Category: Specialisation module

We began the lecture with Tim going through Censor and the process behind it. I watched the full video on youtube of Michael Winner vs Mary Whitehouse- film violence debate. I found it funny, to be honest. The link between violence on-screen and real-life violence. I tend to find it the opposite, the screen is a reflection of us. I also get the views and social environment at the time, it really opened my mind towards how people in the past and more importantly the previous generation which was born in the early 1900’s opinion of the film was. I completely understand why she’d want Rambo banned. But I don’t think that’s the answer.

We also touched on sound references and using other movies to contextualise your ideas. To have a list of films perhaps to draw inspiration from sonically and to place yourself within that. To select the films and reiterate what the plan for the sections are in terms of sound design and message or delivery.

Sound worlds was another subject in the lecture, and how we can decipher them. To select the theme and break it down into its techniques and motifs with sound. For example fiction in Censor was shown with analogue artefacts and tape saturation/echo. The motifs were feedback and static. It helps to actualise the thoughts you have to get them down. To actively plan, although the sound design process can lead you else were and down a different path, I find this to be good to do. It outsets your intentions.

Another point that struck me was the design process for the sound. I had read previously about this technique and found it a bit confusing. After Tim spoke he gave more context and it makes a lot more sense. It’s to help guide you on the contrasting sounds and what they stand for and how they will be used.

To place the sound worlds in each area of different contexts and to plan how they will interact and sit in the mix.

I’m going to do one for my clip and see if it helps me when planing.

I rented out two lav mics from the sound tech resources. They recommended using two lav mics on a hanger for atmospheres. I struggled actually using the 418 mics with the zoom h5 to combine the mid side for recording. I didn’t manage to work out the mid side combination so I thought I’d try this lav combination.

I set up the lav combination with the Zoom f4 I had rented from last weekends work on Saturday. I tried recording in the house and thought it sounded great. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time recording to properly take them out to record atmospheres. I wanted to try using the Sound Devices 633 as when I turned up the gain on this Zoom F4 the preamps were so noisy. I needed something with a clearer sound. I spoke to Micheal again and did some research online and decided to try the Seinheiser 418 with a mid-side polar pattern in combination with the Sound Devices 633 recorder. Let’s see if it’s any better.

This evening I booked out the foley room and composition lab with the intention to record the feet of the clip in a quiet place. Before the session, I laid out blank regions and had every feet recording ready for recording. I also set up the session to grid and frame. Also, the session to run on timecode.

I then used a Sennheiser MKH 416 for the feet sounds. I decided to not use the blimp this time as a test just to see the audio difference. I placed the mic pointing at the concrete floor in the foley trap to match the floor in the pharmacy in the clip. I made sure the microphone was about 20cm away pointed down directly at the source due to the hyper-cardioid polar pattern.

We began with the feet of the small child running around. I told Dan who was being the foley artist to make some noise so I could adjust the gain structure. I then gave him my opinion on how I wanted the child to sound like. I wanted each footstep to be different although quiet. Still to have a personality within the steps. The child is younger and unaware of the severity of making loud noises would run a little louder but with less bass, in his steps as he is smaller. The daughter is in between, she walks on her tiptoes and really avoids silence, although she is deaf and has a cochlear implant she is aware and scared of the consequences. Later in the clip, we have the mother who is the most cautious of them all, and she moves the slowest with the heaviest but lighter volume of all three.

To begin dan played out the walking with the intention I set him. We did a few takes as there were issues with the sound of the foley trap with his skin against the concrete sort of material. His feet bare skin like the actors created to much noise when lifting so I told him to walk even more cautious and it was successful.

We then continued to the part of the daughter. This is currently a very early stage so I didn’t worry about my POV choices with this specific character yet and focused more on laying foundations. I was behind on my atmosphere so it didn’t have any context or sounds to blend together with to create more immersion. The rawness did put us off and made us nitpick a lot. After I while I decided to do the opposite. I felt tired and a bit frustrated with not getting the perfect sounds but after getting home and listening I realised they were good. Not amazing but pretty decent and I just need to trim them up a bit and they should be good.

The last character was the mother which Dan did great with. He really felt the movement of the mother. Perhaps as he could play an adult and she walks a lot slower in the clip he was able to immerse himself more without thinking whether it matches and just method act.

Overall it was a good session, I’m glad I had the blank regions recorded before it. Helped with the flow and planning of the three hours. I think this was a good foundation to help other sounds flow, as getting started after doing a lot of research makes it difficult when you have so much information so anything helps.

I know the sounds are perfect and have not been mixed or anything yet but I’m open to changing footstep sounds as I add more sonic layers. As it currently stands I needed a basis, to begin with, and this was more than enough. The next session is on Friday so I hope to have recorded the atmospheres by then to add the next layer before doing cloth and props.

