Saw this and thought it was useful for people who want a bit more understanding, http://www.lightsfilmschool.com/blog/film-documentary-sound-design/3204/
Acoustic perspective - bit of understanding
- Thread starter 8salacious9
- Start date
Time and time again I see threads on indietalk about how to get that film "look", depth of field, etc., but almost never threads about audio perspective. So many of the films/shorts posted on indietalk either have little or no audio perspective or even more commonly (and worse still) employ audio perspectives which actually contradict the story and visual images. The majority of indie film makers appear to be either completely oblivious to audio perspective or to know or care so little about it that they seem to be virtually oblivious!
The "look" of a film is only half of the story when it comes to the perception of a film. In other words, what's the point of achieving a film look if the audience is pulled out of and disengaged from the film? There are few things in film making which will disengage an audience quicker and make a filmmaker appear mediocre/incompetent than audio which contradicts and fights the visuals! Now if you're a DP or cameraman looking to showcase your specific skills fine, get the film look, drop in your production sound, a few sound FX and a bit of Foley and you've got yourself some showreel material but if you're trying to make an actual film then you've got to make an actual film rather than a DP's showreel and that means putting as much knowledge, skill and consideration into the perspective of your audio as you do with your visuals!
G
The "look" of a film is only half of the story when it comes to the perception of a film. In other words, what's the point of achieving a film look if the audience is pulled out of and disengaged from the film? There are few things in film making which will disengage an audience quicker and make a filmmaker appear mediocre/incompetent than audio which contradicts and fights the visuals! Now if you're a DP or cameraman looking to showcase your specific skills fine, get the film look, drop in your production sound, a few sound FX and a bit of Foley and you've got yourself some showreel material but if you're trying to make an actual film then you've got to make an actual film rather than a DP's showreel and that means putting as much knowledge, skill and consideration into the perspective of your audio as you do with your visuals!
G
I guess sound is a bit like those subjects at school where its not the first most exciting choice for others, I have found a guy who has a website who posts lots of sound design stuff for transformers and what not, it was really interesting and exciting to watch, it may spur others on, il post another thread with the links to the youtube clips.
That's what's surprising about the indie film community, because actually sound (or rather sound and music courses) is an extremely popular subject choice. Colleges/Universities churn out tens of thousands of graduates a year and only a tiny fraction of them stand any chance of becoming career professionals. That's why it's so easy to find composers who will score a film for nothing or a few hundred bucks and virtually as easy to find someone to do the sound for the same amount.
I think what you're saying is true for indie filmmakers, who generally appear to be far more oriented to the photography side of filmmaking and therefore are either oblivious to sound and/or try to avoid as much as possible the finer points of the sonic side of filmmaking.
G