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.

Sound Entry #9 - Recorded projects

I have recently gone and recorded the arcade for my soundscape and a receptionist for my interview. Both are uploaded here:

https://soundcloud.com/benjamin-martin-eagle/arcade-noise

https://soundcloud.com/benjamin-martin-eagle/interview-to-suzy

I think they both went okay, the arcade in parts I feel, the levels are a bit way too high which was me holding the sounds too close to the mic. However I can just learn from my mistakes and not do it again. The interview I feel went better, it was in an environment where I could control the sound a lot more. It's a little bit annoying that I think I got too much interview sound as it has been hard to narrow it down to just 3 minutes but I have done that and will add the final touches to it soon.

The arcade is taking a while to process as it is especially long and there's not only that one file, there is about 3 or 4 more that need to be split up and put it onto their own tracks. I have also recorded me and my flat mate playing a racing game as there weren't anyone playing the racing game in the arcade so I needed the sounds for that. I'm also going to record a skype call with my friends so that it seems we're talking in the arcade to act as background noise. 

I'm also going to record individual sounds like lonely gamblers, gambling their money away.

Sound Entry #8 - Experience with travelling sound interview

This week in class, we had to again do an interview to get more practice. I was again the subject that was talking, although I felt more comfortable this time than last week. The interview was based on your experiences with travelling. In the interview, I talked a little bit about how I came to recently get travel sick. 

Link to the interview: https://soundcloud.com/benjamin-martin-eagle/travelling-experience-interview

Our homework for this week was to just crack on with our 2 major projects and bring back something for our lecturer, Lee, to listen to. I don't think I can get my interview sorted this week, so I'm going to go to arcade and see if I can record some sounds or even attempt to do all of it. I would like to complete the sound module as soon as possible. So I can focus on the documentary in my video module as I feel that needs more of my attention as the sound module is something I'm confident with and can go at it solo. No need to get a group together and other such things. 

Video Entry #13 - Editing Reading Notes

Editing

- "Editing is where you take all the different pictures that have been filmed on the cameras, which is called footage and join them all together on an edit suite. Editor’s chop up the footage that they want to keep into smaller pieces, called shots and put them back together again in a different order using cuts. They also use fades to make cuts look nice and smooth, which makes the film look better."

- "Editing

• Spot all the material and make a logging list, on which you not only identify the takes that are not usable, but also identify the best takes.

• Write down the length of the shots. Try to identify the natural life span of the shot: the moment it becomes interesting until the moment you lose interest.

• Identify continuity problems and possible solutions.

• Make a paper edit and make notes as preparation for the commentary.

• Write down the duration of the film."

We will have to follow similar guidelines when editing and use the techniques outlined. 

Sixteen Basic Editing Considerations

- "Avoid having to cut between shots on the same camera angle especially if the shot is of a single person. You will have to match the action so perfectly that your alternatives will be severely limited. However, if the material is shot to take advantage of this 'shock' effect, it can heighten a dramatic moment"

- "Watch the pace of the action which has to be matched in cutting. Movement from the finger flicking ash into an ashtray to Indians attacking a wagon train must retain continuity of pace if scope in cutting is to be preserved."

- Don't use a shot for its own sake. Some shot may, within themselves, be superb, but may not for reasons of style, shape or just original intention, fit into the overall films.

- "Remember you can only cut the material you possess. If you are cutting your own film the editor in you must control the director you thought you might be -- if you haven't shot the right footage you can't make the film you originally intended."

- "Do treat your print and track with respect. Both are replaceable but only if you can afford it and are in a position to start again with the inevitable loss of impetus and enthusiasm. The machinery has its limitations but will serve you well if you use it properly. Remember, a badly scratched or damaged cutting copy reduces your ability to judge its quality."

If we do choose to cut different shots, we will have to bear this in mind, so it does not take the audience out of the documentary and we do not want to create a dramatic movement. Although our action should be slow paced, it may be with the cutaways that we will have match the speed. Again, not to take the viewer out of the documentary. We will then have to find appropriate cutaways for each scene. I will treat my print and track with the utmost respect. 

