Category Archives: Research

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Tutorial

Tutorial- Related to LO2

I had a tutorial with my tutor Lee Gretton, We overlooked some parts of the film and he gave me some advice on how to improve. Firstly, was to make sure i am getting rid of any out of sync sound. In the dining room scene, there were plate hits that weren’t meant to be there. After the meeting a scanned through the film editing rooming tiny bits of out of sync noises, that i hadn’t noticed before. The other thing Lee pointed about about the film is in the garage scene, the radiator sound in the background was good in the way it puts you in suspense. However the level and sound of this changed slightly every so often which loses the edge and makes you think it is a sound put in the background of the film. Therefore i made the rev leant changes to stop this.

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Dialogue editing, Foley, atmospheres, SFX Research and Process

Related to LO2

This post will look into some of the research i conducted and how i used that in the process of dialogue editing, atmospheres, foley and SFX.

The first thing i started was the dialogue editing. This would then determine on how much of everything else i would need to do. It would determine any foley i needed to do, atmospheres i have to create, and any ADR that was needed. However ADR was not possible due to time restrictions and actors availability therefore i had to make sure that the dialogue was as best as it could be.

For my research on dialogue editing i used a book by John Purcell: Dialogue editing fo emotion pictures-A guid to the invisible art. This was a very useful text, as it explained the role, how to get started, how to fix certain problems etc.

“A dialogue editor is responsible for every sound that was recorded during the shot. She takes the more or less finished dilm from the picture editor, makes sense of the edited sounds, organises them, finds out what works and what doesn’t. The dialogue editor wades through the outages to find better articulations quieter passages, sexier breaths, and less vulgar lip smacks…Dialogue editors work to remove the filming from the film. Dolly squeaks, camera noise, crew rustling, and light buzzes must go; otherwise, the magic of the movies is comprised.” (Purcell, 2007, 1)

So, just what is the dialogue editor’s part in this process:

To organise and mange the material.

To smooth the transitions between shots so conversations appear to be happening in the same place at the same time

To fix articulation problems, overlaps and language issues.

To address unwanted, unseemly actor noises.

To pay attention to changes and adds that will enhance the story or motivate characters’ actions.

to remove unwanted external noises

To replace sections of dialogue corrupt by distortion, wind, clothing rustle, boom handling and the like.

To determine what can be saved through the editing

Before i started this process i wanted to make sure i was prepared. Therefore read some of the chapters in Purcell’s book and used them as a reference when having any issues with the dialogue editing. The chapters that were particularly useful included:

Getting started on dialogue editing

This chapter was extremely useful in outline the necessary preparation before going ahead and diving into the dialogue editing. It suggests the best ways in which to set up, syncing an OMF file, using a template session etc. For this process I used my own template that i created previously. The template i created was created in reference to the pro told template we were given by grant Bridgman. However i simplified this a bit more for my benefit.

Screen Shot 2015-12-03 at 12.19.57 (2) Screen Shot 2015-12-03 at 12.52.00 (3)

Grants template on the right, mine on the left.

Now the actual editing

This chapter gives an outline of the dialogue editing process. It talks about checker boarding the audio files on tracks, organising scenes into shots, splitting by sound edits, not picture edits. finding room tone, making edits etc.

Here is an example of my dialogue edit early on in the process.

Screen Shot 2015-12-17 at 12.14.16

Damage repair

This Chapter was especially useful as reference tool for when i needed to overcome an issue with the edit. It starts by talking about the common issues that dialogue editors have and how to repair the issues. It talks about using room tone , and how to use it to repair audio in regards to sounds being there that shouldn’t, and finding literate takes. In which i did for a few occasions where the dialogue was bad quality in the original recording.

