Evaluation and Final Reflection
introduction
The project task was to create a one to two minute opening scene on any genre with a dynamic and engaging sound design including creative use of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, professional use of music and voiceover.
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I planned to produce a thriller opening scene based on the idea of a young male wanting to compete in board games professionally but is halted by his brother being wanted by the police as he is on the run and therefore having to protect his brother. I planned to include titles in the style of the famous graphic designer Saul Bass who is known for his use of opening titles in films such as Goodfellas and Bonjour Tristesse. I planned to include a variety of sound effects and music including a police siren and thunder. I also wanted to include a piece of voiceover to complement one of the medium shots in the form of a personal monologue.
research
I looked at and investigated five different film scenes with a focus on the sound design. These were Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw (2019); Spectre (2015); Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991); Deadpool (2015) and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018). With each film scene, I looked in detail into the shots used/camera angles, the sounds used, the significance of the sounds and how these affect the audience’s view of the film.
I also did some of my own experimental research. Firstly, I did some editing research with regards to using an effect in Adobe Premiere Pro. The effect is called “Lowpass” where, for a fixed period of time, you can lower the Hertz value (Hz) of the sound meaning that the sound will sound lower/deeper. I used a scene from Baby Driver (2017) where the protagonist hides from the police near a tree. This combined with the Lowpass audio effect from Premiere Pro gives off the effect that the character is trapped and therefore cannot escape.
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We were given a clip of Baby Driver (2017) by our tutor with all the sound removed and our task was to create a convincing sound design with a collection of Foley sound effects and a few music soundtracks. I used a music track within this to heighten emotion and in order to create a tense atmosphere. I also included an ambience wild track so that the sounds wouldn’t sound so sharp when they are heard and to act as background noise to make it seem more realistic. I also added sound effects of gun shots when guns were fired and when Baby runs out into the road, a car appears and I added a car horn sound here to highlight the car’s anger.
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With regards to diegetic and non-diegetic sound, I defined these terms to give clarity and I also showed examples of where these occur in real world film. I also researched into Saul Bass who is a famous graphic designer who is known mostly for his outstanding film titles that appear in many films such as Goodfellas (1990) and Psycho (1960). This formed the basis for my idea to include this use of titles in my opening scene. I also briefly researched into Jack Foley who is the man that Foley sound is named after.
I would say that my research was rather useful for the development of the project because it improved my overall knowledge of sound design and how this is portrayed in films professionally. For example, with Saul Bass' titles, I included a title card with the location and year as pictured in the 1990 film Goodfellas with "New York, 1990".
I think the main way I could improve the research I carried out is to look at a wider range of sound design clips as this would have enabled me to gain a better understanding of the whole concept of sound design. This would have had a big impact on the project because I would have a wider knowledge and therefore I could have taken inspiration from the clips to then use in my project. I also could have looked at some more films where Saul Bass has designed the titles for them because I would have learnt more about the effect this has on the audience as a whole.
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I also could have carried out more experimental practical research in terms of voice over. I think if I did some test recordings in the audio studio prior to recording the actual sequence in my film, I would have been more accustomed to the software and the best way in which to use the equipment and how to get the most potential out of it as possible.
finished product
My opening scene was designed for people aged 16 and over because the majority of the target audience who saw my opening scene were of this age or of a similar age. I believe this was the best target audience group because it covers a wide range of different people of all ages except anybody under the age of 16 as my opening scene would not be suitable for people below 16 as they may find the music and sounds too intense or scary.
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Following the screening on Monday 16th December 2019, my sound design was quite well received with lots of positive feedback overall with a few constructive criticism comments.
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I received a range of positive feedback along with some constructive criticism. The audience felt that my idea was good, the use of voice over was good and well received as well as having a good choice of music and good use of different sound effects. I would say that I agree with this positive feedback as I made sure to record my voice over using the Audio Studio in college so as to take full advantage of the equipment and facilities available rather than recording the voice over with a headset microphone at home which would have had a lot of background noise.
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With regards to things to improve / constructive criticism, a lot of people stated that I should add more Foley sounds to enhance the sound design. I would agree with this because my sound design was lacking Foley sounds and if I added more, this would have improved my overall sound design and it would be more convincing. Someone said that I should film more angles / shots of the Monopoly® board (e.g. close up shots of rolling the dice), I definitely agree with this because in retrospect, I should have filmed more close ups to get the audience more involved in the action of the scene.
One person commented that the dialogue (voice over) was too loud; I would have to disagree with this because I increased the volume of the voice over on purpose to highlight and make it stand out against the music soundtrack. The loud volume of the voice over was entirely intentional and was increased to highlight the voice in Phillip’s head as a monologue. Another person said that the contrapuntal music didn’t really work. I would disagree with this because the music I chose was intended to be parallel to match the anxious feelings of the character Tom as in the film, he is wanted by the police. Perhaps, looking back on the post-production, this effect did not shine through enough as I failed to make it obvious enough that the music was tense and was parallel to the situation due to Tom being wanted by the police.
