JCM312/Sound

Sound perspective

1. What is sound perspective in film? (Ugly Betty example.)
2. What are the different types of microphone pick-up patterns? How do they affect sound perspective?

Sound and time

Diegetic and nondiegetic sound

1. What is a diegesis?
   • What is diegetic sound?

Sound technology

1. What are the three main types of sound in film and TV production and how do digital audio workstations mirror those three types? (See Ugly Betty ProTools layout for music editor.)
2. Explain these terms in the context of digital audio: sampling, dynamic range, and frequency response.

Sound exercise In class, we'll view a Dodge commercial and examples of how sound can manipulate viewer understanding of the image--that is, can change its meaning.

1. As a group, choose a well-known song that, if laid over the commercial, would change its meaning. (No R-rated songs, please.) We'll find an excerpt of it online and lay it over the commercial. Be prepared to explain to the class how your song changes the commercial's meaning.
2. Think back to the Chevrolet commercial that we broke down and the shot of Mother, salesman, Father, son in the car. As a group, pretend you're doing ADR (and what is ADR?) for this shot and write dialogue that illustrates how sound editors can manipulate sound perspective to alter our understanding of a scene (somewhat like the sound editor of Wonder Years did in Figure 8.6, but do not copy that example).
   • Illustrate how sound and time could be manipulated in this shot with some other dialogue.
   • Finally, include audio that illustrates the difference between diegetic vs. nondiegetic sound.

External links

• Sound chapter illustrations
• Dodge commercial or Critical Commons version
• Damages sound-time manipulation
• Classical Hollywood sound examples
• Film Art examples
  • Traffic example
  • A Man Escaped example

Bibliography

1. Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Critical Methods and Applications (New York: Routledge, 2012).
2. David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, (New York: McGraw-Hill).