Sound Entry #13 - Final Projects

Here is the link to my Soundscape: Soundscape

Here is a link to my speech package: Speech Package

Overall, I am fairly happy with what I have achieved. I came into the sound module which a little experience working with live bands, recording instruments, a handful of podcasts and audacity and have left with what I believe a good understanding of Adobe Audition and a knowledge of the variety of microphones available. It was fun learning the types of microphone available. In the future, I would like to use some of these and experiment with how they can be used in a recording sense rather than just seeing what they can achieve. 

Things I would do different next time, is maybe get outside my comfort zone when it comes to editing and recording sounds. We could have done an abstract soundscape where we recorded sounds and then edited them to sound futuristic for example, as just a reference to Ben Burr. I chose to stick to something I knew I could do and something that I was comfortable with. Next time, I'd like to spend more time on something I think could be invoke more experimentation and interesting sound design. 

Video Entry #16 - Shooting and Editing CONCLUDE PETER SECTION

As stated previously, I had gone back home for the Easter break and unfortunately, could not be there for the filming on the Friday. I had arranged with Punktured to be there for 12 on the Friday. I had lend my fetching red Panasonic DMC-GH1, Rode microphone and Zoom H1 audio recorder.

I had told the group chat 12 twice, however I made a mistake once and forgot to put a 2 at the end and George assumed it was 1. When he rang to confirm, they thought they were going in for 12. George persuaded them though to let us record on the Tuesday and they put on their website that they would let someone get a free piercing for us to film. Photo below of the Facebook post.

I gave a draft of questions to George which he then mocked them up to be the final questions that he asked during the interview:

- What is your name and role at Punktured?

- How long have you been working at Punktured?

- Can you tell us a general overview of goes on at Punktured?

- How many other people work here besides yourself and what are their roles?

- Why did you choose to go into this profession?

- Do you need any certificates or qualifications to work here at Punktured?

- Tell us about some of the tools you work with at this facility?

- What’s the most common piercing you do?

- What’s the most difficult piercing and why?

- Can you tell/show us how a piercing is done?

- What do you think makes Punktured unique?

- Can you tell us any interesting or quirky stories you have surrounding your time here at Punktured?

- What is your average day like here?

- What do people need to know before considering a piercing?

- Would you say you are the most popular piercing place in Brighton? If so, why?

- What do you think the reasons people get piercing?

- Why do you think people should come to Punktured?

- Do you think the success of Punktured is to do with location?

- What do you think the future holds for Punktured?

We had rearranged and were ready to film Tuesday. George and Roshana were the ones to go film. I don't know where the other member was but I was travelling back that evening. I was told they had done well with the footage. Myself and George then that evening at around 2100 hours tried to import the footage into our group media drive. Unfortunately, the files were AVCHD and the codec doesn't compile on macs. We left it for then as we had tried to do as much as we could.

The next day, I pirated some video converting software and converted the files to the highest quality H.264 I could. Myself and George then began to edit our footage.

Our first thing to do was sync the video from the camera with the sound from the audio recorder. Once we had done this, we then proceeded to cut down the interviews to usable clips. From then on, George became hard on what was needed and what was not. We averaged 2 minutes of Julie (owner of Punktured) and Alex (staff member) footage. We then developed the cutaways into usable segments. George made notes on what we needed and an image is provided below:

After splicing it altogether into a very rough edit. We realised that we didn't have enough relevant cutaways, so myself and George went into Brighton and filmed some more. 

We then polished it off by adding in intro and outro credits, music and colour correcting and grading the footage. Myself and George did all of this. We had asked the other two members to search for music and do the outro credits as they didn't know Premiere Pro well and we didn't have enough time. They didn't search for the music when we asked and the outro credits were looking poor and didn't fit into the style of the documentary.

We then had to export it but not before our consultant, Peter, had viewed it. 

Overall, I am pretty much happy with how it went. I enjoyed making my first documentary and realised the successes you can have and pitfalls. I have learnt that communication is key and that you need a strong team who are just as skilled and determined as yourself. If I were to do anything differently, I wouldn't have media practice and media communication students in the same class as I don't think the media communications people are as passionate about video as the media practice people. And I'd maybe plan a bit more. Mainly on the cutaways afterwards rather than the interviews themselves. 

Video Entry #15 - Shooting Reading Notes

Continuity

- "To experience a film as one complete story, continuity is essential. Dis-continuity, when shots, actions, sound or acting do not match, disturb the created reality of the programme. The viewer will realise that he/she is watching and posits him/her self outside the story. The most important stage for continuity is the shooting script, in which the film is broken down into sequences of shots."