Video Entry #12 - Editing and Using the Vocal Booth

Our task in class was to record a voice over in the vocal booth to get to grips with software, just in case we wanted to use the "voice of God" in our documentaries. We would then save that audio file and then edit it in Adobe Premiere Pro with images, music and videos provided by Peter. We then had to edit it to reflect a narrative piece that told a chronologically sound package whilst implementing techniques from Ken Burns such as panning over photos to give them movement. The result of our group working together has been posted above

Sound Entry #7 - Radio News Segment

This week in class, Lee was away so we had a PhD student in, he was cool, he wore cowboy boots. In the lesson, we discussed the reading, I enjoyed this reading so there was a lot to discuss in class even though there was only 4 in it. We were asked to record a 1-3 minute snippet for a radio show. We were split into pairs and off we went.

I was with my classmate, Salman, we thought we'd do ours on stories in the news that didn't seem real and were funny. We used www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion as a reference. We had a bit of trouble at first as there were not enough vocal booths available even though the PhD student had booked them. So we had to go back and ask him to go kick someone out, which kinda felt like telling our mum that our brother was using something and we wanted a go.

Nonetheless, we cracked on with the project in the time we had left. We used myself as the narrator and put on an exaggerated news reading voice. We also used my voice as intro and outro music as we didn't have enough time to source any or create anything really worthwhile. The track can be heard below:

https://soundcloud.com/benjamin-martin-eagle/radio-news-segment

Video Entry #11 - Pre-production

After sitting down and talking with my group, we can up with a brain storm surrounding the mouth and the ideas that could go into it. We also then made a list of possible people to interview. We decided it would be best to keep in contact via Facebook as we had each other as friends on there. The images below document this.

After looking through and finding suitable people to email from our list, I received a couple responses. Although it's a lot less than I expected. I thought I sent out between 20-30 emails. But I've received 6. It's okay though, as most who responded were willing to help. I have screen-shotted the responses and put them below: 

Our group met up during reading week and we've talked about and narrowed it down to who we're going to interview. I've taken the piercing company, Punktured Piercing, in the Brighton. Other members of the group are going for the dentist and we're going to find a singer and someone who's in the linguistics profession. We will email professors on campus for the last two. We also talked about what cutaways were needed. Again, image below shows this.

At the moment, we do have a list of questions we're going to ask our interviewees, however I've been dwelling on something Peter said. He mentioned that our documentary just focusing on what the mouth is could get boring and dull. And I agree with him. We came up with the questions quickly but whilst interviewing people out in Brighton for my sound, people say a lot of the same things. So people watching the documentary will know the mouth is used for communication and eating, so why would we discuss the topic you know? Peter mentioned about throat singing, people using clicking to communicate and helping stroke victims by bringing their hand to their mouth. These are all interesting, so I will mention to the group that we need to know where we're focusing. 

I like the idea of exploring that the mouth can be used to decorate and make peoples personalities flourish. For example, a woman wearing black lipstick could be seen as being of the gothic crowd and she decorates her mouth that way. I think it would be interesting to follow this up, especially with the piercing company I've got as they could say a lot of alternate thinking people get lip piercings or maybe it's become more mainstream and that it used to more for the people who were classed as alternative. But again, I think we need a session where we just brainstorm where we're going and storyboard on how we're going to do it. 

Video Entry #10 - Pre-Production Reading Notes

Research

- "The nature of your subject will be influenced by a number of factors which will vary, depending on the context in which you are working which could be anything from your fist year at college to trying to get you first professional production off the ground."

- "Think about what media/articles/books already exists on your subject – don’t reinvent the wheel. How you can show the familiar in an unfamiliar light? The element of unfamiliarity might come from the style or from the point of view (i.e. showing a situation/event from an unexpected perspective). Try to avoid reproducing stereotyped or clichéd representations of topics, people and places. Your initial research should help to unearth unexpected aspects of a topic, person or place."

- "As you write your treatment follow your instincts – don’t forget what it was that interested you most about your subject. Have you got lost in unnecessary detail/padding? How can you convey what really struck you in images and/or sound? What is your point of view of on the subject and how will this come across?"

