Senior Project Part 1: Detailed Narrative and Overview

As a sound engineer pursuing a career in the creation and design of surreal and accurate sound effects and audio environments, I want to get a better understanding of what emotions and levels of realism certain film soundtracks can invoke in listeners and viewers. A driving force behind this project is to understand the difference, if any, between emotional effect and thought processes caused by solely film soundtracks and those effects and processes caused by both audio and visual elements of a film. To do this, I started planning my senior project, a survey in which I would test different subjects on their audio-emotion or audio-thought perception and mental connection by playing certain movie clips from iconic films.

With this large-scale project, the goal in mind is to see the reaction of subjects to both a film’s audio, without any visual elements present, and to a full film with visuals and audio elements altogether. If there is a difference in perception between the two types of film clips, I’d like to understand what that difference is and how it effects the perceived emotional content and quality of a film. With this in mind, there are several initial questions: Are there certain elements of the sounds in films that tie in stronger when the visual component is included, and if so, what are they? Does the audio/visual combination within film employ more/less emotions and thought than audio alone, or vice versa? Are more elements perceived in film sound when they match up to a visual counterpart, or the other way around? By finding out the differing influential factors of film audio and film visuals, I feel I’ll be able to pick apart what makes a “good” sound design so appealing and where its quality comes from within the viewer.

By understanding the answers to these questions and others, I feel I will be able to get a much better understanding of film sound design as a whole, which will only serve to further my own skills in the industry. With a greater understanding of what viewers find appealing in regard to film audio, I expect to be able to create much more surrealistic and immersive film soundtracks and sound effects serving to heighten the film environment among viewers. Another main goal of this project is to demonstrate this gained knowledge of sound design by presenting my audio perception findings later on in the academic year at the Capital 2026 Research Symposium.

WHO –

            Regarding the project altogether, the only main collaborator outside of the testing subjects is me. To ensure confidentiality for all the subjects involved, no one besides myself and my project advisor is permitted to take part in the project and analyze the data. I will be surveying ten peers (referred to as subject #1, #2, etc.), all of whom fall under similar demographic categories. I have about an even split of males and females, all of which are 18-24 years old and have extensive media exposure. I will be in communication with each subject intermittently throughout the whole process, particularly between January 26th and February 6th, which is set to be my surveying period. Each subject will also receive a consent form to ensure they understand the terms of the survey. This survey is only possible with the help of Capital University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Andrea Karkowski, who was the professor who assisted in getting IRB approval for my project.

WHAT –

            The survey will consist of subjects being exposed via closed-back headphones to fourteen movie clips from seven different movies. Each movie chosen will have two clips extracted from it: one that is solely the film audio and a black screen and another that is the full film visuals and audio together. After each clip, subjects will be asked a series of questions pertaining to their perception of the individual elements and how it has influenced their general feeling of the film and/or audio.

The clips will be taken from seven movies, listed and linked below:  

- Baby Driver: Intro Scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYv2a_VF328

-       No Country for Old Men: Gas station scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opbi7d42s8E

-       Dunkirk: Beach Bombing scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W3KDB0yHYM

-       Space Odyssey 2001: Hal 9000 infamous scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARJ8cAGm6JE

-       A Quiet Place Day One: Stampede scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXF0tV2kWXk

-       Dune 2: Worm scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkbeKNO_rFI

-       Godzilla Minus One: Atomic Breath scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra1DJ9q_nyE

The subjects will be listening to these scenes through a pair of closed-back headphones connected to an audio interface and laptop system. The movie/film audio files will be played from the laptop and the headphones will allow each subject to be as immerse in the soundscape as possible.

            After each film clip, I will ask each subject a series of questions. The questions will be different depending on which clips was last shown to the subject. If the clip was the audio-only version, then I will ask the subjects the following questions:

• What was the most notable part of the clip? Describe it in your best words.

• Was there any portion of the clip you specifically liked? What was it about that section that was so appealing to you? 

• Was there any portion of the clip that you didn’t like or put you on edge? What was it about that section that was so off-putting to you?

• Could you imagine a scene playing out in your head that went along with the audio? Or was it more like randomized noise that you couldn’t necessarily make sense of? In other words, how vivid was the audio?

• What was the driving emotion that you felt? How did the audio influence this emotion?

• Did you feel like there was too much going on or did you feel as though the scene was lacking something? Be specific 

After showing subjects the corresponding full film clip, I will ask them the following questions:  

• After the video was added, what was the biggest change you noticed in your perception of the scene

• Was the scene easier to comprehend with the corresponding video? Or was the audio vivid enough to recreate the scene by itself?

• What do you think the video added to the audio?

• From the opposing side, what do you think the audio added to the video?

• Thinking back to the audio-only clip, do you think your emotions were heightened after the introduction of the video? Were they diminished? Did they stay the same?

• Now with the video, do you feel as though something is lacking in the scene? Is the scene too much? 

WHERE –

            Nearly all of the project work will take place in various locations, as much of it involves analysis and developing presentable research conclusions about audio perception in film. This will be handled by myself through software applications and writing. However, the surveying and presentation will take place in specific, respectable locations. For the survey itself, I want a quiet, distraction-less environment; almost sensory-deprived, in a sense. Some good potential spaces like this include the two main-floor rooms in the Convergent Media Center (CMC), room 140 and room 121. Both of these rooms are usually quiet, dim, and empty. By reserving the space during open hours of the day (when there aren’t classes going on), I should be able to effectively schedule “appointments” for each subject to come in and watch the film clips/answer questions at some point during the surveying period. The gathered data and conclusions will be presented at Capital University’s 2026 Research Symposium as well as on my personal portfolio.

WHEN –

            The project extends from January to late February/early March and is split up into different sections. Before January 26th, the priorities of the project revolve around gathering subjects, reserving survey space, and keeping up with the documentation of the project progress. Between January 26th and February 6th, I want to survey all of my subjects and gather all of the data I will need for analysis and conclusions. Finally, during the 2-3 weeks after surveying, I want to compile and analyze the data, organizing it into an electronic poster board that can eventually be printed out. This poster board will be what I hopefully present in the 2026 Research Symposium in April.

 WHY –

            The purpose behind this study is to understand the specific elements of iconic, high-quality film audio and sound effects editing that make certain films so appealing and memorable to viewers. As media technology continuously advances, both for the creator and the consumer, the level of immersion into the specific media continues to increase as well. All of these films chosen for the survey, as well as thousands more, employ immersive and surrealistic sound design that puts viewers into the movie environment, not just as a viewer. I want to understand the nature of this surrealism to instill it into my own work. Not only do I want to attain a high skill at realistic and visionary sound design, but I also want to allow for whatever audio I produce to have almost the same level of immersion at home as it would in a movie theater.

HOW –

            With the help of my project advisor and with a detailed scheduled plan, most of this project will be done online in some fashion. Whether writing up analysis notes, creating the posterboard for presentation, or editing the film clips to suitable lengths, most of the work will be computer-based.

            In order to present my research findings at the Capital 2026 Research Symposium, I will have to submit my research and conclusions to the Symposium Review Board in early March.