- "If a director uses the master scene technique, a complete scene will be shot in one go from one camera angle. The same scene will be repeated from different camera angles, which will be used as inserts. Generally speaking, one starts with a wide shot and a variety of medium and closer shots will be shot afterwards. This way of working has many advantages, because always having a lot of material available makes editing easier. But continuity in the acting, props, light, etc. are essential."

- "So to make a decoupage of your scene and shoot only what you need might be safer when you follow the next technique: Triple - Take Technique. The simplest way to guarantee continuity in an action is to repeat it again in the new shot. This implies that you always shoot three different actions: the last one,the new one, and the coming one. You can get very experienced in this technique and especially in long scenes it has significant advantages"

Getting the right shot

- "A shot is a simple word that describes everything about the way the filmmaker has set up their camera and what it will be recording."

- "The framing of your shot will depend on a lot of things, but the first thing you must ask is what part of the story the shot is trying to tell. Close ups are good to show emotions on people and things because you can see their faces. Long shots are best to set up where your characters are and how many of them there are. If you are filming somebody walking into a room and it is most important you show how they look or react then you would use a close-up. If it was most important to see who else was in the room or what kind of room it was then you would use a long shot."

- "Action is everything that happens in front of the camera and how the camera is moved best to film that action. Even if you are only filming a door being opened in close-up, somebody has to be shown how you want that door to be opened: fast or slow, with a squeak or without. In most films actors are used to provide most of the action."

- "If everyone knows what they are doing and you have the framing and movement of the camera just right and the action that is going to take place just right, then you need to be able to tell the cast and crew when you want it all to happen. You have probably seen or heard about the director shouting LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION, well it is a little bit similar in our case."

- "When the actors are ready, the director will say…SOUND READY. The person doing the sound and holding the microphone will say that they are. The director will then say…ROLL CAMERA. The camera-person will then press record on the camera and when they are happy and ready they say that they are. The director will then call ACTION. Whatever is happening in front of the camera, somebody shutting a door, or a person walking into a room happens then."

Shooting on location

- "LIGHTING

• Keep lighting to a minimum.
• Avoid shadows on faces or dramatic shadows at the back.
• Avoid very high contrast.
• Make sure that the main subject draws the audiences attention in the shot."

- "ORGANISATION
• Keep in touch with your crew, discuss what you are doing and do not forget the sound technician.
• Communication is central, not only in relation to the task but also to the interpersonal relations. People need food and drink, chats, jokes and appreciation. Without their co-operation you will not succeed."

Video Entry #14 - Changing direction

We've recently ran into some troubles with our documentary assignment. We did record an interview with the manager, Julie, of Punktured Piercing. She was very good in the interview and I think it went really well. George and I did the majority of the work there. However, when we went to class Monday, we were told that we were leaving it too late to interview our other people. This was due to two of the team not pulling their weight and finding candidates to interview. So at the moment, I felt a little bit nervous on what we are going to do. Peter has said we should focus on Punktured and just do the documentary on them.

I liked the idea of this and so did the rest of the group. So I rang them everyday until I got reply from them on Friday. Their communication seems to be pretty bad as I rang everyday and was told to ring the next day to speak to the manager so that was annoying. I did speak to the manager though and was told we could film this coming week if I sent an email of who we wanted to interview and what questions would be asked. We then had to do some research on Punktured and ask more appropriate questions towards them rather than the mouth. Myself and George did go into town and pick up some of the flyers and inspected them.

But I haven't had an email back yet, so I'm getting a bit nervous as I'm going away Wednesday for Easter and I'm leaving it to the rest of my group, hopefully it goes okay. 

Sound Entry #12 - Presentation

Here is the link to my presentation: Janet Cardiff Presentation

These are the notes from the presentation. My parts are in bold:

Janet Cardiff is a Canadian born artist who works mainly with Sound Walks and Sound Installations. Although she has done her own work, most of the stuff she produces at the moment, she collaborates with her husband, George Bures Miller. Some notables pieces of work by here are the “Forty Part Motet” and “The Dark Pool” whom she worked with her husband on. We will show some of these examples later (now?). Her most recent audio walk as she calls it is the Alter Bahnhof Video Walk. Which leads us onto...

