Sound at the Museum of the Moving Image

Recently, I went on a trip to the Museum of the Moving Image. I saw a great demonstration there on sound editing, and in this blog post, I want to share what I learned.

There are many aspects that make up the sound in a movie, such as the dialogue, sound effects, and musical score. Filmmakers carefully edit together these components in order to convey a specific feeling, to correctly depict action, and to help their movie come to life for the audience. The demonstration at the museum used a clip of the movie Titanic in order to illustrate the complex process of sound editing, so I will use examples from that movie to explain what goes into creating the sound of a film.

Two factors most commonly thought of when discussing sound in film are the dialogue and musical score. However, without the complex arrangement of background noises, the dialogue would seem disjointed and out of place, and with only music, the movie would seem more like a mere moving image and less like an experience. The combination of background noises and surround sound can make a viewer feel like they are in the middle of the action, while the entire soundtrack helps to create an emotional response in the viewer.

Some background noises are taken from a library of sound effects that are public domain, meaning anyone can use them. Examples of this are the lion’s roar, played backwards to create the sounds of the ocean, and the slowed down elephant’s call and gunshot sounds used to depict the noises of the collapsing ship in Titanic. The lion’s roar and gunshots are noises we associate automatically with danger, and the elephant’s sound gives us a sense of the largeness of the ship. Many sounds could successfully imitate the noises of a shipwreck, but the sounds specifically chosen by the makers of Titanic help to make the viewer feel a certain way and subconsciously make connections.

A Foley artist, specifically for a movie, creates other background noises in a studio. In Titanic, one of these sound effects is a tin can being crushed. A sound many people here in everyday life, created with a minimal cost, amplified in a studio, creates a gut-wrenching effect when a large portion of the ship crumbles.

The sound effects in a film have as much of an impact on the audience as the musical score, dialogue, and non-sound aspects of filmmaking. At the Museum of the Moving Image, I learned just how much work goes into carefully choosing and orchestrating sound effects for a movie.

Design

The importance of design in the movie industry is illustrated well by the American poster for the 2009 film The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. This poster successfully conveys information about the movie, as well as intriguing it’s target audience, in an aesthetically pleasing way.

The poster is well-balanced, with the graphics and font centered, with the largest images directly in the middle, and the smaller text and pictures on the edges of the page. In the very center, the title of the film is shown in a serif font, which is shadowed to give the illusion of popping off the poster. The title is also curved. The older font gives the viewer the sense that this film takes place in the past, while the curvature of the wording alludes to it’s whimsical nature.

Above the title is the image of the main characters affectionately interacting. They are draped in fabric in a sort of anachronistic costume, letting the viewer know that this movie will be somewhat fantastical. Their body language in this picture also would pique the interest of any viewer interested in a romantic story, and allowing it to appeal to diverse audiences.

Below the title is a more whimsical image of a fun checkerboard, providing a bit of an optical illusion. This leads to what appears to be a portal, an elaborate golden doorway showing another world, with some mystical looking characters standing nearby. The elaborate door gives the viewer the sense that this film has a complex and attractive set design, and what’s beyond it gives a sense of the plot and genre of this film. It clearly defines it as a fantasy and adventure style movie, just like the picture above it shows that there is a romantic plot.

At the very top of the image is a list of well-known actors appearing in the movie, and their photographs line the bottom of the poster. This allows viewers who may be familiar with either the names or the faces of the actors to identify that this is a movie they’d be interested in.

The poster for The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus gives the viewers information about the cast, plots, genres, and designs of the film, showing it would appeal to fans of romance, whimsy, or adventure and fantasy, and it does so in a way that is pleasing to the eye by using techniques such as grouping information, using a grid system to balance the page, and carefully choosing a font. 

traffic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWk0bQhjudo&feature=player_embedded

Photo essay

For this assignment, my group and I choose the theme of "love" at Hunter College. Our plan was to take pictures of public displays of affection and happy couples on the campus, but we quickly realized there was a serious lack of romance around, so we decided to photograph loneliness, instead.

This first photograph shows two girls, both alone and isolated, although they are right next to each other. The corner dividing the frame shows the stark division between their worlds. 

This photo portrays a group of women socializing, while a college student sits separated from them. Although he is right next to a group of people, he is still clearly alone.

The vastness of the background of this photo, paired with the small figure of the boy riding down the elevator, gives the viewer the sense that he is very small in an expansive environment.