STORY BY BRIAN HAMILTON. PHOTOS BY WESTIN RAY.
Although young filmmakers are often fixated on what they see on the screen — planning a complex camera move, refusing to take out a beauty shot that doesn’t really move the story forward — they can’t get through Dodge College without coming to grips with the importance of sound. “One of the things that sets Dodge College’s sound design program apart,” says Associate Dean Michael Kowalski, “is that we’re trying to provide students with a full film school education. We want them to understand the complete process of filmmaking and how their role as a sound designer fits into the bigger picture.”
Above, students create ripping sounds and below right, hit rocks on a dirt surface to create the sound of falling rocks – all part of an airplane crash sequence.
6 Varying surfaces allow foley artists to create different sounds to match the action in a film.