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Some analysis on the sound of  “Insidious” Trailer

By starting the trailer off with a distorted drum sound it shows movement straight away within the trailer. This catches the audience attention as it’s the first thing they hear.

As the titles are shown on screen a scraping noise occurs. This suggests to the audience that either something is coming or has been locked away. As the noise becomes loader it gives the audience the impression that something is getting closer. This gives the audience a warning of what’s yet to come throughout the trailer due to titles being shown at the same point.

The first piece of dialogue we hear in the trailer is “are you ready”. This gives the audience the impression that something is about to happen. The character has the perception of being brave and strong duo to him answering “yes”. This creates a sense of weakness within the audience as they are yet to know what will happen to the character.

As the clock starts ticking it suggests that time is key within the film. It gives the impression that the trailer is counting down to the climax of the trailer. As the ticking goes straight into the family voices and babies crying it gives the audience a perception of vulnerability as the crying tell us there’s something wrong. Family life and happiness is represented by the sounds that follow the ticking. This creates warmth within the audience due to them believing their family is happy and perfect.

As we hear the same blades that we heard at the beginning of the trailer it gives the audience the feeling that it’s about to get a lot worse. The blade noise may suggest that a knife is being used.

“He’s not in a comer” the way the female character says suggests that worse things have happened. This is due to the lack of emotion being shown within her voice. She’s very straight to the point betraying strength and care.

The repeat of the blade noise reminds the audience that fear is still there. Suggesting noise is part of the film as is repetitive throughout the trailer.

A rocking chair is a typical horror movie noise. It builds suspense within the audience giving the idea that a climax will be reached. The noise comes to a stop when there’s a slam telling the audience that the climax is present.

As we hear a door creek and slam closed it helps to build up suspense within the audience. This gives us the idea that something is going to occur. Small whispering voices make the audience feel vulnerable for the family. It suggests that something is there, whispering tells us they are wanting to be quite (creeping up on the family).

Crackles, heavy breathing gets loader suggesting someone is getting closer. Creates the audience the sense to find the film more real.

As the antagonist shouts “Now” it gives the audience the idea that the family are being haunted and threatened. As “Now” is such a demanding word it makes the audience have the feeling that if the protagonist doesn’t do it then the character will get tortured/hurt. This makes the creates a sense of anxiety within the audience due to them being scared for the character.

Following the scream is a baby crying. This suggest that something has happened within the family making the audience feel more disturbed due to identifying the crying coming from a baby.

“Something in there with him” suggests that they are not alone. This creates fear within the audience as they have the impression that the antagonist is in the room with him. The character says the word with a sense of horrification, this gives us the impression that she’s become more scared throughout the trailer. This gives us the idea that the horror is getting worse and worse.

Screaming of the character name “Dolton” suggests that the character is frightened. This shows the character’s vulnerability towards Dolton. As we hear a steal clang noise it suggests that the climax has been hit after a built up. This makes the audience think about what’s happened within the scene.

The dialogue creates a buildup due to the characters making it clear that something supernatural is the problem, causing anxiety within the audience. By not using heavy sound in the back it suggests that what the characters saying is important making the audience focus on the dialogue, not the background sound. The clicking and spinning sounds in the background suggest that some kind of investigation is going on.

“I don’t think that wiring is the problem here” gibes the audience the idea that there is something supernaturally wrong with the son and its him that’s haunting them not the house. This makes the audience feel vulnerable towards the child and the family as they believe it’s not his fault something may be within him.

Another repeat of the blade noise suggests there is another climax on the way. This created fear within the audience due to them being familiar with the sound and horrifying events occurring together. This creates the audience to feel on the edge within the trailer.

“I wanna leave” suggests that the protagonist has taken it too far. It shows that the character has no relationship with the protagonist anymore due to her intention to get away. This makes the audience feel afraid for the young boy due to him not being able to control what happens. It gives them a sense of hope for the young boy and makes the antagonist seem cruel.

As there is a high pitched buildup until the antagonist says “what is it” it gives the audience the impression that something bad is going to happen. By using a high pitch sound it shows how quick the climax is coming creating anticipation within the audience. This suggest that the protagonist may have moved onto the parents.

As the sound goes quiet it suggests that the antagonist has disappeared giving the audience a feel of relief. Sound starts to build up again with the ticking of the clock. “It’s not the house that’s haunted, it’s your son.” Shows that the climax has been reached giving the audience that the antagonist is within the character. This makes the audience feel sensitive and fearful towards the rest of the family.

