LO4: Sound Effects File

 Unit 16 - Sound Effects - All foley sound effects created - On their own.

Astralite: A History - First Draft. No sound effects/extra sound effects added at this point.

Astralite: A History - Final Draft/Completed Film. Sound effects/extra sound effects now all added. 

https://youtu.be/EEuVlG0HcO0

Feedback: - https://forms.gle/rQ9NnvghrcPihCad7

Responses:

1:

Evaluation and Audience Feedback:

When creating the foley and sound effects for my documentary, I made sure that I had sufficient pre-production work in place including a Location Recce, Mindmap, and Recording Log where if any risks impacted my editing or recording further down the line I would be able to recover. My original idea for what my sound project would pair with was my Unit 14 - Radio production, however I struggled with the timing and logistics of what foley and sound effects I would be able to create, I therefore chose to use my Unit 5 - Short Film instead. My Unit 5 is a short historical motorsport documentary. This choice gave me more creative liberty and diversity in regards to what sound effects and foley I could create, the film would also be significantly longer than a radio production and therefore would give me more opportunities to input sound effects alongside the existing diegesis. I began recording my sound effects at home using my home microphone, laptop and the audio program Audacity. This was a better option than recording at UTC as I had access to a wider array of items/props to use for Foley work which meant I could have more divisiveness about the sound choices I made. I also didn't need to seek permission to access the recording studio (so I could record whenever possible.) I recorded multiple takes of each sound effect and played them alongside my documentary to check if they matched the existing audio. My foley work included someone coughing/clearing their throat, paper being shuffled, paper being stacked, and metal being dropped/ worked with. This all combined to make an efficient and effective post-production process. 

The feedback I gained from my Google Form questionnaire suggests that the sounds used in my film made a noticeable different to the audience's experience/enjoyment of the film. Such as the music being suitable for the time period that the film is set in. However, in some areas I turned up the volume of the music to add more impact. The overwhelming majority also said that the sound effects I added were all necessary to the overall diegesis and they all added something. Sound effects I added in included paper rustling and coughing, again, the same with music I changed the audio mixer in areas so it sounded cleaner but not overpowering that it takes away from what the interview is about. People also noted that the sound effects matched the time of when it is set. Another thing I would change based on the feedback that I gained from my audience is that I would make time to record sounds of machines as someone stated in the feedback that I could have added motorcycle sound effects. The main reason for this is that I was worried that it would sound too loud and overpower the documentary, this means I could have also experimented more with foley sounds. 

Something I would change or do differently compared to the path I took for this sound project would be having more respect for time management and planning documents that aided that such as a production schedule. This is because I discounted the time it would take to complete all of my pre-production documents and planning as well as how long it would take for recording and editing. This came particularly apparent up until my deadline for unit 5 where a big project took a similar amount of time to finish as the Unit 16 did which was supposed to only aid in its creation. Not adhering to an effective time schedule meant that some parts of my sound project took longer than they should have done and detracted my attention from the more important (and lengthier) parts of my project such as the time it would take to edit and evidence my editing alongside it. This ultimately resulted in my unit drawing too close to a deadline when it really shouldn't have. If my time management had been better and I had focused my attention on the more difficult parts of my unit I feel that some more advanced sound effects could have also been added, which would have elevated the quality of my documentary and created more immersion and escapism for audience members watching. 

The foley effects that I created definitely enhanced my motorsport documentary due to the fact that they were well edited, well timed and fit the conventions of my genres. This is reflected in both my own evaluation as well as the audience feedback I have obtained from the protentional audience and my peers. The effects help create immersion and escapism, and also connote the documentary as being well produced and up to a professional standard. The first sound effect that can be heard is the clearing throat. I listened to the foley effect at a mixture of different pitches and speeds to see which one fit the tempo and speed of my documentary the best. I made the settings similar to how the original was as I had purposefully shuffled the paper slowly as the background diegetic music has a slow tempo too. The second foley effect I put in was paper being shuffled, arranged and flicked through. I added this close to halfway through my documentary to indicate that either historical documents or the script was being looked through. This creates further immersion for the audience as it creates connotations of them being there in the room and even as part of the production process. The fact that it resembles historical documents also elevates it again to the professional standard of production and suggests the documentary to be factual and trustworthy. I created my third sound effect the metal dropping effect to be short and sharp mimicking the form of a sting. this separates it from the rest of the diegesis and creates a sense of suspense and enigma for the audience raising questions like 'was that a deliberate effect?' This is purposeful as it is meant to connote the dangers of working in a workshop like Tony has for the majority of his life as well as emulate the crash of a motorbike. I put this effect further to the end of my documentary as it is meant to match the section of the documentary where Tony has already invented the Astralite Wheel and has put them into production. 

