Understanding how Sound affects Emotions-Research

 In our short films opening, the sound will be one of the most important roles when setting the tone, mood, and the audiences expectations. Sound is one for he most powerful elements used in films to control how the audience feels and reacts towards what their seeing. By understanding how sound affects emotions, I can make the audience feel how the characters are feeling in the moment like scared, happy, uneasy, or the tension between characters. 

Different types of sounds and their impact

Non-Diegetic Sound

*Sounds which can only be heard by the audience watching*

• High pitched strings can give a sense of fear or tension between characters
• Slow and soft music can give a sense of romance, sadness, or a reflection on a character 
• Minimal Piano can give a sense of loneliness and mystery

Diegetic Sound

*Sound which the characters can hear as well*

• Echoing foot steps usually makes the character feel like their in danger or isolated
• Silence after a loud noise is usually a scene when it shocking for a character/ characters
• Busy street sounds usually makes the audience feel the realism of the scene

Sound Contrast

• Calm music while a violent scene gives a disturbing effect to viewers
• Calm ambient sound and Rising threat making the audience know danger is coming
• Diegetic sound slowly replacing music taking a shift in emotion

How I will apply this to my film:

As sound designer, sound is what shapes the audiences emotional experience especially from the beginning. I will apply sound contrast to make the audience feel engaged from the opening scene. I plan to combine calm music with a violent, tense, or mysterious scene to build suspense making it known to the audience something is bad about the happen. I will even use moment of silence before the more important sounds to make the key moments more impactful. Lastly, by carefully mixing the  non-diegetic and diegetic sounds I will establish the tone and genre of my film more successfully