Improving Sound from Preliminary Task

The sound from our preliminary was not good: the non-diegetic music when the students are leaving school is too jolly, and includes a woman saying "audio jangle" which may mean it is copyrighted. Also, the diegetic sound of the girl being hit over the head was too loud and not very realistic. However, one thing that worked was the school bell sound was realistic and was the right volume.

From this, our group learnt to include non-diegetic music which is appropriate for the genre and the plot. Also, we learnt not to make diegetic sounds too loud and put them at precisely the right moment as the clip so the sequence seems as realistic as possible. The feedback we received from our first draft of A+E told my group that the diegetic noises (eg squelching) were very good which proves that we have improved. Also, the feedback told us that some enjoyed the non-diegetic music, however some said they did not like it (eg they said the initial chase scene music was not appropriate for a scary/dangerous chase). However, as a final tweak, my group changed the music that did not work so it was more appropriate to the genre and plot.

Lastly, in the preliminary task we included diegetic dialogue however this did not work well because at times it was hard to understand what the characters were saying. Therefore, in our film opening we did not include any dialogue because we wanted the mise en scene (the opened stomach, the killer's forehead, the dolls, mask and so on) to have the most attention.

Evaluation of the Death Scene Non-Diegetic Sound

Having almost finished the final version of our film opening, I wanted to evaluate the non-diegetic sound that I created for the death scene.

Linking with the footage, I feel that, though the music is quite "action" themed, it adds tension and depth to the visuals in the clips of the gore that is shown. It's also a good way to get the viewer encased into the clips, the music being stimulating rather than too repetitive or boring making it appropriate for our film opening.

It also links to the target audience of 15 years and up, 15 being the age rating that we would give the film, as it relates to the type of music that people of that age range listen to. Rock music, of which it takes a lot of inspiration from, is the type of music that people in their late teens to early twenties can relate to, making it current and relevant to the viewers.

Being a slasher film, the non-diegetic sound of the most graphic scene within the film opening, the death scene, also needed to link to the preferences of the viewers, looking at the social groups that would like to watch this type of film genre- slasher. Being a low tone, techno-rock sound, the non-diegetic music also gives a feeling of intensity to the film opening, building up to a peak and then finishing off the extract nicely.

To conclude, the non-diegetic sound within the death scene, I feel, is very appropriate, linking to the footage, genre of the film opening, the target audience and the social groups that would watch a film of this genre.

Fixing the sound for our Friday 28th March first draft deadline

Being that our deadline for our initial draft of the film opening is Friday 28th, I felt it prudent to fix, to the extent of my ability, the audio. Below shows the screen shots of what I did, with in-depth annotation explanation.

First of all, I took the audio that I had made for the death scene, disabling it, so that it wasn't deleted, but I could add a new non-diegetic sound instead. I also added the soundtrack that Hayley and I found on YouTube onto the footage- Tension Building Sound Track 3.

At the point in the footage where it goes from really fast pace editing to a continuous shot, I cut the sound, adding a quieter, more calm sound finishing off the scene and the film opening. This, I did to link to the building in intensity of the visuals in the footage, then the peak and  then the after wave- ending the extract.

I then started looking at the transition from the chase scenes non-diegetic sound to the death scenes. This, I unfortunately was able to do little to make better, rendering the chase scenes sound to be cut off just before the final few shots. This will be something that we will have to fix, but will not be able to do before the Friday deadline.

I then decided to keep my idea of the diegetic sounds accompanying the non-diegetic music, and so, I applied the appropriate sound effects, that I had collected for my home-made audio, to the places that needed them- adding a more realistic effect and depth to the audio of the death scene. This took quite a long time applying the correct sounds into the correct places, and then making sure that they sound appropriate, adding layers of sounds to ensure the desired effect was created.

As a final addition, I decided to add a under-sound to the chase scene of a single not getting more and more intense. This, accompanied with the chase scene non-diegetic sound that is currently in place, works well to build up tension within the scene, linking the audio more with the slasher genre.

