Audio Tour - Stephane Kass (2010)

Because i'm the sound recordist I thought i'd concentrate on analysing the sound aspect of each of the examples we were shown in our session. So it made the most sense to start with this one, as the film has a continuous voiceover throughout.



 

It starts with a classical piece that really sets the scene of your typical art gallery. As the audio tour voice begins the background music fades so the audience can concentrate solely on whats being said, so they know it is important. After the first strange narration, the sound suddenly becomes quite hectic. There is childrens voices in the background when it is talking about the trunk and a bell/alarm and seagulls when mentioning the painting of the ship. The voice is edited in quick cuts between each room, to empthasize the characters panic.
Once she's outside the sound calms down again, using only tweating birds in the garden. Once in the streets, the tweating birds continue to be a quite prominent sound, however when the traffic goes past it is not nearly as audible. Not quite sure why that is. It could be to keep the audience in a tranquil state, rather than depicting the harsh sounds of the traffic. It also could be so that it doesn't drowned out the voice of the audio tour.
The sound of the bicycle bell is heard before the image is shown, this gives the audience a 'heads up' of what could be explained next. This could have been done so as to keep the audience in a calm state and not surprise them with the sudden apperance of a bike. Or maybe just to add some texture to the film. The bell/siren that signals the canal boat, seems to be an exaggeration of it's size, as from what I'd gather, that noise is normally used to signal the arrival of a big boat or ferry to either alert a to bridge it needs lifting, or to alert pedestrians of its whereabouts.
All the sound is faded when the audio tour is discussing the character 'Sophie'. This is to ensure the audiences attention on what is being said and also to emphasize the sad, depressed tone of her life. As she takes the headphones off, the sound of reality returns, with the voices final words distant. I think this is an effective ending, as it depicts how she was living in a strange fantasy type world for awhile, being told all about different things, yet when it told of her life and how it is a disappointment, it brought her back to reality with the harsh noises of the world.

I enjoyed this film, as it was an interesting, original idea that had comedic moments, but ended on a serious note. It helped us to take a different look at everyday things and how we, as individual people, may be perceived. It was interesting to note how diegetic sounds were almost inaudible but there enough to keep some realism to the piece.

Drama Project Brief

So we got our new project brief yesterday and i'm finally in a completely different group. Not that I have anything against the people i've worked with so far obviously but I thought it was about time I tried to branch out abit. So this time i'm in a group with, Joeley, Rhys, Natalie, Lewis and James. And i'm taking on the sound recordist role which is somthing i've not done much on so it should be an interesting project. It also helped what Debbie said about a sound recordists responsibilities on a production team, because it made me feel like I would be doing a lot more than just recording sound which is what I was worried about. I'm still not greatly confident with sound, but I think as long as I keep an eye on the levels and a ear out for any background noise it should be alright.

Finished

So it's finished!

Came in this morning and watched the finished product and it's quite good. The structure works really well I think. I'm not happy with some of the images, but we had to use what we had, and the sound levels still aren't great. But it's done.

I feel like i've been slightly useless during this project. Although I know I helped out quite alot with elements of it, I fell like I let Emma down with not coming up with a structure. So I think it needs to be said that it was mostl due to Emma that this project came together in the end.

I'm really disappointed in my abilities as a director, especially since I came on this course to learn to be one, but I think considering it was my first time, it could have gone worse.

I've learnt alot from this experience though. To make sure to fully research your idea, so that you can gain a solid structure. And even if some things change and you have to change your structure, then just keep your head on and get it done. I also need to be more assertive with the things I want.

Although I can't say that I'd want to do much more documentary in the future, I think I work much better with fictional films, I do think that this experience was worthwhile and I enjoyed the topic we chose, even if it was frustrating trying to find an order.

Editing and Sound Check Up

Again tried to help abit with editing. Emmas added background sound now, the ambient and the drumming. I helped to add some fade ins and outs to the music, to see how it would look with the images. Then Alex came and took over that aspect. And again I had to work so I couldn't help much, but Emma said that Debbie was willing to look at it so hopefully she'll be able to help with the still elusive structure.

The ambient recordings sounded ok in the background and the drummings were great and clear, so it's just the interview levels that are abit off so hopefully Alex will have the chance to edit them today.

I checked with Emma via text about what Debbie said, and she replied with some optimistic news, so i'm hoping that means she's got help on the structure.

