The role I played in the project was in charge of sound. Sound can do anything to a series of shots, it can build suspense, or throw you right into the deep end of pure immersion and you do not resurface as you are submerged in a storm of sounds and vision.
The genre chosen for our project was a war film - In terms of sound, this genre demands sounds to be loud like a battlefield - this meant that it was going to be an attack upon the senses, and to engage the audience within the fight, with gunshots and shouts and rustles etc. Many of which were picked up by the camera originally, but in some areas, the sound was buffeted by the wind, or just was not clear enough.To correct this, I added mp3 sound effects of gunshots, and cut sound or, using final cut's timeline, lowered the sound levels in places so it couldn't be heard so it could run smoother than straightforward cutting.
The timeline resembles what I wanted it to be - a huge collage of sound to emphasize confusion and danger with gunshots and ricochets and shouts and cries from the soldiers. To accompany the editing done by the editor, I wanted to make the audience feel like the soldiers were in trouble and threatened by the German MG42 position by including constant gunfire from the MG42 with powerful shouts by the Germans to intimidate and be generally and conventionally scarier than the ‘goodies’ of the scene.
In research, I watched many war films like ‘letters from Iwo Jima’, ‘days of glory’ and sections of the ‘band of brothers’ movie; specifically the battle of Brecourt and Carantan, where I was inspired to go against my previous urges to include a mix of soundtracks, as this would just take away the sheer realism that the rest of the group had tried so hard to create in the project. In fact, without the use of music it created much more interest and belief in the film, whereas they would probably note the music, and that kills the belief a small amount, but in a war film, you must make sure that the audience bond with the characters upon the screen – and therefore the more realistic, the better.
The only thing close to music was an ambient and atmospheric drone to build tension – it also acts as a foreshadow to action, and the change in music from silent rustling and hushed whispers in the night scene brings the audience in that extra bit closer, and makes them pay attention to what the squad leader has to say. The drone also has a dark edge to it, strengthening the foreshadow of death and warlike destruction mentioned before.
War films are generally action packed, with so much action that adrenaline kicks in, and you are on the edge of your seat, completely engaged with the film – and sound could be used to channel extra excitement through exaggerating peaks and still keeping some buzz from action in troughs in the storyline. What I expected, and what I am sure we achieved is that there is never a dull moment within the battle, thanks to the ongoing gunshots and ricochets which makes the soldiers seem as if they are surrounded by deadly bullets.
In many war films dialogue is not a huge feature - the focus is more upon the guns, the soldiers and who gets killed or kills. Again, me and my group fighting yet another urge to fit a longer story so the audience is lead through a bit more talking than the average battle. However, we had to fit the whole sequence into 2 minutes, so, using sound bridges and shouts without the audience having to see every word come out of their mouths, It makes the sequence more compact and easier to gain impact. and it also adds depth and makes the sequence flow without breaking up the action for a soldier to say something. with action flow, you have to let it snowball, or it will not reach a climax, and that will make it somewhat more boring.
In a nutshell, the sound I wanted to add was an exciting, action filled, noisy, atmospheric ball of sound that is thrown into the ears of the audience from the second the play button is pressed. I wanted a thrilling war atmosphere to accompany and compliment the editor’s, director’s and the cinematographer’s work to add that extra quality to the sequence.
