FINAL PROJECT

Film + Sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiKOfOOYoBo&feature=youtu.be

For my final project I opted to revisit a film from freshman year and compose an entirely new score which I thought would better suit the visuals. I was especially attracted by the overall haunting nature of the piece and felt that it was a prime template for which to create an interesting and emotive soundscape. I felt that my first draft had a consistent tone with tracks that blended nicely into one another -- my primary goal in this assignment -- but there were issues with the sound in the first scene and with a couple other transitions. I hope that the edits that I have made for my final draft are satisfactory.

There were two opposing viewpoints regarding the first scene: should it simply have one single track as most montages do, or should it be more varied? I had initially taken the latter route for my draft, but after finding that I did not like that it was three separate tracks, I found a compromise. One track, that which I liked the most and felt struck the best balance between strong and subtle and which was bleak but not overwhelming. I then accentuated it with the two tracks that had previously stood on their own, using only the best portions. My aim was to create a consistent montage sound given texture by two passages of fittingly haunting sounds that also matched the rhythm of the scene. I then synched up the screeching sound to match the entrance of the priest, cut short the silence between scenes two and three and polished the two transitions in the final scene, among a litany of smaller but still enormously significant edits.

The result, I hope, is not a fitting culmination of the work that I have done, but a sign of my potential and of what I am capable of; this class was a beginning for everyone, after all, and I'm pleased with this piece and the point that I'm at. I feel that the piece flows smoothly with a variety of sounds that act as one together and are in no way jarring, and I think the sounds suit the material. I have had excellent, insightful critiques in this class, especially the critique of my last draft, and I'm looking forward to hear what the class and the professor have to say about my final work.

FINAL PROJECT DRAFT

Sound w/Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjZwlrfW5yU&feature=youtu.be

This draft turned out different and yet similar to that which I had proposed. It is different in that I had planned for each of the three distinct scenes to be a single, consistent track that was more orchestral in natural. What I found as I began to immerse myself in the piece was that the film warranted a more dynamic approach than single tracks underlining each scene; in a way, I felt that that might undermine its pedigree as a dynamic film. It is similar in that it matched the tone that I was aiming for in each scene and I feel that they are all different yet significant in their design, my primary goal in this assignment.

One of the biggest departures from the original soundtrack is the sound design of the first scene. Where the initial soundtrack was simply one track - which we felt matched the rhythm of the montage, and the first scene is essentially a montage - the score of the first scene changes three times noticeably but not so noticeable that they make the listener question their relation, I hope. The more varied soundtrack beneath the action makes it more suspenseful, as the listener might question why the sound designer is changing the music at this particular point, and longer, as it may feel like three parts instead of one, an effect that I was pleased with.

The second and third scenes are closer to the original score but are still very different, much more dependent on sounds that are not necessarily "musical," which I was also pleased with. In fact, much of the second and third acts do not seem musical at all, yet they give, in my mind, the same effect as the original, though in an even more creative manner. In terms of what I must improve, I know that the fades and transition could certainly use some tweaking, though after listening to it so many times and remaining somewhat unsatisfied I am very much looking forward to what the class has to say.

FINAL PROJECT PROPOSAL

http://vimeo.com/11536502

The film I've chosen for my final project is the first film that I made at Syracuse, a psychological thriller called Devout. Inspired by dark thrillers such as The Night of the Hunter, the film is very bleak and is shot in with a fairly high contrast of black and white hues. I aim to create a sound piece to mirror the bleakness and eery nature of the film while matching the action in a fairly concrete but occasionally abstract manner.

In the film, a young man prepares to murder his girlfriend after learning that she cheated on him. The first scene is a montage that depicts the young man's fear as he prepares to kill her while she fools around with another man, with heavy emphasis on his knife and its burial. In the following scene, the young man sees a deathly serious priest as he is walking back to his apartment; he becomes angered with the priest's unbreakable stare and charges toward him, only for him to disappear. In the final scene the young man's psychosis has been exacerbated to the point that he is an emotional and mental wreck. As he is sipping a coffee he is confronted by the priest who had appeared to vanish, and he takes the young man's hands in his, their expressions confirming forgiveness. The camera then pushes out to reveal that there is no priest sitting across from the young man, who is then apprehended by two other young men who notice his picture in the paper.

