Introduction
Multimedia material has an enormous importance in film and television productions, e.g. image understanding and media conversion (, 1998).
Audio requirements of film and television production are frequency contour (general trend or melodic contour), audio objects, timbre, harmony, frequency profile, amplitude envelope, temporal structure and textual content, sonic approximations, prototypical sound, spatial structure and source of sounds and its characteristics.
In short, the sound reinforcement systems’ (, n.d.) and processes’ clarity and audibility are the core of audio requirements of an entire production. Sound designs are the manipulation of resources to create a “sonic environment” (, 1994).
Sound Effects of Sci-Fi and Horror Films
According to , the soundtrack should be implicit, whether it is a scary or action-filled film. The sound track must be working on you without being aware of the technique used. Sound engineers, designers and mixers barely consider ‘mickeymousing’ technique in this digital era. Mickeymousing is a matching of action and music. It has now become a cliché as it is giving away what is about to happen (, 1996).
The sophisticated, modern audience are increasingly accepting contrapuntal technique where sounds are contrasting the textual theme. Thus, the audience will not recognize and cannot anticipate what will happen next.
Synthesizers are almost always present in sci-fi and horror films since they can produce otherworldly sounds (, 1996).
The length of sound or attacks are used variedly in both sci-fi and horror productions. From beginning to its peak, the attack may be soft and hard and slow and fast whatever the scene requires. A lot of movies incorporate the use of high-pitched music to build fear. Other films use high strings to express stress since they can evoke weird psychic going-ons ( and , 1990). Moreover, deep sounds seem percussive that it can literally penetrate your body when played strongly.
Inhuman and mechanical effects are obtained through electronically lowering or raising the voices. This technique is known as the telemetry tracks.
Sound Design for Star Wars
The Star Wars series is the best example of a creative and realistic sound designing and it has been the standard since then. is responsible for the motion pictures’ sonic success. He created exceptional and unusual weapon, vehicle and character sounds.
The visual world comes alive in an ‘organic’ soundtrack. Mostly, used animal sounds. What is more incredible is his use of unusual things to create impeccable sounds. Like that of the speeder bike, unless you know, you won’t recognize that it is a mixture of recorded sounds of P-5 Mustang airplane and a P-38 Lockheed Interceptor ().
The synthesizing technique is widely-used in the entire film. The use of horn (, 1992) suggested that Star Wars is beyond that ‘heroism’ concept because you cannot predict the next scene.
The techniques used vary from a certain scene to another. The used of processed natural sounds blended well on the background. It is so diversified that even protagonist have their own theme music.
Furthermore, the Ewokese language used in the film was formed through alteration and layering of Mongolian, Nepali and Tibetan languages. The formation of composite words and sentences are derived from actual languages (). Yet, the emotional clarity was conveyed properly. The human voice element supplies the purpose of the characters. Very realistic persona emerges in Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Darth Vader among others (, n.d.).
The Star Wars production uses the dramatic emotional approach instead of realistic. The irony, however, the film made the people believes that everything in the movie is real. It has successfully convinced the audience of a certain truth in a scientific sense including the ‘sound of space’ and the ‘sound of anger’
What makes the special effects of Star Wars is the complementing sound and action. The images on the screen go along with its emotional context. Literally, the sound tells the story and brings pleasure to the audience.
Arguments
Many claimed that the sound track of Star Wars is not exactly very memorable. It is vague and it lacks theme coherence since it does not put the spot on the character. The conflict scenes and its background inflict a slight confusion between the orchestra and chorus and different melodies. The minor tonality and the persistence of rhythm created the notion of what the next pace would be. The range of emotions alters each on particular paces of the movie.
I believed that the Star Wars movies and sound tracks cater to specific groups of moviegoers, music lovers and movie enthusiasts. We must remember that Star Wars is a science fiction film set on an outer-visual world with classical implications on the side. The scores are powerfully emotional which tends the film to live on in the music. What makes the Star Wars a dull movie is repetitiveness but no question regarding the sound effects and engineering.
The carefully considered sounds did reflect a superb sound engineering. Sadly, the sound forms and sound functionality does not contribute to usability, enjoyment and identity (, 2004). The sound legibility is there but musicality must be clearly understood by the listener. It must not diverse attention and fight against dialogues and effects. Yet, the sound is working on its audience unconsciously (, 1997).
