Creation and Development of a Film Soundtrack

Creation and Development of a Film SoundtrackAbstractCinematic pur populateus be bring ind by image, converse, music and ripe, and the dev ice involved in creating an purlieual earpiecetrack practic tout ensemble(prenominal)y goesunnoticed by the image viewer. Soundscapes argon rarg lonesome(prenominal) and back argument they argon authorful storytelling vehicles in their bear right, of equal extensiveness to the visuals.This article examines the process of creating an environsal bottomtrack forcinema from the perspective of a big(a) caster. Particular attention is inclined tohow run is spend a pennyd and layered to enhance, embellish and mature the set downsnarrative.Using coetaneous Australian roughageisations, notably Australia (Baz Luhrmann, 2008) and cheerful Feet (George Miller, 2006), the article examines the assorted challenges increating an environmental punishingscape for near(prenominal) an bread and butter and a brave out reach exposu re.The films Avatar (James Cameron, 2009), Little Fish (Rowan Woods, 2005) and TheMagician (Scott Ryan, 2005) are likewise cited to play up variant preliminaryes toenvironmental repre directation in film weighed d have. While two Australia and cap up to(p) Feetrely on the landed estatescape and environment as constitutional storytelling comp sensationnts, the onset to creating their respective with child(p)scapes have a bun in the ovens not only intrinsicrecordings, but to a fault the insertion of umteen previously un come upond dependables employ false audio recording design.Keywords Sound design, Australian film, expertscape, environmental representation,animationIntroductionSoundscapes ware the talent to transcend the social and cultural barriers thatsometimes thwart language and stock-still music. Creating an environmental proceedtrack for cinema is as much a technical craft as it is an aesthetic art form.Often over sayinged by the audition, the pondero uss of the environment in m eachcontemporary films are based on the synthetic design and re excogitation of many another(prenominal)settings. Environmental vowelizescapes are some of the stringent intricate to create. Thecombination of image, dialogue, music and intelligent help create the boilersuit sound recordingtrack, however the film viewer is practically unaware of the intricacies andcraf bothrk employ in the creation of these aural environments. Further more than,narrative of the film is carefully considered in the creation of these environmentalsoundtrack elements.This article examines the process of creating an environmental soundtrack forcinema from the perspective of a sound designer who has worked in the Australianfilm industry for over 15 years (Fig 1). The articles focus is on the use ofenvironmental recordings and sound effect to create a ornament, as op besotd tothe use of dialogue and music in the soundtrack. Using two contemporaryAustralian films, intell ectual Feet (George Miller, 2006) and Australia (Baz Luhrmann,2008), this article examines the different creative process used for anenvironmental soundscape for an animation and a live action feature film.Figure 1 The source at work at Australian Clay Target Association, Wagga leaveicle accelerator Club, Wagga Wagga, Australia. (Photocourtesy of Tony Turner.)Soundscape DesignFrom earliest societies to contemporary musicians, sound has been an integral talk component to use up messages, express emotion and to tell astory. chat through and through the use of sound has been signifi appriset to humansocial evolution. Although talk language is the predominant form of transoniccommunication in our society, other oral and aural methods include rhythm,melody, percussion, humming, the mimicking of sounds through vocalisations and,in the modern era, by the recording and creation of music and sounds through theuse of technology. As David Sonnenschein states, by freehanded meaning to tone,sound becomes communication (2001, p. xix). Through the use of put down soundsand the creation of new-fangled sounds, the art of sound design has become an Copernicanapproach to harbour based storytelling.Although embellishs front to be subjective, creative liberty is frequently accustomed to theaural representation of these settings as required by the film narrative. While both beaming Feet and Australia rely on the beautify and environment as integralstorytelling components, the approach to creating their respective soundscapes requires not only natural recordings, but in any case synthetic sound design andcreation. Whether natural or synthetic, neither approach is less significant thanthe other. In this paper my exposition of natural recordings pertains to sounds that are created organically through such elements as undulates, ice, land mass, weewee, wolfs, vegetation and assorted other sounds naturally occurring without evidenceof human or industrial influenc e or activity.Difficulties such as accessibility and noise pollution make our about pristinelocations increasingly unmanageable to bewilder sonically. Although not always thepreferred method, synthetic aural environmental design go forth continue to develop asa necessary appendage to assist in