Voice Over- Trial and Error

In our original storyboard and when planning our trailer, it was said from the start that the voice over would be used in the teaser trailer as this is a common convention. A reminder of the script:



"Enter a medium. Social Networking.
A Place where you can be who want to be.
Become your fantasy.
But what if your fantasy is to manipulate, deceive and impersonate.
What if your fantasy is to be something you're not."


In order to record this, we allocated someone we knew who we thought would be ideal for doing the voice over and proceeded to record it. This was done in the recording studio at school, and we had booked a day to do this. The whole procedure was done by Ella in the live room where she read out the script and we paced it according to the speed of the trailer by giving hand signals. Then when Ella was one, I went on to removing any static sounds done via a Mac on Adobe Audition by going onto 'Effects'--> 'Amplitude and Compression'--> 'DeSsor'. It was then completed by adjusting the threshold and dragging the first line where the dark green area is back to take the static away.

When putting the voice over onto the Mac for it to be used on Final Cut Pro it was only necessary that the voice over was saved into our area, ready to put on iTunes and then put into our trailer. Once this was done, we dragged it into our trailer once everything was in place, so that was the music and all the clips in the order that we wanted them to be in. However, when playing the whole final thing with the voice over, it was needless to say that it did not cohere with the trailer at all and sounded 'messy' with the music and the occasional dialogue. The voice over did not work well also because we figured that even if we were to redo it, we would never be satisfied with any voice we tried out. This then lead to the decision of excluding it from our trailer completely.

  

EDITING- sound

There were sounds that were needed in our trailer which we included and these steps are demonstrated in the screen grabs below.

SOUND EFFECTS

We decided that the first clip of our trailer would be in silence, with only the sound of the clicking being heard for dramatic effect. So we did this by muting the actual clip, and then going on 'Sounds and Music' and searched for a clicking sound to ensure that it would sound crisp with no interference.

The screen grab above shows the two clicking sounds put into the trailer. We made them especially loud so that they could be loud and so that our audience would be able to hear this properly so that it makes the impact it needs to.

GETTING THE 'DROP' RIGHT

Our selection of music has the perfect silence we searched for which then is followed by the beat dropping into an intense instrumental. When assembling the clips, it was then necessary to make the beat drop exactly where the disequilibrium starts. This was successful though it was quite difficult getting the beat to drop exactly where it needed to, but this was eventually achieved. Once we had clipped all of our clips and then added the texts, at the start of the song on the timeline it was possible to open up the 'clip trimmer' for the sound on a drop down menu in the top left hand corner on the little white cog sign on the actual music. This enabled us to be able to adjust the drop to match the trailer.

MAKING THE MUSIC FADE

So the music ends on a not too abrupt stop it was essential to make the song fade towards the end. For the last clip (not including the 'coming soon' text clip following our final clip) we made the music fade by dragging a small white bead backwards which made the grooves of music rounded meaning that the last clip faded in sound and eventually came to a stop. This made it have an overall smoother sound making it sound professional, additionally.

COMPANY LOGO

The 'Revolver' company logo is introduced with a sort of subtle low 'whooshing' sound. This was done so that the music that followed the logo introduction did not just start without any backing whatsoever. This was achieved by inserting the company logo but then muting it and going onto the music sign icon on iMovie to find a dramatic but subtle enough sound to accompany the clip. This also is a feature of any kind of trailer, so we used a reputable film British film company logo in our own teaser trailer.

Donnie Darko - Sound Deconstruction

• Throughout the majority of the trailer, excluding the end, the sound is very subliminal, behind the diegetic sound.
• At the beginning of the trailer, the non diegetic sound almost goes unnoticed as it is simply a long, high pitched, echo-like drone beneath the diegetic sound followed by what could possibly sound like a long violin note. These sounds are not musical, but simply effective in helping the trailer build up to a sinister, foreboding atmosphere
• As an axe is swung, an exaggerated slam can be heard, which could be the diegetic sound of the axe, or a non diegetic effect to make this action more dramatic.
• This is then followed by an eerie drone as the words "They made me do it" can be seen spray painted on the concrete. This creates the idea of mystery and causes the audience to question the possible content of the movie.
• These violin notes and eerie, subliminal sounds continue throughout the first thirty seconds of the trailer, when they are then overlapped by an electronic beat, much like a heartbeat begins. This adds pace and builds up tension as the trailer becomes more intense.
• After about fifty second we hear the obscure, non diegetic voice of 'Frank' say "Don't worry, you got away with it" which brings an end to the diegetic sound we have heard throughout the trailer and ques the eerie beat as it build up speed throughout a montage of shots from the film.
• Everything goes completely silent as we hear the last piece of non diegetic dialogue; "When's it gonna stop?" followed by "You should already know that." By having no other sound during these lines makes them much more effective and dramatic.
• When the film title appears, an eerie beat sounds which then echoes until the end of the trailer, creating a very ominous atmosphere as the credits are shown.