Research and Development

- "RESEARCH AND RECCE

• Every film needs it.

• Be open minded, be aware of your own judgements and prejudices.

• Talk to a diversity of people and record all interviews.

• Read and read

Read everything related to your subject: research, literature, poetry,

newspapers and magazines. You must aim to become an expert in the

subject you are dealing with.

Get your facts right.

• While on location, think in pictures, make the film in your head.

• Make notes on light and sound.

• Pay attention to the practical side of things, parking, availability of electricity,

pubs, toilets etc.

• The most interesting shots are those where things are actually happening, so

note the time of those actions you need for your programme.

• Do you need permission to film? Check?

• Keep a note book"

Doing a Recce

"These are the key issues you need to think about in doing a Recce.

Conceptual

• What will the location add to your ideas?

• What will its use contribute to how your subject(s) are seen?

• What visual possibilities does it offer?

• How might you use features of the space/ in your sequence?

• What aural possibilities does it offer? How might the various sounds

available be used creatively to convey atmosphere/meaning?

• How might background people feature?

Location Shoot Checklist

"Equipment:

1) Gun mic

2) Camera (DRS 250)

3) Tripod

4) TAPE

5) Lights, if necessary (and 4 way power splitter)

Set up check:

1) Set spirit level on tripod

2) Switch off auto settings on camera

a) Iris, front right.

b) Focus, back of lens left

c) Auto switches (ATW etc), body left.

3) ND filter set to ‘off’- indoors; 1 – outdoors; 2 – outdoors bright sunshine

4) Check white balance (set by holding white card up and flicking switch directly

under lens) White balance switch, body left, should be set to A or B for this.

5) Focus properly by zooming in fully first.

6) Plug mic into audio channel 2

7) Set audio ch 2 to ‘manual’ and ‘rear’.

8) Check audio levels with headphones plugged in to camera handle.

9) To adjust brightness of picture turn back ring on lens.

10) Gain switch, body left, should be set to Low (L) unless in low light conditions

(indoors without lights for example)

11) Make sure camera is set to 16:9 ratio (hold down menu switch and turn

camera power on – scroll trough menu until you find the 16:9 Wide option)

Remember to frame your subject properly, no huge gaps above the head and no

clutter or distracting objects in the frame. Zoom in to fill the frame well so they

don’t seem too far away."

- 

Video Entry #9 - Actual Presentation and Notes

Here is a link to our presentation: Mouth Presentation

This is the script we used for our presentation. All mine are underneath Ben whilst the others worked on their scripts individually

Idea Development - Slide 2 - George

The idea of making a documentary on ‘the mouth’ wasn’t put forward by anyone in our group. But we’re all intrigued upon the idea of the subject because of its great potential and numerous approaches to it. Since the mouth is part of a person, or a place on a person, the idea meets the criteria of the project brief. Now that we had our initial idea, we then had to develop upon this idea in terms of how to structure our documentaries narrative. 

Logistical Planning/Creative Development - Slide 3 - Ben

The first thing we did as a group to develop our ideas was to create a mind map about the mouth. That way, everyone’s ideas could be taken on board and associations could be made between peoples suggestions, sparking further ideas. As shown by the picture up on the slide. We also took into account of who we would have to find to go with the ideas and the practicality of it. For example, if we were wanting to interview someone with oral herpes, we would hope they'd provide an interesting view on the mouth. However it's unlikely we'd be able to find one and again, unlikely that they'd want everyone to know they have an STD. Ethical issues could also come into consideration. For example, it may be viewed we are exploiting someone with a disease for our own gain.  

Audience and Style - Slide 4 - Mariah

Hiring Crew & Equipment - Slide 5 - Roshana

Hiring crew and equipment is vital in the productions stages, so organization is key. Since our crew would consist of just our group, we have to share the roles between us and exchange them during the production process so everyone would get a chance to play a different role. Equipment we will be using shall be the Sony Z1 to film, shotgun mic with boompole attachment, if needed, for sound. One of the tripods in the Sony Z1 kit and Adobe software on the macs. 

