How Does Sound Design Play a Critical Role in Storytelling?
Imagine a world where sound breathes life into every frame of a film. In this insightful Q&A, a Producer and a Director share their expertise on the critical role of sound design in storytelling. The discussion begins with how sound design immerses the audience in an adventure and wraps up with the necessity of sound design for impactful storytelling, featuring a total of four unique insights from industry professionals. Prepare to explore the intricate ways sound can transform a narrative.
- Sound Design Immerses Audience in Adventure
- Sound Design Enhances Environmental Message
- Sound Design Mirrors Emotional Journey
- Sound Design Essential for Storytelling Impact
Sound Design Immerses Audience in Adventure
In "Golden Hour: First Mt. Everest Mountain Bike Rally 1993," the story was brought to life through a collection of poems I wrote throughout the journey. Those poems became the narrative backbone of the film, reflecting not only the physical challenges but also the emotional and spiritual depth of the experience, from my perspective as one of the first seven participants in the First-Ever Mt. Everest Mountain Bike Rally in Sikkim, India, in October 1993.
The crew was just three of us-unheard of for a multi-award-winning documentary of this caliber. Mark Schulze and I rode as two of the seven mountain bikers, while Marco Eveslage, a National Geographic Director of Photography, filmed every moment, often under extremely difficult conditions. Imagine navigating the unforgiving 100-mile terrain of the Himalayas-steep climbs, bone-jarring descents, and thin air-while also documenting the journey.
Sound design played a critical role in immersing the audience in this adventure. You could hear the rhythmic pulse of the bike wheels on rocky singletracks, the chains shifting, and our breaths coming hard in the high-altitude silence. The fluttering prayer flags, the chanting of monks, and the wind roaring through the valleys all wove together to evoke the majesty of the setting.
My poetry, spoken throughout the film, became intertwined with these sounds-reflecting the awe, struggle, and beauty we experienced along the way.
The musical soundtrack by Candace Love brings that location and time in history alive through her use of traditional Indian instruments.
Despite having only a crew of three, we poured everything we had into capturing the essence of the journey. For Mark and me, riding while contributing to the film was a true test of our physical and mental endurance. "Golden Hour" is not just a documentary; it's a love letter to the Himalayas, to the spirit of mountain biking and to the Sikkimese people who opened their hearts and rutted yak trails to us enthusiastic American athletes.
Sound Design Enhances Environmental Message
In our short film Rising Tide, which highlights the environmental impact of oceanic pollution, sound design played a crucial role in immersing viewers and reinforcing the film's message. The story follows a solitary fisherman navigating an eerily desolate coastline, and the soundscape was integral to conveying both his isolation and the environmental fragility around him.
We used layered ambient sounds, waves lapping against the shore, the creak of his weathered fishing hut, and the distant cries of seagulls, to create a vivid sense of place. However, as the narrative unfolds and focuses on the impact of pollution, we introduced subtle yet jarring audio elements. Metallic clinks of discarded cans washing ashore and the faint hum of machinery in the background gradually disrupted the natural soundscape, symbolizing humanity's intrusion on nature.
The sound design wasn't just background, it became a storytelling tool. By letting the environment speak, we drew the audience deeper into the fisherman's world and allowed them to feel the emotional weight of the narrative. This project demonstrated how powerful sound can be in creating atmosphere and amplifying a story's message without needing additional visuals.
Sound Design Mirrors Emotional Journey
Sound design is a critical storytelling tool in filmmaking. One project that highlights this is Teacups; a short film we created raising awareness about mental health. The narrative followed an individual's internal struggles, expressed through their daily interactions and inner monologue.
We used sound design to immerse viewers in the protagonist's experience. Subtle sound effects, such as a distant heartbeat, crunching footsteps and muffled ambient noise, reflected their anxiety and impending dread. As the character's confidence grew and realizations were had, the soundscape shifted-layers of uplifting music intertwined with natural, clear ambient sounds, symbolizing clarity and hope. Every sound element was carefully crafted to mirror the emotional journey, enhancing the visual storytelling and resonating deeply with the audience.
Sound Design Essential for Storytelling Impact
I don't believe there is a project where sound design didn't play a critical role in its storytelling in my experience. Sound design for me allows for setting the emotional undertone, feeling, and energy levels to any film or video. Without sound design a story becomes flat, lifeless, feels empty, and lacking in any spirited sense of what good storytelling is all about. What I find often disappointing is the lack of appreciation that sound design brings to storytelling regardless of the genre of video it's applied to. For instance, take a 3-minute corporate video and slap some random single sustained soundtrack in the background. Boring. I can't tell you how many times I see this approach and ask myself why? Sound design, and the use of a great music track and underscore even in a corporate video, favors the opportunity to emphasize importance, strong convictions, and beliefs. It can embolden a viewer's experience when conveying a company's historic legacy and so forth. Then when implementing various music tracks to change up the energy within a video and its story, suddenly when you fade that music down and briefly out to a dead silence, you've created a moment for pause and reflection. A moment for something that can be emphasized as being a statement of extreme importance, something to be intently listened to. These moments in storytelling cannot be created without great sound design. Which goes to show that both sound, and the lack of it are equally reliant upon one another to bring forth their importance and usage within any great storytelling.
