Opening Sequence analysis: Casino Royal - Sound

Firstly the sound at the beginning of the opening consisted of very quiet background music (string instruments). This was to allow the focus to be on the man walking to his office. This is also emphasised by his loud footsteps, this suggests that he is alone in the building but however creates a very eerie feeling.

During the beginning of this scene a low angle of the man is used. This is to make the audience feel as though he is powerful as he is above the camera. However a few seconds later a high angle of him is show. This contradicts what was previously seen, and therefore the audience we become confused about the character. This is typical of thrillers as the plots are extremely complex we do not necessarily have a clear good and bad side.

The whole scene within the office/building has extremely dark lighting; this creates mystery as the audience cannot see everything. A common fear is the dark; this is due to the 'fear of the unknown'. Therefore this dark office will create fear in the audiences mind, as they will be unsure of the plot.

The editing within this scene is very slow paced and consists of only cuts. This is to keep the scene simple and allow the audience to understand what is going on. This also creates suspense as the conversation feels as though they are building to a tense moment.

The opening then uses cross cut editing to show a cricket match. This has been done to create a connection between the two and show that Bond may be in the office as a result of that day. This connection is also portrayed as the same quiet music is played throughout the two scenes. This helps the audience to understand what is going on and not get confused by the scene change.

 However once the other man is introduced (He spots Bond) the music becomes louder. This has been done to create drama and suggest there may be a chase scene. The cheering of the crowd is then used as a sound bridge. This juxtaposes what is happening as cheering is a sign of happiness, but the character is undergoing fear. However as this is paired with dramatic music the feel of the scene is still clear to the audience.

Within the cricket scene all the characters are wearing white, except Bond and the man who are in black. This emphasises the innocence of the audience and how they do not a play a role within the scene. However the two characters in black create a clear feeling that they are antagonists. This is because black within thriller films are associated with evil, death and darkness. This also leads to Bond being a very complex character, he 'does good in a bad way'. He shoots the man, but within the context of James Bond the men killed are usually far more evil than Bond himself.

 Once Bond and the man begin to fight the editing becomes very fast paced, this creates tension as Bond is in danger. This is also paired with sonically exaggerated punching, kicking and mirrors smashing. This portrays Bond as being very powerful as he is able to inflict this pain, but also brave and strong as he is able to take the pain and succeed. This will lead to the audience respecting him; Men will wish to be him whereas women will want to be with him.

Chris Assells: Sound Designer

Chris Assells is a well-known sound designer for such movies as Into The Storm, Hunger Games, SkyFall, Step Up, Blood Diamond, Abduction, Godzilla, Scooby Doo, 27 Dresses, Troy, G.I Joe and 176 others! He has been awarded with a Primetime Emmy and 4 other wins and 14 nominations.

Here is an interview with Chris: http://designingsound.org/2011/08/inside-look-at-the-creation-of-movie-sound-effects/

Within this scene from Into The Storm where the crazy camera crew are warning two Jackass wannabes to get to safety they get a unexpected surprise from a tornado forming a few feet away, and of course the crew want to get a shot of it as they do not move and stay close to capture whats infront of them. As the scene continues they realise they must move fast as the tornado is quickly catching up with them. For this scene there is actually no backing track but it mainly focuses more on the effects itself, for example the alarm at the beginning is loud to tell you there are warnings of a extreme storm, the sounds of wind slowing speeding up is clear as the tornado is forming and when it hits the ground its very exaggerated. This shows the size and the damages it causes. Again the same for when the tornado hits and destroys the building infront it shows mass of damage its causing and the size of the tornado, when it cuts to a scene of the father and son trying to drive through the town the sound of the wheels and the smashed glass is exaggerated as they spin around from the strong winds. Then as they all try to find shelter and the father and meteorologist is left outside in the storm all we can really hear is strong winds around them which really makes you feel as though you are there in the middle of the action. The use of just effects and no music is actually very effective in the scene as you don't need the tense music along with the images, this is because of whats on screen is already tense enough to keep you glued to it. It makes the sound effects of crashing, screaming and the winds more evident and makes it the main focus of the scene as it continues to get louder and louder and the more worse it gets.

