P1: How sounds Are Created and Used In Different Media Products

 How sounds Are Created and Used In Different                            Media Products

Music video: Michael Jackson - Thriller (Official Video) - YouTube

Advert: One Big Decision | Big Tasty | McDonald's UK - YouTube

Movie trailer: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Trailer 1 (OFFICIAL)

Game trailer: Sonic Origins - Official Trailer

 Sound and sound effects are highly important to create an atmosphere and bring the media product to life. Music and sound effects themselves can provoke different emotions and feelings from us. Sounds can also be used for different purposes, there are many different types of sounds and different ways to create them. In this report, I will be analysing four media products and what type of sounds we can hear, what impact they have and how the sounds are created.

First of all, here are the different types of sounds:

Diegetic sound- Sounds we can hear that links to the action or thing that is happening in the video, this can be on or off screen. For example, a glass of water is dropped in the video and we hear it shatter as it hits the floor, we can see a car swerving around the corner and we can hear the screech in the video. We could hear a gun click and someone talking off screen. Another example would be music in the actual film or video, for example, someone listening to music in their earphones or blasting music out of a speaker.

Non-diegetic sound- Sound that doesn't match anything on screen or anything that takes place in the film's world or environment. This can be added in with editing. Examples are sound effects like a drum kit is being played when someone makes a cheesy joke, a narration or voiceover to explain the scene, music soundtracks that are included in the movie like GOTG vol 2 soundtrack that is added in for emotional effect.

Trans-diegetic sound- Combination of both. Character singing turns to music or radio in the world of the movie turns to music. For example in Joker. 

Soundtrack- Non-diegetic selection of songs are used in the movie or video to create a certain atmosphere. For example, in Free Guy, Mariah Carey's Fantasy song is used when the main character Guy first meets his love interest.

Sound motif- A sound effect or visual effect is repeated throughout the movie or video to fit with its theme, this includes mise en scene objects. For example, Darth Vader from Star Wars, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, Pink Panther, Ghost Busters...

Theme tune- Music that is used in the film or video to create identity and is usually used at the beginning. We can tell we are watching an Adventure Time episode, a Looney Tunes episode or a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode because we recognise these iconic theme tunes. Fallout game series.

Trope- Linking to a sound motif, but using an object frequently to symbolise a theme in the movie or video. For example, in Alice In Wonderland some motifs are growing up, the pocket watch the White Rabbit takes with him, this symbolises time and how Alice is growing up and finding her identity throughout the movies. The Delorean from Back to the Future, the Mean Girls burn book, Lightsabers from Star Wars, the mirror and rose from Beauty and the Beast, the golden ticket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the walkman from Guardians of the Galaxy, Fallout pip boy figures...

Brand identity- When a movie, video or media product uses a theme tune, colour scheme, logo and so on to make the audience remember the media product. For example, the Ghost Busters logo and theme tune.

Jingle- Used mostly in advertisements, a memorable sound or slogan sang or spoken a certain way that draws in the audience. McDonalds I'm lovin' it, Go Compare, We Buy Any Car, Calgon.

Sound bridge- Sound or music from the previous scene still continues into the next to open the next scene. Pixar Toy Story.  I'm Still Standing from Sing.

Foley sound- When foley sound artists use everyday objects to create certain sounds for objects in the film or the environment. The crunching sound of snow in Ice Age, Inside out, Jurassic World.... They then edit these and place them in the video or movie.

Incidental music- Background music to create a certain emotion or atmosphere like Live Your Life from The Mitchell's and the Machines, When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2, Gravity in The Vampire Diaries...

Sting- A short sound that shows ending or starting of a scene, action or expression. In The Legend of Zelda games when Link opens a chest, Death effect or when something breaks in The Sims games, Sonic when we collect the rings...

