In a film mix, sound effects add realism to the action. They make prop weapons seem very real, and they intensify explosions, crashes, punches, and other on-screen and off-screen actions. Sound effects like wind and rain, crickets, birds, can help establish time of day, season of the year, and on the other hand, plays a very different role in the mix. It’s the emotion that the director wants you to feel at that particular point in the film. The tone of the musical underscore lets the audience know when to feel happy or sad, when to be afraid, and when to be very music and sound effects track together make up the sound design, a term coined by Hollywood sound editor Ben Burtt, but first awarded to Walter Murch at the 1979 Academy Awards for his work on Apocalypse Now. It’s the vision that harmonizes the various audio elements with the visual elements and creates the sonic character of the production.