Structurally, the film is composed of three distinct scenes, which could be both a positive and negative in designing a sound piece to accompany it. Each scene has a distinct feeling to it, though they are all very closely related in terms of mood and texture. The first scene is hurried and somewhat frenetic, the second scene is more suspenseful and mysterious and the third scene is more unnerving and ambiguous. They are fairly similar to one another in feeling, however, so I don't imagine that crafting each scene will be enormously difficult. The most difficult aspect will be ensuring that they work together well, ensuring that none of the transitions are confusing in the least. Each scene will be a single audio track.

For the first scene (0:00-1:24), I would like to continue with bolder, more orchestral notes similar to the current track. Harsher, reverberated strings could compliment it well, though it should be defined by a larger melding of powerful instruments to reflect the heavy emotional tension. Relative to the next two scenes, which rely more on natural sounds, the first scene might seem like something of an aberration when one reflects on it, though I have never noticed it in dozens of viewings of the film; it merely a concern.

The next scene (1:25-2:36) contains more natural, synch sound, but my project will not include and foley work. I can imagine manipulating an instrument that can sound strong and slow reverberated. The music will be slightly lower, however, as the viewer is encouraged to acclimate to a more realistic environment. I would like to maintain the somewhat jarring sound that coincides with the wide shot of the priest's arrival. For the final scene (2:37-4:06) I would like to record restaurant sound and manipulate it in a more abstract manner that makes it slyly distracting in order to again accentuate the arrival of the priest. The sound then would be much lower and likely more orchestral, similar to the first scene, though much more mysterious.

While one might say that using a silent film as a template is an advantage, I don't believe that it is any easer as there is much more importance played on the music, as it plays a much larger storytelling role. It's depended on to give the viewer the proper feeling towards the images in the absence of dialogue and I am excited to see how effectively I can mimic the feeling of the images sonically.

"CITY LIGHTS" RE-SCORE FINAL

SOUND: http://soundcloud.com/user7287671/citylightsrescorefinal

For this assignment I tackled my favorite scene in all of film, an extraordinarily expressive scene that allows for a great deal of sonic creativity. I wanted to maintain the rhythm of the music and transitions in accord with Chaplin's score while altering the instruments used to create a score that could potentially be recognizable as the music for the scene while still being unique in its variety of instruments and textures.

One of the great challenges of this assignment was not necessarily finding sounds to match Chaplin's expressivity, but to match the tempo that he creates dramatically. For a three-minute scene, the ending of "City Lights" is filled with highs and lows and relative grey areas that require even closer examination as this grey area (:56-2:06) acts as the bride between what one might call the first and third acts in the scene. The challenge that could be fitted under the same umbrella was that of altering the sounds while attempting to mirror Chaplin's pacing; I feel that Chaplin's score is perfect, so as I could not match that, I tried to put a unique spin on it. I believe this variation is most evident in the pivotal bridge section, which is much more modern, and the following, penultimate passage (2:05-2:42), which is a bit weightier and even sounds a bit blown out in a pleasingly attention-grabbing manner, leading into the celebratory orchestral finale.

I was initially pleased with my draft of this assignment, but after screening it in class I realized that it required numerous changes. The flute that I had used for the opening 16 seconds of the draft, sounded too Eastern and many agreed that that was fairly distracting. The piano that acted as the :56-2:06 bridge in the draft sounded to melodramatic and, in my opinion, like the casual piano playing at the average high-end department store. I instead turned to slower and more melodic strings which I feel are less manipulative and heavy-handed and act as a soft and simple but still emotional bridge between Chaplin's recognition of the Blind Girl and her recognition of him. There were problems with the pacing near the end, as the more somber penultimate passage bled too closely into the final, more upbeat moments, mistakenly covering the line, "Yes, I can see now." Therefore, I spliced the final track multiple times which allowed me to contract the penultimate passage and lead into the celebratory orchestral track a bit earlier. Smoothening the transitions was my second biggest goal, and I feel that this final version is considerably cleaner.

