October 2016 – Page 2

Lavalier Microphone

October 24, 2016December 6, 2016Research

Lavalier Microphone (Viers, 2012, 13, 25, 67-83)

The Lavalier microphone is one that connects directly onto the talent. They are good for noisy locations as they are usually an Omni-directional microphone pointing upwards towards the talent mouth. They can also be used as a boundary microphone when planted on the talents chest acting as a sound board, so it can also pick up dialogue from other sources. Great for when Booming or Boundary microphones can’t be used as the frame of the shot may be too wide to fit in.

However, there are many draw backs from using a LAV microphone:

>Acoustic Shadow: The acoustic shadow is when sound waves from a sound source don’t directly reach the microphone, making the sound dull and flatter. Objects blocking sound waves reduces the higher frequency pick up from the microphone creating this effect.

>If the talent is moving their head around whilst acting out a scene, the recording level would fluctuate as the sound source (their mouth) would be moving to and from the microphone.

>If the talent leans over hard surfaces, it can create harsh echoes and slaps picking up unnatural reverb. To reduce this from happening, place an acoustic sheet or carpet over the surface. However, you can only do this if the surface is out of shot.

Hiding LAV Microphones

Hiding LAV mics is also an issue you will face. Clothes absorb higher frequencies so mic placement is key. It also loses sibilance which is at the range of 6KHz- 10KHz. You can buy microphones with have an increased sibilance pick up to reduce this problem

Always try and place the microphone at the center of the chest. If the talent is talking to someone on their right, place it more to the right, the opposite if the talent is speaking for someone on their left. Choose what placement works best for the scene. Find out where the talent will be facing when delivering lines in a scene. This will allow you to determine which placement is best.

Contact noise

This is when clothing is in contact with the microphones creating noise that will cloud over your dialogue. You can prevent this by:

>Using a static guard.

>Ask the costume departments to use guards.

>Rubber alternatives to jewelry.

>Check microphones regularly to make sure they are still in place and aren’t rubbing on any clothing.

Underneath is a link that shows techniques of hiding you LAV microphones and reduce noise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D85HmR825wM&spfreload=10

3:1 Rule

Many microphones on set can cause phase cancelation. Phase cancellation is when noise from microphones dip in and out as a result of interrupting each other’s waveforms. This makes the recordings sound hollow.

The 3:1 rule is when you turn off inactive microphones when in close proximity to active microphones and then turn up the active microphones to get rid of any phase cancellation.

Group Meeting #4- 11th October 2016

October 12, 2016December 6, 2016Group Meetings & Tutorials

The agenda for this meeting was to see where everyone is at regarding own research and job roles.

We discussed the current state of the script and when it would be finalised so we could have more of an understanding of what sound design we can implement for the film.

I brought up the subject of costume design as I wanted to know what sort of materials Lauren had in mind. I stressed the importance of soft materials such as cotton; this is because if we decide to use a Lav microphone, we need to be able to reduce the noise of clothing as much as possible and having soft materials can help reduce this risk. Lauren gladly took this on board.

I also asked that when it came to the size of the Actors/Actresses that we were to be told. The reason I brought this up is because I have been looking into buying body belts and ankle straps specifically designed for Lav microphone packs. These make it easy to hide the transmitter from the camera and eliminates the use of clipping it to belts or trousers to have it then be covered by another piece of clothing.

This then brought us onto the subject of the budget. Me, Dan and Sam are to strictly keep ours audio based whilst the others are to use theirs for other aspects of the film.

Overall a good meeting as we discussed further plans of the project, established where everyone is with research and the script and established a budget.

Guest Lecture #1- Lucy Johnstone

October 12, 2016December 6, 2016Guest Lectures

Lucy Johnstone is a freelance Sound Editor and Sound Designer and we were given the privilege to have a guest lecture from her. She has worked on many programmes such as Eastenders, Top Gear and Strictly Come Dancing; Both Track Laying and Editing the sound. Track Laying is identifying the best audio to use and what needs to be edited so it is ready for the mixing stage.

Lucy explained the key differences in the sound editing process between TV Drama and Factual TV:

>Money

>1/2 a day to record a VO

>1 day to pre-mix

>1 Day to have a final mix

Because there is less money in Factual TV, it means that you are more pushed for time and have to prioritise your sound. This means you have to figure what needs to be edited more than something else.

Know your studio was a key point that Lucy made. Have a checklist before you start your work. Know your:

>Microphone/ Microphone Pre amp set up

>Headphone feed set up

>Talkback feed

>Any possible echo coming from your microphone set up

After this you should be all set to go about your work.

Lucy made it clear that all these work techniques aren’t always the right ones. These work for her and make her workload easier. She then described how she works with Atmosphere tracks and SFX tracks for documentaries and factual TV shows.

>Don’t have too many tracks. This eases up work flow and allows you to organise and priorities your session well

>Have a close relationship with the Mixing engineer

>Duplicate tracks so that you have the originals to go back to

>Priorities your audio. What is important to the picture? are there sounds that are necessary and can be cut?

>Spot Effects need to be in mono as they can be panned

>Sound Design in stereo

Lucy ended the Lecture by explaining how she got into the industry. How work experience is vital. Having a degree is great but having both is essential. Having your work up online and having a presence on social media is fantastic for networking. The Difference between In-house and Freelance work. Both are challenging and ways to build up your network base and cliental.

Overall this lecture was a great way of showing us an insight of to what to expect if we want to go into sound editing for film and TV. Very glad we had the opportunity to have an industry professional explaining what to expect in the industry and to ask questions at the end.

