Let me be honest here: I was dreading this sound effects story assignment after that bumper. I was thinking it would take me hours of drawing out the sounds, finding the right layering, getting the right effects. UGH.
Finally I decided I just need to start thinking about what I want to do. I listened to a few examples from the assignment bank and got some ideas.
Then I spent a few minutes with my eyes closed as I tried to think of a memory that is mostly sounds.
After lots of “Oh I can’t do that without someone speaking,” I finally came up with a convenience store. The sound of the door chime, the slurpee machine, the refrigerators, the cash register–that would make sense!
So I started at the beginning, opening the door. I searched on FreeSound.org for a ringing bell. Everything had talking in it, though! That’s when I spotted this gem.
So many memories of hearing that bell during Christmas time, I wanted to do a story with it.
Now, I’d prefer that everyone listens to the sound effect story before reading about how I made it.
So listen to my sound effect story first!
Learn more about the story.
Like I was saying before…
I started off with that bell ringer.
Then I started to think about where the person who is hearing it came from.
How did he get to the place where he would hear this person ringing the charity bell?
I made up this story in my head of a lonely man on Christmas Eve who had nothing to do. No family, no friends, no pets. So he goes to the mall, hoping to take in some of the warmth from the other people there.
Of course it’s raining on this lonely night.
He gets in his car and drives silently to the mall. He parks, gets out of his car, and opens his umbrella. Walking into the mall, he starts to hear the sound of the bell. He knows that he won’t just pass this time. He puts a few coins of spare change he had in his pocket into the tin bucket and feels a little bit better about his choice to come to the mall.
It’s a stretch, but I like it.
I had a lot of fun making this after I got my story in my head. I originally couldn’t find just walking on pavement sounds, so I adapted to an even sadder story where it’s raining. I also struggled over whether this was a story or not. Hopefully everyone else sees it how I see it, though.
So where did I get all these sounds? FreeSound.org!
And here is a list of them!
The rain at the beginning and end of the clip
Opening the car door at the beginning
Shutting the car door at the beginning
Rain hitting the car/windshield wipers/some of the driving
Car starting/most of the driving
Opening and closing the car door at the midway point
Opening the umbrella
Footsteps on wet pavement
Light rain on the umbrella
Salvation Army Bell Ringer
One part of dropping money into the can
The other part of dropping money
For some reference of what I did, here is a screenshot of all the sounds put in Audition for this particular audio story.
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