If you’re wondering about the benefits of sound production for your brand, you’ve come to the right place. Just like blockbusters, promotional and corporate videos always benefit from being enhanced by sound production. In the form of video packages, advertising films or TV spots, sound acts as an image enhancer. Here you can find out more about the complex process of producing music for audiovisual media. Follow us to find out how setting your brand videos to music can dramatically increase their impact!
When sound creates image
Although images impress and fascinate, sound is no less fundamental to any audiovisual production. It structures the image, giving it meaning and guiding its interpretation. Working with sound even acts as an “image booster”. It is undoubtedly because of its ability to modify visual perception that UNESCO has chosen to devote one of its event weeks to sound. During the Week of Sound, the “When Sound Creates Images” competition is entirely devoted to this aspect of sound that creates meaning.
Thanks to these qualities, sound amplifies, supports or, on the contrary, creates a gap between the visual and the aural. It is an invaluable tool for tying two shots together or, conversely, for marking a visual break. In many video productions, sound is also the main vector for creating a dramatic context: the sound of approaching footsteps in a thriller or music associated with the presence of danger. For example, many film fans will no doubt remember the menacing tune composed by John Williams for Jaws (1975) or the whistling of the child murderer in Fritz Lang’s M le Maudit (1931).
In the early days of the 7th art, it was the musical score that replaced the inaudible dialogue of the silent era. But despite the advent of talking pictures, sound and music still play a fundamental role in film production.
Case studies illustrating the fruitful relationship between image and sound creation
The shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
If there’s one cult scene in the history of cinema, it’s the shower scene in “Psycho” (1960). In this 45-second sequence, composer Bernard Hermann composed a soundtrack that was intended to be the equivalent of the murder in the film. The brutality of the knife attack is matched by a musical motif of shrill, cutting strings. Yet the director had originally intended only the sound of water and stabbing. In this case, the musical composition plays a dual role: 1) it adds to the extreme tension of the scene; 2) it allows the viewer to see what is not actually shown in the image, by stimulating the imagination. The stab wounds on the character’s skin are more suggested than actually filmed in detail.
Now experience the power of this composition by watching the scene with and without music: The shower scene from the film “Psycho” with and without music.
The welcome sequence in Jurassic Park
In another context, music has also helped to make a scene an iconic moment in cinema. In the welcome sequence to “Jurassic Park” (Steven Spielberg, 1993), for example, the music created by John Williams gives the scene colour and depth. As Dr Gant and his team enter the park for the first time, the notes of a symphony orchestra immediately bring several ideas to life at once:
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- That of a fundamental (re)creation and the birth of the world that has emerged from it.
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- Billionaire John Hammond’s successful bid to bring extinct species back to life.
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- The grandeur and beauty of dinosaurs in the wild.
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- The beginning of an epic.
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- The fascination and wonder of Dr Grant and his team when they discover dinosaurs.
Of course, while the absence of music tends to make the scene more mysterious, J. Williams’ composition lends it its tone, particularly by telling viewers how they should understand it. At this point in the story, Spielberg needs his masterly touch and epic overtones to draw the viewer into his world.
To find out how music enhances your images, try the Jurassic Park experience! A cult scene from the film “Jurassic Park” without any music
Sound production to bring out the best in your audiovisual communication
In this context, producing music for images means a whole range of services such as :
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- Original sound creations for your advertising films.
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- Video packaging.
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- Boosting your radio and TV commercials.
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- Providing music and sound for important events in the life of your brand.
It’s a complex creative process involving several stages:
Theoretical: this is the expertise phase, when communications specialists help you to think about your project and your values. The aim here is to define the perfect sound to convey even more powerful images of your brand.
Technical: the creation stage proper: composition, recording, production, mixing… It’s in the heart of recording studios that your initial idea takes shape to enhance your images.
Brandy Sound has more than 10 studios dedicated to music creation and sound production.
So, are you ready to put your brand to music? We’d love to hear from you!
