Classwork

Sound is one of the hardest things to get right in film but can be very rewarding if done right. It immerses the audience into the story and can also create emotion and set the tone of the film. Though many would focus on the visual side of the film rather than the sound, sound contributes 50% of the effectiveness of a scene.

Sound is divided into 2 categories in film, Diegetic and Non-Diegetic. Diegetic is sound that is being made by someone or something on screen. Non-Diegetic is sound that is being made outside of the scene and has been added on top. For example diegetic sound can be heard by the characters in the scene as well as the viewer. Non-Diegetic sound can only be heard by the viewer.

Another technique in sound editing is panning. This is when the sound moves from left to right / right to left. Panning helps create an immersive sound field. Panning helps position characters and objects that aren't on screen.

When recording sound there are two different ways to record the audio in, Mono and Stereo. If you record in Mono then the sound will just be on one channel and both channels will sound the same. However if you record sound in stereo then you'll hear sound on two separate channels, so the sound you hear and the left will be different to the sound you hear on the right. For example in the film Baby Driver in one a the first scenes the main character is wearing headphones, he then takes out the left earphone. If you're wearing headphones whilst watching the scene then you'll hear music in your right ear and people talking in your left ear.

Creating your own soundscape

For this task we had to create our own soundscape on Adobe Audition using several stock sound affects.

What I did to create this was first add 7 different sounds. A background fan, a clock, Someone opening a can and gulping sound affects I added on top, a phone constantly ringing, someone typing and using an adding machine.

For the Majority if the sounds I lowered the volume so not only could you hear each one over eachother but also so they weren’t so loud. Another thing I did was add  a fade out to the fan, clock and typing so they gradually fade out. For the clock and phone ringing I made it so if you were wearing headphones then you’ll hear them in your left ear, compared to the typing and adding machine that you can hear in your right ear. The last thing I did was make it so the clock would gradually get quieter as it goes on.

Because of this task I learnt how to implement panning, stereo and make sound get gradually quieter. 

For this task we had to edit a phone conversation in Adobe Audition by using reverb and other affects.

The first thing I did was import the phone ringing and conversation into Audition. After that I cut the conversation into several parts so the male and female voice were in separate tracks, this made it so it would be easier to edit each voice separately. Before this I cut the ringing and moved it before the conversation, as well as decrease the volume of it. For the male voice I added a rack affect that allowed me to change the frequency of the voice so I could make it seem like the voice was coming from a phone. For the female voice I added a reverb affect to it to make it sound like the person receiving the call was in an open room. The last thing I did was add the affect to the ringing and male voice.

For this task we had to use the Foley method and use objects as sound affects for a scene from the Mortal Kombat game. We used several different pieces of food as sound affects such as, breaking a celery in half, squishing a watermelon and stepping on peanuts.

For the edit I kept most of the audio that we recorded using the food and added other sound affects. The other sound affects I added were a punching sound affect, someone falling to the ground and a swishing noise for the throwable weapons that are thrown. I then compiled most of the food sounds on top of each other when the character steps on the alien. The last thing I did was decrease the volume of most of the sounds so you could distinctly hear each one and also so it wasn't so loud. Overall I'm happy with how this edit turned out, though I wish the swishing noise was a bit louder. Because of this task I learnt how to do foley sounds and implement them into a video.

List of sounds needed:

wind, water falling, loud/heavy stomping, dinosaur roaring, birds, tail swish, Mario noises.

For this task we had to add sound affects to a cgi cutscene. Because of this we had no sounds to go off of. 