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One thing that many audience members picked up on whilst the film was being screened was that there was a lack of Foley sounds in the film; to improve next time, I would definitely record some intimate Foley sounds, for example this could be the rolling of the dice, to positively impact the scene and make the audience feel more immersed in the scene.
Another thing to improve would be to film more close up shots of the small things on the Monopoly® board, this could be the rolling of the dice, exchanging of the property cards, exchanging of the money – this would be to make the audience feel more involved in the action because just having a wide shot with a few close ups didn’t really give off the right reaction to the audience as they knew that something was lacking from my film.
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​Most of the improvements I have mentioned would have a positive impact on the audience as they would directly contribute to the enjoyment of the sound design and film. Also, the improvements would be fairly easy to do and would greatly improve my sound design. If the improved sound design were to be screened to the audience again, I think that I would receive a lot of positive feedback and a little less negative / constructive criticism feedback.
personal development
I believe the main areas I have improved upon throughout this project are filming and editing.
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Filming - From the previous project, I have been able to focus more on the mise-en-scène and framing when it comes to shooting. In particular, with the opening shots, I temporarily moved some objects that I did not want to appear in the scene as they would have no contextual meaning and therefore would serve no purpose. I am very grateful that I took the decision to alter the mise-en-scène of the scenes as it will improve the whole scene and show that I have improved since the last project and have taken on the feedback I received.
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Like the last project, when I was filming, I made sure to frame each shot as perfectly as possible to make the shots seem more appealing and adhere to the rule of thirds. In particular, the close up shots of both characters, Tom and Phillip were filmed using a tripod and framed using the grid which is an in-built function on my digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera which allows me to use the rule of thirds much more accurately.
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Editing - Having had experience before I started this course, I had a basic knowledge and understanding of Adobe Premiere Pro which is the editing software that I use for every project as I am most familiar with it and it is easy to use.
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I would say I have improved my editing skills throughout this project as I experimented with different effects that would add to the overall feel of the film. For example, I created a short clip from Baby Driver and I added in the ‘Lowpass’ audio effect which makes the character feel as though they are trapped. Although I did not use this audio effect in my actual project, I feel I have gained some knowledge from doing the task that I could possibly bring to a future/upcoming project.
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During the sound design project, I was introduced to a piece of software that I had never used before which is called Adobe Audition. Audition is a type of editing software that specifically looks at sound/audio and can be used for editing multiple sounds together on multiple tracks. The software can also be used to record a voice over. In my project, I used Adobe Audition primarily to record the voice over for my opening scene which I recorded in the audio studio at Colchester Institute.
During the pre-production stage of the project, I was tasked to create a piece of audio that resembles a short narrative using a range of royalty free sound effects provided by our tutor. I used Adobe Audition CC 2018 and the narrative I created involved a guy going to a house, opening the door asking if anybody was there to no avail, then a car screech is heard followed by an explosion.
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The main challenge I encountered during production was having objects with no context in the scene.
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This challenge that I had to overcome was paramount to my project because if I did not overcome it, the mise-en-scène of the scene would look terrible.
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With regards to the opening shot, I overcame the challenge by temporarily moving the dustbins and other recycling materials out of the shot so that the shot would be more clean. This majorly improved the look of the shot because the only thing in the scene was the exterior of the house and the audience will not get distracted by a dustbin that should not be there in the first place. In the last project, this was one of my major flaws that I have successfully rectified in this project and I wish to avoid this sort of challenge occurring again by manually adjusting the objects in the scene to create the perfect shot.
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I feel I need to develop my editing skills in Adobe Audition CC as I have only had a few hours of experience using the software and I think it would be useful to learn more about the program and to develop my understanding in Audition.
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Firstly, the skills I have developed throughout the project with regards to Adobe Audition will help me from a sound recordist's point of view, that's to say it will give me a better idea of what a sound recordist's job is like because I won't be oblivious to the job role. For example, if I was to become an editor in the future, I would be able to use my skills that I have learnt in Audition to expand my knowledge of editing software and overall understanding of editing in general.
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With regards to my future education, if I was to go onto university after completing this course, it would put me in a good position in terms of knowledge of editing programs which would allow me to work quicker and more efficiently to create films and edit them.
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I think that overall, my sound design went quite well with only little negative feedback. The filming process went smoothly as I was able to film in 1 day and get all of the shots I needed to edit. I managed to edit my sequence of footage within one week and the next week, I was able to focus on the sound effects and recording of the voice over, of which I added to the sequence once I had completed it.
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​If I had more time or an opportunity to start it again, I think that I would focus on filming a lot more close up shots to help the audience build rapport with the characters and feel more immersed in the scene. I would also record and include more Foley sounds to enhance the atmosphere of the scene and make it more obvious to the audience that the genre of the scene was Thriller. I would also experiment with editing using Adobe After Effects to add some graphics effects to enhance the visual feel of the film.