What do sound effects do?

• simulate reality (you see it, you hear it--you must believe it]

• create illusion w/ambient sound-- couple having dialogue in cafe; the sound editor places them “there” with his crowd walla for the sound

--woman sits in her living room, door opens and husband walks in: by adding sound, can inform audience he’s driven up, parked his car, walked to the door and used his key to unlock it…none of it was shot, it’s illusion created with effects

• establish mood--cowboy campfire; add offscreen owl=lonesome--same scene, add wolf howling=danger--add gunshot=another human nearby; is he friend or foe?

• evoke emotion (anticipation, possible danger, fear, joy, etc.)--woman snuggling in bed, waking up, hearing distant train whistle=lonesome--hear kids playing outside=completely different emotion

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So, OK, what do sound effects do, anyway? Didja ever stop to think about it?

Sound is an absolutely indispensable aspect of modern film

If you doubt it,just try this experiment: turn your TV to any show, watch for a minute or two, then turn your back on the screen: you'll find the soundtrack alone supplies you with enough details to keep track of the story

Now try the same thing with the picture…watch the screen, but turn off sound--the storytelling is much more difficult to follow

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Sound effects can simulate reality (you see it, you hear it--you must believe it]

They can create illusion with ambient sound--for example, let's say there's a scene with a couple having a dialogue in a cafe; the sound editor places them “there” with his crowd walla for the sound (walla, by he way, is the industry term for the sound o

Another example: there's a scene with a woman sitting in her living room, the door opens and her husband walks in-- by adding sound, you can inform audience he’s driven up, parked his car, walked to the door and used his key to unlock it…none of it was s

Sound effects can also establish mood: take for example a scene of a cowboy seated by his campfire.... add an off-screen hoot of an owl and the mood is lonesome; add a wolf howling and you imply danger; add a gunshot--and you've sent the message there's a

Sound effects also evoke emotions--anticipation, possible danger, fear, joy..Picture a woman snuggling in bed, waking up: hearing distant train whistle....that brings forth a very different emotion from what we might feel if we saw her waking up in the sa