So, she does sound walks similar to what we’ve done in class, she likes to call them audio walks. This is where she takes listeners on a journey or tells a story around certain locations. For example with Alter Bahnhof video walk, users can get a iPod and headphones from a check out booth in Germany and listen to it as they walk round the station. The audio walks she does are on a number of different ideas and scenarios, meaning she is quite flexible in what she does. Examples of this are her works, words drawn in water where takes listeners for a tour around the area of the Mall in Washington and one I found really interesting, is her Ghost Machine audio walk. In this she takes listeners to an old fashioned theatre and round the rooms where audiences were not allowed. It follows the story of a woman visiting a man and getting himself arrested. And then towards the end of the walk, I’m quoting her by saying “The final scene is on the stage where, when you turned to see a whole audience watching, you realise that all along you have been a part of a play.” Quoting her again about her audio walks, she has said “Sometimes I don’t really know what the stories in my walks are about. Mostly they are a response to the location, almost as if the site were a Rorschach test that I am interpreting”.

She has moved into using video with her audio walks recently as shown by the Alter Bahnhof Video Walk. In the video, you can hear it uses binaural audio, as we learnt with Sam and Bryony, to give a 3D stereoscopic sound to her walks. In this sense, a lot of her walks appear to have a ominous or creepy atmosphere to them as it’ll usually be here voice, sounding emotionless, and then something eerie in the background. An example of one of these walks in this one, The Missing Voice, so if you’d like to plug your headphones in and see what it sounds like. [NEXT SLIDE] http://www.cardiffmiller.com/artworks/walks/missing_voice.html This one is obviously meant to be sinister, but there are others such as the walk where she takes you round a mall and you hear her voice and then a male singer, singing “Old man River”, directly into your right ear, and if you close your eyes, it feels like his presence is right next to yours and to me personally, it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Although we’re asked to research a sound practitioner,even though she is one, I’d also say she’s an artist and tries to invoke thoughts and feelings from her listeners. For example, in her “Taking Pictures” audio walk, she says on her site that she was interested in how she could transform the feeling of a summer forest with photographs taken from the site in the Winter. This shows that her work is meant to spark thought. And mentioning her “Taking Picturees” audio walk, she also uses the photographs as well as videos in her walks, so it’s not just about the sound but also the imagery involved.

Janet Cardiff has stated in an interview that she uses binaural audio when recording her audio walks as already mentioned. She says that she records on site and follows the route you would take when listening to her audio walks. The way she does it, is by mounted two microphones in the ears of a dummy head. As you can see by the picture. Because of the head shape, it reproduces the way we hear. Apparently, she says “she gets many looks and comments from people as I wander around with this blue (hairdressers dummy) head held out in front of me. 

http://www.cardiffmiller.com/press/texts/kg_jc-interview.pdf

This is probably one of her simplest installations yet I personally like it the best as it’s very easy to understand how it works and what it’s potentially trying to say.  What makes this slightly different to some of her other work is that it is completely reliant on the audience, what sounds are created completely depends on how many people are in the room and whereabouts they are standing, without them nothing would happen it would simply be silent. In a way it’s a bit like the question if a tree falls in a forest but no-one is there to hear it does it still make a sound?  This project shows us that without  people, and movement there is no sound at all both in a scientific and philosophical sense. 

The Carnie is a different type of work as it is freestanding and is activated simply by a ‘start button’. This installation uses memories and nostalgia to change the way people perceive it and influence how they are feeling. By using recognisable sounds that relate to the carousel and distorting them in the way she has, along with the use of shadows, Cardiff is taking a familiar childhood memory and turning it into something very eerie and questionable, ‘transforming the carnival ride into a layered and evocative encounter’. The truth is a lot people find the carnival very scary yet when it is looked back on in later years it is always seen as an exciting, happy place this installation changes that.   

This is one of Cardiff’s most famous projects, she herself explains it by saying that ‘I want the audience to able to experience a piece of music from the viewpoint of the singers. Enabling the audience to move throughout the space allows them to be intimately connected with the voices. It also reveals the piece as a changing construct… you can hear the sound move from one choir to another,  jumping back and forth, echoing each other and then experience the overwhelming feeling as the sound waves hit you when all the singers are singing.’ In the way it works this is a sort merge between the two previous types of installation. Although it is a freestanding piece that works on it’s own accord the route which you choose to take across the room will change how you hear the music as each speaker only projects one individual voice, by staying in the middle you hear them all together. 

In conclusion, although a lot of her pieces are very similar they are all very interesting

She has had a clear influence on the sound artists of today, we even found a clip online which in the description mentioned being inspired by her. 

A lot of her work concentrates on emotions and how we feel.

