S-11 FILM EXTRACT: Tom Hamilton, Evaluation, Sound Design
Monday 2 March 2009
Tom Hamilton, Evaluation, Sound Design
In our AS film extract I was given the responsibility of sound design. Because of the specific nature of my micro responsibility, the choices I made were greatly influenced by the choice in genre, especially when applied to the use of diegetic sound. As sound designer, it was my responsibility to add sound effects to the film in order to heighten the realism and display clearly the genre conventions. The genre we had chosen to work in was 'War/Conflict', meaning that I had a fair amount of choice on how the soundtrack should sound.
This is a clip from Youtube.com showcasing the soundtrack for the hit war film 'Black Hawk Down'. This influenced me during the construction of our soundtrack, as it clearly helps to build up tension and anticipation in the film.
As the sequence we had chosen to do had to have a very specific style and feel, my choice of sound effects were limited to those that related specifically to war/terrorism; guns firing, explosions etc. When applied to non-diegetic sound also, the genre we had chosen influenced my decisions greatly. For example, when composing the soundtrack I attempted to create something that would give the film a dark feel, while creating a sense of anticipation and build up as the genre dictated.
My micro responsibility has had, to an extent, a large effect on the narrative as a whole. Sound effects that were added add to atmosphere and the realism of the production, meaning that the mood of the narrative is more serious and tense. Similarly, the soundtrack added tension to the narrative, and since it went hand in hand with the editing, indicated frequently critical points in the sequence.
Through my responsibility as sound designer, I worked with other group members in order to shape the narrative in such a way that it would live it up to the conventions of its genre. To achieve this, I communicated with my group and researched many aspects of the ‘war’ genre. We discovered that many war films have a slow paced sound track that increases in tempo slightly as time passes. Once we understood this, I was able to communicate to the individual in charge of editing so that the sequence fitted with the pace of the soundtrack.
As we worked on the sequence, my micro responsibility became increasingly crucial. Through feedback we gained from our rough cut, we were able to identify many main changes that needed to be made, especially in my area of responsibility. We determined that sound effects needed to be utilized more frequently throughout the sequence, as well as the use of voice overs to replace inadequate dialogue. I thought that for the most part, we were able to successfully instigate these changes.
As sound engineer, I attempted to evoke a particular response from my audience through the use of the soundtrack and diegetic sound. I attempted to create a feeling of build up and suspense with the soundtrack. I used garage band to create a soundtrack in which the beggining was quiet, and then slowly built up, creating tension and anticipation in the audience on the way. As well as this, diegetic sounds such as sound effects were used in order to provoke a particular reaction from the audience. For example, sound effects such as gun shots were used in order to convince the audience of the sequence's realism, and therefore add to their anticipation and excitement.
This is a clip from Youtube.com once again showing a sequence from 'Black Hawk Down'. This sequence shows clearly the importance of sound effects in the 'war' genre, as sounds such as gun shots, ricochets and explosions make the sequence much more believable and tense.
The feedback we received helped me to pinpoint the good and bad decisions I made during the project. The general message from the feedback was that the soundtrack was successful in building up tension in the sequence, and worked well with the editing. I was pleased with this feedback, as it showed I was correct in my assumption that the soundtrack I had made was effective in building up tension in the scene. The feedback however also stated that more diegetic sound as well as dialogue should have been added to the scene in order to advance the narrative further and convey the storyline to a greater degree. This confirmed my worry that due to time constraint the story may not be properly conveyed as voiceovers and some sound effects were not added.
Throughout the project, my technical skill in the use of garageband and other apple software allowed me to effectively carry out my role as sound designer. Using this technical skill, I was able to take advantage of layers in garageband in order to produce a realistic gun shot sound by using many different sound effects on top of each other, as well as create a soundtrack that built up suspense while relating closely to the conventions of the ‘war’ genre.