I watched the film that Tim recommended we watched in order to understand the context of the next lecture. I did some research into the video nasties, they were cheap typically low budget horror films that made it into stores while avoiding being rated by the BBFC in the 1980s. This meant that a lot of children got their hands on these graphic films. The public outcry to get these filmed banned invoked pressure on the BBFC to do this. This made the films become urban legends and a negative political stance on films of this type. Including censorship which directly counteracts the point of art.

I watched the film and paid attention to the sound design specifically. I found the use of music rather confusing. It was in small doses, id say it was played maybe no more than five or six times throughout the actual film. And when it did get played it was always short and at a specific moment in the film that was confusing or invoked mysterious story telling.

I also found the mix of the film to feel really claustrophobic. The sound effects took up a lot of room and didn’t allow the dialogue to come through as clean as it should. Now that could either be the technical limitations of the time. The fact the film had a small budget, or an artistic decision. In one specific scene the wife is chopping up meat with an electric machine and it really overpowers the dialogue. I think in this specific scene it used noise in a great way. To showcase her cloudy vision and foggy thoughts. How her dilusian meant she wasn’t paying attention to her husband when he was speaking to her.

Overall i didn’t find it that captivating. The plot was confusing and the sound mix wasn’t that great. It was an enjoyable watch and did have interesting parts with sonic world story telling which I’ll definitely incorporate into my film clip for my assignment. I’m interested for tomorrows lecture to see how this will fit in context to the other films in the video nasties.

I read the short five-page chapter on sound worlds. It begins to use Parasite the film as an example of social dialogue with sound. Designer Ralph Tae-Young Choi uses sound to express the social class between the houses. The poor family home has non-diegetic sounds of dogs barking and loud traffic going past as well as a constant stream of noise pollution going on in the background. Whereas in contrast, the rich family has nature sounds. The rich family’s home has a quiet peaceful ambience in the background as well as reverberation in the house to create a sense of space in the home. To communicate that they live in a large house. I find this use of sound design really impressive. Little things can make a large difference when communicating story and place. I feel you could almost realise which was a poor family home and rich without the visuals which shows how much storytelling is going on with these two scenes sonically.

The chapter also goes on to explain a visual way of showcasing and planning ideas in pre-production.

I’m not entirely understanding the exact benefits of this visual planning is but I do find it interesting. I’ve never planned sound design in this manner so I’m hoping in tomorrows lecture Tim will explain it a bit more in detail. But as I understand currently, you write down the sonic worlds in circles and write the opposite spectrum on each side and place the sonic worlds in the location to contrast opposite sonic worlds and how they reflect each other. I think perhaps if I try to do this for my film for my assignment it might give me more clarity on this visual planning.

I was in the performance lab when Michael came in with a student asking if anyone wanted to record sound for his advert. I accepted without really having done any professional work knowing I’d just practice using the boom mic.

I received the run down and they wanted an ambience recording of the room and a boom for close-ups. And potential voiceovers on the day as well. I spoke to Michael and got a list of microphones and equipment I should probably use. We agreed on the 416 shotgun mic due to its hyper-cardioid polar pattern for the boom. C541 pencil microphones for XY recording technique. And a lav mic to hide on the table to record the small pieces and cards being moved.

I did a practice set-up in the small sound room and practised the XY technique based on a few videos I’d watched. I also set up the boom and organised the ZOOMF4 for how I wanted it to record so it would be smooth on the day. Played around with the gain structure and holding the boom to a sound source.

On the day I arrived early and helped move some furniture from the living room. Once everything was out of the way. I set up my XY recording around the cameras to not get in the way. Coiled my cables nicely and taped them to the floor to avoid tripping hazards.

At first, it felt a bit strange as I didn’t know the team and didn’t feel too comfortable giving my opinion but after lunch and I felt more settled in I managed to get the recording much better and gave my opinion. I found efficient ways to control the gain while holding the boom and also without tiring my arms.

Overall a great experience. working with actors and a professional team/production company. Taught me a lot based on the recording knowledge I had already it gave me a different context to use it. The gain was constantly changing as it’s not a controlled environment and actors are constantly moving while speaking so I had to be constantly adjusting for dynamic changes. While making sure the boom wasn’t in shot and pointing at the actors.

I wanted to experiment with my idea to add improvised composition and sample it to use on the film clip I’m going to be editing for my submission. I took Raul and Jack to the performance lab.

We at first decided to work with the octophonic setup as I remember Dean showing me the plugin that lets you move the sounds around and I really wanted to try it.

I set the gain levels for Raul’s guitar and Jack was playing the Korg keyboard as well. I kept rerouting the set-up to hear what it was like to spin the sounds around and also pick a few of the octophonic speakers.

I then suggested that we do an improvisation similar to what we’ve been doing in the lectures but to a video. Just so I can see the reaction we have and the sounds we make. I still need to read the journal that Dean said that is in the library which speaks on digital improvisation. As he said they touch on certain things I’ve spoken about in the lectures of the brain trying to create patterns.

