Experimental Sound Mixing for
The Well, a Short Film Made for Tablets
K A R E n C o l l i n S a n d R u T h D o C K w R Ay
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This article presents an overview of the use of binaural recording and
experimental headphone mixing for a short film. Drawing loosely on
theories of proxemics, the article illustrates how sound mixing can
be used to create a unique subjective perspective. Insbesondere, Die
authors sought to experiment with and to use the peculiarities of stereo
headphone mixing and binaural sound to reinforce visual elements of a
film designed for horizontal viewing on tablets.
Touch-based tablets have ushered in new ways of consum-
ing media. Already in a 2013 survey by Motorola, mehr
people watched TV and movies on tablets than on televi-
sion sets [1]. Jedoch, the experience of consuming media
on tablets is significantly different than on more tradi-
tional devices: The screen size is much smaller, und Audio
capabilities are very different from what the average home
theater offers. Despite the changes in the ways in which
people are consuming their media, that media itself has
yet to really respond to the change (with the exception of
touch-based games). Eher, in most media we continue
to see ever-higher resolutions beyond what is (arguably)
necessary for small screens (e.g. 4K and larger), increasing
emphasis on surround sound (such as Dolby Atmos) Und
higher-fidelity music (such as the Pono format). While the
media is moving in one direction, the devices of people
consuming this media are not keeping up and, in some
Fälle, have moved in the opposite direction. The built-in
audio capabilities of the iPad and similar tablet devices
are often mono (or at best, “stereo,” where stereo usually
means two side-by-side speakers along one edge of the
device). Apple and other tablet manufacturers rarely even
release the names of the manufacturers of such speakers,
let alone specifications, but suffice it to say, these speak-
Karen Collins (associate professor), Department of Communication Arts, Universität
of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue W., Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Kanada.
Email:
Ruth Dockwray (associate professor), Department of Performing Arts, Universität
of Chester, VEREINIGTES KÖNIGREICH. Email:
Sehen
this issue.
ers are, at best, very limited in both amplitude and bass
Reproduktion (most have little frequency response below
about 700Hz).
Even with their poor built-in sound capabilities and smaller
screen sizes, tablets also offer some potentially unique expe-
riences over home theater/television sets. Insbesondere, Dort
are two significant distinctions between the hardware when
it comes to comparing tablets with traditional experiences:
Tablets are portable and taken to a variety of locations to use,
so we can assume that most listeners are using headphones,
and the screen can be configured at a variety of angles to
suit the viewer. This latter fact means that the tablet can be
laid flat on a table, lap or other surface. It was with these two
unique aspects of tablets (headphone use and the ability to
alter the viewing angle) in mind that we set out to design a
short film specifically for tablet consumption.
The Well [2] is an experimental short film designed for
tablet playback. The initial concept for the film was quite
simple: create a film designed for a screen that would be
placed on a horizontal, rather than vertical, plane, and mix
the audio for headphones rather than loudspeakers. In other
Wörter, the tablet would be laid flat and the viewer would sit
looking down onto the screen. In diesem Papier, we describe the
considerations in designing a film for tablets and the altera-
tions that we made in order to take advantage of the unique
affordances of tablets.
ViSuAl ConSiDERATionS FoR
A hoRizonTAl SCREEn FilM
The film was conceived for a horizontal screen, Bedeutung
the viewer would sit and look down onto the film (Feige. 1).
While it is possible to hold tablets at other angles, wir wollten
to explore a horizontal screen and envisaged that the film
could similarly play, for instance on tabletop or floor screens.
There were three initial concerns when it came to laying the
screen flat and altering the viewing angle: glare, anamorphic
distortion and camera angles. Although we experimented
with high contrast levels and different color corrections, ulti-
mately we found we could do little to ameliorate glare except
©2018 ISAST
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LEONARDO MUSIC JOURNAL, Bd. 28, S. 65–71, 2018 65
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hoch (worm’s-eye view—Fig. 3) throughout the film, although
budget constraints meant that obtaining shots from very
high locations down onto the scenes was not always pos-
sible and a few standard long shots were also used. It was
not necessary to have all the scenes shot from a top-down or
bottom-up angle. After all, we are regularly presented with
high-angle/bird’s-eye-view shots in film and television on a
vertical screen, and so the opposite should not appear too
unnatural. Jedoch, in the interests of the experiment, Wir
wanted to explore what a film on a horizontal screen might
want to present to a viewer.
