Ideas for FMP
Creative Processes I Like
Creative Processes I'm Good At
Possibilities
- Short Story - Stalking storyline
- Music Video - song?
- Documentary - Of A Location with voice over.
What Inspires An Idea?
How to know its a good idea?
- Speak to others about idea
- Come up with ways to produce this story
- Look up similar ideas - if it a good idea people would have done it previously.
- Takes risks - it could pay off
How do you go about making it?
- Break it up into sections, don't do everything at once
- Make sure it is very thoroughly planned
- Make sure everything is in place before starting filming
Critique that inspires my idea
Anna Is Being Stalked...
The reason why I really like this film is because this is obviously the middle with the beginning and end being left unspoken. The reason for this is because it is very obvious by her actions that this is something that has been going on for a while. This is the same as the ending, this part ends with him telling her he is going to kill her however I don't believe that this is the final ending because I feel like the story carries on. I think that this is important in a relatively short film because it gives the audience something to think about once the film has ended.
I would like to take the inspiration behind this and take it into my own work I like the idea of the audience being able to decide what happens in the end on their own. I think this is important because different people will end it different ways as it depends on their personalities.
Another reason for using this as an inspiration is because of the last minute changes that they had to make, due to it not raining and just being freezing cold they had to change the last scene so that the stalker was freezing instead of getting rained on.
I think that this film is different to any other ones based on stalker because of the humor, the humor used is can be seen as dark humor and sometimes people don't like nor understand it. I like the dark humor because its something a little bit different and unique. Therefore overall I really liked 'Anna Is Being Stalked' due to its uniqueness and story-line.
Research within the next 6 weeks
Sound Design
The Orphanage (Guillermo Del Toro)
The Devils Backbone (Guillermo Del Toro)
Let The Right One In (Swedish)
The Eye - South Korean (Anything by Danny and Oxide Pang)
Sound In Pre-Production
Once seeing a script there is the temptation to just jump straight in when it comes to the sound. This is because there is the option just use the sounds that the script mention although it is a lot more than that, this is because this way it isn't telling the story. The sounds that are used are based on the use of time - is there a ticking time bomb? The space means that the sound echoes and has more of an effect on the audience. Alongside that there is also the point of view alot of great sounds come from pov sequences - this is usually what they are thinking/feeling. This is important because through this sounds you can get a feel for the character a bit more. This is much more likely to be used that the sounds that are mentioned throughout.
The photography, blocking of actors, production design, art direction, editing and dialogue is set up so that the audience is experimenting the action more or less through the point of view of one or more of the characters in the sequence.
Sound in Production
There is not a lot of sound going on in production this is due to the fact that there is no awareness for sound. This is because every aspects on sounds screws need to taken over by the camera crew. The locations that are used to filming by directors and editiors are not suitable for sound and they don't constalt the sound editors. The problems with the locations that directors use is that they have the noises of the lights buzzing and the trucks being parked and moved too close.
Another factor is that very few dirrectors and editors know nothing about sound editing. Alongside knowing nothing about it there is also no time to be done in productions. Directors and actors are usually on a very tight schedule and therefore no time for any sound production.
Sound makes a huge contribution is because the sounds will strongly influence the way a scene is set up. This could happen when someone is playing with something on the table this means that you will be able to hear the sound before you can see what he is actually doing. This is therefore 'starving the eye' which will inevitably bring the ear and therefore the imagination more into play.
Sound in Post-Production
In Post Production a composer and supervising sound editor are in charge of all of the sounds. The editors and irectors give them between four and five weeks to poduce between seventy and ninety minutes of great movies. The supervising sound editor is given between 10 and 15 weeks to smooth out production dialog - spot, record and edit. (This involves putting the sound effects into a sequence that were never designed to use them.
