Sound Effects

Sound effects are used constantly within film and other parts of media to emphasise the content in that part of media. Though in terms of film, there are different types of sound effects including:

Hard sound effects: sounds that you would hear commonly in real life e.g. door slams, cars driving by.
Background sound effects: these sounds give an indication to the audience about the setting of the film. Background sound effects can also be used to set the atmosphere within the film.
Foley sound effects: sounds that synchronise on screen e.g. footsteps
 

Hung telephones – the sound of a hung up telephone is also another effect which can give a sense of uncertainty within the atmosphere and could be effective at the end of a film trailer as it could leave on a cliffhanger.

Pixelation – pixilation tends to be used to blur a part of a video or image and is usually used for censorship. Yet for film, it can give the effect of something which has suddenly stopped. The audience get the feeling of something broken and maybe a sense of “what’s going on” depending on the atmosphere. Pixelations can also be used in a clever way to mark a victim/villain in a trailer to give the film a sense of uncertainty and persuade the audience to see the film.

 

Screams – these are a very common sound effect used in horror films, with the two most popular and known screams (Wilhelm and howie) being used in numerous amount of films right now. Screams are often heard when an event such as a death or explosion happens or when someone is genuinely shocked at something. As these do tend to be the most common sound effect used, if we were to try and use something a bit more effective and unique sound effect to give the audience a shock, this shouldn’t be the one to use as it could make the trailer sound a little bit unpredictable.