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.

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.askaudiomag.com/articles/tips-recoding-sound-location
http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/location-sound-recording/location-sound-recording-shotgun-microphone-placement.html
http://library.creativecow.net/cowdog/ADR/1

P1. Use of music - Legal Considerations

1) Right of use

Publishing Rights:

The owner of a song's Publishing Rights owns the rights to the composition; usually this is the author of a piece of music. The author is also the copyright owner unless there is a written agreement by which the author assigns the copyright to another person or entity, such as a publisher. Then also the publisher must give its consent to offer the music.

Recording Rights:

The person having recording rights is the person who is a party to and has the benefit of the exclusive recording contract, or to whom the benefit of the contract has been assigned. The person may be an individual or a corporate entity.

Clearing a piece of music for use in film:

First you would need to identify what rights you need then locate the person who owns the rights to the music and send out a request letter to negotiate a deal with them so you can gain the rights, you would also need to make sure you get it in writing so you have a hard copy and proof of your rights.


Can you use music in your sequence if the composer has died?

No, The copyright and royalties to a piece of music are passed onto Relatives or Friends of who the composer chooses and still exist for up to 70 years after the composer has died.


What is incidental music?
Incidental Music is music that is played in the background of a Film/TV Show/Performance.

2) Creative commons:

What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.

Why does it exist?
Taking inspiration from the free or open source software movement, the Creative Commons founders decided to create a ‘free culture’ by developing a set of licenses that creators could use to make their creative material more freely usable without giving up their copyright.

The 6 different types of license:

3) Your choice of music

Song URL: http://www.audiomicro.com/tracks/dialog/777653

I chose this piece of music because it's calm and cheerful, it gives the impression that it is just a normal school but in reality it's not. In my opinion it suits the sequence perfectly.

Rights Evidence:
http://www.audiomicro.com/legal-docs/music-license-agreement

Role Of Music

The role of music is to:

- To set the mood

- Help's Narrative structure and strength

- Trigger an Emotional Response

- Informs about Location

- Punctuate and Enthasise Time Action

- Create Character Motif

Music analysis - Submarine Clip 

 

Purpose: Helps create the Reflective mood - Give the Montage Background - Gives clues about his mind

                  Tempo - Amdonte (Walking Pace)
Elements: Instrumentation -  Piano, Violin, Flute (Woodwind)
                  Tone - Soft, Peaceful, Neutral, Lacks Reoccurring Melody


Meaning: Trying to find his identity and purpose in life. The music helps with the thoughts of his busy mind. 

Audio Timeline

Audio timeline from Curtis Groombridge

Fireball Effect

The Fireball effect was pretty easy and simple to do. Once i had a found a fireball to use i imported it over the top of both clips and aligned it to where i want it to be placed.

 

I used key frames to make the fireball move when the hand is moved forward to give it the effect that it is being thrown. Once the fireball had been made to go out of the shot, it cut to the other side where i added more keyframes to change the fireballs direction and location to make it go the other way. After some tweaking to make it fade in and out when necessary, it was done

Final Video

Duplication/Cloning Effect.

To make the duplication effect, i first recording Me in several different places on the same shot to make the consistency more realistic, Then after separating the clips into where I'm only standing still, imported them to After Effects and set the timing so they are staggered. Using the mask tool i selected each clip and made a rectangle mask over the section in which i am standing, This then created the look like i am cloning.

Door Opening Effect

Making the door opening effect, first i motion tracked the hand by clicking on "Track Motion" in the motion tracking box, then moved the selection box to cover the hand and tracked it, i had to move a few points to get it to be smooth.

Once i done that, i added the "Radio Waves" effect to a new shape layer and assigned it to the motion tracking.

After customising the radio wave effect to look like "telekinesis" i set it to fade in and out.

Duplication Effect

The process i used to accomplish this was to use masks, the most basic thing to do. I put masks on 3/4 of the clips so that the 1st one was the Master which meant that any gaps between the masks would be filled.

Progress Update @ 4:10 4th February 2014

Title Credits are now complete

Re-Recorded scene 3 and edited

Credits Research