Sound in Documentary

Sound in documentary.
Considering my role in this production is sound I have decided to take a look at documentary purely in terms of it’s sound. By doing this I have been able to think more methodically how I’m going to go about my job.
Sound is definitely of upmost importance in a documentary. It is a powerful emotive tool within any film. When a documentary s just telling a story with no persuasive agenda the sound design aids the story. If it has a particular mood, the sound weather it be music or dialogue is imperative. Good sound is make or brake. The dialogue pushes along the narrative or reinforces certain points the filmmaker is trying to create. There fore its clarity and quality is of upmost importance. Because a documentary is factual and the audience need to believe what you’re telling them, the sound needs to seem ‘real’. There fore the use of Atmos is important so the illusion is not broken and the audience is drawn into the story or argument the filmmaker is putting across. In a persuasive documentary where the filmmaker is trying to put a point across and make you believe it and using sound design to create an emotive and powerful piece is very important. For example if a documentary is trying to create one person and the ‘villain’ and the other as a ‘victim’, the sound design is integral to how you feel abut these two characters. Therefore it can chance the tone of an entire film. So the sound really is important to Documentary.
The way of the Morris. (Tim Plester & Rob Curry)
Possibly my favourite documentary ever, thee use of sound is something that I find interesting. I know I’ve talked about this before but I feel this time I’m coming at it from a slightly different angle. In my opinion the sound design is both rich and deep. It is integral to the Film’s effectiveness as a whole.
There is a broad range of sound used. The most obvious is the interviews. I think the tequniques that Plester and Curry employ are effective. There is a mix of set up interviews and vox pops. This is a style that I think we are going to follow. This way we will get a mixture of opinions and views. In terms of interview techniques there appears to be a range of mics. Tie clips and most likely a rifle mic and boom pole. For set up interviews and vox pops respectively. I believe that this will be the most efficient way of doing things on our shoot in Liverpool. For both speed and quality of sound. Also if I was to try and set up members of the public with tie clip mics for quick fire interviews I think it would make them uncomfortable as they will already probably be nervous. It will also be time consuming where time is a precious commodity on this, or any shoot.
In terms of sound design, I really like the use of Digetic and non digetic Music. There is a great balance and methodical use of the music recorded at the dance outs and then either music from old records of music just recorded for the film. Another point here is how the sound helps to keep the film moving. The pace I feel is very driven, it’s not sedate. Given its subject matter I think it helps to convey the one of the films main points that Morris dancing is not just for boring old farts. It also helps with the effectiveness of one of the films most important sequences. When the dancers go to the war memorial suddenly the rhythm and pace that has been built up in the film stops, it is in some ways jarring but is incredibly effective. It makes the scene all the more poignant and thought provoking. This sudden silence is as well I think a great metaphor for what the war did to Adebury. Before there had been this deep folk tradition with music and dance and laughter. Then the war stopped it all. When the film them picks up the rhythm again it shows how resilient the village has been in coming back from this great tragedy that befell them. The way in which the sound helps to portray this, is, in my view a very inspiring thing.
So the main this to take from this is the fact there is more to sound then the simple technical aspects. This is of course incredibly important. Bad sound design can lead to the complete failure of any film. Due to all this, I am able to understand that the quality of the recording as well as the way in which they are put in the final are of equal and upmost importance.