Reel
Selected Video Projects
“…The most important thing that you can do as a sound designer is to make the right choice for the right sound at the right moment…”
– Ben Burtt
Passage Through Fear
Sound design: Brian Svoboda
Originally from the film The Cell, I redesigned this scene from the bottom up. This scene features Catherine, a social worker, diving into the mind of a serial killer, Edward, to find out more about his victims and his motives. I started designing in the middle of scene and worked my way outwards in either direction. This felt like the correct approach, as there was a “calm” in the middle of this scene, albeit a disturbing calm. Working outward allowed me to contrast this calm with the caustic transitions on either end of the clip. I chose to do several field recordings to capture specific sounds that would highlight key moments in the clip, including the electrical sounds at the start of the clip, water sounds in the middle of the clip, and the rotational sound at the end of the clip that parallels the cinematography and cements Catherine’s consciousness into Edward’s.
Watch the ‘Making Of’ this sound design!
Disclaimer: This is a Fair Use video. It is an original work intended to replace J. Paul Huntsman’s sound design. It was created in an academic institution for educational purposes and is not intended for sale.
Approaching Humanity
Sound design: Brian Svoboda
This clip was originally chosen as the opening scene for for a musical that I worked on years ago. Since then, I restructured the concept, bringing new sounds into the mix. I imagined a wanderer approaching Earth for the first time. Of course there would be no sound in space, but it was fun to imagine that the wanderer might hear a distant melody and the weight of celestial objects as he passes by. Coming from the peacefulness and calm of space, he expects the same thing from Earth, but as he rapidly approaches a globe full of souls, he hears all of the chaos, noise, and violence inherent to our planet.
Disclaimer: This is a Fair Use video. It was created in an academic institution for educational purposes and is not intended for sale.
Lucid Rage
Sound design: Brian Svoboda, Josh Fehrmann
Direction, Voice talent: Josh Fehrmann
Narrator Voice talent: Matthew Koenig
We jumped right into Tyler’s hypnogogic and adrenaline-induced psyche. We made the absolute highest use of digital dynamic range and fused the sounds of the environment with Tyler’s perspective. With sound, we created an arc that grips the audience and only relents when Tyler releases all violence and snaps out of his trance. Amongst other unconventional means, we performed and recorded foley for punches and slaps beating raw chicken meat beat against our bare chests.
Disclaimer: This is a Fair Use video. It is an original work intended to replace Ren Klyce’s sound design. It was created in an academic institution for educational purposes and is not intended for sale.
The Architect’s Lair
Sound design, Direction: Brian Svoboda
Sound design: Josh Fehrmann
Edna voice talent: Rosie Brownlow
Helen voice talent: Leslie Lank
I wanted Edna’s lair to have a layered and dynamic sonic life that reinforced her comedic brashness. I added music to heighten the juxtaposition between the absurdity of the scene and Edna’s obsessive nature. The sound of the footsteps, the baton, the keypad, the baby suit, the running suit, and the invisibility suit were performed and recorded from scratch with foley props and toys, including wind-up kids toys and thunder tubes.
Disclaimer: This is a Fair Use video. It is an original work intended to replace Randy Thom’s sound design. It was created in an academic institution for educational purposes and is not intended for sale.
Rocking 1984
Sound design: Brian Svoboda
I stripped the audio from Apple’s iconic “1984” commercial. I worked organically to rebuild the sound design. I began with the voiceover, then added marching sound effects using a homemade wooden marching machine on metal catwalk grating. The song “I Like to Rock” by April Wine fit the time period of this commercial nicely and created a very different sort of catharsis toward the end of the clip in comparison to the original sound design.
Disclaimer: This is a Fair Use video. It was created in an academic institution for educational purposes and is not intended for sale.
Sonic Substitutions
Sound design: Brian Svoboda
In an unconventional and revealing approach to sound design, this project involved using only representational sounds that carried the same weight, cadence, and magnitude of the visual motion. The robot scene from Big Hero 6 was a perfect model for this project, as it featured abrupt movements by both the robots and the human characters, quick perspective shifts, and a decisive arc in its action. I had fun substituting comical sounds for traditional ones while preserving – and in some cases, exaggerating – the impact of each sound. This particular undertaking gave me a new perspective on successful sound design, illustrating the importance of choosing sounds that carry the same weight and motion of their visual counterpart.
Disclaimer: This is a Fair Use video. It is an original work intended to replace Shannon Mills’ sound design. It was created in an academic institution for educational purposes and is not intended for sale.
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