Assignment 38.2

Assignment 38.2| Evaluation of the sound production workshops.

Over the course of the last four months my Media class has been doing different workshops on a weekly basis in order to learn the techniques that are a crucial part of this section of the Media Industry. Learning these techniques will also allows us to have the ability to do phenomenally well in the follow up assignment, requiring us to use each of the skills that we have learnt. 

The final projects for each workshop can be found in a shared file, which is located on the Art/Media drive. 

Workshop |1| : Adding basic voiceover to scenes 

In this workshop on the 29th and the 30th of November the class was instructed to work on creating a voiceover for a scene that did not currently have a voiceover. There were various types of effects that voice overs were used for and at the beginning of the lesson we discussed this as a class. Voice overs can be used to show the characters thoughts or opinions, track back to a memory where something similar might have happened, and as a use of exposition in a form similar to that of a narrator. 

I edited two scenes and implemented a voiceover into both of them. Throughout this process I used GarageBand to edit and my headphone microphone to record the sound. For a professional video I would need to use better quality equipment and software, however for an experiment it was appropriate. The first scene is from the film absolutely anything and the voiceover I have created, envisions the opinions of the character played by Simon Pegg as he begins to learn how to use his special ability. When creating this I noticed that there was a minor technical issue which is in the final version below. The main issue was the background noise, as this was a class activity most students were trying to record at the same time and so the room was quite loud. I managed to counter this for the most part however, as I used the inbuilt tools in GarageBand to remove some parts of the sound wave which clearly was not my speech. I could also counter this by recording in a quieter room.      

My second Voice over was splint into two segments. Both are in the same scene from Pirates of the Caribbean. The first is an opinion from a specific character about her own choices. The second is a added voice of the Kraken, which I thought would be a little fun to end off. Both sections went well in my opinion. The only opinion that was present was the background noise again.   

Workshop |2| : Dubbing dialogue

In the workshop between the 6th and 7th of December the class was instructed to take a scene from a pre-made selection, mute the dialogue of the scene, recreate the audio through recording the exact conversation and then finally lip sync the video and the audio together, through editing. 

Together with my partner Kieran, we chose a scene from the original Matrix film. The scene included a lengthy conversation between Morpheus and Neo, where the character Morpheus begins to introduce Neo to the Matrix.

We began this process with gathering all the necessary components for the recording. This included having the initial scene video, the transcript for the scene and the recording software open on a laptop. Having these components open on a laptop allowed us to move to a quieter location in order to record the best audio as possible. We recording our audio while watching the scene from the film and reading from the transcript that we had prepared earlier. The recording was done using a microphone connected to a pair of headphones. To increase the quality of the audio we could have substituted in a better and higher quality microphone. The recording software that we used was GarageBand. 

As shown by the screen shot to the right, we began by recording each of the characters as separate audio tracks in order to make the lip-syncing easier. However in the editing process we decided to use one of our tracks that had both of our speech in it, and simple cut it to match the video.            

The editing process was completed in Camtasia Studios 8. This is an editing software that I am very experienced and familiar with and had used for several occasions in the past couple of years. This software was available at my house and so I exported the audio into a mp3 format and sent it hope to begin editing with. The reason I chose to do this, rather than using GarageBand was because I already knew how to do what I needed to do with Camtasia Studios and I was not familiar at all with GarageBand. This meant that rather than spending time getting to grips with the new software I chose to spend the time editing the project. My partner however completed his editing in GarageBand and both edits were very similar.  We also both had edited the audio and the video together by the end of the day that we had started. 

When editing in Camtasia Studios, I tried best to sync the new audio with the audio from the video as this gave an idea of when the character began speaking. I would also watch how the character speaks to predict where the next speech would come from. The screen shot below shows this. For example Morpheus speaks in highly educated sentences that are almost like riddles and so has several breaks between lines to make the scene more intense. 

