Micro film analysis

http://filmsound.org/terminology.htm Acousmatic sound - sound one hears without seeing their originating cause Acousmêtre - a kind of invisible voice-character with mysterious powers Added Value - the expressive and/or informative value with which a sound enriches a image Audiovisual Contract - an agreement to forget that sound is coming from loudspeakers and picture from screen Anempathetic Sound - music or sound effects that seems to exhibit conspicuous indifference to what is goingon in the film's plot Chronography - the stabilisation of projection speed madecinema an art of time Empathetic Sound - music or sound effects whose mood matches the mood of the action Extension(of SoundSpace) External logic - the logic by which the flow of sound includes effects of discontinuity as nondiegetic interventions Internal logic - the logic by which the sound flow is apparently born out of the narrative situation itself Magnetization (spatial) - "mental pan" of the sound source Materializing Sound Indices (M. S. I.) - sonic details that "materialize" the sound source Rendering - the use of sounds to convey the feelings or effects associated with the situation on screen Synchresis - the mental fusion between a sound and a visual when these occur at exactly the same time Temporalization - influence of sound on the perception of time in the image Vococentrism - the privilige of the voicein audiovisual media Pitch The pitch of a sound is determined by the frequency of the sound. Normally we refer to its pitch. Frequencies are grouped as .. low (bass) - sounds of thunder and gunshots midrange - a telephone ringing high (treble) - small bells and cymbals Low frequencies make the sound powerful and warm Midrange frequencies give sound its energy. Humans are most sensitive to midrange frequencies. High frequencies give a sound its "presence" and life like quality. Presence of a sound enables us to hear it clearly and gives us the feeling that we are close to its origin. Timbre Timbre is that unique combination of fundamental frequency, harmonics, and overtones that gives each voice, musical instrument, and sound effect its unique coloring and character. Harmonics (overtones) When a object vibrates it propagates sound waves of a certain frequency. This frequency, in turn, sets in motion frequency waves called harmonics. The basic frequency and its resultant harmonics determine the timbre of a sound. The greater the number of harmonics, the more interesting is the sound that is produced. It is an object's ability to vibrate and set up harmonics that determines the pleasantness of the resultant sound. Crystal glass set up harmonics that are more pleasant than harmonics of ordinary glass. The combination of fundamental frequency and its harmonics is a complex wave form. Loudness The loudness of a sound depends on the intensity of the sound stimulus. A dynamite explosion is loader than that of a cap pistol because of the greater amount of air molecules the dynamite is capable of displacing. Loudness becomes meaningful only if we are able to compare it with something. The sound of a gunshot may be deafening in a small room, but actually go unnoticed if fired in a subway station when a train is roaring past. (A film that use this in the narrative is Sleepers - when a man is shot at the same time as an aircraft is landing) "Equal loudness" Humans are most sensitive to frequencies in the midrange (250 Hz - 5000 Hz) When two sounds, a bass sound and a middle range sound are played at the same decibel, the listener perceive the middle range sound to be louder. This is why a clap of thunder in a horror movie may contain something so unweatherlike as a woman's scream. Rhythm Rhythm is a recurring sound that alternates between strong and weak elements. Wooden pegs, suspended by wires in a wooden frame to suggest the sound of a large group of people marching in order, will be believable if correct rhythm is supplied. If the rhythmic cadence were ignored the wooden pegs would sound like wooden pegs drummed mechanically on a wooden surface. The way a sound is initiated is called attack. There are two types of attack: fast slow Fast attack The closer the attack of a sound (A) is to the peak (B) of a sound, the faster its attack is. Sounds that have a fast attack are.. gunshots slaps door slams Slow attack Sounds that have a slow attack take longer to build to the sustain level. Sounds that have a slow attack are… a dog's short warning growl prior to bark stepping on a dry leaf slowly tearing a sheet of paper closing a door slowly an entire thunderclap Sustain Once a sound has reached its peak, the length of time that the sound will sustain is dependent upon the energy from the source vibrations. When the source sound stops, the sound will began to decay. Manipulating the sustain time of a sound is yet another way of either modifying a sound or create a totally new one. Suppose you got a the sound of an elevator starting, running, and stopping, all within 25 seconds, but the script calls for a scene to be played in an elevator that runs for 60 seconds. Edit the sustain portion - make a it into a loop. (If you got a computer just copy and past) Take care to avoid sudden burst of level changes. Decay The decrease in amplitude when a vibrating force has been removed is called decay. The actual time it takes for a sound to diminish to silence is the decay time. How gradual this sound decays is its rate of decay. Listening to a sound tells if it is... Indoors (small enclosed area with a great deal of absorbency) - little decay and with very little or no reverberation outdoors (open unconfined area) - long decay with an echo The end of a sound is often referred to as the "tail" of a sound, and conversely, the beginning of a sound is its "head" An advice: - When ever you are editing a sound, you must allow enough room at the tail for fade. (This includes sound on Internet!!!) Speed By increasing or decreasing the playback speed you can change the properties of a sound effect. Played at twice as fast as the recorded speed .. a explosion will sound like a gunshot a voice will sound like the cartoon chipmunk character Attack - dynamite explosion of a building being detonated Sustain and Decay - roar of a huge waterfall Speed - dynamite explosion and waterfall roar [1] at slow speed In utilizing the components of a sound to create other sounds, the step that must be taken is disassociating the names of the sound with the sounds themselves. Although there are millions of names for sounds, the sounds themselves all fall into certain frequency parameters that can be manipulated by the nine components of sound. Therefore, the fact that waterfall record was selected is of no consequence. One sound of waterfall is much the same as any other waterfall sound. The only thing that are interesting in as far as sound effects are concerned is the magnitude of the waterfall - its roaring power. (The actual sound source may even be a train roaring through a station.) Because this sound offer no identification other than a constant roar it can readily be adapted for other sounds. When a believable sound is matched to a picture there is never any doubt in anyone's mind that the sound is not authentic. If the sound is a shade to fast or slow, it will cause many viewers to think that "something" was not quite right. Not one viewer, not one critic, not even the scientists who actually developed the bomb complained about this odd mixture of sounds when they appeared on the TV news in the early 1950s. What everyone heard matched convincingly the picture. One aspect of this audiovisual phenomena is synchresis.