To help us learn the importance of sound and how many different types of sound go into a production to it's best to have a go yourself. Below is an example, does it paint a picture of a dramatic disaster?
Using the brief below you need to create your own storyline/situation using nothing but sound.
Brief
Create a narrative using sound only which communicates some kind of natural or human-made disaster. Consider using the following elements.
Dialogue - Who's talking and what are they saying. Character, accent and script are important.
Music - Does it require music, if so what will add the the encoded message of your story?
Atmosphere - Sounds to create an idea of space, location and time.
Foley - Bring a realistic element to your production, human sounds!
Sound Effects - Give it that creative and dramatic edge a good sound effect goes along way.
Though we might think of film as an essentially visual experience, we really cannot afford to underestimate the importance of film sound. A meaningful sound track is often as complicated as the image on the screen. The entire sound track is comprised of five essential ingredients:
Music
Atmospheric sound
Dialogue
Sound effects
Foley
These five tracks must be mixed and balanced so as to produce the necessary emphases which in turn create desired effects.
Script to Scream is an eight part series following the UK creative team behind Bloody Cuts as they produce their upcoming film, The Outer Darkness. Four of these episodes can be watched below. Producers and Directors Ben Franklin and Anthony Melton along with screenwriter Joel Morgan and Director of Photography Jonny Franklin provide incredibly detailed access to the team's inner workings and approach to film-making as each episode focuses on a different aspect of pre-production, production and post-production. Episode 1 In this episode, the team begins pre-production; including location scouting, the writing process and setting the timeline of work ahead of them to create The Outer Darkness.
Episode 2
As the team prepares for principal photography, meticulous planning becomes an essential part of coordinating all of the moving parts and 3rd parties contributing to the short film. Also, The Outer Darkness characters are starting to move from concept to reality as the team gets its first look at some of the evil creations from Special FX designer, James Greenwood.
Episode 3
The Outer Darkness team finally realizes the results of their meticulous planning and principal shooting begins. We also get our first look at the cast and learn how the team motivates them to give the best performances possible.
Episode 4
In episode 4 of Script to Scream the team discovers that unique locations prove to be challenging but worth the effort as the team finishes principal photography and the cast and crew work extremely hard to ensure that before editing begins everything that will be needed for the film is accomplished.
The Outer Darkness
The Outer Darkness is Part 1 of a terrifying new web series from the creators of popular horror show Bloody Cuts.
“On Friday evenings in Lynnsmouth Community Centre, meets a group led by Father Jonathan Crowe. Together they share their stories – tales of strange occurrences, horrific events and bizarre encounters that have scarred their lives. Tonight, a young tormented woman called Jenny will share a story of her experience with a game of chance that sealed the fate of her family…”
Also from Bloody Cuts
Set on one fateful night, six friends gather for their monthly 'games night'... and accidentally unleash a demonic force that might tear them - and their friendships - to pieces.
'Don't Move' is the 8th slice in Bloody Cuts' anthology of short horror films, made by a young team of UK film-makers on low budgets. Directed by Anthony Melton and written by David Scullion it stars Rachel Bright and Jake Hendriks alongside Kate Braithwaite, Beth Cooper, Ian Whyte, Calvin Dean and Martin Skipper.
Very little of what you hear in the movies is real - in this lesson we take a look at the art of Foley, how to classify it, the history of the man who started it all and take a crack at doing our own Foley work.