crafting the aural illusion of cinematicenvironments. Using a recent trip to Mount Kosciusko as an example (Fig 2), I was impress at the amount of noise pollution tainting the sound recordings inwardly the subject area Park. Many of these sounds were distant sounds, including small yetsand agricultural sprinklers however they still managed to appear faintly in the telescope of some of the recordings. When used in the context of use of a film these edit recordings appear to be natural when set-back listened to by an reference, butthey are unaware of the use of equalisation, filtering techniques, frequency tidy sumcompression and other such technological solutions in eradicating this noise. Thisprocessing of the first recordings in turn transforms these natural recordingsto new artificially knowing put-on natural sounding environments.Figure 2 Yarrangobilly River, Kosciuszko National Park. (Photo courtesy of Carolean Candusso.)When the sound designer commences production on a film, they study theenvironmental landscape, location and the period in which the film is set. Thisbecomes the foundational building block of the soundtrack and determines theapproach to creating the overall narrative for the film through sound. In the filmmedium, sound design purposefully communicates to an listening through enter and created sounds that augment the onscreen visuals. In contemporarycinema, dialogue is the autochthonic auditory component used to convey a story,however the sound ecology of the landscape and the sound make are of equalimportance. Sound design does not merely copy what is happening on screen,it is an additional storytelling component. An example of th is occurs in Australia(Baz Luhrmann, 2008), in the pic where we first learn of the impending attackon Darwin by the Japanese. here for the first time a soft, almost whispering ofwind is listend. The plane approach has no engine sounds, only the sounds of thewings slicing through the air. This was a brief from the director who treasured thefirst plane to reduplicate a shark surfacing with only the fin piercing the watersurface. It is not until the plane is revealed and peels off to the right of screen thatwe start to hear the sound of an unquestionable engine, the roar of danger, the sound of anadvancing Zero threat. The sound does not give away the shot forrader we see theplane, in fact it adds to the curiosity. The sound of the wind makes the shaft evenmore threaten and, in this instance, the sound has foreshadowed the action on anemotional level before the visuals have presented it.In cinema history, advances in sound technology have given filmmakers theopportunity to tak e advantage of the creativity of sound and part with it to play anequally master(prenominal) role as the visuals in storytelling. As George Lucas has noted,Sound is 50 percent of the movie going experience (2004 online). Hollywood hasincreasingly relied on sound to contribute to the contemporary film backwashexperience. Audience expectations of sound taper greater emphasis on the craft ofsound design.Approaching the Task of Environmental Sound CreationWith many f instrumentalists contributing to the use of dependable sound recordings(including budget, handiness of personnel, deadlines etc.), a good deal sounds motivation to be pretended. These sounds whitethorn make up the entire soundtrack, or they may onlymake up elements of the soundtrack that blend with other recordings of demonstrableenvironmental sound. If the soundtrack is created well, it will not appear to be outof place and the audience will not be aware of any disparities. It is only when thesoundtrack jars t hat the audience is alerted to the sound and may question thelegitimacy or integrity of the sound sources. A fictitious alien landscape scene, forexample, containing recognisable sounds from our world may elicit a understanding ofdisbelief.When we see a storm onscreen, we routinely hear thunder when we see a dog, itoften barks a introduction usually creaks a car might skid when stopping and explosionsmay shake the room. There are many sound clichs consistently used in thecontemporary soundtrack. Through developments in cinema sound technology,many Hollywood film soundtracks are created to deliver what an audience expectsto hear, earlier than represent the actual sounds of the legitimate world. Also sounds arepared back from all of those that might be in a specific setting to accentuate thosemost relevant to the narrative. With the use of high timbre speakers with a massivefrequency response, the introduction of the various echo sound formats andpowerful computers with an se t about of software options, technology is allowing forgreater creativity and flexibleness in the soundtrack.The sound designer necessarily to balance between telling the story using the availabletools, and delivering a soundtrack that is credible for the story and setting. Whilethe overall soundtrack needs to be treated with careful consideration, so too shouldthe individual sound components that contribute to it. It is not uncommon for thesound designer and editors to interrogation the authenticity of various elements withinthe film to provide a guide as to the legitimacy of the sounds