Unit 5 : Sound Production
Lesson 1 :
Task 1 - Describe what a soundscape is :
A soundscape is a collection of sound effects conjoined together to create an atmosphere, this can be birds, wind, bike cycling and rain, this together could be a soundscape of a specific location such as a park during the spring when it rains, you get a feel for the environment through sound.
Task 2 - Identifying soundscapes :
Soundscape 1 = Thunderstorm - Thunder, rain, water running, stream, quiet wind / Add louder wind sounds
Soundscape 2 = Sword fight & Viking worriers - People cheering, swords, fighters making sounds / Add footsteps into the soundscape
Task 3 - Find 2 soundscapes, pick 5 of the sounds within them and research ways that you could recreate those sounds in a controlled environment :
Soundscape 1 (Walking through the forest) :
Boots on the tree bark / gravel through a nature reserve park - walk on gravel
Birds in the trees chirping - record birds in their habitat
Water flowing through a stream next to the footpath - water flowing down rocks at slow speed with droplets going into a little pond
Branches snapping on the ground - record a branch being snapped underfoot
Rain - Watering can and bowl of water to get the rain sound effect
Soundscape 2 (Shipping container docks) :
Boat horns - Get an actual boat horn
People shouting in the distance - Record people shouting commands in the distance
Anker's dropping - Chain dropping down the side of a metal object that is very vast
Water sloshing about beside the boat - Bathtub with water being sloshed about with droplets occasionally appearing into the track
Seagulls - record actual seagulls at the beach and use in this piece
Task 4 - Assignment Preparation :
Choose the 2 examples that you would like to analyse and talk about in task 1 :
Example 1 - Rainstorm
Example 2 - Park
Come up with ideas for Task 3 soundscape production :
Campsite - Rain on tent, Wind sounds,
Beach - Waves, Wind, Shoes on sand, Seagulls
Trail walking - Gravel, trees rustling, birds tweeting
Lesson 2 :
Task 1 - Describe what Foley is :
Foley is the reproduction of sound effects that can be added to films by overlaying them in the timeline to create some depth to the audio, this will enhance the audio quality. You can do this by using different objects to create different sounds.
Task 2 - Creating a Podcast to discuss Foley :
YouTube link to Podcast Created in Lesson
Lesson 3 :
Task 1 - Describe what a Soundtrack / Score is :
A soundtrack is a piece of recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture.
A Score is an original piece of music that is written and tailored for a specific film.
Why is a Score used ?
A score is used to give the film a unique sound that help match perfectly to help make it flow much better while watching the film.
Score :
Scores help enhance an emotional experience in a film as they will create a bigger impact rather than just the emotion showed by the actor they will add over a Score to make it more immersive.
Why is a Soundtrack used ?
They can help change the atmosphere within a film, makes the film more stylish and popular and help increase the quality of the film. It can make a film recognisable just by a soundtrack, when someone hears a soundtrack they will resonate back to the film as that's what they think of first time around.
Soundtrack :
When an artist is trending they can be used as a soundtrack for a film e.g. James Bond, they always release a piece of music 2-3 months before the film to help promote the film more and keep the viewers hooked ready for the day it is released. A soundtrack can help give information about the Character.
Task 1 Soundscape Analysis - 600 Words Minimum :
My two soundscapes of choice are a Campsite and Beach, individually this campsite has sound effects like Children screaming / having fun, Tent zips being un done and re done up, Rain slowly pouring down onto the tents, Car tires crunching on the gravel as people leave and enter the site, Football being kicked in the background on the grass behind the tents by the older teenagers, all these individual sounds can make up the Campsite soundscape. The beach Soundscape can be made up from sounds like, Waves slowly pouring up the sand, Quiet wind noises in the distance, Palm trees rustling in the wind, Family's speaking while walking along the beach.
The Campsite soundscape is created with the sounds: Children Screaming, Tent Zips, Rain, Car Tires Crunching Gravel, Football Kicked in distance. With the combination of all these sounds together they help create a familiar sound to the audience through a realistic Campsite Soundscape which will help them relate to the sounds they are hearing.
Some changes that could be applied to the Campsite Soundscape to change the environment of it could be remove the Rain, Football Kicking in distance, Children Screaming and change them to Birds tweeting, Bees buzzing and going on flowers, Ice Cream truck, Children quietly playing in distance. This would change the Campsite Soundscape from a rainy day when people are out playing in the mud to a warm summers day when everyone is relaxing under the sun and that the children might be in the little paddling pools outside their tents.
The Beach soundscape is created with the sounds: Waves, Quiet Wind Noises, Palm Trees Rustling, Family's speaking while walking. With the combination of all these sounds together they help create a familiar sound to the audience through a realistic Beach Soundscape which will help them relate to the sounds they are hearing.
Some changes that could be applied to the Beach Soundscape to change the environment of it could be remove the Waves, Quiet Wind Noises, Palm Trees Rustling, Family's speaking while walking and change them to Waves, Children Playing, Children Screaming, Bikes on the beach, People partying, Small fires for a BBQ on the beach, Wood cracking and popping from fire, using driftwood, Old style music playing quietly, People drinking. This would change the Beach Soundscape from a Storm starting on a beach when people are out to a warm summers evening when everyone is outside on the beach when it is coming in dusk, loads of people meeting other people having fun and relaxing from the week at work.
