Blog Post #4 | The Motion Graphics Project 

This project was interesting as it would be the first time I wouldn’t be creating my own world through sound but rather accompanying sound with an already established world. The key task here was to use a video with poor/no sound that had motion graphics and attach sound to it to bring it more to life; which is exactly what was done here. Below will be the dissection of the project.

The video has been taken from the YouTube channel Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, from their video titled “What If We Nuke the Moon?”. In the original video, much of the sound design had been ignored to instead keep the main focus on the narrator’s voice. There were simple sound effects added in the video such as basic chirps from the birds and tapping sounds, but nothing too complex. I decided this would be a great option to showcase what I’ve learned thus far in my Sound Design class as it not only had basic wipes/transitions to use sound design elements to play with, but to also stretch my abilities by actually applying sound on action more carefully and fine tune a sound I’ve been meaning to perfect, (that being explosions and the sound of space).

What was done successfully during this project was matching the sound with the action appropriately. This wasn’t just timing the sounds with the action on screen but also matching the sound with what the audience would imagine when watching the video. However, some sound choices are subjective as most of the sounds are based on reality as opposed to more a cartoonish feel. I felt as though adding realistic sound to a cartoon which doesn’t incorporate too many cartoony elects to the visuals can be something to get away with, but it shouldn’t be a habit to develop for all sound projects concerning cartoons. Another element of the project which I believe was done well would be the distance of some sounds depending on the subject in focus within the frame. In example, there is a scene where a chicken is cooked by the explosion in the distance. The sound of the explosion felt far away from the chicken, etching its way closer as the chicken was being cooked.

What I found to be the most challenging of this project was the actual creation of the explosion itself. The explosion used in the video was a nuke, the largest of all Earthly explosions. To mimic this explosion, I knew I would need to not only use one sound and make it loud. It required texture, heft, and volume; a lot of which needed to be found from various sounds of explosions and then blended together into one. In the screenshot, you can see that for the explosion itself, there are six different explosion tracks, all used simultaneously to create the explosion. Unlike the twelve used to create the collateral explosions within the shell of the nuke, the actual explosion required more focus on the phrase “less is more”, while still carefully choosing which sounds to use and to make it loud enough to bring a good enough payoff. The explosion created, due to the limitations of the sound effects provided, unfortunately wasn’t exactly what I hoped for but I believe was good enough for what was created. For future creations of explosions, perhaps I’ll create my own sounds or use more outside sources other than Epidemic Sound.

All in all, I believe a good project for a video was made here. However, I will say it has given me insights into the type of sound design I’m more accustomed to, that being sound effects for video games and soundscapes of my own design.

Will do a re-upload of this video after class, for now DO NOT PLAY AT FULL VOLUME

The movie trailer chosen for this blog post is the international trailer of ‘Whiplash’, posted by Sony Pictures Entertainment on YouTube. The following will be an analysis on how the trailer, from a design perspective, uses sound. This will be divided into three sections: Use of Music and Rhythm, Sound Effects and Ambient Sounds, and Dynamics and Mixing. Before then, we will first do an observational analysis of the trailer.

In the beginning of the trailer, we hear that most of the sound is purely from snippets of the film’s dialogue, whether off or on screen, and sot jazz playing in the background. This is understood to the audience that a mellow tone is to be set for the introduction to this trailer, but as we’ll see later, the tempo, will change drastically. As soon as the protagonist, played by Miles Teller, plays the drums, the trailer cuts to off-film shots of awards where the main theme of the film is played louder than the soft jazz introduced. This juxtaposition introduces a slight raise in tonality but is primarily utilized for the attention of the audience. It becomes silent once dialogue is re-introduced but is immediately blown out by the main theme once the dialogue ends. The hands clapping by the antagonist of the film, played by J.K. Simmons, is much louder and more textured than most diegetic heard through the trailer thus far. Simmons then flings a chair across the room aiming for Teller and the sound of the chair is very loud. The choice here could indicate, from a narrative perspective, that Teller’s main focus towards the music can be completely disrupted through sounds other than his drums. This can also be further emphasized from the slap given to Teller in a room filled with silence. Right after Teller is yelled at by Simmons, there’s a sound of a bass drop, which is a typical sound trope used in trailers to evoke intensity within the trailer, which transitions the trailer into the next scene where Teller begins conversation with his father. The sound playing in the background can be identified as drums due to its rhythm, however for the purposes of a trailer, has much deeper and bass-y tones to it. This continues for a little bit to add intensity to the trailer. Gradually, in the background a low ‘riser’ is added to then transitioning into an instant ‘thud’ to cut to a black screen. The trailer then picks up again once the drum solo slowly begins playing. The drums, however, is not the only thing heard as there is a low drone slowly rising as the tempo of the drums increases. Once the drums has reached the peak of the tempo in the trailer, a moment of silence enters to then be immediately removed a single low keynote of a piano; with the title of the trailer now appearing, it signifies the ending to the trailer.

1. Use of Music and Rhythm: “Whiplash” is a film centered around jazz music and drumming. With this in mind, it comes as a surprise, at least for the expectations of what’s to be found in standard movie trailers, that most of the sounds used are instruments used in a jazz band playing at mid to high tempo speeds. The rhythm of the music is used for emotional effect to the audience the same way typical bass drops, ‘brahms’, and high strung ‘risers’ would be used to evoke tension or intensity. This is most notable when listening to the tempo of the drums towards the end of the trailer rise continuously in conjunction to the quick flashes of some scenes from the film. The use of the increasing tempo of the drums emulates the same experience as listening to ‘risers’ or the loud yet bass-y single drum hits that are stacked almost right next to each other, (i.e. Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War Official Trailer [1:35-1:46], the bass-y drums are used in high tempo).
2. Sound Effects and Ambient Sounds: The effects used in the trailer are minimal, but impactful. In example, when Simmons’s character claps his hands, all sounds are silent but his claps are much louder than most sounds heard throughout the trailer. Another example is in the same scene as this clip where he immediately throws a chair at Teller. This, in my opinion, is the loudest sound in the entire trailer, completely disrupting the flow of the sounds used in the trailer. However, the disruption from the sound effects work in favor fo the trailer as it depicts, audibly, the flow Teller needs to be in for his music but can be easily, yet quite harshly, stopped abruptly from Simmons’s character making sound; thus, shifting the focus from the music to the sound effects.
3. Dynamics and Mixing: The music and the dialogue, along with the sound effects, are in a constant state of battling for dominance in this trailer. At times, the music is the loudest, at other moments the dialogue completely overpowers all sounds, and in some moments the sound effects completely dominate the sound stage of the trailer. The mixing which was used in the trailer was done this way perhaps to tease how Teller’s character throughout the film, (spoiler alert), is in a constant state of battling with himself between living a life as an average music student, dating a girl he likes whilst also trying to become a legendary drummer but forced to make sacrifices in his own personal life.

I chose ‘Whiplash’ specifically because it’s unlike most trailer, or mainstream movies for that matter, where typical sound tropes can be easily spotted and sed for the same effect each time. ‘Whiplash’ is an interesting choice because it takes the idea of what most trailers try to achieve but instead does so with the use, (mainly), with only instruments found in a jazz band. It showcases the choices from the sound designers to be careful and calculated as this is a movie about music, so they didn’t want to take away the music in any parts of the trailer by replacing with typical bass drops or ‘brahms’ to express intensity. The only other trailer I can think of off the top of my head that also does this, (kind of), would be ‘Birdman’. That trailer, more or less, does the same thing that ‘Whiplash’ did for its trailer; replace typical sound effects for a more creative approach to evoke the same emotion that would be found within the typical sound effects.