Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Monday, 17 March 2014
Monday, 10 March 2014
10/03/14 post update
I finished my Self Appraisal
http://curtisgmedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/hopes-peak-academy-rough-cut.html
http://curtisgmedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/hopes-peak-academy-rough-cut.html
Sunday, 2 March 2014
How to compose music for a film
How to compose music for film:
1. Watch the film multiple times to get a sense of what's going on in the film and what rhythm would suit it. Also you could watch it without sound and try to imagine what's sounds would suit the action.
2. Chose the instruments and atmosphere. Determining what atmosphere you would like helps you think of the instruments you could use.
3. Make the rhythm and speed adapt to the speed of action.
4. The music for the film is about emotion. Try to reflect the emotions the producer was trying to portray.
5. Don't ask for feedback. Asking for feedback might stop your thinking process and/or direct you in a different direction.
Information taken from:
http://www.wikihow.com/Compose-Music-for-Film
Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan worked together to create the soundtrack for the The Dark Knight film. Christopher Nolan started off the process of this creation sending Hans Zimmer some still images of the visions that he had of the character. Hans Zimmer reviewed those images and then began to put together a great amount of sounds that he thought might work. Christopher Nolan then listened to all of the sounds that had been created which caused the two of them to come together and decide on what worked well and what to do next.
What was the process that Hans Zimmer used to come up with the music?
Hans Zimmer started off by creating many different sounds that could be used for the sound of joker. He created a nine hundred bar recording with hundreds of different sounds. He then refined the sounds to only a few that he really thought would work. Hans Zimmer came up with the idea that the music would be mayhem wherever it was taken. He wanted to use a fresh approach, defining the character in one note but found that two notes went well with each other. This was the sound of tight strings that get tighter and tighter but never break, this sound was created using a cello.
What was Hans Zimmers intention when making this soundtrack?
Hans Zimmer didnt want to create a 'summer blockbuster' as he personally thought that it would be very dull. He wanted to put something out there that people would truely hate. He consulted with Christopher Nolan about the nature of the sounds, discussing the idea of a razor on strings to cause extreme sense of tension. He wanted to get the feeling of the character with the music without it becoming too much of a difference to the rest of the music.
What qualities did Hans Zimmer want the music to have?
The qualities Hans Zimmer wanted the music to have were; he wanted to make it something twisted and to suit the film's seriousness, he also wanted it to give a sense that the Joker is always there, hiding in fact and lastly, he didn't want the music be screaming, he wanted it to be like a whisper, as if the character is hiding.
How do you feel about the final score and explain why you feel it works/doesn’t work.
I think that the final score works extremely well as it does exactly what it is supposed to. It builds up the tension but not straying to far from the rest of the music. Upon hearing the music you know instantly that something bad is going to happen, the music gets really loud making you hate it but knowing that without it the story wouldn't work as well as it does.
1. Watch the film multiple times to get a sense of what's going on in the film and what rhythm would suit it. Also you could watch it without sound and try to imagine what's sounds would suit the action.
2. Chose the instruments and atmosphere. Determining what atmosphere you would like helps you think of the instruments you could use.
3. Make the rhythm and speed adapt to the speed of action.
4. The music for the film is about emotion. Try to reflect the emotions the producer was trying to portray.
5. Don't ask for feedback. Asking for feedback might stop your thinking process and/or direct you in a different direction.
Information taken from:
http://www.wikihow.com/Compose-Music-for-Film
Describe how Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan worked together to create the music for the Dark Knight?
Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan worked together to create the soundtrack for the The Dark Knight film. Christopher Nolan started off the process of this creation sending Hans Zimmer some still images of the visions that he had of the character. Hans Zimmer reviewed those images and then began to put together a great amount of sounds that he thought might work. Christopher Nolan then listened to all of the sounds that had been created which caused the two of them to come together and decide on what worked well and what to do next.
What was the process that Hans Zimmer used to come up with the music?
Hans Zimmer started off by creating many different sounds that could be used for the sound of joker. He created a nine hundred bar recording with hundreds of different sounds. He then refined the sounds to only a few that he really thought would work. Hans Zimmer came up with the idea that the music would be mayhem wherever it was taken. He wanted to use a fresh approach, defining the character in one note but found that two notes went well with each other. This was the sound of tight strings that get tighter and tighter but never break, this sound was created using a cello.
What was Hans Zimmers intention when making this soundtrack?
Hans Zimmer didnt want to create a 'summer blockbuster' as he personally thought that it would be very dull. He wanted to put something out there that people would truely hate. He consulted with Christopher Nolan about the nature of the sounds, discussing the idea of a razor on strings to cause extreme sense of tension. He wanted to get the feeling of the character with the music without it becoming too much of a difference to the rest of the music.
What qualities did Hans Zimmer want the music to have?
The qualities Hans Zimmer wanted the music to have were; he wanted to make it something twisted and to suit the film's seriousness, he also wanted it to give a sense that the Joker is always there, hiding in fact and lastly, he didn't want the music be screaming, he wanted it to be like a whisper, as if the character is hiding.
How do you feel about the final score and explain why you feel it works/doesn’t work.
I think that the final score works extremely well as it does exactly what it is supposed to. It builds up the tension but not straying to far from the rest of the music. Upon hearing the music you know instantly that something bad is going to happen, the music gets really loud making you hate it but knowing that without it the story wouldn't work as well as it does.
Friday, 28 February 2014
P1. Research into Recording Foley Sound and Sound Effects
What is a Foley artist, what do they do and why are they needed?