A repetitive stream of sharp noise builds up towards the end of the trailer. Due to hearing some familiar character voices shows that there is normality within the supernatural of the trailer. These include featured such as breathing. This makes the audience question how the film is going to end. It is a buildup towards the climax.

As the blade noise is repeated for the final time it reminds the audience that the protagonist is still there, the audience believe it’s the end of the trailer as the climax has been hit. By repeating the blade noise make the audience question how the film is going to end enticing then to go and watch it.

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Some analysis on OST of “Ghost In the Shell”(1995)

Ghost in the shell (1995) is one of the best Japanese animations that can be regarded as a legendary level, and its original music was composed by Kawai Kenji, one of my favorite composers in film, TV and games industries. I have been admiring and imitating his work for years.

There are those director- composer collaborations that are so perfect. It’s unimaginable to conceive of the movie without that music. Jaws, Star Wars, Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Out of Africa. The audio-visual paring in Ghost in the Shell’s opening sequence certainly belongs in that pantheon.

Having seen that film multiple times, I have some ideas of some deeper meaning of the track ‘making of cyborg’

Research for the meaning of the lyrics & genre of the music：

In the book ‘Anime and Philosophy’ there are several chapters dedicated to Ghost in the Shell. In chapter 19, “Cyborg songs for an existential Crisis”, author Sarah Penicka-Smith not only gives us a translation of the lyrics, but also a great interpretation.

Whenever we listen to a music, our brain tries to make sense of what we are hearing. Usually this is easy, we can identify whether a song is pop, rock, jazz, dance, etc. even we can’t explain how or why we know that it is. To make these judgements, the brain draws back from previous listening experiences and compare that against established conventions and associations. It’s automatic and it stems from our need to categorize to make sense of the world around us.

When it comes to Kawai Kenji’s score for the opening of Ghost in the Shell, the music defies categorization, mirroring how the film’s protagonist. Major Motoko Kusanagi doesn’t fit neatly into any box either. She is a cyborg: a human machine hybrid, and what better way to acoustically represent that then with a score of the same nature. As we listen, we struggle to place the music and the effect is not only transfixing but unsettling. Then, when you add the visceral and almost the surrealist imagery of Major’s mechanical birth, the result is transcendent cinema. In her essay Pinecka-Smith points out that the music combines elements of Japanese and Bolgarian folk music; the lyrics are in ancient Japanese, yet the music makes use of synthesizers, a late 20th century technology.

First phrase: As Major becomes invisible, the source sound fades and the shake of a Kagura Suzu bell (a traditional Japanese percussion) summons a trio of singers, kept in time by a single drum. I agree with Penicka-Smith in her analogizing of the music with Major.  “The music matechs the graphics of the opening credits: we see Major in all her component parts, she is gradually assembled, her skin added, and her hair and body dried of its amniotic fluid. Against this, the music is simple, spare; like the Major in her base components” Although the instrumentation is, according to the essay, ‘consistent with minyo (traditional Japanese folk song) performance’, there is one significant omission. The shamisen, which usually accompanies most Japanese folk music is missing. Another departure from minyo tradition is the fact that the three singers closely harmonize in a particular way. This she identifies as being in a Bulgarian folk style and we also have a quote from an interview with the composer to back this claim up:

“At first the director had requested primitive drum sounds [for the opening]. I felt it would be even more effective if there were a chorus on top of it, something in a Bulgarian style. There are folk singers with very distinctive voices in Japan, and that’s who we found for the vocal roles.” – Kawai Kenji interview with GameSetWatch.com

But, even without the composer’s confirmation, if we listen to an example of Bulgarian folk music side by side with ‘Reincarnation’, the stylistic similarities speak for themselves.

Bulgarian folklor- Kaval sviri

The fusion of these two cultures gives the music an eerie ambiguity. As is mentioned, anything that defies categorization can be a source of unconscious anxieties, just like the cyborg entity of Major herself: not quite robot, not quite human.

Kawai Kenji is a Japanese composer who drew from the folk music from his own country as inspiration which makes sense. But is it a strange combination with a folk choir from Bulgaria?

Here is a video with the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir performed on The Tonight Show promoting their album, The mystery of the Bulgarian Voices.

