So, for our first post-production task we are to mix the student film ‘Darkness Calls’, a Thriller/Horror film that will rely heavily on the sound to provoke an emotional response. In this case tension and fear. In this film I think silence is our best friend removing most of the noise and just leaving the atmos to cover the environment. With the film mostly being set at night, in the woods where a couple are camping, creating a sense of isolation and seclusion from other people will push the idea of tension. The film will also need a lot of help from the soundtrack and music underneath. Dissonance and an eerie texture to the sound can place the audience in almost a state of immersion. Wind and low rumbles along with noises from far away remind the viewer of where they are and the situation, they are in. In an article from Vulture the composer of the score for the film ‘Hereditary’, Colin Stetson explained that he tries to “amplify silence, and create a minimally directional sound out of it.” I think this is important as it can make the audience feel closed in with nowhere to go, and with no one around in the setting of ‘Darkness Calls’, although in an open space, being alone in the middle of the night can seem quite claustrophobic.
The Phantom centre is a place in the stereo field created by the use of panning between a left and right channel without a physical middle channel. Even without a centre speaker, the dialogue could appear to come from the middle of the two monitors, provided the you are sitting in the right spot.
References:
Comments