Foley artists are artists which recreate the realistic ambient sounds that are heard in films such as, placing in the sound effects from things like leafs crunching and doors opening etc. They are needed because mics are mainly placed under clothing which can cause problems such as interference and sounds picked up from around making in sound unrealistic and also the dialogue may not be complete, so you then need to re voice all the dialogue and recreate the whole sound-scape that's needed for the scene.
Explain the order in which the Foley artist creates the sound?
in order to recreate the sounds you have to know what is expected of the human mind and the audience watching, the reasons why are because we want something that sounds realistic. This is where using a studio and things related to the actual clip of sound you're remaking in order to record them step by step then to overlap them together. So anything that's moving on the screen comes across as a prop pass group of objects to do so.
What are the key skills and qualities Foley artists need to have?
The key skills needed to be a Foley artist is mainly having a strong sense of creativity and imagination which helps your mind work and to be able to picture what the sound should actually be like.
What is the advantage of using real objects to create sound FX rather than using digital production or sound libraries?
If we're recording in a certain location, we're more able to find the sounds in which fit perfectly to what we want, such as putting microphones in the same area of woodlands but several feet apart, both recordings would sound similar but not identical, or by recording the sound separately in a studio and then over lapping to create the sound you want. But if we were to rely on something like a sound library, we may get things that we do not want and things that don't fit into the given flow or criteria in the sound we want.
Foley artists are artists which recreate the realistic ambient sounds that are heard in films such as, placing in the sound effects from things like leafs crunching and doors opening etc. They are needed because mics are mainly placed under clothing which can cause problems such as interference and sounds picked up from around making in sound unrealistic and also the dialogue may not be complete, so you then need to re voice all the dialogue and recreate the whole sound-scape that's needed for the scene.
Explain the order in which the Foley artist creates the sound?
in order to recreate the sounds you have to know what is expected of the human mind and the audience watching, the reasons why are because we want something that sounds realistic. This is where using a studio and things related to the actual clip of sound you're remaking in order to record them step by step then to overlap them together. So anything that's moving on the screen comes across as a prop pass group of objects to do so.
What are the key skills and qualities Foley artists need to have?
The key skills needed to be a Foley artist is mainly having a strong sense of creativity and imagination which helps your mind work and to be able to picture what the sound should actually be like.
What is the advantage of using real objects to create sound FX rather than using digital production or sound libraries?
If we're recording in a certain location, we're more able to find the sounds in which fit perfectly to what we want, such as putting microphones in the same area of woodlands but several feet apart, both recordings would sound similar but not identical, or by recording the sound separately in a studio and then over lapping to create the sound you want. But if we were to rely on something like a sound library, we may get things that we do not want and things that don't fit into the given flow or criteria in the sound we want.
Thursday, 27 February 2014
Research into Recording Ambient Sounds and Dialogue
Recording Ambient Sounds
Ambient recordings are the background noise in everyday life that we
don't respond to or notice, an example what be conversations in a
classroom or footsteps in a hallway. Basically its the environment at work in audio form.
An example would be in the hunger games: catching fire, in this there
are a variation of city and jungle scenes, so a
lot of ambient noises are required to make each scene area more immerse and realistic without it being ruined by the differ of location.
An example of this would be in the jungle when there are tree's swaying in the wind, frogs croaking in the
forest, birds calling, wet muddy footsteps when the characters are
moving on foot. Also, in the city the ambient noises would be very different, for example; there would a humming of electricity and lights around, people possible
talking in streets, concrete footsteps in rooms and city buildings,
doors opening and closing etc., there are many more examples of this,
ambient noises are just the environment you are in.
In a film some scenes maybe be hard cuts, which is when a scene changes location without a transition, this can be bad for the mixing of
ambient sounds because transitioning from one environment to the other
without a moment or two to smoothly add them together looks bad because the sudden cut would totally disorientate the viewer make the audio jump, it completely ruins the experience. It also looks rough so audio mixers try to avoid using hard cuts because it
looks rough and unprofessional. With transitions this can be avoided because it gives a smooth feeling and allows the viewer to understand that there is going to be a location change without the sudden cut. It's best to record on set of the environment because when you record on set you
can get the sound that you need from the audio and you can rely on it
instead of going with sound that doesn't sound like the real thing
Some examples of this are; fire, its better to record a real fire, particularly the fire that is being shown on screen, because
fire can have so many different sounding variations, it could be a
roaring fire you need or a forest fire not all sounds are going to be what you
want for the sequence so by recording it yourself the sound is
authentic and realistic.
Recording Dialogue
Recording dialogue can be extremely
difficult because many factors make recording crisp nice dialogue hard to achieve, even harder without good equipment. When recording on set there are a lot of sounds going on around the camera so
ambient noises would be conflicting with the dialogue
making it hard to hear, so every element of audio needs to be
individually recorded.
You could record the dialogue independently and then place it on top of the clip, however this can be difficult due to the lip syncing might no match. A problem with
dubbing the dialogue is that it can sound very odd at times and doesn't
sound like its from the scene so it is a hard skill to obtain.
Another way of recording dialogue is to have a microphone on the
person's body,but this can get muffled in walking scenes
or sound like the character is too close or too far from the camera.
The importance of Ambient noises in dialogue scenes is so
important because the sounds make the conversation flow much easier and
gaps of silence are filled in and make it more smoother when shots
changed and when someone new speaks.
the best way to get around recording dialogue is by using an external boom microphone to pick up the dialogue.
http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/location-sound-recording/location-sound-recording-shotgun-microphone-placement.html
http://library.creativecow.net/cowdog/ADR/1