The planned camera angles limited the scope of the
narrative. Shooting from above or below makes common
scenes such as, Zum Beispiel, dialogue between characters
suddenly awkward. Fairly simple devices, such as the use
of facial expressions to show the internal feelings of char-
acters, were suddenly removed from our use, unless that
character was looking up into (or down into) the camera.
We found that shooting from a first-person perspective for
many of the shots was one effective way to combat some
of the difficulty of the angles. First-person POV shots of
course have a long history in cinema and in particular in
terms of the camera angle’s relationship to audience in-
volvement [3]; Jedoch, as our focus is on the auditory
Erfahrung, we acknowledge but do not cover the camera
POV in more detail here.
The narrative needed to give us a reason to use these some-
what uncommon angles. Our story was inspired by the H.P.
Lovecraft short story “The Rats in the Walls” [4], in which a
man discovers an opening in his basement that leads down
into the remnants of a hidden slave village. In our film, Die
protagonist (the Scientist) finds an old well and descends
downward, discovering another deeper well below that and
another below that, until finally uncovering a creature at the
bottom. Approximately halfway down, the Scientist discovers
a fungus that blows spores into her face, leading to a hallu-
cinatory sequence that leaves the entire rest of the film open
to question as to what is reality and what is hallucination.
While struggling with designing the film’s unique viewing
angles was an interesting challenge, the bulk of our time was
spent designing the audio for horizontal screen, which will
be the focus of the rest of this paper.
Feige. 1. Approximate viewing angle of a tablet-based horizontal film.
(© Karen Collins)
to suggest that viewers look directly down onto tablets. Der
second consideration also relates to the viewing angle of the
tablet, which is that objects can appear slightly distorted
when viewed at an angle; this phenomenon is known as
anamorphosis. Anamorphic distortion (also known as per-
spectival projection) can be seen, Zum Beispiel, in the stretch-
ing of painted words like “stop ahead” on a road, bei dem die
words when viewed from above will appear elongated but
viewed from standing or driving on the road will be more
readable. For the purposes of our film, we explored different
types and amounts of anamorphic distortion on a horizontal
screen. Eventually, Jedoch, we determined that, although
anamorphic distortion made a difference on larger screens,
when viewing images on a small screen like the tablet, Die
brain easily compensates for the distortion, and anamorphic
distortion was unnecessary.
The one significant change we did make, Jedoch, was to
adjust our camera angle to account for horizontal viewing.
With regard to camera angles, if the viewer is looking down
onto the scene instead of across into the scene, it makes the
most sense to have the majority of shots from the top down
or bottom up. With this idea in mind, we conceptualized a
film in which the main character is constantly moving up
or down toward or away from the camera. Most shots were
top down (bird’s-eye angle or high angle—Fig. 2) or bottom
Feige. 2. An example high-angle shot as the Scientist drops down The Well.
(© Karen Collins. Foto: Neil Baker.)
Feige. 3. An example worm’s-eye-view shot looking up The Well.
(© Karen Collins. Foto: Neil Baker.)
66 Collins and Dockwray, Experimental Sound Mixing for The Well, a Short Film Made for Tablets
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A GEnERAl oVERViEw oF FilM AuDio MixinG
Mixing is often overlooked by scholars as a creative, rhetori-
cal, semiotic or narrative device in film, music and games. Es
was only recently that music scholars turned their attention
to what Dockwray and Moore describe as the “sound-box,”
the stereo positioning of sound in the mix of a musical track
[5]. While some work has been done to explore the impact
of surround sound in film [6], these efforts are usually his-
torical or technologically focused and tend not to discuss
the creative aspects of mixing nor explore the impact that
the mix can have on the cinematic experience. Film mixing
can be very technical (aiming for a highly realistic space)
or very creative (zum Beispiel, in the films of Jacques Tati, In
which ordinary sounds are exaggerated for comic effect) Und
is often a careful balance of both of these elements.
