A new cohort of DAT students, but the same bloody movie clip! As part of the sound practice module, we were given one of 5 60-second silent clips from the 2001 Anime adaptation of Metropolis and asked to add some sound over the top. The specification was fairly loose. I say ‘fairly’ – the specification was practically non-existent.
I wanted to create sounds that would make the movie clip look as though it was as close to the original as possible. This included adding in gasps and dialects from other Anime films and series’, machinery sounds, wind, rumbles and electrical sparks. Looking through the clip, it was a fairly dramatic and tense moment in the film, with characters feeling fear, jumping over fissures in the ground, climbing a surface to get to a friend in trouble and grasping their chest as if in pain.
For this, I needed a tense piece of music to play in the background. I didn’t want a rock, rap or R n’ B tune, but instead something more orchestral. I had a look around and started listening to several film soundtracks:
- Monsters Inc
- Transporter
- Blade
- Tomb Raider
- Kill Bill
After some deliberation, I decided on 2 songs, both very different in feel. I decided on:
- “Mission” from the Transporter OST - very loud, dramatic and hugely orchestral piece written in a minor key that fits the scene perfectly with huge amounts of tension
- “The Grand Duel” (Parte Prima) from the Kill Bill OST – a slow, orchestral piece with a thick string melody and a slow string accompaniment written in a major key which purposely juxtaposes the clip
From the word go, I ran with the first tune, which almost ‘scares’ the viewer when put alongside the clip.
One of the main parts of the clip is someone climbing up a sphere-like object to reach a friend who appears to be on fire, or is aflame with energy. After watching Anime shows like Dragonball Z, in which the characters are glowing with energy during battles, I realised that the sound effect is essentially wind with a throbbing (or flanging) sine wave overlayed. I managed to find a sample of a strong wind on the Internet and it worked perfectly when placed over the clip.
I soon noticed that it sounded wrong when the wind was playing through the shot of the person climbing up the sphere to the man on fire, followed by a view from above the head of the man on fire, so I altered the frequency, balance and volume of the wind when the camera was further away from the source. Similarly with the sound of the earthquake/rumble at the start, I adjusted the volume slightly to properly match the camera position and angle. However, I knew from experience that the lower the frequency of the sound, the less directional it becomes. Therefore, the rumble only needed slight adjustment whereas speech and higher-pitched sounds needed to be tweaked more.
For the gasp of the old man, I had to record myself, and since I had no recording equipment on me, I had to record a Skype call to myself. I did the same with the gasps and the struggling. The machine-like clunk was so hard to get, I ended up with a sound nothing like I wanted. I was after an artillery sound, but a deep, bassy one. I found no such sound and was unable to replicate it at home, so the sound I ended up with was far too tinny.
In short I am quite happy with the final movie, although it could have been more creative. So as I say goodbye, I shall leave you with my take on a 56-second clip from the Anime film, Metropolis. Goodbye.
Tags: anime