Sounds like…

Okay, so what I have learned so far this week is that sound is important, noises are important, and audio is a powerful component of story telling.

After the first few weeks of noir106, I found myself so captivated and consumed by the written and visual styles and aspects of noir that I really did not think that audio would add a new dimension that would really affect the stories. 

Boy was I wrong. 

Audio takes noir to a whole new place. It makes sense too, when I really started to think about it. When films changed from silent movies to “talkies,” greater stories could be told and more interesting characters could be developed. When music is added to words, the meaning can be completely changed into something different than it was before. 

With noir, audio changes everything. The fast paced dialogue comes to life and makes an even stronger impact when voice actors add dramatic intonation. The dark visuals are intensified through the ambient, encroaching use of sounds. I say encroaching because noir audio, to me, seems to be focused on two types of sounds: the normal, everyday, nothing-special-to-them sounds, and the loud, surprising, spine-tingling sounds. I noticed this majorly in the ds106radio program I listened to, as well as Touch of Evil opening scene. Whether it’s the specific use of minute sounds sets a creepy scene, such as the distant yet undeniable sound of footsteps, or the startling explosion of a car, noir sounds intensify and take over the story. 

It’s hard to discuss sound because it’s something we experience so often yet never pay attention to, but I’ve definitely begun to realize how powerful sound can be to creating a story. 

For more examples of the ability of audio that you might not realize, check out foley artistry: