If you’re someone who is into gaming, you might point to the gameplay of any given game as being what you enjoy the most – perhaps even the graphics and how those immerse you. The same could be true of how a film is shot, the cinematography or perhaps how it’s written. Much rarer is it that people give proper credit to the sound design, and the power that this has in relation to the overall atmosphere.
Going back to your favorite games or films with this in mind can do a great deal to shift your perception of the craft that’s gone into these elements.
Believability in Film
Sound in film can feel compulsory, mandatory and ultimately just an obligatory element of the craft. If it’s treated as such in the production of the film, it can lead to forgettable scores and sound design that is ultimately functional above all else. Functional is important, but there are more elements than that to consider. Sound design not only helps to make the illusion of the film believable and real, but it also helps to underscore the tone that the filmmakers are going for. Is a scene tense or calm? If so, that’s going to have an impact on the way something as simple as a door opening sounds, whether it’s a sharp slam or a gentle slide and creak.
When it comes to fantasy or science fiction films, the filmmakers are trying to craft entirely fictional worlds, and the sound design goes a long way towards making those places feel authentic enough to get audiences to care about them in the first place.
Small Touches in Gaming
The same is true of gaming in many ways, and it’s something that you might find hard to appreciate until the sound design is missing. When a game suffers a bug or a glitch, and you open a door without it making the right sound, you can feel how much you’re taken out of the experience in that moment. It’s like peeking behind the curtain and realizing that you’re interacting with a highly sophisticated toy rather than being actually transported to another world.
This is why even online casinos, like JackpotCity in New Zealand, put such dedication and care into their audio-visual design. That way, whether a player is playing Basketball Star or Lord of the Rings, they’re made comfortable by that layer of immersion and the knowledge that they’re on a secure, SSL-certified platform.
Measuring Atmosphere
Across any form of media, getting specific about what ‘atmosphere’ actually means can be difficult, despite the fact that it’s so foundational across different mediums. A song can have an atmosphere, for example, much in the same way that a film does, or a room, or a single camera shot. What remains consistent, however, is the amount of care that goes into crafting it – something that is directly aided by both visual and sound design. Sometimes, the atmosphere that’s being created, the one that you notice as an audience member, is partly formed through your own interaction – projecting your own memories and experiences onto a scene.
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