Opening Sequence analysis and Sound Designer: Richard King - Inception & The Dark Knight Trilogy

Award winning sound designer Richard King is an American sound designer who was born in Los Angeles, California, USA and has worked on over 70 films. He has worked on films such as The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, War of the Worlds, and Master & Commander. He has received three Best Sound Editing Oscars, inducing Inception in 2010.

King likes the 'variety' of work that his role include, such as editing but also being on set and filming. Within this he also enjoys 'learning about things in the world that [he doesn't] know much about.

Interview with Richard King: http://soundworkscollection.com/soundlab/richard-king-being-a-feature-film-sound-designer

The Dark Knight Rises

The scene is the first of which when we meet batman. the non-diegetic music behind is extremely dramatic, had large bass tones, string instruments, is fast paced and almost has a tribal feel to it. This has been used to emphasise Batman's power while also putting the audience on edge with the discordant string instruments. This creates tension within the scene and leads to the audience becoming engaged.

The sound of sirens have been sonically exaggerated. This becomes confusing for the audience as Batman is trying to catch criminals, and being chased by the police himself. This emphasises the danger that Batman puts himself in, and therefore leads to the audience respecting and liking him. Thus engaging them and continuing to watch the film in order to find out if he is safe.

The sound of the man being flipped of his motorcycle is exaggerated. This is to show that he was in pain and fell very powerfully - therefore showing that Batman has a lot of power and is able to bring justice to Gotham. This leads to the audience trusting Batman as they know he can succeed.

The speech over the radio when the police officer states they 'lost him' illustrates that Batman has more power than the police and therefore the government. This indicates to the audience that he is extremely powerful and will make big changes to the city within the film. The radios also play as a sound bridge - they cross over onto shots that contain the police chase, this again emphasises his authority.

In this interview about the Dark Knight rises sound, Both Richard King and Hans Zimmer (composer) talk about how it was different from other films as the tow worked together very closely in order to achieve phenomonal sound. The had to ensure the sound was a 'continuation' of the previous two film's however it needed to develop in order to reach peach at the end of the film. They also worked very closer with director Christopher Nolan who had a 'blue print' for the whole film. They proposed ideas and worked as a team to create what Nolan had envisioned. On the other hand they didn't want to tell the audience 'how to feel' but instead 'open the door to the world' of Gotham. the whole team working on this film was in Zimmer's mind 'the best you could imagine' and consequentially this shows why the film is so effective a successful, in all aspects including sound.

Inception

Inception has been highly talked about for its great use of sound. In an interview with Richard King he talks about how he achieved this level of success. The main focus was the fact that the pitch was altered between the real world and dream world (levels). King did this to ensure the audience could establish the new location and the difference between the two. 

Interview with Richard King: http://designingsound.org/2010/08/inception-exclusive-interview-with-richard-king/

When the man is found breaking into the safe the music becomes very quiet, high pitched and slow paced. This consists of string instruments as the notes are extremely long and therefore create tension. However this then changes as his 'dream secret' is revealed. The music becomes louder with a more dramatic feel. This puts the audience on edge as they now know he has been put in a lot more danger. Once the dream begins to collapse the music becomes even louder with large base tones and long notes. This is very dramatic and makes the audience feel as though something bad is about to happen. This means the audience become engaged as they want to see if the protagonist survives and if the antagonists are defeated. 

The gun shot is sonically exaggerated. This is to show that the woman can inflict pain easily and therefore has a lot of power. This is unusual as the males are normally in control. However it also shows that she is an antagonist, this makes the audience dislike her and consequentially support the man. 

When the walls and ceilings begin to collapse they become very loud. This is a metaphor for the dream collapsing, while the dream is also physically collapsing. It begins to indicate the audience that the plot is going to be extremely complex due to its plot flowing in and out of dreams. It also shows that the characters and the protagonist are in a lot of danger. This makes the protagonist seem brave and 'amazing' when he manages to escape and survive. Therefore leading to the audience either admiring or wanting to be him.

