Introduction
William Penn Adair, eighteenth to nineteenth century, well-renowned vaudeville actor and performer once said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” A connection to that could be made to film openings, in which the introduction to a film significantly impacts the audience’s expectations of a film, understanding of the film’s genre, gives context about the plot, and helps the audience to decide if they are potentially interested in watching the full film. Combining those elements, along with an interesting hook to catch the attention of an audience, forms a film opening.
Using what our class analyzed in the last blog post, we applied what we learned from being a sound engineer to the film opening of a hit 2014, science fiction, action movie, “The Giver.” To recap the information from the previous blog post, sound makes up half of a film, heavily affects the atmosphere and presentation of a film, and consists of the soundtrack, sound effects, and dialogue of a film. To add, sound can be broken up into three categories: sound effects, dialogue, and music (as well as ambient effects). There are different types of sounds heard in the world of film. To explain, diegetic sounds include all sounds heard by both the audience and characters in a film. A diegetic sound can even be internal, in which the character on screen and the audience can only hear internal dialogue, or thoughts. The opposite of that are non-diegetic sounds, in which are background sounds that are unknown to the characters within the world of film, but add additional context to a storyline. After our production team studied the details, methods, structure, and most importantly the sound of the movie “The Giver,” we were able to deepen our understanding of what we retained in the last post, to produce a thorough analysis of techniques we noticed in this film’s opening. For example, our knowledge of different occupations that are needed for film production has increased, which includes jobs such as: Automated dialogue replacement mixers, Automated dialogue replacement recordists, Sound Recordists, Sound Mixers, Boom operators, Re-recording mixers, Supervising sound editor, Foley artist, First assistant sound editor, Audio Description narrator, Foley supervisor, Assistant sound editor, Sound Designer- Trailer, Supervising Automated Sound Dialogue Editor, and Sound Engineer.
Key-Takeaways:
- Automated Dialogue Replacement: Re-recording sound in a quieter, undisturbed environment.
- Post-production: The stage directly after filming is finished, in order for the editing stage to begin.
- Sound Engineer: One responsible for the audio production, technical features, and sound for a recording.
- Automated dialogue replacement mixers: One who corrects sound and dialogue errors from the original production.
- Automated dialogue replacement recordists: Recording engineers who re-record dialogue, sound, narration, and voiceover in a studio.
- Sound Recordists: A person responsible for recording sound on a film set.
- Sound Mixers: An engineer who operates the volume and tone and adjusts them to their desired product, while editing a motion picture set.
- Boom operators: A member onset who controls and positions a boom microphone (main microphone for sound audio), to capture audio in a film studio.
- Re-recording mixers: Engineers who edit and balance the sounds of postproduction background noise, dialogue, and music.
- Supervising sound editor: Supervisors and operators of the finished sound in film.
- Foley artist: Postproduction sound engineers who recreates sound and enhances audio quality in film.
- First assistant sound editor: Responsible for supporting and helping the main editors of a film. For instance, they may offer assistance in research, technical appliances, and functions on set, or temporary visual and audio editing.
- Audio Description narrator: One who describes visuals, context, and scenes in film, and typically explains the plot through a third person point-of-view.
- Foley supervisor: Those who supervise or assist Foley artists in a film studio.
- Sound Designer- Trailer: Artists who create and control sound in film in an innovative way.
- Assistant sound editor: Providers of aid to sound editors on set.
- Supervising Automated Dialogue Editor: Supervisors who amplify the work of Automated Dialogue editors in a studio, by giving insight and service to editing automated dialogue in film and workers on set.