Audio Meeting #1- 7th May 2016

October 7, 2016December 6, 2016Group Meetings & Tutorials

This meeting was just specifically for Me, Sam and Dan to discuss what roles we would take on and the techniques we would need to research before we start shooting our film.

Location Sound

As there will be three of us on set, we established the roles that needed to be undertaken and who would do them. These roles are:

>Boom Operator who concentrates on capturing the dialogue with a boom microphone and applies a Lavalier Microphone when necessary.

>Mixer who’s job it is to control the levels recorded into the mixer, making sure that it doesn’t clip or isn’t too quiet. Checks and gets rid of sound sources that might interfere with the recorded dialogue track.

>Ambient and Wild track recordist. We decided to make this a role as from previous experience, we found it crucial that the connection between Ambient/Wild track and Dialogue should be similar. This creates a smooth and coherent relationship between dialogue and sound design in the post-production stage of the film.

As the shoot will be limited to just 3-5 days, we figured it would be fitting to allow each person to take turns in taken on these roles for location sound to gain experience within the field.

Post-Production

We discussed what jobs would need doing and what we wanted to do for when it came to post-production. Sam expressed that he would like to concentrate on editing Dialogue and Music track. Me and Dan decided that we would switch the recording and mixing process of Foley and Sound FX. Dan would record and produce the Foley and I would mix it and I would record and produce the Sound FX and Dan would mix it.

As a whole, we felt this meeting was useful as it established what was need to be researched and who was doing what. We felt like we had divided the job roles fairly allowing nobody too have too much or to little involvement in the project.

Initial Sound Ideas

October 6, 2016December 6, 2016Research

Character Sound Design

Susan;

-33 years old (In present time, 1979) 30 years old (Flashback, 1977).

– Erratic

– Intense

– Psychotic episodes

– Intellectual

The Sound of Susan

Chart songs of 1979 and Pre 1979

Genres:

Will having to many music genres cloud the narrative? Or confuse the audience?

Punk Rock- Erratic, fast pace, heavy distortion.
Early Joy Division- Sad vocals, Industrial, speaking of hardship found in life, raw.
The album ‘Unknown pleasures’ by joy division is incredibly industrial, synthesised, raw and dark.
Intense Classical Music? Could be an interesting rout to look into. The trailer for split shows this (Movieclips Trailers, 2016).

Art Garfunkel ‘Bright Eyes’

Reached No. 1 in the UK music chart (UK-Charts, 2016).

Has components of classical music. Happy melodic but has mature messages within the Lyrics.

Talks of dreams, different worlds, could potentially play with Susan’s psychosis.

Chorus;

Bright eyes,

Burning like fire.

Bright eyes,

How can you close and fail?

How can the light that burned so brightly

Suddenly burn so pale?

Bright eyes. (Batt.M)

Tubeway Army ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’

Reached No. 4 in 1979 (UK-Charts, 2016).
Heavy Electronica
Industrial sounding
Different sound that could portray Susan transitions in personality

The Boom Town Rats ‘I don’t Like Mondays’

The first verse describes what’s going on in a particular female’s head on a Monday morning;

The silicon chip inside her head

Gets switched to overload.

And nobody’s gonna go to school today,

She’s going to make them stay at home.

And daddy doesn’t understand her,

He always said she was as good as gold.

And he can see no reasons

‘Cause there are no reasons

What reason do you need to be shown? (Geldof, B)

Joy Division ‘Day of the Lords’

Not in the charts of 1979
From the album ‘Unknown Pleasures’
Distorted shouting lyrics could represent Susan’s dismay and disillusionment
Intense

Link to Spotify playlist that I have created compiling all the UK Top 40 chart songs on 1979:

https://open.spotify.com/user/118941054/playlist/2eP46AVg4d0n87qse4KYCi

Sound throughout the Film (Ideas)

Susan could have a song that play in her head, it can be played at important times in the narrative and could lead up to Susan’s erratic behaviour throughout the film.

Scene 1- Flashback (1976)

Music, Radio (Chart music)
Authentic broadcasting quality, what would a radio sound like in 1976?
As Susan discovers her items on her bed, music should drive the narrative and create tension until Sammy enters her room.

Present Day

Old fashion ticking clock
Crescendo and Allegro music (possibly Sharp strings) when Susan is looking at the photo until she hears a noise

Cut to:

Dramatic music as Susan rummages through objects then stopping at the discovery of Jacks photo from 1977 and her instincts taking over
Potentially a Bee Gees hit playing on the radio. This song could be the song that plays through her head if we choose to do so
Song plays in the background, distorted, slowed down, reverberated as Susan approaches Jack?
Needs to go from radio quality to high MP3/WAV quality
Could give the scene a Tarantino sinister style approach to the scene (Music not fitting the gravity of the situation of the scene).
Look at the Scene in ‘Train Spotting’ by Danny Boyle when Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ starts playing (violet2890, 2011)
Music should stop with a heavy echo allowing Susan to realize what she has done (hitting Jack)
Music slowly coming in when the guards restrain her

Reference List:

Movieclips Trailers (2016) Split [trailer] available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84TouqfIsiI [accessed on 20 August 2016]

UK-Charts (2016) Top 100 1979 [online] available from http://www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1979.shtml [accessed on 20 August 2016]

violet2890 (2011) Lou Reed – Perfect Day (trainspotting) [online] available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6uBkJSbQO0 [accessed on 23 August 2016]

Batt. M. Lyrics [online] available from https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tz4attvexmgorcrbyjx7agbdxhq?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics [accessed on 25 August 2016]

Geldof, B. Lyrics [online] available from https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tt3kn224l2wybga237p3u6asopa?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics [accessed on 25 August 2016]