Above is a screen shot of all of the audio, and the footage that is currently in place, ready for the Friday deadline where it will be put on YouTube for comments to be made for the initial draft.

The only things that I'm not really happy about with the audio, but am not able to change before Friday, is at the end of the chase scene, the non-diegetic sound  needs an ending note to be recorded of which hasn't been recorded, and so, the audio just cuts off. We will need to fix this as soon as possible.

Sound Ideas

At this point in editing, all we needed to do is perfect the audio and do some minor touch ups to the footage. However, as a group, we decided that the ideas for our audio that we have had so far don't really work. For the chase scene, the music created is too classical to fit with the "slasher" genre, and for the death scene, what I have made sounds too much like Se7en's opening title sound.

Going on an intensive research session in our media lesson, we came across four sounds, on YouTube, that worked better with our footage that what we have currently. Below shows the sounds that we found, with annotation on what we are thinking of doing with it:


We liked this sound track initially for the chase scene having the strong beats of which we could link with the editing- changing in shots.


However, on further research, we came to prefer this sound for the chase scene, it sounding more "scary" than the previous one. It also has this intensifying sound at the end of the extract, that would link really nicely to the struggle between the killer and the victim at the end of the chase scene.


Starting at 1:18, we found this sound track that we felt would work really well for the death scene- with the diegetic sounds that Annie has planned to incorporate playing over the top in the appropriate places. It adds suspense, brings more of an atmosphere to the footage, and links nicely with the intense and gory footage.


To be on the safe side, however, we decided to carry on our research to find one alternative soundtrack that we could take inspiration from to go along with the death scene footage. We chose the sound shown above as it would be good as background non-diegetic sound if putting more focus on diegetic sounds that would play along side it.

To conclude this post, we now have more of an idea of what to do for the audio of our film opening. Its just a case of manipulating the sounds at our disposal and creating an audio that is of top quality.

Death Scene Non-Diegetic Sound Creation

For our film opening, now that we have almost finished the visual side of editing, we now need to think about the audio, diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. I decided that, for the death scene, I wanted to create some music, similar to that of Se7en and American Horror Story's non-diegetic sounds to play throughout the scene. To do this, I needed to find a form of software that would easily allow me to create good quality music with little training needed before hand- something key for this to work, as I initially had no previous experience with sound creation software.

In the end, my friend recommended Garage Band, a software already installed on the Mac's at school, to use for this particular project.


Using this YouTube tutorial as a guide of how to use Garage Band, I started the process of creating my own composition for the death scene, relating to my research on non-diegetic sound that I have previously done, and making sure that it is appropriate to the visual stimulus that the audience will get- linking it to the footage.

Initially, I tried creating the non-diegetic music from scratch- not referencing the two sounds that I had taken inspiration from, including Se7en and American Horror Story's sounds. This, however, as shown below, turned out very badly, producing a randomly spread set of sounds that didn't work together to create the desired effect.

To solve this problem, after quite a few hours of work, I scrapped what I had done, regarding it as a trial practice. I needed to do this in order to re-focus the sound I was creating, and make a good quality piece rather than a mediocre one.

Wanting to take inspiration specifically from Se7en's non-diegetic sound, I insert the downloaded soundtrack onto  the GarageBand timeline. This, I decided, I would try and copy with my own sounds, and then manipulate to be more appropriate to our footage, and more original- not sounding like a "copy" of the original.

Using Free FX, a website that I found that allows users to download sound effects for free, I started playing around with the music that I had a my disposal, trying to re-create Se7en's sound but changing it slightly to be original and appropriate to our footage.

At this point, initial point, this is what I had created:

Now that I have created my initial sound, of which is shown in the audio clip above, I need to "tweak" it and finish it so that it matches the audio. This, however, I cannot do this until the footage is completely edited- so that the audio is exactly how we want it. At this point, I now need to re-focus on the footage again, perfecting the video so that I can then perfect the audio.

