For this exercise, I recorded the sounds that I listed as possible for my ‘Knocking on a door’ sequence in the previous exercise and then added these sounds to the still images that I had made during Project 2.

This is the result:

One of the major difficulties that I am trying to solve is what sound quality/level to go for. When I work on the sound, I typically use a headset so as not to drive the rest of my family to distraction. I also work at my PC. Once I export the video and play it on my laptop – the sound quality deteriorates significantly. This is particularly true of base sounds.

For this exercise, it was important to get the background sounds right but at the same time adjust the levels when necessary. At the moment that the dialogue starts in the last still, I lowered the background sounds so as to emphasize the conversation that was taking place.

Layering sounds was an interesting exercise that caused me to listen to the story as opposed to looking at the story. Since I am a predominantly visual person, this was a new exercise and it was surprising how much of a story can be told just with sounds.

With hindsight, I would have adjust the sound levels more. For example, when the footsteps approach the door I would have had these footsteps start off softly and then get louder as they get nearer to the door.

I did also wonder if it would be effective create a ‘sudden’ silence at the moment that the door opened to give a more shocking moment before the girl gasps. I decided to re-edit and change these sounds to see what the result would be.

 

The result was a marginal improvement although I’m not sure if the silence created the effect that I was hoping for.

I have been unable to find students who have done a similar exercise, therefore have been unable to comment.