Evaluation

Overall, I think that Me and Emma have worked really well together in this project. We have taken each other's ideas into consideration throughout planning, production and editing. I have learnt more about Soundtrack Pro by doing this piece and I think this was due to it's constant use and practice. I enjoyed the planning and production of this piece a lot more than the editing stage as I found it quiet strenuous ensuring that every element comes together correctly. 

  I am still not 100% happy with the end result but I think that Me and Emma have tried our best to make it successful. Obvious problems such as sections that are too long could have been improved through recording more sounds to fill it however there was not enough time. We are presenting it tomorrow so I am curious as to what the feedback will be.

Editing

We used a number of different layers to ensure that an effect was not applied to a track that didn't need it.  

We duplicated the sounds of ticking and wind and rain before cutting it to match perfectly with the previous section. This provided us with a base track for the remaining audio to be placed.
We renamed each of the tracks within the right pane of Soundtrack Pro to save time when editing.

We colour co-ordinated the layers:

• Pink = Ticking of the Clock
• Yellow = Narration
• Orange = Wind and Rain Against Window
• Green = Sound Effects

The main effect that we used for this project was 'Channel EQ' to lower the frequencies for both tracks with noise and those that we wanted to create the action of sound being heard through a wall. We also edited some of the dynamics using the 'Compression' effect. This allowed us to lift the volume of some sections of the piece.

 We changed the volume on some of the vocal sounds waveform to make sure that the metre was around the same for each.

Within a section of the piece, the sound of the character typing her assignment gradually fades as the sound effect of a television gets louder. We did this to represent that she was getting bored and gradually beginning to watch the television herself. We created this simple effect by again, changing the volume of each clip in opposite directions so that one would get louder as the other's volume would diminish.

At the end of the audio the continuous ticking sound fades in and out several times. Me and Emma chose to do this to represent the sound of the character falling asleep. I think that this has demonstrated an effective result and ended the audio atmospherically.
We created this effect by individually altering the volume by lifting it for around a second and then bringing it back down. This is done for around 5 seconds in all.

Edit Planning

Here is an example of the planning for the editing element of the piece. We colour co-ordinated the sections on this plan to that on Soundtrack Pro in order to organise our sounds into various categories. These groups included speech, sound effects, the ticking of the clock and the wind and rain against the window.

Call Sheet

Sound Log - Extended

Sound Log

Here is the Sound Log at it's current state, we didn't manage to do all of the recordings today so this will be added to as of tomorrow:

Inspiration

Mark Beaumont Orange TV Advert

  The audio of this video is something that has inspired us with our piece. This being through the way that Beaumont speaks of an action/subject, as we hear it in the background. For example, as he says "i'm my sisters", we hear the sound of children laughing in the background. This is the kind of atmosphere and sense of space that we would like to create for our audio project.

127 Hours

Another example that has inspired us, is the scene within 127 Hours, in which Aron (Played by James Franco) drinks his own urine. The sounds we hear as it looks as though the camera is entering the tubes he drinks from, is something that we would like to acknowledge when recording some sections. For instance, we plan to use a Hydrophone to record the sounds of hands going into a basin of water as someone washes their face.


When discussing the concept of journal entries for our piece, Emma thought of Glee and Sue Sylvester's diary that is read throughout extracts of each episode. Here is a section of the script to portray an example of what we read to gain ideas:

(http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6296224/1/The_Personal_Journal_of_Sue_Sylvester)

We liked the aspect of humour within this script as well as the punctual sentences. We plan to write the entries in past tense and narrate it in a natural and fluent style.

Audio Project - Sense of Space:

Final Idea:

  Today we plan to do most if the recording for the sounds in this project. Our final idea is as follows:

  Like a journal, we here 'snippets' of a woman speaking about the things she goes through in a day. Once spoken, we hear a sound that replicates what she is describing. As this happens, the sound of constant ticking is heard in the background - this is where the concept of time comes into place. The ticking gets gradually faster as the woman is in a rush during the day, and slower as things seem to take 'forever'. The element of space is established through the variety of sounds that demonstrate her day - for example, the silence as she sleeps. However, this silence will still feature some sounds, for example, the wind blowing outside, as well as the ticking of the clock. 

Audio - Some Examples

  During a recent workshop, we listened to some audio's in order to gain inspiration of the Audio Project that has been set. Here are my thoughts on some of the examples:

The Curious Ear: Meat Factory Ear Worms by Richie Beirne

Click to Listen

The track portrays a man's spoken narrative as he talks of his dead end job in a meat factory. He speaks of the tedious repetition of the slaughtering. Ear worms, are what he describes as songs that stick in your mind, and this is what he uses to get through the day. "This is a story of endurance"[1]

I think that this documentary style audio, presented what I feel was an personal and distinctive story. It provided examples of atmosphere, speech, music, silence. The silence in particular added a sense of ambience to the character of the track. This dynamic range of sounds has helped me understand a way of linking them together in an authentic way, and given me ideas for my own project.

Escapism is a large aspect of the piece, demonstrated through the way he expresses the way that 'ear worms' keep him going. 

Child of Ardoyne by Alan Hall

This track demonstrates a number of adults telling their story of "The Troubles" during their childhood in the 1980's. They discuss the new generation of children that live in Ardoyne today and the distinct difference in what was and what is now in relation to the constant war and the IRA. 

From what I understand of this audio, it does not portray a personal story from just one persons point of view, but rather one place.

A sense of space is indicated through the slight atmosphere and sound effects of children playing on the street and cars passing by. 

It is not an abstract piece, but relies primarily on it's delivery in order to gain a response from it's target audience.

Blue Veils and Golden Sands by Delia Derbyshire

Click to Listen 

This piece by Delia Derbyshire is creative and allows the audience's imagination to create a sense of space. The high frequency sounds are reminiscent to sci-fi films, and so when I heard this piece, I immediately thought of the atmosphere surrounding us and that beyond our planet. I think that this track would fit easily into a film's soundtrack however listening to it alone, I feel it becomes repetitive.

The audio was recorded within the 60's and Delia stated about the track that it incorporated her "castrated oboe" [2]

[1] http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/the-curious-ear-doconone-meat-factory-ear-worms.html

[2] http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/recordings.php