The exaggerated sound of the two envelopes being ripped open shows the play huge role within the scene. It also creates mystery as the audience do not know what is in the envelope but do know it is of importance. This creates mystery which is a common convention of thrillers and leads to the audience becoming engaged as they are eager to find out more.

Silence is used effectively within this when the protagonist is '[dunked]' to wake him up. This has been done to emphasise how important it is for him to wake up. The silence is within the dream world and real world, this creates a clear connection between the two. It also allows the audience to predict what is going to happen as it is paired with slow motion - As he is put under water, the dream world is also put under water. This is paired with a close up of him which furthers the emphasis of the connection between the two worlds.

Jamie Baker - Shutter Island Sound

• Jamie Baker is known for producing the sound track for Shutter island, The departed, Wolf of Wall street and 
• Life of Pi. He has been nominated for many awards.
• Jamie Baker is an NYC- based post production sound editor and mixer with award winning credits and nominations for foley editing on films such as Hugo and Shutter Island, and mixing credits from numerous television networks such as MSNBC, Food Network, MTV, ABC News, PBS and many more.

Shutter island is about a US. Marshal Teddy who is investigating the disappearance of a patient who has escaped from the hospital and is hiding near by. Classical music is a huge part of this scene because its played all the way through. The reason for this is because some parts of the song show emotion but then some parts are happy?. We question this because normally we would have dramatic music during a thriller. 

However this music is diegetic music however is shown to us off-screen while showing us the location, of where they are and also when showing the prisoners. The classic music gets higher when we are shown to the fourth character in the scene, this is because they are showing us he could be dangerous and a possible antagonist. 

We see exaggerated sound shown also. This is when teddy gets angry and smashes the glass jar. We hear the pieces smash onto the floor very clearly. But around this we have more dramatic music because we then feel tense and suspicious to whats happening.

During this scene we see a cross-cut happening to other scenes that are very confusing and its hard to understand what they mean. We see that the music becomes louder and more dramatic when we see a man on the floor, covered with blood reaching for a gun. This murder helps us see crime and seeing crime helps us identify that it is a thriller. During theses scenes a sound bridge is brought in to link theses confusing scenes together. This helps make the scene smooth.

We can tell this is a thriller because of the blood and crime thats occurring. We don't understand why the murder has happened but we see that its the same man talking therefore makes us think maybe we are inside Ted's head and seeing his thoughts.

Supervising Sound Editors Simon Gershon and Jeremy Price

Simon Gershon and Jeremy Price both are amazing sound designers. Simon Gershon is known for: AVP Alien vs Predator in 2004, Paul in 2011, Pirate Radio in 2009 and Prowl. whereas Jeremy Price is known for: Attack the block in 2011, AVP Alien vs Predator in 2004, The Upside and Anger in 2005 and Scott pilgrim vs the world in 2010, he has also been nominated for many awards. 

Simon Gershon and Jeremy Price both were the main sound editors on a very popular sci-/ action thriller film 10,000 B.C. I found a exclusive interview with them both in. 10,000 B.C was in theatres in March 7th. Making the natural selection of sound for the dub stage were sound supervisors Jeremy Price and Simon Gershon. "The team got to play with some of my favorite sound effects in 2004′s “AVP” bringing that “Predator vision” back to the theaters. “10,000 B.C.” mixed at London’s De Lane Lea studios with Doug cooper and Chris Burdon at the helm". This was said from them both about the film. Cooper mixed “Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix”while Burdon dubbed last fall’s “Stardust”.

During this trailer we experience many different sound effects. We see that non diegetic and diegetic sound effects occur a lot. The Non-diegetic music appears in the background music with the drums to make this trailer seem very dramatic and build tension to the audience and this is very key for a thriller. Diegetic sound is used in the whistle for attack and also in the foot steps of the animals this is because it once again makes it dramatic and exciting for the audience. The monster in the later part of the trailer is off-screen sound. As the characters can still hear its roar but its very effective because we realer to the characters at the point because they are wondering where the sound came from and so are we. We also hear Direct sound in the wind, this is done to make it more realistic. This helps to add to the scene because the audience feel like their there in that situation. We hear the over voice telling us parts of the story and this is very effective because we hear two different voices. Where the first sound like the possible protagonist and there second has a creepy evil voice which we think is the Antagonist.