Why the composer are doing the first part of sound editing. Editors and Directors try to improve what they have and making adjustments consisting of merely a few frames which then results in the music, sound effects and dialog editing having to spend a high percentage of time having to fix all the holes caused by new picture changes
Automated dialogue replacement is the secondary role of sound as there is no effort put into it. The performances from actors always lack the 'life' of original piece because it is seen as just more hassle for the actors and directors. They’re more-or-less in sync, and they’re intelligible with the original piece. It would be easier to record ADR on location however ADR is treated as basically a technical operation which needs to be done as quickly and cheaply as possible.
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Sound is a very vital role because when a scene is really clicking the visual and aural elements are working together so well that it is nearly impossible to disguise them.
A film story is about creating connections between characters, place, objects, experiences and ideas. In a good film a set of themes emerge which embody a clearly identifiable line or arc which the story is. When writing for movie elements there is one element that comes before all the others which is 'cinematic' this is because a film should be as cinematic as possible because its coming from the establishing point of view. An audience will experience action through its identification with characters.
The writing lays the ground work for everything else as it sets up point of view before the action, cameras, microphones, editors. Each of these enhance of pov element.
Picture and Sound as Collaborations
Sound and picture have to work together in order for it to be a successful production. The idea that one is more important is ridiculous because neither would work without the other. In a successful production both of these are combined together. While sound effects make a scene scary and interesting there is still the needed help from visual in order to make the scene successful. An example of these two working together is when there is a strange sounding machine running off camera during a scene in order to add tension and atmosphere.
There will be a brief shot of some machine which could be making the sound this will help establish where the sound is coming from and therefore over this shot sound editors can feature sound therefore it will then be in the audiences mind that this is where this distinguish sound is coming from. This will then click into the audiences head that every time they hear the noise throughout the production they will know where its coming from.
There is a contrast between a sound heard at a distance and that same sound that is up close is powerful. This works even though directions never based decisions about where to shoot a scene on the need for sound and to make a story contribution.
Art Direction and Sound As Collaborations
When writing a character there is always a background there will be a design of what he does and where he lives. The way he lives will tell the audience big amounts about who the character is and how he is feeling. When taking sound into account it is done through visual design which then gives the audience the potential to hear through their ears.
An example of this is a wealthy person as there will be money lying around therefore a few close up shots of money and the sounds is created through it. The audience will then make the connection of what the noise has come from. The actor will be able to use the place in order to reveal more about the character that they are playing. They will need to hear the sounds that place it in order to know it and the actor will have to repeat it there. Alongside this it is also the same when the actor is silent as the audience will need to hear the way the place is without him.
Starving the eye and the usefulness of ambiguity
Viewers and listeners are pulled into a story mainly because they are led to believe that there are interesting questions to be answered. As a sound editior it is there job to hang interesting little question marks in the air surrounding each scene. The reasson for that is because sound may be the most powerful tool in terms of its ability to seduce.
As an audience we interpret sound with our emotions not our intellect.
There are ways that starve the eye so therefore it invites the eyes in.
- Using short and long lenses - Looking through very long and very short lenses means that we don't ordinary see them. The lack of depth of field and other characteristics of that kind of lens puts us into a very subjective space. That means that we can easily justify hearing sounds which may have very little to do with what we see in the frame and more to do with how the person is looking through the frame feels. The way in which directors use a shot will determine whether our inference is made obvious to the audience or kept subliminal.
- Dutch Angles and Moving Cameras - with moving cameras the shots can range from the floor to ceiling level and the camera will either be track, hand held and panning. The effect that is used to be put the audience in unfamiliar space. The shot become part of the scene and element of unfamiliar space suddenly swings the door wide open to sound.
- darkness around the edge of the frame - In classic films the frame is carefully composed with areas of darkness. However in this sort of case ears are the guardians of sleep . They tell us what we need to know about the darkness and will gladly support some clues about what;s going on.
- Extreme Close Ups and Long Shots
Long Shots - These are great for sound because they provide an opportunity to hear the fullness or emptiness of a vast landscape.
Caroll Ballads films The Black Stallion and Never Cry Wolf use wide shots and extreme close ups wonderfully with sound.
