Tag: GR4

How to navigate + interpret this blog

13421070 / / Process Management

This post explains how to navigate and interpret this blog, and provides some useful links.

The video of Descent is available below via Youtube.

A stereo .wav of the audio track can be downloaded here –

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mjuk0ill37mgev0/V4%20-%20DESCENT_ST_FULL_050516.wav

 

Markers please note –

It is easiest to navigate this blog via the pages tabs.

Each post ends with a summary of the relevant learning outcomes it attempts to address with reference to marking criteria document.

Learning outcomes are numbered as per the original synopsis and overview of the project post, and the sections or paragraphs of any given post which address a specific learning outcome are annotated throughout.

All posts which address a specific outcome can be accessed using the wordpress tag for that learning outcome. All these tags are available at the bottom of this and the original synopsis and overview post.

 

 

 

DESCENT – Final Appraisal

13421070 / / Descent Contrib., Individual Reflection, Process Management

(Outcomes – GR 1,2,3,4,5 + IN1 + PER4)

Having completed the final mix of Descent, this post will comprise an appraisal of issues with the artifact as it stands.

The main issue was with dialogue during editing and premix, with the close shot scenes around the kitchen table particularly problematic as the room they took place in has the most horrendous honky reverb which acted like the classic tiled bathroom reverb on all the dialogue, worsening as the actor’s projected more. This reverb was largely removed with Izotope RX, and some EQ’s applied to the dialogue at the same time. However, the dialogue takes were presumably not tested together prior to the mix phase (dialogue edit and mix were carried out by two different people), where it was discovered that any dialogue which is both boomed and collected from a radio mic on the same actor is close to 180 degrees out of phase, obviously closer to this amount relative to the shot, as the boom was able to be placed closer to the actor.

IMG_0398

You can clearly see the reversed phase in the photograph above. I can surmise that the outputs on the university radio mics and the MKH boom microphones are wired to opposite polarities, and this wouldn’t have been noticed on set because the master mix I use when monitoring the incoming audio was always split into stereo, with one side comprising radio mics and the other comprising the boom and other mics. When these were mixed together in the scenes however, noticable phase cancellation occurs. The combination of this and the processing in RX left the dialogue lacking body, and dangerously thin in places, whilst attempts to correct this using channel EQ consumed a large amount of time in mix. This finally necessitated the recutting of the main dialogue-heavy kitchen scenes after the first pass mix had been completed as we collectively felt it simply wasn’t up to standard, and the dialogue is still not perfect in the finished version. [GR3,5,IN1]

The mixture of production audio and foley is also a fine art and Descent uses a lot of audio from the set for the busier scenes. It was not always possible to perfectly match the perspectives of the actual set with the sounds we created in foley, and the artificial reverbs and different room tones are occasionally noticeable.

Moving on to the effects of our collaboration on the production of Descent, this particular film was very much a group effort. The script and planning phase benefited from a great deal of input from other team members, I had the choice of two composers for the project and was able to go with the one whose approach best suited the director. In post, both foley and dialogue editing tasks were split to other group members, and the final mix was heavily collectively appraised, overruling my preference and leading to an 11th hour dialogue remix which improved the issues described above. This film would definitely have been worse without the group approach, and my own time would have been less efficiently spent for certain. [GR1, PER4]

In terms of feedback on the production, I sent the following to the director and producer:

“The core team for Descent were exceptional, transcending the standard of many of the student productions with which I’ve become acquainted this year. All communication was prompt, consistent and professionally managed, production plans and details were communicated with plenty of time, and included opportunities for audio recces of the set and a sensible regime of pre-production meetings and test shoots. The production team engaged early with the process of designing the audio dimension of the film and were creative and professional in the way ideas and plans were formed, communicated and allowed to evolve.

On set, the extended production team worked cohesively and largely to a strict schedule with little apparent stress or evidence of issues. Location audio work was a pleasure to manage from my perspective. I strongly recommend any member of the team for roles in future productions and would be pleased to find myself working alongside any of them again in the future.”

In turn, we received glowing feedback from them for the service, which can be viewed in it’s entirety here. [GR1,3,4,5 + IN1 + PER4]

At 17 and a half minutes, the piece is reasonably long for a short student film created in a single term, and I’m proud of managing to sustain the work of carrying this film’s audio through from inception to completion. Whilst it still has a couple of rough edges, I believe it stands up as the first piece of film audio work worthy of portfolio use. One major piece of practical information I have learned from my work here is always monitor and mix your location in mono. The film editors who receive the raw audio before sending back the compiled lists do not benefit from stereo, and monoing at either point would have allowed me to pick up the phase issues on-set and saved time in post. [GR3]

——— 740 Words

KEY POINTS – 

Discussion of some issues in the final mix of Descent – Individual Reflection

  • [GR3] To provide a professional standard of service in respect to location sound recording and post-sound design / mixing.
  • [GR5] To produce soundtracks comprising of foley, SFX, dialogue, music and atmospheres to client specifications that synergistically support the other components of their films.
  • [PER4] To contribute extensively to multiple film productions.

