Audio In Noir
Audio is very important when it comes to any movie or TV shows. It can make the audience happy or empathetic. It can even make their heart’s race with anticipation. Audio is a great addition that, when used appropriately, can help make a piece of entertainment into a masterpiece.
Audio is not just about music, however. It can also be an onomatopoeia or even sound effects. These are used to enhance the emotions that the directors want the audiences to feel.
In the Touch of Evil opening shots I think that the second one that isn’t remastered was much better than the first. The music in the scene made me feel more anticipation than the first scene. We all knew that the bomb in the car would go off some time soon, but we didn’t know when. The music used in the second clip was just was to cheery in my opinion. It didn’t give me that “when will it happen” feeling.
The audio definitely drives stories in a way that nothing else can. It tells you what you should be feeling and when you should be feeling it. For example, Harry Potter is supposed to be a very serious movie about the fight to end the prejudice that was in the wizarding world. However, someone made a trailer for the sixth movie into a teen comedy, and because of the music used your brain thinks the movie is a lot happier than it really is.
When we hear music we change our attitude to fit the music. So when there is happy music playing we become happy, and when there is scary music playing we become tense and frightened.
I listened to the ds106 radio on Thursday when “Double Indemnity” was playing. The story itself was very good in my opinion, but what really sold me was the music. There were parts in the story where I wouldn’t have known how to feel if it weren’t for the music. I knew when I had to anticipate something bad happening and I knew when Walter and Phyllis were together because of the sharp high pitched sounds and the slow sensual tones, respectively.
In all, audio is a very big thing. Without music and certain sound effects we would never experience some of the best scenes in movie history the same way.