The main books I referred to throughout the rest of the editing process included: The foley Grail, Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound, Sound for digital video, The sound effects bible, and Pro tools 101 (to refer to when having any issues with pro tools)

Atmospheres

The majority of atmospheric were either recorded as wild tracks on the day of location recording, or  recorded in previous occasions. The bird recording was recorded previously on a Zoom h4 with stereo microphone in a countryside area. Room tones were recorded on the shooting days, swell as some of the wind noises. The wind was especially goo to record on the shooting days because of how strong it was. However some sounds such as the clock ticking and the howling wind int he last scene where found in a sound effects library. The atmosphere of the garage scene was given to me by a friend. He recorded a fridge using a contact microphone. This was perfect for what i wanted as it had a nice low frequency sound that worked well with the scene.

Due to lack of time and studio space, swell as the creative decision, i chose to only use slight subtle parts of foley. The books: The sound effects bible and The Foley Grail, were great references to refer to, especially if i wanted to create some big hollywood style sound effects. However foley was only used in certain sections. As i haven’t had much experience in foley, i felt that if i over done it, the mistakes would have especially shown in such a silent film.Screen Shot 2015-12-08 at 20.53.25

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Director Meeting

Related to LO2

Before i Cracked on with the editing process, i felt that it was necessary to meet up with the director and go through the film, making notes of what he wants, and some pre editing notes of my own. The notes of the scene by scene breakdown is as followed:

S1- Bedroom

Tidy Up dialogue

Sort out outside Sounds

Add atmosphere- bird sounds from outside and clock sound in bedroom

S 2-7

Improve dialogue

Add room tone

Sound of Shafer’s steps when leaving the room – 11 steps, 5 going down the stairs

Atmos leakage from outside (birds)

When Joan starts putting jacket on clock gets louder

Around 1.51 Fridge closes and Joan can here shader cooking from downstairs. (Add in chopping, sizzling of pan, extractor fan.)

Turning off extractor fan and laying cutlery, (still from joins perspective upstairs

Dining Room

Sound of Joan going down stairs from Shafer’s perspective when he looks up

Atmos, perhaps leakage from conservatory

Tidy Up Dialogue

Remove out of sync sounds

S8 Garage

Fan/ fridge atmosphere

S9- Joan’s Room

Outside sounds, bird chatters, Positive sounding

Foley- Movement of head on pillow

S10- Garage

Plastic snap from tubes

Fan/fridge sound

Tidy up dialogue

S11- Stairs

Clean Up

S12- Conservatory

Water droplets when paint brush hits water

Turn Down Clothing sounds

Clear sound breaths

Shot to Shafer, different sounding atmosphere, scratch sound when he rubs his beard

Breathing important at end

S13- Dream Scene

Fast hitting of elephant grass when running

11:04 exaggerated rip- music starts

Sound of footsteps, that transition into Shafer’s footsteps to the next scene

S14- Night time In Garden

Night time atmos- wind through trees/Crickets

Joans room- Quieter sounding night time atmos

S15- Garden Scene

Tidy Up Dialogue

Add Footsteps

Get rid of crew footsteps when Shafer is wheeling the chair

Kick of Wheelchair and hitting the bush

S16

Atmos- Strong wind, perhaps a crows, sense of darkness

Foosteps as Shafer Walks

Drop atmosphere as Joan starts standing up

Music Fades in

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Roles in the industry

LO3: To research the role & relationship between  different audio professionals in the film industry and clearly identify how my role matches up with the project

I wanted to look into the different roles and relationships in the audio for film industry and reflect on how the roles match my role with the project. There are many roles I have had to play in this project, where on a larger project, would have different people doing each role.

This blog post will look into Some of the different roles and use texts to define these roles.

Grant Bridgeman simple workflow diagram

In John Purcell’s book dialogue editing for motion Pictures, he has written a chapter called: The sound department. This has listed many of the players roles in the post production sound process. In ‘Practical Art of motion Picture Sound’, Yewdall also mentions the role of the location Sound recording team.

Screen Shot 2015-12-17 at 14.19.22

Role Definition How this matches up with my role in the project.
Sound Mixer “Responsible for the quality of the sound recordings on set, the head of the recording team in the sound mixer. During Preproduction the sound mixer insults with the producer and director on the best ways to tackle the recording challenges of the production Sound. “ (Yewdall, 2003, 49)
Boom Operator “The boom operator has an incredibly important position; if he or she does not get the microphone into the right position at the proper moment, the actor’s voice is off-axis and sounds off-mike. “ (Yewdall, 2003, 49)
Cable Man “The cable man used to be known as the “third man.” He or she is also known as the sound utility and, when a second microphone boom is needed, the cable man wields it. The cable man literally clears the microphone cables and keeps the boom operator from backing into things or banging into props.” (Yewdall, 2003, 50) As stated a typically film will have around 3 people in the location sound team. The comparison between these roles and my roles, is is because there was only one of me, i had to simplify the roles slightly, swell as asking the picture crew in the odd few occasions to boom if necessary, and stopping me from banging into things. This job proved rather difficult, as i had to juggle sound mixing, boom oping and be wary of cables and objects in my way also.
Supervising Sound editor “The boss. Commonly the only member of the sound team hired directly by the production and usually selected by either the director or the picture editor. “ (Purcell, 2007, 43) This was my overall role in post production. Where a Usually supervising Sound editor would hire out a team to do the below jobs, i was also doing these below jobs. Therefore was in charge of managing myself.
Sound Designer “This term was used to describe specialists subordinate to the supervising sound editor who were called in to make the sound for extrordanry scenes or to crete specific moods” (Purcell, 2007, 44) Most of the sound design i used in the project was setting the mood, through things such as atmospheres. This includes the use of birds to create a positive feel and the radior sound to keep the audience on edge. However this role was also in a way undertaken by the music composer, as he created sounds, and low frequency sounds that effectively impacted the mood of the scenes
Assistant Sound editor “Her role, far less defined than in the past, ranges from obtaining and preparing all necessary material from the picture department to setting up and managing the cutting room, locating alternate takes, and fending off the world.” (Purcell, 2007, 44) This is another important part of the role i undertook, to ensure i could undertake the other roles of post production, i needed to ensure i acquired and prepared the necessary pastoral from the picture department. As well as making sure i am constantly liaising with them to make sure everything is good throughout the process.
Apprentice “They help the sound editors by loading and archiving sound materials, transcribing scene, and performing similar tasks. “ (Purcell, 2007, 44) This role can sometimes be overlooked, working on previous projects it was useful having someone doing little things like this in the project, it makes a huge difference.
Sound effects editors “Sound effects editors often specialised in certain types of actions. On smaller films, its common for the supervising sound editor or sound designer to do at least some of the sound effects editing. “ (Purcell, 2007, 44) As stated in the definition, its common for other roles to undertake this role. A lot of time was spent on this, although small amounts of sound effects, there was a lot of time spent on editing the location audio sound effects.
Dialogue Supervisor or Dialogue editor The dialogue supervisor (big films) or dialogue editor (small films) is responsible  for all production sound editing. (Purcell, 2007, 45) This was one of the first roles undertaken in post production. Usually the different departments will work on different stems such as dialogue, as shown above in the diagram. However i had to do them one by one. To determine the amount of other work such as foley, sfx, atmospheres, the dialogue editing was the first thing i did in regards to actual editing.
ADR Supervisor or ADR editor Inevitable, certain lines will need to be rerecorded after the shoot. The ADR supervisor works with the director and picture editor, to create a list of lines in need of rerecording. (Purcell, 2007, 44)
ADR Engineer

ADR, or “postsync,” is recorded in a studio, but must perfectly match dialogue

that was recorded in a limitless number of locations. The ADR engineer

selects and places the microphones, manipulates the electronics, and positions

the actors for the best match to the original recording.