If dig deeper, I found is actually interesting, and it feels like a little bit of socialist and capitalist history. The kind of music from the video is actually not really Bulgarian folk music. It turns out that this kind of female choir were actually invented in 1951 by a Bulgarian composer named Filip Kutev. He did two innovative things. First, he took traditional village songs, which are usually monophonic (which means just one voice or singer) and rewrote them adding 4-5 different harmonies, dynamic changes and tempo changes. Then, he toured the country, rounding up the best female singers to be part of a new national folk chorus. Efforts like these apparently took place throughout the Eastern Bloc and they stemmed from a larger, ideological need to generate a sense of nationhood through essentially inventing a national music. As Kalin Kirilov note in the journal, MUSICultures: “Soon after their creation, the folk ensembles and became the official form of Bulgarian folk art and the one exclusively marketed to the rest of the world.” By the 1980s, the music of the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir had reached the ear of A&R executive at Nonesuch Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music. In 1987, they released the album The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices which was marketed as exotic, spiritual, and ancient music. Since 1951 certainly is ancient history? Anyway, as Jonny Carson mentioned their album won a Grammy and with world music emerging as a genre in the mainstream music market in the 1980s, it’s no surprise that this Bulgarian “folk music” would have crossed the paths of a professional composer like Kawai Kenji.

Lyric from ‘making of cyborg’ translated into English:

Because I had danced, the beautiful lady was enchanted， Because I had danced, the shining moon echoed, Proposing marriage, the god shall descend， The night clears away and the chimera bird will sing, The distant god may give us the precious blessing.

Sarah Penicka-Smith makes the observation that these lyrics, which are from a preparatory wedding song, related thematically to the conclusion to film, which is the merging of the Puppet Master and Major into a unified, expansive consciousness. The final line, “The distant god may give us the precious blessing’ is not sung in the opening sequence but only in the final credits, when ‘Reincarnation’ returns as a longer track called ‘Reincarnation’ where the music provides symbolic closure to the film. For me, this film is filled with tension between man and machine, and between the past and the future which are all considered into the personal narrative of Major. The music in the opening sequence reflects the tension in several ways. By choosing ancient or classical Japanese, which fell out of use in its spoken form by the end of the 12th century and it’s literary form by the end of the 19th century, this song engages with a sense of a pre-industrial lost era. Yet, the setting of these lyrics is postmodern, ambiguous and futuristic through its blending of Japanese and Bulgarian music and electronic methods of production. In some ways, making a cyborg is a microcosm of the film’s central tensions. Finally, the penultimate lyric, “The night clears away and chimera bird will sing” is, and this is my speculation, a reference to Major. A chimera is a mythical animal often portrayed with a lion’s head, wings and a snake-like tail. In scientific terminology, it refers to an organism with genetic tissue from more than one species. Since, by the end of the film the Major merges with the Puppet Master, a whole new world of limitless possibilities open to her in this chimera form. And, like a bird finally able to sing, she’s liberated from her shell.

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Composition Inspired by “MIND THE GAP” Pt2

The outline of the music is my pilgrimage for the legendary “MIND THE GAP” voice, the voice that makes people believe in love again

To create a sense of being on the scene, it start with a tube approaching sound, tube station sound lays background

Different “Mind the gap” announcement shows montage of searching and tracing

To create a sense of hesitating,  confusing, it starts with piano in two basic Maj9 chords (I call it ‘Sour chord’) 

Sound from ticked barriers makes me feel insignificant: people come and go everyday, trains run one by one, life goes day by day, what is the meaning of our existence?

Tremolo strings added to create sense of breathing and enhance the mood.

The security announcement raised the tense of the emotion, followed with staccato strings, a sense of hurry, anxiety and unexpected is created.

Layer by layer, different instruments added to create new levels of emotion. In chorus part, a groove sound like train noise is added to indicate the high speed running underground trains.

TOOLS: Steinberg Cubase Pro 8, Native Instruments KONTAKT 5, Steinberg Groove Agent SE4, Native Instruments effect plugins bundle, WAVES audio plugins, Brainworx Plugins

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Composition Inspired by “MIND THE GAP” Pt1

Totally by chance, touched by an article in WeChat (a Chinese social app) moments This article shared about the story of a widow goes to Embankment station to hear the voice of her deceased husband. 

I was totally shocked by it and made some further research on Youtube:

As an International student who has only been in England for a few months, it is really hard for me to put myself in such a situation. 

However, as I often visit London and take tube transportation very often, I have some personal feeling for the tube stations.

It is a good idea to create some work from the point of view of myself. It is going to be a story about seeking and exploring.

