Working with sound effects

Sound effects can really separate a good movie from a great movie. I suggested that if a picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes a sound is worth a thousand pictures. Consider how various sound effects can affect the mood of a scene:

• A quiet room somehow seems even quieter if you can hear the subtle ticking of a clock.
• Applause, cheering, or laughter suggest how the viewer should feel about an event in the movie.
• Chirping birds suggest peace and serenity.
• Footsteps make movement seem more real, even when the feet are not shown in the video image.

Those are just a few examples, but you get the idea. You can create and record your own sound effects if you want. Fortunately, most video-editing programs now come with ready-to-use libraries of common sound effects to enhance your movie projects.