Sound Design
Embedded Files
Sound Design in Film
Combines every piece of audio to create soundscape
Dialogue
Sound effects
Ambience
Score
Soundtrack
Key Elements
Ambience
Environment’s overall atmosphere
Background noises (wind, falling leaves etc)
Most subtle sound element
Dialogue
Actors’ words
Sound Effects
Often serves as another layer of ambience
Can range from everyday sounds to weirder sounds (UFOs ect)
Foley
Recorded during post-production
Artists watch footage and use variety of materials to recreate specific sound
Voiceover
Narration from a character heard offscreen
Music
Composers and sound designers collaborate
Score and audio compilations pieced together to create a track
‘How Edgar Wright Uses Sound’ - Video Essay by ‘The Discarded Image’
Thinks a lot about relationship between visuals and sound
Timed with events on screen (Baby Driver)
Music and sound effects visualised (Scott Pilgrim vs the World)
“Sound design drives an edit”
Sound design exaggerated for non-dramatic actions
Visceral feeling
Quick montage edits
Subversion for comic effect (Water in ‘The World’s End)
Sound design helps transition into next scene
Water & Bell- The World’s End
Soundtrack will swell & build up until something dramatic punctuates next scene
Wright known for his screen wipes (something that moves across the frame)
Sound acts as a wipe effect
Characters constantly move into frame
Sound effects add element that drives motion
In Shaun of the Dead, Ed is established with disruptive sounds
Intrusive sounds are common techniques of Wright’s
Comic jolt that provides cartoonish element
Sound designer Julian Slater already has strong starting points
Visual cues
Action mimicking beat
Wright looks for complex soundtracks
Scott Pilgrim uses video game sound effects predominantly in fight scenes
Littered throughout more subtly
Replicated with musical instruments
(SotD) Constant city ambience of sirens and alarms gives impressions of chaotic urban environment and masks impending horror
(Baby Driver) Lead character has Tinnitus which is constantly blended into the soundtrack
(The World’s End) Technological sounds tying to robots
Uses sound for camera movements
Adds playful layer to punctuate moments
Often synchronised to music (esp in Baby Driver)
Needledrops / Soundtracks
Wright’s Favourites
Lalo Schifrin - Mission: Impossible (1967)
‘Bellbottoms’ is “pretty much the greatest opening track of any rock album ever”
First 60 seconds on ‘Bellbottoms’ made him want to direct a car chase
Blue Song - Mint Royale
He already had the idea for Baby Driver
Music video is where the idea of Baby Driver was first tested
Listens to a song and starts to image a scene
Car chases
Didn’t know the stories, characters or events
“A lot of times you kind of come up with songs and you think, This would be great in something. That’s probably where the Queen song in Shaun of the Dead came from”
Length of song dictates how long getaway driver needs to wait for bank robbers
Reflected through opening scene in Baby Driver
Music plays as plot device within world of the story
‘Why Edgar Wright Makes Some of the Best Movie Soundtracks’ - Video Essay by Vulture
Loves Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino’s use of music
American Graffiti
Had entirely diegetic (within the scene) soundtrack
Bibliography
Bibliography
Andrews, M. (2017) Features: Baker’s dozen: The fabulous, most groovy: Director Edgar Wright’s favourite albums, The Quietus. Available at: https://thequietus.com/articles/22682-edgar-wright-baker-s-dozen.
Frosty (2017) Edgar Wright: The diegetic soundtrack of my life, Red Bull Music Academy Daily. Available at: https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/11/edgar-wright-the-diegetic-soundtrack-of-my-life.
Golsen, T. (2021) The music video that inspired Edgar Wright’s ‘Baby driver’, Far Out Magazine. Available at: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-music-video-that-inspired-edgar-wrights-baby-driver/.
Harrison, M. (2017) Exploring the music of Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy, Den of Geek. Available at: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/exploring-the-music-of-edgar-wrights-cornetto-trilogy/.
How Edgar Wright Uses Sound (2020). The Discarded Image. 28 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxrjJZNQPjM.
Mint Royale - Blue Song (2011). Mint Royale. 2 November. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfrcZsKcVxU.
Riesman, A. (2017) Edgar Wright explains his favorite musical moments in his own films, Vulture. Available at: https://www.vulture.com/2017/06/baby-driver-edgar-wright-music.html.
Shaun of the Dead | ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ (2004). United Kingdom: Universal Pictures. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZqHXb9Q1Gw.
Shields, M. (2020) How Edgar Wright Foregrounds sound, Film School Rejects. Available at: https://filmschoolrejects.com/edgar-wright-sound/.
Simpson, M.L. (2023) What is sound design in film? definition & examples | backstage, Backstage. Available at: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/what-is-sound-design-in-film-75845/.
Visagie, M. (2018) Sound and cinema - baby driver’s masterful use of music, The Cinema Cult. Available at: https://thecinemacult.com/2018/09/21/sound-and-cinema-baby-drivers-masterful-use-of-music/.
Why Edgar Wright Makes Some of the Best Soundtracks (2018). Vulture. 13 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPIugKyxF1w.
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