Go ahead and watch this iconic jump scare scene in Jaws (1975) with full audio, and then without.
There is a noticeable difference in how bad that jump scare gets you. Without that violin screech sound effect, it is just a corpse awkwardly floating out towards him. When I was watching Hereditary (2018) on my computer with headphones on, I got so scared near the end that my only remedy was to turn down the audio. That definitely helped me get through that insanely terrifying last part, because if I had my audio up, it would have been ten times worse. The sound design and score of that movie were really something else, and I even talked about it in a previous post. It really felt like the audio was where 80% of my fear originated from. Here is a link to an interesting article I found that explains a little bit about the psychology of this phenomenon.
But enough about horror movies, this is a planning post for audio in our film opening project. The audio to this opening is extremely important since it can also be used to convey our protagonist's feelings effectively. I imagine the audio as causing genuine stress for her through normal background ambiance, or a quiet soundtrack. Hereditary did something similar to this for most of the movie, building up suspense and dread in the viewer subconsciously that something will go wrong (It, in fact, did go wrong). Ok, I'll stop talking about Hereditary now. Anyways, since this opening is based on a time loop, naturally we want to emphasize time. We could do this by starting the film off with the clock ticking in the therapist's office as the title card is revealed. I'll admit, this is inspired by Back To The Future (1985), which is actually one of the openings that I researched. We will make ours original though, so just hear me out.
We hear clocks before any imagery is shown from the actual film, immediately establishing the plot.
What will differentiate our opening from this, is how the sound is used to convey emotion. We want it to be just a normal clock ticking, not a bunch ticking over each other. I also want to add a faint build-up sound effect before the first shot is finally shown, emphasizing the stress our protagonist is about to go through. Then bam, we are hit with a close-up of our character zoning out. You know that shot in Breaking Bad (2008) where Walter White finds out he has cancer?
This one.
I want our opening shot to be similar to this, except our protagonist is really just zoning out. The audio that builds up to that will really set the tone for this film's opening. Then throughout the scene, the clock will stay ticking throughout. That is, until our character leaves the office and walks to her car, where for the first time there is silence. Maybe some cars in the distance or birds chirping, but generally quiet, peaceful ambiance. Then the whole phone call thing happens, and she loops. Once she loops back, however, the ticking will resume now that she is back in the office, emphasizing her stress with the situation and the whole fact that it is a time loop. We also want her to loop back to when the therapist asks her "So how does that make you feel?". It will signify the loop occurring and also can have double meaning since it is almost like the therapist is asking how she feels about herself being stuck in the loop. That questioning is also another audio layer over the ticking which can add to the overstimulation of the situation. The phone's sound effects where it is hanging up, and also when it calls, can also add to the stress. On top of that, once the loop has occurred, we can add a subtle tense soundtrack in the background as the scene unveils.
These audio effects are easy to mess up and make the scene feel too chaotic, however. We need a good balance that conveys the feeling we want to portray without it feeling poorly edited together. That is the art of audio design. When editing, you really just have to keep listening to it over and over again and tweak a few things each time to perfect it. This is something I am willing to do when it comes to this project because audio is such an integral part of filmmaking. I have a lot of faith in this project, and truly believe it can become something great if we execute it properly.
Sources:
- Fear: The Home Of Horror. (2020, August 27). Hooper Discovers Ben Gardner’s Boat | JAWS (1975). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDs5a0BcEzY
- Clasen, M. (2022, September 17). Without Sound, Horror Movies Just Aren’t Scary | Psychology Today. Www.psychologytoday.com. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-we-love-horror/202209/without-sound-horror-movies-just-arent-scary
- MovieTitleScreens. (2012). Back To The Future 1985 -- OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3isQI0nXQRE
- Reddit - Dive into anything. (2019). Reddit.com. https://www.reddit.com/r/shittymoviedetails/comments/aiuyhn/in_breaking_bad_20082013_the_main_character/ (Where I got the Walter picture)
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