Difficulty in booking equipment SISO

Edit Location/Freedom

Schedule the Shoot - Slide 6 - George

Scheduling the shoot is another important area in the production stage that requires a lot of organization. Sometimes your crew, equipment and cast may not all be available at the same time, so we worked out what days each of us were free to work on to film and edit our documentary. We concluded that on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons and having the weekends to work with on stuff too. We aim to shoot all our footage we need in 3 weeks, but start on our post-production edit as soon as we start recording.

Budget/Finance - Slide 7 - Ben

Being students, none of us have much petty cash spare to fund a major production so we had to be realistic in terms of what impacts this could have upon our production. For instance, when choosing our interviewees or locations, they had to be people and places we could access with little to no expense as possible. Therefore, we knew our locations and interviewees had to be people based on campus, in Brighton or anywhere, which our group could sensibly reach. A couple of possible fees we'll encounter when filming are travel to and from Brighton, tapes for recording and other fees possibly such as food whilst out in Brighton. These are all small expenses due to not having to pay for the big equipment such as cameras and macs. Compared to Werner Herzog, the practitioner we have chosen, who had to steal his first camera for his first eight films. 

Researching/Sourcing - Slide 8 - Mariah

From our mind map and creative planning, we knew that we would want to interview people who had a profession that involved the mouth in some form. By doing research on the mouth this would gives us a better knowledge on who we could contact for an interview and what sort of questions we could ask them. 

Definitions of the mouth/dictionary

Relate it to Werner

Research on interviewees field of work

Scripting/Storyboards/ShotLists - Slide 9 - Roshana

When it comes to scripting and storyboarding, this stage of the production allows you to share your potential vision with others, saves you times and makes the product run more smoothly. 

Because of the uncertainty of the interviewees responses, we don’t know what cutaways we’d need beforehand, however with our interviewees, we’d always frame them appropriately with a mid shot to the side of the frame. 

Werner didn’t do storyboard...FIND QUOTE

We knew this would need some area of thought but not too much as we didn’t want to come up with our cutaway shot lists before we attained our interview footage. That way we could acquire more cutaways that reflect on the interview dialogue rather than constructing our dialogue around our cutaways. 

We have come up with a script for our questions, keeping them open ended so our interviewees could have a more detailed and less limited response to them. The storyboarding of our documentary is important as when it comes to filming our interviewees and cutaways, we will instantly know what shots we need and how to frame them, making the filming more time efficient

Casting - Slide 10 - Ben

As a group, once we came up with our narrative, we looked towards industries and professions that involve the mouth and could provide a good insight and knowledge on the subject. I contacted many different people from our list, asking if they’d be willing to be involved by being interviewed for our documentary project. I contacted local dentists, make up artists, biologists, tattooists, wine sommeliers, musicians, bi-linguists and so on. [change to next slide] We wanted as many options as possible so that we could choose who to interview rather than having limitations for our documentary, such as not having enough people to interview. This is because not all who have been contacted will respond, want to be part of the documentary or their availability to meet for our deadline. 

We have received one response already, confirming they're willing participant  

Recce - Slide 14 - George

Deciding on locations to shoot in for our documentary is crucial for the mise-en-scene as it signifies aspects of our interviewees. For example, we’d have the dentist in a dental practic clinic rather than a tattoo studio. For our cutaways, we knew they had to be relevant to the piece. Therefore, we decided that we wanted our interviews to take place in the interviewees place of work if at all possible, if not, then we would have to book out the studio on campus to interview them there instead. These are some of the locations we have thought of, taking into consideration our budget and available options. 

Narrative - Ben + George doing this

Werner Herzog is a 72 year old German filmmaker. He is seen as great figure in the New German Cinema movement which originated in the 1960s-80s. He has made both documentary and fiction films. His documentaries focus on heroes with impossible dreams, such as his film Little Dieter needs to fly. People with unique talents in obscure fields. Bells from the deep is an example. As well as focusing on individuals who are in conflict with nature. His most famous documentary, Grizzly Man, is one of these. 

