Analysis: Sound Analysis From Individual Sounds to the Layers of a Mix –
In working on Project 3: Client Video, you will improve your storytelling techniques by working more closely with the sound. Examples of common sounds are; dialogue, effects, music, room tone, etc. To show you how these work, we’ll review short videos that make use of dense sound tracks, and you will try to listen and evaluate how each layer of sound is working. You may discuss these shorts with your team, but you will each submit your own analysis post.
For each sequence or short film, including the shorts Time Persists by Matthew Silva, and Joe by Sasha Wolf indicate the following (to review videos, see below):
- Dialogue:
- a. Is there any dialogue in the sound of the film?
- b. Is the dialogue heard alone, or are there other sounds present during the delivery of dialogue? If there are a variety of approaches, note them.
- c. Comment on the prominence and pace of the dialogue. Does the dialogue occur constantly, regularly, or occasionally? Is it delivered at a rapid pace without significant breaks, comfortably exchanged between the characters, or spoken slowly or with regular breaks?
- d. Do visual edits typically occur when characters exchange lines, or are cuts made while a single actor is speaking?
- Effects:
- a. Are sound effects heard in the sequence?
- b. Is there significant noise from the setting, objects, and other non-dialogue sounds? Are some effects heard more prominently than others?
- c. Do any particular effects add to the plot of the story or serve to relay specific information to the viewer?
- d. Do effects work in a particular way to give tone to the sequence or contribute to the overall sensual experience of the movie (its general feeling or poetry)?
- Music:
- a. Is there any music in the sequence? If so, is it instrumental or a song? What types of instruments are used? What is the rhythm? What style or genre of music is it?
- b. Is the music at the forefront of the sound or is it in the background?
- c. How is the music used in relation to the picture? Is it used to accent or add pace to fast drama or action? Is it used to underscore the emotion of the scene? Is it used in contrast to the scene in any way?
- Literary and theatrical elements:
- a. How does the sound design of the film serve the drama of the film?
- b. How does the sound work with the images of the motion picture to influence our mood or provoke emotional reactions?
- c. Sound helps to set a tone and establish style in a motion picture. In this sequence, how did that reflect any thematic elements in the story
Extra Credit:
Do you have a suggestion for a really creative, snappy, or interesting short promo video, post the URL to Slack with your reasons for WHY it is a great example of well done Promo, and I’ll get it up online for all to see!!
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