LO3

Learning Outcome Three

Planning, and preproduction  of my soundtrack:

Planning for making soundtrack for Charlie:

This was a difficult task for me because I was not given enough detail on what specifically Charlie wanted me to do for his advert. Making my job harder.

To start my planning I needed to talk to Charlie Macarthur whose video I was making the sound track for. Since Charlie is a music producer he had already made a load of songs in the past. What Charlie wanted me to do was mix his different songs all into one soundtrack for a teaser of what is advert for his album contained.

Since I already had the music and didn’t need to record or edit that yet, I started with recording the script which was included in Charlie’s advert. Me and two other class peers went down to the recording studio on College site and recorded the voiceovers.

Planning for what I wanted Jack to do for my soundtrack:

For Jack I wrote a document of what I wanted included for my soundtrack and voiceovers. I also told Jack that he could contact me if he needed any more help which is an easy option since we sit next to each other in class.  As well as giving him a list of the SFX I wanted and music I also gave him a copy of my advert script to help him understand what voiceovers I needed.

Involved Characters:

Narrator: The narrator will not be on screen at all during the advert but will be doing all the talking during the advert. The narrator will be talking in a way that makes the audience feel that the narrator is in a conversation with Matt.

Matt: Matt will be on screen throughout the whole advert but will not speak at all. He will be responding to what the narrator says by using expressions and motions for example, shake head in disagreement and nod head in agreement.

 Shooting Script:

(Note that every time matt shakes or nods his head a comic SFX will sound when he does this)

The starting location would be in my room where the camera will be aimed at matt sitting at his desk; Matt will be facing towards the TV with his back to the camera. Note that when the camera looks at Matt sitting at his desk there will be no speakers on the desk yet.

Narrator: Hey you!

Matt will turn around and face the camera with a curious look on his face. He will face the camera as if the camera is the narrator. Matt will point his hand towards himself to make sure the narrator was talking to him.

Narrator: Yeah you!

Matt will now look at the camera with a serious face as if to show the audience that he is focusing on what the Narrator is about to say.

Narrator: Do you ever get tired of listening to bad quality music being played through your mobile phone?

Matt will put on a comic depressed face and nod his head towards the camera. He will shake his head faster than someone would usually do it.

Narrator: Do you wish you could play your music louder than you can at the moment?

Matt’s expression will be sad again and he will vigorously nod his head again.

Narrator: Well I can solve this problem for you, would you like my help?

Matt will vigorously nod his head again but this time he won’t look depressed, he will look happy and be smiling.

A sound effect will sound which sounds like a dollar sound (kaaaching).

Narrator: Ok, by the way you may want to check your desk for a surprise.

On the desk, a big set of speakers have suddenly appeared.

Matt will look shocked and go over to the speakers smiling and do a cheesy grin towards the narrator (camera) doing a cheesy grin and giving the thumbs up. He will then lower his thumbs and arms and stop grinning 5 seconds after he does the thumbs up and he will start pressing the buttons on the Speaker system (checking it out)

The camera would follow Matts movement in a medium shot making sure to include view of the speaker system as well as matt after he’s finished doing the thumbs up.

Narrator: Buy these sharp speakers for only £29.99 from selected stores in the UK, or you can purchase them from our online store at www.sharpspeakers.com

(Note when narrator mentions website url, writing shall appear at bottom of screen also showing the website name or url)

Storyboard:

Story board

SB1: In this picture Matt is sitting down at his desk watching TV. The camera will be a still medium shot of Matt sitting down with his back to the camera.

SB2: In this image the narrator says "hey you!", This is when Matt will turn around and face the camera as if the camera is the narrator. After the narrator has said this, Matt will point towards himself with his hand which is what my red arrows represent. In Sign language Matt is saying " do you mean me?". After Matt has pointed at himself the narrator will respond by saying "Yeah you!"

SB3: This image shows a medium still shot of Matt facing the camera. he has a neutral expression on his face. The narrator says "Do you ever get tired of listening to bad quality music being played through your mobile phone?". Matt will respond to this by changing his facial expression from a neutral face to an unhappy face he will also nod agressively to show the audience that he is agreeing with narrator.

