(2023)
In the course Sound Design and Film Animation we were asked to create the sound atmosphere of the film Metropolis by Fritz Lang. For this emphasis was placed on sound design techniques and creating suitable atmospheric music to go with the film and its purpose. The goal was to learn the interaction of the sound with the accompanying images that change in the video through the spotting that had to be done.
Great emphasis was given to Sound Design in this work. The film was shown in 1927 in the German cinema and was silent since at that time there was no proper means to synchronize the image and sound together, so the sound design was unknown. Nevertheless, today the synchronization of sound and image is unavoidable and for this reason it was the focus of this work. Through the conduct of the courses, the role of the sound designer was understood, who is the artist who belongs to a creative team during the planning stages of a film. For this important role has the collaboration of director and Sound Designer for the formation of an overall result such as the Soundtrack. The film is a visual experience so a substantial sound track is necessary and complex to carry out the film, the main feature of this track is the Human Voice, Sound Effects and Music. But also in approaching the film aesthetically as the three elements mentioned above must be mixed and balanced properly to achieve the desired sound effect. Since the human voice-dialogue was not audible in the film, its absence had to be covered by sound effects and music. Soundscape is important because according to Phill Turner Soundscape is defined by the environment with which the viewer-listener comes into contact (Turner et al., Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Auditory Display ... 2003, page 1). The sound effects are divided into contemporary sounds characterized by what is projected such as the scientist opening and closing the levers. These sounds contribute to the realism of the image and create an atmosphere, the "click" of a lever convinces the audience that the image they are seeing is real subconsciously and helps the audience engage in the hypothesis, this according to Phill Turner is linked to the definition phenomenology which is the connection of the experiences of the conscious with the experiences of life without explanation or assumptions from parameters. Additionally, he states that this is directly connected, according to Thomas Gilbert's theory of phenomenological magnetism with Maxwell's explanation, to the conscious and is divided into three categories, experiences from the conscious world such as sounds and images, experiences from the inner world such as dreams and self-dialogue and the result of emotions such as joy and sadness (Turner et al., Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Auditory Display ... 2003, pg 2). Homlan argues that sound can play a subliminal role and in this way leads the audience towards the goal it wants to achieve by giving the audience more feelings about what is depicted in front of them (Holman, Sound for film and television 2017, page 11) . Such sounds are contemporary are those that are not visible with the source but are included to add an emotional nuance and add realism. An example is the use of white sound from the beginning of the film to the end, since it adds a soundscape of how the space sounds when all the machines are closed.
After the aesthetic approach I moved on to the technique. According to Turner the Soundfield is the technical part defined by the environment of the listener surrounded by the sound sources and determined by the pressure level, the place and the frequency range (Turner et al., Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Auditory Display ... 2003, pg 1) . To create the sounds I used sound effects such as Foley and synthesis, Ambience Foley & Synthesis and in the production of contemporary music. First I made the Cue Sheet, i.e. I identified the scenes and recorded where each moment begins and ends,
SPOTTING PAGE FOR METROPOLIS
Cue Name | In | Out |
Title Film : Maria | 00:00 | 00:01 |
(Woman) Protagonist laying on desk and breathing | 00:02 | 00:005 |
Scientist opens the machine 1 | 00:03 | 00:015 |
Scientist walks | 00:16 | 00:18 |
Scientist touches cables | 00:19 | 00:20 |
Scientist walks | 00:21 | 00:21 |
Scientist moving a lever, opens a machine 2 | 00:22 | 00:23 |