Group involvement in the production of Descent – Process Management

  • [GR1] To professionally operate as a small to medium size company (or other recognisable business entity) in the audio production / post-production field might.
  • [PER4] To contribute extensively to multiple film productions.

Feedback between groups – Professional Practice

  • [GR1] To professionally operate as a small to medium size company (or other recognisable business entity) in the audio production / post-production field might.
  • [GR3] To provide a professional standard of service in respect to location sound recording and post-sound design / mixing.
  • [GR5] To produce soundtracks comprising of foley, SFX, dialogue, music and atmospheres to client specifications that synergistically support the other components of their films.
  • [GR4] To conceive, compose, source and / or produce music to client specifications that synergistically supports the other components of their films.
  • [IN1] To successfully manage the provision of service by the business for the film Descent with regard the assignment of resources, specialisms and working time, liason with the director, editor and producer on a practical and creative level, and communication of information on their needs and requirements for the piece, in order to appraise the efficacy of the collaborative approach to working on the piece – (Supervisor and Company Officer)

Reflection on process and learning – Individual Reflection

  • [GR3] To provide a professional standard of service in respect to location sound recording and post-sound design / mixing.

DESCENT – Sound Design + Feedback Process

13421070 / / Descent Contrib., Individual Reflection, Planning, Process Management

(Outcomes – IN1, GR1, GR4, PER1)

In my capacity as the supervisor for OG Productions managing the film Descent, I’d solicited a list of ideas from the films director about the audio dimension within a week of agreeing the services we would be providing for the film. These were perfunctory in terms of specific links to the film, as would be expected as this stage since no script or storyboard had been completed, but were detailed in terms of reference points from other films. There was also a list of potential choices of diegetic source music tracks for a song playing from a radio at some point in the potential script, as a reference point. At first glance many of these were highly unlikely to be clearable in the context of the film as the film-makers were keeping their options open and requested we clear any material required for the soundtrack for use at film-festivals and for online use in portfolio. [IN1]

Upon arrival of a script and storyboard for Descent some weeks later, the audio team read through the script together in round-table fashion. I’d insisted on this process for OG Audio’s three longer films as it was obvious that our collaborative approach to work could very easily have translated into creative isolation for the supervisors responsible for the less ‘desirable’ films (for example, as some scripts appeared stronger than others, or because of genre preferences for the team) in the pre-production stages. In the case of Descent the ideas session gave rise to two different directions for music for the film, a minimalist approach from Matt and a much more aggressive underscore heavy idea from Alice though with plenty of crossover in terms of pallette and timbre between the two – I felt Alice’s choices were likely better for the film initially. Potential recurrent motifs and key scenes for audio were isolated and a scratch sound-plan with an overview of these ideas created. [IN1 + GR1 + GR4]

Set Recce + Audio Script Meet

I was keen to solicit as much feedback as possible throughout the process of liason with the film group, so this plan was then cross-referenced with the director on a page by page basis at the set-recce and meeting pictured above, enabling me to tweak the plan more to their liking with almost everybody involved in the production present. For example, my preference for a relatively music heavy film was overturned as the director clearly preferred the subtler, more minimal approach to the music design as we described it, and as such I asked Matt to provide the score and music for the film. The meeting also yielded useful discussion on several overall balance issues within the sound design of the piece, such as how far we should be ‘borrowing’ from horror and thriller genres influencing the piece, tropes which were initially suggested by the original reference material provided by the director – It’s more thriller than horror, but only just. [GR4]

This session basically concluded formal pre-production on sound design, though some later correspondence and a second meeting were required to finalise specific elements and introduce a late addition to a scene suggested by the director in the form of an inner monologue which wasn’t present in the script, and which required specific recording time. This became one of several bones of contention in the sound design throughout, the other being scene 3’s radio music cue.

This process enabled me to piece together a master document of specific devices and the general audio arc drawn from the rough sound plan formed the basis for any team members working on the audio for the film in post, and which can be referred to by the director throughout the production.