       

In the final version of the project, there were a few issues with the lip-syncing, which would have been fixed with more time being available for the editing. As I only had one evening to make use of the software, the overall project was not as efficient as it could have been but in my opinion it was a good attempt. 

Another issue we had was that we spoke to quickly for the characters. As mentioned Earlier Morpheus speaks slowly and so the quick speech from Kieran meant that the editing was tedious as his speech needed to be cut, separated and replaced later in the video to properly sync the audio.  

If Kieran and I were to do a project like this again, I would personally spent more time on the editing section in order to rule out any lip sync issues that were previously mentioned. As a whole however I believe that we did a reasonably good job for such a short amount of time. 

Workshop |3|: Interviews 

On the 13th and the 14th of December my class was instructed to conduct an interview. We first discussed what was included within an interview and this included that we should have use a variety of topics and locations in order to make the recording as realistic as possible.

Together with my partner Kieran, we started by drafting up topic ideas that we could use for the interview. We chose topics that easily came to mind and topics, which we could talk freely about. Our list of topics and our final questions for each other are indicated by the image on the left. 

We then played around with how the questions sounded in order to make them more suitable and professional. Following that we began recording. We recorded in several locations, which included the canteen, a balcony between floors and classroom. The final copies that are shown in the shared file were recorded from the first floor balcony at the sixth form college. We recorded using the inbuilt app in my partners phone whilst reading the script from my phone. When recording in the canteen there was more background noise than the other locations and as a result rendered the interview hard to understand. The second location we recorded at was the balcony; this was where the sound quality was the best. This was because the area was empty with students being in lesson and so the best interviews were produced. However this does not mean that the recordings were imperfect as the audio does still have some minor background noises. The third location we recorded at was the classroom and this had the most background noise, due to the students producing and discussing similar work. As a result of this interference, the audio was also rendered hard to understand.

The audio recorder as mentioned was an app on a phone and so in order to gain better audio we could have used a better quality microphone. All editing and exporting was done using GarageBand.

The audio displayed in GarageBand for the first interview.

  The choice of recording in different locations, made the interviews more realistic. We chose to record each other but had we chosen to record passers by then the interviews would have been more realistic.

After recording my partner sent the clips over email which I then downloaded and begun editing any parts of the audio that needed editing.

The final interviews are shown in the shared file on the Arts/Media drive.

Workshop |4|: Adding music to a scene

On the 10th and the 11th of January 2018, the class began working on a new workshop. The lesson started with a discussion on what music does to scene lead my my teacher. The discussion used information that we had all learnt from the start of the year and the so the reason for this introduction was to remind everyone on the main reasons for using music and what main effects music can simulate within a scene. Shortly after the discussion we began searching for film clips without music and appropriate music that would be used with the scene.

The first scene I chose was a car and train chase from "The French Connection (1971)." This scene appealed to me right away as the scene by default had no music, which made the task of adding music easier, the scene was also interesting to me as it was action based in a no typical way. A car chasing a train is not nearly as common as a generic car chase and so would easily stood out and for me personally I knew it would be more fun to edit music into. The music does not start in the scene until 2 minutes and 55 seconds into the clip and continues until the end.   

The music that I implemented into the intense chase scene emphasized the scene by furthering the intensity. The music was taken from YouTube. The song was called "Epic detective instrumental" The songs length was perfect for the middle of the scene and added to the theme of a police officer chasing the train. This extract also provided detail for the .

All editing was done in GarageBand and through the process I played around with the duration of the scene and the music.

While editing I used for the a technique known as envelopes for the first time. This technique allowed me to fade out and fade in music. This allowed me to created a dramatic pause when the car is almost crashed, and then using a fade in the music continues a moment after when the driver has recovered. A screen shot of this is shown on the left.      

The scene I chose next was used for both the adding music to my second and third project.