Sound Effects of Animation Films
The first principle of animation sound: there is no connection between the object in the picture and the origin of sound. The actions in the picture are more condensed, too.
Bonds that connect sound with moving images are very crucial to animation. Such visual elements and the audio track share in a more intimate and more creative connection compared to other motion picture forms.
The high degree of synchronization is a practical sort on the technology of animation. The total control is placed at the animator in both the visual and audio aspects. Accuracy is the key measure of animation sound.
The movement of animation and music have basic mathematical foundations. Such relationships are measured through the rhythm of musical composition that ate fitted into bar units. The units have defined time length that is interpreted in time units.
Likewise, audio-visual metaphors are created through combining fast moving animated visuals and unrealistic sound effects. These metaphors often have humorous aspects. As such, the synchronized sound effects serve as a source of kinetic energy.
The sounds in an animation film can be pre-synchronous, post-synchronous and non-synchronous. In “presynch” process, the key actions’ music and sound effects are recorded first before the images are produced. Most voices are pre-recorded, analyzed and logged in order to achieve the precise synchronization. These will become concrete determinant of the occurrence of key actions.
When the images are comes ahead of sounds, the process is post-synchronous. The outer orientation, spatial and temporal settings, is completed by sound effects that are established by the visuals. These are primary determinants of the scene’s pacing. The animators are shooting according to voice tracks. Particular actions which require sound effects are added into the effects track at the appropriate frame.
The non-synchronous process deals with music that has not been carefully timed to fit the film. In ‘time art’, the synchronization within the picture at different points is inevitable.
The first draft of the sound track is also known as the scratch track. Usually, the scratch tracks and the storyboard are built at the same time.
Sound Design of Chicken Little
Chicken Little is the first independent venture of Disney in computer animation. The people behind the production aimed at creating something new yet very Disney, in effect, in audio, animation, visual effects editorial and original conception. is the sound engineer and supervising sound editor for the film.
The film has a great deal of score and it is clearly delivered on the effects and dialogues. The good sense of tonality did not give away much of the picture and the sound is not going against the effects and the dialogue. Within the entire film, there is a kind of balance which an audience will surely enjoy (, 2006).
The scores are properly arranged and the dialogues are carefully-chosen. The slogan is very catchy and the film conveyed appropriately the ‘sound of falling sky’. The voice performances have strong influences on the visuals which makes the story more interesting. The pitch-shift and the voice progress in the film made possible a creative input wherein the message is delivered successfully, sonic-, music- and animation-wise.
The specific effects due to the sound toys and waves provided a relaxed mood yet subtly extraterrestrial emotion. The aliens’ and the big voices are a parody but not totally scary. The music track and sound scoring are not diverging during sequences (, 2006).
Arguments
The voices of the main actors are somewhat misplace which makes it annoying and a bit unmotivated with limited appeal. The predictable format due to sound mixing reflects poor sound engineering but the music is good. Somehow, the movie showed the sound of floating feather in the air and the vaporization of victims by aliens. The visual and audible identity of the movie suffers.
There is no time for a little audience reflection (, n.d.) since the movie is so fast-paced. Thus, the audience cannot relate on the story and cannot follow the plot
I think the movie lacks synchronization. The psychoacoustic affects more on the children. It is a fantasy movie which poignantly created more illusions. The mood of the movie did not really change from the beginning until the end.
Conclusion
Like all cognition, listening is based upon existing mental model of what things ought to be — our sound perception. Sound modulation and quality connotes emotions while watching a movie and hearing the background music and sound effects. Our ears suggest absolute values of sound.
As such, proper convention of sounds in a film or television production must be a priority for sound designers and engineers. Sounds are intended to simulate reality, create illusion and mood whenever necessary. These are not just mechanical tool, it can be employed creatively and artistically (, 1989) to deliver a particular message to the audience.
The roles of sound must be clear to all technical actors of a production. Whether narrative or grammatical role (, 1997), what is important is the sound can communicate to its direct listener or audience as long as it is not revealing the progress of the story or the continuity of the scene in a blatant way.
The success of a certain production depends largely on audio requirements: sound component, sound envelope and record and playback component (, n.d.). Such contributes to the authenticity and credibility of a scene. The human voice, sound effects and music must be mixed and balanced to produce the necessary emphasis which creates desired effects.
To wit, a film is an exemplary visual experience but we cannot afford to underestimate the importance of film sound (, n.d.).
Bibliography
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