SB4: In this image it is the same medium still shot as above. The narrator will then say "Do you wish you could play your music louder than you can at the moment?". Matt will respond to this by agressively nodding his head in agreement again (take note that Matt already has a sad face from the last sentence said, so he will continue being sad until I say)

SB5: This image shows a medium still shot of Matt with a sad face facing towards the camera. The narrator says "Well I can solve this problem for you, would you like my help?". matt will respond to this by changing his sad facial expression to a smiling face, he will then agressively nod his head at the camera to let the narrator know that he would like his help.

  SB6: This image shows a close up still shot of matt facing the camera smiling. A dollar sound effect will sound. the narrator will say "Ok, by the way you may want to check your desk for a surprise." Matt will react to this comment by looking down to his right at the desk (which will be out of camera view at the time).

SB7: This image shows a still close up shot of the speakers that have just appeared on Matt's desk ( the narrator made them appear them from my advert).

 SB8:This image shows a medium shot of Matt with the speakers in the background. Matt is doing a cheesy wide grin and giving the thumbs up in response to the speakers the narrator gave Matt. After he has done this he will face towards the speakers and start pressing the buttons to show the audience that he is experimenting with his new toy/ present.

Meanwhile the Narrator will say "Buy these sharp speakers for only £29.99 from selected stores in the UK, or you can purchase them from our online store at www.sharpspeakers.com"

when he is saying this line the link to the website adrress will appear in writing at the bottom of the screen.

LO4

Learning Outcome Four

Editing and finishing the soundtrack

My soundtrack For Charlie’s advert:

Now that I had all of the required sounds to use for making Charlie’s soundtrack I was ready to start editing them on Cubase. I wanted to have roughly 10-15 seconds of each separate song playing in the soundtrack so that the audience could get a tease of what would be included in Charlie’s advert.

To do this I made the separate clips of different songs overlap each other using fade in’s and fade out’s so that you could tell the difference from one track from another. When I added the voice overs I included them in quiet parts of the soundtrack so they could be heard and understood clearly.

Evaluation of my soundtrack for Charlie’s advert:

I went through three different drafts for making Charlie’s soundtrack. After making each draft I showed it to Charlie for feedback which I would then work on, until I reached the third draft which he said I had perfected.

Finished soundtrack for Charlies advert:

Jack’s finished Soundtrack for my advert:

I was very pleased with Jacks soundtrack for my advert and informed him that it was fine and would not need adjusting.

Evaluation

What new skills have I learned or improved on:

When I first started this course I didn’t have a clue how to use Cubase and was terrible at editing and mixing audio. However as I worked through the course I progressed with my skills of using Cubase and understanding of recording and editing audio. By the time I had come to the final stages of this unit for this year I felt I had a strong understanding of how to edit audio. I was in turn pleased with final soundtrack I produced for Charlie’s video.

Now that this unit is almost at an end I can say that I have much higher understanding of how soundtrack for the moving image works than when I first started on this unit.

LO2

Learning Outcome Two

Recording of my soundtrack:

Planning for making soundtrack for Charlie:

This was a difficult task for me because I was not given enough detail on what specifically Charlie wanted me to do for his advert. Making my job harder.

To start my planning I needed to talk to Charlie Macarthur whose video I was making the sound track for. Since Charlie is a music producer he had already made a load of songs in the past. What Charlie wanted me to do was mix his different songs all into one soundtrack for a teaser of what is advert for his album contained.

Since I already had the music and didn’t need to record or edit that yet, I started with recording the script which was included in Charlie’s advert. Me and two other class peers went down to the recording studio on College site and recorded the voiceovers.

Planning for what I wanted Jack to do for my soundtrack:

For Jack I wrote a document of what I wanted included for my soundtrack and voiceovers. I also told Jack that he could contact me if he needed any more help which is an easy option since we sit next to each other in class.  As well as giving him a list of the SFX I wanted and music I also gave him a copy of my advert script to help him understand what voiceovers I needed.

Involved Characters:

Narrator: The narrator will not be on screen at all during the advert but will be doing all the talking during the advert. The narrator will be talking in a way that makes the audience feel that the narrator is in a conversation with Matt.

Matt: Matt will be on screen throughout the whole advert but will not speak at all. He will be responding to what the narrator says by using expressions and motions for example, shake head in disagreement and nod head in agreement.