This being said, I am pleased with the non-diegetic sound that I have made so far, it linking both to my inspirations- Se7en and American Horror Story's non-diegetic sounds- and the content of our film openings visual stimulus- the gore, blood, etc.

Non-Diegetic Sound Deconstruction

In order for my group and me to get a good idea of the type of non-diegetic sound to use within our death scene of our film opening, I felt that it would be a good idea to do a deconstruction on two different film openings of two TV-series that have inspired us in our film opening development and research.

Looking at the sound only in the sequences, I carried out in-depth deconstructions of the non-diegetic music used- explaining the effects it has on the footage, the feeling it gives to the extract and the different methods used with layering to accomplish the sounds produced.

Se7en

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Format of sounds

• Starts off with a booming sound- used to shock the audience and create an immediate tension.
• Beat of electronic "shhh" sound accompanies this booming sound initially.
• Booming repeats every four beats.
• A "typing" sound is then added for a bit- but then fades out.
• A strange "zooming" sound added for a bit- but then fades out.
• Screeching sound added for a bit- but then fades out.
• There is a constant booming and "shhh" sound throughout and is used as the beat.
• Random selection of the different sounds already heard are played to build intensity.
• About a quarter of the way through another strange, striking sound added- to keep the attention of the audience and add more depth to the sound.
• As it goes through extract, the collection of sounds get more clustered, playing at random times.
• Half way through, the beat changes to a quicker pace- a new high pitched sound is added for the beats that are slightly different to the previous one.
• This is repeated a few times.
• Three quarters of the way through more of a base sound added- increasing intensity- linked to the speeding up edits off shots
• This gradually gets more intense- drums creating the base- with a mixture of sounds- reaching peak.
• At the end, dialogue of a man singing "You bring me closer to God" is played, finishing the  non-diegetic sound with a final beat that then fades out.

Effects it has on the footage and the feeling it gives to the extract

The non-diegetic music used in this sequence adds to the tension within the scene, primarily, but also signifies to the audience- without even needing to look at the footage, that the genre is a horror. The weird sounds, and deep base booming also denotes that there is going to be something within the film that is scary- being that the sound is aimed at shocking and "scaring" the audience. It really works well with the footage also- relating to what is being shown on screen.

American horror story 



Format of sounds

• The extract starts off with silence.
• A sharp static sound suddenly plays, but only lasts for a second- used to make the audience jump.
• Then goes back to silence again.
• A sudden buzzing noise starts then stops immediately.
• Loud and, again, sudden "Dum, dum dum, dum dum, dum dum" beat initiates with a static noise over the top.
• "Dum, dum..." sound carries on, but dies down a bit from the original loud initiation 
• The static noise also fades, but then starts intensifying again before another beat is added- a scratching sound in with different tones.
• A sudden, very load, metallic, chattering sound starts, then stops.
• Again the static sound.
• A soft scratching sound is constantly played, accompanied by the buzzing, This with the -"Dum, dum..." beat intensifies the scene.
• Suddenly, all the sounds slow down and fades away to a stop.
• A load beat breaks this pause, a constant, load scratching sound representing the beats
• The extract ends with the sound of fire cracking, the "Dum, dum..." beat fading out into silence.

Effects it has on the footage and the feeling it gives to the extract

This non-diegetic music, similar to Se7ens sounds, is used to build the tension within the scene, also creating a mood, signifying to the audience that the TV-series consists of twisted horror- not even needing to look at the footage, but in just the representation of the sounds played. The use of layering, again like with Se7en's non-diegetic music, is used to add depth and irregularity to the extract- linking to the conventions of the horror genre.

Conclusion

From my deconstructions of both Se7en's and American Horror Story's opening title extracts, I have found that when making the non-diegetic sound for our death scene, in our film opening, I need to use layering, linking each different sound and beat with what is happening on screen. The use of beats and dramatic "bangs" is also really effective- as found in both of the extracts.

