Essay
A-Level Drama 'Our Country's Good' A* SOUND DESIGN Essay on A2S11
- Module
- Our Country\'s Good
- Institution
- AQA
An exemplar essay on sound design for A2S11 of 'Our Country's Good'.
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Act Two Scene ElevenAs a designer, outline your ideas for sound design in this extract. Explain and justify how
these would create your preferred effects. (10 marks)
Act Two Scene Eleven is the last scene of ‘Our Country’s Good’, focused on the final
moments before the First Fleet’s cast of ‘The Recruiting Officer’ are about to go onstage.
This scene is the embodiment of Wertenbaker’s message for the play, that “you can form a
community”, as the convicts have done gradually over the course of the play. Taking this
contextual knowledge into account, for the final scene of ‘Our Country’s Good’, as a
designer, I would use sound elements to mainly enhance the sense of community and
convivial atmosphere of the last scene.
The scene begins at ‘night’, with a final message from the Aborigine who is supposedly dying
with “oozing pustules” on her skin. This demonstrates the negative impact of colonisation as
the pustules are most likely smallpox brought from England. The mood is therefore dismal
and solemn during the Aborigine’s final address, which I would emulate and accentuate
through sound. As the stage lights slowly fade in, I would have a pre-recorded, digeridoo
sound effect play via surround sound in the auditorium to indicate the Aborigine’s entrance
- I would have previously established this as a motif for each of the Aborigine’s entrances.
The sound would be played at a loud volume and would have a reverb effect to sustain the
sound for approximately 5 seconds, before it quickly fades out. The sound would be at a
much lower pitch than previously to foreshadow something bad happening.
After the Aborigine’s line, the lights would slowly fade to a blue-out while a soundscape of
bird noises, specifically crows, ravens and owls, played for approximately 5-10 seconds. The
reason for choosing these particular birds is that they are all commonly associated as omens
of death, thus, there sounding further indicates the Aborigine’s demise. The sounds would
be pre-recorded sound effects routed to different speakers around the auditorium to create
an overwhelming effect, accentuating the dark and dismal atmosphere. This would fade out
slowly as the lights rise for the backstage part of the scene.
From the first line, Mary’s “Are the savages coming to see the play as well?”, a soundscape
of inaudible background voices would play at a low volume, indicative of the First Fleet’s
audience of fellow convicts and Marine and Navy officers. This soundscape would be played
from speakers behind the actors, upstage centre, below a set of red stage curtains to imply
the First Fleet’s audience were behind them. The sound would have a low-pass filter effect
on to reduce the audience’s jovial chatter and cheers to muffled sound to appear more
distant. This soundscape would underscore the majority of the scene, up to just before the
actors go onstage.
Additionally, I would have classical and pleasant violin music play to create an uplifting
atmosphere to the final moments backstage before the play begins. This would mark a
substantial contrast to the dismal mood just moments prior to this. The sound would be
non-diegetic and would play at an initial high volume before fading to moderate and then
low gradually over 10-15 seconds. The sound would be sourced from speakers located
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