Audio for Film

While to the average viewer it may seem simple and straight ahead, creating audio for film is a multi-layered, multi-faceted process that can go on long after shooting has stopped.

If you take a moment to dissect the soundtrack of a film you begin to get a picture of just how complex and multi-layered film audio is.  First you have the actual dialog spoken by the actors.  This is recorded on set as the actors perform before the cameras.  Capturing this dialog is the job of the soundman, often working in concert with the boom mic operator who holds a mic up over the actors’ heads, just out of shot.

It’s fairly common, however for the actors to end up dubbing over themselves in what’s called “automated dialog replacement,” or ADR.  This can be due to background interference with the clarity of their voices, or because the director is hoping to fine-tune the actors performance somewhat.

Beyond the dialog there are the other sounds one hears in a film.  Cars driving, doors closing, cupboards opening, glass breaking, guns firing, etc.  Often this sound is captured on set during the actual shooting along with the actors dialog.  However quite often non-verbal audio for film is created off-camera and dubbed in later.

This is often the job of a Foley artist.  Foley artists create and dub in any necessary sound the production microphones might have missed.  This can be anything from the creak of an old car door to the rustling of sheets in a hot and steamy sex scene.

Beyond the dialog of the actors and the mundane, but integral sounds created by a Foley artist, there is what’s known as sound effects.

Foley artists create many sound effects.  However other special sound effects like spaceships, explosions, robot noises and gunfire are created digitally, or recorded from organic sources and then digitally enhanced.  Sound effects are often more spectacular and central to the drama of a film than the mundane window dressing of many Foley type sounds.

Beyond dialog, background noises and special effects there are also of course the actual score of a film or TV show.  A score is not just the theme song heard over the opening and closing credits.  A score is the music we hear throughout the film.  It’s known as a “score,” because it serves to underscore the action we see unfolding before us on film.

While film is primarily a visual medium, audio for film is an essential aspect to movies and TV shows as we know them.  Without a soundtrack film would still be just pictures flickering across a screen such as one would find in a silent movie theater at the turn of the last century.