The Use of Sound Effects in the Production of a Film - Essay Example

Movie Review In considering the use of sound effects in the production of a film, we have to reflect in the first instance about the apparatus, which enables the mediated experience of watching a film. The sophisticated production and projection tools that exist today can create intense, immersive audio-visual experiences of a modern cinema. The music and the sound effects that are incorporated play an integral part of this experience. Sophisticated sound technology and approaches are used in contemporary documentaries, matching those of feature films. Well-recorded original location sound is crucial in documentary films, more so than in feature films where ADR techniques are regular used in postproduction. Modern digital multitask post- production techniques used in documentary films have narrowed the gap to mainstream feature films like for instance in docudrama, By reconnecting carefully selected acousmatic and environmental sounds with moving images, new augmented realities can be created in the films. The sound designer, who uses the surround sound space to place and move sounds and atmospheres dynamically according to the narrative, can construct an augmented acoustic reality. The Hurt Locker (2008) directed by Kathryn Bigelow, which was awarded two Oscars for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing in 2010, put these new aesthetic and technological approaches into practice in the film. With the recent wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya (2011), the film The Hurt Locker has a distressing effect on the actuality on the matter. Even though it is a feature film the film portrays many stylistic properties of a documentary (John, 181). A shaky hand held camera, rough, fast zoom adjustments, rough location sound effects and intertitles give the film a flow of filmic time. Often the so-called anti-war films are in fact glorifying the experience of the soldier; The Hurt Locker portrays this trait. In addition, she is able to show a group of soldiers not as merely war robots but as real people with different psychological mindset and sensitivities. Bigelow structures her film along various overlapping timelines. First, there is the counting of days of duty left in Bravo Company rotation For all the soldier it a time for time wasting and sometimes it is a race against time to avoid the constant threats of being killed, that present themselves in the time of action. The second time structure consists of various bomb disposal actions by specialist William James. Bigelow shows us the on the surface these actions uneventful, repetitive, but extremely tense situations almost in real time in a documentary like fashion. When an Improvised explosive device is discovered, there are nervous soldiers shouting commands, radio voices, aesthetically reinforced by fast image editing. What shows as the loneliness of the bomb expert in trying to diffuse the bomb is highlighted by the subjective sound of his breathing, enclosed in the monstrous bomb suit? His breathing is closely recorded through an in built communication microphone, therefore one can clearly hear the tiny nuances, when James holds his breath or breathes regularly because of the tension caused with the situation that he is in. This is supported with the subjective camera perspective, moving and shaking, as if the viewer was in the bomb suit. The distinction between high-density action, shouting etc, and the stillness of waiting and listening for the hidden enemy is extreme. Sound plays a crucial role in making these actions clear; it makes the viewer feel as if he/she is in that situation in real time. The feeling of being there is experienced from the start of the film this is achieved by breaking of the Hollywood traditions. Instead of using title music Kathryn Bigelow asked the sound designer Paul N.J. Ottosson to create a soundscape composition for the opening scene, which devotes the viewer or listener into the alien and rich sound world of a fictional Bagdad (John, 182). Bigelow and her sound designer Ottosson increase the division of labor between the image track and the sound track by entrusting an important role to sound in the construction of meaning. In particular the establishing shot is relieved from some of its functions, this is because the soundtrack can provide a sense of the location. The first images of the film are shaky close-ups shots in poor quality of some dirty, littered road surface. These images do not provide much information of the situation. By contrast, the sound track starts in the darkness of the cinema, before the image track begins and opens up a rich sound world of the Arab city: all sounds are grounded in a deep musical drone. Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders were the composers of the sound music and by that they integrated their musical sounds and textures fully into the soundscapes. Beltrami and Sanders used some music elements for example a deep drone, which turns the environmental sound events into quasi-motifs. The musical acoustic unity is guaranteed through the drone. Another film in which sound and music is seen as a prominent element in the present modern film is Lost in translation (2003). This is an American comedy drama written and directed by Sophia Coppola, the film revolves around an aging actor named Bob Harris (Muray) and a recent college graduate named Charlotte (Johansson) who developed a rapport after a chance meeting in a Tokyo hotel. The movie explores themes of loneliness, insomnia a, existential, ennui, and culture shock and music plays a vital rolr in bringing these emotions into the view of the audiences. The energy and the moog that is experienced in Lost in translation is brought about by the colorful scenes which is then reinforced by fast paced, upbeat pop music such as the French band phoenix’s “Too Young” (John, 179). The Pop music helps bring the mood of the film to the audiences and the youthful nature of the film. Much of the music is in this sequence is digetic; so, the characters and the audiences are able to feel the same hearing experience of the situation of that scene that of total immersion. Taking turns at karaoke, Bob and Charlotte soulfully belt out their renditions of Elvis Costello’s version of “(What’s so Funny Bout) Peace Love and Understanding,” The Pretenders’ “Brass in Pocket” and rock music’s “More than this”. When the interaction of images and music in a film is such that the latter heightens the effect of the former, it generates effective congruence. In Lost in Translation film, in the scenes, dynamic intensity of the musical soundscape, like the vibrant use of color, contrasts starkly with the “hushed interior of a luxury hotel,” exciting the audience and raising expectations for the emerging bond between Bob and Charlotte. Music does not simply suggest emotional states but produces those states. The audience shares the kinetic energy developed in this scene and this is attributed to the use of music and the other sound elements that were used (John, 180). In the modern filming industry, sound plays an essential part in the process of making film. In the first 30 years of film making sound was not a major element in film making , and for that reason, bringing the true experience of the film was mostly not achieved that’s why technology now helps film makers so achieve this objective. To achieve the experience and feeling of the film it is important to apply all the three ingredients that constitute the sound element that is human voice, sound effects and music. The films Hurt Locker and Lost in paradise have been able to achieve this by their incorporation of music and other sound elements in their film. By doing this the films have been able to gain much recognition by the viewers and the players of the film industries, they have even been able to win awards due to their ability to use music and sound elements in giving the viewers the true experience of the film and also entertaining the viewers. Work cited McWilliams, John. New England's crises and cultural memory: literature, politics, history, religion, 1620-1860. New York: University Press, 2004, pp.178-183. Read More