Sound design and choice

Sound design will be crucial for our short film. We tried our best to do this last year but this year we can put more effort and time towards it as we have now got new tech we have to play around and improve our work.

Since it will be made to seem like it is after the apocalypse, we need to use a lot of Foley and ambient sound after cutting the sound which we record at the time as there is a chance we will pick up other sounds such as cars and perhaps even planes.To do this we will record a large amount of ambient sound in an empty location with just natural noises so we can use it after cutting the sound recorded from the camera. We will record dialogue as it happens on a different device and also use Foley sounds when something on-screen and off-screen is happening such as footsteps we may record sounds after and add them in post production. We tried to do this last year by recording some of the sounds at the time such as footsteps but I believe this year we will record everything a few times to make sure we get the right sound even if it means we have to recreate it somewhere else to get a more satisfying sound to suit the match on action. As this is a thriller, there is a planned off-screen sound which means that there will be suspense created and could be restricted narration as the character could see and understand what is there but as the audience, we don't.


We will use soundtracks in some of our short film but we have decided to use a lot of silence too. This may cause some of the sequence to seem eerie and make the world simply feel empty, which is our overall goal. The soundtracks will have to be chosen to get a reaction from the audience and suit the moment, perhaps being quiet when there is a lot going on will actually create more suspense instead of a loud blaring soundtrack which takes over everything. Silence will perhaps create suspense too, but we need to experiment with this in post production as nothing can be said to work best until we try it and silence will also help us show that there is no equilibrium at this point, working in synergy with what is going on in the frame.  Sounds could show us how the character is being represented, if there is dramatic music when something small happens it could connote that she is scared easily so we will have to be careful how we use sound when linked to her feelings and reactions. Last year I think we used a few too dramatic soundtracks which didn't match the sequence but matched the camerawork, I hope this year we can focus for more time on the soundtracks we eventually use. As for where we will find the music, BenSound and Incompetech are great places for royalty free music available for download. Furthermore, Youtube has its own library of royalty free music again, all available for download. The pros of using three (or more) royalty free music websites means we will be spoiled for choice in genre and mood. It also means we are less likely to use the same music as another group, stopping their use of the piece translating onto our own when in fact that is not how we intended it. below are the website mentioned.

BenSound  Incompetech  Youtube Library