Sound designer: Elliot Zoretz

Elliot Zoretz is a very well known sound designer and has worked on many well known films. Elliot worked at Walt Disney for a while and worked himself up to be a sound designer. He is known for many films such as: Ted in 2012, A millions way to die in the west in 2014, Collateral in 2004, A thousand words in 2012, Warrior, Percy Jackson: sea of monsters and many many more. He has worked on many different genre's of films and has never failed to complete amazing sound throughout this films. 

He was nominated for a Prime-time Emmy for The Beast and Space. He was also nominated in 2005 for a BAFTA  for Collateral, but won a Golden satellite award for "Best Sound" (editing and mixing) for Collateral.

Collateral is a 20-04 American Neo-noir crime thriller that was directed by Michael Mann, starring Tom Cruise (who is a typically thriller actor) and Jamir Foxx as a taxi driver who finds himself the hostage of an egging contract killer as he makes his rounds from ht to hit during one night in LA. Micheal Mann is known for Heat in 1995, Public Enemies in 2009 and many more.

Im analysing the first 4 minutes and 30 seconds of this clip. The first few shots are filmed in shallow focus of only our main character (Tom Cruise), going from right to left through the crowd, is in focus. The other people are hardly in focus, their faces are almost blurred out because its highlighting the fact their not important. This shows us that this story will revolve around one person, initially just another one among a faceless crowd.

We get a busy location, were we hear people talking, which makes this realistic because its a everyday thing. We then hear exaggerated foot steps coming from a guy that is the second character shown to us. However we don't know if he's important or not. We get non- diegetic music being played to us while Tom is walking and this is to make the audience feel tense and unsure. We then get a sound bridge with the music still caring on to the next scene to the Taxi driver in a workshop. We can hear exaggerated sounds of machines and car workshops noises to make it realistic. However this music is parallel music because its emphasising whats going on around him. We then come inside the car when we have the background music still caring on until we get a cut when he slams the door shut. 

During the car journey we see him look at the photo he put up. Suddenly music plays which is diegetic music because its playing in the car but then off screen for the audience to show us the car travelling, but this music is fun and is music that goes wight hat location. We then get more diegetic music, as the shop he pulls out in front of is playing music. We feel clam at this point because the music is happy and fun.

Understanding sound within Movies

Understanding and Using Sound article

Keywords

• Diegetic Sound-  This is when the character within the scene can hear the music or sound that is occurs in the imaginary world e.g. Foot steps that are from the character
• Non-Diegetic sound-  Characters cannot hear this as it does not occur in the imaginary world but outside this world. This music is typically added to the scene, for the audience's enjoyment. 
• On-Screen- Refers to sound whose source can be seen in the frame, its still diegetic sound as its happening within the world of the film.
• Off-screen- Refers to the sound that happens outside the frame, its still diegetic sound as its  happening within the world of the film.
• Parallel- This is sound that emphasises whats taking place at that moment.
• Contrapuntal- Refers to sound that works in opposition to, and comments, the images on the screen.
• Sound bridge - a sound effect of music that links two scenes together as a cut has been put between these scenes.
• Direct sound-  This is sound that would of been recored at the same time the scene was taken. This is because it makes the music sound more realistic.
• Post-synchronised Sound- Is added after the filming has taken place. e.g. films made in a different language are usually are dubbed in this way into other languages.
• Foley Session-  Virtually all sound effects are added to films in a foley session.

Early years Sound was a huge problem for them. Film cameras at the time were very loud therefore they had to hid this sound somehow, they would be enclosed in "blimps" in order to muffle the sound. Directors during filming had to remain silent during filming, which meant their instructions couldn't be recored. However now we have all the music added after the filming which means they use direct sound to lay over the top of the scenes. I learnt that until the mid-30's it wasn't possible to change a film's soundtrack after editing. Which meant the sound effects had to be recorded at the same tim, because of this it meant musicians would often be playing in the corner of the set while the scene was taking place.

