Sound - BBC Bitesize

What is sound?

Sound is a crucial element of Film and Screen. What the audience hears is just as important as what they see.

Dialogue, music, ambience and sound effects all help tell your story, create mood and reflect emotions.

Whether captured on location or added in post production, sound can have a huge impact on how the audience engages with your film.

Video - sound

Check out the use of sound in this film.

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Key points

Clear, good-quality sound allows the audience to understand your story.
Problems with sound can prevent the audience from following what is going on.
Location sound is recorded on set using microphones.
Sound design happens afterwards in post production where music and sound effects can be added

On screen examples - sound

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Image source, Universal Pictures / Syncopy / Album / Alamy
Image caption,
On-location sound
When recording on location it's important to capture clean, good quality sound without background noise. Filming this scene from 'The Odyssey', the sound operators use a boom microphone to get close to the actors and capture their dialogue clearly, without getting in the way of the camera.
Image source, Lucasfilm Ltd. / 20th Century Fox / Walt Disney Studios / Landmark Media / Alamy
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Sound effects
In the 'Star Wars' films, sound designer Ben Burtt created the sound of Darth Vader's mechanical breathing by recorded the sound of breathing through a scuba tank regulator using a small microphone. Combined with the deep, commanding voice of actor James Earl Jones, the effect helped create the sinister sound of one of cinema's most memorable villains.
Image source, Warner Bros. Pictures / Heyday Films / Esperanto Filmoj / PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy
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Sound design
The film 'Gravity' is mostly set in space, where there is no air for sound to travel through. The sound effects used in spacewalk scenes are all created using muffled, vibration-based sounds. Sound is only heard when objects make contact with the astronauts' spacesuits, creating a more realistic experience. These effects draw attention to the astronauts' heavy breathing and heartbeats, and work with the musical soundtrack to emphasise the tension of the situation.
Image source, Universal Pictures / Zanuck-Brown Productions / Photo 12 / Alamy
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Soundtrack music
Composer John Williams created the theme from 'Jaws' using just two alternating notes played on a cello. As soon as audiences hear those notes, they know the shark is nearby. The closer the shark gets, the faster the notes are played, building tension and suspense.
Image source, Searchlight Pictures / Celador Films / Film4 / Pathé / Warner Bros. / Photo12 / Alamy
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Musical scenes
Music in films isn't always just for the audience to hear. Sometimes it is part of the world that the characters are in . In the final scene of 'Slumdog Millionaire' the characters dance along to the closing music, in a scene inspired by Bollywood musicals.

Try this - sound

Watch this video and give this sound exercise a go!

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Roles/Departments

Director - Has a clear idea of how they want to use sound creatively in the film and work with their crew to achieve this.
Boom operator - Captures sound on-set by finding the best position for the microphone and boom pole.
Sound recordist - Listens on a recording device to make sure sound is good quality.
Sound designer - Works with the director during editing to add sound effects and background sounds, as well as music.
Foley artist - Creates sound effects using real objects during the editing process.
Composer - Creates the original music for film and screen.

Think about

Is the sound clear enough that we can follow the story, eg dialogue spoken by actors?
Have you experimented with music or sound effects to help add mood or atmosphere?
How does changing the sound affect how the audience will feel?

Things to look for

Sometimes less is more - consider if a piece of music or sound effect is adding to a moment or distracting from the story.
Think about the emotional journey of your story and how sound can reflect this.
Always redo a shot/scene if you think you need better quality sound,

Thinks to consider

Always do a sound test before filming:
- is it clear?
- are you picking up any background noise?
Make sure any music you use is copyright free.