Sound Design Video Essay Script

Intro:
Sound design is a key factor in any video production whether it’s a feature film,
animation or YouTube vlog sound design will always be taken into account. Sound
design will also be used in different ways to create different effects depending on
the genre of a video.

This can be shown throughout each category of motion picture. (Have

Film,TV,Vlog,Video and animation appear on screen) ( have background silent clip
of each clip)

Film:

Starting with film if we look at the movies ‘a quiet place and stepbrothers’ we can
see they are on opposite ends genre wise but still share different sound
techniques. For example, both movies start scene with a mixture of diegetic
background noise to set the environment of the scene along with a non-diegetic
score to enhance the emotion and feeling behind the scenes.

Within both scenes a footstep sound is also added most likely created by a foley
artist but gives a different effect in each movie. In ‘a quiet place’ the footstep is
sharp loud and pronounced and easy to pick up which works along side the genre
of thriller/horror which this movie falls under. Whereas if we look at the use of
footsteps in ‘stepbrothers’ we can that they are softer and harder to pick up
which ties in with the genre of comedy which this movie falls under as the aim of
a comedy is to make the audience at ease and feel safe and relaxed, compared to
a horror which aims to keep the audience on edge.

TV:

Popular TV shows such as ‘Stranger things and Brooklyn 99’ show a great
example of using non-diegetic sound or in this case a musical score for setting
the scene. If we look at stranger things we can hear a deep, harsh score played
over the clip which creates an uneasy and scary feeling to the scene. Whereas if
we look at Brooklyn 99 we hear and upbeat almost dance like score playing in the
background which makes the audience feel safe and happy watching the scene.

These scenes visually are both very similar in the sense they both take place in a
narrow corridor environment and have been edited with a similar sound technique
but the effect it gives to the scene are polar opposites.
We can also see that Brooklyn 99 uses dialogue for most of the scene which helps
viewers feel relaxed whereas stranger things uses very little dialogue which helps
keep the audience on edge and in suspense. Both scenes also use a selection of
sound effects which helps add more depth to the scenes. Stranger things uses
loud, sudden sound effects to scare the audience compared to Brooklyn 99 which
uses soft and obvious sound effects to help the viewer feel more relaxed. The use
of sound effects in both clips helps immerse the audience further in the scene
helping them pretend that they are actually in the show.

Vlogs:
Within the 21st century vlogs have become more and more popular within todays
world and now becoming one of the most popular videos on YouTube watched by
teenagers and young adults. Popular vlogger David Dobrik uses low budget sound
design within his vlogs as it fits the style of his videos. He will mainly use shotgun
mics when filming as they are easy to use and ensure the audio will be picked up
from wherever the camera is pointed. He will also use non-diegetic sound in his
vlogs for comical effect.

If we compare this to a channel such as ‘the proper people vlogs’ we can see that
they use the same technique for a more or less opposite outcome to create
scary/horror vlogs. This can be mostly scene with the use of shotgun mics so the
viewer here’s the audio for what is happening on screen. Although one clear
difference we can see is that they don’t use any non-diegetic sound, this is to
ensure that the vlog keeps the aspect of realism the channel tries to create.

Animation:
Animation takes sound design to a new level with either very little or none of the
sound being recorded on set, this allows the designers to become as creative as
they want when engineering the sound. If we look at a scene from princess
Mononoke we can hear that they have used non-diegetic sound to help film up the
atmosphere within the scene and bring across the intensity of the scene. Also,
with this type of anime style production small actions will tend to be aggregated
to help display the movement such as pulling a sword from its sheath. Animations
like this also allow the designers to create unrealistic and comic like sounds for
creatures within the scene as they have no need to create realism within a scene.
Although this is the case with most animations others such as Titin can be seen
trying to use realistic sound effects as if to make the viewer feel like it a scene
taken from the real world for example the noise of metal hitting against each
other or glass shattering. As well as this they can still be seen using more
comical sound effects within the scene to keep the light-hearted family friendly
theme animations typically cover. Titin also shares similarities with Princess
Mononoke in the way it uses a non-diegetic sound in the form of a score to help
create the feeling of intensity of calm within a scene.

Conclusion:
In short no matter what genre or category, a video may fall into there is always
key codes and conventions they all follow giving the similarities within
themselves. But in saying this each genre has its own specific codes and
conventions which helps create distinctive differences between them. One thing
that can be said for certain is that without sound all of these clips would seriously
lack in emotion and will not effectively tell or portray key points off the story,
which leads me back to my begging statement, sound design is a key factor of
any production.