Sound Investigation: Chase Scene (Diegetic Sounds)

For the chase scene, we knew that we were going to have to put sound or music over the top as the audio we could hear when we were filming would not be very good.

I decided to look into diegetic sounds that we could put over the top and I found a YouTube channel which specialise in professional sound effects.

There are also numerous sound effects on Final Cut Pro itself which could be used, for example the breathing noises sound a lot more scared and would therefore be more effective.

Sounds we could use:

• Footsteps
• Heavy breathing
• Heartbeat
• Clock ticking
• Panting/crying
• Police Siren
• Car noises
• General background noise

1) The footsteps are very slow and cautious meaning they would only be useful at the beginning of the scene when she hasn't realised he is behind her and therefore is just walking normally. However with the footage we filmed, our victim is running slightly faster than in the videos and even though we could speed it up, I don't think it would be effective.



2) The beats are quite slow-paced and I feel that it wouldn't be relevant to our high-paced dramatic sequence, although the sound itself does sound good and quite realistic.



3)  The beats for this video are a lot faster and would be more relevant to speed of our footage.




4) The location of the chase scene is an urban area, next to a motorway, at least for the bridge shots it would be necessary to have the traffic noise, but it wouldn't have to be that loud considering it's the middle of the night. I thought a police siren would emphasise the dangerous situation she's in and it would add to the atmosphere and the irony that he hasn't been caught by the police.




5) The sound effect of a male heavy breathing would also be good to heighten the urgency of what's happening and as we have one shot from his point of view where he catches up with and strangles her so it could be effective to show his desperation to kill her.

6) It would be good to have female heavy breathing as a contrast but hers would need to be more scared and at a faster pace. I don't think the one below would be as good to include as it doesn't sound like she is fearing for her life.



7) I liked the idea of including a ticking clock noise as it would exaggerate the time pressure and resemble how little time she has left of her life. If we gradually speed it up so it becomes more intense as the scene plays out, then that could reflect how quickly she dies when he catches her. The only thing is that I don't know if it would be relevant to the atmosphere as she doesn't look at a watch or anything.



8) This is similar to the background noise we would expect to her when she's running across the bridge, although it doesn't sound like a motorway as it's been described as relaxing which would not fit the atmosphere very well.



9) This sound effect is specifically from a motorway so would be be more relevant to our setting, although it does sound slightly busier than you would expect we can quieten it down so it's only in the background.