SOUND DECONSTRUCTION: 'We Need To Talk About Kevin'- Trailer

Sound Deconstruction: ‘We Need ToTalk About Kevin’

The trailer begins with non-diegetic sound that most would consider chirpy, cheerful and light, the song choice is ‘Everyday’ by the famous Buddy Holly. The sound is synchronous with the fast paced cuts of unrelated ‘happy times’ of the seemingly joyous characters who almost appear sort of stable and happy within the equilibrium that is set, e.g. clips of the family spending time together, dancing and laughing, mother and father playfully kissing, mother admiring her pregnant stomach in the mirror etc.

The non-diegetic sound sharply halts and a new instrumental begins, dramatic and eerie; signifying disequilibrium and a new turn the trailer takes that allows the audience to really understand the bulk of the plot.

The next sound that stands out is the overwhelming screech, yells and cries of a baby (presumably part of the family) that pierces the mood set by once chirpy non-diegetic sound.

Even the voiceover of the protagonist Ezra Miller’s is rather creepy but I think that is exactly what the producers intended.

As the trailer progresses, more clips of the usual diegetic sound of baby’s cries continue and it appears to have increased in volume. The non-diegetic orchestral sound heightens and a final hard hitting drum beat finalises the trailer as the movie title comes up.

The sound alone was particularly effective because it supported the motion, what was happening, and perfectly reflected the narrative’s high and low. It also added that element of tension, anticipation for the worst and again that element of creepiness (similarly to Donnie Darko).

For our trailer, we would like to use non-diegetic sound similar to the way it’s used here; synchronous with the clips of the equilibrium but can also turn dark and dramatic enough for when the trailer shows pieces of the disequilibrium.

Sound Research

Lightning Bug

• The first eight seconds of the trailer consists of a classical piano tune which is mainly known to create an equilibrium as the sound of the piano is played in a calm melody, but the trailer actually starts with a thudding base sound effect which already indicates that there is some sort of interruption within the calmness of the piano music which could be a hint that there is something off key a midst the serenity that appears to be present in the film.
• A disequilibrium is created by the static sound which starts at around 0:13 and the disjointed snippets of sound which suggests that the same thing happens in the film (Todorov) with the disequilibrium. 
• The silence that occurs when the female actress uses dialogue, diegetic sound, and says "Earl did a bad thing", it creates an enigma (Barthe's enigma code) which will make the viewer more enticed when watching the trailer which could encourage them to want to watch the movie more. 
• The music which follows this quote is electronic/rock style music and this creates quite an eerie atmosphere about the trailer. This also conforms to the stereotype of typical psychological drama style music.
• The part where one of the actresses says the word "movies" is quite chilling, which could suggest quite a chilling side to the film which could make the viewer even more interested in the film as it seems to offer variety.
•  An further equilibrium is created at around 1:07 when the music changes to a non diegetic guitar piece which is featured mostly in romantic films and the diegetic sound of the girl saying "are you gonna kiss me?" creates some sort of enigma as to where the relationship of the boy and girl is headed.
• Humour is also thrown into the trailer, again showing that the film offers variety and the diegetic sound of dialogue says "sexy bitches are my favourite kind of bitches."
• In certain places there are diegetic sound effects like glass smashing and crying and this delivers a sense of passion and makes the trailer have a sense of thrill to it which makes it more than just a drama and makes it into the psychological drama that it is; the abruptness creates this feeling.
• When watching towards the end of the trailer, the last 20 seconds, the music is echoing and this sounds like music being played backwards almost, which creates a sense of distortion. The scream at the end is followed by the diegetic speech of the actor saying "is that scary enough for you?" in an echoing type of way and this makes it sound a lot more scary, which conforms to the slight scare factor that is present in some psychological dramas.