My latest project was a short film called Heaven’s Rage, a production by Theatre On Wax which visualises an excerpt from the memoir by Leslie Tate. The director Mark Crane made use of physical VFX including burning steel wool in bottles and wine glasses. Perfect opportunity to get creative with sound.
After initial mind mapping I reached out the the groups/forums and got some tips:
‘Dry spices – burning or frying in a dry pan’ – The pan just burnt the spices which made my kitchen lethal to be in and the only spice I could get to burn was cinnamon, and that was only a faint burst.
‘Cotton wool soaked in paraffin wax, frozen’ – I didn’t have paraffin wax so I used lighter fluid. Unfrozen, this burnt well but the softness of the cotton meant it produced minimal sound. Frozen, it didn’t burn.. However, I froze some more wet cotton wool balls making sure to tear open the wool beforehand to maximise crunching capabilities. This sounded good and once recorded and slowed down I was able to get the higher crisp sizzle sound I was after.
I also froze up an ice cube tray. I twisted the plastic tray slowly under the mic. The sounds produced from the contorting plastic and ice cubes snapping away from each other made for some great pops and crackles.
One of the best sounds I recorded was the drag of a cigarette. That dry slow burning crackle was pretty much the sound I had in mind when I first saw the images. Recorded on my Sony PCM M10, it turned out surprisingly crisp.
Other layers I uses included the initial burst of a match as it lights, slowed down and pitched down a little.
Sound design is FUN
Jason Pinches 