                       Michael Jackson - Thriller (Official Video)

 Michael Jackson's Haloween pop song Thriller has an amazing music video that was released on the 2nd of December 1983. In the music video, Michael Jackson's car runs out of gas so he has to walk with the woman in the dark instead. They stop and Michael asks her to be his girlfriend, she hugs him and he puts a ring on her finger. Michael they says "I'm not like other guys". There is a full moon and he turns into a werewolf. The woman screams and runs away while he chases her through the woods. He finally catches up to her and the music video switches to a cinema where Michael sits watching the movie, eating popcorn with another woman he is watching the movie with. She is frightened of the movie and walks out. The music starts and you can see the Thriller banner on the cinema. They both go on a walk and dance. They walk into a graveyard and zombies rise from their graves and walk down the streets as a narrator styled voice talks (this is a part of the song). Michael and the woman are surrounded by the zombies. They get closer and turn Michael Jackson into a dancing zombie like the rest of them. The woman runs to an abandoned house as the zombies follow her, she tries to block them out but they get in the house. The zombies surround her and then we realise this was her dream, Michael offers to take her home and as he turrns around we see his yellow glowing eyes and a manic laugh. This is the basic plot of the Thriller music video.

                                                    Sounds in scene one

The music video opens with the words "Michael Jackson's Thriller" in a red sans serif font that resembles blood. This is an example of brand identity (when a media product uses a font, colour scheme, logo and more to make the audience remember the product) because we will associate the Thriller song with this font and the colour red. When we see the text, we can hear heavy breathing which is a non-diegetic sound (it isn't happening on screen) so we infer that someone has been running or in danger. This opening graphic and the breathing sound already makes us feel a little uneasy. The breathing sound will be a foley sound of someone breathing into a microphone and put in the video in editing.

Ast the music video begins, we see a car moving down the road in the dark. We can hear more diegetic sounds such as crickets; this is classed as diegetic sound because it is in the enviorment of the video. The crickets are also a sound trope as we only hear these when the environment is quiet or someone said a bad joke with no response. We can also hear the car engine cutting out and the wheels against the road, this is louder than the crickets sound. The crickets tell us that they are in a desolate area and something seems off. We can hear Michael Jackson turning off the car and they both talk in this scene with the crickets quieter in the background, these are still diegetic sounds. The talking sounds will be filmed on set with probably a boom mic. The crickets sounds might have been recorded from the environment, the car engine and the wheels will be foley sounds are probably from an actual car, these sounds are put in the video after editing. As they get out of the car and start walking, you can hear their footsteps which could have been done on set or in editing. They are talking again. There is a full moon and we can hear incidental music that makes us feel on edge as we know something is about to happen, this is non-diegetic and would be make with instruments and placed in when editing. As we see Michael Jackson turning into a werewolf, we can hear animalistic roars (diegetic sound) that will be foley sounds or actual animal sounds edited in after filming. We can also see and hear the woman screaming (diegetic sound), this would be recorded on set. As the werewolf chases the woman, we can hear fast footsteps as they both run, the woman's footsteps are light. The incidental music is louder and to signify the chase, we cannot hear crickets anymore to show loud the scene is now. We can see and hear the werewolf break a tree (diegetic foley sounds placed in at the editing stage). The werewolf catches up to the woman and we hear more animalistic sounds, screams and breathing.

                                                        Scene 2 and 3

 The incidental music and screams that happened in the last scene create a sound bridge into the next scene as we can see an audience watching a movie. Michael is eating popcorn so we can hear the crunches (which could be done on set or foley sounds, this is diegetic sound) and we can hear the movie (diegetic sounds). Michael and the woman both talk to each other and we can hear this over the movie, this talking would have been recorded on set. The woman says "Can we get out of here?" Michael says "No I'm enjoying this" "Well I can't watch" so she gets up, walks out of the cinema and Michael follows her.

 

We can see the Thriller text with the house style used for the cinema banner. We can hear the beginning of the non-diegetic song/soundtrack of Thriller. which in editing would be place underneath the talking that is made on set, the conversation went like this:

"It's only a movie!"

"It's not funny"

"You were scared weren't you?"

"I wasn't that scared"

"Yeah you were scared"

The two characters go on a walk so again we hear footsteps. The Thriller song is the loudest sound, the song starts and we can see Michael Jackson lip syncing the words to his song and dancing.

