Media Studies A2 Transition period 2014 Homework 1 (Becky)

Criticism- Recording and editing sound with images appropriately.

In our thriller opening, a variety of sound effects and foleys were used successfully to convey the thriller genre to the spectator and to increase the pace of the film creating more suspense.

 Unfortunately, where sound effects and foleys were added to our opening, we discovered sudden pauses of sound or silent periods between our effects.
This was unsuccessful as this can create confusion for the spectator as they may become aware of these sound editing issues which will cause the spectator to loose concentration and focus on our thriller opening and making them feel less engaged in the action unfolding. All our sound effects, folys and the soundtrack were put together on garage band.

 Also, when effects were used in our thriller, they were louder in volume 

in comparison to dialogue scenes or quieter settings. Having the effects louder than other sounds in our film opening was good as it allowed us to shock our audience and create more suspense in which they then become more engaged in the action.

 However this use of loud sound effects contrasting the quiet soundtracks and dialogue may not appeal to the spectator as it can create confusion at some parts during the opening,such as the math on action scenes (flashbacks) when in the investigation room.

 Another issue with the sound in our thriller opening was the use of dialogue. In the investigation scene, a conversation is generated between Mr Harvey Nd the investigator. In this scene the dialogue is quiet and at some moments hard to hear completely. There are some sound (silence) pauses between characters lines creating a disturbance in the continuity of the scene. I believe in order to counteract this unfortunate issue in our thriller, microphones attached and hidden on the character so that their voices and dialogue is picked up earlier than through the camera mic where they would have to talk louder to get a clear recording.

 To overcome these issues in sound, I believe closer investigation and research on sound techniques would be needed to develop our skills further to enable us to produce a more proficient use of sound and effects for our AS film thriller opening.