Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mr Burt, and welcome to your drama lesson.

Now, this is the fifth and final drama lesson on a series of lessons called understanding the roles and responsibilities of the creative team.

And so far, we've looked at the roles of the director, the costume designer, the set designer, and the lighting designer.

And in this final lesson, we're going to look at sound design.

But before we do that, let's just check we've got all the equipment we need to get this lesson started.

So in this lesson, you will need either an exercise book or a piece of paper and a pencil or a pen.

So make sure you've got those pieces of equipment and then let's make a start.

So in this lesson, we're going to start by looking at the key words we need to succeed in our lesson.

Then we're going to look at the role, the sound designer, we're going to learn about sound design and then we're going to print what we've learned into practise by creating our own sound design.

We're going to finish the lesson with a quiz.

So, onto the keywords then we need to succeed in our lesson.

The first key word is soundscape.

Now soundscape is layering up sounds to create a strong sense of being in a location.

A sound check, sound check is checking all the instruments and equipment are working and sound levels are checked and balanced.

Sound levels, so sound levels is a process of making sure that the sound is at the correct volume so that it can be heard by all the audience at the right volume.

By the audience who has sat at the back, and the audience who has sat at the front.

The audience you are sat three rows above, and the audience who are sat in the stalls.

And then the final word is production style.

Production style is the overall look and feel for the production as defined by the director in their directorial vision.

So let's just quickly check our understanding of some of those keywords before we move on into the lesson.

So is this statement true or false.

Performing regular sound checks help keep your sound levels balanced.

Is that true or false, tell me now.

Well done, that's true.

It is important that you regularly perform a sound check to make sure that sound levels are balanced.

And therefore everyone in the audience wherever they are sat, are hearing it at the right volume.

So let's start by looking at the role of the sound designer.

Now, the sound designer is responsible for music whether that is live on stage at the time or anything that's pre-recorded.

And sound effects again, those could be live on stage or recorded and presented over the speakers and the amplification of the actors if it is needed.

Sound design can communicate the artistic vision time period, location, time of day and the emotions of the characters and add to the general atmosphere and mood of the performance.

And often the start and ends of scenes will be signalled with a piece of music.

So sound and music plays a very important part in a piece of theatre and the way in which that piece of theatre is communicated to an audience.

There are two types of sound when we look at sound in theatre.

There are diegetic sounds and non-diegetic sounds.

So let's start with diegetic sounds.

These are sounds that can be found within the world of the play.

And so they include specific sound effects that the actors actually hear within the performance.

So when someone presses the doorbell, there are characters will hear the doorbell.

If an animal makes a sound or there's a knock on the door, these are sounds that the characters on stage will hear and respond to and react to.

Now, some of these will need to be live but others will be recorded and played over speakers.

Whereas non-diegetic sounds are those sounds that the characters don't hear in the performance but add to it to help create the atmosphere of it.

So for example, music which is played in the background or soundscapes that build up the atmosphere or anything that helps communicate the emotion of the character, these are non-diegetic sounds.

Now there's a couple of pieces of equipment that is a sound designers you might want to use or need to use.

The first one is microphones.

Now these are used by actors to amplify their voice through speakers.

There are hand held microphones or lapel microphones which are attached to your clothes or you can get sellotaped onto your cheek.

Then we have amplifiers.

Now amplifiers help increase the volume of a sound whilst maintaining its quality.

And speakers then project the sound so that everyone can hear it at the same volume.

We might use a mixing desk.

Now a mixing desk, it lets the sound designer to control the different sounds and their volumes.

And we might use computer software where you can queue up different sound effects so they can be played at the right time.

Now let's just check our understanding of some of those keywords.

So answer me this question.

Is the sound of a doorbell a diegetic or non-diegetic sound? Tell me the answer now.

That's right, it's a didactic sound.

A doorbell is a didactic sound because it is something that the characters on stage will hear and respond to and react to.

Whereas an example of a non-diegetic sound is background music.

We are going to be doing some design work.

Now, when we're preparing for design work, we need to think how our designs are going to meet these four requirements, content, style dramatic games and atmosphere.

Now, all of these will be detailed to you in the director's vision.

But content, is making sure your designs match the time period, the player setting, and the details of the scene such as what time of day it is and where they are.

Style is making sure you are aware of the style of the production whether it is naturalistic or minimalist.

But to make sure that your design meets the dramatic games as well, make sure your designs reflect the aim of the performance, how the audience will enjoy the performance, and what they will gain from it.

And atmosphere, make sure your designs reflect the atmosphere of the piece of theatre.

Now before we go on, let's just have a quick check of some of the keywords that we learned in the beginning of the lesson.

So tell me now, what is a soundscape? That's right, a soundscape is layering up sounds to create a strong sense of being in a location.

So these sounds could be a mixture of diegetic or non-diegetic sounds that create that sense of being in a place and creates tension and atmosphere.

Now we're going to be creating a soundscape as part of your commission for this lesson.

So, you have been commissioned to design and create a soundscape design to accompany the performance of a monologue.

