Using this map I could measure the level of influence from each area in which I wanted to include with the ambiences and soundscapes.
The Seaside represents her old home – whereas the China soundscape represents her new home. Although primarily the film is set in China, I chose to include the wave sounds as a recurring motif – in order to create displaced unsettlement towards the piece.
A lot of the flat is set within China – but within the confinements of her grandma’s flat. With a lack of budget, the film could not be filmed in China – instead, they had to make this as convincing as possible. This is where my sound design and ambience will play a powerful role within the piece. Creating a realistic soundscape true to Chinese culture was one of the key ingredients to making this plausible. Working alongside Victoria she helped me build a typical daily soundscape set in a town similar to the film, by providing me with items, people, jobs, vehicles, nature or music you may hear. Even during scenes within the flat, I chose to feed some sounds of the outside world of China into the home. It felt to me very important to make its presence constant throughout. To gage trapping, inescapable feeling. However during quieter scenes at night I chose to reduce this for stylistic reasons.
Nighttime is a big part of my influence on my ambience. We all know how loud our thoughts become at night time, and I felt that it was important to play on this. Due to the themes of self-longing and isolation, I felt it necessary to use the night as a means to play on this. As you can see from the graph – scenes set during the night like the seaside – have a recurring motif throughout. A subtle reminder of her old home. Bringing us a sense of longing and displacement in comparison to the location we see on screen. Hopefully, this will also create a dreamlike atmosphere to mirror her thoughts and feelings during the scenes – as well as a sense of fatigue and tiredness mentally as well as physically. Finally, wave sounds can be meditative – this will completely juxtapose the chaos heard when walking through the markets – bringing us a shift in mood and thought.
