Audio Planning!

 For this planning post, I focused on how audio is important and needed to create tone and atmosphere in my crime film opener. Sound will be playing a major role in building tension and reinforcing roles in the family. 

The most important audio element will be the narrator/main characters voice overs. The narrator will speak calmly and evenly with little to no exaggeration. This will suggest the seriousness of the situation and what he is describing, making the opening more unsettling. His voice will guide the audience through the family members and their actions and making clear who's really in power. 

Ambient sound will also be of great importance to the film. Before the main character enters the room the muffled voices of the family members will be heard from downstairs. This builds anticipation and may hint at secrecy of the event. When downstairs the audience will be able to hear subtle background noises like chairs shifting, quiet conversations, and buzzing lights. This will create realism in the opener.

I also plan to include diegetic sound, like lights flickering, wall clock ticking, or glasses being set down. These quiet and sharp sounds will emphasize the tension in the room. In the flashbacks/cutaways, I want sound to be isolated, for example heavy breathing and distant traffic before quickly being brought

back to the basement. 

I don't plan on adding loud music in the opening, and if music is included at all it would be subtle and quiet, and I possibly hope to get non copy written music to add which is instrumental and slow that will build to the end of the opening. 

Overall, the audio design I'm choosing to put in the opener will be able to support my idea of unease through subtly, and instead of dramatic sounds and fast music, the focus will be on trying to reinforce the quiet power of the characters and scene.