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Exercise 1: Sadness
Exercise 2: Horror
sound-design
Sound Design
Final DMB of online week, I am so glad. It is very difficult to teach from online. Thank you lecturers for trying your best to make it engaging and dealing with our silence. Dying but we were trying. Exploring sound design in After Effects gave me a deeper appreciation for how audio enhances visual storytelling. I experimented with overlapping audio layers, fade-ins, fade-outs, and equaliser adjustments to create a more dynamic and immersive soundscape.
I used the random mood generator and got "sadness" and "horror"
Finding Clip
I decided to use this clip from Pexels, this lone little ghost walking across the field which I thought is suitable for both themes.
Clip from Pexels
mood-sadness
Mood 1: Sadness
For this sound design exercise, I chose this spoken poetry "Explaining my depression to my mother" by Sabrina Benaim. The emotional depth of the piece resonated with the mood I wanted to convey. The goal was to translate emotion through sound, enhancing the visuals of a simple little character moving across a vast field.
Reverb
To heighten the emotional impact, I experimented with reverb, making the voice feel like it was drowning out, fading into the distance. This effect helped reinforce the theme of isolation, as if the words were being lost in an empty space, mirroring the experience of struggling to communicate deep emotions. The subtle echo created a sense of detachment, making the monologue feel even more haunting.
Sound Effect
I tried to experiment with leaves shuffling sound however my laptop ran out of memory hence I couldn't time the sound effect and moving animation accordingly.
The contrast between the subtle, continuous movement of the character across the field and the drowning effect of the voice helped enhance the loneliness and introspection in the scene. This exercise showed me how sound design can amplify emotions beyond visuals, using techniques like reverb and layering to shape the audience’s perception.
Insomnia
Mood 2: Horror
mood-horror
For this horror version of the scene, I layered three key audio elements: an eerie wind sound, distant bell chimes, and a rusty swing creaking. Each sound was carefully adjusted to fade in and out at specific times, creating an unsettling atmosphere that complemented the eerie, ghostly figure moving through the overgrown field.
I used a constant eerie wind sound as the base layer, setting the tone for isolation and unease. The bell chimes were introduced subtly with a slow fade-in, giving a supernatural presence to the scene. I timed them to appear just as the ghostly figure moved forward, evoking a sense of foreboding, like something unseen was approaching.
The rusty swing creaking was strategically placed with a delayed fade-in, emerging slightly after the bell chimes. This staggered timing created layers of tension, suggesting an abandoned playground or unseen movement nearby. As the scene progressed, I used a gradual fade-out on the wind and bells, allowing the rusty swing to linger momentarily before also fading out.
Through this process, I learned how sound layering and timing can manipulate tension and emotion. Each element contributed to the overall spooky ambiance, making the scene feel more immersive and unsettling.
Audio Layers
The Wind Knows My Name
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