Friday, 19 December 2014
Sound Design Report
The task I was given was to re-design the sound for a scene from a film. The scene had to be around three minutes long. The point of the task was to use the range of recording and editing skills developed in the sound workshops to create an interesting and original piece of sound design.
I chose the scene from Only God Forgives because I think the sound does not suggest to the audience a quite important piece of information; the main character is fantasising not experiencing reality. I understand that this is the director's intention but I still feel that the scene would benefit from the sound point out this piece of information. My basic plan was to create two clear sections to the sound design; a reality section and a fantasy section.
I then divided the scene into sections and placed markers in Pro Tools at the in and out points of the sections.
After researching Cliff Martinez's film score techniques, I wrote a piece of music that would fit the mood of the film. The piece consisted of simple chords played on a MIDI keyboard with the Accordion In Space software instrument in the Xpand!2 Pro Tools plug-in, I also adjusted attack, decay, release, cutoff, env. depth and fine tune in Xpand!2 to the create the desired effect. I also used the Vintage Filter plug-in to add modulation to the MIDI track.
To distinguish between the different sections in the scene, I made the levels of the music during the fantasy sections higher than they are in the reality section. This was to add to realism of the reality section and to add to the dream-like quality of the fantasy section.
The next step was to record sounds that would be needed to aid the actions on screen, for example footsteps or clothing movements. I started this process by watching through the clip a number of times and writing down the sounds that needed to be created. I knew I wouldn't be able to make a few of the sounds just by doing what is done on screen. For example, the slap towards the end of the scene is very aggressive and I wouldn't be able to slap someone hard, so I came up with solutions to these problems such as, gently slapping a number of things and planning on layering them in post-production. Another problem I had was creating a sound for muscles flexing as there isn't really any sound made in real life, so I tested stretching and twisting a few different materials, the best sounding one was leather so I recorded leather being twisted for the sound of muscles being flexed.
Recording an atmosphere track proved difficult as I was wanting something that would fit the visuals of the scene. The scene is set in a seedy bar in Bangkok which is obviously different to Sheffield. Another thing that I wanted in the atmosphere track was people talking in a bar environment without the music, this also proved difficult. After recording a number of atmosphere tracks, I settled with the one that had the most human conversation and least music in the background.
During the recording process I experimented with certain sounds that could be used for ambience. I recorded the sound of my toilet's flush running continually, I recorded the microphone being gently dragged along the side of my radiator and I recorded my watch ticking. In the end I used using all of these sounds in the final piece, the most prominent being the watch ticking towards the end of the scene creating tension.
The editing process was fairly 'straight forward' the main task was deciding which sounds to put where and for how long. Once I had placed the sounds on tracks on Pro Tools, I altered their levels so that they sounded right in the mix. There were some sounds that required reverb and EQing, I did this with the plug-ins EQ3 7-Band and D-Verb.
The final thing to do once all of the levels were right was to create a master track and change the master level of the piece.
I am happy with the final piece, I feel that the outcomes have, on the whole, satisfied my aims. The two sections of the scene are more prominent now, I feel. The main success of the task for me is the fact that I have created a believable soundscape that adds to the mood of the visuals.
The diegetic sounds that are in the scene work well for the most part. I have used very subtle diegetic sounds as well as very unsubtle diegetic sounds. The subtle sounds in the scene are more successful as when recording they were more controllable, for example, when recording the beads jangling, it was easy to follow what was on screen but when I was recording the sound of a slap, although it was easy to sync with the visual, it wasn't easy to recreate the exact sound.
The music in the film, I feel fits well and draws the attention of the audience towards the action on screen. The sections in which the music track is higher in the mix are more engaging and the jump up to that louder level is obvious. Whether or not the reason for the change in levels is obvious, I don't know but I feel that there's enough of a change to be asking the audience questions about why it's there.
The two sections of the film are well distinguished in the scene. In the reality sections of the scene the EQ of the atmospheric track gives it a more present and real feel whereas the music is the secondary sound in the section. In the fantasy sections of the scene the music is the primary sound and the atmosphere track is more distant giving a more dream-like effect. The only exception to this dream-like effect was the fact that during the fantasy sections, the 'real' sounds such at the beads were quite high in the mix and literal, I feel that this maybe stumped the fantasy feel, however I think that it worked in the scene as a whole, as without them the scene may have felt a little boring and unreal throughout.
If I were to do the task again I would do a number of things to improve the piece. Although I am happy with the piece as a whole I think that certain parts are not believable or 'cheap'. The main changes I would make would be the overall production values of the piece and the attention to authenticity.
