Sound research

Sound motif

A sound motif is any recurring sound that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative (or literary) aspects such as theme or mood. For example, shark sounds tend to be very noticeable and popular as it is used in a lot of scenes with sharks about to appear.

Synchronous sound

- are those sounds which are synchronized or matched with what is viewed. For example: if the film portrays a character playing the piano, the sounds of the piano are projected.

Both dialogue and sound effects may be recorded during shooting, but sound effects are usually added later. Synchronous Sound is recorded on either magnetic film or tape. On magnetic film perfect synchronization between the picture and the sound can be achieved only if the film and the tape are moving at the same speed. Otherwise, dialogue will not correspond with the lip movements of the actors, and sound effects will not match the action in the film. Synchronous motors on both camera and recorder, as well as the same sort of perforations on both the magnetic film and the camera film, assure synchronization, or sync.
This is what you would find in thrillers especially scenes where there is a police chase or gun shot there as to be synchronous motors on scene to record the sound so during editing if the camera didn't catch all the sound they can add it into the scene.

Asynchronous sound

- which is indigenous to the action but not precisely synchronized with the action.

In a close­up in which the surroundings are not visible, a sound that seeps into the shot sometimes impresses us as mysterious, simply because we cannot see its source. It produces the tension arising from curiosity and expectation. Sometimes the audience does not know what the sound is they hear, but the character in the film can hear it, turn his face toward the sound, and see its source before the audience does. This handling of picture and sound provides rich opportunities for effects of tension and surprise. Asynchronous Sound can acquire considerable importance. If the sound or voice is not tied up with a picture of its source, it may grow beyond the dimensions of the latter. Then it is no longer the voice or sound of some chance thing, but appears as a pronouncement of universal validity. The surest means by which a director can convey the pathos or symbolical significance of sound or voice is precisely to use it asynchronously.
Asynchronous sound is used in thrillers when the antagonist is about to attack but the director add this sound in so the audience know something is about to happen but it could be anything this is to build suspense and thrill the audience we intend to use this in our thriller.