Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Organic/Natural sound within films

Saving Private Ryan
An organic or natural sound is a noise that is heard in real life, it isn't electronic.



Steven Spielberg doesn’t use music throughout the battle scenes so that the scenes are more visceral and true to the memories of what battle was like. Steven shows dialog between the men as they speak, causing the viewer to be in the ‘moment’ of what was going on in the war. He wanted the machine guns and bullets to be heard sharply and boldly throughout the war scenes. Not having any music throughout the shooting scenes has made the trailer more realistic and true to the time period. By hearing the guns and explosions, engages the viewer as they have to listen to the horrific realism of the ammunition and shootings that are happening. The reason Steven Spielberg doesn’t use music, is so that the realistic chaos of the 2nd world war isn’t over looked by a beautiful piano melody playing over the top, but so that the natural sounds that happened in war can be heard for eg, anxious breathing from a man, fast footsteps running, bomb explosions and especially the realistic sound when men get shot underwater. There is an effective moment in the trailer underwater where the real sound of a bullet going into man is heard. To create this sound effect the sound editor Gary Rydstrom ripped a fly line off a river. Creating a sharp sound effect that was just right, its how a bullet would sound when coming towards someone underwater, it is a muted sound but still powerful. Gary Rydstrom throughout the trailer uses natural sounds that he himself creates, rather than using music to make the impact on the audience.

When the battle scenes start they immediately cause the viewer to experience the dramatic and violent shootings in a very direct way. If music was playing over the top, the audience would know that they are watching a film because they would be drawn into the melody of the song and in general enjoying what they are watching. However Steven didn’t want this to happen, but he wanted the realistic sounds of ammunitions, bombs and canons approaching to be heard ‘live’ in a sense to engage the viewer to feel the fear of the men in battle.

Titanic



















Organic sound is also used in Titanic. Within the trailer there are moments where specific dialogue is spoken between people which is natural and gives the audience an opportunity to engage with the actresses and actors situation. There are also organic moments where no soundtrack is played over the moving image, but the organic noise coming from people in the background is heard. From 1.10 seconds up to 1.34 seconds into the trailer, the previous music that was playing now stops so that the natural reaction from the people in the scene can be heard. The audience is now focusing on the panic that the people on board the ship are feeling. James Cameron the director of Titanic chose for the ship to be shown sinking in the trailer, whilst the people with their moaning and screams can be heard. This engages the audience to want to watch the movie to see the reality of this tragedy, and it gives the viewer an idea of the confusion that the people must have been in. James cameron makes the music come in later after the ship is shown slightly sinking, so that a climax arises with sudden loud prerecorded music that is played which is extremely effective. Overall the organic sound that is shown in the trailer at 1.10 is effective without music played over it as everything is natural, even the cracking sound that the boat makes as it sinks.

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