[Change slide]

His style of documentary filmmaking consists of expository and participatory mode techniques. One of these is using his own voice as the voice of God, displayed in the Grizzly Man documentary. This film focuses on Timothy Treadwell, who lived amongst grizzly bears before he passed away. Herzog uses the expository mode technique by exaggerating the truth such as saying “Treadwell is as crazy as the bears” and using a series of assertions from friends and family members, backed up with visual evidence to gives his point validity.

From Herzog’s style to ours, we aim to convey the message that the mouth is a significant part of the body by raising awareness of the functions it has in our life. Therefore our choice of interviewees construct the evidence for our argument, whether this may be a good or bad thing as we no control over what they may say. If we do choose to convey a specific message, we shall use Herzog’s technique of voice of God to give authority and clarity to our argument.

From a narrative perspective, we aim to make a short length documentary feature the mouth and the implications it has by being part of our body. We want to engage our audience by making them critically think and be aware of the potential a part of their body has, for good or for bad by selection of whom we interview. Our interviews will consist of asking our interviewees open ended questions to our subject such as how their profession involves the mouth and hopefully then making a personal connection between our subject and interviewee, making our audience reflect upon the information given.. 

Visually - Mariah + Roshana

Video Entry #8 - Presentation

My group met a couple times before we had to give our presentation. Our presentation was on Werner Herzog. When we did do the presentation I think we did well but we don't get our marks back for about 2 weeks. So we'll see then. 

Our workshop was on transcripts and paper editing. I knew about transcripts as I was going to work for a transcript job but I didn't know what was paper editing. I could take a guess from the name but I didn't know fully. 

Peter talked us through what a transcript was. It's basically a written down version of your interview with time codes included so that it makes for easier editing. Peter told us it could save us hours when editing. I don't really see the point as I think the effort you put into writing up the transcript, you could put it into editing. But I'd like to try it and see if it works.

Transcript example

Peter continued on about editing with paper. This is where you write your clips down on paper, typically sticky notes as it makes it a little bit easier, and arrange them as if you would arrange your clips on a video editing software timeline. 

Example of paper editing

He also taught us to shoot with the edit in mind, so shoot how you want to edit it. And always capture ambient sound. This is to capture the sounds of the place where you're filming.

We were taught briefly about editing, but we have an editing workshop next week so we'll learn more. But we have been told to:

• Build up your timeline
• Start with rough interview edits
• Work to a rough timing
• Cut it down - take out the pauses and repeats. Which means no umm's or err's
• Select cutaways to cover cracks but not wallpaper it
• Piece of imagery must be integral to narrative i.e. don't have a dentist talking and cutaway to a piercing studio
• Work on an opening/ending that has impact

My group are going to meet today so we can plan what we're doing and hopefully shoot soon

Sound Entry #6 - Vox pops with people in Brighton

Here is my link to my vox pops in Brighton. I couldn't decide between either one as the music I felt both suited the interviews.

https://soundcloud.com/benjamin-martin-eagle/sets/vox-pop-mouth-brighton

I have researched another podcast similar to the Youtube gaming duo, "The Yogscast" one. It is the RoosterTeeth podcast. I have listened to them before and I am familiar with their work.

Here is a link to the work I am reference:

Starting the video you can easily see that this is a more professional setting for a podcast. I will go through the points about why they have a professional setup whilst comparing it to the Yogscast.

- They have ads playing, although not helpful in sound design, it does display they are seen as a company that other companies want to do business with and run ads on their content.

- They all use professional microphones with boom arms. The professional microphones means they will give cleaner audio than the yogscast as an example, as they use gaming headsets. The boom arms also means that sounds that could be capture with headsets will not be. Handling noise would be an example.

Video Entry #7 - Reading Notes

Video Microphone

Using the fishpole

- Held high: Tiring if held high for long. Shadows of the microphone may be unavoidable

- Underarm support: Favoured for some situations, however can pick up background noise easily

- End on ground: Comfortable for sustained shooting. Best for stationary objects

Microphone distance

- Mirophone should suit the size of the shot

In our documentary, we aim to use a fishpole overhead or underarm to get the audio as most filming is going to be done inside, so things such as birds or seagulls above won't pick up on the audio. We will use a shotgun microphone to record the audio. We would like to use the lavalier microphone, however it is rarely in stock on SISO and I forgot myself to book it.

