Scriptwriting
notes > Week THree
sound
To Cringe or not to Cringe
The sound that accompanies your production, whatever
form it takes, can have its own absorbing power to embellish or counterpoint
visual information.
But ...on the other hand, if not well thought through it can be something that makes
you cringe, something to be endured so that you can appreciate the other aspects
of a production (although it will inevitably effect your judgement of these).
Cringe-making sound is superfluous dialogue, droning voice overs, patronising
affirmations within interactives, tinny little sound effects that were better
done without, repeated instructions that can’t be silenced and.. well
you add to the list.
So...make your sound track as rich as possible. Wherever
you can, try to get authentic sounds, eg. if your script calls for someone to
turn the crackling pages of an old book - strive to record page turning of an
old book with crackling pages. Do your utmost to get the best quality sound
- no background noise for sound effects (negated if recorded in a studio), constant
levels on all dialogue, from all speakers.
Your Audience becomes Expert
Sound is the one aspect of your production where your
audience become technical experts. They will forgive a momentary blur, or “ropey”
outline or even (horrors!) the odd black frame, but they will pounce on a piece
of dialogue that sounds like its been “phoned in” or an indistinguishable,
innocuous “bump” where they expected to hear a door slam. Unless
you are manipulating these sounds to deliberately disorientate your audience
you will find that the above effects will rapidly unsettle and quickly disenchant
them to the point where they lose interest.
Having said that let me also tell you that this same expert audience will be
fully prepared to do their own manipulation of sound. Take the slamming door
example. Perhaps you weren’t able to get the exact sound effect. If you
substitute a similar sounding “crash” of the same velocity; your
audience will see the door slam, hear the crash, put the two together and mentally
register “the slamming door”.
As with your images in animation, you have infinite freedom
with your sound, purely because of the fact that no authentic sounds exist for
an animated piece. You have a license to record heightened or even “fantastic”
reality, to audibly exaggerate every occurrence, even to audibly register the
most insignificant gesture if you feel like it. Where else do you hear
a character blink? What other two dimensional
representations make the sound of a switch flicking or a ratchet being turned as the buttons or icons on your forthcoming interactives are cliched, rolled over and otherwise activated.
Trains, Pains and Projectiles
Don’t underestimate the power that a build up of
these sound effects will have on your production. For instance look at 'Owed to Jack Kerouac' would the absract images taken on the meaning that they do without a significant amount of information and persuasion coming form the soud? Also, incongruous, unexpected sound effects can turn the common
place into comedy or surrealism - the rich man walks accompanied by the sound
of jangling coins, a couple embrace and kiss to the snorting, grunting and snuffling
of pigs, a baby cries and a steam train whistle fills the air, a fat girl barely
“squeezes” into a skimpy dress - you’ll have to hear the squeeze
to know what I’m talking about; an autumn leaf “rockets” to
the ground and hits with a mighty “thud”, a dopey boy walks accompanied
by “wet slurps”. It’s all part of animation - you can
do anything with any thing.
About Dialogue - (particularly in the linear narrative)
If you’re going to include it, approach dialogue
as being an extension of your production’s action; something which is
not the vehicle of specific verbal information but rather, an aspect of characterisation
and mood and the sound effects track. Dialogue slows down your action and the
passage of your story.
You may be perfectly capable of putting scintillating,
witty, profound, tragic speech into the mouths of all of your characters. But
if doing so means that your characterisation becomes inconsistent (for example,
your uneducated, perhaps barely articulate, garage hand engages the auto-electrician
in flash and wordy repartee then subsides into a grunting accompaniment to “Like
a Virgin”); your audience will start to suspect. You are undermining and
sabotaging that character, and worse, the credibility of that entire situation
will be lost. And that’s OK if you want the situation to take on wacky
humour but if your intent is to keep it straight, let your characters
say only what they are capable of saying.
So, before your character utters a single word you must
know them so intimately that you know how and why they act and react the way
they do. It’s this that governs what they say, how they say it and of
course, who (if anybody) they say it to. If there is no reason for a character
to contribute anything verbally - fine. Taking a broader view while we’re
in this area - if a character doesn’t contribute anything to your story
- why are they there? Dispose of them; they are “clutter” and a
distraction to what’s really going on.