                                                         Scene 4

A sound bridge happens with the song/soundtrack. They both walk through a graveyard holding hands, we can hear the soil moving as zombies rise from their graves, one of them moves the top of the stone grave to get out, we also hear a door squeak as one of them open a door, these are diegetic sounds that would be placed in afterwards and created by foley sounds. We can hear the zombies slowly walking, one of them moves a cover to rise from underground. One of the zombie's arm drops which is diegetic sound made with foley sounds. The Thriller music stops for a while as the zombies surround Michael and the woman, we hear eerie incidental music again (this is a sound motif too now because it has happened more than once) and zombie moaning noises. We then see Michael became a zombie and he dances with the other zombies, this is when the Thriller song starts again.

                                                    

                                                       Scene 5

The woman runs into an abandoned house and we can hear the door unlocking and closing (foley diegetic sounds). The Thriller song stops once again and we hear the incidental movie sound tropes again as the zombies break through the door, windows and floor (these sounds will be foley diegetic sounds). As the zombies get closer, the woman screams and we realise this is all just her dream. Michael asks her "What's the problem? Come on I'll take you home." As Michael turns around, we can see his yellow glowing eyes and a manic laugh which is a trope of the horror genre. The thriller music starts again as credits roll and we see Michael dancing with the zombies again.

 

One Big Decision | Big Tasty | McDonald's UK Advertisement

 

This is the McDonalds 2022 advertisement for the Big Tasty burgers that they have decided to bring back to the menu. In this advert, the couple go into a McDonalds to buy a Big Tasty burger. They walked into the store so we can hear the footsteps and talking (we will hear a lot of talking throughout) these are diegetic sounds. We can hear the man saying "Big Tasty is back!" for example. These sounds will be recorded on set with a mic. The talking not only tells us what they are advertising, the fact the actors are talking with excitement makes us feel excited and happy to try the new burgers. 

We see the McDonalds logo on their store and at the end of the advertisement, this is brand identity. The man looks at the new Big Tasty burgers and struggles to decide which one to get, the background music starts then and this carries on throughout the rest of the advertisement so this is a sound bridge, this muic is edited in afterwards. The advertisement then shifts to a woman in the drive thu talking and trying to decide weather to get the Big Tasty Barbecue or Big Tasty Bacon. When the advertisement transitions to the next part, it fits in with the music because it changes from just a little instrumental to some singing too. The music creates a happy and fun atmosphere as it is a medium paced song with happy notes. 

Also, we hear a swoosh sound when the advertisement transitions to the next scene, this is done in editing and may be foley sounds. This makes the advert more fast paced and sound more modern; we could infer that McDonalds is fast delivery. A son is waiting for his dad to decided which burger to deliever to the house, the advertisement switches between the three people trying to decide which one to get. The three burgers they are trying to advertise show up on the screen and we can hear a narrator non-diegetic sound "Big Tasty, Big Tasty with bacon and all new Big Tasty barbecue. Three Big Tastys, one big decision". This is effective as the voiceover clearly advertises and informs the audience about what new burgers there are and what are back on the menu. Next we see the McDonalds logo with the iconic red and yellow colour scheme for brand identity. 

They also use their famous McDonalds whistle jingle at the end of the advertisement. The jingle is effective for brand identity because everytime we hear the whistle sound we will think of McDonalds and this might make us want to go there for some food, plus McDonalds are making sure we don't forget their brand. The jingle will be a foley sound edited in.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Trailer 1 (OFFICIAL)

 

This is the movie trailer for the first Guardians of The Galaxy movie, the trailer was released on the 20th of February 2014. GOTG is an action/sci-fi/comedy movie about a group of criminals who save the galaxy from an alien called Ronan. The trailer starts with a green film ratings sign with no sound. Peter Quill walks into a tomb with a light to get an orb that is there. We can hear incidental non-diegetic music in the background that tells the audience that Peter just found something. As he takes the orb, the incidental music stops and we hear a little technic click noise (diegetic foley sound). We then hear electrical gun sounds (sounds added in editing process) and a group of men holding the guns, the leader yells "Drop it!" which is diegetic sound from the set; the incidental music starts to play again. The conversation goes like this:

"Yep, hey cool man no problem, no problem at all"

"who are you?"

