Adding Sound

Sound is one of the most important parts to a film. For this task we had to use our silent film but we had to add sound too. As a group we decided what sounds we wanted and how we would record them. When it comes to creating sounds you can really use anything as you are just recording the sound. You have to two types of sound in films these are called non-diegetic and diegetic. For some parts of the film we had people walking on wooden boards in the studio then added these later, to create the sound of people walking in the corridors; this would be an example of diegetic and this effect was specifically Foley sound. We did run into problems earlier when recording the sounds because it was too windy outside to record people running on the ground. Therefore we went back to the studio to also get a sample of someone walking on gravel.

Once we had all of the sounds you had to split up and edit the film on your own. When adding the sounds in you had to make sure you were syncing the movements up with the sounds so it looked like real. I started off by adding by adding the easier sounds i.e the vending machine. I had sounds for the buttons and when you pull the food out. The harder sounds to add were the foot steps. When I was adding the foot steps I noticed they weren't that loud so I had to increase the volume but they still weren't loud enough. We were told we can add a piece of music to the film. This really helped because I had bits were there wasn't any sound so having the music helped fill the film and bring it all together. For my non-diegetic sound I choose to use a classical piano piece from silent films.

Once I had added the sound and watched it back I noticed that sound does really affect a film. It helps to create atmosphere and depth to the film, but it also indicates what is happening in the scenes. One thing I would of liked to do is add more wild sounds in. I didn't really like how there was blank moments with no sounds.

Silent Film

The silent film was invented at the end of the 1800's beginning of the 1900's. They lasted until 1929 when sound was introduced. One of the most famous silent film actors was Charlie Chaplin. This is who I looked at to get inspiration for my silent film. I found his work to be very slapstick comedy.

When you think of the typical conventions of a black and white silent film. you think about the camera angles. You would only have one camera on set so you would have to plan your shots as you would not be able to change camera angles. Also when it came to the acting it was normally a bit more over the top, so they would have to exaggerate their hand gestures and movements. This is because you had know sound so you had to explain what was happening though your movement and actions. The use of text was important because it was another way to help the audience understand what was happening, or if there were any time changes. Sometimes the text would illustrate what the actor was thinking.

For my film we wanted to try and keep to as many of the typical conventions. The main thing we looked at was the camera angles. We wanted to keep the camera fixed and have the actors walk in and out the frame. therefore we had to think about each shot and the composition so it would be in the style of an old silent film. With the acting we wanted to make sure it looked like a typical silent film. So we made the gestures exaggerated and there movements over the top.
When it came to the editing I knew that it was going to be black and white and that I would put a crop on it. I also added a bit of grain, I did this because that was how the films looked in the 1910's. I added text so I could explain to the audience what was happening, in terms of time changes. I decided that I would speed the whole film up. I wanted to do this because I felt like it would give of a more slapstick comedy look and it follows the convention of the comic silent films.