I chose the scene from Only God Forgives because I think the sound does not suggest to the audience a quite important piece of information; the main character is fantasising not experiencing reality. I understand that this is the director's intention but I still feel that the scene would benefit from the sound point out this piece of information. My basic plan was to create two clear sections to the sound design; a reality section and a fantasy section.
I then divided the scene into sections and placed markers in Pro Tools at the in and out points of the sections.
After researching Cliff Martinez's film score techniques, I wrote a piece of music that would fit the mood of the film. The piece consisted of simple chords played on a MIDI keyboard with the Accordion In Space software instrument in the Xpand!2 Pro Tools plug-in, I also adjusted attack, decay, release, cutoff, env. depth and fine tune in Xpand!2 to the create the desired effect. I also used the Vintage Filter plug-in to add modulation to the MIDI track.
To distinguish between the different sections in the scene, I made the levels of the music during the fantasy sections higher than they are in the reality section. This was to add to realism of the reality section and to add to the dream-like quality of the fantasy section.
The next step was to record sounds that would be needed to aid the actions on screen, for example footsteps or clothing movements. I started this process by watching through the clip a number of times and writing down the sounds that needed to be created. I knew I wouldn't be able to make a few of the sounds just by doing what is done on screen. For example, the slap towards the end of the scene is very aggressive and I wouldn't be able to slap someone hard, so I came up with solutions to these problems such as, gently slapping a number of things and planning on layering them in post-production. Another problem I had was creating a sound for muscles flexing as there isn't really any sound made in real life, so I tested stretching and twisting a few different materials, the best sounding one was leather so I recorded leather being twisted for the sound of muscles being flexed.
Recording an atmosphere track proved difficult as I was wanting something that would fit the visuals of the scene. The scene is set in a seedy bar in Bangkok which is obviously different to Sheffield. Another thing that I wanted in the atmosphere track was people talking in a bar environment without the music, this also proved difficult. After recording a number of atmosphere tracks, I settled with the one that had the most human conversation and least music in the background.
During the recording process I experimented with certain sounds that could be used for ambience. I recorded the sound of my toilet's flush running continually, I recorded the microphone being gently dragged along the side of my radiator and I recorded my watch ticking. In the end I used using all of these sounds in the final piece, the most prominent being the watch ticking towards the end of the scene creating tension.
The editing process was fairly 'straight forward' the main task was deciding which sounds to put where and for how long. Once I had placed the sounds on tracks on Pro Tools, I altered their levels so that they sounded right in the mix. There were some sounds that required reverb and EQing, I did this with the plug-ins EQ3 7-Band and D-Verb.
I am happy with the final piece, I feel that the outcomes have, on the whole, satisfied my aims. The two sections of the scene are more prominent now, I feel. The main success of the task for me is the fact that I have created a believable soundscape that adds to the mood of the visuals.
The diegetic sounds that are in the scene work well for the most part. I have used very subtle diegetic sounds as well as very unsubtle diegetic sounds. The subtle sounds in the scene are more successful as when recording they were more controllable, for example, when recording the beads jangling, it was easy to follow what was on screen but when I was recording the sound of a slap, although it was easy to sync with the visual, it wasn't easy to recreate the exact sound.
The music in the film, I feel fits well and draws the attention of the audience towards the action on screen. The sections in which the music track is higher in the mix are more engaging and the jump up to that louder level is obvious. Whether or not the reason for the change in levels is obvious, I don't know but I feel that there's enough of a change to be asking the audience questions about why it's there.
The two sections of the film are well distinguished in the scene. In the reality sections of the scene the EQ of the atmospheric track gives it a more present and real feel whereas the music is the secondary sound in the section. In the fantasy sections of the scene the music is the primary sound and the atmosphere track is more distant giving a more dream-like effect. The only exception to this dream-like effect was the fact that during the fantasy sections, the 'real' sounds such at the beads were quite high in the mix and literal, I feel that this maybe stumped the fantasy feel, however I think that it worked in the scene as a whole, as without them the scene may have felt a little boring and unreal throughout.
If I were to do the task again I would do a number of things to improve the piece. Although I am happy with the piece as a whole I think that certain parts are not believable or 'cheap'. The main changes I would make would be the overall production values of the piece and the attention to authenticity.
