While viewing The Conversation I was struck by the quality sound design. As we previously watched Gravity weeks prior it became clear why a movie like that would need many sound engineers to balance all the special effects one would get in an IMAX theatre. However, this feature goes in depth about Harry who is a Bugger, one who records people’s conversations or sounds, such as a private investigator. His job is to record others conversations and not ask questions from his employer. To capture the reality and impact of a story, sound technicians must manipulate the dialogue with any background or source music to flow naturally. As audience members, we do not recognize the complexity and extreme measures sound editors go to in order to capture everyday sounds of background noises and/or to highlight specific aspects of the world the character may be experiencing with more focus. When I think of films with great sound design, I usually think of the action or adventure genres. Although The Conversation is not an action film, it exudes a powerful sound design that is quite impressive. The sound is greater than you could expect, or maybe even notice, on an initial viewing. The storyline allows its main character, played by Gene Hackman, to act as an on-screen sound mixer.
Through the film’s volume changes the sound perspectives within the diegetic space were interesting to follow through listening intently. The dramatic differences are between looking down a street or standing in the street. Such as when Harry is trying to take the bongo drums out of the recording so he can clearly hear the vocals of the two people he is recording with precision.
When watching the film I saw that Walter Murch actually did some of the sound design on...
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...t within the diegesis we hear music that exemplifies his state of mood. He vigorously searches his apartment in hopes to find the bug that they placed in his apartment that is mentioned in the phone call. The piano starts out slowly then speeds up as he breaks everything in the place to the point he would need to replace it. It then fades off with Harry sitting on the torn up floor with the piano at a medium pace and him playing the saxophone showing his disappoint that he was one upped by someone.
Lastly, in today’s world The Conversation still serves as a contemporary cautionary tale. It reminds us how important sound designers are to the world of filmmaking or private investigators that must record sounds. In today’s films we have made a huge breakthrough with sound technologies such as Dolby Atmos, which can only get better with advancement in future updates.
The use of sound helped to create a story behind the scenes. The sounds of Drum’s gunfire and Ouiser’s dog barking create a humorous event outside of the set. This scene of family/neighborhood craziness is relatable to any audience member in some way and helped the audience to connect with the characters. The use of the radio at the beginning and end of each scene helped to establish a mood and in some cases a time change. It also worked as a signal to the audience when a scene was beginning or
To fully understand the relationship between a filmmaker and a composer, it is helpful to take a closer look at the filmmaker’s position towards music in film in general; these can of course differ substantially from one director to another. It seems, one must think, that the complete narrative and emotive potential of film music is not yet fully recognized and appreciated in many film produc...
The sounds and music in this film are very realistic, and to the point. There is not anything abstract or out of place, and everything is very appropriate. The sound effects in the film are diegetic (sounds that the actors can hear), with the score being nondiegetic (sounds that the actors cannot hear). The film falls under the category of realism, with no stylizing or manipulation of images and sounds.
...s when it cuts Richie’s forearm skin. The use of diegetic sound allows the viewer to feel as if this montage is going through Richie’s head as he cuts himself. As Richie is standing in front of the mirror we see things from his point of view and we understand his reality at the moment. The rapidly edited montage of memories is analogous to the immediacy of his actions.
The vast majority of sound used in the film is non-diegetic, especially the musical ideas, which is
Elizabeth Weis, John Belton (1985) Theory and Practice Film Sound, New York: Columbia University Press, pp 346.
Enhancing the sustained fright of this film are an excellent cast, from which the director coaxes extraordinary performances, and Bernard Herrmann's chilling score. Especially effective is the composer's so-called "murder music," high-pitched screeching sounds that flash across the viewer's consciousness as quickly as the killer's deadly knife. Bernard Herrmann achieved this effect by having a group of violinists frantically saw the same notes over and over again.
...successful collaboration of sound, colour, camera positioning and lighting are instrumental in portraying these themes. The techniques used heighten the suspense, drama and mood of each scene and enhance the film in order to convey to the spectator the intended messages.
...violence. In the murder scenes, the non-diegetic sound provides a more dramatic effect making up for the violence of the crimes making them scenes that went around the Hays Code.
Thinking Sound. (2011). Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola Talks about the Evolution of Movie Sound. [Online]. Available from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-fNpE9vQJw [Accessed 05 February 2012]
Sound is an extremely important element to a film. Music, the sound chosen in this scene, is categorized as non-diegetic, which means that the music is not in the story world. The directors use deep, dramatic, intense music when Nick is interrogating Judy about her speech. The music in the scene helps the audience feel the anxiousness that Judy is feeling towards predators, particularly Nick. As the music plays in the background, the intensity of the scene grows immensely. The directors use the music to help heighten the emotion during this encounter and reveal Judy’s inner fear of predators that gets the best of her in this
Sound is what brings movies to life, but, not many viewers really notice. A film can be shot with mediocre quality, but, can be intriguing if it has the most effective foley, sound effects, underscore, etc. Sound in movies band together and unfold the meaning of the scenes. When actors are speaking, the dialogue can bring emotion to the audience, or, it can be used as the ambient sound. Music is one of the main things to have when filmmaking. The use of Claudia Gorbman’s Seven Principles of Composition, Mixing and Editing in Classical Film gives audiences a perspective of sound, and, how it can have an impact on them.
When adding sync sound specifically dialogue, there was a risk of how the overseas market would respond as for many countries, English is not their first language. It was easier to translate silent films because changing the title cards to the required language was simple. This worked the same with foreign films to be translated to English. This was another factor in the larger production company’s initial decision not to include synced sound as this could hinder the distribution of the films therefore reduce profit.
For example, in American Beauty by Sam Mendes (1999), sound effects help audience to feel the moods of characters; it is not only on the diegetic sound, but also non-diegetic sound. First of all, diegetic sound effects have been described the characters’ feeling and mood. Inserted music in American Beauty can identify the change of the character in accordance with a various music style. For example, when Carolyn sings in her car, it shows her feeling with the diegetic song by using lyric of song. Although a various diegetic popular music help to understand the Burnham’s family, non-diegetic sound has an important role to help audience to identify the character in the movie. For instance, Lester’s imaginary scene of red roses over Angela’s naked body, the non-diegetic music which is played by orchestra, leads the audience to follow Lester’s feeling. Thus, the diegetic and non-diegetic sound not only influences audience to sympathize characters’ feeling and mood in the film but also help audience to identify the characters and the director’s intention via atmosphere over the
...n, the use of sound in films is highly significant in the development of the plot and in turn the development of the theme. Although, the sound components play a very significant role individually, it is through the combination and manipulation of such components that the sound design of the sound track has a greater impact emotionally upon the audience. Moreover, the effectiveness of this emotional impact can be significantly increased through the implementation of an effective combination sound to the image. Such combination can be seen within Gravity which exhibits a soundscape that successfully assist in bringing the world of the film to life. Sound is important to films and is an essential feature, many a time an audience will not even self-consciously acknowledge the music or sound effects but if they weren’t there the viewing pleasure would not be as pleasing