Sound Design 1- Introduction

In this sound workshop we looked at several different pieces of sound that might give us some influence for our final sound piece. We also looked at several different sound terms, for example Diagetic (real life sounds) and Non-Diagetic sound (Added over in the editing process, e.g. sound effects). The sound pieces we looked at were Orson Welles' 'War of the World's' radio broadcast, Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' radio broadcast and lastly a scene of a film called 'Elephant' by Gus Van Sant. 

War of the World's Radio Broadcast (1938, Orson Welles) 



We looked at a few different pieces of sound, for example 'War of the World's' 1938 radio broadcast. This piece was interesting because of the comparison of real life sounds and dubbed over sounds, that to listeners today just know are not real, however due to the fact that at the time sound was not as advanced as it is now, people would've believed these sounds and many were frightened by the broadcast. This piece shows how sound has progressed from the late 1930's, and how through cinema and other platforms, audiences of today are used to hearing sounds such as spaceship's, so when hearing this in the broadcast, I knew that is was not real, and dubbed over (Non-Diagetic sound)  

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Radio Series (Douglas Adams, 1978) 

I found this piece interesting to listen to because of the way in which the characters interact, and the way the non-diagetic sounds work with the diagetic sound to tell a story and keep the listener intrigued. The sounds used help to tell the listener not only what is going on, but also what emotions to feel at certain scenes, mainly through dialogue. The piece itself was the first radio series to be produced in stereo. 

Elephant, Movie (Gus Van Sant, 2003) 

 

The sound within the section we watched was interesting because of the music (Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata') playing throughout, blending in with the diagetic sound of people playing sports and leaves blowing in the breeze. The subtleness of the music helps to give a sense of emotion, and how the character is feeling at a certain point. The scene stretches out to the length of the track (around 5 minutes) which may seem like a long time, however the music for me is an expression of teenage life, and how the character is feeling is something to be compared to in a normal teenagers life. Without the music, the scene was be somewhat emotionless. This helped me realise the true importance of sound within film. 



Marantz PMD-660


For the last part of the lesson we looked at recording, and different types of microphones, e.g. cardioid, dynamic etc. We were taught how to function a Marantz recorder, for example changing settings such as recording format and sample rate. This is in preparation for our sound project, which is to produce a 30-60 second piece based around a piece of text, to tell a story, for example creating a piece of sound to interpret a children's story or a poem. I found using the Marantz recorder quite useful and will be something I will want to use for my project.