HOW IS SOUND USED IN SCI-FI FILM TRAILERSSUJATA GURUNG

• Elysium (2013)

• Star Trek into Darkness (2013)

• Moon (2009)

ELYSIUM (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIBtePb-dGY

ELYSIUM (2013)Sound AnalysisSound effectsPolice Siren(Mechanical sound of building)

The diegetic sound of sirens implicate crime and possibly indicate that crime is a recurring motif in the narrative. It also indicates that the city is a dangerous place. The has provided background information of the setting of the film. The police sirens usually are on when the police car is chasing someone or getting to the crime location. Through this a possible narrative is implied, and a possible conflict is given in the trailer. In addition having the background music makes the trailer more interesting to watch however more importantly the changes in pace and the layering of the music keeps the audiences attention on the trailer, which therefore allows the trailer to successfully promote the film to it’s target audience. Built of the sound excites the audience

Sound perspective: The sense of appropriate distance between the sound heard by the audience and its origin in the image

0.18 the original music that is introduced is changed with a quicker music which sounds like the sound is getting increasingly closer due to the increase of volume. The sound perspective makes the action seem more realistic and pulls the audience into the narrative of the trailer. This type of sound is heard again when the spacecraft are zooming by in a low angle shot of the space crafts zooming by in the sky. The effect of this is that it makes the audience feel as if they are in the narrative, hearing the space crafts from the low angle perspective. As a result of this it brings more suspense to the action and makes the audience more involved in the action.

Voice over he tone of the voice over is very mysterious, almost as if the voice is whispering it to the audience. This suggests to the audience that maybe the subject that the voice over is addressing is taboo. Furthermore it sounds as if the voice over and the character of Matt Damon are conversing with each other. This is indicated through Matt Damon’s dialogue and the sound bridges between transitions and scenes. This places the audience in the 3rd person omniscient place; it feels as if the audience is observing on the action. However the direct address with the use of the word “you” sympathies with the character of Matt Damon because it feels as if the voice over is asking the audience as well. This method makes the voice over more interesting to hear and keeps us quintessentially ‘hooked’ until the end of the trailer.

Silence These trailer is interspersed with brief silence but the most fascinating one were the silence before the climax. The silence can hold so much power; especially in this trailer there would be a building up of music and just before the important action such as Matt Damon looking up with a close up shot or when important titles show the music stops and the titles or shot comes up with the music. The use of silence can be as important as using music and this trailer establishes that. It makes the audience focus on the action. In this trailer the silence draws the audiences into the action, it involves us and we as the audience become fearful of what might be approaching

Build up of music until explosion

This is important to signify the narrative and provide the audience with the information that there will be battle scenes in the film which will include explosives. Stereotypically speaking this would attract the genre’s target audience of young teenagers to adult male audiences.There is a loud crescendo of the build up when the title ‘ELYSIUM’ appears on the screen. This crescendo puts emphasis on the title, which is purposefully used to make the audience remember the title of the film.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdgRx94W5ko

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013)Sound AnalysisVoice-over The voice over is introduced in 0:24 with “There is greatness in you…” then score changes to

become much faster which correspond to the tracking shot of the main characters running. Moreover the majority of the sound heard by audience is non-diegetic as the sound of the action in the trailer is not heard most of the time. The effect of this is that it pulls the audiences attention to what is happening in the trailer but mainly to the voice over. The consequence of this is that it makes the voice over more significant, it leads the audience to focus on what is being said and what is the importance of what he is saying to the plot of the film.

Beginning is calm but the score changes in the middle to create build up for action

The composers have made it so that the main sound changes are between voice overs. The most prominent and engaging change is in the pace of the score. It corresponds to the action in the film and provides the audience with a feeling of urgency and hints that the film will have a build up to a battle. This non-diegetic indicates disequilibrium in the narrative. It makes the audience excited and nervous when watching the trailer.

Build up of sound The score has the purpose of building up the tension and excitement for the action in the film/trailer. The beginning of the trailer starts out calm, the background music allows the audience to focus on the voice over and the action. As the trailer progresses the there are different layers of sound added and the pace is faster. By changing and adding on more sounds and at different paces it keeps the audiences interested in the trailer. The build reaches the climax at 1:10 with a scene of explosion of a space craft. This helps to highlight the action and suggests to the audience of the narrative of the new Star Trek film.

Spacecraft sound The diegetic sound of the space craft makes the action more believable . In this sense it helps the audience suspend their disbelief. The effect of this is that it makes it much easier for the audience to be engrossed into the narrative of the film and feel part of it.

MOON (2009)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb3exxD2nGo

MOON (2009)Sound Analysis

Satellite sound The trailer starts with a score that has a sad undertone. Moreover the fact that the audience can hear the satellite on top of the score suggests the emptiness of space. This is later on reinforced when the audiences learn that the main character Sam is on the moon to mine Earth’s primary source of energy ‘Helium-3’. Furthermore through the sound bridges we learn that Sam is very lonely, as well as this the main dialogues we hear are of conversation between Sam and the robot. The asynchronous sound of the human voice of Sam and the robotic voice further emphasizes Sam’s loneliness on the planet. Moreover the tone of the dialogue changes, at the beginning of the trailer the tone is happy and excited to go back to earth but later on towards the end of the trailer, Sam sounds desperate and almost crazy. Sam repeats the works “Two weeks” in the corner of the spaceship to comfort himself because there is no one on the planet except him.

“Perhaps you are imagining things”

This dialogue is quite eerie and sinister because it sounds as if the robot has a mysterious underlying comment to the dialogue. At the beginning of the trailer the robot is always following Sam’s wishes and request but when the score changes to become much quicker and more intense the robot’s ‘personality’ changes, it becomes a much more authoritative figure in the trailer. It makes the audience think whether it is Sam you has an upper hand to a scientifically programmed robot or if it is the robot that always that the upper hand but didn’t show it.

“…been up there too long man, you’ve lost your marbles”

This voice over suggests that even the people at NASA do not believe Sam. Furthermore the use of direct address helps put the audience into Sam’s perspective and sympathies with the character. The effect of this is that it makes the trailer more interesting as audiences imagine themselves in his position.

Ending sound At the end of the trailer the score changes to diegetic sound of the wind on the moon with the distant sound of the satellite beeps. This brings back the trailer into a full circle and the equilibrium and disequilibrium the sound track had suggested is back to a new equilibrium. The discordant sound is explained by the idyllic scene and the calmness of the scene suggests to the audience that something is not quite right. This brings in an enigmatic code and makes the audience want to watch the film to find out more.