I thoroughly enjoyed crafting a score for a scene, and can already tell how I have improved since the start of the semester. For my first project I attempted to score a scene from "The Night of the Hunter," though it was far too clunky and I wanted to revise it so that it essentially should never be compared to the scene I had chosen. I felt much more confident entering this project and am much more content with the results.

PROJECT 3 DRAFT

SOUND: http://soundcloud.com/user7287671/cl-rescore-test-1
SOUND WITH SCENE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dfUTcdhyIY

I have found this to be the most enjoyable project thus far, not only because of how much I have enjoyed putting my own spin on my favorite scene, but because of the satisfaction one derives from finding what he or she thinks to be the perfect sound for a particular image, or series of images. The problem at this point is that these sounds are nowhere near perfect, though for a couple scattered moments, especially, I believe, the first and last 10 seconds, I think I am coming close.

Being only completely satisfied with 20 seconds of one's piece is unacceptable, but I am very satisfied with the piece overall and how it is coming together. The only omission in the draft is the sound that I prepare to record on the street and lay under the :50-2:06 period in the piece. I was hoping to receive feedback on the general mood, structure and how well the music fits with the movie before implementing the street sounds. The only part that I am thoroughly unsatisfied with is the length of the dramatic portion of the score in 2:30-2:45 mark, which I now realize must either end earlier or trend upwards emotionally much quicker.

I feel that this is a fairly standard score, but only due to its position as the accompaniment to a silent film. The final scene in City Lights last only three minutes but the mood is constantly fluctuating with extreme highs and lows which make it extremely hard to score; indeed, it is hard to recall such a short scene for which there are so many different sonic decisions to make based on the drama occurring in that short a span. As I noted in my proposal I aimed to stray from Chaplin's violin-heavy score, opting instead for flute and piano, to eventually be accompanied by the more raw sounds of a city street (which will only be mildly busy in keeping with the visual environment). I think the piano in the middle portion might last a bit long, and I'm curious to see what the class thinks. Otherwise, I feel confident in the rest of the piece, especially the pacing, which does not deviate much from Chaplin's very clear structuring choices.

My most pressing questions relate mainly to the implementation of street sounds and the type of instruments used in the score. Does the piano work or is it is too radical a shift from the woodwind instruments that generally define the piece? Where would be a good place to insert the street sounds and when should they end? The reason I did not implement them immediately is because I am more concerned with the musical aspect of the sound design at this point and feel that I cannot comfortably proceed before I've received feedback as to whether or not my professor and peers feel that it's successful.

PROJECT 3 PROPOSAL

The scene that I wish to use is the final scene in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931), in my opinion the greatest scene in all of cinema, or at least my personal favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHBHdYgg9fI

In the film, Chaplin plays a penniless tramp who falls in love with a blind woman who sells flowers in a park in the city. At the same time he becomes friends with a millionaire, and is constantly getting in and out of limousines when he meets the girl and is always given money to buy flowers from her, leading her to believe that he is rich. When he discovers in the newspaper a potential cure to her blindness, he refuses on principle to take money and is framed for attempting to steal the necessary amount, though he's been able to deliver a reasonable amount to the woman, enough for the surgery.

In the scene that I wish to use, Chaplin has just returned from jail and is an even shabbier wreck. The girl, now able to see and running a profitable flower shop, does not recognize him, and laughs at him like she might any other beggar. It is not until she touches his hand that she realizes that this tramp has been the one caring for her all along. Chaplin signals to her eyes, asking, "You can see now?" to which she responds, "Yes, now I can see."