Sounds Effects role:
- Slow Motion - some of slow motion is barely noticeable but it always seems to put us into a dream space and tell us that something odd and not very wholesome is happening.
- Black and White Images - Black and White images have several artisic advantages over colour. A reason for this is because black and white images are less busy than colour and therefore lend themselves more to presenting a coherent feeling. Black and white is clearly understood to be someones point of view not an objective presentation of events.
Sounds Effects role:
- Suggest a mood.
- Set a pace.
- Indicate a location.
- Clarify the plot.
- Define a character.
- Connect otherwise unconnected ideas, characters, places, images or moments.
- Heighten realism/diminish it.
- Heighten ambiguity/diminish it.
- Draw attention/away from it.
- Indicate changes in time.
- Smooth abrupt changes between shots or scenes.
- Emphasise a transition for dramatic effect.
- Describe an acoustic space.
- Startle or soothe action.
Reasons for sound effects in horror films
- Atmosphere
- Highlight
- Power
Directors are able to highlight how powerful the movie is. One of the key elements in film is how power is used through music.
- Moments
Moments describe the intensity of the action. Alongside that they are able to describe the pain of a character, the fear they are portraying and the different action throughout.
- Breathtaking
Looking for certain things in the movie that make it stand out and make it breathtaking. The instruments that are commonly used to create a 'horror' atmosphere are piano and violin. This dynamic highlights breathtaking moments.
- Emotions
Music controls our emotions when watching a film and how we experience the movie. Our fear in a horror movie is the combination of the visual and sound. This is because they work together in order to drag the audience in.
- Tone
The tone of the music means that we can sense the atmosphere even when we can't see anything. The music allows us to understand the film better this is due to 'starving the eye' and releasing the ears.
- Experience
The experience is more deeply enjoyable as its equally as important as the visual shots. In a horror movie the point is to not get the same atmosphere, power or emotion. The experience will be different every time. This is due to it being the important aspect of the movie.
Jack Soloman
Jack Soloman was an American sound engineer and he won an Academy Award for Sound Recording. Between the years of 1953 and 1991 he worked on over 90 films. Jack Soloman worked for directors such as Charlie Chaplin, Raoul Walsh, John Ford, Robert Aldrich and Arthur Penn. He started as an electrician who met Benny Winkler when playing ball and he took him under his wing. Jack Soloman got his big break when Bob Aldrich the company clerk at RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) Pictures. First of all Bob became a first assistant and then an assistant to Lewis Milestone (A Russian-born American motion picture director.) Bob told Jack that they were going to do a picture with Terese Wright and Joe Cotten and that Jack was going to mix it. Jack did it once speaking to Benny Winkler who told him it was time that he moved up.
Jack Soloman was an American sound engineer and he won an Academy Award for Sound Recording. Between the years of 1953 and 1991 he worked on over 90 films. Jack Soloman worked for directors such as Charlie Chaplin, Raoul Walsh, John Ford, Robert Aldrich and Arthur Penn. He started as an electrician who met Benny Winkler when playing ball and he took him under his wing. Jack Soloman got his big break when Bob Aldrich the company clerk at RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) Pictures. First of all Bob became a first assistant and then an assistant to Lewis Milestone (A Russian-born American motion picture director.) Bob told Jack that they were going to do a picture with Terese Wright and Joe Cotten and that Jack was going to mix it. Jack did it once speaking to Benny Winkler who told him it was time that he moved up.
Jack Soloman made note that different directors made sound important. Jack Webb who Jack Soloman worked with on the 'Dragnet' series noted that he made sound very important more important than photography and therefore nobody on the set could make a sound as it was deadly quiet. Another director who was the same was George Stevens who covered the set in red lights so everyone would just have to walk around on tiptoes.
Musical numbers in Funny Girl were pretty much all prerecorded having spent $200,000 on it. However Barbra Streisand would say that she wanted to she wanted to sing live. So therefore they had to work with it and however even though the music director said it wouldn't work however it was tried and worked. This proved that things were changing and sound engineers were able to get the control they needed.