 Shooting Script:

(Note that every time matt shakes or nods his head a comic SFX will sound when he does this)

The starting location would be in my room where the camera will be aimed at matt sitting at his desk; Matt will be facing towards the TV with his back to the camera. Note that when the camera looks at Matt sitting at his desk there will be no speakers on the desk yet.

Narrator: Hey you!

Matt will turn around and face the camera with a curious look on his face. He will face the camera as if the camera is the narrator. Matt will point his hand towards himself to make sure the narrator was talking to him.

Narrator: Yeah you!

Matt will now look at the camera with a serious face as if to show the audience that he is focusing on what the Narrator is about to say.

Narrator: Do you ever get tired of listening to bad quality music being played through your mobile phone?

Matt will put on a comic depressed face and nod his head towards the camera. He will shake his head faster than someone would usually do it.

Narrator: Do you wish you could play your music louder than you can at the moment?

Matt’s expression will be sad again and he will vigorously nod his head again.

Narrator: Well I can solve this problem for you, would you like my help?

Matt will vigorously nod his head again but this time he won’t look depressed, he will look happy and be smiling.

A sound effect will sound which sounds like a dollar sound (kaaaching).

Narrator: Ok, by the way you may want to check your desk for a surprise.

On the desk, a big set of speakers have suddenly appeared.

Matt will look shocked and go over to the speakers smiling and do a cheesy grin towards the narrator (camera) doing a cheesy grin and giving the thumbs up. He will then lower his thumbs and arms and stop grinning 5 seconds after he does the thumbs up and he will start pressing the buttons on the Speaker system (checking it out)

The camera would follow Matts movement in a medium shot making sure to include view of the speaker system as well as matt after he’s finished doing the thumbs up.

Narrator: Buy these sharp speakers for only £29.99 from selected stores in the UK, or you can purchase them from our online store at http://www.sharpspeakers.com/

(Note when narrator mentions website url, writing shall appear at bottom of screen also showing the website name or url)

Here is an example of recordings I made with my peers to use in my Swiftcover advert which shows the original voice recordings and shows the edited recordings after.

My recording of Charlie's soundtrack:

For Charlies advert brief given to me, I was required to record a script in a narrative form. Me and two fellow class peers went down to the College music block and used a recording studio/ room. We used a portable ZOOM recorder but because we has the music studio available to record in we plugged the ZOOM in to the computer which had Cubase running on it.

Once we had finished recording the voice overs for Charlies advert I took them back with me and kept them stored on the music network drive. I then started work on editing the voice overs. In Charlies brief he had asked me to make the voice overs sound is if they were being spoken by someone who was from a black race. This was an interesting challenge because the person I had used used for the recordings was not black so I would need to edit the voice overs in order to make them sound like Charlie wanted them too. The reason for this specific race of voice over was because it would work better with the vibe of the Charlies advert.

I found a way of completing this task by using the pitch shifting tool on Cubase. Below is what the end result of using pitch shift made the sound recordings sound like.

   

LO1

Learning Outcome One

Evidence of my understanding of Sound track and the moving image:

My YouTube video presentation on soundtrack and the moving image was reinforced by information and reserach I found which is shown below.

Film theme songs analysed

James bond opening theme tune:

 The James bond opening theme tune is a tradition is always the same for every bond film, even the new ones. After the opening theme tune a different song for the specific bond film usually starts but I am only analysing the opening bond theme tune.

The tempo of the song at the beginning starts of very slowly at first. It gradually increases until when the bond avatar steps into the barrel (circle) and fires his gun. After that a mass of instruments start playing at higher tempo and higher volume, this is when I as the audience feel a rush of adrenaline.

The main musical instruments that are used in this famous theme tune are trombones, trumpets, saxophones (alto Saxes for sure, and tenors and baritones), and a bass guitar.

There is only one sound effect that is used in the bond theme song and that is the gunshot that is fired by the 007 avatar just before the major musical instruments kick in.

The lord of the rings: The great battle, arrival of Rohan song

This is by far my favourite film song. The reason being that it is so dramatic and it is brilliantly timed in the film.