Not only is this scene the perfect summation to an extraordinary film but one of the best acted and most moving scenes that I can recall, and I feel very passionately about designing my own score for it. The novelist and film critic James Agee has called it the best acting ever on film. I wholeheartedly agree, and believe that the power lies wholly in the subtlety of Chaplin's direction.

Chaplin scored the film as well.

I would like to bring that same subtlety to my rendition of the score. In the three minute scene, there are only three title cards and none have more than four words to them. The music is not at all heavy handed and makes great use of the violin, a particularly subtle and elegant instrument. I predict one of the greatest difficulties for me will be mimicking the elegance of Chaplin's score without using the same instrument. I suppose that I could still use the violin but alter the music, but I would rather take a different direction and make the score as uniquely mine as possible.

0:00-0:50: I think it is essential to commence the piece with more somber tones, as Chaplin has just been released from prison and his clothes are falling apart. I would ideally use sounds of a harp in this section and render it in a very dark way.

0:50-1:40: Chaplin meets the blind girl right at the :50 mark in the scene. Here the music should be similarly orchestrally dark but slower and with a semblance of hopefulness; even as Chaplin looks at her and recognizes that she does not recognize him, he is happy simply to be in her presence and is pleased that she can see. In Chaplin's score, the juxtaposition between the somewhat hopeful music and the petals falling from his flower is unforgettable, something that I am most looking forward to replicating in my own way. Though I imagine it would be hard to transition from violin to found recordings, I would like to try that here using sounds from the street, as he is in a big city and there are cars going by in the background. I think that grittiness could achieve a similar effect and I will still accentuate it with sounds from the harp.

1:40-2:15: This is a pivotal passage in the scene as it marks the time between their meeting and their recognition of one another, and thus the tone is harder to gauge. I feel that a transitioning from street sounds accentuated by the harp to pure street sounds would engage the viewer more as they recognize the sonic change from an elegant construction to a simpler one and therefore become more invested in what they are watching, which is pivotal in a silent scene.

2:15-3:15: This sound in this scene must start out in a slightly ominous manner, as we are more in the blind girl's world as she attempts to figure out who this man is; at the 2:55 mark, when she recognizes Chaplin, the template for the score should remain the same but it should rise slowly to what eventually becomes an overpowering but still understated crescendo. That will be very hard to achieve but the challenge should be fun. At the 2:15 mark, I will implement sounds of a piano accentuated by hum of an semi-quiet city street that does not have cars consistently running down it in order to ground the viewer in the environment in the scene while bringing out the drama.

PROJECT 2 FINAL

PROJECT 2 FINAL: http://soundcloud.com/user7287671/sound-project-2

For my second project, I aimed to create an oral documentary that would communicate a very personal attitude towards anxiety by scripting an experience that was close to both the actress whom I used and to myself. I wanted the experience to be specific but still broad due the natural time restraint and I did not want it to be at all manipulative, as some works that utilize this subject matter can often become.

I did not use a great variety of sounds because I felt that the actress's voice, with some minor amplification, was plenty powerful and that any bold sounds would distract from her speech. I experimented with numerous ways of augmenting the overall feel of the piece, which was intended to be rather dark. The only sounds used are the ambient noise at a train station, the crinkling of a translucent trash bag and the low hum of wind, in addition to the actress's voice. The crinkling is meant to sound like plain static but at the same time resembling something tangible, introducing and concluding the piece somewhat ominously. I tried to create an uncomplicated environment that would simply accentuate the power of the actress's words.

Recording sounds personally for the project was a very rewarding experience and much easier, from a technical standpoint, than I had anticipated. I found that once I was comfortable with the recorder my mind opened up and I became more adventurous when it came to searching for sounds and not merely settling for those which were simply the easiest to record. While one could say that I did not fully take advantage of the technology as only a small handful of sounds comprise my piece, I felt that the experience, the most important part, was very positive and gives me a good deal of confidence heading into future projects.

