onomatopoeia
[on-uh-mat-uh-pee-uh, ‐mah-tuh‐]
1. the formation of a word, as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.
2. a word so formed.
3. the use of imitative and naturally suggestive words for rhetorical, dramatic, or poetic effect.
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Liz entered the large studio apartment and wondered if she
was in the right place. The entire place
looked completely different. A large
section of the floor had been cleared of furniture, rugs, and everything else
that might have been on the floor. In
everything’s place was a set of large white tarps. One was laying on the ground, and the others
had been suspended from either the ceiling, or from some tall metal racks.
On the
tarp was a lot of stuff. Fruit, both
whole and in mashed up pulp, pieces of metal, bits of plastic, crumbled up
paper, old electronics, a wide range of toys, bubble wrap, several bells,
plastic wrap, and a lot of other things.
“What…what’s
going on in here?” Liz asked.
A face
popped out from behind one of the suspended tarps. The face was covered with fruit juice and he
wore a pair of heavy duty earphones. The
man who’s face it was removed the head gear and looked at Liz. She repeated the question.
“Oh
this?” Asked Liz’s boyfriend, Jim. “This is all sound effects stuff.
“Sound
effects?”
“Yeah,
for the movie I’m working on.”
“So,
what is all this stuff again?”
“I told
you, sound effects. Computer stuff doesn’t
sound right, you know? So I got all this
stuff and I’m experimenting with it. I
see what kind of sound effect I need, and I use all of these things to make it.”
“That
doesn’t sound like a very good idea.
Where’d you get it?”
“You
mean you don’t know? This is how it’s
done. Or at least how it was done. The pros used to make sound effects like this
all the time. It was how it was done
before they started using computers. I
figure I can bring it back.”
“You
know, there’s probably a reason why the movie industry switched to computers. It’s a lot less messy.”
“”Oh, I’ll
clean it up, I promise. Now get changed
and come help me. There are some things
I want to try, but I need another set of hands.”
“I’m
not sure—“
“Come
on, it’s fun. I promise. When else can you play with play-do and
bubble wrap and call it work?”
“Well,
I do like bubble wrap…Okay, fine. I’ll
be right there.”
Liz
went to change out of her work clothes and into more disposable attire. When she got to Jim’s make shift sound
studio, he was watching his home made movie on a computer. The sound was off, and he looked like he was
playing the same scene over and over again.
“So,
what should I do?” She asked.
“Okay,
so in this scene, Paul’s character listening to a storm that’s happening
outside. His shelter isn’t very strong either, since he threw it together
himself. So I need something that sounds like wind and rain and stuff pounding against
a thin metal wall.”
“Isn’t
there something like that on a computer?”
“I
guess. But this is way more fun, trust
me. Here, hold this.”
Jim
held out a large sheet of thin metal that looked like it had been peeled off a trailer. He rummaged through his pile of odds and ends
and came out with a wind-up toy with
spinning arms and legs. He wound it up
and let it beat against the metal. The
rapid, tinny whump sound was clearly not what he wanted.
He pulled
out many more objects, trying all kinds of combinations, and was never
satisfied with the sound it produced. He
asked her to try waving the metal around a little bit. While she did so, he pulled out a bunch of
plastic wrap and crinkled it up. He took
a piece in each hand and rubbed them together.
Then he had he wave the metal around slower, then faster. He adjusted the speed both of them handled
their respective props until he was satisfied.
He hit
a button on the computer to start the recording process. Then he placed it back. It did indeed sound like rain hitting a thin
metal wall.
“Okay,
yeah, not too bad.” Liz admitted. “So,
we do this for every sound effect in the movie?”
“Yup. Don’t worry; I’ve already done a bunch. Everything I could do on my own, I already
did. I just need your help for the more
complex sounds. Like this one. Someone has to walk through mud, but it’s
really sticky mud. You know, the kind
that really sticks to your feet. I’ll
need you to get some water. I’ll get the
play-do out. Pour some water on it, then
we’ll walk through it.”
That
did sound oddly compelling. When she got
back, Jim had two large pots filled with the child’s toy. Liz poured water and helped him mix it
up. She stepped in one and he in
another. Then they started walking in
place. The squishy squeltching noise was
oddly amusing, and Liz had a hard time keeping herself from laughing.
“Okay,
I think that’s a good one.” Jim
said. He played back the resulting sound
and was immediately satisfied with it.
Liz
watched Jim furiously searching for the next sound effect to make. While she watched him working, she couldn’t help
start to laugh. She understood the
appeal of not using a computer to do some things.
*******************************************
This is actually how old movie sound designers worked. Really, look it up. Before everything was recorded on computers, people had to come up with some pretty interesting things. I mean, they still do, but it's just done much differently.
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