and the sound setsrequired. For example, if we see a shot of the Statue of Liberty, New York and, place of the sound of pigeons, the only birds we hear are kookaburras, theaudience will be distracted from the story, and continuity of the film will bedisrupted.In both well-chosen Feet and Australia, extensive research was conducted into theenvironments and locations of both film settings prior to the editing of any sound.Particular attention was given to the study of the wildlife, especially birds andinsects, and the seasons. Other research investigated the locations on a largerscale including the weather of polara-which notably does not develop thunder.Careful sound choice allows the audience to be placed within the depictedenvironment. At the commencement of sound post-production, one of the most importantpreparatory steps is to read the script or to honour abreast an edit of the film in its entirety.Depending on the film, the sound team may have the luxury of reading a scriptduring the film pre-production descriptor or in other instances a rough edit may begiven to the sound team to view almost right away after shooting has completed.In some instances they may be given both. Providing either a script or an early editof the film allows for the planning of the dramatic journey of the film, and themapping of the narrative dynamics through sound. This can be in the form ofphysically drawing a chart or a graph mapping the drama and dynamics of the filmover time. This allows careful plan of sounds to build up to the climacticscenes in the film, and then to use quiet moments to increase dramatic impact.Having a graphic representation of the film allows for the nuanced planning of thesoundtrack, which will follow and often assist the onscreen narrative. Dependingon the directors approach to the film, this method can also be helpful for creatingjuxtaposition between the onscreen drama and the aural drama. Sound has thepower to mark or soften a story depending on the directors decisions. HappyFeet has a scene depicting a leopard seal chasing the central protagonist, Mumble,underwater. collectable to the visual size and menacing teeth of the leopard seal the schoolmaster sounds edited for the scene had to be re-crafted to suit the targetedaudience of children. Many of the original growls were replaced by less aggressivegrunts, and more breaths were ad ded to soften the chase and viciousness of theantagonist. each film has its own challenges and requires its own approach to the sounddesign. Some films are created to chase reality and often contain sounds ofactual location sound recordings of what the audience is seeing on screen,recorded on set from the take locations. In the films Little Fish (Rowan Woods,2005) and The Magician (Scott Ryan, 2010) for which I was a sound effects editor,sound designer Sam Petty aimed to recreate the actual real sound of the locationsin both films. Petty retraced the shots of The Magician and recorded the filmlocations throughout Melbourne. On Little Fish I retraced and recorded many of thefilm location environments including several locations in Cabramatta, Sydney (Fig3). Both the Cabramatta ascertain station and the featured shopping mall are central toestablishing the locations within this film. Having to recreate these locations fromeither library sounds or unauthentic recordings would have b een real timeconsuming, and still may not provide the desired authenticity.It is important to note that the shooting schedule does not generally allow exuberanttime for the location sound crew to capture many sounds of locations duringfilming. The primary concern of the location sound recordist and crew is to capturethe dialogue and the actor performances. The audio post-production crew thenneed to seek permissions to re-record after sign filming, which requires furthertime and funding that are rarely include in the budget. In contrast to films like The Magician and Little Fish, many films require the use ofexotic, rare and even previously unheard or fabricated environmental sounds. Withthe increase in films based around visual effects, films can be located in fictionallands with only if contrived characters and creatures.Depending on the context of the film, an audience will have preconceived ideas ofwhat the sounds should be for particular(prenominal) scenes. This is the case even for alivefilms that are set in all told contrived locales. James Camerons Avatar (2009) is awell-cited contemporary example. No one has physically experienced this mythicalland of Pandora, although we have some scent out of what we would expect to hear,for example, by associating the forest with familiar rainforest, or by the carriageof certain creatures. The environmental sounds alone comprise many previouslyunheard insects, specific and unusual animate beings, other circumstance animalvocalisations, and types of vegetation.On make such as this it may be necessary to create entirely new sounds forthese new worlds. These original sounds may start their incarnation from therecordings of sounds from our own world or they may be completely synthesised.What is important is to keep these new sounds identifiable according to ourcurrent expectations. Some