The Process

Adding sound to a silent film was a surprisingly strenuous challenge. Contrary to what I had anticipated, however, I was able to find all the sound effects I wanted in FCPX without needing exterior sources, although it took some creativity at times. I began with the most obvious sound I could think of: footsteps. I found the sound effect in the FCPX library and chopped it up in order to sync each step as best as I could. I did this by scanning the video and making sure the beginning of the sound wave was in line with the frame where the foot landed on the ground. Then I went on to adding the sound of fabric, which was hard to produce in a way that sounds realistic. I decided to add two horse snorts and the subtle sound of a horse eating, along with the sound of a horse walking on dirt. I added the sound of the metal things being loaded into the carriage by layering different "metal box" or "metal impact" sounds and fading them in and out. I picked an ambience effect for the city which gives the viewer an impression of life beyond the frame. I also  added a scratching sound to the beginning when the main character scratches his head and then sped it up so it was in time with his hand movement. I finished the sound effects by adding volume shifting to sound of the sound effects like the footsteps and horse walking in order to give the effect of distance changing from the microphone. As the final touch, I listened to my music on Spotify to find a song that I felt would fit nicely with the feeling of the video. I came across the song "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, which is pretty upbeat and fun and I think it went along nicely with creating a feeling for the film.