Sound Design for Film and Digital Media

CAEL5029

This course is intended to be a broad introduction to the theory & practice of audio production and sound design for moving pictures in both analogue and digital forms. Through viewing and discussing critical excerpts, the course will offer a grounding in the history, theory and criticism of sound design and its applicability to current film and television production practice. The course will look at the tools and techniques available to the sound designer, as well as examine the various underlying strategies, processes, and sound design philosophies. It will introduce conventional and non-conventional production models across a range of media production and in particular look closely at key film sound theorist Michel Chion's audiovisual contract for cinema and in so doing develop an understanding of critical film sound theory and an apprehension of key concepts including: synchronous and asynchronous sound, synchresis; on-screen, off-screen, and non-diegetic sound; the sound stage, point of view, causal semantic and reduced listening, internal and external logic, audiovisual rhythm and counterpoint. Applications of those principles will be explored in creative practice from sound capture and creation to construction using field/location and studio recording and post-production techniques. The sound designer's role in the process of creation of meaning will be examined in cultural as well as technical contexts of compositional practices. The course will aim at developing a conceptual design language and individual aesthetic as well as encourage the invention of original sounds.

Unit of study details

Unit of study level: Postgraduate

Credit points: 6

Commencing semesters: 1, 2

Further unit of study information

Unit of study handbook: CAEL5029

Costs and scholarships information: Costs and Scholarships

Final dates to withdraw from units of study: Census Dates

Available for study abroad and exchange: Yes

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