Evaluation

When initially looking at the possible clips, straight away I knew I wanted to do War of the Worlds. The very first thing I thought of was Walle[1]. When looking at it previously in my research I really thought how he changes pitch and rhythm would work well with the use in how the Probe slows down and speed up. As the Probe is constantly moving around I also liked this idea of always constantly changing pitch and sound within itself even without the use of pan and volume.

This is a short clip from Walle to show the sounds that inspired me for the Probe sounds.

Previous to this project I hadn’t took any in the musical elements of sound design as I am not a musical person but during our lessons we had been taught the basic of Logic and Garage Band. After a lot of attempts of trying to create the humming noise that I envisioned I used Garage band and recorded my own piano track of the rhythm that I wanted before manipulating it in Soundtrack Pro. I think that this sort of sound would work well in regard to engageing the audience as it has the familiar humming of a machine but then once it had been manipulated also gave it this more fluent feel to help bring it to life.

In Erick Aadahl says about how import the character sound design is important as each sound represents their personality.

‘In “Kung Fu Panda”, each character represents a different style of Kung Fu, represented by a sonic signature: Mantis is based on wood-instrument ratchets, with doppler zips as he flies; Tigress is based on swift vocals, tennis racket whooshes and precision jabs; Crane is based on feathers and wings; Monkey is based on swingy whooshes; Viper is based on snake rattles (made out of serrated air hisses), and villain Tai Lung is based on sheer brute force, contrasting Po’s rubbery-ness.’[2]

I think this works with all sound design. The visuals tell the viewer initially what they are to think and know about a character but then the sounds tell you subconsciously what exactly they are about. The sound wouldn’t be there unless it is to tell you something new and invoke a certain feeling in the viewer. I think this is the same with my project, I just don’t want to add sounds for the sack of it, I want each individual sound to represent something new, especially with the Probe. For example when they Probe moves away thinking that it has searched the house and not found any one but are in fact hiding right there then I wanted to show how the Probe would feel. I tried to do this with the use of manipulating the pitch. I thought that at that moment in which it spins around I would push up the pitch semitones as if it had made him jump like any person would if the thought nothing was there but then there was a sudden loud noise.

Another musical element that I hadn’t really appreciated prior to this module was how something so simple like some bass can add such a difference to the piece. When looking at films such as Drive[3]. you really notice how in some scene the music all you have to work off to get a sense of the emotion and atmosphere of the scene. I really think this is a good way of engaging with the audience on a more subconscious level so did thins in the intense part of the piece. When the Probe is approaching them and is within reach of them then these are the times I brought in the bass. This is to just subconsciously tell the viewer there is something uneasy here and should be worried.

When looking at any piece of work the Foley is the most obvious sound design to any audience. This is what helps bring life to the shot and gives the audience something that is familiar to go off of, especially if the film plays on this but manipulates them to create a sense of confusion or dream like state. This can be seen in films such as Lost Highway[4] during the scene at the house party when a mystery man in black confronts Fred. They have manipulated the sound through the use of EQ and completely took out all Foley sounds so that you are just left with the dialogue of the man and Fred. This is a good example in how we the audience would expect to hear things and you can completely change the whole sense and feel to a scene with the use of manipulating the sound so that they are not what you would expect. I think this is a very powerful tool in sound design but in such a short piece in War of the Worlds I don’t have a chance to play around with manipulation in this way. So when it comes to foley I think I have done a good job at recreating the sense of reality and replacing all the obvious Foley sounds that are present in this section.

Another main element in sound design is the atmos track of a room or location that holds the whole piece together. When in any location you have an atmos track that without the area would just feel empty. When it comes to sound design it is a very important part that helps fill in the gaps in the track. Especially for this piece, but in any you would use the atmos to create an overall feel to the location. This is a very subtle track that you wouldn’t normally pay attention to but on a subconscious level you do notice and take in and if it wasn’t there you would definitely notice. I think in my piece I have managed to get the right atmos track that relates to the rain outside and old house feel which just help to add another level and more depth to the piece.

One not so positive thing about my piece is I found it hard sorting my levels out. I Spent quite a few times redoing my level for the Probe as this is the main feature sound in this piece. I feel as though I have done this right but then all the other sounds then felt to be really quite in relation and I think I have wrongly increased the level of these. As they are trying to sneak around the house and stay undetected then I should have really stuck with my first initial levels when they were quieter. But I think that it is a bit too loud but in some way because the Probe is so loud and power full they have that much more freedom to make more sound when trying to run around.

The most tricking thing I found was try to decide on the sound for the rat, in reality you probably would hear the rat scurry along the floor but you see it and there want to hear something. This then meant I had to figure out what exactly I was to use for this. In the end I found the sound of a rat chewing and biting on some cardboard and I felt that this had the right sort of scratching sounds. I added this in a made sure my levels were low as then you could hear it but wasn’t too distracting. This along with pan I think worked well with creating a realistic rat sound.

I think overall I did a good job at creating a sound track that used Atmos, Foley and Musical elements that help tell the story, add tension and bring the movements to life. I think in regard to audience and their perspective it does work well in creating tension in the right part and making you feel very on edge as the Probe is so intense and powerful. I do think there is margin for more improvements especially with tightening up on the levels but overall it does that job and I am proud of what I have managed to do. At the start of the module I wouldn’t have had to confidence to experiment with manipulating sounds i would have just focused on my Foley and not really appreciate the use of music and atmos and how effective they really are.

[1] Walle. 2008. [Film] Directed by Andrew Stanton. USA: Disney Pixar

[2] Miguel Isaza . (2012). Erik Aadahl Special: Animation Sound Design [Exclusive Interview]. Available: http://designingsound.org/2010/03/erik-aadahl-special-animation-sound-design-exclusive-interview/. Last accessed 20.12.2012

[3] Drive. 2011. [Film] directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. USA: Bold films

[4] Lost Highway. 1997. [Film] Directed by David Lynch. USA: Ciby 2000