Arthur Piantadosi
Arthur Piantadosi although as a mixer he also saw himself as a storyteller. This is because when he handled music he thought of it through themes instead of when one person stopped talking and when another started. Therefore that wasn't just turning up the music if the music doesn't tell him to turn it up. Arthur felt the music so much so that his body language showed as though it was through the picture instead it was all because of the music.
William Murch
William Murch love for film sound started when he studied at USC film school. While he started experimenting with film sound from a young age this then led him to growing an interest in film-making. Therefore he combined the two at university. While the majority of people he knew didn't have much interest in just sound because it was seen as 'boring' and not very exciting. This led William to enjoy it more than ever. While studying at the University of Southern California he met the writer-director-producer George Lucas. Murch and Lucas both worked alongside each other a lot in Murch' early career and they are both a figure in each others work.
Lucas won a scholarship to observe Francis Lord Coppola making the out of character Finian's Roberts for Warner Bros in 1968. IN Coppola next movie The Rain People 1969, Lucas took the role of production assisiote. This is where William Murch got his first sound credit. In his work Murch has always aknowledges the correlation between what is seen and what is heard he states that ''The depth of the relationship between the two elements became more and more obvious.' This was due his early understanding in how important sound was to film.Alongside that Murch also wasn't a fan of soundtrack for his work this is because he blieved that sound has a great power but it is a conditional power. It places the image in a physical and emotional context, helping us to decide how to take the image and how it intergreates itself into everything else. Silence is able to be a useful however it isn't used that often. An example of Murch using it was at the end of Godfather II (1974); the scene is where Michael Corleone is setting by the lake. Murch dropped the soundtrack don to the atmos and then shut it down completely, which transmitted the interior emotions being felt by the character.
Lucas and Murch were employed again for Gimme Shelter (1970) which was a concert film of the Rolling Stones Altamont gig. In this one William Murch worked as a cameraman. Murch worked with Lucas on his prize winning short film THX 1132. He designed the sound for this as well as recieving a co-written credit after this the two went on to make American Graffin. After American Graffiti, Murch worked a lot more with Coppola. He became involved in The Conversation (1974) which too many is regarded as highly as the sound designers The plot revolves around a surveillance export who is using sophisicated microphones, may or may not have recored two poeple discussing a muder plot. He was nomiated for an Academy Award for Best Sound.
The next film he worked on was also a Francis Coppola film which happened to be Apocalypse Now,. He was nominated for an Oscar for his film editing and won the Award for Best Sound. Murch says that it was the first multitrack film he had worked on and it was new territory because it was a multichannel soundtrack with low frequency enhancement. Murch questioned Coppola by asking himself if he had to do this however when he looked back at it with big panavision visuals he realised that the sound-track we did was the thing to do.
Alongside Frank Coppola another collaborative director that William Murch worked alongside was Anthony Mingella whose film 'The English Patient' won William Murch his second Best Sound Award and his first Best Film Editing statuette. In his most recent piece of work he indirectly worked with Orson Welles in restoring Touch of Evil (1958) however this film like many of Welles' suffered from studio interference and it got to the point where Orson was banned from the movie. In Touch of Evil Murch combined sound a vision and he noticed that he got a phone call out of the blue from the producer telling him that Welles had written during before he was fired and that these notes were half about the sound and he wanted to do the other half about the pictures. Therefore the man they needed for William Murch.
The one thing that Orson Welles was known for was his precision however Murch didn't realise was precisely how much. Every film is t have a document of what they want however a lot of them don't have the ability, time nor the articulation to do it. Although Orson had all three of these. Which although harder it did mean that allow a certain degree of interpretation, therefore being like collaborating with Welles. In Touch of Evil Murch had a avid nonlinear editing workstation where Murch had to clean up pictures and remixed the audio as an 8 digital soundtrack. Film had moved on from the old mag recorder methods however it was all new for Murch he remastered the soundtracks of The Godfather trigoly using the 8 track digital soundtrack. The English Patient was the first film that he used it all the way through from beginning to end as it was electronically and won an Oscar.
