W8| Reflection on Sound

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Part A: Reflect on how sound can be used in the documentary.

Example: The Derby by Remington Smith.

This documentary really inspires me a lot with its unique skills, especially on the sound side.

  • Leave space for the audience to imagine
(Figure 1: the screenshot of a documentary called The Derby, source by Zhen) 
    • The first twenty seconds of the documentary is a completely black frame with background sound and the voice of a talking male. Besides, there is also an order for different sounds. The location sounds present first to construct the environment. We can imagine the probable environment by the crowd and car noise. Then a man starts to talk. I start to imagine his appearance, such as race. The advantage of this method is that it leaves space for the audience to imagine rather than present directly.
  • Combine sounds and frame to make a contrast
(Figure 2: the screenshot of a documentary called The Derby, source by Zhen)
    • It combines the fast-speed sound and slow-motion frame together to make an interesting contrast.
  • Sounds as transition
(Figure 3: the screenshot of a documentary called The Derby, source by Zhen)
    • After the fast-speed music, the filmmaker uses a black frame with a sound of water as the transaction. It seems more natural and acceptable to the audience than directly show the frame with sound at the same time.
  • Sound as a support
(Figure 4: the screenshot of a documentary called The Derby, source by Zhen)

 

    • According to Brockett, great sound works are supposed to support the story on a subconscious level rather than getting noticed. (Fox 2017) Normally, there are various different sounds in one scene, such as music, location sounds, and voice. They all serve for the storytelling. However, the audience can not accept so many sounds at the same time. Thus, there is an order of significance for them. Some of the sounds are well edited to not be noticed but also take part in construct the sense of the clip.

Part B: inspiration for our final documentary, Haven

“The sense of being somewhere, that is in the sound” (Martin 2011)

  • In the past, I didn’t realize the significance of sounds to film/ documentary. The reading of this week and the reflection of The Derby give me some inspiration to my final documentary, especially from the sound side.
  • I am going to record the sound of the tram, the noisy crowd, and the traffic light to create a sense of busy city life. Besides, I plan to record the sound of the horse, birds, the sheep, and wind to create a peaceful sense. Some of them may be hard to record. I may find some no copyright sound resource online and mix them up.

“Becomes clear when small, insignificant sounds with a low volume are emphasised by being amplified. For example: taking a breath.” (Martin 2011)

  • Like I mentioned, we want to create a contrast between the city and the farm. To achieve, I may add a black sense with only sounds like the filmmaker does in The Derby. From my perspective, when the audience cannot see the frame, they may more concentrate on sounds. Thus, it can construct a sense to the audience of being there. The audience would have an imagination to the farm. Then we use the aerial frame as the start of the farm scene to surprise the audience.
  • For the interview scene, we won’t use background music or sounds. We want the audience only to pay attention to Jan’s words.

Reference:

Martin, J 2017, ‘Being there: the creative use of location and postproduction sound in documentaries’, Creative Documentary: Theory and Practice, Routledge, ProQuest Ebook Central database.

The Derby, 2019, Vimeo, Remington Smith, viewed 3 May 219, <https://vimeo.com/333091980>.

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