Mixing in film can often provide us with insight into a
film’s meanings: Sounds are emphasized to draw our atten-
tion to particular objects or characters or deemphasized to
draw attention away from other objects or characters. Stereo
positioning can help to create a sense of space and place and
of emotional associations with those places—for instance,
open spaces and loneliness or warm, reverberant, womb-like
Räume. As with camera point of view, an auditory perspective
can be created for the audience using recording and mixing
Techniken [7], which enhance audience identification with
Figuren, describe mood or psychological states and cre-
ate a realistic space. Auditory perspective (using microphone
placement, positioning in the loudspeaker and digital signal
processing effects) is a combination of both that sonic po-
sitioning and the resultant perceived social distance created
(or proxemic zones [8]): Mit anderen Worten, it is both a spatial
and a subjective sense of distance. Previously, we outlined
an analytical framework for a sonic proxemics analogous to
camera angles and point of view [9]. Hier, we explore a prac-
tical implementation of this understanding of acoustic space
in terms of social and psychological space.
The spatial positioning of sound effects using loudspeaker
positioning helps to represent the sonic environment of the
visualized space and can extend beyond the screen into the
offscreen space. Sounds can appear to emanate from a physi-
cal place around us using the positioning of loudspeakers or
panning techniques. The effect can be so significant as to have
us physically turn our gaze toward a speaker, in what is com-
monly referred to as the “exit sign effect,” where a discrete
sound located in the rear loudspeakers will have us turn our
eyes toward the exit signs in the theater. While considerable
attention is paid by mixers to the placement of sounds in
the loudspeaker positions, playback varies greatly and can
be dependent on the listener’s equipment and setup, die en-
vironment that setup is in and the decoding method used
by the listener’s device. What the listener hears may be very
different from what the engineer or designer heard in the
studio. One of the most difficult distinctions in sonic envi-
ronments occurs between mixing for loudspeakers and for
headphones.
It is generally accepted that most sounds in a musical or
film mix will take place within a fairly narrow range of about
60 degrees, in an equilateral triangle from the listener to the
two front loudspeakers (Figs 4A and 4B). When surround
speakers are added, that same equilateral triangle remains
for the frontal speakers, and the majority of important in-
Formation (dialogue, discrete sound effects and often mu-
sic) still remains in that 60-degree range, although the rear
speakers (usually reserved for atmosphere/ambience) have
a much wider field. Tatsächlich, stereo imaging and spatial ex-
pander plug-ins for film commonly have the 60-degree angle
as a default “factory” setting. It is only through intentionally
expanding or contracting that space that the standard mix
is altered.
A
B
Feige. 4. The accepted “ideal” stereo setup (A) and one version of
a surround sound setup (the placement of the rear speakers can vary) (B).
(© Karen Collins)
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Collins and Dockwray, Experimental Sound Mixing for The Well, a Short Film Made for Tablets 67
MixinG SounD FoR hEADphonES:
in-hEAD loCAlizATion AnD BinAuRAl AuDio
The 60-degree angle works well in media when the sound is
played back over loudspeakers. Jedoch, when using (ste-
reo) headphones, the mix presents a problem: in-head local-
ization. Stereo sound recorded for loudspeaker playback is
typically heard as being too narrowly spaced when listened to
on headphones. In-head localization occurs when the sound
sources are perceived not to be a part of the external space
around the listener but rather to take place inside the head.
Mit anderen Worten, the auditory cues that the listener receives
fail to indicate a particular location in space, and the sound
is heard as emanating from inside the listener’s head rather
than externally. In-head localization of sound is generally
considered in sound reproduction to be a problem to be
avoided. Headphone sound stereo imaging is usually there-
fore tripled when mixing specifically for headphones, to up
to about 180 degrees.
To understand in-head localization with headphones, A
basic understanding of crosstalk is necessary. With loud-
speaker presentation, sounds emanating from the left and
right front speakers are each heard by both of our ears when
we listen. There is some “bleed” of sound from the right
speaker into our left ear and vice versa. With headphones,
there is no crosstalk: Almost all headphones are designed
to transmit one of the stereo channels to one ear exclusively
(i.e. the left channel transmits to the left earphone), so it is
possible for one ear to hear an entirely different sound than
the other ear. Sounds panned hard into one channel can
therefore sound unnatural when translated to headphones,
Feige. 5. Interaural differences from a source: The sound reaching the leftmost
ear will be slightly delayed, slightly less intense and “colored” slightly
differently by the shadow created by the listener’s head. (© Karen Collins)
since in the natural world we do not normally hear a sound
with just one ear. There are some crossfeed software plug-ins
that simulate the loudspeaker experience on audio mixed for
headphones, which mix some of the left and right channels
together. Jedoch, these plug-ins can still result in a not
entirely natural feel.