Another tip that I found was that by using sounds that are "related" to the footage, it makes it more realistic, allowing the audience's minds to wonder into more graphic scenarios from the audio stimulation. For example, in Se7en, a screeching sound is used as well as high pitched scratching, really stimulating the audience's minds to wonder, with the help of the footage. Another example is in the American Horror Story extract- the use of "buzzing" really reminded me of flies surrounding a gory corps- stimulated from both the audio and the images in the video. Looking at our footage, we could use "squelching" sounds and cracking along with the gory images, allowing the viewer's mind to imagine more graphic scenes than what are displayed from the combination of visual and audio stimulation.

Deconstruction: Non-Diegetic Sounds

Deconstruction of Non-Diegetic Sounds:

As we are still undecided whether we are including an actual violent death scene I decided to look into the different music and sounds heard during a death scene. This should hopefully give us an idea of what types of music and/or sounds we should have if we decide to include a death scene.

One of the most recognisable sounds from a horror film, the scary horror music from Psycho is extremely well-known as it automatically makes any scene so much more scarier. The fast paced beats make the audience think of a countdown, leading up to something which would appear to be a death. The change in pitch also adds to this and the weird scraping knife sound that the instruments create is really effective. The low paced 'humming' sounds which interrupt the shrill beats also provide variation so the music isn't the same all the way through.




In this scene from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, the dialogue and the diegetic sound of the chainsaw are probably more dominant but I am focusing on the music in the background as I feel without it, the death would not be as effective.
During the first 20 seconds or so, the audience should be listening to the dialogue but there is some slow background music which is very consistent at the same speed and volume, almost luring the audience into a false sense of security while at the same time making sure they are conscious of the situation at hand. This builds up slightly, making the audience think something big is going to happen but it's kind of a red herring as the characters change.
Almost immediately though, the music increases, even louder than before and the quicker tempo and the added drum beats make it sound more impatient and builds up to the moment where Leatherface appears. The combination of a deep rumbling noise and a higher pitched note used also add a sinister, eerie feel to the situation and help to increase the tension even more.
Throughout the next moments the music stops, there are drum beats but they are quieter than before, however the music increases again quickly as the action in the scene becomes more intense. The sound of the chainsaw then overpowers the music, showing how impressive and deadly it is and to make the audience focus on the weapon itself.
The simple drum beats return slightly louder and then the stringed instruments also join in towards the end of the clip, to stop the scene from being silent with just the man talking. The non-diegetic sound during this sequence is very effective as it is creepy and adds tension to the scene as the music seems to fit the action perfectly.





In another clip from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there is a lot of screaming from the girl but the sound effects in the background can still be heard. From the very beginning we can hear low pitched bass notes almost once every second, as the girl tries to run away, but then as he catches her and picks her up, a high pitched ticking noise joins in almost to signify she can't escape now.
The bass notes are still playing but the tempo has become much more fast paced and urgent. Gradually the sound of stringed instruments, possibly violins, builds up to increase the tension and also the desperation in her screams. The whirring of the chainsaw then joins in with the music, obviously telling the audience what is about to happen and the steady rhythm of the ticking helps make the scene more scary for the audience.





I decided to mention the song below which is also from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as it is completely different from what you would expect from a trailer for a horror movie. This extremely subverts the conventions of trailer music as you would not expect a film like TTCM to use a song like this to promote the film, however it is still one of the most well-known horror films around.

During my research, I also decided to look at horror music that other people had done themselves to see how simple it would be if we were to do it ourselves from scratch. I liked the use of the piano in this one for example, it sounds good especially with the deep notes in the background and the held notes (possibly strings). I also liked the big drum beat at the end as I think it's best to finish on a loud note rather than just fading out unless you want it to be creepy and feel it would worth with the scene. To me however, it didn't sound that scary, I think it wasn't either fast or slow enough, it was kind of in the middle and just sounded to me like it was sad music and I could picture it being in a tragedy film, rather than a scary horror film.





