Test one - Design
The first test design was a simple
one. It was designed to gauge a simple context and background on what people
thought about films. There were ten questions and was aimed at a broad
demographic trying to gather as many participants answers as possible. The
reason for this testing was to gauge a generalisation of what people understand
simple terms of film to be. The questionnaire was anonymous and anyone who
completed it was aware that the results would be used for dissertation
purposes.
Expected results
It came down to how many would take
part. It was hoped that it would provide enough context in a general sense of
what people though about sound on film and film in general. From a personal
perspective the hope would be that people would appreciate sound and there
would be a definitive argument that sound is an art form that doesn’t get the
plaudits it deserves in the wider world.
It was hoped that at least fifteen
to twenty people would take part in this simple questionnaire thus giving a
general gauge to juxtapose against the second questionnaire on the actual media
tests.
Procedure
Forty people took part in this
questionnaire. The questionnaire itself was anonymous, once the person filled
it in there was no telling whom it was or what field/capacity they come from.
The participants took part in the questionnaire in person in the university,
library, authors flat and online. Each participant was explained they had the
right to stop at anytime, their results would be used, but they would remain
anonymous. The simple ten questions design was used to gauge a quick
perspective on as many people as possible and gain an small insight into the,
perhaps, generic thought for sound within film.
Results and Analysis
Much to the authors surprise forty
participants answered the questionnaire on film sound. This was a vastly
greater number than anticipated and also allowed for the opportunity to
juxtapose those results against the media test results. It was a fairly simple
questionnaire where the stats were put into Excel to get a graphic representation
of the results. It was designed to try and get people to think more about films
they watched in terms of the sound and to see if that would have any effect on
their answers.
Figure 1 – Questions. Please see Appendix E
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Figure 1 -Answers
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Strongly Disagree %'s
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Strongly Agree %'s
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Questions
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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|||
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1
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7.5
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12.5
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15
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40
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25
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||
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2
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7.5
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0
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0
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22.5
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70
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||
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3
|
25
|
45
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17.5
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10
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2.5
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||
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4
|
5
|
2.5
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12.5
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35
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45
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||
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5
|
5
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0
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27.5
|
35
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32.5
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||
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6
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15
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10
|
10
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35
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30
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||
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7
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17.5
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30
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27.5
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22.5
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2.5
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||
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8
|
5
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2.5
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0
|
20
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72.5
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||
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9
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5
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0
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0
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17.5
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77.5
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||
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10
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25
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42.5
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25
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5
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2.5
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The main answers that stood out
were on questions two, eight and nine. The rest left things fairly inconclusive
whether they valued sound on film. It was noticeable however that most people
agreed on questions, i.e. one, five and six.
The points which are pleasing is
that 70% of people believe sound quality is important in film, 72.5 % strongly
agreed music can tell a story and 77.5% of the 40 participants strongly agreed
that music can influence your perception of what is to come in a scene. Looking
at these results it would be fair to suggest that audience members place a
great deal of importance on music telling a story, leading perception and value
it, what makes it more interesting is that these results were gathered using no
visual aids and was purely from the individuals opinion. Also it is interesting
to note that 45 % strongly agree that sound is just as important as the
visuals, however despite all its positives only 32.5% would consider sound on
film an art form. Which would perhaps suggest that yes, whilst people do
respect sound and what it brings in the larger scale of things there is still
depreciation.
Discussion
It would be fair to suggest as the
questions weren’t of a difficult or thought provoking variety they offer
inconclusive results on the thought process of sound on film, or the sound
design of a film. It would also be fair to suggest that the majority of
participants probably wouldn’t go home and the next film they watch try to
subjectively pay attention to the sound in more detail.
However as sound is still an ever-expanding
element within film with more studies are taking place it would also is fair to
suggest that if anyone were to take anything from the questionnaire then that
would be a bonus.
Given that it was on a scale of one
to five for either strongly agreeing or disagreeing with the statement there
could be an argument that it doesn’t offer overly conclusive results unless the
percentage of the statement is overwhelming in favour of one side. The
questions did aim to cover, sound on film, directors, composers, sound as an
art form, narrative and influence. More questions would need to be asked and
specific to gain a greater perspective of the general thought of sound on film.
