Sound Design

I gave Crispin the outline of what I was looking for regarding sound design by sending him a version of the opening scene with very primitive sound design that I had found myself on freesound.org.

This is the version that I sent Crispin, the one that I had added my own sound to. Although the record player belongs in the second scene, I needed to add it to this scene in order to include the sound of the record crackling and popping.

This is what Crispin sent back to me. I think that this was the best first draft out of all the other ones that had been sent to me so I decided to choose him to be my sound designer. I didn't want any ambience/atmospheric sounds originally but I actually really like what he'd done in this video, although, there were a few changes that needed to be made for the next draft he would send me.

I liked the ambience and atmosphere that he had added, but I think I'd prefer it if he left it to the end of the video, so that you can hear it during the big reveal of her levitation. It's supposed to seemingly be a very normal morning so therefore needs quite understated sound design. Leaving the ambience/atmosphere sounds to the end of the film would make the reveal much more effective.

I like the sound of the birds singing a lot, and thought that they would sound quite nice throughout, perhaps starting at the scene where the cat is on the bed. I also asked him if he could add some little cat purring noises, I thought that they would sound really nice and comforting.

I also wanted the kettle to sound more traditional, like an old fashioned kettle being heated on a stove so I needed something which whistled instead of a more modern one.

The quality of video in this version is appalling, however, I'm pretty pleased with the sound. The only problem I have is that the clock has a strange echo effect/reverb on it and the ambience/atmosphere lasts a little too long.

This is the final version of the sound design. I'm incredibly happy with it. Working with Crispin has been a breeze. I think that he's captured what I want very well. The sound is understated, which is what I'm going for, but there's also an underlying 'other-worldly' quality to it. I think that the ambience works really well at the end for the reveal of her levitation - it strengthens the notion that there is something magical going on here, but the other very normal sounds throughout the scene help to keep it grounded.