sound and editing

LOOK AT PPT FOR VIDEO ESSAY WORK

what makes a good video essay?

  • clear line of argument

  • research

  • critical engagement with your chosen topic

  • consideration of your target audience

  • exploration of cinematic techniques

  • clear sense of structure

importance of sound editing in film

  • a wrong decision can undermine the visuals easily — thus the sound edit is complex and critical to a film

  • believable sound is central to the experience of the film

perceptual dimensions of sound

  • loudness/volume/intensity

    • descibe as loud or soft

    • related to the amplitude (or degree of motion within the sound wave)

  • pitch/level

    • describes as high or low

    • related to the frequency (or speed)

  • timbre/quality/texture

    • desribed as simple or complex

    • related to harmonic content (or texture resulting from a single sound wave or a mix of sound waves)

  • rhythm

    • described in terms of beat (pulse). tempo (pace), and accents (patterns)

functions of film sound

  • to provide information on narrative and character

  • to change how we interpret the image

  • to create or embellish mood atmosphere

  • to create an effect/affect on the viewer

sound design

  • where music/dialogue/sound effect/and ambient noise is conceived as an integrated whole, that interact with each other and with the image, rather than as a separate autonomous layers of sound

  • created in phases — recording, manipulation, mixing

  1. foleying — the process of reproducing sounds to add the image

  2. spot effect — individual sound effects used to indicate or represent an incident or event

goals of the sound editor

  • to identify and use sounds that support the narrative goal and the emotional intention of the scene

  • to create and clarify a sense of time and place

  • to create realism — fidelity and rendering

sound and editing

  • in post production process, the sound designer is concerned with:

    • editing and mixing audio

    • adjusting frequency/tone (EQ)

    • adding spot effects

    • synchonizing all elements of sound with the image

    • sweetening sound — adjusting dialogue

    • works with foley artists, re-recording mixers (ADR) and composer to polish the final mix

audiovisual illusion

  • by splitting sound from image and then bringing them back together, chion argues that the effects of the audiovisual relationship are revealed

    • chion refers to this as added value

  • sound can augment the image and vice versa in our perceptual exprience of film

the acousmatic

  • “acousmatic, a greek word founded by Jérôme Peignot and theorized by Pierre Schaeffer, describes “sound one heats without seeing their originating cause.” radio, records, and telephone, all of which transmit sounds without displaying their emitter, are acousmatic media by definition”

  • “visualized sound” — where we see the origin of the sound

  • acousmatic and off screen are different

    • offscreen: the sound comes from outside the frame

  • a sound’s “offscreen-ness” is entirely a product of visual and aural combined

  • it is possible for a sound to be visualized first, and then subsequently acousmatic, or vice versa, where the sound is acousmatic, and then subsequently visualized → de-acoustmazation