 

LO4: Creating and recording my foley and sound effects

 Evidence of creating sound effects:

When recording the Foley for my documentary, I used my room at home as it is dampened to the rest of the house. I set up my microphone and mic stand and connected it up to my laptop. Next I opened my Audacity application and got my materials/props I was going to use to make the Foley ready. In Audacity I was able to replay the sound effects as much as I wanted in order to chop and change the clips I used. I could also adjust the audio gain of my clips if they were too loud or too quiet. I opened up the draft of my film Astralite: A History (that I had uploaded to YouTube) to give me inspiration as to what sound effects to create and where to put them in my documentary. I also connected headphones to my computer so I could check the audio quality of my clips more easily and make sure they sounded dietetically accurate.

Equipment used to record creating Sound Effects:

Once I had recorded my first sound effect I rewatched my documentary back through and played my sound effect at the same time to see if they did match up with the existing diegesis. Once I was satisfied that they did, I saved and exported my sound effects in MP3 format and emailed them to my UTC Sheffield account to be edited there. I used my microphone with a cover on for my paper sound effects and for my coughing sound effect, this was to make it sound more muffled and subtle. For my metal effects I took my guard off to get a clearer sound effect.  

Evidence of recording sound effects:

Props used to create sound effects:

After filming the 'easier' sound effects of shuffling paper and coughing both of which were made naturally (paper with paper coughing with actually coughing) I had to think of objects to make metallic sound effects. I followed the same technique as I had earlier where I rewatched my documentary and thought of a place where a metallic sound effect could go and what it could sound like to match the diegesis. Eventually I recorded to different metallic sound effects. The first Foley effect was created by dropping a metal spoon from different angles and different heights next to my microphone. I replayed the effect each time in Audacity to check if it was the sound I wanted. I needed a sharp first hit followed by another softer hit so that I could later edit to sound like a heavier metal object being dropped. 

My second Foley technique took more inspiration still. For this effect I wanted a lighter or duller metal sound. I first tested a metal sharpener but it didn't match what I was looking for. Eventually I chose my metal chain that carries The One Ring. As the heavier ring hit my desk and was followed by the duller thud of the chain soon after. In post - I edited the audio gain and added a sharper pitch. 

LO3: Evidence of Editing for My Sound Project

 Here is the audio files I started out with. My first editing choice was to reduce the volume of each of the audio clips. This was due to them all being much louder than required, though I could do this later in Premiere If need be it made sense to change the volume alongside the other editing whilst in Audition. 

Next for my metallic sound effect I added a delay effect which extended the section of the clip that had the sound effect in it. The extended effect creates more of an impact for the audience. 

In this clip I added the distortion effect to my metal sound in order to make it sound like a heavier piece of metal than it actually is. This helps the sound effect appear more realistic to the audience. 

Here you can see me modifying the different elements of the echo effect such as how long the echo lasts with the delay, how strong the echo is with the feedback and how loud it is with the echo level. 

Here you can see me modifying the volume of the sound effect by manually modifying it. In order to listen to how loud the effect was and match it to what I wanted it to sound like as best as I could I used the loop tool. The loop tool allowed me to listen to the sound effect on repeat and match what I wanted exactly. 

In this screenshot I had moved onto another sound effect of 'clearing throat.' In this sound effect I was using the Stretch and Pitch tool to extend how long the sound effect was. I also increased the audio gain alongside the stretch and pitch to make it sound more realistic and for it to better match my documentaries volume as well as the volume from the rest of my sound effects.. 

In this screenshot I had selected my audio-clip and was decreasing the audio gain to better fit the diegesis and volume of my documentary and other foley sound effects.