designing techniques for these new sounds mayinclude the followingtransforming existing sounds through the use of rig chan ging,equalisation, or any number of filtering processesusing specific recordings of rare or unusual sounds roueing or modifying electronics, machinery or vehiclespitching and combining various animal vocalisationsusing synthesis to create new sounds, and others.Although budget constraints will influence the approach to film sound design, sotoo does the availability and existence of-and access to-required sounds. Whencreating a sonic environment or landscape for a film, wherever it is set, it isimportant to consider what is real to the location, what seems real, and whatsounds the audience expects to hear. In summary, factors determining theapproach to the creation of the environments include whether the location exists inthe real world, whether environmental recordings were made during on-locationfilming, whether the plot line is located in a contemporary setting, and whetherfunds and safety allow the recording of the location.This leads to a discussion of two contemporary feature f ilms from the perspective ofa sound effects editor1. Produced on relatively big budgets for Australian featurefilms,2 both Happy Feet and Australia included a dedicated atmosphere soundeditor as part of the sound team. This role is often absor fill out by the sound effectseditor on smaller productions and lower budget projects. In both films, my soundeffect creation and editing drove the use of the environment as an integral storycomponent and, as such, I worked real closely with the atmosphere editors. Whatdistinguished my role from that of the atmosphere editor was that my portiontreated the landscape as a character. Working in sound effects, I specificallydesigned many sounds for both films with integrated and often highlighted storyelements associated with the environments.These films differ quite considerably and provide contrasting examples of sonicenvironment creation. The films are set in remarkable and distinctive locations Happy Feet is an inspire film set in south-pola ra, while Australia is a live action filmset in the Northern Territory, Australia.3 Both films pose varying degrees ofcomplexity in terms of their sonic environmental depictions on screen.Creating a Sound EnvironmentAs with the visuals, the sound for an animated film differs from live action film. With no actual filming on location, all characters are created, all sets are rendered,and all visuals are designed by animation artists. There is no cinematographer filming actors at an actual geographical location as with a live action film (althoughvoice acting is recorded for the animators). Sound recordings of the film setlocations are not captured as there is no filming on location.4 wherefore all soundenvironments need to be recorded and/or created from the ground up.1 In this article I focus on the environmental sounds, and a consideration of spot effects is a topic for a further study.2 According to the International Movie Database (IMDB.com) the budget for Happy Feet was $100,000 ,000(http//www.imdb.com/title/tt0366548/) and $130,000,000 for Australia (http//www.imdb.com/title/tt0455824/).3 Some scenes were shot in various locations in Northern Territory, northern Queensland and Sydneys Fox Studios.4 However some animators, notably Australian Yoram Gross, have used filmed bush background for the drawn characters.See Dot and the Kangaroo (1977) and other work.Screen Sound n3, 2012 128Happy FeetMillers academy Award winning Happy Feet tells the story of Mumble, an emperorpenguin who, instead of beingness able to sing, tap dances. The characters of the filmalso included many animated Antarctic animals, primarily penguins. Thecombination of an animated remote environment (Antarctica) and animatedanimals meant that every sound for this film had to be created.Through the use of exposit layers of sound, sound design is about creating a levelof believability. It is not rightful(prenominal) a matter of placing a single sound into a scene andhoping that the audie nce believes it. Ambiences in our everyday life are complex,with chaotic and sometimes even choreographed symphonies, with the land, thewind, animals, birds and vegetation all playing their tunes within a given space. Inaddition to these individual sounds, these acoustic spaces are important inrepresenting the onscreen landscape spaces.The challenge of creating such an unpolluted, isolated and dangerous atmospheremeant that the sound design had to be precise and untainted by unwantedbackground noises. As the budget didnt allow for a sound team to hold out andrecord actual Antarctic locations, climatic conditions and animal activities, we hadto rely on pre-existing sound recordings of Antarctica or recordings made in more well-disposed locations such as Thredbo ski resort in Australia and from somelocations in New Zealands South Island.With many shots depicting the rugged landscape of Antarctica, often the detailwithin the sound design can pass unnoticed. If we look specifically at LovelacesPile (Fig 4) the sounds can be unpacked to reveal removed more detail than what isinitially heard.Basic elementBreakdown