George Lucas famously stated that “sound is 50% of the movie-going experience.” But what does that mean?
Most viewers, when they watch a movie, assume that the sounds they hear are captured at the same time as the action they are seeing. In fact, that's exactly what we want them to think!
The reality is that the sound world of a film is created almost entirely by a separate team. That team can include half a dozen sub-disciplines and up to 60 people.
This 20-hour workshop provides composers and audiophiles with a deep understanding of the sound design and workflow processes required to complete a film score.
Taught by Michael Axinn, a Hollywood sound editor and veteran of more than three dozen feature films, including Star Wars, Titanic, The English Patient, and Moulin Rouge, the course will provide hands-on experience through exercises and activities covering all subdisciplines of post-production sound: sound effects, sound design, setting, Foley, dialogue, and music.
Mike will also share his experiences working with some of sound design’s most renowned innovators, including Ben Burtt and Walter Murch, directors such as George Lucas, James Cameron and Anthony Minghella, and composers such as Hans Zimmer and Carter Burwell.
Students will explore their relationship with sound as a creative endeavor and its applications to film, then move on to a practical understanding of what it means to create sounds for objects and worlds we don’t encounter in real life.
The student will take away an understanding of the fundamental importance of sound in the context of cinema and the ability to capture and create professional quality audio.
The workshop will take place in room 13 of Villa Favard from 2pm to 6pm for 5 Mondays.
Laboratory date:
March 10, 24 and 31, 2025
April 7 and 14, 2025
Students interested in participating in the workshop should contact Professor Damiano Meacci (d.meacci@consfi.it) to submit their application for participation. The workshop is limited to 15 students.
The workshop is part of STEMS Electronic Music Festival of the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Florence. The festival, now in its fourth edition, is conceived and promoted by the department ofNew technologies and musical languages – Electronic Musicof the L. Cherubini Conservatory of Florence with the aim of creating projects and productive activities and to enhance and expand the skills of the students of the Polytechnic of Arts and Design. To this end, the event lives through the continuous relationship between the Electronic Music department with other departments of the Conservatory and the other Institutions of the Polytechnic.
The festival is realized through masterclasses, workshops, laboratories, concerts and events.