Credit: snapwiresnaps.tumblr.com

Silent Films were recorded on film without audio and or dialogue. Later, sounds and carols were added and dialogue was portrayed through mimes, or cue cards — like the Road Runner’s “Help” sign, in the Looney Tunes cartoons.

 

Fast forward to the 20th century with all the special FX, animation, lighting effects, cinematography and you still just want to turn up the surround sound. The sound effects that make movies or televisions shows memorable and evoke fear and anticipation in the viewer.
 

Steven Spielberg's classic American thriller-horror film, Jaws in 1975, was the first ever 'blockbuster' film to be released. The star Chrissie Watkins, played by Susan Backlinie, decides to take a swim after leaving a beach party, alone. She is attacked by a shark and dragged every which way until she is unfortunately pulled under. You never see the great white shark in the opening scene, but the sound effect of big jaws swimming closer and getting louder adds to the effect — called foreshadowing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spielberg deliberately didn't show the shark in this scene because he wanted to capture a familiar emotion to the audience. The audience can imagine themselves swimming but it’s likely, they don't have an experience with a shark to relate to.

 

Svetlana Lilova has been a counsellor at Centennial College, Story Arts Centre, long enough to know what makes your mind tick. She has a bachelor of arts in psychology and works with minds and emotions, on a day-to-day basis. She explains how music can change your movie experience.

 

“It can create feelings in people, it creates mood in people - music of any kind and sound. So in the context of a scary movie, it is definitely an effective message to create the ambiance of the movie and heighten the effects of the fear that is in scary movies,” Lilova said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O’Rourke enrolled at Centennial College for film and broadcasting after realizing he prefers to work through music with his visuals and audio. As a Toronto-based artist, he has picked up work composing a soundtrack for an indie video game and for a student film. Born in Toronto, raised in Ottawa, O’Rourke moved back to Toronto when he was 18 because he didn’t see a growing music scene in Ottawa.He got into film later on and did his own research in electronic music and played around with music programs.

 

O’Rourke says most people find electronic music quite simple, but is actually a very intricate process. And like most musicians, he communicates through music and instruments better than through just words.From the musician or editor side of things, you are going to most likely be producing songs or sounds after a movie is filmed. The audio is chosen after filming which means you have guidelines to work with and are working for someone else.

 

RELATED ARTICLE:

http://www.craveonline.com/music/198867-13-kick-ass-horror-movie-soundtracks#/slide/1

 

Charlie Finlay teaches music at Centennial College and is an emerging composer for films. Finlay explains that dialogue takes priority over other sounds in movies but in the case where the sound effect is critical, then, it will take priority. The audio in movies, can only work with a team of three aspects — dialogue editor, sound FX editor, the composer — and sometimes musical elements can overlap.

 

“Composer’s and sound effect editor’s roles are overlapping more and more now because of the sounds that are involved,” Finlay said.

 

“There are pauses in music that are very effective or just the silence just after a piece of music,” Lilova said. “And the silent part of scary movies has a different effect than the sound.”

 

Finlay did the music editing and was assistant to the composer for the film, Survival of the Dead (2009), to George A. Romero. Romero is a famous director and producer of many famous horror films — Deadtime Stories 1 (2009), Deadtime Stories 2 (2011), The Crazies (2010), The Dark Half (1993), Night of the Living Dead (1990), and many more.

 

Keith Ryan O’Rourke started his music career with the music game, Guitar Hero. With no bass teachers available, he bought a bass guitar and taught himself. He developed as a musician by picking up small tips.

 

"It helped to understand music not just from the perspective of (you know) playing the guitar solo or just baselines and stuff like that. Like, learning about vocals and drum lines and stuff like that,” O’Rourke said.

 

                      Click here to see the top 10 horror movie soundtracks: