MDes Sound for the Moving Image School of Innovation & Technology
Jamie Graham
I am a sound designer who creates audio post-production work, helping audiences understand and engage with the themes and meanings of a film.
With a degree in English Literature/Film and Television studies from Glasgow University serving as my foundation, I delved deeper into audio at Glasgow School of art, specialising in sound for the moving image.
I am enthusiastic about sound and semiotics, focused on how meaning is communicated through sound and image to make a profound emotional impact on an audience. Through this, I seek to understand how sound might be used to achieve more engaging audio-visual work.
At Glasgow School of Art, my work has been shaped by a desire to bring my previous academic experience in critical analysis of film and literature to bear upon audio, applying this knowledge through practical projects whilst learning about industry-standard software, including Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, Reaper, Final Cut Pro, the Adobe Suite, Max MSP, FMOD and the Unity Game engine.
Through my practice, I remain committed to creating films with sound that communicates symbolic and thematic meaning, encouraging audiences to engage critically with a film and apply this thinking to the world around them.
I am currently based in Glasgow.
Works
Collaborative Work
A Sound Ideology: How Sound Design Enhances Socio-Political Messaging.
This short film contains audio elements that may be distressing for some viewers. It includes the sound of explosions, rioting and screams. Viewer discretion is advised, particularly for those who may be sensitive to themes of conflict.
My dissertation practical piece, “Sound Moves” allowed me to develop my interest in semiotics, exploring how sound design can amplify socio-political messages about Protest, Conflict, Austerity and Pollution through a short film, crafted in Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 using abstract imagery of a chess set.
The visual of a chess set features pieces in various contrasting positions, suggestive of universal ideas regarding control or opposition. This visual was chosen due to the objects’ storied cinematic and cultural history, already imbuing it with a symbolic value in the minds of an audience, lending itself to a variety of interpretations.
The sound design serves to investigate these interpretations, using sound effects both directly associated with the theme and more textural sounds to evoke these meanings.
The film consists of four sections, each meticulously sound designed in a different way to compliment or contrast the visuals, communicating a distinct message. This demonstrates the powerful role sound plays in audio-visual storytelling to achieve emotional resonance and thematic depth.
Research, including analysis of academic literature and media helped to identify the sound design techniques and strategies that the most effective practices employed to communicate strong socio-political messaging to viewers.
Sound Moves
Jamie Graham's Dissertation Practical Project, made as part of the Glasgow School of Art's MDes Sound for the Moving Image programme in the department of Innovation & Technology. This piece was originally made for Dolby atmos 7.1.4, with this version being Binaural and best listened to with headphones. Sounds made using a mix of self recording and Soundsnap archival sound.
Rain
Few phenomena can be considered more common to human experience than rain. Across the globe rain has meaning to everyone, though what that meaning is varies greatly depending on culture, opinions, and beliefs. From a life-giving necessity to the cause of devastating disasters, rain can be both a torrential force of nature, or irritation in the background.
In Glasgow, rain has become part of the fabric of the city. The third wettest city in the United Kingdom, a country with over 100 words or phrases for rain, it rains here on average every other day.
As a common, shared experience rain, and our perception of it, is an ideal topic for opening interesting and engaging topics of conversation with interviewees, giving insight into how they feel about wider topics, and how they engage with the world in a wider sense.
This work is a collaboration with Ellie Ford, James Fairlie, and Jamie Graham.