The first project was extremely rewarding because it served as our first introduction to designing sound, though this was even more rewarding in that it truly challenged us to make more personal sounds while utilizing essential technology, engendering a unique feeling of accomplishment even if the piece might not be perceived to be of the highest quality. Using the Marantz as well as the built-in microphones and embarking on one's own into the world to find sounds was something altogether different. While my project is not particularly complex I hope that it can still stand on its own as a sonically interesting oral documentary defined by the actress's voice, but also the very carefully selected sounds that accentuated its intended impact.

SOUNDS

- The voice of an actress
- Crinkling of a trash bag
- Quiet at a train station
- Blowing wind

PROJECT 2 DRAFT

Project 2 Draft: http://soundcloud.com/user7287671/output-1-2

After realizing that my initial idea for second project was too ambitious, and after reflecting upon the idea, recognizing that it might have sounded a bit ridiculous, I revised my idea to something more personal. This piece focuses on my battle with anxiety, so I worked with my actress, who struggles with the same illness, on a script based on a story of hers.

The piece will not be very abstract, as one might be able to tell from this draft. The draft, however, is in my mind rather complete in terms of what will actually be said in the piece; re-recording will only be necessary to ensure better clarity from a better microphone. The only abstract sounds will come at the beginning and end of the piece, with ambient noise underneath.

The challenge that I find myself facing is how to render a simple story into an interesting sound work. The literal retelling is not enough, so I exaggerated it lightly but found that I don't particularly like the way that it sounds at this point. I believe the use of a number of sounds would only be distracting though I also recognize the necessity of including them in order to make the piece more interesting and worthy of repeated listenings. This week I will record far more sounds than necessary in order to have a better sample size considering my lack of understanding as to how to accent the piece.

My most pressing questions are, How do I make a standard story sonically interesting without distracting from what's being said? What sounds properly accentuate a story such as this? What is the process for deciding this and what can I turn to as inspiration? I am not posting any images or links as influences, as my personal experiences served as the influence for the piece.

PROJECT 2 PROPOSAL: ORAL DOCUMENTARY

I would like for my oral documentary to be as abstract as possible, influenced by my endeavors in numerous fields of creative work. The documentary will not focus on my day-to-day life but my work as a filmmaker, poet, novelist and film critic with a focus on how these ideas govern the way that I navigate the world, not only my academic and professional pursuits.

The piece, for the first 10-20 seconds, will initially sound like any other radio piece, introduced by a reporter who will be voiced by an actor introducing Sam Littman the Writer. The interviewer will speak in an almost nonsensical manner before accurately describing what I have done, leading fittingly into a non-synch narrative that resembles something out of David Lynch. The sounds I use will be all voiceover with an eerie, wind-like sound wave blowing underneath which is nearly inaudible.

The narrative will be broken into four sections: Filmmaker, Poet, Novelist and film critic, with the reporter changing his voice subtly for each section in a way that sounds very eccentric, jarring the audience as they still will recognize that it is the same actor. The voice change will reflect the slight variance in my passion for each facet of creative work, alternately intense (poetry) and humorous (film critic).

The more abstract aspect will result from a melding of documenting a combination of my accomplishments to this point and my aspirations, blurring the line between fiction and reality for those that are not familiar with my work. For example, I will be introduced as the film critic of the Daily Orange of two years before the fast-talking narrator progresses to note how I progressed, from my first job at the Newar Star-Ledger to my current position at the Village Voice. As a filmmaker I graduated with a B.F.A. from Syracuse University and made experimental films under an alias before landing a teaching job at SUNY-Purchase. These will be abstractly melded together by quotes from those that know me (some in reality, some in my imagination) that will be rendered almost blurry to the point that the listener can only understand fragments, some of which might not even be particularly meaningful. The listener will then be forced to decide why I highlighted those snippets of the interview.

The problem that I expect to encounter will be the abstract formulation of the piece; will I intend for it to be abstract, this proposal merely, admittedly, makes it sound eccentric. I have never heard any type of “abstract” radio program so while I am a little confused as to how to go about designing the piece, I am excited at the prospect of creating something somewhat new, an abstract, radio-inspired sound piece that is also very personal.