The atmosphere track in my piece is, to an extent, not authentic. The low, underlying bass-line in the recording does not fully fit the mood of the piece, it sounds too western and happy for the scene. Also, the majority of voices in the recording are British accents, again not authentic. The sound quality was compromised a bit as I recorded the stereo track directly into the Zoom H4N's microphone as it was subtle and I didn't have permission to record sound in the bar. If I were to do this task again, I would scout a better location for the atmosphere track, i.e. a Thai influenced bar. Another thing I would do is ask for permission before recording, allowing me to use a larger and better stereo microphone, giving a better sound quality.
The vocalisations in the film (grunts from bodybuilders, female exhaling and men in pain) were all recordings of me. I feel that this may have been obvious throughout the scene, even though I EQ'd them added reverb to them. As well as all of the vocalisations sounding similar, they weren't delivered brilliantly which is maybe also obvious. If I were to do the task again I would find a number of capable people to perform the vocalisations for me, this would give a range of vocalisations performed in a more convincing manner.
Although the music that I wrote for the piece worked well, I feel that there was room for improvement with it, there wasn't a lot of depth to the music as it was just a single software instrument. If I was to do this task again I would create more texture in the music by experimenting with more software instruments alongside each other. I would also experiment with real instruments and ambient recordings to add to the texture of the music.
Overall I am pleased with the end result. I feel that the two sections of the film are clearly defined. Also, I feel that the sounds that I have created, wether they are solo sounds, layered sounds or MIDI sounds, fit well with the visuals and sound realistic with the visuals. Although there are some aspects of sound that could be improved I feel that I have designed the sound in a way that fulfils my aims with a good degree of understanding. I feel that the sound is believable and done well enough to define the two clear sections of the scene.
Although the music that I wrote for the piece worked well, I feel that there was room for improvement with it, there wasn't a lot of depth to the music as it was just a single software instrument. If I was to do this task again I would create more texture in the music by experimenting with more software instruments alongside each other. I would also experiment with real instruments and ambient recordings to add to the texture of the music.
Overall I am pleased with the end result. I feel that the two sections of the film are clearly defined. Also, I feel that the sounds that I have created, wether they are solo sounds, layered sounds or MIDI sounds, fit well with the visuals and sound realistic with the visuals. Although there are some aspects of sound that could be improved I feel that I have designed the sound in a way that fulfils my aims with a good degree of understanding. I feel that the sound is believable and done well enough to define the two clear sections of the scene.
Saturday, 13 December 2014
Silence in Film
Silence (or minimal sound) is often used in film to create or to expel tension. Depending on where it is used determines which objective it is used to achieve.
In 2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick (1968) silence is used to create tension. In this scene HAL has sent the crew member to go and fix a faulty part of the ship and the audience already has an inkling that HAL is going to do something terrible to the crew member. The silence in this section leaves audience wondering when or what might happen to him, the sound or score suggests nothing. It shifts the audience's focus completely on to the actions on screen and leaves them bracing themselves for the inevitable next sound.
In Sexy Beast - Jonathan Glazer (2000) silence is used to break the scene's tension. Gal is having a nightmare about a giant hare coming to shoot him while he eats. In the scene the sound design is made up of mainly glitchy sounds becoming louder in the mix until becoming almost unbearable when Gal wakes up from the nightmare, exposing the silence of his reality, releasing the tension from the scene.
In 2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick (1968) silence is used to create tension. In this scene HAL has sent the crew member to go and fix a faulty part of the ship and the audience already has an inkling that HAL is going to do something terrible to the crew member. The silence in this section leaves audience wondering when or what might happen to him, the sound or score suggests nothing. It shifts the audience's focus completely on to the actions on screen and leaves them bracing themselves for the inevitable next sound.
In Sexy Beast - Jonathan Glazer (2000) silence is used to break the scene's tension. Gal is having a nightmare about a giant hare coming to shoot him while he eats. In the scene the sound design is made up of mainly glitchy sounds becoming louder in the mix until becoming almost unbearable when Gal wakes up from the nightmare, exposing the silence of his reality, releasing the tension from the scene.
I aim to use both techniques in my film. The final sequence of the film shows Ryan Gosling's character being distracted from his day dream by two men in the bar. I aim to build the soundtrack before this point, layering the tracks and as when he becomes distracted I will introduce the silence. I then plan to expel the silence when he makes his move and eventually attacks the men by bringing the sounds back into the mix.
Friday, 12 December 2014
Chungking Express - Wong Kar-Wai 1994)
Chungking Express (1994) uses diegetic music in an interesting way in this scene. As the music comes into the mix, it is used at a non-diegetic sound source allowing the scene to flow and creating an emotional response. However as the police officer enters the takeaway it becomes apparent that the music is diegetic. This has been done often but in reverse, there are a lot of films (usually Hollywood) where the music will start off as diegetic and become non-diegetic as the scene climaxes. Another interesting point to make is that the music in the mix does not change, the levels or EQ aren't altered, the context of the scene makes the music diegetic, not the sound mix.
