In this clip from Forbidden Lie$, Anna Broinowski’s 2007 film: describe in detail all of the audio, how it may have been recorded / sourced and how you think it has been edited / layered in post. (You do not need to describe how the music was recorded)

The clip begins with the Foley sounds of singing, birds, sparkle of a tooth, more birds, wind chimes and the harp, car motor, rustle of clothing being thrown, footsteps in sand and wind, to create a soundscape that enhances the story world and the fabrication of the things happening in this clip.

We are then jolted out of this melodic, mystical sing along with the harsh audio of the first interviewee the Jordan Times journalist as she states, “This is not the Truth!”, here the mixing between diagetic sound as sources being visible in the story world, and non-diagetic sound where the source is not visible, becomes more predominant. Her voice is the first authoritative voice, being passionate and driven therefore as an audience we listen to what she’s saying. The sound of the book getting slammed down on a hard surface then echoes this frustration, then the cash register ‘ding’, something that the audience interprets as a code for a sale, alludes to the true purpose of this book. Her dialogue appears to be sync sound as she speaks to camera, with the overlay of certain sound effects such as singing, car horns and typing on the keyboard. Similarly we can appropriate the voice of the Jordan National Committee for Women interviewee as she speaks to camera, her voice is sophisticated and she speaks wisely on the matter of factual errors.

The ongoing scenes are then connected through the narration reading of the book by different participants in the film, Norma the writer – who’s voice has quite an annoying tone therefore distancing the listener from much of what she says, the journalist and the Committee member; their audio picks up where the previous finished to display that the story they are reading is the same, but the interpretations and readings of that one story are different. The beating heart of Jordan and re-arranging of the map graphic aided through sound effects of dessert wind and ripping paper.

The words, “Indicted there is something wrong with this book” is followed by the sound of a rattle snake. Following this music then begins for the salon scene, the guitar overlayed with the interview audio of the Committee woman. The guitar then continues over the next shot where the reporter searches for the salon where the books set. The music continues, adding almost comedy to the scenes as we see all these elements of Norma’s story contested. We hear Norma speak the words “50 dinar bill from his wallet and handed it to her” to narrate what’s being re-enacted on screen, to then be objected by the reporter’s comments on the introduction of the notes not until after the books setting. We then hear the sound of rummaging in the draw and the click of the lighter as the cigarette is lit. At this point, the guitar playing is rewound (along with the images) to depict a replay of events where the cigarettes don’t exist. The turning of pages and the reading of the page numbers, acts as checklist ticking off each item. The sound becoming more playful with the stacking as the Hyatt is fast paced deconstructed and the sound of the wall falling. The guitar then begins again at the gym, echoing the pace of the visual treadmill runners and ending the scene with the journalist shutting the flip phone and laughing.

In terms of recording, the interviews would have been sync sound with the footage, along with the background sounds to create a canvas for the piece. Sourcing would have occurred for sound effects from archive sounds, or they would have been pre-recorded specifically. And music would have been recorded in a studio or sourced from the artist. All this different audio would have then been edited in post-production, accumulated into tracks so they could be layered over each other in the different forms of music, dialogue, sound effects and narration.