Test Two – Design.
Once the two films were picked for
the comparative study, it then became a question of which exact clips would be
ideal for testing participants and or audience members. It wasn’t a case of picking
the most dramatic scenes, picking scenes that had more music or less music. The
author devised the critical framework mentioned in earlier chapters to help
select the clips. It was also the author’s intention to try and select clips
that could perhaps have similarities with one and other.
The original focus was going to be
on five clips selected from each film then testing version (a) and (b) against
each other: one would feature the original one would feature the re-edited
version by the author. The order participant’s saw them would vary to try and offer
transparency. They would remain in order of the way the film to avoid any
confusion or distraction.
A decision was then made to focus
on three clips from each film, (a) and (b) still giving six for each film and
twelve clips in total for testing, which to try and get participants to sit
down and answer a questionnaire on seemed reasonable.
Expected Results
Again it would come down to how
many participants took part to deliver results of a meaningful manner. It was
originally hoped that between ten and twenty people would take part in this
questionnaire and media testing. The next area of potential concern was the
quality of testing. This meant the clips edited had to be of a high enough
standard that the participant could believe that they were possibly the originals
if they had not seen the film(s) before. This was challenging for the author to
design and compose for 6 different clips in different ways to test if the
narrative is driven by the audio successfully and lead human perception, or if
it had any effect at all.
It was the author’s expectation
that people within the sound field would notice more what the tests were trying
to do than perhaps other participants. It is the opinion of the author that the
clips were of a good enough standard to be able to represent the films as a
different edit than the original. In regards to results expected its also of
the authors opinion that the results will most likely be mixed in terms of
whether people prefer some scenes to others or actually pick up on what the
test design is aiming to do. The framework set up helped create these media
tests and underpins the whole testing procedure and the project as a whole.
Procedure
Participants took part in the media
testing mostly in the authors flat; people from different disciplines took part
in it as well as gender and age. The tests themselves vary from thirty seconds
to the longest clip lasting four minutes. Using a darkened room where possible
and speakers to try and emulate a more cinematic experience the participant(s)
were sat down and left alone to watch the clips in order and fill in the
questionnaires.
Everyone who took part had to sign
a consent form agreeing to what they were watching giving them the context that
the clips were 18 rated certificates containing moderate violence.
Results and analysis
Fifteen people took part in this
procedure. It was difficult to get people to sit down for fifteen minutes and
view clips and fill in some boxes, it was felt that fifteen allowed enough to
gather data to discuss the results. The questionnaire for the testing can be
found at Appendix E.
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Q1
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Q2
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Q3
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Q4
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Q5
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10
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9
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6
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4
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11
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5
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0
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5
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7
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4
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3
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3
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2
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3
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1
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2
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The context data answers, in order:
1) Male
or female
2) Age
– 18-30, 31-40, 41-50, 50-60
3) How
often do you watch film – A lot, regularly, sometimes, rarely
4) How
often do you attend cinema “
5) Do
you feel more interaction with a film in the cinema as opposed to other
environments – Yes/No
From the data above you can see 15
people took part in the media testing ten were male and five were female. Nine
were aged between 18-30; three were 41-50 and three between 50-60. Six people
said they watched film a lot but only four said they attended the cinema a lot.
Where as five said they regularly watched film and seven said they regularly
attended the cinema. The most interesting thing to note is that eleven people
agreed that cinema has the most interaction when watching a film whilst four
disagreed. There was no further information to find out why those four people
found film just as interactive in different environments it could be down to
just watching it where ever they please because they enjoy watching a film.
The next section is based on the
answers from the questionnaires from the media tests. The questionnaire can be
viewed at Appendix F.
Fargo media testing
The test design was set up for
participants to answer questions based on their interpretation of musical,
narrative, sound effects and perception events. They answered on a scale of one
to five whether they strongly agree or disagree with the statements.
The author is of the belief that
whilst people can watch a film and enjoy the sound they might not be aware of
the aim of that sound. Trying to alter it to influence the participants in one-way
or another was a way of testing whether they appreciate the sound design and
composition or if they notice any change in it at all. 
