The director of audiography (DA), within Indian-style
filmmaking
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...
, known elsewhere as a sound director, is the head of the sound department and the person responsible for planning the
audiography
Audiography ("writing sound") within Indian-style filmmaking, is the audio engineering performed by the sound department of a film or TV production; this includes sound recording, editing, mixing and sound design (formerly sound effects laying) b ...
and managing the audiographers of a film.
Overview
The title is not used professionally in most of the world. The role of audiographer and the title "director of audiography" derives from
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
-style filmmaking in India, where it is an established title credit.
The DA works to carry out the
director's vision, identifies the tasks necessary to realize this vision, budgets for those tasks and coordinates all the work from pre-production to post-production whilst keeping an eye on overall sound quality.
Since the onset of the "
talkies
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
", a creative and professional conflict has emerged from the ongoing tension between the visual and aural dimensions of film. Production sound crews often complain about the lack of consideration given to sound on film productions.
Having a DA in pre-production helps to exert a powerful presence to defend the dimension of sound in film.
In the early days of the Hollywood
studio system
A studio system is a method of filmmaking wherein the production and distribution of films is dominated by a small number of large movie studios. It is most often used in reference to Hollywood motion picture studios during the Golden Age of Hol ...
, every studio had a sound director (SD) or a recording director (RD), who headed the sound department and took sole credit for the work done by a large crew of sound technicians.
Hollywood sound editor David Yewdall bemoans the loss of the SD in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
and recalls the story of
film producer
A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...
Ross Hunter, working on the film ''
Airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
'', who neglected to take the advice of sound editor Joe Sikorski to record aircraft sound effects on location; an SD would have immediately appreciated the financial implications of ''not'' taking such advice.
Following the demise of the studio system and the loss of the sound director, part of this role was delegated to the post-production supervisor,
supervising sound editor
A sound editor is a creative professional responsible for selecting and assembling sound recordings in preparation for the final sound mixing or mastering of a television program, motion picture, video game, or any production involving recorded ...
,
sound designer
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
or
production sound mixer
A production sound mixer, location sound recordist, location sound engineer, or simply sound mixer is the member of a film crew or television crew responsible for recording all sound recording on set during the filmmaking or television production u ...
- each role allegedly having less influence, responsibility and scope than the former SD. Where no DA is hired - as is the case when making films in the
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
- there has been some debate on the most appropriate role to head the sound department; a supervising sound editor is seen as a technical manager - comparable to an
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
- whereas a sound designer is viewed as a creative visionary, analogous to a
production designer
In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...
.
In practice, the industry sees both roles as equivalent.
The DA should not be confused with a production supervisor or post-production supervisor - both are administrative roles in the production department. In contrast, the DA is a technical role blending leadership, management and administrative skills with creative audiography ranging over pre-production, production and post-production - constrained only by the Director's vision and the production's schedule and budget. In many ways the DoA role is a natural extension of the more limited post-production role of supervising sound editor.
The term director of sound (DoS) has also been proposed as an alternative title to that of DA.
Randy Thom
/ref>
See also
* :Audio directors
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Director Of Audiography
.01
Film sound production
Filmmaking occupations