Specialising and Exhibiting

Project

Here is the screenshot of my project in progress. I used different tracks to separate the different sounds and named each track. The first reason for doing this is that I can easily find the sound I want to modify if I want to. The second reason is that I can easily do 5.1 channel, but even then the whole thing is a bit messy. To mark the footsteps, door openers, and window openers, I use markers. This makes it easier when I add these detailed sounds. Because when I was dubbing Foley Studio, I found it really difficult to match the footsteps to the picture, and sometimes I missed some of them. So I recorded one set of footsteps and pasted the rest through that set, and then I watched the picture frame by frame. It’s a lot of work, but it’s very accurate to the picture. The sound I really like is the mechanical sound of the castle moving. I used the barrel on the shelf opposite Foley Studio, and I created the sound by tapping on the barrel and the handle of the barrel.

After I finished the first version, I sent it to my friends in China, and they said that the music in the middle part was very attractive. They said that the music in the middle was very appealing, but they also gave me some suggestions for changes. Firstly, the sound of the water dripping down in the first scene was not quite right, and secondly, the sound in the back was a bit empty, so I could try to add some music to it. I made a second version based on their suggestions, and the result was much better than the first version, but there were still a lot of problems. So I made a few more changes myself and came up with the final version. After I sent it to them, they thought it was good, but I could add some more ambient sounds. That’s how I got the final version. I really appreciate their suggestions because I often get aesthetic fatigue when I keep revising a piece. It was hard for me to find the problem myself, but with the help of other people’s perspectives, I was able to find the feeling.

Through this project, I found that I was better at making soundtracks than I was at dubbing films. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s anime, but there’s a lot of room to play with the dub itself, and there’s a lot of detachment from reality. I try a lot of voices when I’m dubbing, and I’ll sit in front of the computer for half a day before I can pick the right one from the recordings. But I don’t have that problem when I’m arranging, maybe because I’ve studied music theory before or maybe I’m just more interested in arranging. All in all, it was an interesting experience, and I enjoyed myself while working on this project. I also noticed several flaws in this project, so perhaps I can learn how to design sounds from game or anime dubs.

week 10

I show my work to the tutor, and he said that I need more atmosphere sound. It will make the sound more realistic. It occurred to me that during the group activity we need to talk about Kevin, we were asked to use zoomH3 to record some voices. At that time we recorded some ground noise and I thought it would be good for use as a room tone.

Final

I hand in with the 5.1 Channel one, and here is the stereo version.

UP

This is a practice video for sound for screen. I am responsible for the soundtrack in this clip. At the beginning, the wedding scene jingya said to me that she wanted it to be like a wedding march, so I changed the score a little bit based on the wedding march. I changed the rhythm and some of the melody. It doesn’t sound much like the original song

For the soundtrack of the latter part of the clip, to be honest, I was a bit of a headache at first. It was a lot of parts, and it took longer than my final project. But I listened to the original music and found that there was a lot of repetition, so I made the soundtrack about 1 minute and 30 seconds and then I could loop it. In the rhythm I chose a round dance beat, this beat is very easy to create and less likely to make mistakes. The last part of the music and the previous part of the music is a common melody, but is a variation of the previous melody.

Overall the soundtrack can be said to be very rushed, many places are not produced well. For example, similar melodies, there are too many repetitive. Because this time I also found that my problem is too slow when making things, the root cause is the unskilled nature of the arrangement. Many times I rely on a melody that comes from inspiration, but if I refine it, I struggle more. And a lot of things are put off until the end. The ability to plan for time is too poor. The Christmas holidays are coming up and I need to take some arranging classes during the holidays to improve my skills. I also want to have some planning for the future, so that I can do better next time and not be overwhelmed.

Sound for Screen Film*

The first section is that the protagonist’s family lives in a dilapidated basement, with only a small window through the sunlight. There are not so many ambient sounds in this segment, but there are background sounds. The second stage is when the man enters the home of the rich, and there is no music throughout. In this segment, there are many environmental sounds such as the sound of closing doors, the sound of fountains, and the sound of walking. Compared with the first segment, it becomes more real.