Test one – A&B
The first test was a black screen
with text on it discussing the film. The text itself mentioned how the
“following events are based on a true story…out of respect for the dead”. The
author wanted to try and play on those hit points in the text with the music
and test how people could feel in regards to the music and text putting it
together. Could the music set the tone for the film right away, will that in
turn influence their perception without feeling disillusioned or confused from
the music? The first question asked whether the participants thought the music
set the tone, the second asking if it influenced their perception and the third
if the music was distracting. 63% strongly agreed that the music set the tone
for clip A and B for test one. 70% strongly agreed that the music influenced
their perception of the film to follow whilst 80% of the participants agreed
that they didn’t find the music distracting.
Test two – A&B
The second test was aimed at trying
to drive narrative and looking at music again. The test involved the edited
version removing all music apart from at the end where key hit points happen
such as the car coming over the ridge of the hill. The clip itself is very
innocent and it’s just a car driving in the snow via a blue backdrop as the
credits role. This clip was approximately 1:45 long. The first question asked
if the participants felt the lack of music made it difficult to follow the
scene. The results here were pretty much inconclusive as 33% answered that they
neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement where as 26% disagreed with the
statement and 20% agreed with it. Compare that to the original tests answer
that 86% felt the music aided in following the narrative on screen 86% also
strongly agreed that the music influenced their perception of the film, whilst
from the edited test 73% strongly agreed that the music sequence at the end
helped change their perception of the film. It was hoped that the testing on
this clip would highlight why the music was put there and its importance to the
film as a whole and the design to this original clip.
Clip Three – A&B
The third test was very different
from what the participants were used to watching. This test contained actual
dialogue in parts, the original contained music to build suspense and lead the
emotions of what’s unfolding on screen. A kidnapping has taken place and the
two criminals get pulled over by the police. They have to attempt to try and
not alert the officer to the person in the back of the car. Throughout the
original, subtle orchestral music is used to drive the narrative that something
is looming, the danger of the volatile criminals and the endangered person the
back seat. The edited version increased the level of sound effects and took
away all music. As the clip climaxes and the police officer gets killed as he
works out there is a kidnapping taken place, the tension was built here by
adding a Non-Diegetic sound of a train and speeding cars to add the build up in
one of the criminals minds. The reason for this approach was to test whether
the sound effects could influence their perception and make them feel more
immersed within the clips. There are periods where silence could have been
suited to drive the narrative and is a different approach from the traditional
model that Fargo uses with the orchestral music. 67% of the participants agreed
that the highlighted use of sound effects and silenced influenced them and made
them feel more immersed. Whilst 80% strongly disagreed that the lack of music
distracted them from the events unfolding. The participants were asked to answer
from the original clips if they thought the use of orchestral music
highlighting the actions on screen leads to an effective scene, 60% of them
strongly agreed with this whilst 53% of them strongly disagreed that orchestral
music distracted them from the events on screen. It seems clear that both
approaches would have a desired effective of driving the narrative and not
being a distraction without one of the other, it also could be suggested that
the use of silence and sound effects within this particular clip could have a
more desired effect in immersion.
Discussions
The first major point to note would
be that there was a large agreement with most of the statements amongst the
participants.
The second was that the test design
was created to try and compare techniques used between the two films (Fargo and
No Country for Old Men) to see if techniques can be applied and have the same
effect or is it the careful planning and design that help the specific scenes
be so successful.
Fargo uses the very traditional
model of orchestral music and standard sound effects approach. It was the
authors desired approach to test what would happen if you took out that music,
if you added heightened sound effects and used silence or added a different
tone in the music? Would participants notice a change in the tone? Would they
still be able to follow the narrative through a tough visual scene without the
music? Could the use of heightened sound effects lead to a more immersive scene
leading their perception and still driving the narrative?