of soundsWinds final stage up winds (flurries of hoodwink)Distant winds to give sense of spaceWind howling through iciclesSnowMovements on setback by penguinsMelting snowSnow falling off cliffs in the backgroundIce-land Mass(subtle)Movements of iceIce cracks and creaksIce thumpsAnimalsBackground penguin vocals near and farthermostBackground penguin endeavourTable 1 Landscape sounds in Lovelaces Pile scene in Happy FeetFrom this list the sound editor has 11 possible sets of sounds that may bedeployed to create the environmental backdrop for this scene. This excludes anycharacter or action related sounds it is only the ambient background.Without access to record authentic atmospheres, many of the sounds wererecorded or sourced from other locations in order to imitate the film set. Thesewould then be reconstructed as the sounds could vary entirely. We were well-offthat we had some actual recordings of Antarctica for the film. During production,supervising sound editor and sound designer, Wayne Pashley, sent a mini-discrecorder to the Antarctic and asked scientists to record sounds whilst doing theirfield studies. Unfortunately, the recording quality was not always film worthy asthe scientists are not trained sound recordists. Happy Feet did contain some actualsounds from Antarctica, although a high percentage of sounds were either non-Antarctic recordings or studio recordings created specifically for the film.The animal recordings from Antarctica were used where possible to create anunderlying realistic bed for the film. Some of the successful recorded sounds usedincluded those of elephant seals, adlie penguins, emperor penguins and even skuabirds. These beds of animal noises gave the background environment a sense ofreality upon which to layer the main characters. The main and featured animalswere often recreated using studio r ecordings and other sources of soundrecordings.Some of the successful Antarctic environmental recordings included icebergmovements, ice winds, and slushy icy water. These were also edited and usedwhere possible alongside additional created sounds. Again, these realisticenvironmental sounds were primarily employed to evoke a believable backgroundambience. To emphasise the size and weight of several of the large icebergs, visualiseled recording and studio techniques helped create such large masses. Thisincluded close microphone techniques and using dry-ice (liquid nitrogen) to kiboshlarge objects that we could then record being dragged across the floor. With therealistic Antarctic recordings serving as our bed, these additional recreated soundsbecame the embellishments and the dramatic highlights.As storytellers in our own right, creative liberty allowed for the reappropriation ofthese sounds. At times these sounds would be used only as a bed and thenadditional snow, ice and wind ele ments would be created and embellished to betterrepresent the onscreen visuals and the unfolding drama. Some of these soundscame from our own original Foley studio recording sessions using props to designsounds to be used to highlight onscreen action. An example of the studiorecordings included creating snow for the feet close-ups where the charactersdance on the snow. As we did not have access to snow, we recorded crushed ice,salt, cereal, sugar, sandpaper and several other props to mimic the sound of snow.Recording in a studio allowed us to create our sounds specifically for the particularscene. throughout the film, the seasons changed over a one-year cycle and wewanted to represent this as best we could through the changing environmentsounds. We had allocated recording days where we could record specific sounds ina very clean, precise manner. If we needful more grit in our snow we could justchange the elements we were recording, or if we take the snow to sound morewet we could just mix in some more water when required. We were not dictated bynatural resources. The other advantage of having these studio recording days wasthat we could record sounds specifically for the big screen. What I mean by this isthat we could record sounds specifically for the smother sound speakers. Usingthe close-up of feet on snow as an example, if a character flicked his/herflipper/foot in close-up, we could record different snow elements for the left, shopping malland right hand side of the flipper and have the debris snow crumbles pan back intothe surrounds. This would have been impossible to record with such preciseness asan actual performance in real life. By having control of individual sound elements,we were able to creatively challenge the cinema and screen space to highlight theenvironmental immersion.AustraliaSet during the Second World War, Australias storyline centres on a cattle drive inthe rugged terrain of northern Australia, as an English aristocrat travels acr ossharsh environments with her stock. From the opening moments, even before thefirst visual images, sound is used to position the audience of Australia. From theinitial fade in from black we begin to hear fairylike singing, native birds, insects,winds and the gradual swell of string instruments.In these opening scenes, the sounds of different winds, animals and insectsintertwine with an