Practical Lighting

- "As we shall see, there are many situations where just one lamp, or a well placed reflector, is all that is needed to make a picture spring to life. Even where production is on a larger scale, foresight and imagination can often make a little light go a long way. It is chiefly a matter of knowing what you are aiming at, what to look out for, and what you can do about problems you meet."

- "'Lighting' involves a lot more than simply having enough illumination around to let the camera see what is going on. Light influences what your subject looks like, how people feel about what they see, what attracts their attention. So we need to think about not only where to put our lamps, but the sort of light we are getting from them, and how all this affects the quality of our pictures."

- "Because the sun is so distance, it behaves as a localized point source of light. Its rays are therefore very directional and travel to us in straight lines. They cast distinct sharp shadows, which emphasize the texture and contours of any subject, especially when the light falls at an oblique angle...Many, man-made light sources, such as a match, a candle or a bare light bulb, also behave in this way. Because they are of very limited size, they act as point sources and produce hard light."

- "Diffused light scatters in all directions. It occurs naturally, when the sun is obscured by cloud, and whenever sunlight is reflected from rough light-toned surfaces."

We don't intend to not use any other light sources that the ones available to use as they are bulky and we are wanting a natural feel to the documentary. If there are lamps available where we go, I'm sure we will take advantage of them, however it is not a necessity in my opinion. We will attempt to try to illuminate our subjects so they appear approachable and inviting rather than casting shadows on them from harsh lighting. As stated, we will be inside for the majority of the filming, especially the interviews so we will only need to diffuse the lamps, should be choose to use them.

Interviews

- "Try to choose an interviewee who is able to express themselves succinctly and who you think will not be unduly nervous in front of the camera."

- "Prepare your interview, think what you want to know and why"

- "Always introduce the interviewee...Tell why he/she is there or why you want to interview him/her"

When choosing an interviewees, we will go for the ones that seem friendly, have a good personality and appear to be natural when being filmed. We will have to gather as a group and write out questions on what we think we will need to add to the documentary. We will have them introduce themselves. This makes it so they're more relaxed to be in front of the camera as well.

Recording sound

- "Sound recording is often one of those most overlooked parts of the production process, especially in video production. Unlike radio, video and television demand that microphones are hidden away from the camera whenever possibly, but, crucially, you also need to keep your sound synced with the camera."

- "Sync sound means simply that what is being said synchronises with the movements of the mouth. When a speaker your audience can see is out of sync, you risk parodying all those badly dubbed Kung Fu movies, not (necessarily) good."

We will do our best to record the best quality sound we can. Obviously there will be hiccups as this is our first time but we plan to not let the microphones be seen as to appear professional. We plan to use the Sony HVR-Z1E which has the sound built into the video recording so it should be okay. But if we have to use a separate audio recorder, we will have to sync the audio in post-production. 

Video Entry #6 - Homework task "Pitfalls of Independent Living"

We were given a homework task to do a 2 minute mini-documentary on either the "Pitfalls of Independent Living" or "My first day at Sussex". Our group chose to do the "My first day at Sussex". We went out and filmed people we knew and some people who we just asked as they were walking past. I interviewed the person we did not know. It was quite interesting being in the position of interviewing people. Peter had taught us techniques of how to sit and use their body language, not saying anything but using facial expressions and nodding to communicate and how to ask questions. My interview did not go especially well, the girl was nervous and kept looking at the camera. We needed to have brought the camera closer to the interviewer. It was also a silly mistake but the microphone can be seen in shot. We could have cropped it out in post, but in the real thing, you don't want this to be happening. At least we did it in practice and not the real thing.

We then went and imported the footage onto the Mac from the tape which was a new thing to me and I was a bit tentative about pushing a tape which had our precious footage on it, into something I didn't know which way it went in. But we got it onto the Mac and tried to edit it in Premiere Pro. The footage was slow and lagging. When we dragged the clip onto the timeline, it said the settings needed to be changed to match the footage, and we did just that but it was basically, un-editable. So we will need to speak to Peter about that. 