The first clip is simple; it is
thirty seconds long and has a black backdrop with a small paragraph of text
basically outlining the film. The original music is somewhat dark and broody in
tone not giving away much but wouldn’t suggest a love type story more serious
crimes has occurred. The music designed for this piece was taken from the True
Grit original sound track titled “Leaning on the everlasting arms”. This is
more up beat and suggests a tragic love story or event unfolding. The key point
the author was trying to test was that can a different tempo piece of music have
the same effect with the words on screen still creating that bond the original
does with the tone and death. In total 63% agreed that the music set the tone
for Clip one.
The second test was slightly more
difficult in terms of an approach. The original has a follow on from the
opening sequence and the music builds as the scene builds.
The approach was to heighten the
sound effects hoping to drive the naturalism within the image, by adding music
at the end to match the opening sequence. This was designed to test the ability
to drive narrative and perception with and without music and sound effects. The
results here proved inconclusive in the grand scale of things. 33% neither
agreed nor disagreed that the lack of music made it difficult to follow the
scene from the original where a dominant 86% strongly agreed that the music
aided in being able to follow the narrative. 86% also strongly agreed the music
was influencing what was to come from the film from the original test. The
edited version, 73% felt that the musical sequence at the end helped change
their perception of what was to follow. Looking at the results it seems people
needed the music to help drive the on screen actions, it could be suggested
this is due to the sparse on screen image but it could also be down to the
design of the composition to fit the on screen image and compliment. It was the
authors desire to create realism with the sound effects to compliment the on
screen images but by adding music at the end.
The third test was completely
different from the previous two as it firstly contained characters and also
small pieces of dialogue. The author has previously commented on how music and
sound design can be used as a story telling device instead of dialogue, however
it was felt that having this clip as a test would be a good comparison of
techniques from the two films in question and the dialogue didn’t detract from
the design of the clip. The clip itself last approximately 2:30 seconds so it
is longer than the previous two. The primary focus here was again looking at
how silence and heightened sound effects could lead to participants feeling
more immersed therefore driving there perception and querying whether the lack
of music distracted them as there was no narrative being driven. Would there
seem like something was missing but they couldn’t really understand what, or
would they think that the music fitted the scene well and supported the images.
The use of Non-diagetic sound was placed within this clip as it climaxed as
well as one criminal kills the police officer.
The edited version featured no music. This was done to try and influence
a sense of realism within the clip, where as the original edit features the
traditional orchestral musical score to influence the narrative and what the
participants were watching. From the results is seems that they indeed preferred
the silence and sound effects approach. Not by a over whelming standard but
they felt that is was a more effective model in terms of driving the narrative,
leading perception and immersion at 67% to 60% respectively strongly agreeing, also
to note that 80% strongly agreed that a lack of music didn’t distract them from
the events unfolding on screen.
For the media testing in Fargo it
would be fair to suggest that comparing the two models and approaches it
yielded favourable results towards the design of silence and sound effects
within clips where something is happening in more detail, however if the image
is static or less involved the music was helping drive that to the
participants. The keynote here is that the design of the sound and composition
is all-important. Carefully selecting where pieces of music should go and the
style of music helps do so much more than fill a gap of silence the results
showed that it was leading the narrative and their perception which would make
it a fair assessment that sound could be seen as a story telling method in the
greater sense of the meaning.
No Country for Old Men Media Testing
Similar approach to the media
testing for this film as it was for Fargo. The test design was set up for
participants to answer questions eighteen based on their interpretation of
musical, narrative, sound effects and perception events.
These tests varied in length and they
also contained more on screen action. The key difference is that this film uses
no real musical score and the scenes picked for testing contains no musical
features within the original edits.
Test one – A&B 
The first test in the No Country
media tests lasting 1:30 seconds. Similarities to Fargo, where as this clip
involves a criminal and a police officer. It was the authors’ intention to add
music where appropriate and try to use contrasting techniques with this and
Fargo as per the critical framework document created. The edited version had a
piece of music over the top of the crime being committed to test whether the
participants felt that the music would help add to the narrative and see if it
works well with the sound effects or whether it deters from the seriousness
that the original creates. 47% of the participants agreed that the music takes
away from the seriousness of the crime being committed whilst only 20%
disagreed with this statement. 53% neither agreed nor disagreed with the
statement that the use of music helped drive the narrative in this scene where
as 93% of the participants agreed the combination of sound effects and music
was good. 47 % of the participants disagreed the lack of music takes away the
seriousness of the crime occurring, 86% strongly agreed that the use of
heightened sound effects and silence was still able to e to set the tone within
the scene whilst 100% agreed that the use of sound effects and just silence was
an effective combination.
