Analysis Of The Pursuit Of Happyness

659 Words2 Pages

You know when you’re watching a movie and you really connect with it, not just with the characters but you really just get the film? Ever wonder what it is that made you fall in love with a film even if the dialogue or cinematography isn’t everything you hoped for? It’s the sound design! Not to discredit any part of the film, The Pursuit of Happyness, because it is a beautiful film, but the sound design is what truly makes this film so great. It fills all the voids that are sometimes experienced in films. It does this by capitalizing on what the untrained ear calls noise. Another way the sound designers of this film really grab the attention of the audience is by creating a fluid way to make you listen to the sounds simultaneously with the images on the screen. In addition, the realistic sounds in conjunction with synthetic sounds complete the film by providing seamless cuts between scenes. The amalgamations of these three aspects are what make the sound design of The Pursuit of Happyness a truly vital part of the film. People take everyday sounds for granted; not realizing that without those realistic sounds life is pretty silent when you’re alone. These sounds are such an important part of life yet they are often considered noise and either masked or completely taken out of modern film, a lot of the time in Hollywood blockbusters. This movie however, does not shortcut any of those imperative sounds. For example, one of the scenes the most dominate sound is rustling of bags and luggage, fiddling of keys shuffle of feet, these sound usually muted are in fact louder than the dialogue which is hushed to a low whisper. The volume of these otherwise inconspicuous sounds not only put you into touch, which with the character is going... ... middle of paper ... ...ng away from something. This signifies the power of sound design. It would be unjustified to write about sound design and not mention the mass use of foley, especially in this film. Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to film, to enrich audial attributes. The best characteristic about working with foley is it helps to create a sense of reality within a scene. Without these crucial background noises, movies feel unnaturally quiet and uncomfortable. Foley artists recreate the realistic ambient sounds that the film portrays. The props and sets of a film do not react the same way acoustically as their real life counterparts. Foley sounds are used to enhance the auditory experience of the movie. Foley can also be used to cover up unwanted sounds captured on the set of a movie during filming, such as overflying airplanes or passing traffic.

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