Sound Mixing Is Important

Great picture deserves great sound. Silent movies were not so silent, thanks to the addition of piano accompaniment. In 2012, significant attention was paid to The Artist, which had no dialogue but definitely wasn’t a silent film owing to an emotive score.

When it comes to creating your soundtrack, take your visual element as a reference but think beyond the frame. Gene Roddenberry once said that everything that’s visible and moves on the bridge of the (Star Trek) Enterprise needs to have a sound effect—each blinking light, each door that opens. If it’s on the screen and moving, give it a sound. Even the appearance of a title fading and moving into position can be backed with a subtle whoosh or flutter, as appropriate.