Test two – A&B
The second clip was 1:25 seconds
and features an act of mindless violence. The same criminal from the previous
scene is in a police car pulling over an innocent man driving his car and
proceeds to kill him in a cold-blooded fashion. The original clip really
highlights the realism here with no music only atmospherics.
The authors approach here was to
add music to try and play a slight paradox on what is going on exactly in the
clip. It was of the author’s opinion by adding a music track throughout that
steadily built to the climax of the death of the innocent man you could take
away the seriousness of the crime and add humour. Testing revealed that over
50% of the participants strongly agreed that they were able to follow the
narrative on screen easily whilst 80% agreed that the music worked effectively
with the small piece of dialogue and over 90% strongly agreed that the music
took away the serious violence that occurred. From the original version 100% of
the participants strongly agreed they were able to follow the narrative easily,
60% strongly agreed that the sound effects and silence influence made the scene
more effective and 80% of participants felt that the lack of any music changes
the tone of the scene.
Test three – A&B
The third and final media test is
perhaps the most famous of the No country for Old Men clips chosen for testing.
Setting the scene, a man is in hiding from the heinous criminal from the
previous scenes. The scene is set in one room, and is four minutes long in
total. Throughout this whole scene the only sound is that of silence and sound
effects with room tone. Essentially the viewer is experiencing through the eyes
of the camera as if they were in the room. The author wanted to test what music
would do to this clip, would it still make it effective, would it still drive
the narrative and would the participants be able to understand it fully?
As for the results, the original
clip showed that over 60% of the participants were still able to focus on the
narrative whilst the music was present whilst almost 90% strongly agreed that
the music helped drive the narrative and just over 60% agreed with the
statement that they were able to fully understand the clip regardless of the
music. From the original 100% of the participants felt they were able to fully
focus on the clip with just silence and sound effects and 60 % agreed that the
silence led to an effective scene whilst 33% agreed with the statement they
were able to remain focused regardless of the sound effects and silence and
music.
Discussions
It could be suggested that by the
time the participants got to the final clips they weren’t feeling as motivated
as they perhaps were towards the start.
To try and counter this some
participants saw Fargo first some saw this films’ media tests first.
The author was hoping to test how
effective this film actually is when using sound effects and silence for their
main story telling methods as opposed to using any form of compositions to help
drive the narrative and perceptions. The author ideally would liked the results
to show that whilst the music was perhaps effective, the original clips were
more effective in its design, therefore further cementing the importance of
sound design and composition and relationship between the composers, designers
and directors.
The first clip had a piece of music
added to it to try and empathise with the characters on screen and try to take
away the real element of violence that was occurring, just under a majority
felt that this was represented to a reasonable level however the original was
more effective in terms of being a driving force in narrative. If anything it
would be fair to say that the music composed for this piece didn’t add to the
totality of the clip as a whole. The second clip however received favourable
results. This clip was primarily designed to add humour to the clip but yet
still drive the narrative and perception in terms of speed. The clip itself is
slow paced; the characters movements are slow paced with not a lot of action
until the criminal kills the victim. The music for this piece was aimed to
speed up the process and influence their perception and still drive the
narrative. The main mix was aimed to incorporate the sound effects at a similar
level to how Fargo represents music and sound effects in the general level. 80%
found the music effective and worked with the clip however 90% felt it
detracted from the seriousness of the crime. In regards to the film as a whole,
the music wouldn’t fit. Despite the Coens’ playing upon paradoxes in life in
terms of how situations occur and how they pan out it wouldn’t fit in original
edit. The original edit plays heavily on the speed of the clip; it moves slowly
much like the criminals almost unnerving relaxed approach to the car to kill
his victim. It is very important to note
that 100% of the participants strongly agreed that they were able to follow the
narrative throughout, almost 80%strongly agreed that the clip used effective
use of the sound effects and 60% agreed that the lack of music changed the tone
of the scene.
