Creation and Development of a Film Soundtrack

Creation and Development of a Film SoundtrackAbstractcinematic environss argon arrive atd by dint of image, dialogue, music and threatening,but the craft involved in creating an surroundingsal worktrack often goesun noniced by the study viewer. Soundscapes are rarely effective minimize they arepowerful story rotund vehicles in their proclaim right, of equal importance to the visuals.This denomination examines the process of creating an environmental breaktrack forcinema from the perspective of a expire designer. incident trouble is given tohow expectant is created and layered to enhance, embellish and produce the filmsnarrative.Using contemporary Australian films, notably Australia (Baz Luhrmann, 2008) andHappy Feet (George Miller, 2006), the machinationicle examines the different challenges increating an environmental profoundscape for twain an animation and a live action film.The films Avatar (James Cameron, 2009), Little Fish (Rowan Woods, 2005) and TheMagician (Scott Ryan, 2005) are also cited to highlight various border ones toenvironmental deputation in film live. While both Australia and Happy Feetrely on the grace and environment as full storytelling components, theapproach to creating their single soundscapes rents not entirely natural saves, but also the induction of many previously unheard sounds victimisation celluloid sound design.Keywords Sound design, Australian film, soundscape, environmental mission,animation entrance feeionSoundscapes have the ability to transcend the social and cultural barriers thatsometimes thwart language and nonetheless music. Creating an environmentalsoundtrack for cinema is as much a skillful craft as it is an aesthetic art form.Often miss by the audience, the sounds of the environment in manycontemporary films are based on the synthetic design and recreation of many erecttings. Environmental soundscapes are some of the most intricate to create. Thecombination of image, dialogue, music and sound help create the overallsoundtrack, thus far the film viewer is often asleep of the intricacies andcraf bothrk exercisingd in the creation of these aural environments. Furthermore,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 contract is on the use ofenvironmental arrangings and sound personal effects to create a landscape, as opposed tothe use of dialogue and music in the soundtrack. Using two contemporaryAustralian films, Happy Feet (George Miller, 2006) and Australia (Baz Luhrmann,2008), this article examines the different creative process employ for anenvironmental soundscape for an animation and a live action feature film. radiation pattern 1 The author at work at Australian Clay Target Association, Wagga Gun Club, Wagga Wagga, Australia. (Photocourtesy of Tony Turner.)Soundscape DesignFrom ear equivocationst societies to contemporary musicians, sound has been an integralcommunication component to convey messages, express emotion and to tell astory. Communication through the use of sound has been signifi backsidet to humanssocial evolution. Although verbalize language is the predominant form of soniccommunication in our society, new(prenominal) oral and aural methods include rhythm,melody, percussion, humming, the mimicking of sounds through vocalisations and,in the modern era, by the rendering and creation of music and sounds through theuse of technology. As David Sonnenschein states, by giving meaning to noise,sound becomes communication (2001, p. xix). Through the use of recorded soundsand the creation of new sounds, the art of sound design has become an significantapproach to screen come forward based storytelling.Although landscapes appear to be natural, creative liberty is often given to theaural representation of these settings as required by the film narrative. While bothHappy Feet and Australia rely on the landscape and environment as integralstorytelling components, the approach to creating their respective soundscapes requires not only natural written texts, but also synthetic sound design andcreation. Whether natural or synthetic, neither approach is less significant thanthe other. In this paper my definition of natural recordings pertains to sounds that are created organically through such elements as winds, ice, land destiny, water, animate cosmoss, vegetation and various other sounds naturally occurring without evidenceof human or industrial influence or activity.Difficulties such as accessibility and noise pollution make our most pristinelocations increasingly difficult to start out sonically. Although not al personal manners thepreferred method, synthetic aural environmental design will continue to develop asa infallible add ition to serve well in crafting the aural illusion of cinematicenvironments. Using a recent trip to Mount Kosciusko as an example (Fig 2), I wassurprised at the sum total of noise pollution tainting the sound recordings within theNational Park. Many of these sounds were distant sounds, including small planesand agricultural sprinklers however they still managed to appear faintly in thebackground of some of the recordings. When apply in the context of a film these alter recordings appear to be natural when first listened to by an audience, butthey are unaware of the use of equalisation, filtering techniques, frequency bandcompression and other such technological solutions in eradicating this noise. Thisprocessing of the original recordings in turn transforms these natural recordingsto new artificially designed pseudo natural sounding environments.Figure 2 Yarrangobilly River, Kosciuszko National Park. (Photo