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Electric car

Posted: April 4th, 2016, 1:20 pm
by joe_griffin
Tossing this one to the group for thoughts: I'm cutting a film where one of the leads drives a completely electric BMW car. I went out to do vehicle recordings and found that the car is silent. No motor noise whatsoever. I've cut in the sound of tires on gravel, and that's cool, but I wonder if leaving out an engine noise will leave the audience confused. (and the car is not going fast enough that a whoosh-by would make any sense) As we transition to a world with silent cars, what do we do? I don't want to cut in engine noises and have anyone who knows this car tell me I did it wrong. But I'm not sure how to sell the moment otherwise.

What do y'all think?

Re: Electric car

Posted: April 9th, 2016, 1:07 pm
by MikeQuell
I would say if you have no obligations to BMW and the director likes the idea of putting some synthetic/servo engine noises in, have at it. If it helps tell the story and make it feel more advanced and tech like, it works. Depending on the scene though, I also think it being extremely quiet and only hearing the road noise could be cool. :)

Any cool examples out there floating around of what other people have done?

Re: Electric car

Posted: April 12th, 2016, 10:12 pm
by joe_griffin
MikeQuell wrote:I would say if you have no obligations to BMW and the director likes the idea of putting some synthetic/servo engine noises in, have at it. If it helps tell the story and make it feel more advanced and tech like, it works. Depending on the scene though, I also think it being extremely quiet and only hearing the road noise could be cool. :)

Any cool examples out there floating around of what other people have done?
Thanks! There's no connection with BMW, and I'm pretty sure the director will like what I wound up doing – I combined an electric wheelchair motor with some tires on gritty pavement/gravel (as I said above), and it seems to sell the visual pretty well.