Recording Ambient Sound
Ambient sound is atmospherical or background sound that originate from a certain space or location. It is the opposite to silence, and everywhere, no matter where you record, will have ambient sound. Every location or place you record sound will have its own original or distinctive sound. For example, sounds such as birds, wildlife, traffic, people speaking, raining and rustling leaves could be found in ambient sound. Ambient sound is usually recorded by the sound department in films.
Hard cuts in film is the change from one scene in a film to another with out any effects in-between. These so called hard cuts are bad for Ambient sound, as if hard cuts are used, the sharp change from one ambient sound to another in a different scene would sound odd and too obvious
There are many advantages of recording on location as opposed to not relying on a sound library.One of these advantages is that you can get the exact/precise sound you want, and can record the ambient sound with the footage. For example, if you are recording footsteps, you can make sure they're in sync instead of having to edit them in post production, also you can get the right amount of footsteps, and record them from the right distance away (for example, recording the footsteps where the camera is, and having the person walk towards the camera then means the footsteps get louder and there's no need for editing the volume and pace in post-production).
In the clip bellow, which is an interview with some of the sound cast from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, they mention the software they use to edit sound. The software they use is called 'Dolby Atmos', which allows the sound crew to edit the sound in a surround sound environment, meaning the acoustics can give the audience in the cinema the maximum experience as it makes the footage more life like.
Recording Sound
Looping, also known as 'Additional Dialogue Recording' and 'Post-Sync' is the replacement of dialogue which was recorded on set or location, with audio that is then later recorded in the studio (basically replacing poor quality audio in post-production).
Looping comes from the looped footage of the actors performances on the screen, which the actors then use to help them re-record their lines in the studio.
When shooting a conversation scene, it is extremely important to pick up ambient sound. This is because, if there's silence while two people are having a convocation, it is unrealistic and unnatural, and the dialogue sounds out of place, and naturally there is always ambient sound where ever you are. So to make the dialogue more natural, you need to make sure there is background sound in the background, which all just depends on where the two characters are talking. For example, say two girls are at a farm horse riding, it would look odd if in the scene there is ambient sound of birds, and animal noises in the background, and then as soon as they start talking it goes silent.
There are a lot of problems filmmakers face when shooting scenes with dialogue on location. One of the problems is the ambient sound distracting or in fact covering the dialogue, for example, the two girls at the farm are having a convocation, and then a large tractor drives past, or the animals begin to make noise, the scene will then have to be re-shot. Also the location, if outside, may be extremely windy on the day you decide to shoot, and dead cats can not always keep out the wind if the weather is extremely bad.
In the future, I will make sure I record my sound post-production if the sound recorded on set was poor quality, always remember to have ambient sound in the background, and avoid poor ambient sound by using dead cats or shields on the microphones.
Here is an interview with the Re-recording mixer, the Sound Designer, the Supervising Sound editor
I produced on Adobe After Effects a total of 6 visual effects. Here are the 3 I found most challenging to produce, and how I made them.
This was my third visual effect, which was a shot of a boy, played by Charlie Hall using telekinesis to pick up an apple.
To produce this I firstly went out and set up a DLSR camcorder on a tripod. I then recorded the background with out anything in it (no Charlie or apple etc..) then, with out moving the tripod or camera, I positioned the characters in frame, and got some one to hold a fondu skewer with an apple attached in the air. When I began recording again, the person with the skewer moved the apple from the ground and into Charlies hand.
Once I had got these shots, I brought them into Adobe After Effects, and placed the footage with the apple and characters in, on top of the background footage.
I then created a mask on the top layer, around the boy and the apple, making sure the mask didn't include the skewer, this then meant that the person holding the skewer and the skewer itself wasn't, visible, so it appears as if the applies floating. Once I had done this for the first frame, I then jumped to the next frame by pressing 'cmd' and the right key, which took me to the next frame. In each frame the apple was in a different place, so I had to use the pen tool and hand tool to move the mask anchor points around the apple.
Once this was done, and I had adjusted every frame, It appeared as if the apple was floating, which was successful, although you could sometimes see a difference in the colour of the walls, as shadows and lighting changed when we shot the top clip. To blend the layers together, I had to feather the mask by 28%, which worked well, although towards the end if you look closely you can see a hint of the skewer.
For my second visual effect, I used a similar technique to my first. I went out and got two shots, one of the character Jay standing in the frame completely still, and another of Jay standing still and a girl walking into frame and walking into his bag (again keeping the camera still).
Then in After Effects, I firstly attempted to use the footage of only Jay in the frame, but he wasn't still enough, so I resulted in taking a few still shots placing them in Premiere Pro and repeating them over and over again, to get the impression (movement on the screen) that it is a recorded shot.
