Analysis 3

Time Persists

1.

1. Yes, there is.
2. Some dialogue is heard alone, other times accompanied by sounds later added as either foley work or some sort of sound effect. The xylophone song was prominent for over half the piece, and then other sounds were later added to dramatize the use of toys.
3. Dialogue is very brief and used only occasionally in this piece, each character saying only a few words at a time. Each line has some amount of weight to it due to the silence in between.
4. I’m pretty sure that every cut that was made never happened while dialogue was being spoken. Every character that had a line said their line while they were on camera.

2.

1. Yes, there is a lot of sound effects.
2. The xylophone seems to be significant to some regard, as it plays us into the film and stops as soon as conflict arises. Every sound effect isn’t really subtle and is easily noticed to the viewer.
3. I think the sound effects played when the the “colorful people” equip their toys are meant to make the toys seem more like weapons? I think that was supposed to be the idea but I didn’t really get that impression beyond the sword becoming unsheathed.
4. The xylophone being played in the beginning was better than the film opening in silence I suppose, but I honestly don’t think the sound effects added anything to this piece.

3.

1. I’m not sure if you’d consider the xylophone as music or a sound effect. It’s entirely instrumental to the tune of “Hush Little Baby” in an almost creepy nature. As this piece isn’t necessarily as creepy as it is weird, I think this song is a poor, almost inappropriate fit to the piece as a whole.
2. The music is foreground for the most part as the film opens, and I guess still continues to be foreground once dialogue is introduced, as it doesn’t seem to change in volume despite there being people talking.
3. I’m not entirely sure what the intentions were with the xylophone music in the beginning. Like I said above, it definitely gives the piece this creepy feeling that I think is misplaced when looking at the film as a whole. It might be used to further emphasis the childhood theme of the people wearing colors, but I think that point was driven home with the jump rope and the hide and seek, so it really didn’t seem like it added anything new.

4.

1. I think the lack of noise served more of a purpose to the drama of the whole piece rather than the sound effects themselves. I think the sound effects did a good job at making sure the piece wasn’t silent beyond dialogue, but other than that I failed to understand their purpose. The cymbals when the man in red tried to find the girl behind the tree was a neat moment, but I don’t think it contributed very much to the film as a whole. The brief and minimalist dialogue accompanied by no backing sounds did give the very limited dialogue some weight though.
2. The best example of this question is the cymbals and the hide and seek scene. It built up anticipation as the man in red looked behind the tree while also taking advantage of practical audio effects.
3. Like I said earlier, I think the xylophone gave the piece a creepy theme that wasn’t really reflected in any other way in the film. I think the final cymbal crash was used well as a way to end the piece but I don’t think sound as a whole was used particularly well in this short film as a whole.

Joe

1.

1. There is some background chatter and laughing early in the beginning, but no coherent words are heard.
2. There is no dialogue that is heard.
3. See above.
4. See above.

2.

1. The whole film/sequence has a lot of sound effects throughout.
2. Almost every action made by anyone on or off screen made a sound of some sort which was greatly amplified and made significantly less subtle. Every sound effect that would normally be considered subtle is brought to the foreground so that every effect is pretty consistently prominent.
3. I’d say that all of the subtle effects being brought to the foreground gives some kind of background on why Joe was admitted to whatever facility he may be in. No one effect really speaks to the plot individually, but all of them collectively contributes to the plot significantly.
4. Yes, the effects as a whole gives the piece this really antsy feel, as you experience the world through the eyes (or ears) of Joe, you better understand his situation without the use of any dialogue.

3.

1. Yes, the piece opens and ends with a song. I’m fairly sure the opening piece doesn’t have any lyrics, but the ending piece is the same song, this time accompanied with lyrics. It’s a pretty light country riff, giving us this “small town working class” feel.
2. Any time the music existed, it existed in the foreground. I think this was a good deliberate choice as if it didn’t, it would have taken away from the over-the-top sound effects the rest of the film implements.
3. I think the music is nice accompaniment to the piece as a whole, setting a tone pretty early in the piece while also giving us an idea of when we reached the end. I don’t think the actual genre or timing of the music served any plot purposes however.

4.

1. Every sound effect worked incredibly well together. All of the little amplified sounds got under your skin, which allowed the viewer to experience what Joe was supposedly experiencing.
2. If you consider “irritated” or “anxious” to be a feeling, almost every sound in this film was used to provoke one of those feelings.
3. I think the overall plot progressed pretty independently from the sounds. I do think the sounds did a good job at allowing the viewer to better understand what Joe was feeling and better justified his actions, but they didn’t play an active role in the plot.

• Saved: A3, Analysis, Lab1