Sound in Narrative Film: Audio Production, Editing, Mixing, and Design

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Writer-director George Lucas famously said that "sound is 50 percent of the movie going experience." Director Danny Boyle mentioned in an interview, "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." Sound and music design for digital media is oftentimes an overlooked art form that is critical to the effective telling of a story. At its root, sonic design creates mood and setting. It engages the audience on a primal, emotional level, in ways that imagery cannot alone achieve. A cleanly recorded and creatively edited sound effects track can immerse an audience in a fictional, manufactured reality. 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 sessions, critical readings, video essays, and hands-on production assignments, you will gain a broader understanding and appreciation of sound design and learn how to direct the emotions of an audience through creative recording, mixing, and editing of sound effects and music. This is a hybrid critical studies and production course, and as such, you will "learn by doing" in both lecture and lab settings.