A movie’s soundtrack

A movie’s soundtrack is an essential element and is seen as just as vital as the images on the screen. Sound synthesis for a movie is the main focus of sound design. In film production, a sound designer is responsible for selecting all sounds that are essential to the story being told, adding all background tones, and managing every aspect of sound, including recording, re-recording, editing, mixing, and sound effects (Barsam and Monahan 367). Sound in a movie can be described according to its source. In this case, film sound can either be diegetic or nondiegetic, internal or external, or on- screen or off- screen. Diegetic sounds originate from a source within the film’s world while nondiegetic sounds come from outside the film’s world (Barsam and Monahan 370). On the other hand, internal sound is experienced when one assumes that what they have heard within a scene are the thoughts of a character while external sound originates from a place within the story world. Lastly, on- screen sound originates from a visible source while off- screen originates from a source we cannot see. In a movie, there are usually environmental sounds such as ambient sound, sound effects, and Foley sounds. Ambient sound derives its origin from the background of the film environment while sound effects are created artificially to help tell the story in the film. Foley sounds are a type of sound effect that is made and recorded simultaneously with the picture rather than traditional sound effects which are usually edited into the movie and can be derived from a pre- existing library. In a film scene, sound elucidates spatial and temporal dimensions by making the world created by visuals more intense. A sound bridge, in the context of filmmaking, is a type of sound editing that results from sound carrying over a visual transition.

Chapter 10: History

In film history, the most influential stylistic movements in terms of cinematic innovations are German Expressionism, French Avant- Garde Filmmaking, Soviet Montage, Italian Neorealism, French New Wave, and the Classic Hollywood Style. In the late 1930s, the movie industry in the United States had grown tremendously with the transition from silent to sound production, the exploitation of popular film genres, and the financial success of feature- length movies (Barsam and Monahan 410). Besides “Citizen Kane” another influential film in the 20th century was ”The Birth of a Nation” by D.W. Griffith. In the movie, Griffith invented a variety of technical advancements such as multiple camera setups, the 180- degree- system, and the exploitation of camera angles (Barsam and Monahan 417). This has a great influence on technical aspects of filmmaking at the time. German expressionism was characterized by distorted and exaggerated settings and unnatural costumes and makeup to express feelings in a film story (Barsam and Monahan 418). Soviet montage, on the other hand, was heavily dependent on editing to communicate abstract ideas in film. The Classic Hollywood Style and New American Cinema, on the other hand, differ in their perception of perfection in filmmaking. The former was all about trying to make a cut look invisible in a story while the latter is all about embracing the actuality brought by imperfections. Lastly, Italian neorealism was concerned with replicating life in film while the French New Wave was all about the use of movies to lessen the stress and struggles of life.

Chapter 11: Technology

The invention of the motion- picture camera is regarded as the single most important technology in the history of film. This was followed by the development of film stock which made it possible to record captured motion picture. Film technology, which was the pioneering technology in film, is preferred by some producers due to its depth of field and exposure latitude. However, its form makes it prone to disintegration with time and is also easy to physically damage. Film technology is also complex, expensive, and time- consuming (Barsam and Monahan 464). Digital technology, which is the modern technology is cheaper and easier to work with as compared to film technology. It is also the better technology when it comes to editing movies shot using either technology. Digital technology is hated by some filmmaker such as Quentin Tarantino who question its authenticity and its aspect of bringing TV to film. The process of making a movie is divided into three distinct phases namely preproduction, production, and postproduction. The preproduction phase is all about preparation for shooting the movie. As such the script is developed during this phase and, where applicable, rights are acquired to produce a story. Scheduling of studio space and scouting shooting locations is also done at this stage. The production phase is concerned with the actual shooting of the movie. The post- production phase, on the other hand, is concerned with film editing, preparing the final print, and marketing and distribution (Barsam and Monahan 468).

Works Cited

Barsam, Richard, and Monahan, David. Looking at Movies (5th ed.). W.W. Norton & Company. 2015. EBook.