Another disadvantage of headphones is the lack of accu-
rate low-frequency sound reproduction on most consumer
headphones. Many consumer headphones have little to no
response below about 500 Hz, an important range of sound
for providing impact in film. The Apple iPod earphones, für
Beispiel, have no response below 50Hz and little response
up to about 500Hz. Effectively, headphones remove low fre-
quency effects (LFE, or subwoofer) channel sound nearly
entirely. Even with extended boost of the bass frequencies
using equalization techniques, the mix can sound weak in
the bottom end.
Despite a few disadvantages, there are also some advan-
tages to mixing sound for headphones. Unlike loudspeaker
Hören, headphones remove all room ambience from the
listener’s experience: there are no reflected sounds, allowing
for the ability to recreate a space virtually over headphones.
This lack of ambience can be an advantage in that the mixer
can know that the media will sound approximately the same
when heard outside, inside in a small room or in a large
cathedral. The “problems” described above (in-head local-
ization and lack of crosstalk) can also be intentionally used
creatively. Darüber hinaus, we can take advantage of knowing that
the listeners are using headphones to employ binaural sound.
Binaural Sound Recording and Mixing
When we hear sound externally in our environment, we can
determine the location of that sound through a number of
different input factors, including interaural time differences
(it takes slightly longer for a sound signal to reach one ear
than the other), interaural intensity differences (the level of
the sound will be slightly quieter at the ear farthest from the
Klang) and spectral differences (the head will block, or create
a “shadow” that filters some of the frequencies from reaching,
the ear farthest from the sound) (Feige. 5). The interaural dif-
ferences rely on the transfer of sound from each ear to the ear
canal. We can simulate the effect of this transfer function by
processing the sound, either by recording sound binaurally
(using two microphones inserted into the ear canal) or by
synthesizing the effect in post-production using a binaural
processing algorithm. Binaural sound is normally only used
with headphone listening, because to reproduce the effect
over loudspeakers requires considerable crosstalk cancella-
tion techniques to obstruct the path of the sound from each
speaker to the opposite ear.
Binaural sound can create a much more realistic three-
dimensional space. Tsakostas et al. outline a number of key
advantages of binaural over stereo reproduction, einschließlich
a reduction of in-head localization, a broader perceptual
auditory image, a clearer positioning of sounds and the per-
ception of a more “pleasant” experience [10]. As described
by Francis Rumsey, “if binaural is done well, the sense of
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three-dimensional realism can be astonishing, because theo-
retically all of the information that enables one to perceive
spatial features in sound will be present in the correct pro-
portions” [11]. The only real disadvantage to using binaural
sound is that, since stereo listening is still the norm when
viewing movies/television on a tablet with headphones, Die
familiarity of stereo sound means that for some the change
to binaurally recorded or mixed sound can take some time
to adjust to.
Binaural sound has gone in and out of favor in the mu-
sic industry over the last fifty or sixty years. Jedoch, until
recently, most consumers still listened to their music over
loudspeakers, which made binaural recording more a cu-
riosity than a practical technique. Unlike in music, in film,
binaural sound has never really been seen as a viable option
due to the limitations of reproduction using loudspeakers
and the typical design of movie theaters. Applications of
binaural sound in shorts and experimental film have existed
for several decades, but there is, to our knowledge, only a
single use of binaural recording in a feature-length theatrical
release film—Bad Boy Bubby, an Australian film made in 1993
[12]. A handful of video games have also toyed with binaural
recording, particularly audio-based or audio-only games, In
which the auditory experience takes precedence over the vi-
sual experience. Despite the occasional use of binaural sound
in music and games, and the increasing amount of media
played on mobile devices, it is surprising that more media is
not being mixed for mobile, headphone-based experiences.
MixinG FoR MoBilE: The Well
As described above, The Well was designed to take advantage
of the particular affordances of tablets, visually and sonically.