Think about your subject matter. Ask yourself - what
is the visual potential of this situation? We write “before” and
“after” scenarios, because they keep the audience thinking, comparing,
anticipating. Cause and effect situations, in particular, make for interesting
viewing. When we see this cause and effect expressed in action (ie. as images)
it is particularly compelling. eg. an old man , the 'Frank' in 'Frank' who is tired of his life in a nursing home and wants to die sees a beautiful butterfly which re-ignites his interest in life (cause), he tires to capture it, he chases it, he dies.(Effect). The “So, think about your
subject matter and be very wary about proceeding with it if it is essentially
non-visual.
“Characterisation is the art of effectively comparing
and contrasting characters. The more unique the individual, the more telling
is their impact on the drama. Conversely, generalisations merely dissipate drama.
They are to be avoided absolutely.” Brian Robinson.
How then do you know when to include dialogue, if to all intents and purposes
it would seem to damn your production to facile, verbose, uninspired mediocrity
lacking credibility, continuity, sensual appeal or charm . Here are five steps:
1. Write down the story you want to tell.
2. Transform those words into a sequence of related images.
3. Is anything left untold? - Now is the time to consider dialogue.
4. Treat your dialogue like a sound effect, it is a consequence of, and underlines action - the ‘rustle’, anguished ‘meeooww’, ‘knock’, ‘hiss’, ‘bang’, ‘thud’ of a trip over the cat and consequent fall down the stairs, followed by a low winded moan, a groan, and a string of expletives directed toward the unfortunate puss.
5. Dialogue does not have to be clearly enunciated evidence of profound thought (how
boring!!). Inarticulate expressions of grief, rage, joy, are far more expressive and
powerful than “Oh my God, Delores, I truly thought I could never be so sad/angry/ happy”.
Subtext - the meaning behind the meaning of dialogue is a powerful tool in the
dialogue issue. What is not said can be just as significant as a candid comment.
Devices such as these develop a bond of understanding between your audience
and your characters, even though that same understanding may not exist between
the characters themselves.
The following categories of speech describe the various types of dialogue:
Lip-sync Dialogue
In live action it derives from the synchronous recording of sound and image.
Post-sync Dialogue
In animation this is the process whereby the mouth shapes of an animated character are manipulated to sync up with pre-recorded “dialogue”. In live action this process is used when for technical reasons the original sound recording may not be satisfactory, so as for animation, dialogue synchronous with lip movements is substituted.
Dubbing
Is the same in principle to post synching except that it usually means that a different language has been substituted. By this means speech can also be inferred to animals or unexpected sources eg. “Look who’s Talking”, “Mr Ed”.
Subtitles
Superimposition of titles over the finished film, rendering the gist of the dialogue from the original tongue to that of a foreign audience eg. any Japanese animation you care to look at.
Voice over
Usually refers to a single disembodied voice which provides a commentary. Voice over, as a device, is also open to imaginative use. More than one voice can be used. Speakers can be identified. They could sing, argue, be critical of what is shown etc. On screen characters can think in voice over. Beware not to use this device to describe something which is visually evident. Look at “Pleasure Domes”, “Kind” and “The Man who Planted Trees”
Further sound components within your production could be:
Sound Effects
These are the incidental sounds which add so much to the mood, content and effectiveness of a scene. Anything which is not dialogue or background music is termed a sound effect, eg the jangle of an alarm clock, the burp of a blue, the roar of a dragon, the creak of a rusted robot. Sound effects may be recorded synchronously, but this is a rare occurrence in animation, since very often they have to be manufactured from scratch.
FX off and Atmospherics
This term refers to sounds which have their origins beyond the on-screen action. They serve the purpose of adding texture and breadth to a location and to heighten the drama (and suspense) of a situation. (eg the crying baby from the flat upstairs, the howling wind and roll of thunder outside the castle window, the various giggles, tinkles, thuds, laughs, arguments, music issuing from the party in the house across the road, the dragging footsteps in the outside corridor, the rattling then sliding open of the window in the next room, the singing of Cicada's outside of an open window, the low thrum of traffic from a nearby highway.)
FX as Music and vice versa
Electronically manipulated sound effects can be compiled into sound patterns which form a composition.
