Before we begin, here’s the video!
This project was very exciting for me because I get to incorporate sounds into my film. Usually, we just plug in music from youtube but for this project we are required to come up with sound design, and come up with our own foley sounds. In the beginning, I thought of using some music but that would take away all the fun from this project. So now I will begin to explain me and my group’s process for this project!
As shown in our screenplay, the story follows both Isaac and Jeramy as they both get ready for the wedding day. Isaac’s actions are mostly him being unsure and certain of getting married to Isabelle. On the flip side, Jeremy is confident but is sad deep down inside as he deals with rejection. The way I am going to be editing this story has a lot to do with symbolism and cut aways. We have film this beautifully and I want to make sure it stays the same way. When Isaac is doing something with his face, Jeramy will do the same, when Isaac is wearing his shirt, Jeramy will too, and when Isaac is walking to his wedding location, so does Jeramy.
Mood board:
We took some inspirations from some short films we have seen and we tried to create those shots in our film. 
We decided to go with the reddish pink light to show the complete opposite of Jeramy and Isaac. When they both are getting ready the audience might be confused, and by making the two colors so different, the audience will be able to differentiate between the two characters. We also wanted to show the “pure and soft” colors for Isaac as he is very vulnerable, while Jeramy has harsh bright pinkish lights to show the intensity of his emotion.
There are a lot more references that we have take inspirations from but I wanted to share about this because I thought the intensity of eyes is super amazing. The color red at the left side of Jeramy’s face is super beautiful and the white soft light chastening onto the face really shows how angry Jeramy is but at the same time, hurt.
The corridor scene has to be the most successful reference we took because we did a very good job with the lighting. We blast the red light into the bathroom and have the green light placed at the end of the corridor and the front. This is to show Jeramy’s transformation into the “bride” and the emotions he was going through.
Sound and VO:
This is where everyone go on their ways and edit the film and design their sound differently. I know at the end of the day, the group will have very similar sound as we discuss the project together, film together, and did everything together. I try my best to not do something literal and I tried to create symbolic sounds to represent different things in the film.
In my version of this story, I follow fully on the emotion and the thought process of Isaac. All the sounds in my version is the reflection of Isaac’s feelings and thought process.
- Beach
We begin the film by seeing the beach and hearing the sound of waves throughout the first segment of the film. The sound of the beach represents the thoughts of Jeramy. The two had memories together at the beach, it is where they share the most wonderful memories and feelings together. So, whenever I want to show that Isaac is thinking of Jeramy, I make sure the sound of the wave is there. The sound will get stronger the more he thinks of Jeramy.
2. Breathing sound + Water dripping sound effect
I tried to get my brother to breathe loudly and record it with my iPhone, it was very difficult because I tried to ask him to match with the movement of the actor. For the water dripping down from his face, I filled a bowl with water and poured it onto a plate and recorded it with my phone. I think it turned out great because it clearly sounds like what I wanted it to sound like.
3. Tick, tick, ti tic tic, tick sound
I took inspiration from Ikkyū-san, a Japanese cartoon about a child monk. Whenever he thinks, there will be ticking sound of the bucket and to me it shows his thought process. I tried to recreate it with the scene where Isaac is looking at the picture of him and Jeramy at the beach and is thinking weather to delete the picture and leave Jeramy in his past.
To create this sound, I use my cooking pan and an aluminium chop stick and hit them against each other.
4. The sudden silent when the picture is deleted
Right when Isaac delete the picture of him and Jeramy, the sound of the waves were gone. All the audience can hear was the air condition sound. It was very sudden and it made me uncomfortable when I was editing it because it wasn’t smooth at all, but that is exactly what I want the audience to feel. Since all sound effect is from Isaac’s perspective, at the moment, he felt uncomfortable so I wanted the audience to feel the same way. The sound of A/C was the only think left that he could hear so that’s what I waned the audience to hear too.
5. The crowd
At this stage, the two are done and ready to attend the wedding, Isaac wears his suit and Jeramy puts on the earring. We focused on the ear and it is useful because I tried to make it foreshadow what is about to happen. I also used the “L” technique when editing to only see the two getting read and walking, but hearing the crowd talking. The audience kind of suspect that it is the wedding crowd but they are not 100% sure until the wedding scene is shown. To me, foreshadowing is important because the audience suspect that something is about to happen but they don’t know when, and thus creates tensions and suspense.
6. The sound of pastor
As the pastor speaks, the audience can notice that the voice keeps keeping softer and at some point unable to hear and all they can hear is the sound of the beach. In the beginning the audience can hear him very clearly because Isaac was able to focus but as the wedding progresses, he looses his attention and started thinking about Jeramy. That is why the sound of the beach gets louder and the voice of the pastor becomes softer. At one moment during the vow, we can suddenly hear the pastor’s voice very clearly because Isabelle took Isaac’s hands and gave him shock. He is now able to focus on the wedding again.
7. The bell sound
Everyone knows the sound of the bell represents a lot of things. When the Isabelle wore her ring, the first bell rings. Then it cuts to the vail being open, then the gun, then the two being “happily married”, the cuts to Jeramy’s reaction, then cut to Isaac’s noticing Jeramy. All these cuts are introduced with the wedding bell. I wanted to represent the bell with 2 things:
- Happily ever after
- The sound of danger that’s approaching
I made sure the sound of the bells are loud because I wanted to emphasise on the drama and the intensity if this situation.
Usually when the couple is married, the bell rings, the music comes on and the bride throws the flower. This is one of the reasons I wanted to show. The happy side of the marriage (the Isabelle’s side, even though she notices that her spouse is a little dozed off).
The flip side is the danger that is approaching. Jeramy is at the wedding with a gun, that is a danger. The more the bell sounds the more intense it gets.
8. The final wave sound
I like when a film ends how the film begins. I started the story with the sound of the beach, I want to make sure I end the story with the sound of the beach too. At this point the two are now looking at each other and no one else is being focused. The sound of the wave is obviously going to be the loudest.
Overall, I had an amazing time doing this project. I learned many things sound image and sound. I think my teammates really pushed me yo my vest ability because I would never take this many days and spend this amount of times to film. The result is amazing and the sound really ties the story together (and thats the whole point of this project). I am incredibly thankful for my teammates and the works we have put in!
Some inspirations I took from when editing my version of the story:
Brides War
The scene when the two girls were getting married was the climax of this film. The wedding happened at the same time and the scenes cut from one wedding to there other wedding and the two timeline matches really well.
Another reference I took from was The Runaway Bride
This movie helped me with the editing. The intercuts between when the bride is running away and when the groom is walking down the aisle inspired me to edit my story in this way.