To get the sounds I downloaded the video and sound affects. I then imported the video into Audition so I could use it as a reference when adding the sound affects. The first thing I did was add ambience to the background, this was a waterfall and noises you'd hear in a jungle (wind and birds). The waterfall sound was loud so I had to make it quieter. I then added more waterfall sounds and overlapped them together so you couldn't hear when one started and ending. By adding more waterfall sounds it made it so the sounds would continue to the end of the video and not stop in the middle. I then added sounds of a flock of birds flying away to match the video, I then later duplicated it again near the end. The next thing I did was the most time consuming and that was adding footsteps in match with the video. To make this easier I would watch the video and add a marker when a footstep occurred. I would then add a footstep sound where the marker was. For the dinosaur I added 2 tail swishing sound affects and a roar. For the second swish I stretched the audio as it was shorter than the clip. The last few sounds I added was the Nintendo switch startup sound and swooshes for when Mario appeared, as well as Mario speaking.

For this task I learnt how to add markers. Because of this I'll find it easier to edit sound for any future projects. One thing that went well is that I managed to sync up the footsteps close enough to the video. 

For this task we had to demonstrate the difference between two pieces of audio recorded from the camera and microphones.

To do this we had to import a video and audio into Premier Pro. Because the video had audio already attached to it that was recorded from the camera, we had two choices of audio to pick from. First we had to synchronise the two pieces of audio. To do this I had to select the video and the audio recorded from the mic and select the synchronise option. After doing that I unlinked the video and the original audio. This made it so I could delete the first half of the original audio. Because of this the video starts of with the high quality audio, but then swaps to the original low quality version of the audio halfway through.

Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) is a voiceover that has been re-recorded after the film shoot and added into a scene in-post. ADR can remove unwanted sounds and change the original lines said. ADR can also correct mistakes said and remove content for legal purposes.

For this task we had to edit a video by adding sound affects and editing the audio being used. The video already had ADR recorded because the original audio had a lot of background noise to the point where you couldn't understand most of the dialogue being said. The first thing I did was mute the audio that was recorded during filming, so I could only hear the ADR recordings. After this I added reverb to the dialogue because of the setting of the stairs. The reverb would make the dialogue more realistic. I then added background room ambience and decreased the volume of it to make it quieter. I then added markers every time the actors step to make it easier when adding in the walking sounds. After adding the walking sounds I added a body hit sound affect for when the reporter gets shoved into the wall. The last sound affect I added was the running for when the reporter runs away at the end.

For this task we had to create the bass, melody and chord parts of the song 'Blinding Lights' using Garage Band and later edit it.

To edit this I first duplicated the song 3 more times so there were 4 columns for each instrument. I then cut out the first 2 columns of the melody and first 4 beats of the drums. After that I then changed the bass using the transform pad, changing it from 'buzzy' to 'thick'. I also did the same with the chords, changing it from 'rich' to 'minimize'. For the melody I change the sound from 'Mellow Poly' to 'Vox Box Lead'.

For the soundtrack I first went into the loop selection to see all the loops I could use. The first sounds I added were 4 sets of a hip hop piano as a slow intro to match the black opening and slow build up to the Rockstar Games name. I then added the track 'Wild Card Long' and had that carry on for the rest of the trailer until the GTA 5 logo appears. Because the track wasn't long enough to last till the logo appears, I had to duplicate the track and add them together. 

Although i'm happy with how it turned out I wish I would've added more sounds so it wasn't just the same song repeated twice.

For this task we had to recreate a scene from Brooklyn Nine-Nine using 7 actors, a director, boom operator, sound engineer and someone to use the clapper board. 

Short tutorial I did before the edit as practice to make it so I understood how to sync the clip and the audio from the boom mic, as well as learn how to chroma key in the background through the use of the green screen.

Final Video

For the final edit I had to go through several pieces of footage on Premier Pro to find the clips that didn't have and errors or were poorly filmed. After doing this I found all the clips I needed to recreate the scene as one to one as possible, and added them to together to create the full video. I then found images of a lineup as well as a police room to use in place of the green screen. I then individually added the ultra key affect onto each piece of footage, so I could change the green screen to either the image of the lineup or police room. For the images I changed the pedestal in order to make the images less fuzzy and higher quality. After that I then exported the video.

