Sound

Why Is Sound Important:

Using sound aspects appropriately in movies or tv shows is vital for a well-made film. Sound is what mainly engages an audience through dialogue, environmental sound, scores, music, etc.

        Sound helps viewers understand and absorb the story and messages the film endeavors to portray. Sound can also build an emotional response by emphasizing and reinforcing the mood and tone of what's happening on screen.

        Changing the use of sound can cause the viewer experience a wide array of emotions. Just by adding something as small as some sound effects can completely change the effect the film evokes. Using silence, scores, or even a specific song or music genre can create the same effect.

        Though understanding body language is always important in a film, using dialogue or sound effects can add so much more detail towards a specific character, setting, or situation. Many people also  consider sound as one of the most important, relevant, and understood form of displaying information.

Sound in Horror:

        Sound is extremely important in all movie and tv show genres, however, horror movies aren't the same without them. 

        Sound is what is mainly used to frighten audiences in a horror movie. It can stimulate a psychological effect that intensifies the horror and scare. Whether you realize it or not, sound is the highlight of horror movies, making it just as or even more important than the actual visual aspect.

How I Will Use Sound:

    

    To make my opening scene more realistic and well-made, I will have to incorporate several methods of sound. In the first half of the opening scene, the forest chase scene, I will be using various forms of diegetic sound such as leaves rustIing, trees blowing in the wind, and running on terrain. 

        For those sounds, I can use some of the original sound from the footage, however, since I did film during the day on a weekend, the park I filmed at was crowded and there is also background noise. So in some cases, I will be finding my sounds on other online platforms.

Sound Platforms:

    

    While researching for this blog post, I came across a couple online platforms I could use as bases for copyright free sound effects. One of them is the audio library in YouTube Studio.

        The audio library is home to many sound effects and a variety of music. Everything on the audio library is also copyright free, so I don't have to worry about being copyrighted by anyone.

        Another site I found while researching was called freesound (https://freesound.org/). I have used this site before on a previous project and it was extremely helpful and useful. It is a database full of a magnitude of sounds ranging from a cow mooing to a waterfall splashing. Anything I wanted to find, I could find here all copyright free.

        Though I still have to look through them to find the exact type of sound I am looking for, these sites will make the editing sound process a whole lot easier.

Other Sound Aspects:

        Another form of sound I will use is heavy breathing. This is an extremely important part in my project as half of it is a running sequence. Without heavy breathing, the movie opening wouldn't be the same. This however, is different than the other sounds I need as this is a more personal sound and I will record it myself. I will use a microphone and record heavy breathing. I may even do this outside or in a foresty atmosphere as the breathing could sound more realistic and natural.

   

                      -Dana

Sources:

Budka, Luke. “The Importance of Sound Effects.” TopLine Film, 20 June 2022, https://toplinefilm.com/blog/the-importance-of-sound-effects#:~:text=Sound%20is%20important%20because%20it,can%20elevate%20your%20video%20dramatically.

“Why Sound Is so Important in Horror Movies.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-we-love-horror/202209/why-sound-is-so-important-in-horror-movies#:~:text=Horror%20movies%20use%20sound%20to,of%20such%20biologically%20potent%20sounds.