COMM 2660 Assignment 2--Production

Samual Jamie Rogers

COMM 2660

2012.4.17

Assignment 2—Production

During this semester I have had the opportunity to learn about digital film production in COMM 2660—an important part of which is the recording and production of sound. Along with what I have learned in this class I have also been able to expand on the subject of sound in another class, COMM 1560-Audio for Converged Media. COMM 1560 focuses solely on aspects of sound recording and production. The topic that has been particularly interesting has been that of recording and creating sound effects. In both classes there has been emphasis on the importance of sound in film production and that proper sound production can help define how an audience feels about a film. Of course, the capturing of sound on the set of a production differs from the creation of sound on a sound stage and for the sake of this blog post, I will lean more towards the off-set sound production and recording. In fact, this route would be more post-production than production, but I hope it will suffice as it is a topic that I have gained more interest in over the past months.

According to dictionary.com, the term that refers to the manual production of motion picture sound effects is “foley.” The term originates with the man who pioneered the art of recreating sound for productions, Jack Foley (http://www.marblehead.net/foley/index.html).

            Sound effects in movies have been interesting to me since before I really understood how shows were made. I saw a “making of” segment from the movie Twister and remember hearing how different sounds from animals, including pigs and camels, were used and modified to create the sounds of the tornados in the movie. Over the years I have been intrigued by the way foley artists use different items and improvise sounds from TV shows, movies, and video games. Movies such as the first Star Wars trilogy, the Alien series, and, usually, gory horror movies—aside from being fun to watch while growing up—also caught my attention with many of the behind-the-scenes extras included on the DVDs. Laser blasts from a Storm trooper’s gun were created with a hammer hitting a stretched cable; the sounds of the Xenomorph from the original alien movie was a combination of a man who could impersonate birds and a lot of KY Jelly; heads of lettuce, melons, and celery all seem to be acceptable sounding substitutes for the unknowing character in most gory, slasher movies. Creating the off-set sounds makes what is seen visually seem that much more realistic without having to put the cast and crew at risk from shooting a real gun on set, or requiring a volunteer to be stabbed to capture the perfect sound effect.

            One important aspect of sound recording that I’ve started to understand is that no amount of mixing or editing can make a bad recording sound amazing. The initial capturing of sounds, dialogue, sound effects, and ambient noise is very important. Knowing what microphones, filters, wind-screens, and amplifiers to use are all integral parts of getting the right sound for a production. In fact, recording the same sound with many various types of microphones and equipment could yield important differences that would be useful later in the production/post-production process. In fact, recording several tracks of the same sound or dialogue with different devices could prove to be beneficial if another source was corrupted or lost. Digital technology makes this possible without a considerable increase in production costs.

            A quick Google search produces various lists of famous, familiar sounds found throughout TV and cinema. Darth Vader’s breathing, Goofy’s yelling, snakes rattling, guns with numerous safeties releasing—all sound effects that can be heard every day. One sound, though, that stands out and is almost comedic when heard in modern context, is the Wilhelm Scream. Imdb.com lists the movie Distant Drums as the initial film that uses the scream and movies as recent as Captain America and Tron: Legacy as others that use the iconic sound. Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas have all incorporated it into their movies and even though the Wilhelm Scream is over 60 years old it remains a staple in film and audio production.

            One of the assignments given in my COMM 1560 class was to utilize a field recording device and capture a sound as it occurs and edit it as if it could be used in a film or radio ad. One night after a weekend of shooting, I was cleaning my handguns and figured its various components could be used to create a realistic sound effect. If there is a sound effect used today in media that is the equivalent to nails on a chalkboard, it’s the unnecessary sounds that are heard whenever a firearm is presented in almost any movie, TV show, or video game. A Glock handgun, for example, essentially has only one moving part that allows the gun to fire: the trigger. It is beyond my understanding to hear a gun, when it is shown on screen, make numerous noises. I decided to make a clear sound effect of what a Glock handgun should sound like. I loaded a full magazine into the gun, waited for the click of it seating, and pulled the slide back and, after releasing it, the recoil spring released, sending the slide forward and putting a bullet into the chamber. Of course, for the sake of the exercise I was using a safety device known as a Snap Cap that doesn’t actually fire if the trigger is pulled. After doing this several times at different positions around the microphone of my recording device, I was able to capture, what I considered, to be a suitable “gun sound” that could used in a production and have a realistic sound effect and reflect what could be actually happening on the screen. There were no clicks of additional safeties or invisible buttons and the gun didn’t sound like it was being reloaded every few seconds. It was a simple sound effect that I was able to edit in Adobe Audition as a standalone file and submit for my assignment.

            Although this was my first attempt to capture a sound as realistically as possible for the sake of editing, I was happy with it. Also, after my brief research of sound production in media, it has given me a new appreciation for what, both, sound mixers on a film set, and foley artists off-set, do for the capture and creation of sounds that make the overall experience more believable and enjoyable. In fact, if there was a job I would further investigate in film production, it would be working with sound mixing and re-creation.