I plan to use a similar technique. I will be altering the MIDI track in my scene from non-diegetic to diegetic by using levels and the visuals as references. The visual references in my scene will be highlighted by the change of sound rather than the other way round.
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Sounds to record
For my sound assignment I plan on recording a lot of 'natural' sounds for the piece, meaning that I will be recording the sounds that are shown on screen. I also plan to record ambient sounds to add to the mood of the piece and I plan to record 'experimental' sounds as I go along to see if they can add anything to the piece.
The natural sounds that I plan to record are:
(How I achieved the sound)
The natural sounds that I plan to record are:
(How I achieved the sound)
- Bar Atmosphere (Stereo recording in a bar)
- Head rubbing on a cushion (Rubbed a friend's on a pillow)
- Hands fiddling with a kareoke microphone (N/A)
- Plastic beads jangling (Methodically played around with a set of wooden beads)
- Hands touching softly (Touched hands with a friend)
- Legs rubbing softly (N/A)
- A female inhaling/exhaling in pleasure (Inhaled and exhaled into the mic and EQ'd)
- Arms rubbing on a leather sofa (Rubbed arms on a sofa methodically)
- A sequin dress jangling (Clanged 2 chains against each other)
- A cigarette being toked and inhaled (Inhaled a cigarette)
- Muscle flexes (Twisted leather and stretched a stretchy dress)
- A jock strap flexing (Stretchy dress)
- Men grunting (Recorded myself grunting in various tones and layered)
- A fish bowl (Recorded the toilet running)
- Men laughing (N/A)
- Hands rubbing on jeans (Hands on jeans)
- Footsteps on a hard floor (Recorded myself walking with hard heeled shoes on)
- Glass smashing on flesh (Smashed a glass on the kitchen floor)
- Drink splattering on a wall (sprayed a drink on the kitchen floor)
- A man shrieking (N/A)
- Suits rubbing on a cushion (Rubbed suit-like material on a cushion)
- A push in the face (Pushed my forehead)
- A slap across the face (various different slap sounds layered and EQ'd
Things to consider whilst recording sounds
We had a workshop on things to consider while recording, these were The number of channels or layers that could be put into each sound, which frequencies or textures are dominant in the recording, the perspective of the sound (where is it coming from?), which way the mic is facing, using the microphone to amplify smaller sounds and the ways in which you could manipulate the sounds recorded.
I will consider the number of layers that will make up the sounds in my scene. This will apply to the harsher sounds in the scene because they will be harder to record, for example, when recording the sound of a slap, I will need to use a few different recordings with different dominating frequencies to give the eventual sound more realism and body.
In my scene, I will probably consider the perspective of the sounds during post-production so that I have more control over it. For example, if I record a sound that is coming from the left hand side of the screen, I will record the sound in mono with the microphone directly in the middle of the sound and use Pro Tools to pan the sound to the left.
Using the microphone to amplify sounds will probably not come useful to my scene because I plan to record sounds literally. Although, I plan to experiment with 'off the cuff' recordings throughout the process and this technique may come in useful and I will definitely consider it.
I will consider the number of layers that will make up the sounds in my scene. This will apply to the harsher sounds in the scene because they will be harder to record, for example, when recording the sound of a slap, I will need to use a few different recordings with different dominating frequencies to give the eventual sound more realism and body.
In my scene, I will probably consider the perspective of the sounds during post-production so that I have more control over it. For example, if I record a sound that is coming from the left hand side of the screen, I will record the sound in mono with the microphone directly in the middle of the sound and use Pro Tools to pan the sound to the left.
Using the microphone to amplify sounds will probably not come useful to my scene because I plan to record sounds literally. Although, I plan to experiment with 'off the cuff' recordings throughout the process and this technique may come in useful and I will definitely consider it.
Using MIDI instruments in Pro Tools
Using MIDI instruments in Pro Tools is very simple and effective if used properly. As I am not an amazing musician the most important thing for me, when using MIDI instruments is finding the right software instrument to use with the best sound, rather than the composition of the piece. Finding the best software instrument is not the only challenge, altering the instrument's components is also important. I have had to find ways of altering the instrument to make it sound less 'cheap' and more suitable for the film, these ways include altering the delay, reverb, attack etc. of the instrument.
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