Category: Sound for Screen

This is a practice video for sound for screen. I am responsible for the soundtrack in this clip. At the beginning, the wedding scene jingya said to me that she wanted it to be like a wedding march, so I changed the score a little bit based on the wedding march. I changed the rhythm and some of the melody. It doesn’t sound much like the original song

For the soundtrack of the latter part of the clip, to be honest, I was a bit of a headache at first. It was a lot of parts, and it took longer than my final project. But I listened to the original music and found that there was a lot of repetition, so I made the soundtrack about 1 minute and 30 seconds and then I could loop it. In the rhythm I chose a round dance beat, this beat is very easy to create and less likely to make mistakes. The last part of the music and the previous part of the music is a common melody, but is a variation of the previous melody.

Overall the soundtrack can be said to be very rushed, many places are not produced well. For example, similar melodies, there are too many repetitive. Because this time I also found that my problem is too slow when making things, the root cause is the unskilled nature of the arrangement. Many times I rely on a melody that comes from inspiration, but if I refine it, I struggle more. And a lot of things are put off until the end. The ability to plan for time is too poor. The Christmas holidays are coming up and I need to take some arranging classes during the holidays to improve my skills. I also want to have some planning for the future, so that I can do better next time and not be overwhelmed.

The first section is that the protagonist’s family lives in a dilapidated basement, with only a small window through the sunlight. There are not so many ambient sounds in this segment, but there are background sounds. The second stage is when the man enters the home of the rich, and there is no music throughout. In this segment, there are many environmental sounds such as the sound of closing doors, the sound of fountains, and the sound of walking. Compared with the first segment, it becomes more real.

In this segment, the sound surrounds the protagonist. From the beginning of the video, the breathing sound started to be very loud, but other people’s voices were very quiet. When I watched this clip, I felt like I was standing behind the protagonist. The surrounding sounds were all around the protagonist. The second part is in the train station, there are a lot of environmental sounds (people’s speech) ➕ the sound of talking with children and the protagonist. The child’s voice is very loud and contrasts with other people’s voices as if it were an entity and an incorporeal body. Let the audience know clearly where the focus of the film is, and it will be easily attractive.

The sound of the first photo taken in Force Majeure made me think it was a horror movie, such as an avalanche at the moment when a certain sound camera shutter was pressed. Although the movie is not about avalanches, it is also a very important point. In the first half of the movie, the protagonist’s family was eating outdoors and there was a relatively small avalanche, but the husband left his wife and two children to escape. This is very serious for a family that is already experiencing problems, and the movie revolves around the topic of marriage. The soundtrack of this movie is also quite interesting. For example, the sound of snow blowing and the sound of brushing teeth are spliced ​​together by the screen, which is very interesting.

This film has a horror tint to it, which is a genre I don’t normally watch, therefore I’m not familiar with the sound of horror films. As a result, it was a novel experience for me. When I finished viewing this film, I realized that, in comparison to other types of films, horror films’ sound contributed more to the overall completeness of the film.

In this film, there are a lot of ambient noises. These noises resemble footfall on the subway, ringing phones, and breathing. This type of real-time sound and picture sync is ideal and can provide all the film requires. When these everyday noises are combined, they become extremely rich. The sounds expressed at different levels can better highlight what the picture expresses.

The last scene of the film impressed me deeply. The film combines the heroine’s imagination with reality, and alternate background music. Visual and auditory presented a perfect match.

Finally, the background sound of this film really let me learn a lot, there are a lot of sound effects and background sound are textbook level.

We need to talk about Kevin

This is a sound for screen practice clip that we can use for some voiceover practice. This is group work because in Foley studio two or more people have to work together to make a recording. In the previous, I wrote a blog about this film [We need to talk about Kevin] and I did some analysis of the sound of the film. I brought along a box of pills for the dubbing, as there is a sound of pills spilling on the ground in the film. We also found some tools on a shelf near the studio, such as the bottle that makes an incredible sound when you blow into it. We recorded some of the sounds because we had some problems with the sound so we recorded with zoom3. I think it’s a bit of a shame. When I put the recorded sound into the film I felt it was a bit empty and there were a lot of places where there was no sound. So we recorded some background sounds like the sound of the school building, the sound of the cars and people talking. The background music was produced by me. I didn’t have any ideas at first until there was a shot where the main character was being lifted up by a lot of people and then his arms were spread out and it made me think of Jesus and the church, so I took the melody from ‘Ode to Joy. I added a chorus to it to make the scene seem surreal.

I chose the movie named Charlie’s Chocolate Factory. The film is adapted from a novel. When I research this film, I found that the movie had two versions. One was from 1971 (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) and the other was from 2005 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). I combine the two versions. After watching all of the movies, I finally chose the 2005 version. Because I think its pictures have better visual effects than the 1971 version. And comparing the music of the two versions, the 1971 version is more inclined to individual singing, while the 2005 version is indeed a chorus.

” One of the biggest differences between Willy Wonka and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is that the first one is a musical, with Wonka himself and other characters breaking into songs (such as “Pure Imagination” and “The Candy Man”), whereas in the second film it’s only the Oompa-Loompas who have their musical numbers. In the 1971 film, the Oompa-Loompas’ songs are puzzles, and Burton’s version was truer to the book as Danny Elfman took the songs directly from the novel.”

Tyler, A., 2021. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory: How 2005’s Movie Remake Compares To The Original. [online] ScreenRant. Available at: <https://screenrant.com/charlie-chocolate-factory-willy-wonka-2005-1971-comparison-differences/amp/> [Accessed 24 October 2021].

I also chose another film, which was called Howl’s Moving Castle. The film is really nice and is easy to add some pure music. But it has too much dialogue. I might have to do some editing of this movie if I choose it.

This is my idea. I wanted to make a 4.0 surround sound audio track and be surrounded by sound (light blue). Those coloured lines represent sounds. I think these lines are like Morse code, which records the rhythm of all the sounds, or what instruments should be added to each beat. It looks very convenient. The different colour lines also represent different musical instrument types.

How sound is used in relation to point of view and story ?

The first is people’s imagination of the sound (when the sound may be more than the picture). For example, at the beginning of “We Need to Talk About Kevin” (31 seconds), a film-like picture appears. At this time, you can hear the sound of the film showing in the background, and white space (about 6s) is used to remind viewers that the film is about to be shown. The title appeared in the 37-second picture, and the sound effect of the LED light emphasized the picture. In 44 seconds, the screen shows the curtain blown by the wind, but the background sound is still the sound of the film projection, which seems to have no relationship. However, as the camera keeps closing, the background sound gradually becomes larger and accompanied by the sound of the next screen, which gives people a certain space for imagination and hints. With a roar (1 minute and 19 seconds), the two scenes are separated. In about 2 minutes and 59 seconds, the picture is facing a mass of red water, but the sound is very rich (including the sound of water, voices, and Musical Instruments), giving people more space for imagination, but it is not completely divorced from the picture that the audience sees.

The second is the correlation between sound and picture. This connection gives us a sense of reality, a sound we can hear every day. Like the noise of the crowd, breathing, medicine falling on the floor, people walking on the floor, doors opening and doors closing, birds singing. It gives a strong sense of authenticity and is easy to relate to the story.