Research into recording ambient sounds and dialogue

What is ambient sound?

Ambient sound is anything within an action shot that the actors within the piece will be able to hear. They are background sounds which are present in a scene or location. For example:
  : The sound of birds tweeting, the church bells, the train. These all work well together to effectively glue the emotional scene together, if there was a dark scary scene maybe a colder tone would be added by using a quiet location with small amounts of ambient sound to be used.

How do I record ambient sound?

To record ambient sound all you need is a clear microphone which will record the sound clearly. You do not have to hold a mic up when filming a scene you can just record the element you would like separately. Usually when recording outside a foam shield acts as a wind guard around the microphone so you can pick up background noises without any interruptions from the wind or any other background noises not intended for the scene.




Why do we need ambient sound?

We need ambient sound so that you give the audience a realistic idea of the film that they're watching so that it becomes more believable no matter what the situation is. Adding ambient sounds is very important to a scene. When selecting the environment, it can add a lot more to the scene so that it effectively 'glues' the piece together creating an overall outcome of having a realistic and believable environment.




What is dialogue?

Dialogue is a scripted piece in which the actors perform using speech while being filmed by a cameraman. Dialogue can be used for many different things, such as narration, a conversation, or to give a vibe of the genre used etc. Dialogue is one of the most important pieces to a movie to show the audience a good idea of what is going on within a scene. It also adds comedy, horror or drama which affects the viewer emotionally. Just by the actors using the script and chosen genre they can make any words given fit the scene. For example; this scene shows a clear comedic element by the words chosen and how the actors say them.











Why do we need dialogue?