The POWER of building an emotional sound-scape to your video
Have you ever watched a video clip of something and been left just a little bit unfulfilled?
Maybe you just didn't bond with the story, or perhaps you felt it just lacked.... "something"...
The truth is, it takes a lot of time and effort (not to mention creativity) to add in the little things that make up the full picture - no pun intended. Consequently, many videographers or editors are more concerned with getting a finished cut out to a client, than they are in making the film more "engaging".
To be fair, you don't always get the right "sounds" at the time of filming, and this can be a problem if you are trying to enhance a particular moment, or create a feeling, or even send a message.
Hollywood made an industry out of sound effects. Foley artists have been re-creating sound effects in post for every type of possible use for decades. Need some fight sounds? No problem. Phone books make a noise like a thump to the chest, meat slapped on a bench top sounds just like a punch in the face, and snapping celery and carrots sound a lot like bones breaking...! Yikes..... but much less painful than a real smack in the chops for your talent!
In the case of the film above, it would be easy to add music to the time lapse and be done with it. I know, I've done it plenty of times! However, looking at the clip I noticed that there should be more of a message in the scene. What would constitute a message? In this case the message would be that the family sized home has a large child friendly front yard. Oops, got no kids to show playing at the time of filming? No problem. In the editing stage I purchased sound bites from a service (there are plenty of them around - Audioblocks / Soundsnap / Audiohero etc) and mixed the exact sounds I liked at a particular moment in the clip.
I didn't feel it was enough to just have the sound of one child in the yard... That would be a bit limiting wouldn't it - especially if a potential buyer had 5 kids, and were very family oriented? I elected to mix in multiple clips to get the right "feel" of the kids enjoying themselves playing and interacting with each other. The overall ambience works and builds a powerful emotional picture.
The end result is a deep soundscape to finish an otherwise nice scene, and turn it into one with feeling, emotion, and the subliminal message that families should come to view this property.
The little bit of extra time it takes to add the right sound or ambience, at the exact right time can be the difference between a good clip, and a GREAT clip, or in the case of social proof, the difference between an emotionally engage-able (is that a word?) clip, and one that does not build any relationship or form any bond between creator and viewer.
For more information on how I can add that "little bit extra" to your next video project, drop me a line, or call me directly. It doesn't take that much more effort to really make your film connect with your audience, and the value it creates could be the difference between a customer remembering your brand, or forgetting it as soon as they have finished watching....
Kirk Vogel
021 449-580
