Sound and Music Design for Digital Media

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Sound and music for digital media is an often overlooked art form that is critical to the effective telling of a story. Writer-director George Lucas famously said that "sound is 50 percent of the movie-going experience." Director Danny Boyle mentioned in a n interview that "the truth is, for me, it's obvious that 70, 80 percent of a movie is sound. You don't realize it because you can't see it." At its root, sonic design creates mood and setting - it engages the audience on a primal, emotional level, in ways that imagery alone can not achieve. A cleanly recorded and creatively edited sound effects track can immerse an audience in a fictional world. Music, whether used sparingly or in grandiose fashion, can enhance or subvert the visual component of a film or video game to create cinematic magic. Through feature film screenings, video game play-through sessions, and hands-on production assignments using Adobe Audition CC, students will learn how to direct the emotions of an audience through creative recording, mixing, and editing of sound effects and music.