 The incidental music stops here to make sure the audience hears the name but also gives a comedic effect when he says his name: "Star Lord."

"Who?"

"Star Lord man, legendary outlaw? Forget it."

Brand identity is used as the Marvel logo shows on screen and incidental music starts. Lots of mise en scéne is used here to show that this is set in the future, we can hear technology beeps and we can see some technology on someone's arm and an electronic door opening, this gives us a futuristic feel as the audience. We hear the guards talking while the characters are in a highly technologically advanced line up so we can hear more electronic beeps and sounds. The guard says:

"Drax AKA the Destroyer. Since his wife and family were killed he's been on a rampage across the galaxy on a search for vengance."

"Gamora, soldier, assassin. Wanted on over a dozen counts of murder"

"Rocket. Wanted for over 50 charges of vehicular thefts and escaped from lockup"

One of the other guards say "What the hell?"

The other guard continues "Groot. It's been travelling recently as Rocket's personal houseplant/muscle"

The incidental music gets more louder.

"Peter Jason Quill. He's also known as Star Lord"

The other guard says "Who calls him that?"

The other guard continues "Himself mostly"

He's wanted largly on charges of minor assult, public intoxication and fraud"

As the guard says this we can see the obscene jesture alert and we can hear a charge up noise as he puts his middle finger up to the guard. Peter then says (the incidental music stops here for comedic effect again) "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know how this machine worked."

These are tropes, the trailer is introducing the characters and also giving them dark backstories for motives. The talking and electronic sounds are diegetic, the background incidental music is non diegetic. The talking is recorded on set while the electronic sounds are created using foley sounds with electronic equipment and the incidental background music is also placed in when it gets to the editing process.

 

 This summer text shows on screen with a prison sound. We can hear diegetic music as the characters are in handcuffs. We see an alien using Quill's headphones and walkman listening to his mixtape. The song 'Hooked on a feeling' is playing. This is a soundtrack sound and the theme tune to the GOTG movies. 

Quill says "Hey hey hey, that's mine. Hey, take those headphones off right now!". One of the prison guards tase him and we hear this. The music from the headphones is transdiegetic because this now turns to the music for the trailer. This song is also a sound motif. A ship flies and we hear is flying in the air, Groot screams and turns around as Rocket shoots the guns, we hear explosions and the ching of swords and knifes (movie trope). These are all diegetic sounds that we can hear over the background music, these would be created with foley sounds. This is where the snipets of action change to match the beat of the song to show how fun and action packed the movie is.

The background music stops as the guard says "They call themselves The Guardians of the Galaxy" and the other guard says "What a bunch of A holes". The background music starts again as all of them are in the lineup together. The yellow brand indentity text of Guardians of the Galaxy shows on screen with a swoosh foley sound. The theme tune stops, we hear another swoosh sound as the 'In 3D' text shows on screen and 8.1.14. The 80s music is a sound motif in GOTG.

 

                      Sonic Origins - Official Trailer - YouTube

This is a game trailer for the upcoming Sonic Orgins game that is set to be released on the 23rd of June 2022. The first thing we see in this trailer is a black background and the SEGA logo to create brand identity and make sure the brand is associated with the Sonic games. We hear the SEGA jingle too so we remember the brand. We see Sonic jump out of the Sonic Origins game logo with the ring sting sound and then the Sonic theme tune starts to play. Sonic runs and jumps off the walls and we hear his footsteps which is diegetic sound and because this is an animation, all the sounds will be placed into the trailer in editing. "Play the games that define the generation" text shows up on the screen with the sonic colour scheme and we can hear some non diegetic sound like a punch. Next we see Sonic gameplay and we hear the Sonic rings sting sound again alongside the speed boost and jump motifs from the Sonic games, these are diegetic sounds as they are happening in the game world. We then go back to the animation and we see and hear a helicopter. Again there is a techno non-diegetic sound this time when the "Four fully remastered titles text" shows on screen. We then see more Sonic gameplay. We see the words "All new animated content" on screen with a drawing non-diegetic sound. There is more animation and then the Sonic Origins logo shows on screen.