Conversely, musical exclamations can substitute for normal sounds, usually in comedy or suspense situations. (eg. as heard in Charlie Chaplin films)
It is useful to think of the various sound elements or components within your film as falling into one of two categories, diegetic and non-diegetic. The diegetic sounds come from the action that is present on screen or implied within the film, you could think of them as 'actual' sound (dialogue and sound effects for actions that we see or that are logically part of the on or off screen action) and the non-diegetic sounds come from outside of the world of the film that we see on screen (music soundtrack and voice over narration for example). This will help you to think about the soundtrack of your film as being comprised of literal, 'actual' sound as well as the metaphorical, the abstract , the fantastic and the lyrical.
MUSIC
Film music is used to underline the emotional quality of a scene - to
make a chase more dramatic, to add triumph to a glorious achievement, to make
a love scene sloppier. Theme music can be used to identify characters, events
or locations.
It is preferable to use original music, and there is an abundance of willing
composers out there just waiting for you to ask them, (have a look at the student
notice board). Music written especially for your production can naturally be “tailor made” to reflect every aspect of it. Using original music
also avoids the business of gaining copyright to prevent any messy legal entanglements
from the rightful owners of the music. (We cover these copyright issues in a
later session).
One last thing on sound... your productions, whether interactive or linear will
require you to start from silence and build layer upon layer of sound, simply
because, unlike in live action shooting, you do not have the opportunity to
gather sound and images synchronously. A rich sound-track is very definitely
a thing worth acquiring. If you are worried about sounds drowning out each other
be reassured by the thought that right throughout the sound mix, you can specify
at what level you want each track to be heard.
CONSIDER THE WHOLE
Before you start working on a soundtrack, think about how all of the individual elements might work together. Are your sound effects the loudest element in your soundtrack, are they heard above music or dilogue or atmospherics? Is music the most important element in your soundtrack, does the music sit higher in the mix of sounds than any other element? Are the relationships between the elements of your soundtrack static or do they change and evolve as your work unfolds? The sound hierachy wihtin your work is very important and should be thoroughly considered in the conceptual development stage.
IN Summary
Sound can be used to amplify what we see on screen, to contradict what we see on screen and suggest a hidden meaning or an insight into a character's interior state, it can be used to suggest offscreen action, to herald or hint at an approaching event or to reference a past event. Sound can act thematically, identifying and accompanying a character even when they're not present on screen (think of two notes that announced the prescence of the shark in 'Jaws') it can introduce ideas that are present in the image, it can work with or against the image to create a new meaning to what we're seeing. Sound can do all of these things if you consider the possibilities it offers as keenly as you consider the possibilities present in the visual component of your work. Just as the visual manifestation of your concepts must be considered, designed and developed, so must the audio component. Remember that animation, wether linear or interactive, is an AUDIOvisual medium and each component must be given equal consideration in order for your work to fully exploit these two rich modes of time-based communication.
The list below was compiled by sound designer Markus Kellow and it is used here with his kind permission .
Music can:
Prepare for an event - anticipation, suspense
Bridge areas between events / scenes / dialogue
Punctuate events / actions
Help define characters-signature music, sound
Act thematically - ie. "The Piano", "The Mission", 'Star Wars'
Act like an establishing shot, by setting the 'feel' to a scene
Add humour, satire, tension or horror by contradicting an image
Cause quieter parts of films to become more powerful, by adding new contrast
Overblow any event / action / feeling artificially
Help understate perhaps graphic images
Add to the atmosphere of scenes / parts of scenes
Work in conjunction with our agreements on film to create meaning
Rhythms / melodies / particular instruments can be tied in with cuts / actions so much they may appear to be the driving force
A PLEA
When you've completed your enormously rich and fruitful pre-production processes for your Minor and Major projects (and indeed, this also applies to any production exercises that you might undertake that include a soundtrack) and you begin to work on your soundtracks or review the work of your sound designers, please listen to your soundtracks on a proper sound system with decent speakers-the one in the Sound Recording Room in the AIM studio for example. It's very easy to be seduced into the cosy world of the headphone where the subtleties of your sound track are pumped directly into each ear but you must remember that, particularly with linear works, your sound will be heard in a large, room from a set of speakers and under these conditions, it will sound spectacularly (and sometimes heartbreakingly) different from the way it sounds through your headphones.
Further reading,
At the link below you'll find an article on film Sound Designer and Editor, Walter Murch by Kevin Hilton at the Film Sound website;
http://filmsound.org/studiosound/i_waltermurch.html
And for your further edification and entertainment, this wonderful list of Film Sound cliches from the same site;