Murch used a mixture of old and new technologies with using the sonic solutions system for The English Patient. This is due to computers bringing more functionality. The Sonic system allows a network function which enables people working on the different elements such as footsteps and voice to access the edit decision list and see what is being done. This way it is a lot easier because they can play the two together and see how it will work. The use of this has also meant that it isn't interfering i=with anybody else.
While known as a very successful sound editor. William Murch was incredibly diverse within the terms of the people he worked with and the different roles he has taken. Although he dip his foot into directing which failed miserably. Although in his audio work he has shown how how it can be used to enhance and drive along a film and that technology is just a means towards creativity.
Foley Techniques
Foley are the sound effects that are created in post production to enhance the quality of the audio. There is a number of sounds that the foley artists can be recreating. The idea behind foley is that it goes unnoticed and the audience isn't able to recognise it and therefore it creates a sense within the scene. In horror films the sounds that they using create are footsteps, screaming, creaking doors and stabbing.
The way that foley is created is by sound recording artists mimicking the sounds in the recording studio. There are three ways that the majority of sound artists use they are; foot, cloth and props. When they are recreating sound with their feet they will be copying the actor running up the stairs and therefore there will be two foley artists stamping their feet while watching the action in the recording studio to make sure that they are exactly on time with the footage. A lot of foley studios will have all different types of shoes and flooring therefore making it a lot easier for foley artists to recreate different sounds. Using a cloth for foley is usually when it is the more quieter and subtle sounds such as rubbing two pieces of materials together for when the actor crosses his legs. Props is used for when such as when a door bell is being rung or the creaking of a door. although sometimes this is also done through the sound editors using stock sound effects. In horror films there will be a lot of the sound of echoey walls and staircases this is done using a reverb where it creates more of an open space sound.
Within doing it for a horror film the sounds will either come from feet or from props this is because the sounds are usually quite strong and sharp due to the genre of it therefore it is important to stick to this when it comes to they Foley sounds.
Creating my Foley
Melon
Cabbage
Celery
William Murch
William Murch love for film sound started when he studied at USC film school. While he started experimenting with film sound from a young age this then led him to growing an interest in film-making. Therefore he combined the two at university. While the majority of people he knew didn't have much interest in just sound because it was seen as 'boring' and not very exciting. This led William to enjoy it more than ever. While studying at the University of Southern California he met the writer-director-producer George Lucas. Murch and Lucas both worked alongside each other a lot in Murch' early career and they are both a figure in each others work.
Lucas won a scholarship to observe Francis Lord Coppola making the out of character Finian's Roberts for Warner Bros in 1968. IN Coppola next movie The Rain People 1969, Lucas took the role of production assisiote. This is where William Murch got his first sound credit. In his work Murch has always aknowledges the correlation between what is seen and what is heard he states that ''The depth of the relationship between the two elements became more and more obvious.' This was due his early understanding in how important sound was to film.Alongside that Murch also wasn't a fan of soundtrack for his work this is because he blieved that sound has a great power but it is a conditional power. It places the image in a physical and emotional context, helping us to decide how to take the image and how it intergreates itself into everything else. Silence is able to be a useful however it isn't used that often. An example of Murch using it was at the end of Godfather II (1974); the scene is where Michael Corleone is setting by the lake. Murch dropped the soundtrack don to the atmos and then shut it down completely, which transmitted the interior emotions being felt by the character.
Lucas and Murch were employed again for Gimme Shelter (1970) which was a concert film of the Rolling Stones Altamont gig. In this one William Murch worked as a cameraman. Murch worked with Lucas on his prize winning short film THX 1132. He designed the sound for this as well as recieving a co-written credit after this the two went on to make American Graffin. After American Graffiti, Murch worked a lot more with Coppola. He became involved in The Conversation (1974) which too many is regarded as highly as the sound designers The plot revolves around a surveillance export who is using sophisicated microphones, may or may not have recored two poeple discussing a muder plot. He was nomiated for an Academy Award for Best Sound.
