Evaluation

When approaching the sound design for War of the Worlds, the first sound i wanted to establish, and the thing that drew me to the piece, was the design for the alien probe, or 'snake' as its characterisation would later emulate. The opportunity to bring something that doesn't exist in our world to life was an exciting prospect, especially as it was open to my own interpretation. In Spielberg's film the alien Tri-pods are an advanced technology far beyond human comprehension, and I wanted to give it some futuristic sounds and characteristics, however I didn't want the probe to simply emit an electronic 'hum' or 'buzz'. Whilst Spielberg's Tripods are presumably made out of some synthetic metal alloy with a fictitious name even Marvel Comics would scoff at, which has silent and fluid movements, I wanted to give it much more of a personality that could also be used as a dramatic device to control the tension of the scene. I wanted its every movement to be felt and heard, to resonate throughout the basement adding to the fear of the characters. H.G. Well's published the original novel in 1898, many years before the technological revolution of the 21st century, and so I wanted to homage a more antiquated interpretation of what these machines woud have originally been imagined as. Well's description in the book details 'a walking engine', 'Machine it was, with a ringing metallic pace, and long, flexible, glittering tentacles (one of which gripped a young pine tree) swinging and rattling about its strange body.' With this in mind i set about accumulating a multitude of sound effects featuring metallic creaks and groans, ranging from rusty hinges, chains, winches, the hull of boat, to recordings of dry ice.
All of these sounds were heavily processed before their final incarnation, in Logic I applied varying degrees of reverb to each sound using the Space Designer and PlatinumVerb, altering the room size and dry and wet signals for different resonances.

I used the Channel EQ to make some of the wooden door sounds more tinny, boosting the higher frequencies,  and in some of the more high pitched squeaks, such as the rusty hinge, I thickened the sound by increasing the lower frequencies

 All of the sounds had their pitch shifted at least one octave lower using the Apple Audio Unit Pitch to make a much deeper noise, more befitting of the large intruder stalking the basement.

 Finally, every sound was run through the EXS24 Sample Editor, so i could record each effect with further control and variation to the pitch and timbre.

Despite now having a range of enhanced effects to accomodate the probes twists and turns, I still lacked a more sustained noise to accompany the advances that make the probe appear to stretch out forward. For this i used Logic's Sculpture Modelling Synth, with the Metal World sound, and found that the dobro guitar with the Material set to nylon produced a more desirable effect than when it was set to steel. The attack was minimised and the sustain increased to emulate the stretching sound.

 The other aspect of the probes characterisation was it's snake-like writhing, despite the mechanical nature I very much wanted to emphasise the the menacing slither of a snake stalking its prey, especially as the scene is essentially a game of Cat-and-Mouse. The inspiration for this partially came from finding a rain-shaker at a house whilst filming another project. The sound of the pebbles falling from one end of the stick to the other evoked images of serpentine movement and shaking it instantly recalls the deadly warning of a rattle-snakes tail. As the rainstick was quite short i prolonged the sound using the time slice tool in soundtrack pro.

Although I had opted for a more clunking interpretation of the probe, it is still very obviously futuristic device in the film and I still wanted to make this apparent, chiefly with the light and mechanisms of the 'eye'. An underlying drone can be heard all the way through, made using a phaser effect on Logic with a single sustained note.

 The Dynamics were altered with automation so that it gets louder the closer the 'Eye' is to the screen. The buzz of an arc-welder was also used to emphasise the light beams proximity to the screen. Both these sounds become more apparent during the 'P.O.V' shot from above the probe. For this shot I wanted to take the audience inside the inner workings of the machine. I experimented with a number of techniques to achieve this, including placing an Aquarian Audio H2A Hydrophone inside a desktop PC on the different harddrives whilst alternating the direction of the cooling fans.

 This didn't produce the desired effect however so was ultimately dropped, replaced instead by simply increasing the phaser volume. Another aspect I ultimately chose to omit was giving a voice to the probe. I wanted to give it a greater sense of sentience, and so when the foot slides out from behind the mirror and the probe replays this with its 'camera' I also included a vocal acknowledgement of this, as if it were signalling that it might have found something to the others. To make the voice alien and robotic I reversed a clip of my voice, pitch shifted it and applied reverb. I ultimately didn't include it because I felt that it didn't quite fit the tone of the piece and that having the probe be a silent 'other' was a more sinister embodiment.

The mechanisms of the 'eye' opening and closing was possibly my favourite aspect of the piece. I wanted each individual gear movement to make a sound as it released the internal light-beams. Erik Aadahl's work on Michael Bay's Transformers franchise was influential, with the mechanical transformation sound being created from a combination of everyday objects and devices. Adopting a similar approach, the 'eye' was simply formed from the sounds of a printer, camera-shutter, a filtered laser effect, and the aforementioned arc-welder noise. Very little processing was necessary on these sounds yet the combination results in a convincing mechanism befitting of an alien machine.

A great deal of automation was used on the collection of sounds that embody the probe to maintain consistency with its movements in relation to the screen. The panning was especially important as the probe often slithers from one side of the screen across to the other.

With regard to the foley of the characters I wanted to recreate the sounds in an authentic environment, and so took to my basement armed with a Sennheiser 416 and the Marantz pmd-661. The gravelly floor was a perfect replication of what I imagined the characters in the film would be desperately trying to tread timidly across, the slightest crunch betraying their position. A friend and I did many takes of footsteps and scuffles, varying the pace and weight of the impact. I also took into consideration the fact that our movements would not simulate that of a little girls very well (both of us being 6'4 males), and so we created her footfalls by placing slippers on our hands to give greater control over the dynamics of each step.

