An Audio-centric Soundscape for Audi’s ‘Love at First Light’

‘Audi Design Love Stories’, a content campaign by BBH London, launched this week to support the release of the SQ6 e-tron, the newest member of Audi’s fully-electric SUV range. A series of three is planned and ‘Love at First Light’ is the first, showcasing the electric vehicle’s sensorial elements: light, sound, and vision. A moth is used as a stand-in for drivers, to illuminate how they too will fall in love with the new model when they experience it for themselves.

Audi, 'Love at First Light'

Experiencing the ‘Love at First Light’ film is marked by an unexpected sonic minimalism. We hear - barely - the vehicle itself while ears are captivated by the delicate and velvety sounds of the moth being drawn towards the light. We’re then transported to a dusky scene filled with atmospheric sounds, dream-like, with crickets chirping gently in the background while the moving car doesn’t disturb the scene in the slightest. 

“I approached this spot with the same thought I would do all projects. What is the job of the sound design and how do we want the viewer to feel?,” LBB learned from Little Things’ senior sound designer James Clark, who was entrusted with the sound on this spot. "My job was to tell the story of the love between a moth and a light using hyper real sound design," says James.

Music was considered for the spot but after James sent the client a version with sound design only, the client ended up loving the stripped back option where only the visuals and the sound design interplay.

“It was a dream opportunity to get creative,” he adds. “To create the headlight sounds I created musical glass-like tones as if the headlights were singing and, in response, I used some bespoke fabric wing flap recordings along with the sound of a heartbeat as the moth's wings. It was my way to further connect the idea of ‘love at first light’ in the film.”

Knowing the subtlety of the real world sounds, the hyper real sound design really puts in focus the relationship between the moth and the car, the draw the former feels to the latter as soon as the lights go on. While seeing it, we also hear it - sound by sound, instinctively understanding the connection between the two. 

To further bring the moth alive on the screen through sound, James reached for a flower in the studio and got busy creating the foley recordings for the project. “You’re in a situation where you’re wondering, what sound does a moth’s foot touching a car make or do moths even have feet? The reality is probably no sound but it's my job to design one,” James says. “This was an obvious foley job. I used a flower from the studio, a peony to be precise, and struck it against various glass objects, to create that delicate moth feet dancing along the headlight sound.”

The minimalism of 'Love at First Light' shows how sometimes doing less sound-wise can amount to more while delivering on the brief. James concludes: “When creating sound design for a world that doesn’t exist, you want to believe it 100% while also letting it tell the story and draw attention to the detail in every moment.”