We edited on iMovie though, just to get a hands on feel with editing software. I've used Sony Vegas and Premiere Pro in the past, so iMovie was something new to me and I disliked every bit of it. Editing was such a hassle on this software. But we tried to make at least a rough cut of our footage. Unfortunately when it came to the lesson, the map of what we had done was on the timeline but the actual footage wasn't so it was kinda awkward in class. But we just need to look at what we did wrong in the practice and learn from it and carry on.

Here's a picture of George operating the camera when we were filming

Sound Entry #5 - Vox Pops

In class this week we were doing Vox Pops although at first I thought they were called Voc Spots. But Voc Pops are interviewing the public on topics. Our in class exercise was to interview students on campus about something affecting them on campus. I chose to go into Eat Central and ask what students thought about it. 

Here is the finished product with intro and outro music and a bed for the interviews:

https://soundcloud.com/benjamin-martin-eagle/vox-pop-practice-no1

I was a little nervous at first going to interview people. Mainly because I was on my own in the exercise, with the rest of the class partnering up with each other. I also didn't mean very confident going into the cafeteria with all the equipment and looking a bit silly going round. I think if I was getting paid to do it, I wouldn't care half as much. 

When interviewing people, I did find it hard at first as I'd usually forget the questions or have a hard time asking the questions to people and not following up and being lost to pursue the answer they had given me. I think as well, if I was going to do this exercise again, I would not choose somewhere like Eat Central as this is where pretty much everyone goes there to eat so I was interrupting people with their meals and most were in groups not alone, so it made it a bit more nerve wracking doing it that way. Another point is that, although it may sound political correct, I think I'd choose to mainly just ask mainly just people of English speaking descent. I did try to ask people of Asian descent but I was brushed off with "My English is not good" and other such things. Which seems strange to me that in a majority speaking English country, you wouldn't know English that well. This also meant that rejection was more prevalent and it made me more nervous.

In regards to the reading homework, we have been given, "Speech Packages (Radio in context), I did enjoy this week's reading. I felt it gave a good, well informed view of what radio interviews are all about and how to approach them. Examples being the "Finding the angle" where it would be good to draw a mind map of what to cover and and who to ask. And then how you're going to record. For example, in a studio, over the telephone or out on the street. I believe this will help a lot for the final interview we have to do.

For this week's listening I have chosen a podcast I'm well familiarised with. However I will choose one next week where I'm not, for example, Radio 3 or 4. But I have chosen the "Yogpod" by The Yogscast. 

Link to the podcast I have chosen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9tlMGwbv00

The basis of the show is that it is two guys from a Youtube channel called "The Yogscast", initially talked about and added extra audio content that wasn't on their Youtube channel. It then later divulged into them talking about other stuff and it becoming a show in itself. From the beginning, there's no set thing that they're going to talk about and regularly go on tangents. One of the host's may have a plan but it often does not go to plan. So comparing this to something like "The Jeremy Vine Show" on Radio 2 which is highly structured and conforms to a time limit, it is the complete opposite of it. 

Again, comparing it to live radio, this podcast may be recorded live but it is heavily edited, sometimes even having hours or days between different talk segments. Another noticeable sound difference between this podcast and a professionally produced show is the quality of the sound. For example, radio shows are produced in expensive studios with the best equipment. This podcast is two guys with headsets talking over Skype. Although to me, it is perfectly fine to listen to as there is nothing major that puts you off about it, but it might not be fit for radio broadcast. 

Again, a lot of radio shows have intro and outro jingles that have been professionally produced by experts whereas this podcast uses jingles sent in by fans. Something I feel this podcast had over radio was the way they were able to interact with their audiences. They would answer their questions about their personal lives or things that were happening with the Youtube channel and have fan submissions or donations talked about on air. This couldn't really happen on radio as there are too many listeners or they've got to keep their personal lives separate. 

For this week's homework, we had to go into Brighton and interview members of the public about a topic. I have chosen to do the topic on the mouth and have interviewed people. I will edit it and include it in a new blog post.