a bit on sound design

This part of the coarse is a particular favorite to me, pretty much because when i leave the academy i hope to progress into a career of sound design and other sound related jobs. Andy picked one of the most influential sound designers/editors out there to give us an example of what sound can do to make a film what it is. Using the film The Conversation, edited by Walter Murch, we were shown how one conversation played throughout an entire story can affect our understanding of the characters feelings and fears.

The Conversation may not have been my cup of tea, still not a bad film, just no the kind of story that i'm generally interested in. But not one person can deny that the films sound scape and design is utterly fantastic and is almost as if not more important than the visuals, in creating Gene Hackman's fear and obsession with one of his clients whom he has been putting under surveillance. Throughout the film, whenever we are on Gene Hackman, we are constantly plagued by snips of the conversation he originally recorded right at the start of the film. This is used to show the guilt that he is feeling that one of his recordings may have gotten someone killed, and so he is plagued by his own work and obsession. What happens when the only things you really care about in the world turns against you, I'm guessing is the question that Gene Hackman must face.

Sound design is something which i find particularly amazing.

Swiftly moving on from Walter Murch, i would like to go straight to the crazy stuff, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Sunshine, and the sci-fi lot. How does one create a sound that no one has ever heard or knows what it would sound like?

Imagination, is a key point in all of these films. From what effects you see on the screen we are to create a sound which matches it in every way, shape and form. If it is an explosion it should be analyzed and each and every element of the explosion should be recorded individually to be put together at a later stage and the finished output, no matter if it has a hundred tracks with it, should resemble the sound that an audience would expect from their understanding of previous films.

The most amazing and wonderful part of sound design has to be the sheer imagination put into each sound, to create that sense of fast pace, or real depth, or even just silence in order to impact an audience, either to give them what they really desire while watching a particular scene, or to withhold what they expect, in order to strike them, catching them off guard and putting in the awkward position of having to agree that the images must go with the sound, even in a clash situation.

If i had to give an example of one of the most fantastic uses of sound design, surprisingly, I'd have to go for Steven Speilberg's remake of War Of The World's, in which Richard King designed the sound. The one sound out of that film which is one of the most terrifying things i have ever experienced in cinema has to be the Tripod alarm, just before they proceed to kill humanity. That alarm is able to send a shiver down my spine every time i listen to it. It has just right amount of bass to shift the floorboards, but still enough to leave a shrill bell in your ears. Once hearing the alarm, you know their is trouble to ensue, and that even as an audience member you don't want to be there. Just like in Jaws, with John Williams score signifying the shark is near, that alarm signifies the same danger and acts as an signal to the audience, be afraid, be very very afraid.