Sound Design

 For our psychological thriller film opening, we’re planning to use sound design to reflect the main character’s growing paranoia and emotional struggle. At the start, the film will take place in a café, so we’ll include natural background sounds like quiet conversations, dishes clinking, and general café noise to create a familiar setting. However, we want these sounds to feel slightly muffled or distant to show how the character feels disconnected from her surroundings, even in a normal environment.

As the scene continues and the tension builds, we plan to slowly lower the café sounds and introduce ambient noise such as low static and droning tones to create a sense of pressure. Instead of using obvious effects like whispers or footsteps, we’re choosing more subtle, abstract sounds that represent how overwhelmed the character feels mentally. In the bathroom scene, we’ll distort the sound of running water and layer in overlapping dialogue from earlier moments in the film. This will help show how her mind is becoming cluttered and confused, adding to the suspense.

One of the most important parts of our sound design will be during a flashback scene where we plan to use the song Amazing Grace. Even though the song is usually calming, we’re going to use it over intense visuals to show how something once peaceful is now linked to trauma. Toward the end of the film opening, we’ll use a loud scream to show the character’s emotional breaking point, followed by a cut to silence to leave the audience in shock. All of these sound elements will help us build suspense and pull the audience deeper into the character’s experience.