Sound Design for Moving Image: From Concept to Realization (Required Reading Range)

It is sometimes said that sound makes up half a movie or video. I'm not certain what the proportions are, but Kahra Scott-James and I agree that sound can make or break a moving image.This book begins with a history of the use of sound in movies and videos, including experimental works. Scott-James then proceeds to discuss the use of sound before, during and after production. Her examination is of the process involved rather than on the techniques of creating sound, with a major emphasis upon animation (which has significant differences from the live action process). The milieu she looks at is major productions that can afford producers, directors, cinematographers, and with regard to sound, sound designers, composers, editors, mixers and so forth. Nothing is aimed at the lone wolf videographer, although a few ideas can be derived from the multi-staffed productions.The book does not go into technical details, like how to mic a performer or operate a digital audio workstation, but that's not surprising. Given the wide variety of equipment that's available for both recording and editing, the reader should only expect to get that kind of information in a dedicated book. On the other hand, it would have been nice to have further exploration of what I consider the aesthetic aspects of sound; for example, what levels of detail in the sound matrix might best support a particular genre. (I've seen few texts that actually do this, and then only in the most general way. The aesthetic aspects seem to require a critique of actual work rather than a lesson.)There is a companion website, although the URL given only yields an error. I had to search the publisher's web site, using the author's name, to find the page. Ultimately, it mostly provided the names of a few full-length motion pictures recommended by the author. It's too bad the companion site wasn't full of clips that could have played sound and video to make the author's points.The book is aimed primarily at narrative fiction, with little mention of documentary or other types of filmmaking. The history of sound in movies and video was much longer then needed and seemed more like a separate academic treatise. Picking a nit, the book had many long quotes of a kind usually indicated by set-ins or a different typeface that could only be distinguished from the main text by a citation at the end.If one has never read a book on the process of creating sound for movies or video this book will do. Otherwise, filmmakers will not discover anything new.

Pretty good