 If any ADR was needed, i would of undertaken both of these roles. This would of involved me liaising with the director and getting the best performances out of the actors. However this was not needed in the end of the process.
Foley Supervisor

Every film needs some help from Foley, which at the very least is used to

cover holes caused by ADR and fi x a few disastrous omissions of action. As

budgets increase, Foley can take on an ever escalating narrative role, adding

color, texture, and character. The Foley supervisor collects requests

from all of the sound editors as well as the supervising sound editor and the

director and picture editor, and then compiles the complex list of sounds and

props needed. He supervises the Foley recording sessions as well as the

editing, often carried out by an army of Foley editors.
Foley Walker and Foley Recording Engineer

Together these Foley artists bring you the actual sounds that liven up the

track, enhance the drama, and cover gaps. The Foley walker must figure out

which prop or shoe/surface combination will produce the right sound, and

the Foley engineer is responsible from all technical considerations, from

microphone placement to track layout.
Foley Editors

Whether footsteps or key jangles, most Foley has to be edited after the recording

session. Foley editors must, of course, get everything into sync, but that’s

the most superfi cial aspect of their work. Rearranging a series of footsteps

for maximum dramatic effect or structuring the elements of a body fall

to suggest more than meets the eye is their job. Dedicated Foley editors

won’t be found on smaller fi lms. Instead, other editors will handle this

responsibility.

 Once the dialogue editing and atmospheres were done i moved onto foley. Again i undertook all three of the foley roles. However did in the end have to recruit someone else for some of the foley sessions as i could not perform the movements and record from afferent rooms.
Music Editor

Few people understand the music department. For one thing, the music editor

often reports directly to the director, not to the supervising sound editor, and

so usually is a bit of an outsider. She must work closely with the fi lm’s composer

to “fi t” the score onto the fi lm and seduce acquired music into the fi lm’s

structure.

 This role was undertaken by the composer and myself. The composer, who i have worked with many times before in a sound editing basis, used the sound from the picture locked film to edit the music into the sound effectively. Once sent the music i then edited some of the fades and levels of different sections of the music. I also needed to import the music file at the end of the film and automated the levels of that.
Rerecording Mixer

Sooner or later the fi lm gets mixed. The mixer has to make sense of the scores

of tracks generated by the sound guys. Somehow, it usually works. The rerecording

mixer almost always works for the studio that mixes the fi lm. He’s

the ultimate source of answers to the question: Can you fix this in the mix?

In many ways a sound postproduction crew is hierarchical. There are apprentices,

assistants, editors, and a supervisor. This may ruffle some egalitarian

feathers, but the system is designed to constantly train the next wave of

editors. Study all you want, but editing is still largely learned on the job, and

nothing beats working under an experienced craftsperson.

 Also undertaking the role of this. I was required to bounce out the stems i had created and set the right levels to make sure the balance of levels in the film sounded as good as possible. I did however liase with the director on many occasions swell as showing the film to several other audio students to see what they though of the mix. I also Made sure that i listened to the mix on several devices, include a laptop which is most likely to be played on.

 

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The shoot

This post is related to LO1

There were 6 shooting days between the 10th November and the 20th November. The main location was in a house, garden and in a crop field.

The first 4 shooting days were in the house and garden. Within the house, scene locations took place in a bedroom, stairway, kitchen, dining room and hallway. There were different challenges within this. I found that it was very difficult to boom in the house as there was limited space.

Because the film doesn’t have much dialogue, i was mainly recording movements and breaths. Therefore had to try and get the boom as close as possible. I attached radio mics to the actors for the majority of the time to capture breaths and dialogue.

Location Sound recording.

The location recording process required recording in a range of different environments and adapting to those environments to ensure the best quality recording. The main issue was with outside scenes, that being because of the wind noise. The other issue was with noises leaking from the outside or other rooms. As well as sometimes not being able to get close enough.

In the recording process i used a windscreen. “Windscreens are essential in virtually all video applications because just moving the mic even indoors creates win that can cause obvious low-frequency noise, which progresses up through being so bad that the signal from the mic may intermittently bobble or be cut off as the wind blows the diaphragm into extreme positions.” (Holman, 2005, 64)

This was used in all cases including all indoor and outdoor scenes. However the windscreen wasn’t enough for outside locations as it was extremely windy throughout the recording process. therefore when it came to outsider shots i attached a windjammer. “In more extreme cases outdoors, the silk windscreen can be covered with a windjammer, a furry covering that progressively reduces the air velocity as it encounters denser fur toward the inside of the device lowing down the air velocity with which the internal windscreen must deal. “ (Holman, 2005, 65)

To deal with not being able to get the boom mic close enough attached a radio LAV mic to each actor in scenes that contained dialogue. This helped with regards to picking up other sounds such as planes going past in doors and other atmos sounds that i didn’t want to pick up. Other issues included noises leaking from other rooms, outside and crew noises in which i ensured there more than one take when i noticed any strange noises in the takes.

