Audio Arts Major Project

NOSFERATU

Sound and Music by Ben Probert



The segment of Nosferatu I chose to create sound and music for has five scenes: The village talking about the vampire, the first Knock chase scene, Ellen sewing, the second Knock chase scene, and the Orlock and Ellen scene. I based the sound design around the fusing of two approaches; old-sounding piano and modern sound design.

SFX

THE PIANO
To make the piano sound old I recorded a slightly out-of-tune piano and cut off the low and high frequencies using an equaliser, which resulted in a tinny sound likened to an old recording on a vinyl LP. I also recorded the pops and scratches from the start of a real LP so that it sounds like somebody putting on a record at the beginning of the clip. I originally had the LP crackling throughout the entire clip, however it became too distracting.

THE CHOIR
The choir recording originally consisted of my own voice layered several times for each part, however the soprano part ultimately sounded too much like a male falsetto. I asked fellow Music Tech student Poppi Doser to sing the soprano and alto parts, which certainly helped with the falsetto issue. I was very grateful that she could reach the high B flat, as it is the pivotal part of the end of the scene. I filled out the ‘rest’ of the choir using a lot of reverb.


SCENE 1 : VILLAGERS DISCUSSING THE VAMPIRE
The sound effects in the first scene are fairly subliminal. For a later scene I recorded the sound of a table dragging across a hard floor, and for this scene I used some of the accidental sounds from the room, reversed to add an unnatural feel. There is also heavy stereo delay applied to the sound, which gave it a more swirling feel.

SCENE 2 : KNOCK CHASE PART 1
The obvious sound required for this scene is the footsteps. After much experimentation I decided that creating the footstep sounds for a crowd of 70 people is beyond the scope of this project, and the sounds I did create overwhelmed the piano. The sound I used is very much underneath the piano sound, except where there is only a single person running. For a couple of the Knock running scenes where he is the only person in frame I matched up footstep recordings one foot at a time.

SCENE 3 : ELLEN SEWING
When Ellen looks up from her sewing I introduced a raspy scraping sound (a table being dragged along a floor) combined with a deep growl (my own voice), which would later be connected to Orlock. I used the sound here to insinuate that Ellen was somehow connected to Orlock, however this would not become apparent until the final Ellen and Orlock scene.

SCENE 4 : KNOCK CHASE PART 2
Like the previous chase scene there were many footsteps to account for, which ultimately took a back seat to the music. As this chase is in the wilderness, I superimposed a recording of outdoor ambience including bird sounds. The very end of this scene uses a transitional sound effect I created at my work by hitting a large bin with a hammer. This sound was run through numerous reverbs until it sounded like a giant wave of sound. For the scene I only used the build-up of the sound, then cut it off suddenly to emphasise the sudden chance of scene.

SCENE 5 : ELLEN AND ORLOCK
For this scene I went all-out with the sound design, as I wanted to change the feeling from action to suspense. The first sound that can be noticed is the Orlock sound mentioned previously, using a table dragging sound mixed with a low growl. I use this throughout the scene whenever Orlock is on screen, making it louder as the scene progresses. The table dragging sound is also used as a suspense device, as I mixed together many different recordings of the table being dragged at different severities so that the sound builds up over the entire scene. The main benefit from this sound is its sub-harmonic quality, which sounds particularly good through a sub-woofer. I also used a recording I made at work of a bunch of industrial-sized bins being towed by a little car. The rumble that these bins make can be heard from the fourth floor of the building, so it was particularly useful for creating suspense towards the end of the scene. It can be heard easily during the credits. Another sound I used was screams that were recorded in the stairwell of the Schulz building. The natural reverberation that occurs in the 12-storey room meant all I had to do was reverse the sound, so you can hear the reverb before the sound itself. I used this most prominently as the lead-in to the choir section.

MUSIC

SCENE 1 : VILLAGERS DISCUSSING THE VAMPIRE
For this scene I created a heavy, unmetered piano part that uses chromatic lines to mimic speech. This is to supplement the superimposed text that occurs when the villagers are discussing the vampire. The left hand is playing an ostinato between D, G# and D. This tritone hides any true tonality, and when combined with the chromatic ‘vocal’ lines in the right hand it creates a very uneasy feeling.


SCENE 2 : KNOCK CHASE PART 1
The first chase scene uses a low repeated D pounded in a constant rhythm, with a clichéd horror melody played in octaves with the right hand.

There is also a small three-note motif played, which is later established as the Knock theme. The end of this scene finishes with a repeating high D octave, ultimately landing on a low cluster chord to coincide with Knock jumping off of a roof. The high D octave is in fact a segue to the next scene.

SCENE 3 : ELLEN SEWING
The Ellen Sewing scene begins with a haunting melody starting on D. The intervals minor 2nd and minor 3rd (also a diminished 4th from the root) were chosen to express that despite the scene being a fairly relaxing moment, there was still tension regarding events occurring elsewhere.

 
SCENE 4 : KNOCK CHASE PART 2
The previous scene quickly leads to the introduction of the second Knock chase scene theme. A simple six-finger pattern is played on five notes.


This the fades into the same pattern three octaves lower, forming the start of the chase scene. The 6-note pattern moves across several chords, generally only changing two notes at a time. The Knock theme is also played over the top of the pattern in the second half of the chase scene.

SCENE 5 : ORLOCK AND ELLEN
The final scene is a much more heavily composed piece, and the changes in the composition generally mimic changes in the clip. I included voice for the climax as the piano simply wasn’t able to bring the scene to life. While doing so certainly takes a step away from the ‘old piano’ concept, I feel it was a necessary step to properly realise the scene, and still falls under the banner of ‘modern sound design’. Following is the complete score for the Orlock and Ellen scene, sans the sound effects.

Orlock & Ellen Sheet Music 137kB