ABSTRACT PROJECT - FINAL

http://soundcloud.com/user7287671/fil329project1

I set out to compose a score for a particularly haunting scene in the film “The Night of the Hunter” (1955), but realized that I would have to render it more abstractly so as to abide by the project guidelines. The result is a composition heavily influenced by the mood of the scene, potentially recognizable as a score but hopefully also able to stand on its own as an abstract piece with distinct elements of terror and suspense.

In order to build suspense I commenced the piece with an ambiguously hypnotic track that last 30 seconds and rarely changes in pitch or tone. Underneath it I laid yet another hypnotic track, though I don’t believe it is excessive because it has a completely different tone and neatly accentuates the power first track. The scene in “The Night of the Hunter” where Robert Mitchum looks toward the sky, a beautiful, geometrically absurd shot intercut with a doomed Shelley Winters, is treated with the sound of a heartbeat. To underscore the tension I laid a calmer sound of wind beneath it, and with the rising action I relied heavily on ERH’s “Ominous."

I did not base the composition directly on the actions in the scene, however; the scene has been embedded in my mind for years, so I needed only to draw upon the memory of it to design the piece. The rising action in the piece might not align perfectly with the rising action in the composition, which would be fine as it was meant to be an abstract interpretation of how the scene made me feel, and I am very satisfied with it.

“The Night of the Hunter” was not the only inspiration behind the piece. I realized that of all the elements of the film that had me feeling so passionate about it, its relation to German Expressionism was the most powerful. I was especially inspired by images from Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1921) and F.W. Murnau’s “Faust” (1926), which might have even inspired director Charles Laughton in making “The Night of the Hunter.” I initially found Logic to be quite challenging, but after two hours I felt sufficiently comfortable, at which point I first began editing the audio tracks that I had singled out. It is not exceptionally complex, but the result is exactly what I hoped for when I arrived at the idea for it two weeks ago, as it is pleasingly haunting and can exist as an abstract sound piece while still fitting as a score for the scene in “The Night of the Hunter” that continues to inspire me in all forms of art practice.








SOURCES:

Title: Nikonf4
Artist: Heigh-Hoo
Source: http://www.freesound.org/people/Heigh-hoo/sounds/16071/

Title: Fire Forest Inferno
Artist: Dynamicell
Source: http://www.freesound.org/search/?q=dynamicell

Title: Evening in the Forest
Artist: Reinsamba
Source:http://www.freesound.org/search/?q=18765+reinsamba&f=&s=num_downloads+desc&advanced=0

Title: Radio Static
Artist: Percy Duke
Date: 8-9-200
Source: http://www.freesound.org/people/Percy%20Duke/sounds/23503/

Title: Wind
Artist: ERH
Source: http://www.freesound.org/search/?q=erh+atmosphere

Title: Angels
Artist: ERH
Source: http://www.freesound.org/people/ERH/sounds/29589/

Title: Silver Tones
Artist: ERH
Source: http://www.freesound.org/people/ERH/sounds/31028/

Title: Coma Cluster
Artist: ERH
Source: http://www.freesound.org/search/?q=erh+coma

Title: Heartbeat Enhanced
Artist: Herbert Boland
Source: http://www.freesound.org/people/l3ardoc/sounds/52895/

Title: Negative Future
Artist: ERH
Source: http://www.freesound.org/people/ERH/sounds/33838/

Title: Nine Lies of the Heart
Artist: ERH
Source: http://www.freesound.org/search/?q=erh+ominous

Title: Emergency
Artist: ERH
Source: http://www.freesound.org/people/ERH/sounds/38543/

ABSTRACT SOUND PIECE PROPOSAL

This scene is excerpted from “The Night of the Hunter” (1955), a thriller directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum as a murderer masquerading as a priest in order to get in the favor of unsuspecting widows across the Northeast.

