Audio production
Audio is a very influential feature in television as it can determine the result of the show/movie being a success or a failure. Audio is so important as it evokes an emotional reaction. There would be many movies that would not be as popular and well known as they are now if they had no audio such as Dirty Dancing.
There are two categories in sound which is Diegetic and Non-Diegetic. Diegetic is defined as sound that is visually seen as being made by an object or person on screen. Non-Diegetic is determined as audio that takes place out of the scene and has been added on top. External Diegetic sound is sound from a physical source and that the characters in the scene can also hear. Internal Diegetic sound is sound only within a single character's mind that only they can hear. An example of internal Diegetic sound is in the show 'You' with Joe and this is a consistent technique in this show.
There are many factors that affect the quality of the sound which is the:Environment where the recording is made, Quality of recording equipment used, Correct choice of recording equipment, Placement of microphone and Recording levels. The best room to record sound in is a rectangular shaped room as they are parallel which means the sound will not be distinct. Round, irregular rooms are the worst locations to record in due to it not being level. To keep sound from reflecting and being reverberant you need to fill the room with absorptive surfaces. For example a bedroom is a good option to record sound as them typically being small and having lots of surfaces such as mattresses, pillows which help absorb and dampen some of the sound.
When working outside there are many complications that can occur due to uncontrolled environment such as wind and background noise. To help solve these issues there is equipment that could make the audio better quality such as Boom pole, Rifle/Shotgun microphone, Wind shield. When using a Boom pole you need to make sure it does not appear in the shot.
On 21.1.22 my group tried to reenact a particular scene in Brooklyn 99 and we were filming outside the green screen and also filmed with shotgun microphone and a boom. Then on 24.1.22 we synced the green screen to the video and also synced the audio. To sync the green screen I went Adobe Premier Pro and went on effects and dragged the Ultra Key effect which then made the green screen appear with the background from the Brooklyn 99 scene. Then to make the green screen clearer and to make it seem unedited I went on pedestal and increased it to make it more clearer. So the end result is now clear and makes it seem unedited.
25.1.22-Made my own ambience through Adobe Audition. In this task we made our own ambience and I surrounded this with working at home. So I included sounds such as keys jingling, kettle boiling, keyboard typing and doorbell ringing to emphaise the working at home atmosphere. This was a good and insightful task as this was the first time I did something like this and it turned out successful as I edited these sounds quite smoothly together.
The three main audio components are: SFX, Foley and Ambience. Ambient sound refers to the background or surrounding noise present. This type of sound is important as it creates more depth in a scene and more fascinating. The most popular ambient sounds are wind, water and traffic. Mono sound is defined as when you record a sound in mono it will either be on one channel or both channels (left and right) will sound the same. Stereo sound is your left and right channel will sound different as your recording sound on two separate channels. When recording ambience it is best to record in stereo because the audio will be more interesting.
Panning is defined as the position of a sound moving to one direction to another one (left to right). We use this as it creates interest and makes it more real. To get a real perspective on audio in class we watched a video of a virtual haircut with panning sound involved and it was really amazing as it felt like I was there. Also the movie 'Baby Driver' is a good example of panning as when the main character is walking there any many sounds involved and the audio goes from one direction to the other.
28.1.22-On this day the class was tasked to make Foley sounds and edit these to sync to this Mortal Kombat fight. In this lesson I learnt what Foley audio meant which is when you create sounds from everyday objects for example we made a sound of the person falling and the rib cage being destroyed with monkey nuts. Not only was this task exciting but I acquired a new skill which was to be able to make Foley sounds.
These three pictures are photos taken of students in my class making foley sounds by breaking the lettuce to mimic the sounds of rib cages breaking for me to edit this on Adobe Audition and syncing these sounds to the video.
Foley sound design-Sound effects which have been created using everyday objects which are then added onto a film/ video soundtrack. Foley artists create these sounds in a recording studio during post production. Foley artists produced everyday sounds such as footsteps, doors opening, wind blowing, glass breaking and other ambient noises. Then these sound effects get added to the edit in post production to amplify the auditory experience of a film or television show.
Foley audio enhances a film due to it making a scene more realistic, it makes the scene more immersive as sound effects create a sense of atmosphere and draw viewers more closely into the story, more believable ambient sounds, Foley sounds fills that aural void and makes a scene more natural and it could be used to cover up unwanted sounds that are captured on the set during filming.
There are three main categories of Foley sounds: feet, movement and specifics. The most common production sound a Foley artist creates is the sound of footsteps due them being more difficult to accurately capture while shooting a scene. Foley artists succeed recording footsteps by having a variety of different types of shoes and floor surfaces. The sound of movement is a subtle sound effect that intensifies a scene. The last main category is specific and an example of this is a phone ringing or a door creaking.
31.1.22-On this day we had a recording of a phone conversation between a man and a woman. The class task for this was experimenting with sound with a phone conversation. This was an insightful task due to me finding out how to edit sound digitally to make it seem the audio was recorded in a variety of locations for example I edited this sound to make it seem the phone call was made in a tunnel. This task will help me in the future when I am editing my own audio with recreating the film scene.
