Sound Clip 1

The sound clip is movie trailer for The Shining. The narration and characters’ voices give a sense or possibly a synopsis of the movie.

Keynote sound- fast, upbeat music

Soundmarks- typewriter

Signals- narrator

Secondary signals- characters’ voices

TRANSITION:

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music with slower tempo, more emotional rhythm and feeling – The affective quality changes to a more serious tone.

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END:

keynote – fast, upbeat music – “Salsburry Hill” by Simon and Garfunkel

signals- narrator, characters’ voices

Sound Clip 2

keynote: creepy bee buzzing sound

signal- repetitive high pitched sound

The sound clip has an unsettling affect.

First Video Clip:

• Orchestra music as the keynote
• Signal sound was the narrator

• Soundmark was the guitar pop song

We inferred that it was a movie trailer. The video clip sounded like a family movie.

Second Video Clip:

• Keynote sound was high pitch, followed by a low bass note
•  Signal sound was the alien, outer-space sounding line
• Soundmark was the dissonance that makes it kind of scary or like a horror film

We inferred that it was some kind of horror, sci-fi film because of its gradual pickup of speed and musical dissonance.

In the first video, we heard a movie trailer starring Tim Allen and Jack Nicholson. The film sounded like a comedy due to the upbeat music and lighthearted dialog, where the voice-over-narration also added to this effect. The keynote sound seemed to be a symphony in the background. The signal sound was the narrator or the characters who were involved in the dialog. The ending music seemed like a community sound.

During the second video, it seemed to portray an almost savage mood. The eerie music added to this effect. No words were spoken, but the buzzing and beating of drums make it seem like a crazy wild jungle. It gave off an urgent tone and a sense of anxiety for the listener, which are emotional effects.

Colleen & Ryan

For the first audio clip, we got the feeling that it was a trailer for some happy feely, make-you-feel-good-inside movie.  The music was directed towards heavily influencing the feelings of the audience, for example: the music (keynote sound) in the beginning was melodramatic, while it transitioned later into a more upbeat, exciting theme.  In addition narrator was upbeat the entire time, which limited the way we could perceive the film (without the narrator we would have thought it a depressing film at first).

The second audio clip immediately gave us a creepy, cold feeling.  The constant buildup of intensity and suspense kept us waiting for a climax or sudden break in the suspense.  It started getting a little crazy towards the end but our impression was that it was definitely a horror film trailer.

1. The first audio clip was a fun-loving movie about a man becoming the foster father of a child. The voice-over narration tells us that the father is a struggling writer as well. The second clip has no voice narration, only some eerie music possibly fitting a horror or sci-fi movie.

2.  The keynote sound for the first audio clip was the cheery background music that set the fundamental tone of a family feel-good movie. The signal sound of the first clip was the cymbals and bells and whistles that went off occasionally to describe the setting as possibly the father’s home or workshop. The soundmark was Bug’s Bunny’s “What’s up Doc?” catchphrase, which pegged the movie as a family movie for kids.  The second clip’s keynote sound was the eerie techno music that set the mood for a horror or sci-fi movie. The signal sound was the repetitive beeping that added to the eerie quality of the clip. There was no definitive soundmark because it was the same music over and over again.

3. The first clip is family film, the second is a horror or sci-fi movie.

The first sound clip we heard was of a movie trailer. We assumed it was a family comedy because of the voice-over narration and the pieces of dialogue that was included. The keynote sound in the first half was of upbeat violin music and the signal sounds were the dialogue, cartoon noises, the voice-over narration and the typewriter. There is a transition moment where the music changes dramatically and the speed of the narration also slows down. Then the second half starts and the signal sound is the music.

In the second sound clip we heard buzzing noises, drums, melancholy church bells, a strong steady beat, and had a ritualistic tone building to a climax. The keynote sound was the buzzing and the signal sound was the drums. The second clip sounded like it was part of a horror or thriller movie because the sounds were typical of a horror/thriller genre.