Scientist reads a board | 00:24 | 00:25 |
Scientist looks away | 00:26 | 00:26 |
Scientist walks | 00:27 | 00:29 |
Scientist moving a Lever to open a machine | 00:29 | 00:29 |
Opens Machine 3 | 00:29 | 00:32 |
Pumps moving up and down | 00:32 | 00:33 |
Boiling chemicals | 00:33 | 00:34 |
Spin a lever | 00:36 | 00:36 |
Lights blink | 00:37 | 00:38 |
Scientist presses a button | 00:39 | 00:40 |
Scientist walks | 00:41 | 00:42 |
Scientist moves a lever | 00:42 | 00:43 |
Light switches on and goes round | 00:43 | 00:47 |
Scientist looking away | 00:47 | 00:48 |
Slowly a laser turning on above the woman | 00:48 | 00:51 |
Scientist staring at the laser and walking slowly | 00:51 | 00:58 |
Scientist grabbing two switches while looking at the laser | 00:58 | 00:59 |
Scientist breathing heavily and closing his eyes | 00:59 | 01:03 |
Scientist opening his eyes and staring the laser | 01:04 | 01:05 |
Scientist moving the two switches | 01:06 | 01:06 |
Laser above woman turns fully on | 01:07 | 01:08 |
Scientist moving three switches | 01:09 | 01:10 |
Robot sits on a chair with cables on while around it two lasers goes up and down | 01:11 | 01:21 |
Laser above the woman becomes vivid | 01:22 | 00:25 |
More lasers appear around the robot | 01:26 | 00:33 |
Scientist moves and grabbes an item | 00:33 | 00:34 |
Chemicals boil | 01:34 | 01:36 |
Scientist moves a switch | 01:37 | 01:37 |
Chemicals boil and lights blink | 01:38 | 01:39 |
Scientist moves switches | 01:40 | 01:40 |
All lasers together | 01:41 | 01:44 |
Chemicals boil | 01:45 | 01:45 |
Light go round and round | 01:46 | 01:48 |
Chemicals boil | 01:49 | 01:49 |
Scientist grabbes a metal cable pointed on a lever while he turns the switch around | 01:49 | 01:51 |
Chemicals boil | 01:51 | 01:53 |
Scientist put down the metal cable and grabs 2 metal cables and point them above a lever | 01:53 | 01:57 |
Scientist turns the lever around | 01:55 | 01:56 |
Scientist moving a lever | 01:57 | 01:57 |
Laser above the woman becomes vivid | 01:57 | 02:01 |
Scientist puts down the metal cables | 02:02 | 02:02 |
Scientist moves many switches | 02:02 | 02:05 |
Scientist grabs a switch and looks the robot with the lasers | 02:05 | 02:05 |
Robot sitting with more lasers than before around it and the heart on it starts beating | 02:06 | 02:12 |
Laser above woman | 02:12 | 02:14 |
Bubbles and light going round and round | 02:15 | 02:16 |
Robot sitting with the lasers around it and the heart on the robot beats harder | 02:16 | 02:19 |
Scientist moves a switch | 02:20 | 02:20 |
Robot sits with the lasers around it and the heart on it beats even harder | 02:21 | 02:28 |
Close up one the robot | 02:29 | 02:33 |
Robot comes to life | 02:34 | 02:35 |
The robot opens its eyes | 02:36 | 02:39 |
The Woman robot breaths and turns her head | 02:39 | 02:43 |
The Woman robot stares the camera and fades out to black | 02:43 | 02:47 |
then I moved on to researching sounds that were necessary to hear and fit each scene, movement and object. Here I needed to use both sounds from libraries and sounds I recorded myself using the
microphones NT1000 which is a large diaphragm pycnotic microphone used to record room and ambient sounds, C-1 Behringer which is a cardioid, large diaphragm pycnotic used to record object sounds. I then went through the process of selecting effects to create a better listening but also the most accurate sound effect so that the sound matches the specific intended object or atmosphere as the film is science fiction and many machines do not exist in real life so had to achieve the how do they sound The effects I used were Volume and Gain to adjust the volume level to a constant dB where it was useful in not changing the tempo of the sounds and matching the tempo of the film, the EQ to cut the very high frequencies and emphasize the mids, Fade In, Fade Out and Cross Fade to fade sounds as it helped to transition more smoothly from one sound to another and between them, Pitch Shifter/Transpostition to shift the pitch up or down down for greater accuracy in how the objects and spaces would sound if we were there and Reverb which gives depth to the sound and was used to give space in some places. Finally I went to the final Mix of the track to adjust the sound level to better hear the overall sound effect. Thus, through the specific Sound Design task, the sound entered the image and it became possible to approach the machines and the atmospheres within it.