However, no battle-plan survives contact with production and elements of this sound-script were dropped or changed in reference to the pictures as they arrived, and as the film moved into post I kept up the informal opportunities for the director to feedback on our work as they would often pop in for a listen whilst we were working on the piece. I concluded the feedback process with one more formal meet with the production team post picture-lock and after dialogue editing, foley and composition were complete but prior to mixing, roughly a week before deadline. I also requested our formal feedback at this time by way of the online feedback form I constructed for our use – The responses for Descent can be seen here – which was universally positive, best summed up in the response to an open question which I’ve lifted as a testimonial ‘…the team are extremely professional and skilled at what they do, they have the ability to transform a simple idea into something exceptional.’ [IN1]

Reflecting on this process, it was a good example of a creative collaboration between this audio team, and the director and her team. Ideas, approaches and plans were constantly being tabled, revised, filtered and discarded and the design input was spread roughly as evenly as the workload. The music decision was the main learning aspect for me, since having two composers working on the project in preproduction enabled me to present to vastly distinct approaches to the project in the early stages in some detail, thus prompting the director to a stronger vision of her musical requirements. [PER1]

———————- 900 Words

KEY POINTS – 

Process of liasing with director about sound design requirements during pre and post production – Professional practice, Process Management,

  • [IN1] To successfully manage the provision of service by the business for the film Descent with regard the assignment of resources, specialisms and working time, liason with the director, editor and producer on a practical and creative level, and communication of information on their needs and requirements for the piece, in order to appraise the efficacy of the collaborative approach to working on the piece – (Supervisor and Company Officer)
  • [GR4] To conceive, compose, source and / or produce music to client specifications that synergistically supports the other components of their films.

Driving the collective creative process – Process Management

  • [GR1] To professionally operate as a small to medium size company (or other recognisable business entity) in the audio production / post-production field might.

Reflection on learning – Individual reflection on learning and team role.

  • [PER1]  To develop a better understanding of the pros and cons of business structures, processes, regulations and agreements which might enable film audio producers to collaborate on multiple projects.

 

P + P – Progress Report – March

13421070 / / Individual Reflection, Learning Outcomes, Planning, Process Management

(Outcomes – GR1, 2, 3, 4 + IN1 + PER4)

With completion of our final shooting day on Thursday 24th March, production has now wrapped on all of the five films we’re working on, and even with two shoots substantially over-running their initial dates and requiring numerous reshoots we are currently on track for picture-locks for all of the films more or less on time – all of them are scheduled for today, basically. We have also made  inroads into some substantial aspects of post production for three of the films over the last few weeks, mainly due to a policy of consistently badgering editors for work in progress cuts of the work which have enabled the members of the team not tied up with location work to make a head start on post-production. The team have also been extremely effectively covering one another for location work, with boom ops and supervisors operating interchangably based on who’s available on any given day. [GR1,2,3]

Amusingly, in terms of our expectations vs the reality of production, the most outwardly-organised group of film-makers with the most ambitious ideas in pre-production have ended up being the most heavily behind schedule, whilst the production team with whom we had a horrendously complex experience last semester that caused their project to overrun by some months (and from whom we half-expected issues this term) ran an extremely efficient shoot which completed without need to recourse to their contingency day and without any significant issues whatsoever. [IN1]

Composition is as good as complete for one picture and underway for two others, with work in progress scratch-tracks having been demoed to the relevant supervisors and the rest of the team for feedback purposes in all those cases. Supervisors have remained in close contact with both directors and editors (in some cases these are the same person) for the films they’re managing, and we are now beginning a process of adapting the initial audio plans for our films to the reality of the pictures as they arrive. [GR1,2]

The sci-fi leaning films are the best examples of this process. Since it is extremely difficult to realise a convincing sci-fi vision with little experience or budget, the two films with sci-fi themes have tended to underplay the futuristic elements visually a little. This leaves more room for the audio to do the work of signifying and world-building, but also requires a deft directorial stance not to allow the audio to undermine the visuals where these haven’t quite matched the director’s initial vision. The picture must always dictate the audio and even if the director’s original vision for a scene was much more interesting from a sound design perspective it’s necessary to rein in the largesse at times. [GR4]

In terms of my own contribution, I’ve been on-set for three of the five films including managing the entire location audio operation and subsequent transfers and admin for Descent, have contributed considerably to sound design and foley aspects of Immort and Feel Good, such as they are completed at the moment. As we’ve got into the momentum of production with the crews, administrative requirements for the project have thankfully slackened off somewhat. [PER4]

My hours spent on the project for March have broken down roughly as follows, not including academic aspects such as blogs or research –

March Total = 101
Admin – 16
Meets – 7
Location – 52
Creative Work – 24.5
Other – 1.5

