Shepard Tone

Roger Shepard

Roger Shepard is an American cognitive scientist and author of the ‘Universal Law Of Generalization’ (1987). The auditory illusion, Shepard tones, are named after him. He began his research on auditory illusions during his years at Bell Labs, where his colleague Max Mathews was experimenting with computerised music synthesis. Musicians and sound-effect designers use Shepard tones to create special effects.

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Shepard Tone – a sound consisting of a superposition of sine waves separated by octaves. When played with the bass pitch of the tone moving upward or downward, it is referred to as the Shepard scale. This creates the auditory illusion of a tone that seems to continually ascend or descend in pitch, yet which ultimately gets no higher or lower.

Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, 2017)

Role 2 – Director’s Job

A director is the person who tells other people how the movie should be displayed to the audience. They do this with the help of all the people during production from the set designers to the cinematographer to the editors

“Directors are the creative leads of the film. They hold the creative vision throughout the whole process, from pre-production through to the final edit.

They are employed by the executive producer or producer, who is ultimately in charge of a production. Directors start with a script, and work with a screenwriter and sometimes a script editing team. It’s not uncommon for the director to be the screenwriter as well.

It is the job of a director to imagine the script in a visual form.”

Role 2 – Directing – Inspiration

Reservoir Dogs (1992) is a great example of direction in a film. The whole film hinges on the acting and drama between a group of robbers after a heist on a jewellery store. The premise mandates excellent communication between the director and the actors, and this was achieved in spades. The direction created the desired effect and made for an enjoyable movie

Reservoir Dogs" Best Scene HD - YouTube

An inspirational practitioner of directing is Quentin Tarantino who directed movies such as Inglorious Basterds (2009), Kill Bill Vol 1 (2003), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Django Unchained (2012). His style of direction tends to be focused on the use of violence and conflict, however he still manages to attract a broad audience and the consistently high ratings proves this. He demonstrates that he can direct with finesse and quality.