Raul had a video he made last year which was abstract and was up for interpretation. I decided to use an sm58 microphone and just create sounds around the space rather than be sat on one specific instrument or just controlling one sound. Jack decided to play the strings with a coin on the detuned piano in the room. We were hitting things and trying to find sounds using the foley objects as well as what was in the room. Raul decided to use the Korg keyboard and added some processing through Ableton.

Here is our outcome.

I think after doing this experimentation I was really impressed by what we came out with. I started rubbing the sm58 capsule along guitar strings towards the end and the sound was haunting and really nice. I really want to at least try if there is time. To do a similar thing to my clip with A Quiet Place. I also recorded with the H3 360-degree microphone but because the speakers were running stereo from behind the projector screen it didn’t really feel immersive. I want to try using the H3 in a different context as well.

Another thing I thought about was the fact that the clip we improvised to was abstract and I feel it’s easier to do abstract sound with the abstract video. I need to think about perhaps some rules or maybe multiple takes when doing it to the actual video clip I’ve chosen for the assessment.

Dereck De Abreu Coelho
Speicalising Proposal

My proposal for the Specialisation hand in is based on the two options I’ve chosen which are. Sound for screen and studio praxis. I’ve chosen a short clip from the selection provided and ended up with the first scene from A Quiet Place. I chose this specific clip because of the foley and sound design capabilities it allows. I did a short blog entry and study of the foley for this film last year and now being offered an option to do the sound for it I’m looking forward to the challenge.

I’ve already done substantial research into the themes, ideas and creation of the sound design. From the sound being written into the script to the creation and selective choices, the sound designers did when creating this film. Based on this information I will be reacting to the same brief the sound designers would have been given and reacting to it to recreate similarly but my interpretation. After creating the initial rough draft mix I want to combine the studio practice lectures into possibly creating a group to improvise with synthesisers to my clip. Then sample the recordings to manipulate and produce minimal sound effects and sounds to create tension.

My current scheduling is that I’ve already done my research on the film and the design choices of the director so I’m at the stage of collection. Atmosphere sounds will be recorded first as I feel this will be the hardest due to the nature of the film being very quiet. I will have finished the atmosphere recordings by the end of this week Sunday the seventh of November. And move towards the foley and sound effects stage by Monday the eighth of November. Doing cloth, feet and prop sounds by the latest fourteenth or fifteenth of November.

I will then once establish a rough first draft, figure out the next step of sounds that will incorporate this scene and the production to accompany.

I want to be on the mixing and mastering stage by the latest the twenty-second of November. which leaves me ten days for the mixing and mastering process which I feel based on the script and theory of this film to be a tedious reflective process. Ideas and intentions will be the hardest process. To add and create sound without harming the tension in the scene.

I finally got around to watching the film. I feel all the research I’d done before it had given me already high expectations of the sound design and overall movie. Reading how much thought went into the sounds and designing the script I was excited to actually watch it.

I found the introduction scene really captivating. There is a lot of information shown very quickly. You find out already that the word has been destroyed for a while. The grass growing from the traffic lights. The town is rural based on the transition and the pharmacy is shown. The room tones are quiet and really allow for the footsteps in the upcoming scene in the pharmacy to shine through.

The footsteps and subtle sounds of them breathing and using props in the scene showcase excellent foley work. I also found the POV of Reagan to live up to the experience described. It really gives you a layer of empathy towards her as a character. It made me think about what it’s like to be deaf and how horrible that must be. Really great job. I really want to go to an anechoic chamber to experience the sensation the sound designers spoke about.

Going on forth throughout the film. I can sense the dynamic control of volume they spoke about. Some of the scenes do have dramatic changes. It will be as loud as it can be and then suddenly the scene shifts and its back to being very silent. I also found the rules that John the director stated to suit as well. One scene, in particular, is when the father and son are under the waterfall and he mentions to his son who is terrified of making noise that they are able to make noise. Then the father screams and the child realises he can make noise. The camera pans behind the waterfall and you hear the child screaming. The sound of the scream is muffled by the sound of the water as his father explained. It all makes logical sense as the sound designers described.

Overall the second part of the movie when it starts g3tting more action. I felt didn’t accurately represent what the initial beginning did. I enjoyed the first eight minutes considerably more. What I will say is that the pharmacy scene which is what I’m deciding to do my piece on had a few differences I didn’t expect. They shifted to Reagan’s perspective a lot more in the initial eight minutes than I thought. although the duration is small it’s still nice to see my ideas were different to theirs. Again I’m not trying to copy scene for scene and sound for sound. I’m attempting to create my own version and idea to respond to the brief the sound designers were given for this clip. I’m going to plan my recording plan for the next few weeks and get everything in order.

Before getting recordings I created a time-based score to analyse the clip and work out what I needed and where. It’s not the final thing but I’ve done it for now so I can begin starting with the atmosphere recordings. My plan currently is to record atmospheres. then cloth, then feet then props. Finally, once I’ve done the initial mix I’m going to try and incorporate some sound design elements instead of music. Maby subtle techniques to build the tension within the scenes. For now, here is my basic plan on the placements of the sounds needed.

I will be refining and adding to this score.