In this segment, the sound surrounds the protagonist. From the beginning of the video, the breathing sound started to be very loud, but other people’s voices were very quiet. When I watched this clip, I felt like I was standing behind the protagonist. The surrounding sounds were all around the protagonist. The second part is in the train station, there are a lot of environmental sounds (people’s speech) the sound of talking with children and the protagonist. The child’s voice is very loud and contrasts with other people’s voices as if it were an entity and an incorporeal body. Let the audience know clearly where the focus of the film is, and it will be easily attractive.

The sound of the first photo taken in Force Majeure made me think it was a horror movie, such as an avalanche at the moment when a certain sound camera shutter was pressed. Although the movie is not about avalanches, it is also a very important point. In the first half of the movie, the protagonist’s family was eating outdoors and there was a relatively small avalanche, but the husband left his wife and two children to escape. This is very serious for a family that is already experiencing problems, and the movie revolves around the topic of marriage. The soundtrack of this movie is also quite interesting. For example, the sound of snow blowing and the sound of brushing teeth are spliced together by the screen, which is very interesting.

Censor

This film has a horror tint to it, which is a genre I don’t normally watch, therefore I’m not familiar with the sound of horror films. As a result, it was a novel experience for me. When I finished viewing this film, I realized that, in comparison to other types of films, horror films’ sound contributed more to the overall completeness of the film.

In this film, there are a lot of ambient noises. These noises resemble footfall on the subway, ringing phones, and breathing. This type of real-time sound and picture sync is ideal and can provide all the film requires. When these everyday noises are combined, they become extremely rich. The sounds expressed at different levels can better highlight what the picture expresses.

The last scene of the film impressed me deeply. The film combines the heroine’s imagination with reality, and alternate background music. Visual and auditory presented a perfect match.

Finally, the background sound of this film really let me learn a lot, there are a lot of sound effects and background sound are textbook level.

Spatialisation for Installation and Performance 3*

This is the first project. It’s very interesting and I think this project has a sense of science and technology. Use code to make the machine write the sentence. The sound and its mode of operation can make me reminds the typewriters and counters.

I really love this project. This project has an immersive multi-channel installation that comprises 100 microphones suspended above 100 metal spikes. The soundscape alternates between languages including Arabic, Azeri, Chinese, English, Hindi, and Spanish.

Visitors will encounter 100 microphones suspended over 100 metal rods, each piercing a verse of poetry. Over the course of an hour, each microphone, in turn, recites a fragment of the poets’ words.

” The title of the work is inspired by a poem by the 14th century poet known as Nesimi, born in what is now modern-day Azerbaijian and executed for the religious beliefs expressed in his poetry which ran counter to dominant contemporary doctrines. This is one of a number of historic poems included in the work (with the earliest dating to the 7th century). The vast majority of the poems, however, stem from the 20th century up to the present day, reflecting the artist’s particular engagement with the rise of the nation state, and the related social and political struggles for self determination and access to democracy and human rights.”

Nast, C., 2021. Venice Biennale invites artist Shilpa Gupta to showcase two installations. [online] Architectural Digest India. Available at: <https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/venice-biennale-shilpa-gupta-installations/> [Accessed 19 November 2021].

Foley

Last Friday I booked Foley Studios, which I used to record the sound of my final project. Before I go to the studio to record, I have to do some preparation. The first thing was to write down the sounds I might need on paper. The second is to use Markers to mark the sounds in ProTools (when footsteps start/when the doors open). After that, I also did some knowledge and experience about dubbing.

“As a side note, always keep an eye on the overall pace of the moving images. Let’s not forget that sound and audio are means to an end: they are supposed to create, enhance and improve a film’s storytelling in order to achieve a seamless transition between scenes.”
-Medium. 2019. A Closer Look at Sound Design: The Atmosphere. [online] Available at: <https://enhancedmedia.medium.com/a-closer-look-at-sound-design-the-atmosphere-680bbe2b9b2f> [Accessed 1 November 2021].

I also found that the voice of pinching cabbage can be used to simulate eating apples, which I think is very interesting. Maybe I can complete dubbing with some similar voices without real actions. Therefore, in order to better dub, I prepared some items that I thought could be used in advance, such as clothes, plastic bags, and sticks.

I used the 416 microphones and recorded the dubbing process recording equipment. The dubbing process is very interesting. Especially when I try to see if the sound matches the picture. I think I gained a lot of experience.