There is no musical soundtrack (aside from a short clip at the
start and end of the film), although elements of the ambi-
ence stand in for music in a sense, with a rhythmical, tex-
tural quality and occasionally with some violin flourishes.
Our inspiration for this lack of music was Hitchcock’s The
Birds (1963) [13], in which sound effects create an emotional
and heightened dramatic quality in place of music. Our first
consideration for mixing was the fact that film and televi-
sion mixing techniques up to now have been designed for
sound combined with a vertical screen. Aspects such as the
use of offscreen sound effects, stereo panning, placement of
sounds in the mix, human localization ability and the loca-
tion of potential external loudspeakers are all different when
viewing a horizontal surface. Previously, we have explored
localization with loudspeakers and a horizontal screen [14].
While loudspeaker position made a considerable difference
to localization and perceptual experience, we had run no
experiments on headphone listening. An informal testing
process was therefore the first step in our mixing consid-
erations. This listening test consisted of the authors alter-
ing stereo positioning of a number of files while viewing a
moving image on a tablet. We found that, perhaps due to
the ventriloquism effect (in which a sound will appear to be
associated with a moving visual object), or due to the size of
the screen and distance from the viewer, we could use most
of the techniques that already exist for synchronizing sound
with a visual image. Mit anderen Worten, despite many technical
experiments, we found that our minds could perceptually
compensate for the altered viewing angle.
The film was mixed using AKG K701 reference headphones
and tested on the standard iPod earbuds. The mix uses a
combination of stereo and binaural mixing and of stereo,
mono and binaural microphone recording. Insbesondere, In
order to reinforce the visual elements of the film, we sought
to experiment with and use to our advantage the peculiarities
of stereo and binaural sound outlined above. The film was
divided into three sections for mixing: from the beginning
to the initial drop down to the lower level, the hallucinogenic
sequence, and then the final portion in which the audience is
not clear whether or not what the protagonist experiences
is a continuation of the hallucination or of reality.
The first portion of the film consisted of the main character
uncovering the well and descending to the first level. The Sci-
entist descends using a climbing rope to the first stop, Wo
she uncovers a series of small stone carvings. This portion of
the film was mixed in a fairly straightforward and standard
Weg, in that the ambience and bulk of discrete sounds were
mixed in stereo but with a broader than normal auditory
field. As described above, stereo mixing tends to place sounds
in a fairly narrow range in the auditory field, and this form
of mixing can potentially lead to in-head localization when
heard with headphones. Als solche, where a standard stereo mix
might place most sounds in a panned field of approximately
10:30 Zu 1:30 on a clockface, this field was widened to about
3:00 Und 9:00 using widening and panning. While we could
have used a narrower mix inside the well to create an illu-
sion of being in a cramped space, we used stereo widening
on the internal well sounds to show that the cave was much
bigger than what we could see. Since there were no discrete
(spot) effects that required distinct localization, it was not
necessary to have binaural sound mixing in this portion of
the film. A distinct exception to this stereo mixing is all the
Foley sounds of the protagonist, which were recorded binau-
rally. Since the bulk of the actions of the main character are
shot from a first-person point of view, binaurally recording
the actions of the character meant a more realistic physical
space could be obtained. An additional increased volume on
the Foley sounds works effectively to place the listener in the
first-person perspective.
Binaural recordings were made in post-production, fällig
to the visually obstructive nature of wearing binaural mi-
crophones during filming. The recordings were made us-
ing Roland CS-10EM microphones (twin omni condenser
microphones) with a Zoom H2n recording device. Despite
the inexpensive nature of the equipment, we found that we
could obtain high-quality recordings virtually indistinguish-
able from other sounds recorded in mono or stereo, viele
of which were recorded using a variety of microphones to
a Sound Devices 702T recorder and supplemented with
sounds from several different sound libraries.
A quick vocal whisper when the Scientist first picks up a
stone carving was recorded in mono and mixed binaurally.
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Collins and Dockwray, Experimental Sound Mixing for The Well, a Short Film Made for Tablets 69
Here the whisper is panned hard right and moves around
the Scientist’s head and then off to one side. This mixing has
the effect of placing the voice close enough to the listener to
make them immediately “sit up and notice” that it is there
and then give them a sense of space with the sound moving
around the listener’s head.