4.2.22-Super Mario Sound Design
On this day we tried to make or own sounds with the Nintendo Super Mario demo video and this was an insightful task because it gave me the experience with sound and if I wanted to become a sound technician then this is a perfect task to give me the experience. In this task it was the first time I used markers to help me with syncing the sound effects to the video. It was easy to add markers as I just had to press the 'M' keyboard button.
-Ambient jungle sounds
-Birds chirping
-Giant dinosaur footsteps
-Waterfall
-Cute little movements
-Gentle whistling
-Roars
-As Mario jumps at the end a little sound of a jmup
11.2.22-Audio sync
First I got the videos I wanted to sync. After I got these two videos and made two videos: one that consisted of only the bad audio and the other video only had the good quality sound. I did this to show the difference between a high quality and bad quality audio.
The process of me doing this was first to get the footage and delete the clips that had good audio. Then I pressed the synchronize button to match the audio to the visual aspect. Then finally I edited the footage by trimming some shoots. Then I did the same for the high quality audio.
The three components of sound design is: Voice/Dialogue, Sound Effects and Music. Dialogue is normally a conversation between two or more people. Dialogue has many usages as it can: advance the plot, reveal a character's thoughts or feelings or show how characters react in the moment. Dialogue can be heard or used in a variety of different ways by: Single voice dialogue, Multiple voices (conversation), Crowd, Voice over/Narrator or ADR.
Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) is defined as a voiceover which has been re-recorded in the studio after the film shoot. ADR is used for a variety of reasons: remove unwanted sounds such as wind, environment, equipment noise, change the original lines recorded on set to help create a clearer narrative, improve understandability. Dialogue would need to be replaced for a number of reasons such as: to use a better singer if the actor is unavailable to deliver an acceptable performance, add or remove content for legal purposes, add or remove a product placement, correct a misspoken line not caught during filming, replace foul language.
The process of ADR first starts with the Production Sound Mixer/ Location Sound Recordist records audio then the ADR editor reviews the audio in the scene and decides what needs to be re-recorded. The actor re-records the audio whilst also reviewing the scene. This process is normally done in an studio. A famous example of ADR being used is a scene in the movie 'Snakes on a plane' when Samuel L Jackson is in the plane and is talking about the snakes and when listening to the dialogue you realise that it is nonsense what he is saying.
15.2.22-Created a sound track of blinding lights by the weekend and creating new sounds on Garageband. This task was good as this gave me a chance to explore with creating music as this was my first experience with using this software. This lesson was very important as I learnt many new things about music and it has also given me an insight in how music is created and developed.
Music is very important in film as the right music can make a scene in a movie excellent and unique. The addition of music can improve the emotional content of a scene. A good composer will work with a film director and create music which complements what is happening in the scene. Soundtrack music can be broken down into the following components:tempo, dynamics, rhythm melody and texture.
Tempo is the speed of a piece of music and is measured in Beats per Minute (BPM). The tempo of a piece of music can often enhance a scene or piece of media. Slow tempo music is normally in the style of gental Classical/Hip Hop and is normally in 70-80 BPM. An example of slow tempo music is 'Epiphany' from the Pixar film 'Soul'. Mid tempo music is normally 90-100 BPM. An example of mid tempo is 'Clubbed to Death' from 'The Matrix'. Fast tempo music is normally in the style of Dance/Drum/Bass/Rock and is normally in 130 BPM+. An example of fast tempo music is 'The Chase Begins' from 'Mad Max: Fury Road'.
Dynamics is defined as the ratio fo levels of intensity of music from quiet/gentle to loud/aggressive. A horror film jump scare would be a good example of usage of audio dynamic range. Rhythm is the pulse or heartbeat of a piece of music, this is normally generated by the drums in a track. An example of this is 'Jaws' theme-John Williams: menacing cello/low horns/Timpani (orchestral drums).
Melody is the tune that people associate with a piece of music. In film terms when a theme is associated with a character, this is called a Leitmotif. An example of a Leitmotif is portrayed in 'Star Wars' as many characters have one. Texture of music refers to the combination of sounds that go together. The texture of a piece of music can normally be judged on how many layers it has. An example of this is in the movie 'Dunkirk' there is a Shepard tone which has 3 layers which appear to constantly rise in pitch.
Contrapuntal/counterpoint music is defined as where the music you have in a scene is the polar opposite of what you would expect. For example an action scene having emotional music. This could be done to give the music a more interesting texture. Pleonastic music copies the mood of action shown through the images, for example a horror film would have exaggerated scary musical/sonic themes which are designed to match what's happening on screen.
Garageband is an entry level piece of music software that comes free with an Apple Mac or iPhone. This is an amazing piece of software considering it is free as they have many tools that helps you to create a professional piece of music. There is also another music software called Logic Pro X which is a pro version of Garageband however the drawback of this is there is a fee.
4.3.22=I am choosing the Need for Speed trailer to create a background music for as I believe I can create a nice aesthetically audio soundtrack for it. In conclusion I did a good attempt at creating background music