    The first sound bite we listened to appeared to be a movie trailer. The keynote sounds begun with the background sounds of a busy work environment, transitioned to slow, sensitive music, and finished with an upbeat happy track. The signal sounds included initially the voice of the narrator, followed by the voices of each of the main characters. The trailer began with soundmarks that indicated a writer’s office and finished with soundmarks that suggested a neighborhood family.  These sounds implicated that the movie was a family comedy, which might include some drama. The progression of sounds within the trailer indicated emotional change, especially hope. The sounds also indicated that the main characters might originally have been at odds with each other, but transition, through possibly funny situations, into a caring family.

The second sound bite also appears to introduce a movie, but unlike the first track, didn’t include any speaking. The track began with buzzing, a keynote sound. A different, signal sound, was layered on top of the buzzing, eventually meshing into one sound. A string instrument was added, as well as honking. The sounds grew in intensity (pitch and dynamic level), implicating an ominous setting. Something scary’s coming. This set of sounds implied a horror film.

– The narrator of the first had a common voice for trailers. The video sounded like a movie about real life with a comedic twist. The narrator’s voice was mixed in with the characters’. A soundmark was used to portray the family setting.

The real life comedic twist was expressed through the keynote sound of background music. An acoustic visual of what the narrator was trying to get through to the audience was presented through a signal sound of typewriting and children playing in the background.

– The second video felt like a suspense, horror or science fiction piece. It excited anticipation and nervousness and portrayed intensity. It was signal sound.

First sound

• What we heard
  • Office background
  • Children Playing, Toys
  • Slow sad music to happy music
  • Jack talking
• Keynote sound: sounds of everyday life (i.e. office, orphanage)
• Signal sound: parts of conversations from the movie
• Slow music to happy music with high tempo and more vocal
• Sounds affect emotion helping to set up the mood of the movie
• Comedy because there were funny parts of conversations

Second sound:

• What we heard
  • Bees, people’s murmuring
• Mixture of all kinds of sounds with negative connotation. Foreground sound was quick sharp music.
• Horror

How about we use the three-step analysis in order to analyze the relationship between sound and genre? That way, we can navigate our way through Davis, Kozloff, Nordstrom, and your Response Paper 1.2.

We will first listen to two videos. No visuals, that is. Only sound. (Isolating the senses for analysis in this fashion is what Michel Chion refers to as “masking.”) As we listen, we will take careful notes. Active notes through what Les Back and Michael Bull call “agile listening,” which is more than merely “hearing” something. It is, in short, a learned technique.

In your note-taking, you might find R. Murray Schafer‘s “sonographic” tools productive:

• Keynote Sound: backgrounded, fundamental tone against which other sounds are perceived (e.g., the sea)
• Signal Sound: foregrounded sound to which the attention is particularly directed (e.g., a boat whistle)
• Soundmark: a community sound which is unique or possesses qualities which make it noticed by people in that community (e.g., church bells)
• The physical characteristics of the sound (i.e., acoustics–tempo, rhythm, pitch, envelope, tone)
• The way in which sounds are perceived (i.e., psychoacoustics)
• The sound’s function and meaning (i.e., social and cultural semiotics and semantics)
• The sound’s emotional or affective qualities (i.e., aesthetics)

Ready to listen?

[Insert sound-time here.]

Now that you’ve listened to each, let’s get into pairs. In your pairs, please review each other’s notes and then produce one analysis of the sounds for each video. The two analyses should be included in a single blog entry (categorized under “Masking”) and each should:

• Introduce what you heard (to the best of your knowledge).
• Explain what you heard (using Schafers terms, if you wish).
• Implicate what you heard in a particular film genre (e.g., horror, comedy, documentary, romance, or action-adventure) and explain your reasoning.

Finished? Now’s let us watch the videos to match sounds with visuals.

As we watch, we might consider the following questions as a class:

• How did the visuals resonate with our analyses?
• How did the visuals dissonate with our analyses?
• How is sound effective in communicating or navigating us through the visual?
• How did the sounds make us feel (with and without the visuals)?
• How did the atmosphere or “soundscape” change once the visual was mapped onto sound?

Ultimately, this exercise should make you more familiar with Outcomes 1 (audience, context, and conventions) and 2 (support and evidence), as well as with the analysis of sound, media, and genre.

As we progress through the workshop, I’m sure questions will pop up. Let’s do our best to address them, k?

Best,

Jentery