The first-person perspective is further enhanced by the
perceived interpersonal distance between the listener and
main character. The close interpersonal distance can be de-
scribed as the intimate proxemic zone, which is distinguish-
able by key aural identifiers such as whispers, low-volume
voice and breath intakes that are (in comparison to the
background sounds) perceived to be comparatively louder.
Another aspect of suggesting an intimate proxemic zone is
the potential discomfort experienced by anyone who has had
their intimate zone invaded by others [15]. Close-miking ef-
fects lead to a sense of encroachment, of potential invasion
of the listener’s space, providing discomfort.
The second portion of the film consisted of the character
touching a fungal spore-ball alongside the edge of the Well’s
interior wall. The large spore-ball initiates a hallucinatory
sequence, opening up to reveal an eyeball, and hieroglyphs
(influenced by Cthulhu mythos fan art) appear before the
Scientist wakes up at what appears to be the bottom of the
well. The hallucination sequence was mixed using all stereo
or mono files with the in-built binaural panner in Logic Pro,
aside from the ambient bed and musical flourish, welche re-
mained in stereo. To further confuse the aural field, a delay
was placed on only the left channel of the whispering voices.
For the ambient bed and musical flourish, the stereo field
was narrowed in an attempt to place the sound intentionally
into an in-head localization position. By placing the sounds
“in-head,” we were able to create the confusion of reality/
unreality.
Using the binaural panner, we achieved the impression
that whispers and laughter were circling around the listener
in a wider space than the music and ambience, intentionally
confusing the spatialization. According to Dockwray and
Moore, such “ ‘switching of sides’ through the use of pan pots
is an attempt to enhance the overall psychedelic style” and
otherworldliness [16]. This mental disorientation and confu-
sion was also emphasized by flanging and pitch shifting on
the musical flourish. Here we drew on Branigan’s notions of
“internal focalization”: the use of visual and aural elements
to allow an audience to “gain access to a character’s deeper
thoughts, memories, stream of consciousness, daydreams,
hallucinations, fantasies or similar aspects of a character’s
personal inner world” [17]. Noch einmal, in this sequence the
Scientist’s sounds are recorded using binaural microphones
to maintain the impression of a first-person auditory per-
spective.
The third portion of the film confuses the stereo position-
ing of sounds even further. In this sequence, the Scientist
wakes up at what appears to be the bottom of the well to a
large rumbling sound. A space opens up below, Und, nach
she has sent down two light sticks, it is quickly revealed that
this is not the bottom of the well, but rather that there is
even more below this stop, and what is worse, there is a very
angry creature making its way up toward her. Grabbing her
rope, the Scientist rapidly ascends the well to the top. Once
wieder, the Scientist’s Foley sounds were binaurally recorded,
and the positioning of the other sounds in the stereo mix be-
comes narrower, resulting in an uncertain and unnatural mix
whereby the environment sounds too close to the listener.
The use of spatial imaging effects to convey the closed-in and,
potentially, in-head location of the sounds contrasts with the
earlier wider expansion and confuses the stereo field so that
we do not know if this last sequence occurs in the Scientist’s
Kopf.
ConCluSionS: CREATiVE MixinG AS
CoMMuniCATion AnD MEAninG in FilM
We have sought to describe here an experimental approach
to the design of a film that takes advantage of the unique af-
fordances of tablets. To our knowledge, this is the first film
designed specifically for a horizontal screen, and we believe
that there has been no prior attempt at mixing film sound for
horizontal presentation. We expect that as more and more
media is consumed on tablets, media creators may shift
their visual and auditory language to adapt. While this
shift is unlikely to be as radical as what we have presented in
dieser Artikel, it is necessary to explore the potential impacts
of this significant change in consumption habits. While at
this time we have conducted no audience studies on the re-
ception of media in this new, experimental form, anecdot-
ally, audiences were excited by the possibility and enjoyed
the experiment as a novelty. Jedoch, without considerable
further testing and more media production in this manner,
it is difficult to know if the novelty effect would wear off and
whether audiences would prefer media explicitly designed
for specific media formats.