Sound Workshop

So came in and had a sound workshop with Darryl. Which was abit strange considering Me, Stella and Emma were the only ones there and none of us are even doing sound. So we got Alex to come, cos he hadn't had one yet and it would be more beneficial to him at the moment than us. So Darryl showed him a few things to improve our sounds, including the Carla/Maxine problem we had, which was good ^_^

He also suggested to use free sound archive to get a tune/sound for our beginning. I would of prefered if he just used gargeband and just played a few notes and edited them, but he said he wasn't confident with his musical abilities, which is fair enough i suppose. So he tried a few of them out while me and Emma continued with the editing. But all the one's he were finding, were too much. They had too much of a melody in them, and I just wanted a soft few notes to accompany footage of the church.

I tried to help Emma with adding a few more images, but again the structure still wasn't quite there. But we were getting closer I think, and Emma was experimenting with different orders. But I had to leave again because of work

Checking In On The Editing

Had a look at what Emma's done and it's looking good, she's managed to add some images over the footage now. But the structure still illudes us, I tried to give some suggestions of an order, but it just didn't quite work, and I helped with some images, but again I was mostly being a distraction.

Alex came in to give us the sound recordings, so I got him to sort out the carla and maxine interview sound. He did that, but it still sounded off, there was either a hiss, or thier voices sounded robotic :/ So might have to get him to try it again.

More Editing

So Emma managed to divide Ambrose's interview into sections and added carla and maxine.

But even with that I'm struggling to think of an order for them. There's just one annoying bit that would be quite an ok beginning if he had said it differently, but because not, it doesn't really make sense there :/ I thought it would be the most obvious to start with the church and go in chronological order of events, but it just seems too boring if we do it that way :/

And I had to go to work again, although I think i was being more of a distraction than help anyway :/ I really don't understand what's wrong with me. My mind just seems blank when it comes to this project.

We also forgot to get the ambient sounds from Alex, so I'll have to remember to ask him to bring them in. He says he's already edited those sounds those so hopefully they'll sound alright.

Tutorial With Debbie

Thank you Debbie!

That tutorial was a big help. Debbie showed us how Ambrose has the stronger interview so it would be better to use him as our main structure. Also she said to get rid of all the different sequences and start a new timeline, as all the images is what is confusing and stressing us. She also pointed out that we should really concentrate on getting our order of the interviews first, then add images after. To think of the washing line. This has definantly given me more confidence and with this the structure should come to me more easily.

But I couldn't stay and help because of work, but i'm coming in tomorrow to see how Emma's got on.

Editing Before Tutorial

Right so for the past couple of days, Emma has been editing through all the footage, and she's now at the stage where she has the bits of the interviews cleaned up and has footage that she think will be useable. But we've been staring at them for awhile now and still a structure isn't forming. I'm really annoyed at myself for not being able to help Emma. But we have this tutorial so hopefully Debbie will be able to help us.

Starting Editing

So Emma has already started to go through the footage, cutting out bits from the interviews that we won't need and getting rid of the umms and errs, etc. I think because the majority of our footage is of the Friday Fling, the aim of our story will be to tell of this event and through that, the story of the church and the band. But even with this is mind, i'm still struggling with the structure, it's really frustrating! But hopefully after going through the footage a few times i'll be able to come up with something.

Footage From Friday Fling

Had a look at the footage from the Friday Fling and as we thought alot of the shots are way too dark :/ and the interviews with Carla and Maxine are way too quiet, but that's something that Alex can adjust on soundtrack pro.

Another problem is that work needs me in almost every night these next 2 weeks, which is rubbish timing :/ so i won't be able to stay and help Emma with the editing for too long, but hopefully I can still check what she's done and give my opinions/advice, etc.

Also, still having trouble with this structure. I just can't picture how it should be. I feel like i'm letting Emma down, because I know editing is going to be almost impossible for her if she doesn't have a structure to work from :/

Back To Liverpool

So went back to Liverpool today, but had abit of trouble getting there. Partly due to my rubbish navigating skills. I blame my travel sickness, really doesn't help when I have to read stuff :/ but anyway we made it eventually and they hadn't started yet, Ambrose was doing soundchecks with the Djing equipment. But it did mean that we didn't have time to reshoot any of the church footage.

However, we got a good strong interview from Ambrose, that should help nicely with our piece and the night itself was an amazing experience.