The scene I used was from "The Dark Knight returns (2012)." The scene in question was off the initial fight scene between Batman and bane. The scene stood out to me because the protagonist of the film looses the fight, which sets him on a redemption path, which shapes the majority of the film. The first music I chose for this was an aery and depressing sound track, this worked well with the scene and the feeling in the scene. The music I added to the scene begins about 30 seconds into the clip, after the speech with Bane and Batman.  This song also has a musical element that could represent hope which is a theme heavily foreshadowed before and after this scene works. The audio was taken from the Men In Black Soundtrack. The editing began by aligning the sound with the chosen video section. I aligned and edited the clips using GarageBand. Unlike the first scene, In this example and the following example I did not use any other tools in GarageBand other than the basic movement and alignment tools. To further the detail in this scene and the following scene I could have used more of the available tools.

The second version of this scene and the third total scene I added music too was an experiment to see if changing the type of music in the scene affects the general mood of the scene. The music I added to the scene begins about 45 seconds into the clip, after the speech with Bane and Batman and the fight begins.  Unlike the scene which is a struggle for Bruce Wayne and as a result the scene has the theme of depression and struggle, the music I have chosen to attempt to change this was Rise Of The Valkyries. This well known song was written by Richard Wagner and is the pinnacle of classical music. As a result of two almost opposites combining, the scene becomes a little confused. The song has a great motivational chime to it, which would be great for a scene that starts off not in the protagonists favour, but then the protagonist wins, however in this scene the protagonist attempts and loses. Therefore the song used does not work perfectly. As a workshop experiment this worked well as it was something to try and no I know that it does not work, I do not have to use it any further.

Workshop | 4.5 | Adding original music to a scene

On the 24th and the 25th of January 2018, my class began working on a new workshop where we were instructed to create our own scores of music in GarageBand for use in specific scenes of our choosing.

My first scene that I used in this workshop was the scene that I had previously used from The Dark Knight Returns (2012) where Batman was in a loosing battle between himself and Bane. I tried to create a score that showed the depressing and realistic atmosphere of not being able to overcome a struggle. This soundtrack begins after the fight is initiated and Batman begins to loose. Around 1 min into the project. 

In GarageBand there is almost an unlimited supply of details and interesting instruments. As I had never used this programme before for this purpose I first began by playing around with the software and the instruments available. After a while of listening to the huge range that the software had to offer I began to think what instruments suited the scene. I tried using electronic modern instruments but decided against that as the mood was gritty and realistic and the use of the Internet almost countered the mood and feeling which in this attempt was not what I was aiming for. The instruments I ended up using were as follows: the "Drum 'N Bass Remix"- drum kit, The "Orchestra Oboe", "Extra Tuba Staccato" and the " Basking glow." As the screen shot below indicates, I recorded a score and then decided to copy the score a number off our times in order to cover the entire of the scene I desired. The first three instruments give the gritty and realistic feeling I required for the scene. The fourth instrument only appears a few times but indicates or foreshadows that there is still a level of hope for the protagonist and maybe foreshadows how he may make a come back later in the film. The use of such gritty and realistic instruments gave me the opportunity to create a sound motif for the character of Batman the film took that turn. The idea could be that the gritty instruments are played when the character arrives on screen up until the point of his recovery and his journey to defeating Bane which happens later in the film. 

 

My second scene I created original music for was a scene taken from "Spiderman- Homecoming"(2017). The scene In question originally had music with it however the version I used did not, governing me the opportunity to create my own score to suit the montage of moments when Peter Parker was getting ready for his Homecoming dance. As the protagonist is quite a modern person I attempted to replicate a typical style of music that his age group might listen too. This added quite a comical vibe as the music that was in the scene originally was more formal and slow, we can tell this by the dance that Peter and his aunt do in the scene.

The instruments I used for this scene are as follows: The "laser shot"- electronic synthesizer 'popcorn', "Old school Remix old wave" - drum kit and the "RnB remix"- Drum Kit. The electronic style comes from the laser shot synth and is the typical sound for the music I was trying to create.

