Sound Design with Jan Meinema

Sound within any form of visual narrative is extremely important, as it makes things believable and makes the audience comfortable. Not only that, but it also helps to envelope them and become part of what they are watching.

In terms of animation, it is important to remember that the sound/ music should be found for the animation rather than just choosing music that fits to the animation, as it plays a very significant role in the overall experience that the audience has when watching the animation. Jan Meinema is a Senior Lecturer at Bath University who has worked upon a number of works including an upcoming feature film called 93 days.

Sound within animation can be used to take over the visuals and reveals the things that don't necessarily need animating. Not only this, but sound can be used to transport people to a different world, a place that isn't real. It can do this by varying the qualities of the sound. For instance, if you were to adjust the spatial qualities of the sound you could indicate to an audience that the character is in a wider environment, despite the fact that the camera is focused on the direct environment. Or if you were to adjust the spectral qualities, you could shift the focus from the bigger picture to one individual. Not only this, but sound can be used in other ways to help support a story. Sound doesn't always have to follow the point of view on screen and when it doesn't, it can extremely powerful. For instance, in Once Upon a Candle by the Animation Workshop, the candle drops down into the draw and hides himself away when he learns of his fate. However, the sound doesn't remain outside of the draw as the shot does, but rather takes on a dimensional shift to create a sense of where the candle is and to help set the scene for the audience.

It's not just the main soundtrack/ speech that makes an animation however. Foley sounds are just as important when it comes to creating a successful animation. Foley sounds help to make the whole thing more believable, the more subtle they are the more believable it is. Not only this, but they can help to give characters that don't talk identity. A great example of this is the fairy in Pan's Labrynth. In the scene when Pan meets the stick insect on the rock for the first time, the foley sounds that were used for this particular character are very strong and give a great example of how such sounds can be used to aide the telling of a story and also setting the tone and mood of a situation. 

(I couldn't find the actual scene, but the fairies are in this one too)

Jan ended the talk with giving us some useful tips when adding sound to our own work. First we should remember that the sound we choose should be being used to help communicate meaning and themes. To get it right, sound ideas should be engaged with during the writing of the script, this way the sound can develop alongside the story. When blending sounds, recording sounds at different perspectives to then blend together helps to create a wider perspective and makes the environment feel more believable. Foley sounds not only help to give characters identity, but they also act as signifiers that help to set the environment. 

Overall, I found this talk extremely interesting and beneficial to me, as I feel that sound within my work isn't my strongest point, yet I was unaware of how to go about making it stronger within my work. However, after listening to the tips that Jan has kindly given us, I feel that my sound design will be a lot stronger within future projects. It has also encouraged me to look into learning how to use Audition, as this is the software that will help me to create good quality sound.