Opening of the Giver
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What is the film about? | -This short film portrays the perspective from a boy named, Jonas, who lives black-and-white, futuristic society (called The Ruin), where everything and everyone were controlled by government facilities, where they could not lie, differences were not allowed, no losers, or winner, no pain, no contentions, no fame, no complete control or independence, and all memories of the past were erased. Jonas points out he is the only one in this society who can see things differently than everyone else. | ||
Production Company/companies | TWC productions, and Walden Media | ||
Director | Phillip Noyce | Sound Engineer (s) | Automated Dialogue Replacement Mixers: -Bobby Johanson -Greg Crawford -Mark DiSimone -Mitch Dorf -Michael Miller -Chris Pinkston -Tim West -Dave Wilson -Andy Wright
Automated Dialogue Replacement Recordists: -Justine Baker -John Baldofsky -Tucker Bodine -Daniel Kearney -Cole Leksan -Michael Rivera -Diego Ruiz -Ryan Young -Dan Brown -Ja-Ann Wang -James Ezra
Sound Recordist: -Dale Angell -Aiden Ramos -Henau Marais
Sound Mixer: -Nico Louw -Paul H. Maristas
Boom Operators: -Brendan-John Allen -Nate Aylor
Re-Recording Mixers: -Michael Barry -Paul Hsu -Sena Solntstev
Supervising Sound Editor: -Paul Hsu -Philip Stockton
Foley Artist: -Marko A. Costanzo
First Assistant Sound Editor: -Chris Fielder
Audio Description Narrator: -Christopher Flowers
Foley Supervision: -Frank Kern
Trailer Sound Designer: -Nick Murray
Assistant Sound Editor: -Angela Organ
Sound Designer-Trailer: -Mikaal Sulaiman
Supervising Automated Sound Dialogue Editor: -Deborah Wallach
Sound: -Louw Verwoerd |
Genre (s) | Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopian, and Futuristic | Movie release | August 15, 2014 |
Audience (s) | Young Adults from ages 12-18. | ||
Original music titles from the soundtrack. (Only from the opening.) | Ordinary Human by OneRepublic | ||
Music (List 3 words used to describe this music) |
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Sound Effects (List 8 effects) | - Children Laughing - The food machine beeping - Bike bell ringing - Bike tires on pavement - Wind blowing the trees - Government drones zooming to monitor citizens - Soccer ball falling into grass -Sounds of a medicine machine button being pushed, and dropping medication, and its automated message saying, “injected.” | ||
Dialogue (List the most important line in the movie and why? 3 sentences to describe information. | Line: “I always felt like I saw things differently, saw things other people didn’t.” | ||
Explanation: These lines are significant because they describe and explain Jonas’ perspective of his life and the world around him. In the shot where this line is spoken, Jonas is shown to see the colors of trees above him, which implies that others in this society cannot see things such as color. This observation could signify a difference in perspective in the main character in comparison to the black-and-white community he lives in. | |||
REFLECTION
To conclude, our group gained a deeper understanding of the importance of sound in film, how we can utilize sound to directly convey to the audience our purpose, genre, and the atmosphere of film we would like to create, and the different jobs needed and necessary for sound production to bring all of these elements together. For example, the use of government drones making buzzing sounds and monitoring citizens in a dystopian society (The Ruin) in “The Giver" was a major giveaway to the film’s science fiction genre. This proves that sound can complement visual imagery in a way that gives clues to the audience as to what the film is about.
In the activity above, our group of Peyton P, Lexi M, Marley Brooks, and I researched, took notes, and used the information available to input into a chart provided to us by our instructor. Peyton P was responsible for annotating the opening of “The Giver,” and information on the movie’s producers, release date, genre, and production companies. Lexi M and Marley B contributed research and descriptions on the sound effects, music, and the most crucial line of dialogue in the film’s opening. I provided the research on the sound engineers who worked on the film opening, the production companies that produced this film, and a brief synopsis on “The Giver.”
The main resource that we used to complete this project were our school/personal laptops to note the information and sources we used, and we navigated the Word Application to access the chart above. Overall, our group was able to operate on an expert level with our resources, because we used the materials available to us to the best of our ability. The goal of this assignment was achieved because our group was taught sound engineering skills that will be useful to us in the near future.
WORK CITED:
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-Cambridge Dictionary (2022). sound engineer. [online] @CambridgeWords. Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/sound-engineer.
-Careers In Film | Film Schools & Colleges. (n.d.). How to Become an ADR Mixer in Film/TV | Description & Salary. [online] Available at: https://www.careersinfilm.com/adr-mixer/#:~:text=ADR%20Mixers%20correct%20dialogue%20and [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].
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-Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words. [online] Available at: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/recordist [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].
-Merriam-webster.com. (2024). Merriam-Webster Dictionary. [online] Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sound%20mixer#:~:text=%3A%20one%20that%20controls%20the%20volume [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].
-www.berklee.edu. (n.d.). Re-Recording Mixer (Film and TV) | Berklee. [online] Available at: https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/re-recording-mixer-film-video#:~:text=Re%2Drecording%20mixers%20are%20postproduction.
-Maio, A. (2019). Every Step of Post-Production Explained. [online] StudioBinder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-post-production/#:~:text=Post%2DProduction%20is%20the%20stage.
