Research: The sound of a movie

Intro 

  As I keep researching about how media is made, I had in mind some senses that take the audience through and immersive experience. In my last post I covered the lightning which can be considered as sight, and now I want to cover the hearing that is required for a movie of film to be successful. In thrillers, while the lightning sets the mood visually for a movie, sound it is what targets the nervous system of the audience. 

Sound Research

Some examples of sound that are used in thriller movies are selective silence, hyper-realistic sounds and many more elements that help the goal of a thriller 

Selective Silence 

When directors use selective silence, all the sound in the movie is removed and quiet for a while. Selective sound helps the movie create greater suspense and leave the audience with a feeling of dread on what might happen next.  

One example movie that is extremely good is A Quiet Place. This movie uses a revolutionary method of sound where there's minimal dialogue because the plot of the movie creates an intense silence, highly immersive, and suspenseful experience. 

This movie is a notable example of sound used in a thriller because it takes the audience through a rollercoaster that can go from a light sound of the wind to a dreadful silence that worries you. 
The rules of this movie where sound is limited really show the impact that sound has when it comes to transmitting a message or feeling to the audience. 

Hyper-realism  

Another good sound feature that can be used for thriller movies is hyper-realistic sounds that take the audience into the movies by having physical sounds included. Physical sounds are the realistic, tangible noises that accompany on-screen actions; some examples are footsteps, heartbeats, and clothes rustling. An example of a scene where physical sound can be involved is when a big explosion happens and the characters suffer from hearing ringing that us as the audience hear and feel. 

Another example of hyper-realistic sounds is the heartbeat of a character when something tense is happening around it. This happens when the camera closes up into a character and a microphone can be either attached to the characters chest or it can be synthetic sound , but we hear the opening and closing of the heart valves that increase as the heart rate of the character increases tension does as well 

 

 

 

Every time I watch a thriller or horror movie and a hyper-realistic scene comes up, it creates uncertainty in me that creates a weird feeling in my stomach. I have already started thinking about what types of silence I would like to use in my 2-minute film. 

Hyper realistic sound example

 

Overview

Expert call sound in a movie "half of the film experience" and this is because it provides emotional and physical structure alongside the lighting. What sound does is that it tells your brain how to interpret a scene. There is a thing called contrapuntal sound and that is when the sound does not match what is happening on screen. Per example someone is getting hurt in a scene but there's happy music in the back your brain will not be as shocked, and that is the power of sound. 
 

The art of silence

A Quiet Place sound review

youtube video