emotional journey across an environmental backdrop thattransforms, as the audience witness the death of Lord Ashley, from above groundand into the tiresome and mysterious murky underwater drones and whale song.Playing in slow-motion the images extract King George (David Gulpilil) telling Nullah(Brandon Walters) to make yourself invisible as the white fellas are herding cattleacross the river onto the Carney property. Although music is also playingconcurrently with the sound effects, the effects design specifically aims to makereference to Aboriginal dreamtime. As Lord Ashley is killed and falls to the waterabove Nullah with a spear through his chest, the water turns crimson, the soundhints that Lord Ashley has been killed by the people moving the cattle, the identicalpeople Nullah is also hiding from. Visually it isnt until we see the snakeskin bootof Neil Fletcher (David Wenham) that we overhear that he is the killer.Although the sounds chosen for this sequence are simple environmentalrecordings, what is important is the way in which they have been reappropriated toform part of the narrative. Through transformation, including pitch and othermanipulation techniques of the original recordings, these evolve into new, unheardofsounds that yet seem familiar.When designing such delicate sounds, much time was spent experimenting withthe creation of sounds that change unnoticeably from one sound into anotherthroughout the opening sequence. tonic frequencies, recording quality and mixingtechniques were constantly balanced and adjusted to create a single fluid flow ofenvironmental sounds. At the analogous time, although continually transforming, thesounds needed to contain characteristics of the original sound sources, allowingthe audience to combine the aural with the visual. Throughout Australia, designedsounds are used very subtly. boilers suit the film uses actual location and naturalsounds to convey the Australian landscape, with the designed sounds beingreserved for scenes with Nullah, the death of Daisy and for King George, as theserelate to the dreamtime and spirituality.With vast landscapes of Australias Northern Territory depicted throughcinematography, natural sounds are needed to convey the impact of theenvironment. Supervising sound editor and sound designer, Wayne Pashley,retraced many of the original locations in the film during the sound postproductionphase. Using a Soundfield ST350 ambisonic microphone, Pashley wasable to record in surround sound an entire three-dimensional landscape onlocation. Until recently, creating film surround soun d was only possible during thepost-production process, but this particular technology allowed for a pristine,natural recording of the environment. These recordings in surround were thendecoded, edited and used as beds for the atmosphere tracks of the film. PashleyobservedWe also wanted to be true to the landscape of Australia. So often in bigproductions like this, the sound design guys just reach for bushAtmosphere Number Three library effect or whatever, and everythingcomes out sounding the same. Also, what you hear is usually completelyunrelated to the environment you see on the screen. We wanted this to bedifferent. Australia is, I think, the first movie that sounds correct, that givesa true sense of how this country sounds. (cited in Soundfield, 2008online)With many scenes depicting broad vistas, having the atmospheres recorded insurround from the outset allows the sounds to reflect the vastness of the actuallocations. In sound editing, the atmosphere tracks are often edited fro m existingstereo recordings, frankincense limiting the detail within the acoustic space. In mostinstances, artificial reverb is introduced to make the sounds appear to be widerwithin the acoustic space. Recording in surround sound reduces the need for anduse of these contrived techniques.All animal sounds for Australia were purposely recorded for the film. Workingremotely and living in regional New South Wales, I was able to record many of theanimal vocalisations of cow and horses for the film at locales situated near where Ilive. The cows were particularly challenging to record as they are often difficult toget close to without them running away. Having the caudex saleyards proved tobe a very convenient way to record cows at close proximity. Also having so manycows in such a small space allowed the recording of mass group cows to be used inmany of the backgrounds. Situated within a livestock pen meant that the beastswere particularly vocal, which allowed for high quality recordin g and performanceand, later, for flexibility in editing their bellows.ConclusionOften overshadowed by dialogue and music, the environmental atmosphericsounds of a film are often overlooked by audiences. These aural landscapescomprise either actual recordings or synthetic recordings constructed toacoustically represent the onscreen locations. Both Happy Feet and Australia relyon the aural landscape environment as essential storytelling characters withineach film. Based on very distinct locations, the films differed notably in theapproaches to their environmental landscape sound design. In a generalcomparison Happy Feet featured far more inauthe