Amelia Dickens AS Film Studies project

For my AS Film Studies project, my group and I decided to produce our segment of filming in the genre of a Horror/Psychological Thriller. We choose this style because it has a wide capacity for Sound Design, Cinematography, Set Design and Editing. This enabled everyone in our group to make numerous contributions. Our extract of film is set at the first climax of the film: where a new wife discovers the hanging body of her husband.
I chose the role of Sound Designer and was therefore in charge of the climactic music we used, and the digetic sounds whilst filming. I used the program Garage Band to devise a musical accompaniment to the film. We then imported this into certain moments where the music would enhance the tension. Before producing the sound I had to learn how to use Garage Band, and then the method of transferring files from one source to another on the computers. My group and I watched clips from films of a similar genre to which we were trying to achieve. This helped me with the not only the construction of the music but also where to play it, where to leave silent, and where to exacerbate the digetic sounds.
One main thing I was aiming to do was extend the narrative through my micro responsibility. From watching over Psychological Thriller films I decided to start the clip quiet, so as to juxtapose this with a loud ringing sound, indicating unexpected trouble. As the power cut out, I started the music to set the mood of horror and fear. The music continued until just before the climax where silence cut in, representing the protagonist’s speechlessness.
I spent some time looking at sound effects and first thought of using easily attainable objects to create the necessary noise. However, none of these were needed in the end, although it was interesting to see the surprising things used top make sounds in real films. Some sound effects I used including a loud telephone ring, a door slamming etc. For the door slamming there were a variety of sounds to choose from. It was a wooden door, in reality, that that our character passed through. However, after investigation into the construction of sound in films I knew that this didn’t mean we had to stick to reality. When producing the sound for a film, often unrelated sounds are used. I employed a mild version by incorporating a metal vault door slam.
After submitting our draft film the class watched it and gave comments and constructive criticism. This was extremely useful and encouraged me to extend the music and increase the volume of certain sound effects.
The impression we wanted our film to make on our audience was, for the most part a shock associated with our genre. The movie, if we had filmed it at length would be more about psychological and exstisentential issues. However, the climax that we filmed would be the most energetic, surprising scene, and for this reason we chose to film this part.
Overall, I am pleased with how our filming went and the finished product. I feel we are all more confident with our different areas of filming and have a better understanding of the annals of the professional movie industry.