courtesy of Caroline Candusso.)When the sound designer commences product ion on a film, they feel 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 audience throughrecorded and created sounds that augment the onscreen visuals. In contemporarycinema, dialogue is the primary auditory component used to convey a story,however the sound ecology of the landscape and the sound effects are of equalimportance. Sound design does not merely replicate what is happening on screen,it is an additional storytelling component. An example of this occurs in Australia(Baz Luhrmann, 2008), in the snap where we first learn of the impending attackon Darwin by the Japanese. Here for the first time a soft, more or less whispering ofwind is heard. The plane approach has no engine sounds, only the sounds of thewings slicing through the ai r. This was a brief from the director who treasured thefirst plane to replicate 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 actual engine, the roar of danger, the sound of anadvancing Zero threat. The sound does not give away the shot ahead we see theplane, in fact it adds to the curiosity. The sound of the wind makes the scene evenmore menacing 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 take advantage of the creativity of sound and allow it to make up anequally important 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 viewingexperi ence. Audience expectations of sound place greater emphasis on the craft ofsound design.Approaching the delegate of Environmental Sound CreationWith many factors contributing to the use of au and thentic sound recordings(including budget, availability of personnel, deadlines etc.), often sounds need to befabricated. These sounds may make up the entire soundtrack, or they may onlymake up elements of the soundtrack that blend with other recordings of actualenvironmental 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 that the audience is alerted to the sound and may question thelegitimacy or ace of the sound sources. A fictitious alien landscape scene, forexample, containing recognisable sounds from our world may elicit a sense ofdisbelief.When we see a storm onscreen, we routinely hear thunder when we see a dog, itoften barks a door usually creaks a car might ski d when stopping and explosionsmay totter 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, rather than represent the actual sounds of the real world. Also sounds arepared back from all of those that might be in a specific setting to emphasise thosemost relevant to the narrative. With the use of high quality speakers with a widefrequency response, the introduction of the various elude sound formats andpowerful computers with an array of software options, technology is allowing forgreater creativity and flexibility in the soundtrack.The sound designer needs 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 tempered with careful consideration, so too shouldthe someone sound components that contribute to it. It is not uncommon for thesound designer and editors to research 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, rude(a) York and, place of the sound of pigeons, the only birds we hear are kookaburras, theaudience will be flurry from the story, and continuity of the film will bedisrupted.In both Happy 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 situated within the depictedenvironment. At the commencement of sound post-production, one of the most importantpreparatory steps is to engage the volume or to watch 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 phase or in other instances a rough edit may begiven to the sound team to view almost immediately aft(prenominal) 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 designing 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 dire ctors approach to the film, this method can also be helpful for creatingjuxtaposition between the onscreen drama and the aural drama. Sound has thepower to emphasise or soften a story depending on the directors decisions. HappyFeet has a scene depicting a leopard blockade chasing the central protagonist, Mumble,underwater. Due to the visual size and menacing teeth of the leopard seal theoriginal 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 added to soften the chase and iniquity of theantagonist.Every film has its own challenges and requires its own approach to the sounddesign. Some films are created to imitate reality and often contain sounds ofactual location sound recordings of what the audience is seeing on screen,recorded on set from the filmed 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 end-to-end Melbourne. On Little Fish I retraced and recorded many of thefilm location environments including some(prenominal) locations in Cabramatta, Sydney (Fig3). Both the Cabramatta train station and the featured shop mall are central toestablishing the locations within this film. Having to recreate these locations fromeither library sounds or unauthentic recordings would have been very timeconsuming, and still may not provide the desired authenticity.It is important to note that the shooting schedule does not generally allow enoughtime for the location sound crew to jinx many sounds of locations during film. 