Sound

Motion Sketches

Sound Can…• Create POV• Enhance characterisation• Indicate the historical period• Indicate the physical environment• Give a sense of time passing or flashback• Glue shots, sequences and ideas together• Create rhythm• Highlight Transitions

Edison

• Play with reality

• Highlight details on screen for emotional or story impact

• Play against the grain for greater depth

• Suggest a subtext

• Highlight a thematic concern

• Draw on our emotions

• Tell a story

• Let the audience hear what is going on…

See with the earsHear with the eyes

George Miller (Director)

Tease the eye and thereby invite the ear to the party

Randy Thom (Sound Designer)

Bad Sound v Bad Image

• Our tolerance for bad sound is much, much lower than that for bad vision. 60 seconds of out-of-focus, pixelated video has no where near the nauseating effect of 60 seconds of fingernails down a blackboard

Location Sound• Good, clear, unmuddied, balanced and appropriate

sound is the difference between a great film and unwatchable images

• A Soundtrack will give your video depth, complexity and will maintain audience interest.

• Sound design shapes ideas, actions, emotional subtext, tone and other non-verbal communication and rendering them in spatial and kinetic terms

• Sound adds layers of meaning to the ‘content’ of the film: the dialogue, action and the story

• Crap sound will draw attention to itself and will destroy the illusion of your video

• You need to practice sound recording in the same way that you practice framing & camera movement

Sound

• Essential! - without adequate sound you have NOTHING• One of the most important, subtle and powerful tools of

storytelling • Sound recordist & designer can invoke a powerful mood,

spatial sense, texture & provide dramatic tension• Differentiated sound, gives the story and image ‘depth’

making it appear more intense, more potent.• Sound may become a metaphor

Sound Recordists role

• Negotiate with the director and DoP as to what is required, staging, coverage, placement, conditions

• Get in as close as possible to the action

• Communication

• Organisation & Logging - labeling tapes

• Checking sound levels regularly

Recording Tips• Always use Headphones• Calibrate headphones - all headphones are different

& will deliver different sound qualities• Make sure that you check your location set ups -

ensure that the location & time is appropriate • Bad sound can wreck the best image• Always record some atmos tracks for the benefit of

the sound editor• Always slate and/or tag a take so that it can be found.

Insist on a syncing sound• Check all equipment, esp batteries & cables• Do a sound check before recording. • Sound check after recording

Zoom Mics

Mics do not ZOOM !!!

Sound Recording Tips• Mics do not zoom! Get in as close as you can• Set sound levels for the average sound – you want to

record the signal as high (loud) as you can. This provides the best dynamic range. Avoid noise.

• Do not let the signal reach 0 dB. protect against unexpected peaks

• Do sound checks with cast• Do NOT rely only on the Camera Mic - it picks up

everything - you need to focus your audience • Check the edge of frame• Experiment with different mic set ups: boom, lapel

mic, mic hidden on set

• Sound is better if the levels are not changed noticeably during the recording

• Set levels at a compromise but then move the mic closer to softer sounds

• If using different recorders set at different levels -- write this down

• Think of the relationship between the framing of the camera and the sound source

Preparation Tips• Always check all your equipment (twice)• Decide on whether you will double record: in-

camera & external HD• Flash memory card(s), CDs, DVDs• External Firewire drive• Extra cables• Suitable mics for the conditions• Extra batteries for the mic• Notepad & pen for report or recording log• Windshield or windsock to protect mic

Use ambient sounds – there is no such thing as silence!

Choose locations with ambient sound in mind. Try limiting ambient sound but not eliminating it.

Retain consistencyExperiment with different sound editing software

Exercise

• Watch the Nikon D90 intro on weebly vid tutes

• Watch the Zoom and Microtrack vid tutes

• Download Audacity to your computers (free)

• We will make a short video doc in class

Happiness

• 3 interviews in 3 different ambient locations. Indoor, outdoor, ‘unusual’

• Still photographs

• Research

• Write argument

• Compose doco

docos

• Strangers no more trailer

• Dive (trailer)

• Freeheld (trailer)