RESEARCH-BP15 Importance of Sound.

Why is Sound so Important?

Sound is important for a multiple amount of reason,

Suspend Disbelief-

Suspending disbelief mean to make people believe the impossible. Many people who enter a cinema are expecting to see a realistic movie with amazing actors however sound also plays a major part in this. Using just sound or more specifically non diegetic sound and ambient sounds, directors have been able to create multiple amount of genres just by the type of sound it include. When producers include effective sound into their production they are effectively making people believe there story even if it seems highly unlike to be true.

Identify Genre-

Sound can also make us identify the genre. For example fast tempo sound with multiple loud drum beats is most likely going to be an action movie and a low high pitch drone sound is usually a sci-fi movie. Making the audience infer the genre type is crucial as it is in a way preparing the audience for what 1-3 hour journey they are going to take.

Without Sound-

In class we completed a task by muting a movie title sequence called 'The Taking of Pelham 123' and just watching the pictures .I n my opinion I though it would be just as good but now I understand what George Lukas means that sound is 50% of the movie. When I watch the sequence with no sound i felt like it didn't attract my attention and dove tail me into the movie. I felt like I was fighting and turning around a lot and not concentrating on the task ahead. I felt like it lacked intensity and I just didn't feel right as it left a lot of questions unanswered.

With Sound-

We as a class then watched the same title sequence again with the sound on a there was a astronomical difference in intensity. I felt like the sound gave me a sense of visceral as just hearing made me more pleasured and gave me a sense of arousal. we as a generation have gotten used to movies with sound and it didn't seems right without it. The main differences were that i understood the genre, where the movie was taking place and the type of title sequence it was .

Identifying Genres-

We as a class watched a lot of movie and the soundtracks alone gave us a huge understanding of what the genre was. When the sound of horses, whistling and kettle bells was heard I automatically knew it was a western movie. For the gene of science fiction I heard an elongated drone sound which creates a very chilling atmosphere as well as the rockets leaving the earth's atmospheric layers. For action movies I heard fast tempo soundtracks with passing cars immediately stimulating my senses and making me realise that it is  an action movie. For teen movies we heard singing females and a sort of stereotypical feminine background music denoting its chick flick/teen genre.

All of these movie contained sound motifs and just by the sound its amazing how we learnt so much about a movie which fascinates me even till this minute.

Key Definitions-

Wild Track- Record ambient sound and replay it so sound is constant

Ambient Sound- Original Sound from recording 

Diegetic Sound- Sound on the film set

Non- diegetic sound- music/Sound effects

Score- Orchestral

Song Background tracks

Voice-over- recording narrative over footage

Dialogue- More than one person speaking

Dubbing- replacing original voice-over with a different one

Foley - Emphasised diegetic sound

Synchronous-The music is the same tone as scene

Asynchronous- The music is a different tone to the scene

Sound Bridge- Same sound but different scenes

Sound motif- Particular sound that makes the audience know what is coming or what.