I think the hardest thing for me was matching footsteps. First, you have to follow the character’s movements, and second, you have to listen to see if my footsteps make sense. In the clip I chose there are two different sounds of footsteps, the first is the sound of footsteps on the wooden floor and the other is the sound of footsteps on the grass. In the process of dubbing, I will think about how to express only two voices walking on completely different materials.

We need to talk about Kevin 2*

We need to talk about Kevin

This is a sound for screen practice clip that we can use for some voiceover practice. This is group work because in Foley studio two or more people have to work together to make a recording. In the previous, I wrote a blog about this film [We need to talk about Kevin] and I did some analysis of the sound of the film. I brought along a box of pills for the dubbing, as there is a sound of pills spilling on the ground in the film. We also found some tools on a shelf near the studio, such as the bottle that makes an incredible sound when you blow into it. We recorded some of the sounds because we had some problems with the sound so we recorded with zoom3. I think it’s a bit of a shame. When I put the recorded sound into the film I felt it was a bit empty and there were a lot of places where there was no sound. So we recorded some background sounds like the sound of the school building, the sound of the cars and people talking. The background music was produced by me. I didn’t have any ideas at first until there was a shot where the main character was being lifted up by a lot of people and then his arms were spread out and it made me think of Jesus and the church, so I took the melody from ‘Ode to Joy. I added a chorus to it to make the scene seem surreal.

Spatialisation for Installation and Performance week 5

This week was about setting music to a fragment of a landscape, and it was a group collaboration. The first thing was to draw a sketch based on an idea, and this is our group’s sketch. This sketch was not just a random drawing; we folded the piece of paper and drew lines along where the paper was folded. The lines are drawn in different ways (solid or dashed) to express the height of the sound, whether it is a background sound or a subject. The same lines divide the whole drawing into different parts, which can be played with different instruments or devices. We discussed this a lot and then started to choose our instruments. At first, I wanted to choose a ukulele, but I found out that some people in the group had chosen to pick an instrument, and also that some people were going to sing with a microphone, so I chose a secondary instrument in case there was the main melody. This is it (P 2). I’m not quite sure what this is exactly, but it feels a lot like a finer roll of film. It sounds like a sand hammer in the water or the sound of waves. I also chose it because I thought it sounded hazy and I could imagine it as a fog sound.

I’ve been exposed to immersive sound before, but I’ve listened to it through headphones. The immersive sound is very interesting to me, especially when it’s me playing it. The group was randomly assembled; we hadn’t worked together before, and there was no rehearsal before we played. It was kind of a live performance, but I think it worked well together. It was a bit of a free and random performance that made the sound of nature.

Film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReuKgv75A1w

I chose the movie named Charlie’s Chocolate Factory. The film is adapted from a novel. When I research this film, I found that the movie had two versions. One was from 1971 (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) and the other was from 2005 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). I combine the two versions. After watching all of the movies, I finally chose the 2005 version. Because I think its pictures have better visual effects than the 1971 version. And comparing the music of the two versions, the 1971 version is more inclined to individual singing, while the 2005 version is indeed a chorus.

” One of the biggest differences between Willy Wonka and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is that the first one is a musical, with Wonka himself and other characters breaking into songs (such as “Pure Imagination” and “The Candy Man”), whereas in the second film it’s only the Oompa-Loompas who have their musical numbers. In the 1971 film, the Oompa-Loompas’ songs are puzzles, and Burton’s version was truer to the book as Danny Elfman took the songs directly from the novel.”

Tyler, A., 2021. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory: How 2005’s Movie Remake Compares To The Original. [online] ScreenRant. Available at: <https://screenrant.com/charlie-chocolate-factory-willy-wonka-2005-1971-comparison-differences/amp/> [Accessed 24 October 2021].

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70028883?source=35

I also chose another film, which was called Howl’s Moving Castle. The film is really nice and is easy to add some pure music. But it has too much dialogue. I might have to do some editing of this movie if I choose it.

Spatialisation for Installation and Performance 1*

This is my idea. I wanted to make a 4.0 surround sound audio track and be surrounded by sound (light blue). Those coloured lines represent sounds. I think these lines are like Morse code, which records the rhythm of all the sounds, or what instruments should be added to each beat. It looks very convenient. The different colour lines also represent different musical instrument types.