Several takes were done of the incriminating foot-slide that nearly gives them away, as this is the most dramatic moment that the piece builds up to, and its volume was increased to exaggerate the noise that breaks the moment of relieved silence.
The other sounds were made using the closest surrogate of the object available to me, the sound of the rat scuttling across the floor was made by scratching my fingernail across brickwork, and the mirror placement was done using a broken table.

The breathing of the characters was also performed by us, and the little girls breaths were pitch-shifted up slightly to remove the lower frequencies. As my basement is a lot smaller than the one in the film, i added Space Designer to nearly all the foley sounds to give the impression of a larger environment.

Two atmosphere tracks were used, one was a stock effect of the rainfall dripping in, the second I recorded in the basement using two tie-clip mics taped to a coat hangar.

With regards to a score I wanted the music to be minimal, instead relying on the groans of the probe to create the tension. I did include a choral synth from Logic, inputted using a midi-keyboard, which only transitioned between 4 sustained notes. The synth had a hissing quality that further added to the snakelike characteristics of the probe. The notes were a little too harmonious and relaxing however, so I double-tracked the score, and pitch-shifted the second layer slightly into a dissonance, which David Sonnenschein describes as being 'necessary to build tension and drama, which create[s] a yearning in the audience for resolution.' The tension of the scene is essential and using the dischordant notes maintains a sense of unease and unresolved danger.

 I was also very conscious of where to use silence in the piece. After one false scare with the rat, the music comes back in and the stops at the crucial moment when the characters hide behind the mirror and the probe is mere inches away from discovering them. This is when the audiences collective breath would be held, and the silence accentuates the characters desperation not to be heard. Erik Aadahl says of the use of silence; 'They create a sense of ease, of calm, that can quickly turn on its head ...It’s fun to make audiences lean in, have them strain to hear something, and then give them a jolt.' I did use a shimmering synth effect to represent the light reflecting from the mirror, but dropped it right down in the mix so as not to distract from the tense moment. After it appears that the danger is passed and the audience breath a sigh of relief, the girls foot slides out. This is the classic horror 'jump' moment, and I used a percussive bass sound to accentuate the surprise and push the levels to their limit. An ominous bass drone follows as the probe slides towards the protagonists, and the choral synth returns in its dissonance and builds to a crescendo before it is revealed that they got away. I think the timing of this sequence was well executed, the silence punctuated by the proximity of the probe as it moves its 'eye' in the mirror brings the tention to boiling point, which then eases off letting audience drop their guard, before the big jump brings that tension mounting back again.

Overall I'm pleased with the finished piece, I think a good tension is established and punctuated through the use of silence and the movements of the probe. The sounds of the probe are both other-worldly and familiar at the same time and the automation is consistant with its onscreen action, I would have liked to build an even bigger range of sounds for it's movement in hindsight however. Its menacing presence is felt throughout the piece making the audience empathise with the characters plight. The foley levels are about right, I took into consideration the desperate silence the characters would be trying to maintain, however I wanted their movements to still be audible. The minimal score doesn't distract from the situation and aids in manipulating the tension towards the end. It is an atmospheric and nail-biting scene  that is very believable.








Bibliography

Isaza, M. 2010, Erik Aadahl Special: The Sound Design of 'Transformers' [Exclusive Interview], accessed 20 December 2012, <http://designingsound.org/2010/03/erik-aadahl-special-the-sound-design-of-transformers-exclusive-interview/>

Sonnenschein, D. 2001, Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema, Michael Wiese Productions, Los Angeles, p176

Wells, H.G. 1898, The War of the Worlds, Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (31 Mar 2005) London. p69-70

Transformers Sound Design

http://soundworkscollection.com/videos/transformers2

In the above video Erik Aadahl and Greg russell discuss their work on the sound design for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallan. Transformers remains one of my biggest childhood obsessions, and Michael Bay's shallow storytelling did a reasonable job of ruining that for me, however from a technical standpoint these films are an incredible achievement. Aadahl explains how they 'want the picture and sound to evolve together, they shouldn't be these separate things that then at the end you stick together'. I wholeheartedly agree with this philosophy, but have never been able to put it into practice as every project I've done the sound on so far has always been given to me at the last minute.

They also detail a particular scene where a rare moment of silence is used (sandwiched in-between explosions and destruction) where the two humans are hiding in a hut with the decepticons hunting them out. Russel says 'to be able to scale everything back, to draw an audience in, to be able to feel that terror, and then to let it all hang out and explode, its pretty dramatic.' The basement scene in War of the Worlds involves a very similar scenario of cat-and-mouse with a tension building to a boiling point before it appears the worst is over, then suddenly the 'jump' moment comes when the girls foot slides out. Using a moment of silence before a big sound ramp is a very effective way controlling the audiences engagement with the dramatic tension of a scene, and I intend to adopt a similar approach with War of the Worlds.

The clip also has a section on their sound recording techniques and and interesting part about the sound design on one of the characters, Aadahl says that 'Science Fiction is the perfect opportunity to twist reality' and I plan on doing that when establishing the sounds of the alien probe. Some elements of the transformation sounds, printers and machinery, could be used to bring the probe to life, however I don't want to rely too much on a futuristic mechanism as it would be a little too similar to a Transformer.

Ben Burtt

In this video Ben Burtt discusses the sound Design for Pixar's Wall-E, and how in animation a sound designer has to establish a whole world from scratch. Director Andrew Stanton says 'because there isn't dialogue that often, it puts all this emphasis on every little squeak, beep, squawk, now they all have to mean something'. This is very useful when considering my approach to The War of the Worlds Scene, as the alien probe is animated and there is no dialogue in the clip, its every movement should punctuate both its intent and characteristics.
There is also a very insightful section on the ways the futuristic sound effects are created, often using mundane everyday objects.