I placed the layer with the girl in, over the top, and created a mask around her as soon as I wanted her to step in frame (changing the opacity of the layer to 0 before that). Then, I jumped to the next frame, and moved the anchor points to follow her, and continued doing this until she reached Jay.
When she reached Jay I realised things would get extremely complicated, as Jay was moving too much, and his eyeliner wasn't following her, which was a mistake we made during filming. To solve this, I resulted in taking a few still shots of the clip, placing them in Premiere Pro and repeating them over and over again, to get the impression of movement on the screen and that it is a recorded shot.
Then I replaced this clip with the original, and continued my masking around the much more stationary Jay. To give the impression that the girl walks behind Jay, I made sure the mask didn't go over him, and waited until she was completely hidden by him. I then moved the mask to the other side of Jay and continued moving the mask around the girl. One this was done, I changed the opacity of the mask to 64% to give the impression she is invisible.
To improve this, I would have made it more clear that the girl bumps into Jay bag, which results in her appearing, as it doesn't make much narrative sense if she just randomly appears.
This is a visual effect I used 4 times. This particular shot was done by firstly filming Jay with his arm out reaching for a bag that Mikes holding. Then with out moving the camera, Jay stays still and Mike moves out of frame.
I edited this on After Effects by firstly cropping the two pieces of footage together, so when Jay reaches out to Mike, it then cuts to the shot with out Mike, which gives the illusion that he's disappeared. To cover up this cut, and make the teleporting more interesting, I added a puff of smoke that was downloaded from a royalty free site, and placed it many times around Mike to disguise his disappearing.
I then did this for all teleporting shots, changing the size of the smoke depending on how far away Mike was in the frame. This worked effectively, although I may have added a bit too much smoke.
5 Point Guide to Composing Music for Film 1) Firstly, you want to know the film al
most of by heart. When you watch the film for the first time, watch it as if you were watching any movie (for the entertainment and escapism). When you watch it you will discover, like any other film, the plot, climax and structure of the film, and you can see how the audiences will see it, as (hopefully) nothing has been spoilt for you. The second time, you can then start analyzing it and paying attention to the moods and tone of the film, and the emotions you pick up from watching the film (this then helps, as later on when you're choosing your score you know what emotions to enhance through the genre and tone of the music).
Keep on watching it over and over looking out for new things each time, maybe focus on a specific micro element or technique, such as the cinematography, sound, or mise-en-scene. Even try watching it with out sound, as the sound can distract from the image, and therefore you can begin to think of the music you think will work in places. Lastly, constantly have it playing, even when you're not watching it (on the computer, lying in bed, eating). Do all of these things until you're sure you know the film well enough.
2) Make sure you stick to the rhythm of the editing, make sure it matches the story and whats happening in each frame, and lastly make sure it matches the feeling of the film.
When concentrating on the editing of the movie, you want to take into account the pace of it. So make sure you're aware of how fast the cuts are, and what effect they have on you/the audience. You want the music to match the beat of the film, so where there are fast cuts, it would make sense to include fast music (unless you're intentionally going for a contrast in the visual and sound).
You want the sound to match the story line, and each of the shots. What this means is, that if the film is sped up in a specific scene, it would also make sense to speed up the sound and the music in that scene too, unless of course you want to disobey this rule or you're syncing music to a silent film.
Lastly you want to stick to the feeling of the film, which is one of the most important rules. It is vital that you are aware of the emotions of s scene, and have the ability to match them with the right music. You've got to be able to d
etect the mood, which you should have done by now due to watching the film over and over, and now you can begin thinking about what music to apply to each scene depending on this factor (and the others).
3) Now you have a good idea of what you want to bring to the film, and have discovered yourself what music needs to go where, and what moods it is going to be bringing/enhancing. This is brilliant, and you need to make sure you have the idea of what YOU want before you get other peoples opinions, as this could then cloud your judgement on what you want from the film, preventing any creative ideas you may have.
Once you are sure of what you want, then is a good time to ask the director what he/she wants. If they have similar visions to you (for what he wants the score to bring to the film), then that is great, but if they had a different idea in mind, they might actually be enlightened by yours and find it works better. If they are still keen for their own ideas, you can then discuss and look for the mood the director wants. For example, you may think eerie music works best to create tension in a scene of a man walking through a forest, where as the director may want the sharp, horrific and intense music to scare the audience beforehand.
Also, avoid feedback and criticism unless from the director while in the creative process, as different people have different opinions, and some ones criticism may lead you of track or put you down, when the job you were doing was on the right track in the first place. If you are going to be taking advice and feedback make sure its not from one person, but many, so you get the vote of the majority, and not just one persons opinion.