Sound in film is usually designed to support the image: Es
functions to reinforce (and sometimes contradict) what we
sehen. Sound’s position in the mix is important to the audience’s
understanding and appreciation of the film. It evokes spatial
location and internal focalization and provides a subjective
perspective for the audience in ways that cannot be achieved
using visuals alone. Trotzdem, mixing, as a communica-
tiv, rhetorical or narrative device, is often overlooked by
academic studies. We do not have the space to delve into all
of the aspects of film mixing in such a short paper, aber wir
believe that much more work on mixing and its relationship
to proxemics should be undertaken in order to understand
how mixing adds to the cinematic experience.
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Danksagungen
The authors note the generous support of the Social Sciences and Hu-
manities Research Council of Canada.
Referenzen und Notizen
1 Henry Blodget, “More People Now Watch TV and Movies on Tablets
in Bedrooms Than on TVs!” Business Insider (posted 21 Marsch 2013,
retrieved 12 September 2014);
2 The Well (independent, 2014). We hired the director, Neil Baker, to be
responsible for camera, hiring and directing the actor, developing the
creature and fulfilling our brief, which included a discussion where
we all agreed on camera angles.
3 See for instance Mieke Bal, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory
of Narrative (Toronto: Toronto Univ. Drücken Sie, 1985); Edward Brani-
gan, Narrative Comprehension and Film (London: Routledge, 1992);
Edward Branigan, Point of View in the Cinema (Berlin: De Gruyter
Mouton, 1984).
4. Howard Phillips Lovecraft, “The Rats in the Walls” (1924):
tember 2014).
5 See Ruth Dockwray and Allan F. Moore, “Configuring the Sound-
Box 1965–1972,” Popular Music 29, NEIN. 2, 181–197 (2010).
6 See for instance Mark Kerins, Beyond Dolby (Stereo): Cinema in the
Digital Sound Age (Indiana: Indiana Univ. Drücken Sie, 2010); Gianluca
Sergi, The Dolby Era: Film Sound in Contemporary Hollywood (Man-
chester: Manchester Univ. Drücken Sie, 2004).
7 For a summary of auditory perspective ideas, see Karen Collins,
“Sonic Subjectivity and Auditory Perspective in Ratatouille,” Ani-
mation Journal 8, NEIN. 3, 283–299 (2013).
8 See Edward T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension: Man’s Use of Space in
Public and Private (London: The Bodley Head Ltd, 1969).
9 Karen Collins and Ruth Dockwray, “Sonic Proxemics and the Art of
Persuasion: An Analytical Framework,” Leonardo Music Journal 25
(2015) S. 53–56.
10 C. Tsakostas, A. Floros and Y. Deliyiannis, “Real-Time Spatial Mix-
ing Using Binaural Processing,” in Proceedings of SMC2007 (Lefkada,
Greece, 2007) S. 291–294.
11 Francis Rumsey, “Whose Head Is It Anyway? Optimizing Binaural
Audio,” Journal of the Audio Engineering Society 59, NEIN. 9, 672–677
(2011).
12 Bad Boy Bubby (South Australian Film Corporation, 1994, gerichtet
by Rolf de Heer, sound editors Suresh Ayyar, Jolie Chandler and
James Currie).
13 The Birds (Universal Pictures, 1963, directed by Alfred Hitchcock).
14 J. Lam et al., “Amplitude Panning-Based Sound System for a
Horizontal Surface Computer: A User-Based Study,” in IEEE In-
ternational Symposium on Haptic Audio-Visual Environments and
Games (Phoenix, AZ, 16–17 October 2010) S. 1–5. DOI 10.1109/
HAVE.2010.5623999
15 See Hall [8] S. 117–118.
16 Dockwray and Moore [5] P. 191.
17 Svein Høier, “The Relevance of Point of Audition in Television
Sound: Rethinking a Problematic Term,” Journal of Sonic Studies 3,
NEIN. 1 (2012):
Manuscript received 2 Juli 2015.
Karen Collins is Canada research chair in Interactive Au-
dio at the University of Waterloo. She is the author of Game
Sound (MIT Press 2008) and Playing with Sound (MIT Press
2013).
ruth DoCKwray is senior lecturer in Music at the Uni-
versity of Chester. Her recent work explores surround sound in
Formula One racing television and games.
Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/lmj/article-pdf/doi/10.1162/lmj_a_00996/1713171/lmj_a_00996.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023
Collins and Dockwray, Experimental Sound Mixing for The Well, a Short Film Made for Tablets 71