To create a sense of present, I decided to record some samples at real place with my ZOOM h4 portable recorder.

Station Closure, security announcement, tube arrival noise, inside tube noise, street artist and different “MIND THE GAP” announcement in different stations.

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Some Notes Working on the sound design project “Intruders”

Part1, 0-0:57 As shown in the video, the environment can be regarded as an abandoned, hollow place which has not been visited for a long time and now get intruded intentionally or accidentally. There are some obvious details like: grimed and dusty ground, shabby facilities, stripped and fragile wall coating,heavy grown moss, etc. which has a strong sense of plaintive, mysterious and vintage. From the POV of the intruder, it can be suggested that a recall of past stories is going through the intruder’s mind.

Part2, 0:57-1:23 This part casted a huge contrast to the previous one – green moss, plants, water droplets, brighter colors. Everything seems to be peaceful and unreal.

Part3, 1:23-2:26 Suddenly POV moved to a hospital-like and industrial place. After a short scene of pushing

the wheelchair forward, it suddenly cut into a scene of industrial, rusty and antiquated space with a rusted and terrifying incinerator, which can be regarded as a power room of the whole building.

Part4, 2:27-3:41 Right after the incinerator hatch opened, it cut into a scene of peaceful layout of different rusty, antiquated and grimed scene focused on some specific items with a fast motion. Hatched closed.

Part5, 3:41-end A pigeon was released from the building and the POV moved outside of the building.

As far as I’m concerned this is a story between a mental patient and a hypnotist in relation to the scene of wheelchair and corridor which can be referred to a hospital. The incinerator can be regarded as the deepest part of the patient’s ego. The hypnotist successfully dug deeply enough feel what the patient has been experiencing and found the secret hidden inside it for years and released the patient from self-prisoning.

Besides all the diegestic sounds, more sound designs are needed to keep in track of the story setting. At the begging the very obvious hypnotist’s voice faded out and the diegestic sound of the scene faded in to show the process of being hypnotized, simulating the change from the reality to a dream.

In the dream, the POV might be from the patient or the hypnotist or the combination of them together because the hypnotist might have intruded into the sub-conciousness of the patient.

More dreamy ambient sound are used to enhance the sense of unreality. Hyper-diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are used to enhance the texture of items: rusty rough metal, hollow spaces, unreal kids laughers showing some happy memories, the insane screaming and swears symbolize the agony and conflict of the patient, clock tickles enhancing the intensity of time elapsing. At the end, the deep breath symbolizes the release of the soul. The mute of the diegetic pigeon sound was designed to emphasize the subjectivity of the surreal sense of self-relief.

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Evaluation on the previous composition

To evaluate this project, the most successful part of this project is the sampling of the natural noise in daily life and the application of the audio samples to the musical composition. The use of sound effects also enhanced the atmosphere it creates, leading the motivation of the composition afterwards, settling the colour of the whole piece and creating more possibilities. Additionally, the whole composition is developed from the random recordings from daily life; it is successful in developing ideas from the unknown to some specific ones. Successful experiment in musical sampling is conducted. Also the idea of hidden information is a good point to dig deeper. If I was supplied with more money, better recording devices can be used to make samples in a higher quality, therefore more details can be performed, making the final outcome more vivid. Also with higher quality of sampling, the distortion in producing can be reduced due to less post digital processes. With more time, sampling can be conducted for another time after the whole theme and colour is determined, in order to match perfectly with the theme. Also, more hidden information can be added to the track. Therefore, the limitation of work should be set due to the limited resource (money & time). It’s necessary to be aware of financial and time limitations as these can determine the outcome of the work. However, there’s no plan or management for time in this project. Resource is valuable, an outline of the whole project should be roughly drawn after the primary research to ensure sufficient resource for each step and enough time for mistake correction and refining. The transformation and link though different thinking is needed to finish this project. The link among Visual-Literal-Sonic thinking is built though this project, which can be applied to the next one better after the experiment this time. With more research, I found that the connection between different senses are called “Synesthesia” in a heavier condition.