Overall the way Soundscapes are made is fascinating, these wizards of sound get individual sound effects made by themselves that are all recorded in a controlled environment e.g. a studio or sound recording room and they get the designated props and tools to create the sounds required for the soundscape, the sounds they make are often not recognisable to the viewer as they are created so well and people don't usually know when it is a recoded soundscape or audio from the set which is rare in Film. To make the soundscape really effective they turn down the effects and have them at different levels to allow realism to be played, this is because you don't want everything on 100% you might want the waves on 20% while the rustling of the trees to be at 5% and the voiceover at 70% so its not too loud but you can hear it as well as all the other sounds going on, Typically for a soundscape you don't have voiceovers but the sound effects used to create a Soundscape follow this rule still where everything is balanced correctly.
Task 2 Soundscape Planning & Design :
PLAN :
Pre-Production_1 (Details of the soundscape) :
Soundscape of people stuck in traffic.
Focusing on just one vehicle mainly everything else is drowned out
Individual Sounds that will be included :
Car's in traffic
Exhaust
Engine sounds
Horns
Radios / Music
Handsfree calls
People speeding off from traffic lights
Pedestrian crossing road - Beeping from the crossing
Atmospheric sounds - just air filler (People conversations, distant beeping and cars)
ALL THESE SOUNDS CAN BE RECORDED BY MYSELF WITH MY OWN EQUIPMENT
WHAT TO DO FOR THE HIGHER GRADE :
Car stuck in traffic lights go and pedestrian crosses and then car speeds off and then a hit sound effect and ambulance noises are heard with a tire screech.
Pre-Production_2 (An explanation of the narrative) :
A car engine will start for a few seconds we hear the exhaust running and the car will move out of the car park to go into the street and we will then hear more car engines and horns in the distance indicating a traffic hold up, after this we hear some loud muted music coming from another car which will add to the soundscape, the recipient in the vehicle will then beep their own horn and then speed off indicating rode rage as they don't want to allow another vehicle into the queue which is already very long. After this we hear a handsfree call in the background too this will be filled in with natural sounds like air and atmospheric sounds to fill in any gaps we may have, we may hear traffic lights and the beeping of someone crossing the road, after this we may also hear foot steps very quietly, and then cars speeding off to get out of the hold up at the lights, this concludes the soundscape idea and plan with a quick overview of what will be included in mine.
Pre-Production_3 (Any inspiration gained) :
For this i have not gained any inspiration from anyone else this is all my own thoughts and opinions on this, it will allow me to be as creative as i want as i am making it all from scratch even the thoughts are new, i was just making notes on my phone until i gained something that was worthy enough to be my soundscape.
Pre-Production_4 (Risk Assessment for each filming location) :
Pre-Production_5 (Shot list that includes each of the sounds i need to capture) :
- Car Engine Start
- Car Exhaust
- Car Engine Sounds
- Car Hons
- Cars playing Music / Radio
- People Taking Handsfree Calls In Their Cars
- Car Speeding Off From The Traffic Lights
- Pedestrian Crossing Road Beeping Sounds
- Footsteps
- Atmospheric Sounds
Pre-Production_6 (Full filming schedule) :
Schedule Friday 10th February Film from 9am till 3pm
9 AM - 11 AM = Record all Car sounds
- Car Engine Start
- Car Exhaust
- Car Engine Sounds
- Car Hons
- Car Speeding Off From The Traffic Lights
11 AM = Car Ambient Sounds
- Cars playing Music / Radio
- People Taking Handsfree Calls In Their Cars
12 AM = Lunch Start
1 PM = Lunch End
2 PM - 3 PM = Outside Roadside Recording
- Pedestrian Crossing Road Beeping Sounds
- Footsteps
- Atmospheric Sounds
Task 3 Soundscape Production :
The production diary :
Started recording at 10am and finished at about 6:30pm due to finding the right time and people to get sounds from, this was the most difficult part but in the end i got everything i needed and it worked out well.
10am - Started on atmospheric sounds.
11am - worked on getting the car engines and exhaust sounds
12pm - had lunch
1pm - finished lunch
2pm - started recording the pedestrians
3pm - Recorded the lorries
4pm - waited until i got the chance to record more stuff
5pm - waited until i got the chance to record more stuff
6pm - Recorded the car starting
7pm - Finished
Task 4 Evaluation :
While recording my soundscape i have learnt that getting all the individial sounds can be quite hard and difficult to find the right one as sometimes the sounds that happen in real time arent as good as the ones you might want to fit perfectly within the scene of a film or soundscape.
To improve i could have had a better idea of planning the recording as i didnt expect it to take as long as it did to record the sounds so for next time i will definitely improve this by planning with more time contingencies.
The success of my soundscape is that i got it complete without any injuries or damages taken to people or equipment used during the shoot, I did get some weird looks when holding a microphone in the middle of town recoding peoples exhausts, but i did ask for permission so they allowed me to do it once i explained exactly why i needed it and everyone was happy to let me record their car engines and just get some good audio near where i work so the locals were very nice and let me use their time and cars to get what i needed to hopefully seure a good mark on my work that i have spent hours on.
This was a really fun experience and i enjoyed every part of making my soundscape.
Comments
Post a Comment