The soundscape needs to be played live during the performance and made up of a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

The soundscape should communicate to the audience the time of day, the mood and atmosphere of the monologue, and any other diegetic mess sounds mentioned in the script.

And here is the script of the monologue.

And everything that is in italics is stage instruction, and everything else is being said by character A.

So it is night and there is a loud crash off stage and Character A enters.

Character A says, "Who's there?" Character A walk slowly on the stage.

There are several different noises that happen around Character A, then silence.

Then footsteps gets louder as Character A begins to panic more.

Character A then says, "I said who's there? Show yourselves, I must see you." And then there was a sound of a heartbeat increasing in tension is heard.

Character A slowly turns to see where it is coming from.

The heartbeat is really loud and then suddenly silent as scary laughter is heard.

Character A runs and exits.

Okay, I want you to pause the video now.

And using the monologue on the screen, I want you to see and identify what sounds you might need to create as part of your soundscape.

So pause the video and resume once you're ready.

So having read through it, this is some of the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds that I would expect to see in your commission.

So I'd expect to see or here rather sounds which suggested that it's night and allowed crash which is offstage.

I'd expect to hear several different noises.

Now it doesn't say what those noises are in the script, but they happen around Character A.

So perhaps they're coming from different directions, then silence, of course silence is a sound.

Then there's footsteps which get louder, and a heartbeat which is increasing and gets louder.

And then again a bit of silence and then some scary laughter.

Now, we're going to watch the performance of the monologue so that you can begin to see where those sounds might come in when you create your soundscape.

Who's there? I said who's there? Show yourselves, I must see you.

So this brings us up to our next task then which is to plan the soundscape.

Now I want you to re-watch the monologue next.

And during that performance, I want you to plan what sounds you will create for the soundscape.

You will need to use whatever you can find at home that you can use to make a noise as well as your voice.

And don't forget, you need to create sounds for the diegetic sounds mentioned in the script as well as the time of day and any other sounds that you think will help create the atmosphere of the monologue.

So on the next slide we will see the monologue that I want you to watch and take some notes whilst you watch it.

Who's there.

I said who's there? Show yourselves, I must see you.

Excellent, so pause the video now, plan what sounds you need, go and find the bits and pieces that you think would make good sounds for that.

Don't forget, there's a lot of sounds there you can make with your voice.

And resume once you've got that ready.

Before we go on any further, let's just have a quick recap of some of the keywords from the beginning of the lesson.

So what is a chance sound check? Tell me now, what a sound check is.

All right, so a sound check is checking all the instruments and equipment are working, and sound levels are checked and balanced.

And so sound levels is a process of making sure that the sound is at the correct volume levels so it can be heard by all the audience at the right volume.

So what we're going to do now, is we're going to have a practise, a run through, so that you can do your sound check for your soundscape.

In the next slide, we're going to see the monologue again.

And as I performed the monologue, I want you to perform your sound check, making sure that everything is in the right place at the right time.

So we're going to do a sound check, a run through of your soundscape alongside the real performance.

And I'm going to count us down.

So make sure you've got all your instruments ready.

The first one at hand, and I'm going to count us down from three to one and when I say one, we're going to go.

So three, two, one, go.

Who's there? I said who's there? Show yourselves, I must see you.

So this brings us up to our next task which is to review what we've got so far.

So I want you to review what you have planned for the sounds you will create for the soundscape.

What worked and what didn't work in our rehearsal we just did? Have you created sounds for the diegetic sounds mentioned in the script? Have you communicated the time of day? Are you adding any sounds to help create the atmosphere of the monologue? What I'd like you to do is pause the video now, and review what you've created, add, develop, and change what you've made so it meets the brief and resume once you've finished.

Now that you're ready to go, we're going to perform your soundscape.

So on the next slide, you will see my performance and this will be our final performance.

So as I perform, I want you to perform your final soundscape.

So this time, we're going to do it for real.

This is going to be our performance.

This is going to be the ones and only time we're going to do it.

So, make sure you've got all the instruments and everything you need to make this soundscape really awesome.

And I'm going to count down again like I did for the rehearsal.

So when I get to one, you need to be ready to start.

Are you ready? Good, three, two, one, go.

Who's there? I said who's there? Show yourselves, I must see you.

So how was that performance for you? Were you able to make all the sound effects in the right time to create a real sense of the location and of the atmosphere? I feel it was a really moody monologue.

So I hope you're able to get that moodiness out in the atmosphere.

And that heartbeat is quite important because it's a non-diegetic sound and it really helps to build tension in the audience's mind.

Performing a soundscape like that, can be really, really hard.

So well done on your work today.

You should be really proud of yourselves.

So before we finish up today, let's just check our understanding for some of the keywords reviews.

So which of these can sound not communicate to the ordinance? Is it time, is it location, is it the plot of the play or is it atmosphere? You tell me which one of these sound cannot communicate to the audience? That's right, we can use sound to tell us time, we can use sound to tell us the location and add to the atmosphere, but we can't use sound or music to tell the actual plot of the play.

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