We might think of a film as an essentially visual experience, but we really can't afford to underestimate the importance of sound on our films and videos. Modern equipment means we can achieve extremely sophisticated sound edits to accompany our picture edits.
A film soundtrack is made up of 3 essential elements:
1: The Human Voice (Dialogue, Voice Over, ADR).
2: Sound Effects.
3: Musical Scores, soundtracks and sound design. Breaking this down further, there are six basic types of sound on screen
DialogueSound EffectsFoleyADRDiegetic vs Non-Diegetic Sound mixing
Dialogue, Voice-over and Narration.
Dialogue: Dialogue is the spoken word. Dialogue assists characterisation: for example, voice texture can provide an element of character i.e.; Talking style – rushed, measured, intonations, accents and so on.
Narration and Voice-over: Although these terms are used interchangeably, they mean slightly different things.
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice that is not part of the narrative, provides a commentary on what's happening on the screen, as in a news report or documentary.
It imparts important story information could be an outside narrator or a key character.
Sound effects
Sound effects are sounds added to a film during post-production. Often they are sounds that we're unable to be recorded during filming or enhance a particular moment or action in a scene. For example, the sound effect of someone being punched has traditionally been created by recording the sound of some hitting a sandbag. A stabbing effect is achieved by stabbing a watermelon. In the film, the actual sound an object makes is often not as ‘realistic’ as a more artificial sound.
Sound effects can be recorded specifically for a film, or sourced from commercial online sound effects libraries, such as Sound ideas.
Foley
These are sounds that are created in a studio by ‘Foley artists’ when they can’t be sourced from a library collection. This might include footsteps, clothing rustling or water splashing.
Atmos (atmospheres) and Buzz-tracks
These are the natural or ambient sounds specific to a particular environment. It's the constant sound that occurs in the background of any location. Close your eyes for a moment. What can you hear?
As these provide a realistic acoustic space for any film scene, it is important that in all your shoots you always take the time to record two minutes of your location’s atmos or ambient sound. You will need it in your edit to cover those gaps and pops on your dialogue track as you shift the dialogue and other recorded sound in your timeline.
ADR
ADR stands for Automated Dialogue Replacement or sometimes: Additional Dialogue Recording. It's a process where the actor re-records their dialogue in a studio when the dialogue recorded during filming is unusable. This may be due to background noise, or where good mic placement was not possible
It can also be used to alter the performance or dialogue of a character.
Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound
This is an important concept in film theory and simply distinguished between the types of sound on screen.
Diegetic sound is sound that is visible on-screen or is implied by on-screen action. It is sound that exists in the characters' world, that the character can hear such as dialogue, sounds made by objects or music that characters are playing or hearing.
Non-Diegetic is a sound source is not visible on the screen or that is not implied by any action such as narrator's commentary, sounds added for dramatic effect or composed score that heightens the drama.