During my investigation, I found that the piano and also a lot of stringed instruments were mostly used to create tension, that is why I feel that in our opening, it could be more effective if we decided to use those instruments if we choose to have music as it builds up the atmosphere to that final moment where usually a death or something important happens. As we don't have any experts in music in our group, we would either have to get help from a friend or try to keep it relatively simple, but still scary.

Practical Investigation of Graphic Sounds

I tried making squelching sounds, as mentioned in the previous post, and did this by moving mushy food: This can be used when the killer is trying to take out the foetus because it will make the scene more realistic. Also, like many slasher films, it will make the death scene nauseating because operations usually make people feel that way.

Next, I tried making a knife slashing sound and did this by simply taking the knife out of the knife holder:
The knife sound will be used in our opening when the killer has just picked up the knife, ready to cut open the victim. This will frighten the audience as it will tell them that the killer is about to hurt the victim in an abhorrent way.

When the knife it cutting the victim, the killer could do it in a harsh and heartless way, to emphasize his impulsive need for women and their foetuses.

In our opening, we could include the sound of bones breaking, for example before she is falling into unconsciousness, there could be the off-screen sound of bones breaking, then her eyes could close. This will terrify and sicken the audience and make the victim seem more vulnerable and the killer more powerful.

When the killer has cut open the victim, there can be on-screen squelching noises and then the sound of blood trickling out of the body. As in Haunting In Connecticut's opening, there is the diegetic on-screen sound of blood trickling out of a tube which the killer has attached to the victim's wound. We will have the sound of blood dripping in our opening to go alongside the victim's wound and to display the slasher convention of having a lot of gore.

Overall, in our opening, we will include knife slashing noises to tell the audience that the killer has just cut open the victim, then there will be squelching noises to show that he is trying to take out the foetus. These noises will make the audience feel queasy which is the aim with slasher films.

Deconstruction of Graphic Sounds

In our opening, the killer will be cutting open the victim's stomach and this is the common noise used for that:

From our questionnaire, we discovered that the target audience do not want the scenes to be too graphic, they want them to be suggestive so this sound will be diegetic and off-screen to tell the audience that the killer has cut into the victim, without showing it happening on the screen.

In a scene in Evil Dead, the possessed woman is cutting open her face and there is a quiet off-screen diegetic squelch sound, which then becomes on-screen as we see her doing it. The volume of the squelch is effective because when it is off-screen, it does not overtly tell the audience that she is cutting herself/someone, and when it is on-screen, the volume stays the same. This is good because it brings more attention to her golden eye colour and the blood all over her face, emphasizing that this is a slasher film. (0:18 - 0:30)

A louder on-screen squelching noise is used for Rory's death in Final Destination 2. This is effective because it emphasizes the goriness and abruptness of his death. For our opening, we could include a loud on-screen sound for the victim's death (e.g. the knife cutting into her) so to tell the audience that she is dead, and to fit in with the slasher convention of graphic sounds to accompany the graphic bloody scenes.

In V for Vendetta, the killer kills a mob of people using knives. The on-screen diegetic knife sounds are very loud which highlights his skills and speed, making him look more threatening and powerful. In our opening, the killer will be using a knife to open the victim as that seems more gory and painful, therefore making it fit well into the slasher genre. The sound of our killer's knife should also be loud because it is suggestively telling the audience that the killer is cutting open the victim.

Overall, for our opening, we should include loud knife slashing sounds so to make the death scene more disturbing, followed by squelching noises to tell the audience that he is trying to take out the foetus -  this will make the audience feel nauseous which is what slasher films are supposed to do with their levels of gore.

Deconstruction of Sound "Theme Songs" in Slasher Films

I decided to do sound deconstruction of the "theme tunes" within a few slasher movies. These tunes are repeated throughout the movies, and are used to build tension and signify to the audience that something is going to happen. The slasher movies that i deconstructed the sound of, and then compared, are Saw (2010), 28 Weeks Later (2007) and Scream(2011). I chose these slashers as they are all quite recent, and all have different subject matters- keeping the options for our controlled assessment film opening open.