My favorite film, “The Night of the Hunter” is an unapologetically excessive thriller that combines film noir, German Expressionism and the style of early innovators such as D.W. Griffith and Eric von Stoheim, and the result is a nightmarish fairy tale with provocative biblical implications. I selected this clip because it sufficiently distills the film’s primary themes and haunting imagery. The scene is inspiring in the manner in which Laughton builds suspense as Mitchum roams slowly around the foreboding bedroom with his razor blade, a feeling that I would like to evoke in my piece. It is an exceptionally chilling sequence that invokes a darker sort of inspiration in its edginess and cultivation of slow-burning tension. The very expressive use of light in the shot , especially the triangular light formation flanking Mitchum, the light refracted through the windows and the neat framing of co-star Shelley Winters’ face, is very inspiring, especially the sharpness and direction of the lines on the wall, a hallmark of German Expressionism.

Ideally, my piece would do justice to the tension that Laughton creates on screen. While I believe the score is perfect, as it changes pace nicely to accommodate jarring shots such as that of Winters lying angelically on her pillow and Mitchum reaching in an exaggerated manner towards the heavens, I would like to watch it with a thoroughly terrifying score that embodies the overall mood of the picture. My piece would be very dark, but the degree of darkness would constantly be adapting to the narrative, just as the original score does, though the tension in my piece would never let up. I want to give the listener a sense of profound fear, the type that I felt upon watching “The Night of the Hunter” for the first time when I was not yet even a teenager.

Because I have chosen a narrative scene upon which to be base my piece, I will have to adhere to the changes in mood and tone throughout the scene. In keeping with that adherence to narrative flow, I would start with a sharp hum that serves to make the listener slightly uncomfortable. The piece would then gain momentum at the 25-second mark, when Mitchum arises and begins to walk around the room. As he reaches towards the heavens, the piece would amble more than sprint, calming for a 15-second period in appreciation of the beauty of Mitchum’s gesture. When he shuts the window blind, however, the piece will ascend towards its violent climax, with the screeching and underlying thumping and blaring incurring within the listener a sense of terror as he leans over Winters, prepared to strike. When the scene changes to show the children, the music would again calm for a 30-second window, though it still remains very unnerving.

Relevant Sounds:
- Screeching (nails on chalkboard)
- Blaring (toned-down, resembling a locomotive from hell)
- Thunder (an exaggeration of the weather)
- Whispering (to exacerbate the idea of Mitchum’s psychosis)

The final scene in Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” is the emotional farewell between unhappy movie star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and lonely newlywed Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), who become very close due to their shared alienation in Tokyo.

The scene commences with Harris riding in a taxi, with hardly any audible sound. Suddenly, however, when he opens his door upon noticing Charlotte nearby, he lets in the loud buzzing common of a street in a major metropolis. This is an example of the power of sound perspective, as the noise that Harris is greeted by when he opens the door exists while he is in the car, but we do not hear it until he becomes a part of that space. The volume is consistent as he walks toward Charlotte, but changes drastically once they meet face to face.

Once Murray states, “Hey, you,” and hugs Charlotte, the sound dims perceptibly to the point that it is almost nonexistent outside of Murray and Charlotte's bubble. He pulls Charlotte close and whispers something in her ear that is purposefully low and muddled so that the audience can only infer what he might be saying. The audience assumes that this is perhaps the most important, and certainly the most intimate, line in the film, which makes Coppola’s decision to have Harris whisper it all the more interesting.

As they remain locked in each other’s arms in the middle of the street, the surrounding street noise is considerably lower than it was when Harris and Charlotte first walk towards one another, though the environment has not changed. Coppola has dulled the background noise to create a more intense feeling of intimacy at the expense of realism.

As Harris walks away from Charlotte, the noises in the background appear to be almost blurred, especially the voices. As he says goodbye for the last time, “Just Like Honey” by The Jesus and Mary Chain plays, the first non-diegetic sound in the scene. When Murray reenters the taxi, the city sounds are again cut off entirely as he ponders the gravity of his final encounter with Charlotte.