Screening Log
Three times this semester you’ll watch a full film at home and bring a screening log to class. It’s not a review. Listen to the soundtrack as a series of choices somebody made, then describe those choices using the terms we’ve been using in class.
Almost everything we listen to in class is a short clip. A full film is the only way to hear how a soundtrack changes over its own length. You can’t recognize a callback unless you remember the thing it’s calling back to.
The films
| Log | Film | Watch before | Pairs with |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WALL-E (2008) | Wed 9/16 | the Foley unit |
| 2 | The Zone of Interest (2023) or Nope (2022) | Mon 10/5 | Setting: ambience and sense of place |
| 3 | A Quiet Place (2018) | Mon 10/19 | Shape: contrast and motif |
Log 2 gives you a choice. The Zone of Interest follows the family of a concentration camp commandant living in a house next to the camp. You never see inside the camp. The film reaches you almost entirely through sound coming from offscreen, which is why it’s in this unit. It is also hard to sit through. If you’d rather not, watch Nope and answer the same questions. You don’t have to tell me which one you picked or why.
If you want more of this, I keep a running list of films with interesting sound design on Letterboxd.
What to turn in
Pick three moments per film and give me a timestamp for each:
- A Foley performance: footsteps, cloth, a prop being handled
- An ambience that tells you where you are
- Some other deliberate choice, like a processed voice, a silence, or a sound that isn’t coming from anything on screen
Two sentences per moment. First sentence: what you heard. Second sentence: what it does for the story. That’s six sentences and three timestamps.
Post the log to D2L before class. We’ll play some of these in class, so pick moments worth hearing again.
How to watch
- Headphones, or the best speakers you have. Laptop speakers will hide the low end.
- Watch it once without taking notes.
- Go back, pick your three moments, and listen to each one again.
- Listen to one of them with your eyes closed and notice what gets easier to hear.
Each log is worth 15 points, graded on the rubric below.
Grading Rubric (15 points each)
| Criterion | Exemplary | Proficient | Developing | Emerging | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foley Observation (4 pts) | Names a specific Foley moment and what it does for the scene, with a timestamp | Names a Foley moment with a general account of its effect | Refers to Foley without identifying a moment | No Foley observation | /4 |
| Ambience Observation (4 pts) | Names an ambience that establishes place and explains how it does so, with a timestamp | Names an ambience with a general account of its effect | Mentions background sound without identifying a moment | No ambience observation | /4 |
| Design Choice (4 pts) | Identifies a deliberate choice such as a processed voice, a silence, or a motif, and reads its intent | Identifies a choice with a general reading | Notes something happened without reading it | No third observation | /4 |
| Specificity (3 pts) | Timestamps throughout; claims point at what is audible rather than at the story | Mostly specific, with one claim about plot rather than sound | Largely plot summary | No reference to what is heard | /3 |
Total: ___ / 15