28 Weeks Later

This tune is used with a build up of constant sounds that are in relation to the action on screen within the film 28 weeks later. The building sounds adds tension to the scene, and with this tune being added, it increases the intensity of the scene even further. It is also used to indicate to the audience that something bad is going to happen, as before it does, this music usually starts very quietly, slowly increasing in volume and speed.

This is a good general theme tune to look at, due to the repetition of the tune, and would be a good idea to base a created building up of tension "theme tune" for our coursework film opening, with only the need to make a few second rift, and slowly repeating it, increasing its speed and volume to add to the suspense of the scene. The ending of the tension built from this music is often ended with a final climax, then brought into a silence that is eerie and makes the viewer unbelieving of the innocence of it- as if everything is now okay.

Scream 4

This scream 4 tune is made up of a few different sections of rifts, some repeating constantly, some completely changing, however, they are all used in relation to the action on screen, to build up, once again, the suspense and tension within the scene. It is generally used during the scenes where the killer is stalking their "prey" and/or killing them.

The music  is made up of techno, electronic functions at different tones to create rifts. This would be a relatively simple remake on an electronic piano, and due to the repeating elements, it shouldn't take too long either.

Saw 3D

The Saw 3D tune is a mix of repetitive, and changing sounds and rifts that together get louder, faster, quieter and then more intense to suit the scene before the viewer. This music is made up of wind instruments, drums and strings, all combining in complimentary and contrasting effects to give intensity and tension to the scene. The music is used, not only during the "game"/ death scenes, but also during parts of the movie, where the police are getting close to saving, and catching the people who are being put into these "games" by jigsaw.

This theme tune is an interesting one to be inspired by, looking at how to mix repetitive, and changing sounds together, while building tension and intensity of the music and atmosphere. It would be hard to recreate, however, as the instruments used are orchestral, of which we do not have in this project, at our disposal.

Looking more in depth onto sounds and theme songs within horror/slasher movies, I found that there are many occurrences where contrapuntal songs are used to the scene, for example someone is being killed, and a happy, jolly song is playing. This could be a good feature to look at for sound for coursework film opening, making the scene before the viewer look even more disturbing. The effect of this contrasting music also brings across a feeling of mental disability, thinking that the gruesome acts on screen are fine to carry out, and this could be a feature that we play on during the film opening that we are going to create. Below shows some of the examples of these contrapuntal songs:

Tiptoe, Through The Tulips

The song "Tiptoe, Through The Tulips" and was used in Insidious 1 to create the atmosphere that something is not right. It is played, only once within the movie, but is done so during the scene where the main woman sees the "ghost" like figure of a boy dancing in the middle of her deserted house. The effect the music is trying to bring is an unnatural-natural feeling to the scene to make the viewer feel uneasy and add suspense.

The song is made up of a person singing at a high pitch, over the top of stringed instruments, possibly a guitar. The music is not actually on its own, scary, nor is the content of the songs lyrics, but put into the context that it is in the Insidious movie, it creates the atmosphere that it does.

Sweet Dreams

The song "Sweet Dreams" is played over the top of the werewolf killing scene in Trick r' Treat. This song, however not contrasting to the subject matter in the film, still brings the effect of abnormality to the scene. It enhances the feeling that what is being carried out in the scene is "wrong" but the lyrics within the song such as "Sweet dreams are made of this" connotes that the characters don't care about this, and are doing it anyway- bringing to it a sense that maybe the "baddies" have something wrong with them.

The song is made up of a person simply singing the song over the top of an electric guitar playing the tune. The effect of the electric guitar gives a "rock" type approach to the music, and makes the scene seem more hardcore, like the music. This could be quite easily recreated, or even inspired by to create a similar style one that we make up.