4) Now its time to start choosing the instruments. You should have now got an idea of what you want from watching the film continuously, and discovered a feel for the film. You should have mental and physical notes of what you want from each section of the film (whether that scene needs music, what type of music, what pace of music).
The instruments are chosen almost purely based on the atmosphere of the film (unless you want/need to take into account other factors; for example, you intend for the music to be played by a character, and they play a specific instrument, e.g Sherlock Holmes in BBC's Sherlock). By now you have a rough idea of the atmosphere through out the film, and in specific points of the film, but you now have to start deciding what instruments work well for the atmosphere you want to create or enhance. You need to think about what instruments will work well for the moods you want, for example, you want to create a relaxed setting at a restaurant, you would go for a Saxophone, as opposed to an electric guitar. Do this for each scene in the film, until you are sure of what you want.
5) Lastly, get lost in the project. Immerse yourself into the film, and let it take over, so it inspires you to constantly be thinking about what score would work best in each scene. Try and get into the film and feel as though your in the world with the characters, and in fact put yourself in the place of the characters, to feel their emotions and help create the soundtrack to their lives.
Composing Sound in the Dark Knight
Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan worked together to create the music for the Dark Knight. They both though instead of making the soundtrack for the Joker something that appeals to the audience, Hans states that he didn't want to make a 'summer block buster happy and indulgent score' and that it should be something provocative that they truly hate.
Hans Zimmer states in the video that 'the great thing about working with Nolan is, that when I thought maybe i'm going a bit to far in the deep end, he'll push me a little further." They had no problems with making the music as dark as it can get, and wanted the Joker to be made even more terrifying through the music of the film.
Three of the qualities Zimmer wanted to bring to the music of the Joker was tension, and being able to link the character to the music. Nolan talks about how Zimmer knew the character extremely well and what he wanted from the character, that he had this idea of razerblades and strings bringing in tension, and had understood the punk influence and feel of the character. He wanted the sound to immediately remind the audience of the Joker, so that if you heard a second of the track, you knew who to expect.
In the process Zimmer did many experiments and recorded all kinds of sounds, to influence and help his decisions on the Jokers score. Nolan earlier on in the production asked to hear some of the experiments he had done, and Zimmer presented him with 9 thousand bar long recordings of 'complete insanity'. These recordings consisted of things such as razer blades, pencils, piano wire, and tables, which were extremely unsettling sounds.
Zimmer then had the job to refine all of the sounds into something that was practical for the film, and the perfect soundtrack for the Joker. He decided to define the Joker in just two notes that clash with each other, and rise in tension. They decided it synced perfectly with the character, and had finally found their track.
In my opinion it works extremely well, the never ending note is extremely unsettling which is what they were going for, and the never ending notes go with the Joker as he is known to be undefeatable, and the classing notes match his dysfunctional personality. When I watched the Dark Knight, I found when ever I heard this score it automatically reminded me of the Joker and the sound enhanced the Jokers intimidating personality and madness.
Definition of Foley Artist:
A foley artist is some one who recreates everyday sounds using random objects that give the impression of the real sound. This is used to enhance audio in post production during the editing process in TV or Film production. They can create sound effects such as footsteps, horses trotting, doors opening, cloths rustling, punches and glass smashing.
The first step they do when creating foley sound, is go into a Foley Studio, which is an area built especially for recording sound and is specialised so the sound is recorded at its best quality. Then the foley artist goes on a Foley stage, which is an area with a variety of surfaces, objects and props. The Foley studio has a screen where the artists can see what they need to be recording sound for, and therefore can record it in sync with the picture.
In this clip Gary Hecker talks about his 'Prop Pass' process, where he firstly starts by recording the footsteps of the horse, which is the most predominant and loudest sound in the scene, he does this by tapping hoof like cups on a sandy surface. Then he goes on to recording a track of the bridal, where he uses an actual bridal and records himself shaking it up and down. Lastly for the most subtle sound in the sequence (the breathe of the horse) he uses his own mouth and vocal abilities to mimic the sound of the horse.
Hecker then mentions through out the clip three key skills and qualities Foley artists need:
-Sense of timing
-Creative mind
-Need to be able to put in a good convincing performance
The advantage of using real objects to create sound FX rather than using digital production or sound libraries is that you may not always find the exact sounds you are looking for. By creating the sounds yourself, you can experiment with the duration of the sound, the pitch, the volume, tone and many other aspects to get it perfect. You can also create the sounds in sync with the picture to make it even more believable.
Starwars is an example of Foley sound being used effectively in a well known film. Ben Burtt was the sound designer for the film, and decided to use a machinists punch press and bicycle chains for the Imperial Walkers, and for R2-D2 a combination of water pipes whistles and vocalisations. He also recorded sounds of various animals such as walruses to design Chewbaccas voice.
