Sunday, February 23, 2025

Breaking It Down: Sound

     Welcome back, all! As I've already discussed, audio in horror films is the most important part.  It has been proven that without sound, horror films are not as effective in giving a scare. Sounds (both diegetic and non-diegetic) are manipulated to help add suspense and fear into a film. They can be used to foreshadow, creating atmosphere, but most importantly help in building tension. For my own film opening, I plan to use a mix of sound-based audios, foley sounds that I create, and copyright-free music. As sound plays a huge role in horror films like mine, I need to be really carefully selective of my choices in sound. With that in mind, I decided it was time to start planning out my sounds (at least some) and providing some examples of these sounds in my blog. My goal was to find at least 1 song I could use, 1 sound base audio for one of my effects, and to create 1 foley sound. I completed this and have provided it down below.


Music:

Link to Background Music

    In terms of background music, when searching, I really wanted to include music that added tension to the most stressful part of my opening (the tarot reading) but not something too intense that it would take away from what is going on. After scrolling through and playing a lot of different options in music, I settled on the one linked above. I think it's the perfect balance of what I was going for and am planning to include it when I start to edit my film.


Sound Effect:

Link to Candle Burning Sound Effect

    Next when using a sound base, I wanted to find a good audio for the candles my main character sets up during her tarot reading. I wanted to find that cracking sound that fire makes as a candle burns down. So, I searched through sound bases and looked for candle sounds but found nothing I really loved. I decided to switch to looking through fire sounds instead, and that's where I found the audio I'm planning to use linked above. It's long and nice and subtle, making it perfect for what I need it for. 


Foley

Index Cards used to resemble tarot cards 

    Another sound vital to my film opening is the sound of the shuffling of the cards. It's a sound I really want to emphasize. I originally planned to use a sound base, but I didn't fall in love with any of the audios I found. I decided I needed to pivot. I figured I could use and make my own Foley stage and make a Foley sound for the sound of the shuffling of the tarot cards. I went around my house rubbing things, banging things, and just playing around until I found something that I thought was perfect. My foley for shuffling cards is shown above. I used index cards and tried playing with them in different ways to create many different trials for audios of my protagonist playing with the cards, shuffling them, and collecting them into one pile. I used index cards because the tension creates a very clear sound that was perfect for what I was going for.


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