The screen shot below shows the way that I layered the different instruments into the sound bed to create something that would suit the scene. As a result of the music I created, the scene is left in a more laid back and funny version of itself. This helps to make the audience more relaxed when watching the scene and would also allow the audience to relate to the characters more, especially if the audience members were born in the same generation as when the style of electronic music took off.

Workshop | 5 | Adding sound effects to a film scene

On the 31st of January and the 1st of February my class worked on the next and the final workshop. In this workshop we were to find a scene from a film that does not have any sound effects and then manually add the sound effects to the scene. The sound effects would be mainly found through online libraries, with a few being made ourselves in the form of foley sound effects.

My chosen scene was from the 2015 film Everest and the scene is a section when the team are climbing across a precariously placed ladder between two peaks of the mountain. At this point there is an unfortunately timed avalanche, which lands a member of the group stranded on the ladder and unable to get up. Following this member of the group begins to rescue the first member by climbing onto the ladder. This scene had the original dialogues from the film and any sound effects had been removed allowing me to add my own feel to the scene.

I decided to emphasise the feeling and theme in this scene, which was the danger that the men were in in. To do this I recreated the sounds that you would expect to hear in this scene. This began with finding an ambient sound for the environment. I experimented with the idea of using the sound of the team shouting encouragement all the way through but decided against it as the footage would never show a member of the team doing so and as a result the cheering would only confuse the scene. I concluded this decision by using a furious wind as the ambient sound for the scene. This gives the expression to the viewer of how critical the situation that the group of climbers are in. This can be seen in the section of the image below shown as number one, the image below shows the whole project from a zoomed out perspective.

The first main sound effect that I used was the sound of the avalanche. This particular sound was taken from the online sound library [Freesound.com] The use of this sound brought the whole project to life in my opinion. Giving life to the environment. The sound I chose for this section was quite realistic as I thought it had to be and it was also quite chilling which is what the team would have through when the avalanche crashing down around them. The avalanche sound can be seen in the highlighted image below as the labelled section number four. The audio had to be repeated several times in order to cover the section from the clip.

The second main sound effect that I added to this scene was the sound of the ladder struggling with the new weight when the man falls straight onto it. This effect also co-insides with the sound effect that I added next. This being the pillars that were holding the ladder, struggling with the new weight as well. The sound when the man falls onto the ladder is a metallic  'bang'. This sound effect I created through the Foley technique. I recorded myself hitting a large fan, which is placed next to where I sit in the class. The microphone I used for this was from my headphone set and I set the broadcast up so that it recorded straight into GarageBand as some Studio recordings have been done before. The other sound effect which followed the Foley sound effect up closely was the sound used to explain that the pillars dug into the snow that were keeping the ladder stable until the man collapsed onto of them forcing them to struggle under the new weight. This sound effect was found on [Freesound.com]. These two sound effects can also be seen in the image below as the labelled sections, number two and three. 

The fourth sound effect that I included within this scene was the sound of footsteps as the second man walks across the ladder and the snow in order to help his fellow adventurer up from the position he was put in after the avalanche happened. This edit can be seen on the below image as sound effect number five. In this instance I used a metal 'bang' for the steps made on the ladder and a snow 'thud' for the steps made on the snowy area. The sound effects were found on the online library [Freesound.com] and each sound effect was repeated several times in order to get the right amount of steps that sync with the video and where viewers would expect to hear the sounds. To do this I imported the sound effects into GarageBand and slowly watched the video, making notes where the sound should go and then adding them in after.

 Similarly to the fourth sound effect, the fifth and final sound effect was the sound of the ladder straining under the weight of the two men as the first adventurer begins to stand up. This sound was a metal 'bang' and came from [Freesound.com] This sound effect appears at the end of the scene, giving the viewers relief that the stranded member of the group is now safe. Like the other sound effects I added this to GarageBand and watched the scene carefully to see where the effect best benefited the scene. This can be seen in the image below as the labelled number six.

    

This image represents the sound effect workshop project zoomed out with each sound effect labelled as a number mentioned in the text.