Sound Project

Sound is an often overlooked element while consuming media, but it is extremely important and arguably the most difficult element to produce. I consume a lot of media and try to appreciate sound design, but I didn’t know much about the terms used or how to classify the different types of sounds. So, the lesson before the actual project was really useful. Through different examples in films, I understood how the different types of sound work together to create meaning. It was a good starting point for our project, which consisted of creating our own soundscape—at least one minute but no more than two minutes long. Like the previous project, this one- to two-minute story had to be something that could happen in real life within the same time frame.

To plan our project, my partner and I decided to set our story somewhere related to water. We thought water provided a lot of opportunities to create a deep soundscape with a variety of sounds. To focus on making a rich soundscape, we chose a story about a man fishing in a swamp, where we could incorporate a lot of animal and nature noises. Thinking about these elements was our main task during brainstorming because the sounds a man could make while fishing were easy to imagine. We wanted to focus more on recreating the sound of nature in a swamp. So, we wrote down different kinds of birds and bugs, which ultimately created a pretty good background sound.

Our outline was divided into six plot points, which helped us plan how to change the background sound to indicate something happening. For example, the first plot point that changed our sound design was when the man arrived in a boat. As the sound of the engine slowly increased, we added sounds of birds flying away or animals jumping into the water to show how they reacted to the engine. In the outline, we also planned a sound perspective where the background noise would go silent, allowing the audience to focus on the moment the fisherman hooks a worm. We did all of this in Adobe Premiere, where I knew how to adjust the audio volume gradually. Premiere was also useful for creating a static effect in the music, so it sounded like it was coming from a radio, which was an important element in one of our scenes.

I was really pleased with the outcome of the project. It was extremely fun to make, and I think we achieved our goals. For the next project, I’d like to try more complex techniques, but I believe I’ll have that opportunity when we mix both audio and visuals. For a sound-only project, I think there’s little to improve.

Project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c7iBc0bR8M8-vh72FIMeF6QRMvfPYPLV/view?usp=drive_link