting, preparing a cue sheet, composing,
performance and recording, mixing
❏ A composer will create the score using a copy of the
film with a digital time code
❏ Perform the score in conjunction with viewing the
film
❏ Mixing involves layering all aspects of the film’s
sound design

15. Movie Music
FUNCTIONS OF MOVIE MUSIC:
1) Setting the scene (using authentic instruments particular
to a certain locale)
2) Adding emotional meaning
3) Background filler
4) Creating continuity (use of a leitmotif, a musical label that
is assigned to a character, a place, an idea, or an emotion)
5) Emphasizing climaxes

16. Contemporary Movie Music
❏ The debate rages over the use of contemporary pop music vs.
traditional symphonic soundtrack
❏ Forrest Gump (1994) and Natural Born Killers (1994) vs. The
Dark Knight (2008) and Star Trek (2009).
❏ Robin Hood: Prince of Theives (1991) – “Everything I Do…”

17. SOUND EFFECTS

18. Foley
❏ Sound effects are used to enhance the sounds
already recorded on location.
For example, if you shot a video of a person walking
on grass, but aren’t too happy with the sound of the
footsteps, you may want to make another recording
of it by simulating the footsteps. This is called foley.

20. Foley
❏ You can also record sound effects for sounds that were
not in the location recording. For example, you have a
scene where a person turns on the radio. It is probably a
better idea not to have any sound from the radio during
location recording. Then later on, make a foley record of
turning on the radio and of the sound you want to seem
to come out of the radio.

21. Narration/Voice-over
❏ Some people prefer to have voice-over on their video.
This is useful in emphasizing important details that the
video itself cannot show, or in reiterating important points
in the video.
❏ Record your narration in a well-padded room to avoid
unnecessary noise. You may want to “audition” for the
right kind of voice that will give character to your
narration.