The song starts just when Gondor is about to lose the fight against the orcs when suddenly the first major SFX appears which is the Rohan trumpets sounding. The Rohan army is on top of a hill about to charge down on the orcs. The leader of Rohan starts giving a speech which is when the low volume and tempo song starts with violins and trumpets being the main instruments.

The tempo and amount of instruments playing suddenly increases when the army charges down towards the orcs, this builds suspense with the audience. The song reaches the max of its tempo and volume just before both army’s clash with each other.

Blackhawk down trailer sound analysis

 

The instruments/ sounds/ SFX i can hear are:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Allot of speech is included in the trailer

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->At beginning there is music being played which becomes louder throughout the trailer.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->The rest is mainly SFX such as gunshots, helicopter noises, jeep noises, screams, typical warfare noises.

Describe what the music at the beginning sounded like?

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->It started with a vocal song with people huming some arabic tune, was very downbeat, then drums came into it halfway through trailer and song became upbeat and the tempo of the music kept increasing right untill the end of the trailer.

Give reasons why you think the SFX/ music goes well with the visuals of the trailer:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->The Arabic music was good because it was based on a war going on in a foreign country Iraq or Afghanistan perhaps?

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->The gunshots and other SFX obviously fitted in well with visuals of when you saw a gun being fired you could hear the gunshot too in the background of the music.

The Simpson theme tune

The instruments/ sounds and SFX i can hear are:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Homer sfx when he goes "doghh" and "aghh".

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Harp

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Saw cutting

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Car honk

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Birds

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Choir sounds

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->burp

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->school bell

There are lot of different musical instruments or voices put into the soundtrack such as...

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Choir

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Trumpets

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Harp

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Saxaphone

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Drums

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Percussion

The two main reasons that I think the music fits with the visual sequence is the massive contrasts and the Juxta position.

Jaws

The instruments, sounds and SFX i can hear are...

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Splashing

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Screams of adults, children male and female

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->The jaws song which plays whenever an attack is about to take place (the main instrument is the tuba with the keys E and F used mostly)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->seagulls

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->wind

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->wave sounds

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->There is allot more sounds in the scene but is hard to hear them all with the panic going on.

The music is simple but effective, the tuba instrument starts quiet with a low tempo and gradually gets louder and a faster tempo which gives the audience the feeling that the shark attack is getting closer and closer to happening. Very effective music put into a brilliant film.

Understanding the relationship between sound and picture

Moving image production

Film: emotive music in film, soundtrack and theme tunes.

Animation: cartoon and cgi.

TV: theme tunes

Underscore: for example when jaws is about to kill it plays a scary soundtrack that builds up tension with the viewer.

Diegetic sound: the opposite is non- diegetic or extra- diegetic.

Use of sound in websites:

Sound apps: used on smartphones such as iPhones.

Game: game soundracks, game sound effects such as explosions and gunshots

Adverts: indents, emotional adverts for charity and soundtrack.

Soundtrack

Instrumental:

Genres of music: pop, punk, rock, classical, dubstep, R&B, D&B and ect…

Ambient:

Foley:

Dialogue:

Natural sound:

Rhetorical:

Audio book (kindle): sound effects

Instrumental:

Soundtrack production

Avoid using music that has already been made:

Creative skills:

Use your imagination:

Basic I.T skills:

Understanding your environment:

Knowledge of software:

Knowing of places to record:

Microphone:

Analysing Music/ Musical ingredients...

Instrumentation: The composition or arrangement of music for instruments; orchestration

Tempo: The speed at which a musical composition is, or is supposed to be, performed: it is indicated by such notations as allegro, andante, etc. or by reference to metronome timing

Dynamics: The effect of varying degrees of loudness or softness in the performance of music

Rhythm: Rhythm is a recurring movement of sound or speech

Melody: A sequence of single tones, usually in the same key or mode, to produce a rhythmic whole; often, a tune, air, or song

Texture: The melodic and harmonic relationships of musical materials

Harmony/Keys:A system of related notes or tones based on and named after a certain note (keynote, tonic) and forming a given scale; tonality

Structure: The layout of a music pattern, for example where the keys for the piano song are placed.

Sfx: sound effects, eg bangs and crashes to add effects/SFX to the song