Directing with sound#
Week 11 — SLOP4555
A picture-locked cut with no sound pass is still rough#
No matter how finished the images look. Sound is where the last third of the audience’s attention actually lives.
Direct a voice the same way you’d direct a face#
A note aimed at pace, breath, or hesitation — the same discipline as week 1’s line reading, now aimed at a voice instead of an expression.
“Hold the breath half a second before the line, not after.”
Ambience and Foley are a location’s second bible#
What a room sounds like is as fixed as what it looks like. A kitchen at night has a sound signature the same way it has a fixed light and a fixed detail — and the same amnesia problem if you don’t re-supply it.
Music is a directorial statement#
Not wallpaper laid under a scene by default. A cue placed on purpose says something specific about how a moment should feel — cut it, and you’re making a different claim about the same picture.
“Hey”: two actual synthesized takes#
Same Samantha voice and wording; two independent syntheses vary pace. Primary mix uses A’s shorter greeting to leave time for listening. Owner approved application; independent audience review remains unverified.
Same picture, compare the sound#
Same 31.23-second Cut A picture and “Hey.” Full pass adds kitchen hum, phone SFX and a sustained cue. The no-music control isolates the cue.
Align a cue with the choice#
Phone SFX: 6.067–24.1 s. Music enters near the reach: 17.6 s. “Hey” starts 27.8 s, after the phone reaches her ear.
The call interrupts her final packing task. Entering the music under the reach places its claim on attempted contact rather than the first ring.
Read the intended beat comparison and limits.
Picture streams match; decode and peak checks passed. Event-aligned ADR; exact phoneme lip sync and independent listening review remain unverified.
This week’s task#
Direct two takes of one undirected line from your cut, using a single note — pace, breath, hesitation. Select and lay in the take that serves the beat. Add one ambience bed, one Foley/SFX moment, and one music cue placed on purpose. Compare the dialogue-only and full-pass versions.
What you leave with#
Two directed line takes, and a dialogue-only cut sitting next to a full sound-pass cut.
Note wherever the pass changed a beat’s meaning — that note feeds the final director’s statement.