Why sound belongs in the first draft

Choose whose hearing guides the scene

Writing sound into an early draft gives you another way to decide what an audience knows and feels. A voice behind a door, a machine that suddenly stops, or a familiar noise in an unexpected place can shape a scene before you choose its shots. Begin with the sounds the story actually needs.

In a BAFTA interview, director Justin Kurzel connects framing, music, and sound design to the experience of a character’s point of view. Sound designer Johnnie Burn also describes entering a project through the script while sound can still influence other production decisions. These are working artists’ approaches, rather than rules every film must follow.

For your own scene, ask whose attention the audience follows. Imagine a person waiting for an apology in a kitchen. A refrigerator hum can establish the room; footsteps outside can suggest an arrival; the footsteps continuing past the door can change the expectation. None of these choices requires the scene to explain the character’s thoughts.

Write the important shift in the draft so collaborators can see its role in the action.

Assign a purpose to each cue

Make a short sound pass through the script. Beside every significant cue, write its purpose: locate an unseen action, reveal a change, interrupt speech, or redirect attention. If you cannot name a purpose, consider leaving that decision open for later collaboration.

Distinguish between the sound the scene contains and how you intend the audience to experience it. A phone vibrating on a table is a physical event. Bringing that vibration forward while the surrounding conversation recedes is a treatment of the event. Clear notes let the director and sound team discuss both.

Our suggested restraint is to describe the dramatic effect and only the technical detail needed to understand it. A first draft rarely benefits from prescribing every processing effect before the production has explored the material.

Plan what needs to be recorded

Into Film’s recording guidance recommends quiet locations and placing the microphone close to the speaker, particularly with simple equipment. Its filmmaking resource also suggests recording a location’s natural background sound.

Use the sound pass to create a practical list. Which lines must be clearly heard? Which footsteps, props, or mechanical sounds are important? Which location noises might compete with them? Discuss these questions during planning and a location visit.

In the kitchen example, listen to the refrigerator, traffic, and neighboring rooms. Decide with the recordist which sounds to capture separately and which conditions can be controlled. Label recordings clearly enough that someone editing later can connect them to the scene.

Rehearse the sequence with your ears

Try reading the scene aloud with temporary cues. Then listen without the image and note what information remains clear. This exercise is a way to inspect your intended sound sequence, rather than a requirement that the film work as audio alone.

Return to the full scene and check whether image and sound repeat the same information or contribute different details. Decide deliberately when both should emphasize one moment.

Leave space for discoveries from performance, location recording, and the edit. An early sound draft gives those collaborators a dramatic intention to respond to and a visible place to improve it.