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Monday, November 04, 2024
It's almost Halloween -- a good time to look at the science behind the sound of fear
NPR: OK. It's almost Halloween - that one day a year you are encouraged to take candy from strangers, and that one time of year when people decorate their yards with ornaments designed to scare you.
This article reminds me of the different scenes that were taken out of movies because the screams were too real. For example, in Harry Potter, there was a scene of Hermoine being tortured by Bellatrix and the screams were so real in that scene that the producers decided to cut it or else it would have moved their rating to R. I wonder if we can determine real screams from fake screams from a fundamental level. I feel like this is super interesting to think about especially for sound designers because often when we listen to enough of something, we become desensitized to it so maybe using the science behind something would be more beneficial to producing a realistic reaction for specific sounds. I wonder what the difference between screams would be in live entertainment versus television and movies or things where there is a post-production process where everything can be fine tuned. I feel like if there is a good realistic scream that is produced, in live entertainment, it stays like that and has a very meaningful impact whereas often for movies and stuff, post-production can almost ruin a true scream.
The research of marmots' screams shows that there are many things in this world that can invoke an emotional response in humans and cause us to feel fear. I think it’s interesting that this article talks about leaning into the fears and screams that we encounter, especially on Halloween because it helps us connect with the rest of the world. I tend to agree with this statement as many people find the scream of any being, animal or human to be scary. Especially on Halloween when a lot of people watch scary movies or try to use tricks rather than treats to create a Halloween memory, it’s easy to remember that screams come in all different sounds. I’m wondering if the original screams from scary movies, like Psycho, were analyzed by people to reflect certain mammal alert calls like marmots, as this article suggests. If this Halloween people had leaned into the fact that screaming and scary people could bring us together and learn about new animals that we might connect with, I wonder how different the Halloween experience would be.
2 comments:
This article reminds me of the different scenes that were taken out of movies because the screams were too real. For example, in Harry Potter, there was a scene of Hermoine being tortured by Bellatrix and the screams were so real in that scene that the producers decided to cut it or else it would have moved their rating to R. I wonder if we can determine real screams from fake screams from a fundamental level. I feel like this is super interesting to think about especially for sound designers because often when we listen to enough of something, we become desensitized to it so maybe using the science behind something would be more beneficial to producing a realistic reaction for specific sounds. I wonder what the difference between screams would be in live entertainment versus television and movies or things where there is a post-production process where everything can be fine tuned. I feel like if there is a good realistic scream that is produced, in live entertainment, it stays like that and has a very meaningful impact whereas often for movies and stuff, post-production can almost ruin a true scream.
The research of marmots' screams shows that there are many things in this world that can invoke an emotional response in humans and cause us to feel fear. I think it’s interesting that this article talks about leaning into the fears and screams that we encounter, especially on Halloween because it helps us connect with the rest of the world. I tend to agree with this statement as many people find the scream of any being, animal or human to be scary. Especially on Halloween when a lot of people watch scary movies or try to use tricks rather than treats to create a Halloween memory, it’s easy to remember that screams come in all different sounds. I’m wondering if the original screams from scary movies, like Psycho, were analyzed by people to reflect certain mammal alert calls like marmots, as this article suggests. If this Halloween people had leaned into the fact that screaming and scary people could bring us together and learn about new animals that we might connect with, I wonder how different the Halloween experience would be.
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