Research the sound design of historical battle scenes. Explain and explore how these are
planned, recorded and built.
Hans Zimmer was the sound designer for Dunkirk. He made this illusion sound by something called Shepard tone . As the tone goes up the scale the higher pitch tone goes quieter. The middle tone remands loud. The lowest base sound gets gradually louder. You can always here two notes at the same time it tricks you mind the a constant asending tone. Loop it all together and it sounds like its going on forever. When the tones go on its called a sheperd-risset glissando. It can sound really spooky and it can also go in the opposite direction back down the scale. Its seemed the noises are going up and getting more intense without the sounds moving at all.
You can here it in the soundtrack and in the scenes were there is a ticking sound. Using this tone structure it sounds like the ticking is getting louder and more intense but it actually just stays the same. This is a good way to create tension and to keep the audience at the edge of their seats.
This is the scene with the ticking clock .
Poppy’s FMP 
That’s really interesting! Thanks for that Poppy, I feel like I’ve learned something really practical and effective in building tension by manipulating tone in sound. This is informative, well illustrated and a complex concept well explained. What would be even more interesting would be if you described the scene, what is happening in the film, how the character is feeling and how the audience is feeling at each point – and, in a specific way, how the sound affects each moment. I think this post is just at Merit level. Adding that extra detail would really secure the grade. Thanks again for enlightening me on the Shepard-Risset Glissando!
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