For this task I learnt how to edit larger videos as well as syncing audio to clips. One thing I thought went well with the video is that it's not massively far off from the original video. One thing I thought could be better is a different image for the police room as the one I chose was still a bit green no matter how much I edited it. 

There are 8 different production conventions you can use when analysing a scene, these being:

1. Aesthetics - How the film looks and what emotions they can convey.

2. Space and Composition - How the characters and objects are framed within the shot.

3. Acting - How well the actor portrays the character on screen.

4. Technical Aspects - The choice of lightning and cinematography.

5. Sound - The sound heard in the scene and what atmosphere it creates.

Analysing a scene of choice

For this task we had to analyse 2 scenes of our choice using the 8 conventions. The first scene I chose was the police scene from the 1996 Coen brother film Fargo.

1. Aesthetics - The scene is shot in mostly closeups to be able to show how the characters are feeling. Because of this we feel trapped in the car alongside Carl and Gaear. 

2. Space and Composition - For most of the scene we only see one of the two criminals in the frame, this makes it easier to see what each one is feeling.

3.  Acting - Throughout the scene Steve Buscemi starts of acting calm but gradually gets more nervous as the scene goes along. This is in contrast to Peter Stormare who is constantly acting calm throughout the scene.

4. Technical aspects - The lighting is very dark having a main focus on just the characters eyes to demonstrate how the both of them are reacting to the scene. The cinematography mirrors what the characters see and we only get a few shots from the outside.

The other scene I chose was Hannibal Lecter's escape from Jonathan Demme's 1991 film Silence of the Lambs. 

1. Aesthetics - Before Lecter escapes the room he's being held in is lit well and seems normal. However once he escapes the room looks like a circus with the lighting, the flags strung up and the design of the walls.

2. Space and Composition - Lecter is constantly in the middle of the frame as he's the main focus. When he escapes the officers we follow are mostly shot in close ups with their faces being in the middle of the frame so we can see how they are reacting to the situation.

3. Acting - For the beginning of the scene Anthony Hopkins acts polite and doesn't speak much, because of this it makes it seem unlikely that he'll attack, so it makes it a surprise when he lashes out and kills the guards. Hopkins also doesn't run around screaming towards the camera, instead he remains calm and blank face, slowly walking. This all makes it even more unnerving watching him kill and makes the character of Lecter even more creepy.

4. Technical Aspects - During the beginning of the scene everything is brightly lit, however when the cops see that Lecter has escaped everything goes dark and remains that way for the rest of the scene. Because of this the feeling of fear rises as Lecter could be hiding in any shadow.

5. Sound - The music used in the beginning of the scene is classical music, but when Lecter cuffs the cop the music changes to a dramatic tense piece in contrast to the calming classical music. This makes the scene even more impactful and terrifying as it shows how Lecter goes from calm to murdering people in only a couple of seconds. After Lecter finishing killing the classical music starts playing again, making the scene even more impactful. For the sound design we can hear the keys rattling when the cop is trying to escape, this draws the viewers attention to the cop as the camera slowly approaches him. Later on in the scene we can also hear helicopters int he back adding to the situation.

6. Editing - The way the scene is edited and how that affects the scene.

7. Narrative - How the story is being told.

8. Representation - Inclusion of different races, communities, social issues and stereotypes.

5. Sound - The music throughout the scene is very quiet and slowly builds up as the tension rises.

6. Editing - The scene constantly cuts to the face of one of the 2 criminals and a closeup on Carl's wallet to show that he's trying to bribe the officer.

7. Narrative - The scene is told in a 3 act structure with act 1 being Carl and Gaear getting pulled over and Carl telling Gaear that it's because of vehicle registration tags. Act 2 would be the officer questioning Carl and Carl trying to bribe him, with it ending with the officer telling Carl to get out the car. The 3rd act would be Gaear shooting the officer and telling Carl to take care of the body.

