Editing Sound effect (section)

== Aesthetics ==

When creating sound effects for films, sound recordists and editors do not generally concern themselves with the verisimilitude or accuracy of the sounds they present.  The sound of a bullet entering a person from a close distance may sound nothing like the sound designed in the above example, but since very few people are aware of how such a thing actually sounds, the job of designing the effect is mainly an issue of creating a conjectural sound which feeds the audience's expectations while still suspending disbelief.
Sci-fi and fantasy genres can be more forgiving in terms of audience expectations; the listener will not be caught off guard as much by unusual sound effects. In contrast, when creating sound effects for historical accuracy and realism, the listener likely had a lifetime of exposure to some of these sounds and so there are expectations of what they should sound like.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asoundeffect.com/inspiring-sound-design/|title=How Darren Blondin takes sound to the next level – with sonic contraptions, experiments and custom tools|date=20 June 2018 |access-date=January 6, 2022|archive-date=January 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106162041/https://www.asoundeffect.com/inspiring-sound-design/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the previous example, the phased 'whoosh' of the victim's fall has no analog in real-life experience, but it is emotionally immediate. If a [[Sound editor (filmmaking)|sound editor]] uses such sounds in the context of emotional climax or a character's subjective experience, they can add to the drama of a situation in a way visuals simply cannot.  If a [[special effects|visual effects]] artist were to do something similar to the 'whooshing fall' example, it would probably look ridiculous or at least excessively melodramatic.

The ''conjectural sound'' principle applies even to happenstance sounds, such as tires squealing, doorknobs turning or people walking.  If the sound editor wants to communicate that a driver is in a hurry to leave, they will cut the sound of tires squealing when the car accelerates from a stop; even if the car is on a dirt road, the effect will work if the audience is dramatically engaged.  If a character is afraid of someone on the other side of a door, the turning of the doorknob can take a second or more, and the mechanism of the knob can possess dozens of clicking parts.  A skillful [[Foley artist]] can make someone walking calmly across the screen seem terrified simply by giving the actor a different gait.