Ric Viers wrote in his book ‘The Sound effects bible’ Ten commandments a sound recordist should follow for a professional recording. The commandments are as followed:

“Thou Shalt Have a Pre-Roll and Post-Roll of Two Seconds on Each Recording.

Thou Shalt Record More Than You Need.

Thou Shalt Slate Every Take with as Much Information as Possible.

Thou Shalt Check Thy Levels Often.

Thou Shalt Listen to Thy Work by Always Wearing Headphones.

Thou Shalt Eliminate All Background Noise.

Thou Shalt Not Interrupt a Take.

Thou Shalt Point the Microphone at the Sound.

Thou Shalt Check Thy Equipment Before Going Into the Field.

Thou Shalt Remember the Copyright Laws to Keep Them Unbroken”

The majority of these commandments were used throughout the location sound recording process. However it was particularly difficult to follow the commandment “though shalt check thy levels often.” Although i was checking levels as much as possible, being a one man team had many limitations, one of them being i had to concentrate more on the positioning of the boom than checking the levels. If i was constantly looking back and forth, i would end up producing noise when recording a take. Therefore if i was to do the location recording again, i would make sure i had another team member, one for checking the levels, recording and taking notes; and one for booming.

Sound report

During the recording process i used a sound log to record the file name, and comments of each shot. This will prove useful in the post production process when looking at other takes for better recordings etc. “The sound report is the key to the mixer’s hard work and efforts; it is the road map of what is on the recored tape and where to find it… The most valuable notes are those regarding wild tracks (listed as WT). When I begin a project, I immediately get a copy of the mixer’s sound reports and quickly scroll through them, looking for wild tracks or miscellaneous recordings that may determine what other recordings a may need to refer to or authorise to have done. It is equally as important to list a shot in which there is no sound. For one reason or another it may be decided to shoot a set-up in which the sound mixer is not rolling sound. “ (yewdall, 2003, 55) Here is an example of what the sound log looked like:

Example of my sound report.

Screen Shot 2015-12-16 at 18.18.32

However during the filming it was quite difficult for me to record all notes, swell as trying to boom, record, and continuously checking levels. Therefore on some shooting days it was very difficult to keep on top of.

“Truthfully, the best sound recording can be obtained by holding the fish pole high above your head and pointing the microphone at a downward, but slightly tilted, angle, aiming right at the throat of the actor. Some boom operators will tell you that the ideal target to aim the directional pattern at is the brig of the nose. others will tell you they aim at the upper chest, where the voice originates” (Yewdall, 2003, 65)

The three main microphone techniques in use to produce coverage are boom, lavaliere on the actor/subject, and a planted mic on the set/ location…. Planted microphones have their place too. In situations where an actor or subject is moving through set or location, there may be positions where a boom can’t follow, such as through a doorway where it would have duck into the picture. page (Holman, 2005, 49)

In my production i used a planted microphone in a few situations. There first being the art scene, in which i planted a radio microphone on the painting. This was because it was hard to get the boom in the right place for recording breaths, therefore i wished to plant a microphone to give me more choice of recordings to pick from. The other is the first scene where Joan is on the phone. The room was quite tight, especially with the crew in the room, therefore hid a microphone in the plant pot on the window ledge. Incase the radio mic attached to the subject recorded poorly the there was another one close to the subject.

Recording reflection. The two most difficult limitations i saw in this process was having a one person team. This proved difficult when trying to do a multitude of jobs in one, and i feel like that may of reflected in the quality of some of the recordings. The other limitation was lack of space, this sort of links with the other limitation as if i had another person i wouldn’t of needed to carry around a huge mixer bag. This would of been easy to get into tighter spaces and get the boom microphone closer to the subject.