Now sound can be used in many different ways because technology has improved massively. This also helps now because it means sound can be more precise.

During Hot fuzz different types of sound are worked together to create a overall effect in the first couple of minutes. In Hot fuzz half of the sound in the first section is post-synchronised.

Sound designers such as : Simon Gershon and Jeremy Price both designed the sound for 10,000 B.C which is a sci.thriller. This film was one of the most poplar films done. It was in cinemas march the 7th.

The importance of sound within Films

Sound within films and TV has developed vastly over time. Producers used to have to include sound effects while they were filming, for example orchestras used to sit on the side of film sets. However now film makes can use 'incredible precision' to create 'fantastically creative and precise effects'.
Some example of sound terms include:
Non-diegetic sound: sound which occurs within the world which is taking place
Diegetic sound: Sound that is not within the role and has been added post-filming
Parallel: Sound that fits with the scene and emphasises what is happening. Eg in Jaws the shark approaching is shown with 'threatening string music'
Post-sychronised sound: Added after filming
Sound bridge: A sound effect or music that runs between a cut. It smooths the join and links the two shots/scenes together

Sound designers:

Jeff Seamster:  Seamster is primarlily a game sound producer. He has worked on titles such as Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, Caesar IV and Rise & Fall: Civilisations at war. He has worked for companies such as Midway Ga,es, Stainless Steel stoups and Tilted Mill Entertainment. He states that if we all chose our favourite film in terms of sound they would all have distinct similarities: 'strong audio direction and a cohesive audio aesthetic'.
For Seamster he feels that it is important in order for the audience to be able to absorb and interpret what is going on within something. However he urges the importance of developing and adapting sound to stay 'current'. This is in order to keep all audiences engaged rather than following past trends which are no longer valid.

Mel Wesson: Wesson was the sound designer for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and also Batman begins. He had to make sure the sounds of the two shared similarities to keep with the 'continuity' in the audiences 'sub-conscious' 

Sources:

1) www.curriculum-press.co.uk - Understanding and Using sound
2) http://designingsound.org/archives/featured-sound-designers/
3) http://designingsound.org/archives/exclusive-interviews/

Possible music

We have started to think about sound and which we will use in our thriller:

1) From this we like track 1 and 10, this is because they are both suspenseful and dramatic, but not tacky.

2) We like the heart beat sound as it creates tension for the audience. It also is common within thriller films and within past student work.

3) This creates suspense and may be effective before the shooting scene

Possible sound effects for Iluzio

From looking at thriller openings, past student work and my survey I have a rough idea of sound I may include within our opening.

For example Hearts beats proved to be very effective. This is because you can adjust the speed of the heart beat to suggest a different mood, e.g. tension, fear and drama. The audience (including myself) will begin to feel on edge when they hear it and will create an interesting dimension to the opening. The placement of it is key, it will be placed somewhere which is leading up to a significant moment, this was illustrate the proximity of an event to the audience.

Secondly my audience survey showed that classical music seemed to be very effective. This is because it can be varied vastly to create different moods. The string instruments can create a very discordant sound to make the audience feel uncomfortable and therefore create suspense. The music can also be fast paced or slow paced. Slow paced music will create tension as the audience will expect something to happen soon, this could be used when Freddie is walking to the friends house. However once Freddie arrives at the house the music could become fast paced to raise the audience pules and indicate that a climax of the opening is about to happen.

The gun shot within our opening will be sonically exaggerated. This will be to emphasise the importance of the gun shot, as it is a key role within our plot twist. It's loud volume could also surprise the audience, and therefore keep them interested. Finally gun shots are typical of thriller films and therefore it will it with the conventions of the genre.

We could also include modern chart music within our opening. This is because the target audience are large listeners to music and therefore they would recognise it and enjoy it. It would also keep them engaged as they will be able to identify with the characters and age.