Our main issue this month has been facilities, as mooted in February’s report. In order to alleviate the pressure on our favoured workspace our institution took the insane decision to cancel 12 of our 38 booked sessions and drastically shorten another 8. This destroyed our post-production schedule at a stroke, and created a veritable storm of admin in planning and rebooking work. We tried to rationalise this into real world terms as if some kind of technical catastrophe had befallen the facility, but practically we have lost any hint of a margin for error on the part of any of the films and experienced another ballooning of administrative time for the project as a consequence. [GR1,2]

The main impact of this complication in terms of the team was morale, since most of us were flat-out on set with little time to think about the ramifications or spend time replanning our post work for the films. As the situation here is now somewhat fluid (it is impossible to say whether the Sound Theatre will actually be available to use for two days of each week until we get to the day), we are setting our work priorities on a week by week basis, with desired outcomes for each film set at the production meeting at the beginning of said week. We’re confident we can manage the films as long as they remain on schedule which, at the present time, largely appears likely.

In the interest of staying ahead of the game the priority for each supervisor going forward is now to decide who will be performing the final mixing of each of their films and where this person will be performing said mix, and then setting a deadline for it’s completion, the latter preferably in confluence with the director of their film. Aside from the benefit of a solid deadline, this will enable a process of centralisation of the data from aspects of audio production for each film which is now being split across multiple people in different environments (our composers are tending to work at home, for example) which will hopefully avoid too many data management and compatibility issues as the aspects of the films come together. [GR1, 2]

——————————————– 950 words

KEY POINTS – 

Overview of situation generally for the project and specifically for the film Descent –Professional practice, Process Management.

  • [GR1] To professionally operate as a small to medium size company (or other recognisable business entity) in the audio production / post-production field might.
  • [GR2] To organise and fulfil an operating strategy and schedule which deals with multiple productions simultaneously, and which maximises efficiency and minimises issues or risks to delivery.
  • [IN1] To successfully manage the provision of service by the business for the film Descent with regard the assignment of resources, specialisms and working time, liason with the director, editor and producer on a practical and creative level, and communication of information on their needs and requirements for the piece, in order to appraise the efficacy of the collaborative approach to working on the piece – (Supervisor and Company Officer)

Breakdown of work carried out in March – Contribution

  • [GR3] To provide a professional standard of service in respect to location sound recording and post-sound design / mixing.
  • [GR4] To conceive, compose, source and / or produce music to client specifications that synergistically supports the other components of their films.

Collective creative process – Process Management

  • [GR1] To professionally operate as a small to medium size company (or other recognisable business entity) in the audio production / post-production field might.
  • [GR2] To organise and fulfil an operating strategy and schedule which deals with multiple productions simultaneously, and which maximises efficiency and minimises issues or risks to delivery.

Contribution specifics – Contribution

  • [PER4] To contribute extensively to multiple film productions.


Reflection on process of adapting audio plans and outcome of facilities issues– Individual reflection on learning and team role

Project Overview, individual film synopses and Learning Outcomes

13421070 / / Contribution, Learning Outcomes, Project Overview

Semester B – Audio Project 2 Group Members

Alice Asbury – aliceasbaudioproject2.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk

Gareth Bailey – gbaup3semb.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk

Anthony Belcher – ap2anthony.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk

Rory Hunter – roryhunteraudio.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk

Matthew Jones – aptwo.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk

 

Project Overview

The students will collaborate to provide audio services ranging from location recording, post-production sound design / mixing and music composition to five films as a research exercise focussed on managing and completing multiple projects in an appropriate way.

The five films consist of two 15 – 20 minute short films, one 10 – 12 minute short film, one 4 – 6 minute short film and one 3 – 4 minute animation. The films are detailed below along with the relevant group member designated as it’s project manager. This person will act as main point of contact for their designated director / producer, will direct the overall sound design of the piece, and will manage the allocation of resources to the project.

The entire group are jointly responsible for the final quality (with reference to individual and collaborative contributions to the soundtrack of the films) and delivery (with reference to individual and collective contributions to the day to day running of the Omni-Gaffer Productions ‘business’) of all five films as one artifact.

 

Film Synopsis and Details

Remember – Garden Gnome Films

Dilpret Rall – Director/Producer/Editor

Olivia Thompson – Camera/Producer/Editor

Client Sound Requirements: location sound recording, music composition, post-production sound design/mixing.

Synopsis (15 – 20 minutes):

Remember is a film that tells the story of a man’s life told by his family and friends. Arthur is a strong and caring man who is tragically put into a coma after an accident. In hospital he is visited by his friends and family, they share stories around the bed and paint a vivid picture of his amazing life.