We got set up and me and Owen walked around getting shots during the event, but not many people were going up to play on the drums, which i think was partly because they didn't want to be filmed, so we had to turn the camera away and film other things inside the church and hope that more people would come.

Emma took over for sound because Alex agreed to help at his work, so we took the advice of Neil with the coat hanger effect with the tie clip mics. Although Emma improvised with a stick. So she switched about half way to get some recordings on the rode NT mic, just incase the other recordings didn't turn out great.

Unfortunately it got dark quickly and so many of the later shots might be too dark to use, but hopefully not. We managed to get an interview with the DJ Carla, although she was in a hurry, so we couldn't really set up properly, so again it might be unuseable :/ We also got Maxine, who was an ethusiatic participant of the night, who used to be homeless, so we got the different side of the story, which will give our piece a more emotional point of view.

It was a really fun night and I'm just disappointed that I didn't have a go at drumming myself ^_^

Footage So Far

So had a look at the footage from our 2 day shoot and although Owen captured some truly beautiful shots of the church, alot of the footage will be unuseable. Hopefully we'll manage to recapture some of the shots at the Friday Fling, where we've found out it isn't actually the band playing, but where they invite people in to play the instruments for 2 hours. But i think it should still be useful and an interesting event, but now i'll have to rethink our structure, which i'm having trouble with at the moment :/

Liverpool - Day 2

Day 2. We arrived earlier to get our camera sorted, but Liz ended up coming earlier too! But luckily she had an office close by that she needed to visit first so we had time to figure out where we wanted her, which was hard becuase of the stupid sun! But we found a decent place which had some of the church and the gardens in the background.

Emma acted as the interviewer so i could keep an eye on the camera and make sure the boom stick stayed out of shot. Turned out Liz had lots to say, she ended up talking for over 20 minutes! but she said quite a few good points so hopefully Emma will be able to cut out the rambling quite easily.

After the interview Liz let us inside the church, where we got some decent shots of the inside and where Liz told us some more interesting facts about the church.

Overall it was a productive day, and combined with the gig we'll get on friday we should have plenty of footage to use :D

Again Stella and Emma got some pictures of us at work which are on their blog.

Liverpool - Day 1

So day 1 of Liverpool went well, didn't get too bad travel sick which is always good :D

Really it was just to get the feel of the area and get praticed with the equipment. So it was mostly Me, Owen and Alex doing some shots and sound recordings. I stayed with Owen after trying to help Alex abit with his sound, but I think Emma came to help him too which was good :)

I think Me and Owen got some good shots, I was just trying to get him to get as many shots as possible from different angles and get some pans and zooms in so Emma could have a variety of footage during the edit.

A big problem we had was that we didn't realise how close to the main road the church was, literally surrounded by main roads and traffic. So getting a decent ambient recording was going to be difficult for Alex, but he seems to have managed to find a quiet-ish area, so there's lots of tweeting birds ^_^

Stella and Emma got some pictures of us during the day which is on their blog, and also of our freaky gargoyle voyeur :/

But overall I think we made the use of this day, so we'll have more time to concentrate on Liz's interview on day 2.

Documentary

I thought that since we're doing a doc on a sort of charity, that i'd research docs that are based on charities to see if they can give me any ideas. I found this one:



It's an interesting piece and gives a very emotional portrayal of what this charity does for people in need. I think it's very much a rhetorical form that's trying to promote this charity in a way, either to those in need to become aware of, or for people to help out in. I think it's effective in the way that it shows the emotional trauma these differnt family's have gone through and how the church has helped them.

Although ours wont be in par on that emotional level, I think that the mix between interviews and images, to portray the emotions that the contributors have to the church, will be the most effective approach.

Pitch

We met up this morning to discuss the pitch and show treatments. I'd managed to get the basis for our powerpoint down, and Alex helped finish it off and he'd also done the beatles treatment for our back up. I'd done mine, but the ending was still abit rough :/

But anyway, the pitch went alright, and we got some good advice from Debbie for us to think about. Especially what it's going to initially be about! We're stuck between the church, the band, the fundraiser, or even the war? It's something i'm gonna have to try and work out being the director.

But it should help that we've got a gig that we can film the next friday. Stella rang up Liz and she told her about the Friday Fling. We didn't get much info about it though, but should still provide some good extra footage.

I just have to hope that work will let me change my shift, fingers crossed ^_^