Strengths about the project: Being able to work on the randomly collected elements, making them into an integrated piece with a connection between different feelings. Weaknesses about the project: Too fragile within each section to become a mature work of music. Too late to determine the key word. I will pay more attention on the arrangement and organization of the composition. Each step of research is based on the previous one, the risk I took can be collecting sound elements randomly without knowing for the next level of research. Very worried at first beginning, but the outcome proved the success of the experiment. Within my own limitations, I think I’ve pushed my work as far as it can go at present. At least I’m thinking outside of my own box. This piece is totally different from what I’ve done before. My previous works are basically focused on commercial pop music writing, audio recording and mixing, video scoring, etc. They have been done with regular and standard method and existing material.  Sampling & composition from random daily noise is a brand new producing style for me; gathering inspiration from visual thinking also offered me another route in composition; putting hidden information inside the track is also a creative way for me to enhance my work’s depth. Combined with my own technique, this unique way of making music will be further developed in my future career.

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Sample Composition Pt2

To enhance the sense of “upset” and “mystery”, I modified the tone of the metal hit into a tonal music instrument with KONTAKT sampler. Tritone ( the devil’s interval) technique is applied in my composition to create the tension of emotion. (refer to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone)

More tension and transformation of emotions are added with melodic instruments. Also again get inspired by Kawai Kenji’s UTAI mixed by Steve Aoki (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YbuVRBcPTw) , an up-to-date piece of EDM/ Dubstep music is embedded to the peak of emotion. The electronic musical elements can be related to future, technology, machine, AI, etc. Also, getting inspired with film composer Hans Zimmer’s work on film INCEPTION， the us of the iconic inceptive brass is applied into conposition. （INCEPTION Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3A3-zSOBT4）

However, in order to make the work with deeper idea more connected to the theme, another way of “Incepting” information into the track is inspired by the radio sound effect at the beginning of the track itself and the ‘Inception’ idea in the film. The Morse Code is used in hiding information inside the track. Gaps are cut on tracks to interpret the code.

However, after slight evaluation, each musical idea seems to develop too soon after the previous one, leaving not enough time for audience to feel and digest the emotion created by the previous idea. Also the end of the track doesn’t sound like a complete one. So I extended each section of musical ideas longer to extend the time for feeling the emotion. Also, more orchestral elements are added to the end of the track, half-step technique is applied to create a more intensive emotion. (refer to TUNES, TONES, AND TENSION BY JIM TEMPLETON 2010) Final outcome is finished.

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Sample Composition Pt1

Focusing on the samples of the highest quality: metal hit and door joint noise. Experimented with reverb effecters, the sparking sound connected me to the KAGURU SUZU sound in Kawai Kenji’s legendary work GHOST CITY for anime film: Ghost in the shell 1995.

KAGURU SUZU: (神楽鈴; lit. "divine entertainment bells"), are a set of bells used in Kagura dance. The three tiers of bells are suspended by coiled brass wires ; three bells on the top tier, five bell on the middle tier, and seven bells for the bottom tier; making it fifteen bells in total. The shapes of the bells are thought to have been inspired from the fruits of the Ogatama tree.

A sense of mystery can be generated with the constant metal hit, converted into something vintage with a background of the plastic bag noise added with distortion and radio effects, which can lead the thought to RELIGIOUS-POLITICAL theme. With a development of the groove, the door joints noise and camera shutter join in, adding up the sense of weird and tension. (Hidden truth and the rumors on it) As the tension goes to the peak, an explosion of toilet flush destroyed all the confusion, debate and truth. After the massive explosion, the destruction of everything, it came back to the radio noise and metal hit as the beginning (people are likely to forget, history repeats again and again).

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Sample experiment

A cinematic composition with daily recorded samples by iPhone SE

1. Camera shutter- The clicking sound of camera shutters sounds crushed and fragile, similar to the definition of Shattered. Spectrum: stuck at high end, sharp and discontinuous (shown as time flows) personal felling: annoying, crispy

2. The noise generated from the rusted door joints in my accommodation. Weird with large reverb, patternless high frequency noise makes people feel disgusting and anxious.

3. Metal spoon hitting ceramic cup and stainless water bottle- Cymbal and Gong like sounds created from metallic material, mysterious and religious with large reverb and echo.

4. Rubbing a plastic bag- The high-frequency and sandlike noise goes straight to people’s ears, like everything breaking into dust.

5. Toilet flushing- A sense of energy releasing, explosion and destruction. The low frequency noise of water sounds like a roar from a beast.

6.  flowing tap water cut by hand in a certain frequency- the sense of rhythm is created by the constant cutting from hand.

7. A piece of random record which includes: Outdoor vehicle passing by noise, wind blowing noise, outdoor people chatting noise, phone dropping noise, indoor footsteps, indoor crowd noise, door slam, a conversation between me and a passenger.