Audio Project Manager: Anthony Belcher – ap2anthony.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk
Feel Good – Big Blue Bear Productions

Fiona Shaw – Producer

Thomas Love – Director/Writer

David Devine – Writer/Location Sound

Kane Brookes – Cinematographer

Client Sound Requirements: music composition, post-production sound design/mixing.

Synopsis (15 – 20 minutes):

Feel Good is set in a near future where a ground breaking discovery has made it possible to bottle and market emotions.

Audio Project Manager: Alice Asbury

 

Descent – Extant Films

Shaun Standring – Producer/Writer

Angelin Selvanathan – Director

Charlotte Hughes – Art Director

Client Sound Requirements: location sound recording, music composition, post-production sound design/mixing.

Synopsis (10 – 12 minutes):

A short psychological drama which mainly follows one character as he goes about his life inconspicuously, however, it soon turns out he has underlying issues that come to the surface as the plot thickens.

Audio Project Manager: Gareth Bailey

 

Immort – dir. Jacob Redfern

Holly Oakes – Producer

Jacob Redfern – Director/Writer/Editor

Nicholas Thornthwaite – Cinematographer

Samantha Dos Santos – VFX Artist

Lyon Owen – VFX Artist

James Smillie – VFX Artist

Client Sound Requirements: location sound recording, music composition, post-production sound design/mixing.

Synopsis (4 – 6 minutes):

Immort, is a sci-fi short film with the dystopian theme of humanity being immortal due to the public distribution of nanobots. The protagonist Sici is dissatisfied with how little control she has over her fully automated life. Through technological experimentation, Sici makes an attempt to end her life. The film questions the purpose of living when you can never die. 

Audio Project Manager: Matthew Jones

 

Catastrophe/Sour Puss – Team Cipher

Esther Langan – Animator

Holly Burch – Animator

Jameela Howard – Animator

Konstantinos Zacharakis – Animator

Natalie O’Connell – Animator

Client Sound Requirements: music composition, sound design/mixing.

Synopsis (3 – 4 minute animation):

Starts with a shot of a cat waking up to the sound of a doorbell. It watches its owner walk to the door, receive a package, then walk into the kitchen. The cat follows her in; where there is a bowl bad tasting cat food is waiting for him. He looks dissatisfied and watches as his owner opens a cupboard and stretches for something at the back of the top shelf. A bowling ball (that is on the top shelf) with a little paw print on it starts to roll down and hits the owner on the head, knocking her out. As she lies on the floor, the cat stares at her stoically. It cuts to the cat washing his paws, then walking upstairs, to the owner’s bedroom. He dresses up as his owner and essentially takes her place.

Audio Project Manager: Rory Hunter



Group Aim

To manage the process of creating the above soundtracks collectively, and to deliver these soundtracks to a good standard and to the client’s specifications.

Group Objectives

  • [GR1] To professionally operate as a small to medium size company (or other recognisable business entity) in the audio production / post-production field might.
  • [GR2] To organise and fulfil an operating strategy and schedule which deals with multiple productions simultaneously, and which maximises efficiency and minimises issues or risks to delivery.
  • [GR3] To provide a professional standard of service in respect to location sound recording and post-sound design / mixing.
  • [GR4] To conceive, compose, source and / or produce music to client specifications that synergistically supports the other components of their films.
  • [GR5] To produce soundtracks comprising of foley, SFX, dialogue, music and atmospheres to client specifications that synergistically support the other components of their films.

Outcomes and Learning in the context of Moving Picture Industry roles

  • [IN1] To successfully manage the provision of service by the business for the film Descent with regard the assignment of resources, specialisms and working time, liason with the director, editor and producer on a practical and creative level, and communication of information on their needs and requirements for the piece, in order to appraise the efficacy of the collaborative approach to working on the piece – (Supervisor and Company Officer)
  • [IN2] To develop a better understanding of the craft and industry of a Dubbing Mixer, and to contribute to the dub mixing required for presentation of the artifact – (Dubbing Mixer)
  • [IN3] To better my understanding of sound design with at least some reference to the science fiction genre – (Sound Effects Editor)

Personal Learning Outcomes

  • [PER1]  To develop a better understanding of the pros and cons of business structures, processes, regulations and agreements which might enable film audio producers to collaborate on multiple projects.
  • [PER2] To develop a better understanding of the wording and content of contracts, rates and rate cards offered in the film audio field.
  •  [PER3] To expand my knowledge of the theory of and audio techniques deployed in films similar to or influential upon those we will deliver.
  • [PER4] To contribute extensively to multiple film productions.