8. Representation - Within the scene there isn't much representation other than the officer being stereotypically Canadian.

6. Editing - The editing in the scene isn't obnoxious and flashy, it just cuts between Lecter and the guards to get the reactions and feelings of several characters.

7. Narrative - Uses the 3 act structure with Act 1 being Lecter escaping his cage. Act 2 is when the cops realise something is wrong and see that Hannibal has escaped and has killed 1 cop and wounded another. Act 3 is the cops assuming that Lecter is on the roof of the elevator only to realise it's the other cop, we then see that Lecter is in the ambulance and was disguised as the injured cop.

8 Representation - There isn't that much representation other than a few black officers trying to find Lecter inside the station. However in the film as a whole the main character is a female FBI agent compared to the usual male lead in detective films.

There are 6 different ways to analyse audio in a scene, these being:

1. Dialogue - What's being said by the characters onscreen. How the dialogue is being performed and impact on the plot.

2. Ambience - Noise being made from the background and the atmosphere it creates.

3. Sound Affects - The sound affects being added on top can improve scenes by adding more realism.

4. Diegetic and Non-Diegetic - Diegetic is sounds that exist in the scene like the character talking. Non-Diegetic is sounds that were added on top of the scene and can only be heard by the viewer.

For this task we had to analyse 2 scenes by the audio in them. The first scene I chose was the end scene for Michael Mann's 1995 film Heat.

1. Dialogue - Within the scene only 2 lines are said, but that's all there needs to be within the scene, too much speaking would ruin a scene like this. The scene is meant to be emotional and obviously end the film so having the characters speaking lots would ruin any emotion the scene is trying to convey.

2. Ambience - Because the scene takes place at an airport you can constantly hear planes taking off and landing, you can also hear crickets in the long grass. This all helps the scene feel more realistic.

3. Sound affects - The main sound affects used in the scene are the gunshots fired by Pacino and De Niro's grunts as he gets shot. Other sound affects used would be the sound used in the ambience: crickets, planes and wind.

4. Diegetic and Non-Diegetic - The Diegetic sounds would be the dialogue, footsteps, gun shots and the ambient sounds (planes and crickets). The Non-Diegetic sounds would be the score that starts playing when De Niro is shot.

5. Soundtrack - The song used in the scene is 'God moving over the Face of the Waters' composed by Moby. The piece has become iconic and was perfect for the scene and film. The piano build up makes the scene more emotional than it already is and fits the mood perfectly.

For the second video I chose the final fight scene in Denis Villeneuve's 2017 scfi film Blade Runner 2049. 

1. Dialogue - There's not much dialogue within the scene other than Luv giving the pilot 2 commands and then later boasting to K when she temporarily beats him. Having loads of dialogue in a fight scene can ruin any tension and can feel unrealistic, so having limited dialogue in a scene like this can benefit it.

2. Ambience - The main ambient sound in the scene is the waves crashing against the ship and sea wall. 

3. Sound Affects - Because it's a scfi film the weapons they use are more futuristic so they had to create their own sound affects for the guns. Other sound affects they had to create were the ship crashing.

4. Diegetic and Non-Diegetic - Diegetic sounds would be the waves crashing, kicking and dialogue said. Non-Diegetic sounds would be the music playing.

5. Soundtrack - The use of music used in the scene, whether it's an original piece or not.

6. Post Production Alterations - How the audio has been edited in post, and what was added/removed.

6. Post Production Alterations - In post they would've added the ambient sounds and made them loud enough to hear. They would've done this as well with the gun shots.

5. Soundtrack - Because the film is a scfi the music used sounds like its from the future with loud thuds and synth. This helps immerse the viewer even more as something else like classical music wouldn't fit.

6. Post Production Alterations - In post they would've added the sound affects (kicking, gun shots) they also would've altered the waves by making them louder than they would've been during filming.