These results show how music can
change tone and perception of what someone is watching. The music helped add
humour and take away from the seriousness and speed up the clip whilst the original
keeps with the aesthetic that the clip is slow moving and relaxed despite the
seriousness of it all.
This clip heavily relies on the
room tone and heightened sound effects to try and bath the viewer in what they
are watching, to try and make it seem like they are in the room with the
character and experiencing the tension he is experiencing. The effect would be
lost if it was being viewed in a place that had other surrounding sounds that
were clearly audible as it would make the silence almost redundant. Trying to
compose a piece of music for this test was the most difficult out of all the
testing that was created. It challenged the abilities of composing and designs
to the limit. The music that had to fit had to be a piece that didn’t over ride
the feeling of tension and take away the characters anxiousness of what is to
come. For it to be successful in adding something to the clip the music had to
work with the image; it could lead perceptions and drive the narrative
primarily with focus being on the characters mental state. By adding music it
was hoped that it could help lead the perception of the participant that
something is away to happen with no great resolution coming for a long time.
The results yielded results favourable toward the music fitting well with the
on screen image with 90% strongly agreeing that it helped drive the narrative
however from the original an overwhelming 100% strongly agreed that they were
able to focus on the narrative with just silence throughout. This was a good
result for two reasons; one it meant the sound design was successful and
participants bought into what was trying to be presented, and two the original
clip is so successful in determining how to make the audience feel a part of
what the characters feeling. Thus leading the narrative and perception of the
viewer.
Comments from participants – Appendix G
Overall Discussion -
To create testing worthy of trying
to validate the framework created and mentioned in an earlier chapter there had
to be numerous clips selected and edited. In doing this it allowed for
transparency and attempt to deliver unbiased results. As mentioned previously,
the tests were shown in a different order, they were shown in groups of
participants and to individual participants. The majority of the testing took
place in the authors flat using audio monitors and a darkened room to replicate
a cinematic experience.
So what can be derived from the
tests to be formed in to conclusions? From the tests concerning Fargo it would
be a fair assumption to point to the use of music helping drive the narrative
within the scenes selected. When you talk about the narrative being driven
effectively it would be another fair assumption to say that the audience
members can be influenced by the music as well.
It is important to highlight that whilst the participants looked
favourably at the edited clips the originals were the most important regarding
results, thus highlighting the role that sound design and composition plays
within the totality of this film. With
this study being a comparative one the author felt it was imperative to try and
implement some of the techniques used in No Country for old men in to the
aesthetics of Fargo. To do this silence and sound effects had to be implemented
to a greater level than previous and strip back the music of the style of music
composed. It would also be fair to suggest that this style wouldn’t be out of
place looking at the results from test 3A, where participants found the use of
silence and no music made it seem more immersive and was able to drive the
narrative and their perceptions of what was to follow.
Looking at the opposite film No
Country for old men we can also draw conclusions regarding its sound design and
composition to lead human perceptions and narrative. It’s visibly and audibly
clear from the outset that this film is a more serious and darker film than
Fargo. To offer similarities to the films and see how they compare it was the
authors approach to add scored music to the scenes. Conclusions can be made
here that the most successful clip was the longest one, that really only had
dull tones to support the image offering a build up to the climax. Trying to
minimalize the volume of sound effects and bring the music more into the
forefront was a way of offering the comparison with Fargo.
In Fargo the two criminals get
pulled over by the police, in No Country for old men the main protagonist
pretends to be the police and kills an innocent man. The music was taken out of
Fargo and was put into No Country for old men (different music) and the result
was clear that the use of silence and sound effects at a heightened volume is
enjoyable but only when it is used correctly, placing it in the wrong clip
would lead to ineffectiveness of the sound design and composition.
As the only composer and designer
the tests were successful in matching the critical framework and supported the
outlined project and key points relating to the framework, thus the testing
supports that which was outlined in the Critical framework chapter. The author
would have liked to have created more tests and ran successful focus groups,
but having individual and group representation and information it allowed for
the author to gather enough data to try and support and validate the framework.
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