Sound Entry #11 - Project: Soundscape

Project #1 Soundscape

Aim/Objective

You are required to plan, research and produce a two to five minute ‘audio soundscape’ or ‘acoustic portrait’ of a geographical place of your choice. This will include a range of self-sourced associated or abstract sounds that help illustrate the space.

I have chosen to do a soundscape of an amusement arcade. I'm familiar with arcades and feel I could have done a good job recording it.

Securing the soundscape

Once I had decided what I was going to do, I was booked out the equipment at SISO and went down the arcade nearest to the train station. I assumed they would be okay if I just went up and asked and said I was a university student. They did question me though and looked like they were about to deny me to record but I showed them my uni ID and they were okay with it then.

Pre-production

I know quite a bit about arcades and been in a fair few through childhood and my adult life. It's something I enjoy and thought it would make an interesting soundscape as it has so many sounds in it that I'd be hard to narrow it down. Better having more than less I guess. 

Soundscape

I recorded the interview by going round all the machines and collecting the individual sounds of it. For example, if I was changing money, I'd collect taking the note out of my wallet, putting it in the slot, having it process the note and then producing the change in the metal troth. Another example is this crane game machine. I would collect the music that plays before putting money in, music whilst playing the game and then music when the crane goes down. And the joystick being twisted and the noise of the crane moving.

I spent a long time in that arcade recording the sounds and wasting my money. I then went back home and recorded the sound of me and my flat mate playing a racing game as the racing game there had no one on it so I couldn't record them having fun. I also needed voices of people to fill the space. So I play video games with a couple people and we use Skype, so I recorded a skype call and use that in the background.

Post-production

Once I had recorded the soundscape, I had to cut up roughly 40 minutes of audio and give each sound effect its own track. I would then overlay these sounds to create a soundscape that sounded semi-decent. I would then polish it until it sounded good.

Conclusion

Overall, I am happy with the mix but tired from how many tracks there are, but if that is what professionals have or more, then I've just got to get used to it.

Sound Entry #10 - Project: Interview

Project #1 Interview

Aim/Objective

You are required to submit a three-minute edited interview with a single individual of your choice for presentation on local radio. You must choose someone who you feel has something to say to the Brighton & Hove community.

I have chosen to interview a friend who lives opposite to me, Suzy. Since she was 16 (currently 20), she has been working as a receptionist in a doctor's surgery. I think she'd provide an interesting insight as she deals with the public everyday and she will definitely have something to say about and to the Brighton & Hove community. 

Securing the interview

Once I had decided who I was going to interview, it was quite simple to just walk round next door and ask her personally if she would be able to do it and when she was free. She gave me her timetable and then I proceeded to book equipment out for when she was free. 

Pre-production

I did not know much about what it was like to work as a receptionist in an assumed quite stressful environment. So a lot of my questions were to enquire and let the listeners know what life is like for them. I then enquired about funny or interesting stories to keep the interview fairly informal and provide a light hearted piece to it. I then asked about bad things to do with the job which would hopefully provide something to say that would hit home for the Brighton community. 

Interview

We recorded the interview in her room as her flat is very quiet compared to mine. Upon hindsight, I should have asked her to accompany me to a sound booth and done the recording there, however I don't think she would have acted natural in that kind of environment. I asked what questions I needed and the interview went well. I feel she felt more natural than other people I could have interviewed as I was a friend.

After I interviewed her, I went back to my room and created sounds to use for the background noise. These noises included doors slamming, babies crying, coughing and so on. This was okay for me, although I felt a bit odd making crying baby noises in my room. I chose to record the sound effects myself rather than going to the surgery and recording her there because it was impractical as she is constantly busy and finding a spare couple of minutes would of been hard. And recording the surgery would of raised ethical concerns, as would people want to be recorded when they're feeling their worst. 

Post-production

Once I had recorded the interview, I then had to import it Adobe Audition and edit it. First off, was cutting the interview down to just under 3 minutes so I could include intro/outro music. This proved to be quite difficult as the interview went on for just over 15 minutes and I felt there were important parts but they needed to be left out for timing. 

Once I had gotten a rough cut of what the interview would be like, I found music that would fit appropriately. I had recorded ambient sound from her room and proceeded to add that in. I then would mix in all the sound effects I have recorded to add to the sound. I then polished it by adding effects to her voice to make it more radiogenic. I then continued polishing until I was happy. I then exported it.

Conclusion

Overall, I am happy with the mix and feel it was interesting to make my own sounds and would be able to do it in the future if I needed to.