Playing With Sound

Heres a small video tutorial I found very useful whilst trying to get my head around using the Adobe Audition CC software that I was first introduced to in the first few weeks of my course. The software was tricky for me to adapt to as it requires a new mode of thinking; using sound rather than moving image was a new concept for me. So I hope that this can help you guys to get to grips with this useful software.

The Magic of Music

Im a big fan of film and television soundtracks, I feel a good soundtrack can sometimes save an otherwise terrible film, they add pace and narrative to a scene and create all manner of feelings from sadness to tension. For example the film Amazing Spiderman 2, despite being a slightly less then average film, had an amazing soundtrack to it that perhaps without it would have left the film to fail. Its use of techno and dub step during scenes with main antagonist Electro are really inspired and allow you to feel his pains of being lonely and an outcast. The fact that these particular genres of music are combined and put into use here is a clever link to his name, ‘Electro’ and his ability to shoot bolts of lightning at his enemies, in much the way people associate with that genre of music, particularly dub step music videos. Below is the Electro music and then another video depicting a take on dub step combined with ‘flashy’ lighting effects.

Some films use music against what is being shown in their films to create a sense of unease, for example using happy music during a particularly horrific and gory scene will make the audience feel at edge because the two do not join up. Alternatively, the music could be employed to reveal the emotions of the killer or aggressor as being happy, this would create a rather psychotic feel to the character in question. An example of this can be seen in the film Reservoir Dogs by one of my all time favourites Quentin Tarantino during a torture sequence that most will probably recognise. During this scene the music is used to create a sense of almost enjoyment of the torturer, whilst also making sense within the context of the scene.

Another way that music is often used, and was used rather effectively in a trailer I posted not too long ago, is when they take a piece of music that is typically associated with fairy tales or happy children’s songs and remake it into some form of dark and sinister tune whilst maintaining its lyrics or a similar melody to it. This has been used time and time again and to great effect as it strikes a cord at our very childhoods, to a time of naive safety and turns it on its head. Heres an example of this where the nursery rhyme ‘twinkle, twinkle little star’ used within the popular horror survival video game Dead Space 2. I hope that this has helped to open your eyes as to the importance of sound within film.