AUDIOOOOO!!

Greetings everyone and welcome to the third blog post of the best posting week ever! (I'm really loving every single post that we are having to make if you couldn't tell) It's been an awesome Saturday and what I have been doing up until now is working on the character post, but then all of the sudden my brain was all like "EMI! You have 2/4 blogs done for the week and you realllyyy need to post that third one before tomorrow or you're TOAST!" And so I was like "Oh man YOU'RE RIGHT! Thank you brain!" So now here I am, and what's the topic for today? AUDIO!! So grab a super awesome snack and enjoy all that I have to say for today!

For the thumbnail! (they're at the place where cowgirl buried her boss)

YO EMI! WHY IS AUDIO SO IMPORTANT?

Glad you asked! Audio in film complement visuals, make visuals more realistic, drive character personality, and add emotional impact! (credit for that info goes to myself from the sound project blog I posted in October...YAY ME!) All of these benefits that audio provides factors into the overall immersion of a film and therefore makes it so much more impactful and entertaining to viewers! I know this isn't the genre we are doing, but take horror films for example! Without the use of audio especially during jump scares and intense scenes, these movies would have no impact at all, and can actually be a little funny; like imagine a demented monster popping up on screen without any screams, shrieks, or other loud shocking sounds...I would crack up.

COOL! SO HOW ARE YOU GOING TO USE IT IN YOUR SUPER AWESOME WESTERN OPENER?

Typically, Western films take place in the great outdoors and so that means we would have to incorporate a good amount of nature sounds such as wind, trees blowing, the crunch of grass that's being walked on, digging of the shovel, and the sound of birds or any other animal! 

The great outdoors! From Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

So how are we going to add these sounds? We plan on using sound effect databases like Pixabay and maybe try to add foley for the walking, grass crunch, and digging if we have the time! Back in October, we learned how to create a soundscape from scratch, and 3 out of 4 members are in TV, so everyone in the group has a good amount of experience with audio! 

We are also thinking of adding music to our opener as well! According to Sones (2023), "Most scores that are a part of the American Western genre are made up of acoustic instruments, from a full orchestral force to traditional folk instruments. These combine to create an expansive yet distinguished soundworld that accurately represents the American West." Since the first 2 minutes are slow paced and not climatic, we are planning on utilizing stringed and acoustic instruments to add to the mysterious and relatively calm vibe of our opener!

Here are some samples we want to use!

SOUND OPTIONS!

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION:

That would be all for the audio super awesome blog readers! I'm currently very excited because tomorrow is the day we have all been waiting for....FILMING DAY!! If you're wondering, we are in fact very ready! After their STN practice, Renn, Nico, and Zach went to Home Depot and Party City to get all the props, and today I got all the parts for my costume! I'm so happy we are getting everything together and really looking forward to the end product. YAYY!!

I must now continue working on the character development post so see you all later! I hope you also had a super awesome Saturday like I did! :D

REFERENCES:                                                                                                                                                  Sones,Z. (2023, February 27). The Historic Sound of Western Movie Scores - Indie Tips. IndieTips. https://indietips.com/western-movie-scores/