The next film he worked on was also a Francis Coppola film which happened to be Apocalypse Now,. He was nominated for an Oscar for his film editing and won the Award for Best Sound. Murch says that it was the first multitrack film he had worked on and it was new territory because it was a multichannel soundtrack with low frequency enhancement. Murch questioned Coppola by asking himself if he had to do this however when he looked back at it with big panavision visuals he realised that the sound-track we did was the thing to do.
Alongside Frank Coppola another collaborative director that William Murch worked alongside was Anthony Mingella whose film 'The English Patient' won William Murch his second Best Sound Award and his first Best Film Editing statuette. In his most recent piece of work he indirectly worked with Orson Welles in restoring Touch of Evil (1958) however this film like many of Welles' suffered from studio interference and it got to the point where Orson was banned from the movie. In Touch of Evil Murch combined sound a vision and he noticed that he got a phone call out of the blue from the producer telling him that Welles had written during before he was fired and that these notes were half about the sound and he wanted to do the other half about the pictures. Therefore the man they needed for William Murch.
The one thing that Orson Welles was known for was his precision however Murch didn't realise was precisely how much. Every film is t have a document of what they want however a lot of them don't have the ability, time nor the articulation to do it. Although Orson had all three of these. Which although harder it did mean that allow a certain degree of interpretation, therefore being like collaborating with Welles. In Touch of Evil Murch had a avid nonlinear editing workstation where Murch had to clean up pictures and remixed the audio as an 8 digital soundtrack. Film had moved on from the old mag recorder methods however it was all new for Murch he remastered the soundtracks of The Godfather trigoly using the 8 track digital soundtrack. The English Patient was the first film that he used it all the way through from beginning to end as it was electronically and won an Oscar.
Murch used a mixture of old and new technologies with using the sonic solutions system for The English Patient. This is due to computers bringing more functionality. The Sonic system allows a network function which enables people working on the different elements such as footsteps and voice to access the edit decision list and see what is being done. This way it is a lot easier because they can play the two together and see how it will work. The use of this has also meant that it isn't interfering i=with anybody else.
While known as a very successful sound editor. William Murch was incredibly diverse within the terms of the people he worked with and the different roles he has taken. Although he dip his foot into directing which failed miserably. Although in his audio work he has shown how how it can be used to enhance and drive along a film and that technology is just a means towards creativity.
Foley Techniques
Foley are the sound effects that are created in post production to enhance the quality of the audio. There is a number of sounds that the foley artists can be recreating. The idea behind foley is that it goes unnoticed and the audience isn't able to recognise it and therefore it creates a sense within the scene. In horror films the sounds that they using create are footsteps, screaming, creaking doors and stabbing.
The way that foley is created is by sound recording artists mimicking the sounds in the recording studio. There are three ways that the majority of sound artists use they are; foot, cloth and props. When they are recreating sound with their feet they will be copying the actor running up the stairs and therefore there will be two foley artists stamping their feet while watching the action in the recording studio to make sure that they are exactly on time with the footage. A lot of foley studios will have all different types of shoes and flooring therefore making it a lot easier for foley artists to recreate different sounds. Using a cloth for foley is usually when it is the more quieter and subtle sounds such as rubbing two pieces of materials together for when the actor crosses his legs. Props is used for when such as when a door bell is being rung or the creaking of a door. although sometimes this is also done through the sound editors using stock sound effects. In horror films there will be a lot of the sound of echoey walls and staircases this is done using a reverb where it creates more of an open space sound.
Within doing it for a horror film the sounds will either come from feet or from props this is because the sounds are usually quite strong and sharp due to the genre of it therefore it is important to stick to this when it comes to they Foley sounds.
Creating my Foley
Melon
Cabbage
Celery
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