Nevertheless, in addition to the works of Sound Design, the production of music based on tapes also played an important role, although more emphasis was placed on sound design. The music track chosen for Metropolis is atmospheric, Ambient style music with a dark undertone that neither helps nor expands the meaning of the image, but acts as a tonal background that softens the main theme and rhythm and maintains space-time continuity. This contrasts with the choice of music for the film itself, where the animation was accompanied by classical music rhythmically emphasizing the movements of the actors thus emphasizing their emotional state and thus covering the absence of direct dialogues (Vogt, Fritz Lang – metropolis ( 1927) 2001). Background music adds emotion and rhythm to a film. Usually not intended to be perceived, it often provides a tone or compositional attitude towards the story and characters portrayed (Karlin et al., On the track a guide to contemporary film scoring 2013). In addition, background music often suggests a change in mood. The effects of sound are usually subtle and often detected by the subconscious. However, it cultivates an awareness of cinematic tone and space so that we appreciate the film more. According to Holman the low frequencies represent horror, so it gives exposure to the sound of the film and conveys the message to the audience quickly (Holman, Sound for film and television 2017). Finally, music is used both in the use of symbolism and in the physical and anti-fat reality, the last two of which were the goal of creating a piece for the work. Görne argues that abstract reality differs from physical reality because the conscious perceives only a small part of the complex scenes, so the key to realism is that the necessary elements of the scene are perceptible and convincing. Guiding the audience to emphasize difficult scenes shows how important auditory objects are to achieving perceived reality, and creating a detailed scene that the audience can freely lose focus from a scene is the goal of physical realism in a film. So if both goals are achieved then the everyday listener will not perceive the differences that may exist between the sound changes (Görne, The emotional impact of sound: A short theory of film sound design 2017, page 23-24). This is how the music aesthetically and artistically serves the image and for this Dark Ambient Music was used for the emotional purpose of the film.
Music directly helps connect scenes. Editing is directly linked to the creation of diegetic time. Compounding is a mechanical way to simulate human vision. The music, whether diegetic or not, helps the intelligence and chemistry of all the components smooth out the restlessness of editing, suggest scenes that theoretically do not fit, make cuts less noticeable and create a pleasant aural feeling (Holman, Sound for film and television 2017 ). It reduces the reaction of logical thinking making the editing look normal. It also bridges the gaps of time and space. In classic films such as Metropolis it is used to transition from scene to scene giving the opportunity to change the elements of the musical composition during the transition. It serves to sense the rhythm within the scene or events. The music has its own rhythm and form that lends itself to the image and editing. Holman argues that sound has an important role in the process in film production because if the sound is continuous before and after the cut of the image then it gives the impression to the audience that the view of the image has changed but the scene has remained the same, so the sound is the continuation of the film (Holman, Sound for film and television 2017). Still the
sound emphasizes movements within and between scenes. Controls the overall sense of flow by speeding up or slowing down the action. According to Holman the scenes depend on how the sound plays on them and that is why the flow of both at the same time is important (Holman, Sound for film and television 2017). Finally, the sound helps the viewer to focus on the background without the necessary close up. So in this way the music technically helps the image.
In conclusion, the understanding between Sound Design and Background Music in combination with their technical and aesthetic aspects became better. Nevertheless, while I am quite satisfied with the execution of the final project in relation to the knowledge I possessed and acquired during the execution of the courses and my personal research, I believe that it could have been executed even better if there was more knowledge and experience at the final stage. mixing and perhaps using more effects beyond the basic ones.
LINKS :
Metropolis Music :
Metropolis Sound Design :
Metropolis Music and Sound Design :
OneDrive :
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