Sound/Music Evaluation

Evaluation

The task was to plan and produce a 48 second piece of sound that would go with the clip of an intergalactic TVD. We used a program called garageband, which allows you to create entirely original pieces of sound, with numerous effects and tools. We planned our piece by using a sound map to show what sounds we were going to use, at exactly which times to put them, and also the volume at different stages.

I used many techniques, and one of them being, perhaps the most important was ambient sound. My ambient sounds included an alarm, I was looking to create a sense of panic, and as the first thing you could hear was an alarm, this would be creating that sense almost instantly. You can’t actually see the alarm going off at any point in the clip, so it also becomes a non-diegetic sound. Another ambient sound I put in was an outer space ‘whooshing’ sound, as if a space ship had just flown by. This was to reinforce the idea of where the clip is set, on a space ship, in outer space.

Another technique I used was dialogue. The dialogue was very important as it made up almost half of the clip. When the characters were speaking, I lowered the volume of the ambient alarm to show that although they were talking, that sense of panic still remained. I recorded the dialogue through the built in microphone on the Mac.

Once the dialogue had finished, the clip showed the main character with a sense of fear on his face. Just before the dialogue had completely finished I faded in another more dramatic ambient “whooshing” noise, fading in from silent to full volume, drowning out the alarm. I wanted to reinforce that there was a much more dangerous sense of panic other than the alarm.

Overall, I think that my sound piece was simple, yet effective. The timings were good and the effects that I have created link well with what you are watching. I am very happy with it.