Antonia's Upper 6th Media Blog : Unit 38: Sound Production (10 Credits)

Lesson1: Sound types/Terminology

Important Terminology

Ambient Sound- Background sounds that create an atmosphere for the setting and mood of the scene. E.g: Waves birds...

Synchronised sound: Words that must match up with the action and lip movements of the speaker E.g: Music Videos

Voice over sound: Sounds that are dubbed onto any picture sequences or scenes. E.g: Documentaries and adverts

Sound effects: Added at the dubbing stage of audio editing; Sub- divisions: Sounds to match actions/events( door slamming/ broken glass)

Sounds that are about a scene but are not matched to the events and actions on the screen (ambient sounds )

Music: Final sound added to TV/films in post-production. Music is supposed to set the tone and make the audience feel a specific mood. High budget film/tv shows usually hire composers to create the soundtrack

Digetic Sound: Sounds that are direct results of what is happening and what is on the screen. E.g: Voices of characters in the film, sounds made by objects within the story, Music that may be implied to be directly coming form something in the scene.

NON-diegtic sound: Sounds that come from sources that are not on screen or is implied to be there in the scene. Eg: Narrator's commentary, Sound effects , Mood music. Presented to be coming from outside of story space.

Lesson 2: Sound in Moving Image Productions

Functional Dialogue: Small amounts of dialogue that are usually low in tone and volume. Usually used to highlight the most essential parts of a film and emotional outbursts . Is mainly found in action films
E.G: The expendables 2- The dialogue is timed when there is no action happening so that it can be heard clearly.

NON-Naturalistic Sound: A lot of sounds in films are usually artificial and are made to sound unrealistic, it ensures that the audience can pick up the key parts/information in the film. It can be used to emphasise/ exaggerate different parts of the plot/story.
E.G: The Matrix Club Scene

Sound Motif: A repeated piece of music that the audience associates with a specific moment or character appearance in the film. If it is altered or taken away it can change the the audience's view of the character
E.G: The opening of Jaws or The moment in Jaws when the shark is about to eat someone
E.G: Slow Ahead

Emotional Realism: A sound that can be used to put the audience into the mind/emotional state of the character
E.G: The Diner scene in Mulholland Drive

Lesson 3: Sound effects

Manually created sound effects in film studios. It's called foley sound because it was created by a sound producer at universal Pictures by the name of Jack Foley.
Produced in a specially made sound studios with No acoustics called a Foley stage.
Usually produced in sync with the visuals of the film. By showing the visuals on a screen and recording them as the action that requires sound occurs
Purpose of foley Sound: Recording sounds that sound realistic, creating sounds that do not exist, making subtle sounds
Enhances the film narrative for the audience, and filmgoers.

Antonia's Upper 6th Media Blog