Camera shutters, relatively high frequency with a tight punch in mid-low frequency, similar to the sound from the side hit of a snare, which is a compensation beat for weaker points in a certain groove. Also it can be used as the top part of a dry gun shot.

Door joints noise:  with the special pattern of its frequency, it can be used as a special sound effect for creating tense emotion. Also cutting a part of certain frequency it can be used to intimate the sound of scratching the surface of a cymbal.

Spoon hit: Doubtlessly this typical sound will be used as a higher frequency percussion like cymbals and gongs.

Plastic bag: Constant crushed high frequency is similar to white noise, will be used for special effects.

Toilet flushing: Explosive noise with long tail will be used as a conclusion of the whole piece of music.

Tap Water: mid-high frequency audio cut into small dots with a fast attack can create a closed hi-hat, adding a longer tail can turn it into an open hi-hat.

Extracted from the random noise, a door slam was picked up and EQed and compressed. A kick sound is created. Within the same clip, a phone dropping sound was picked up to and it matched the frequency of snare so well, slightly EQed and compressed it became a sample of snare.

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Jay Chou’s “Black Humour”

Jay Chou (Chou Chieh-Lun) is a combination of pop star, composer, song writer, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, actor, director and one of the owners of JVR Music International Ltd. 

I myself have been listening to his music for over 15 years. His outstanding capability in pop music has been admitted ever since the very beginning. The 6th track ‘Black Humor’ in Jay’s first album ‘Jay’ (2000) can be regarded as one of his top tracks that can represent his fantastic composition and singing skills. This is a song about the depressed emotion of a man struggling to bring his love back, ending up with desperation. 

The dramatic point happens at the second bar of the chorus part, the dominant chord Bb suddenly drops to the IV cord of the secondary dominant in Db, which is a minor third higher than the previous one, creating a dramatic turn of emotion within only one sentence but transformed smoothly in melody. At the 7th bar, Jay uses 3 different dominants to jump back to the original one, without discord but successfully manipulating the struggling and tangled emotion by sophisticated harmony modulations. After the first chorus part, a strong and clear tom drum impact with a striking blast sound effect brings in the interlude part back in the original dominant, along with the big band of drum beats, a clean electronic guitar playing arpeggiando, a simple bass line supporting the foundation and large strings ensemble functioning harmonizing and secondary melody in the back, pushing all the emotion to a peak before the instrumental returns to a single piano at the final reprise part. The whole song finishes with a down going jazzy chord progression: Amaj7-Gmaj7-Fmaj7-Emaj7 (VIbmaj7-Vbmaj7-IIImaj7-IIIbmaj7) and ends up with an extremely unstable chord on Eb7/Db, (II/I), leaving a very uncertain and confusing emotion. This kind of chord progression was so rarely seen in Asian pop music at that time. Also, for the vocal part, Jay has made this song a virtuoso with a very high tune, in which the peak falsetto can reach Db6, while the peak regular voice can reach Ab5. The height is far beyond most male singers’ reach. From this song, Jay’s sophistication in music is demonstrated in his first album.

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Miserable Faith recording session in Abbey Road Studios, Gate House. 19 Oct 2017

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Very lucky to be invited as an assistant of the recording session for the band Miserable Faith in Abbey Road Studios. Miserable Faith is one of the most influential premier rock bands in China, who has released seven albums and EPs since 1999. They recorded their latest album “Youth Today” in Liverpool last October. After half a year’s promo tour in China, they arrived in UK for the next two gigs in London and Liverpool. After finishing the gigs, they continued to work on the recording of their EP in Abbey Road Studios in London. 

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Two examples of sound designing in the film “Triangle”

elements of foley / sound design function beyond the mere reproduction of a supposed reality, functioning instead to articulate more important narrational connotations:

In the movie “Triangle”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-CMROXSk28&t=14s

20:40-20:50 When the group of people approached the ship, the diegetic sound of seagulls suddenly turned into a reverbery ambient SFX, all the other sound on the sea was taken over by the roaring of the mysterious ship appearing slowly from a blurred and dreamy vision, drawing all the attention to the ship. It is also a sign of “something serious is gonna happen”, “they should not get on the ship”.

28:10

When screen play cuts to a far distance with a shaky camera, the reverb turned higher at the same time, showing someone peeking at the group. Jessie somehow realised someone is hiding in the dark (Deja-vu) a low frequency ambient booming crescendos while she turns around. As she expected there is a person. The dialogue “I saw someone” sounds totally dry and close, which is an indication of subjectivity.