Sound Effect And Sound Effects

Sound is something quite special, impactful, and adds layers of elements and complexity to a film. As with the progression of the movie making medium, sound has grown and changed drastically over the decades. However, sound cues in the form of effects, dialogue, and everything in between, shapes our perceptions of a scene and movie.

For example, in the nut sorting room, when Veruca’s shoes are clicking on the floor, which is a diegetic sound. This creates the effect that everything has suddenly gone very quiet and anticipation is growing. But, in Big Fish, Tim Burton uses sound to make people feel many different things. For example, in the town of Spectre, when the townspeople were dancing, the diegetic sounds were all of the happy dancing music. This creates the effect of happiness.

Even though the film is essentially a visual experience, the use of sound has become extremely important in modern film. The modern viewer hears a complicated soundtrack that is as meaningful as the image on the screen. Three elements comprise the film's soundtrack: the dialogue, the sound effects, and the musical score. The proper balance and mix of these elements produced the essential emphasis required, which created the desired effects. As explained by Joseph Boggs and Dennis Petrie,

For instance in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" there is a fine example of music/ sound affecting the mood when comparing the two towns (Christmas and Halloween). Both of the towns music represents the characters and the ideals that each town is set on. In Halloween town the music is dark, mysterious and contains snake charmer melodies showing that it is based on being scary and mysterious just like Halloween. The opposite of this is in Christmas town where the neighborhoods are filled with cheerful, upbeat, repetitive music which convey the happiness of Christmas and the townspeople in general. Music/Sound also has a major influence in "Edward Scissorhands". For instance in the segment of the movie where Edward has a flashback and the invention room is being showed you can hear the rhythmic thump to the machinery making cookies, this sound conveys to the audience a mysteriousness of the factory and the robots and questions what this has to do with Edward. In addition to this there is also a scene when Kim goes outside to see what Edward is doing and encounters him making snow from ice sculpture. She has never seen snow so when this interaction happens there is a melodic, angel music being placed with this scene. However when she ventures to close to Edward he accidentally slice her face

As well as lighting, sound was used very effectively to stage the story. For example “echoes” were created in the alleyways, to make us think that Eddie’s house was a long way away. These echoes were also used to symbolise Eddie’s loneliness. This could show that there is emptiness in Eddie’s heart that can only be filled by a close friend or a brother. There was a bold use of sound especially in scary, dramatic or important scenes. This added to the drama of the overall performance, it made the audience feel a variety of emotions. In the scene when Mrs. Lyons tries to murder Mrs. Johnston, the sound affects really emphasised how Mrs. Lyons was feeling and her sheer madness. The use of surround sound made me feel like I was in the scene and it made the whole performance much more realistic.

It is usually pre-recorded and placed over the top of a film or video and commonly used in documentaries or news reports to explain information. Focusing on selected sounds can create tension, atmosphere, and emotion. It can also impart personality to film characters. Walter Murch (the doyen of sound designers) once described the character sounds (in a film he directed) as "coronas" which can magnify each character' s screen space. A figure who is associated with a particular sound (often suggested by his or her clothing), has "a real presence that is pervasive even when the scene is about something else or the character is off-screen."

Throughout history sound has been used to help convey a story. As early as the 1900’s, without today’s technology, movies would often be accompanied by a soundtrack played on a piano or record players. In 1927 The Jazz singer was released, a warner bros movie that featured music and dialog on the actual filmstrip. This film is

In my opinion, the sounds effects just added a sense of proximity to the scene. The sound of the thunder and the rain established the mood for the scene really well. Other effective sound effects were rather simple, but highly effective. Some examples of these were the horses' feet stomping on the ground, the horses neighing, and the clinks and clangs of the samurai's armor and weapons. These were effective because they made you feel as if you were standing just a few feet from them. Another good sound effect was the `twang' of the bow when one of the samurai shot an arrow into the tree tops. Immediately after the arrow was fired, an evil spirit is heard laughing. Even though the laugh itself was pathetic, it was a nice touch to make you feel for the lost samurai. Throughout the whole scene, you almost always hear something, whether it's the horses, the samurai's equipment, or people talking; making sound very important in this scene.

In addition to the practical work of recreating a soundtrack of a Wallace & Gromit clip, a learning report on the subject had to be submitted. The soundtrack needed to be created by using a type of sound design known as Foley. Other than that, dialogue, wild track and music had to be added as well. Afterwards, these sounds would be synced to the video track and adjusted accordingly. “Sounds are vibrations traveling through the air as sound waves” Apple Inc. (2010). “Big sound waves have what's called a high amplitude or intensity and we hear them as louder sounds” Woodford (2009). If we add more gain to the sounds of lower intensity we risk adding noise to them and ruining the recording, this is known as signal to noise ration.

Another example of sound is Hitchcock's use of voice over. For instance, as Marion drives away with the money she ha stolen, she imagines conversations between the people she has left behind and their reactions to her faults. Hitchcock also uses sound, which doesn’t complement the image that we see. Whilst the on screen

Along with background music, sound effects play more of a role on the way we feel than many moviegoers think, and "although the function of sound effects is primarily atmospheric, they can also be precise sources of meaning in film" (Giannetti, 225). When the

Another example of diegetic sound used to create a tense atmosphere is when Andy first arrives to prison. We hear the inmates’ voices, whistling, screaming and banging the gates. This makes them seem mean and the scene tense and makes the viewer think that Andy has arrived to a dangerous and horrible place and that he could be in danger there. These sounds make us feel anxious for him about his new home because the inmates seem intense and mean.

By offering a shot by shot analysis of a scene that uses diegetic sound the audience can understand why the director used these sound aspects to tell his story. This analysis does not just follow one scene but rather a series of scenes in order of what is relevant. First we are witness to the mother in her apartment washing clothes on the washing board and the camera then cuts to the clock, which is striking time and making an animated noise that brings the audience into this important element of the film. The story then cuts to Elsie being honked at on the street with horns that are overly dramatic in sound, yet another way for the director to use the sound technique. Another way the director uses sound in a dramatic way is when he presents Elsie bouncing her ball down the sidewalk and on the

While well-crafted sound design and sound effects are so very necessary in the creation of a film, music touches the emotion, the psyche, and the things you cannot see. Sound design and effects don’t do this nearly as efficiently and naturally. Without music it would be much more difficult to follow the emotional ups and downs of a film. (Freer)

way that creates the “perfect” tone. These manufactured sounds are what created one of today’s