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 initial 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 entirely contrived characters and creatures.Depending on the context of the film, an audience will have preconceived ideas ofwhat the sounds should be for particular scenes. This is the case even for animatedfilms that are set in entirely contrived locales. James Camerons Avatar (2009) is awell-cited contemporary example. No one has physically experienced this mythicland of Pandora, although we have some sense of what we would expect to hear,for example, by associating the forest with familiar rainforest, or by the appearanceof certain creatures. The environmental sounds alone interpret many previouslyunheard ins ects, specific and unusual animals, other background animalvocalisations, and types of vegetation.On occasions 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 cast out changing,equalisation, or any number of filtering processesusing specific recordings of rare or unusual soundspitching 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 storyline 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 films 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 absorbed 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 storycomponen t and, as such, I worked very closely with the atmosphere editors. Whatdistinguished my role from that of the atmosphere editor was that my contributiontreated 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 animated film set in Antarctica, while Australia is a live action filmset in the Northern Territory, Australia.3 Both films pose varying degrees ofcomplexity in price 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. Ther e 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 Therefore 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, Yankee 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 being 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 detailed layers of sound, sound design is about creating a levelof believability. It is not just a matter of placing a single sound into a scene andhoping that the audience 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 position. 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 travel andrecord actual Antarctic locations, climatic conditions and animal activities, we hadto rely on pre-existing sound recordings of Antarctica or recordings made in moreaccessible locations such as Thredbo ski safety 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 far more detail than what isinitially heard.Basic element crack-up of soundsWindsClose up winds (flurries of nose candy)Distant winds to give sense of spaceWind howling through iciclesSnowMovements on reverse by penguinsMelting snowSnow falling off cliffs in the backgroundIce-land Mass(subtle)Movements of iceIce cracks and creaksIce thumpsAnimalsBackground penguin vocals near and farBackground penguin m ovement hold over 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 mendd 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 fortunatethat 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 ei ther non-Antarctic recordings or studio apartment 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 recordings 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,controlled recording and studio techniques helped cr eate such large masses. Thisincluded close microphone techniques and using dry-ice (liquid nitrogen) to freezelarge 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 elements 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, sand and several other pro ps 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 needed more grit in our snow we could justchange the elements we were recording, or if we needed 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 surround 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, centreand right hand s ide of the flipper and have the debris snow crumbles pan back intothe surrounds. This would have been impossible to record with such clearcutness 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 incline aristocrat travels acrossharsh 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 ethereal 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 muffled and mysterious murky underwater drones and whale song. play in slow-motion the images show 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 playing concurrently 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 samepeople Nullah is also hiding from. Visually it isnt until we see the snakeskin bootof Neil Fletcher (David Wenham) that we realise 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 other use of goods and services 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 morph unnoticeably from one sound into anotherthroughout the opening sequence. Tonal frequencies, recording quality and mixingtechniques were constantly balanced and adjusted to create a single fluid turn tail ofenvironmental sounds. At the same time, although continually transforming, thesounds needed to contain characteristics of the original sound sources, allowingthe audience to connect the aural with the visual. Throughout Australia, designedsounds are used very subtly. Overall 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 spi rituality.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 sound 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 from existing binaural recordings, thus 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 cows and horses for the film at loc ales situated near where Ilive. The cows were particularly repugn to record as they are often difficult toget close to without them running away. Having the livestock 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 recording 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 fil ms differed notably in theapproaches to their environmental landscape sound design. In a generalcomparison Happy Feet featured far more inauthe