# Sound Design Concept Statement?



## Martinez011101 (Feb 16, 2014)

I'm creating a design for a show called Polaroid Stories and I need to write a concept statement for it. But I'm not sure how to write one. What should i include in concept statement? What is a concept statement supposed to do?


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## Amiers (Feb 16, 2014)

Click; Swoosh; Fan; Bam; Tack The life of a Polaroid. Concept Statements.


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## Joshualangman (Feb 16, 2014)

Who is this statement for? The director? The producer?

It should probably include: (1) a STYLE; and (2) a CONCEPT.

The STYLE is what kind of world your sound design lives in: is it naturalistic? impressionistic? spare? overwhelming? fastidious? grand? lyrical? jarring? Is it mostly music? Is it mostly ambient sound? If music, is it original or pulled? If ambient sound, is it based in reality or arbitrary?

The CONCEPT is the STORY that you are trying to tell with sound. How does your design follow the arc of the characters? When do your major shifts occur? Do you ever switch styles? When and why? What is the single most important cue in the show? How does the show sound different at the end than it did at the beginning? In one sentence, what is the progression of sound throughout the show?

For instance, from a show I did, "A glitchy, electronic soundscape reflecting the hyperactive world of medical technology disintegrates into silence in the second act as the morality of the health care system is called into question and death seems preferable to being kept alive at the mercy of machines."

Or, from another show: "Italian baroque music collides with contemporary discordant drones and digital artifacts as the serene world of a baroque painter is invaded by the threat of sexual assault."

I always argue that if you can't express in one sentence what the CONCEPT of your design is, you either don't have a concept or you have too many. So I would start there, and then build the rest of your statement around explaining the nuances of how you will carry out that concept.


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