Alien 1979- Ship Sounds

The all time classic sci-fi film. This film is over 30 years old, yet the sound track is still relevant today, especially in relation to my Solaris project. There are so many subtle little noises and effects, drones, beeps, whirs, clicks and hums that make up the sound of the Nostromo spacecraft. Much of teh sound design was done by Jim Shields, who has built this incredibly complex, yet subtle ambience that runs, even when other key sounds are more present (e.g. alien breath, heartbeats, scuttling, acid etc), maintaining the background noise and adding believability to the scenes.

The beauty is no-one has ever been on a space craft like this, so Shields can take full creative control, and makes something that we all instantly believe a space craft should and would sound like. This is something I shall explore in creating the ambience and atmos within the space craft of my own chsoen Solaris clip. If the location can be made believable and absorb the audience, the other sounds and effects will fall more easily into place. A jarring, un realistic atmos would thrown the whole film out, and greatly alienate the audience from the piece.

Hints and Tips- Chris Scarabosio

Just a short video of very basic, but nonetheless useful advice from Chris Scarabosio, the sound designer for There Will Be Blood, who works at the prestigous Skywalker Studios. Though much of the information he gives is simple, it is certainly helpful in avoiding basic mistakes.

Much of what he says is reiterated by Ric Viers in 'The Sounds Effects Bible' which helped me enormously, especially in my script to screen presentation but also in the practical recording elements of the two later assessments.

Perhaps the most interesting thing Scarabosio talks about is the perception of sound, and how objects can sound like pretty much whatever you want them to be. This is particularly relevant to Solaris, as it is a sci-fi genre film, so there are no set rules as to what things may or may not sound like. this leaves sound designers with a much greater creative scope. It has also become true that since starting this module, I can't watch anything without analyzing every sound I hear, wondering how it was made and what from. This new obsession also carries into day to day life, as now I analyze everyday objects, thinking what effects could be created from tehm, and what they could be shaped to sound like.

Dead Space- Musical Inspirations

Here are a few examples of the Dead Space videogame soundtrack. Though the entire game was a subtle influence to the sounds of my piece, the music (by Jason Graves) was of particular interest. As you can hear, it creates tension and feelings of creeping isolation. During actual gameplay, the soundtrack is perhaps the most terrifying part, it amplifies the mood so well. This was a driving influence/inspiration behind the musical parts of my soundtrack, referenced by low, throbbing, fluctuating bass ends and shrill, unsettling high ends.

 The game also uses lots of signature sounds and motifs for key moments, espeically for moments when added shock is needed after long periods of tension (Lewton Bus in a way). I also attempted to replicate this during the acid/face reveal sequence.

No Country For Old Men- Musical Inspirations

Here are a few examples of a few music pieces and clips I listened to whilst editing the first Sound to Screen project

The first is a piece by Johnny Greenwood, the composer for There Will Be Blood. Though very little score is used in both No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, this piece evokes the kind of chilling tension that Chigur creates throughout the clip I worked on. This type of music was an influence as the the slow, inexorable build up of fear after the protagonist discovers the transmitter adn realises hes not alone. 

The second is an amateur musician playing country/western style blues. It is in no way perfectly produced, but its limping, lonely quality fitted well with the situation the protagonist finds himself in. This was an influence to the guitar score I composed myself for the piece but ultimately decided to leave out.

By far the most influential piece was Dustbowl (find via link below) which instantly conjures up images a great dry plains and small hillbilly type Southern towns, exactly the settings to No Country For Old Men. This was a useful grounding influence throughout the whole edit, and especiall during the composition of my own score. . http://www.audionetwork.com/production-music/mood-emotion/ambient-textural-feels/hot-desert-tropical/results.aspx

Sound to Screen Project 3

A list of sounds to be found/recorded for my Solaris project:

• Screams (female)
• Alert siren
• Alert voice (mechanical/female- contamination alert?)
• Footsteps- metal stairs- down
• Bubbling acid
• Hissing acid
• Steam
• Body movement (on bed- thrash)
• Bone creak
• Bone break
• Electronic bleeps
• Metal object drop
• Breaking glass
• Signature sounds (e.g. for face wound)
• Music (futuristic, unsettling)
• Healing sound (reversed breath, zips, hiss?)
• Pnuematic Doors

Lord of the Rings

A clip from the Lord of the Rings special DVD, where several of the key sound crew members discuss the difficulties, problems and techniques used within the second film.

I think this is incredibly interesting, seeing how in many respects the sound design for one of the largest film productions of all time is only a small step away from what we produce as projects. This video provides interesting insights into techniques and cheats around problems, as well as a look into how big scale productions produce their sound. The idea with the wooden baffle box could be used int eh sound design for our final year piece, as it calls for an otherwordly, deep resonating voicec of an inhuman monster.

In the video the sound designers make reference to the many different everday objects they use to create Foley sounds. For example flights for crossbow bolts made from cereal boxes to create a desired whirring effect. This is inspirational to a buddign sound designer, as it shows even the biggest budget films dont have to use the most expensive kit and materials to produce cinema sounds. They also make reference to the number of takes and retakes they had to suffer, and the number of happy accidents that created some of the most memorable moments of the movies. Again inspiration that there is hope for all of us!

There Will Be Blood- Sound Design

As part of my inspiration for the sound to screen project I looked at There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007), as it is a very similar film in many ways to No Country for Old Men, the film I was working on. Both are incredibly minimalist in their approach to sound, with very little reliance on music/score to drive the narrative. In both cases, narrative is aided by the use of silence and the heightened perception of normally minor sounds. Dialogue (especially in There Will Be Blood) is brought forward in stunning clarity, leaving the audience hanging on every word, simply due to the absence of all other sounds.

I choses to employ the minimalist technique in my own clip to heighten the tension and focus on key moments. I was influenced heavily by the opening scene of There Will Be Blood, as Chris Scarabosio (sound designer) has chosen to strip away almost everything but the obvious kinetic sounds. Proof here that silence can be more effective than constant sounds.

The clip above has a fantastic example of the 'zoning out', 'shell-shocked' effect of hearing loss, also seen in the openings of Saving Private Ryan and Master and Commander. Having learnt how to do this on Soundtrack Pro (using touch/latch to manipulate the effect intensity), I look forward to including it in a future project.