For this weeks guest lecture, we had a visit from Jez Riley-French an experimental sound artist who’s notable projects included teleferica and island fjorar. Although this lecture wasn’t specific to my film project, a lot of the skills discussed in this lecture were transferable and therefore, useful. One of the key methods that Jez got across was the idea to record as much of a location as possible, as you can typically find a more interesting recording.

 

As well as discussing the creative aspect of experimental recording, Jez also focusing on the technical side, as someone who creates his own contact microphones, he gave me and the rest of the students a lot of encouragement to go out and make our own contact microphones as the cost is incredibly low.

 

Overall this lecture was incredibly motivating, as someone who lacks interest in sound art; it actually convinced me to think creatively and approach sound recording in a  very different manner.

Before heading to recording I thought it would be beneficial to familiarize myself with specific techniques that are implemented by sound designers in my films specific genre, post apocalyptic. To do this I would watch various films in this section and read key books to better my understanding of the genre.

 

To start this research I would look through various interviews online that introduced key connotations of the genre and how some of the fields best engineers get it done. I took a lot of influence from two key players in the sound engineering field, Nigel Christensen and Mark Mangini, both of which have recently won awards for their work on Mad Max: Fury Road. Whilst conducting this research I stumbled upon a panel show in which the sound team of Mad Max discuss designing soundscapes, the practicalities of designing sound and working with world renown directors. Here are some of my key findings;

 

Mad Max sound engineers panel

– Throughout this interview they really push the idea of creating rich atmosphere especially when the film in question has very little dialogue in sections.

– No matter how big of a production the film is, you have to account for the environment in which you record in. Mad Max was mainly shot in all real locations with very little sound stages, similarly to us who won’t be using any form fabricated sets.

– Always discuss your approach to recording with the director. For example; bring up problems that might arise with various camera set ups for the sound engineers. Only mention in a later slate though due to the fact an opportune time to capture clean isolated recordings may occur.

– Within post production, always take into the consideration the possibility of blending certain tracks to create a desired sound effect. Don’t be afraid to take elements from various recordings to create a singular mono sound effect.

– In this interview we see the engineers talk about the important of creating a soundscape that’s wider than what you see on the screen therefore creating an immersive piece. It was interesting to hear how they went about layering up a singular shot of a busy New York street, adding in various n0n-diegetic sounds such as a couple arguing. They do also get the point across of picking relevant feasible sounds though, especially in a piece that is somewhat period like Mad Max. This is something I will have to take into consideration when it comes to layering our final piece.

– Making sure you have a narrative sound structure even in a film that is incredible dense in sound effects.

 

Mad Mad: Fury Road 

After watching this interview and a few others I decided it’d be beneficial to watch this film itself. The film itself does a great job of immersing you within the era of this film whilst also including quite an abstract soundscape including various stings and modernized music. For our own film it’s important we take influence from Mad Max in the sense of being quite literal due to the period of the film but also maintaining an constructed form of mood building audio that doesn’t take away from the storyline, overall this could potentially be quite challenging yet very rewarding.

 

The location sound bible  

This book was written by Ric Viers in 2012 and offers a detailed look into the world of location sound. The book itself takes an extensive look into the equipment used and how to use it.

– Starts of with a defined job description. “Location sound is vital to the final flow of the track. Whether its capturing audio that gets in the final mix, or if it lays a guide track for sound to be replaced”

– Gets over the importance of not being offended when certain aspects of the recording don’t get used but also brings up the fact that you should never go into a location recording session with the attitude of “we’ll add it in post”.

– The book goes into detail about microphone choices when it comes to recording sound on location, bringing up the tribulations and pitfall of various microphone types. The fact that certain shotgun microhpones are more direct than others meaning that we have to consider microphone placement for every shot we take.

– The book also features vital information under an aptly named “Booma sutra” chapter that focuses around how to hold a boom microphone without getting extreme back and arm pain. Although it’s something I often consider, it was good to read a detailed run through of how the professionals avoid the problem.

– The most important takeaway I got from the text was the information in regards to microphone selection. This played into perspective, do you want to select a microphone that picks up the whole sonic environment or something just do it from the perspective of the boom? This is a choice for me and Ed to carefully consider before we head out to record.

Upon meeting with David Mcsherry, we decided it would be beneficial to document the aims and objectives of this project, this would be useful as it’d give me more of an insight to how well i’ve done when it comes the my reflection at the end of the project.

 

Objective: To provide location sound along with post production work on a 15-minute film for a client, ultimately providing a final audio mix down that’s consistent to that of the post apocalyptic genre of visual.

To do this, we need to reach the following:

– Offer location sound sevice

– Provide post production service including foley

– Mixing a final output.

 

I would also set individual aims that would work as a method of measuring my improvements.

Personal goals:

– To better familiarize myself with on location recording equipment such as the F8 and 633.

– To improve my skillset when it comes to working with clients.

– To place a lot of effort on pre-planning, making sure that every stage of production goes off without complaints and overall, to improve my organizational skills.

 

These may be redeveloped upon receiving the sound requirements sheet from the film groups producer.

For our first guest lecture of the year we had a visit from Dean Humphreys, an industry level audio engineer who’s worked on multiple big budget films such as Taken 2 and The Pianist. This lecture proved to be quite vital and interesting as Dean spent a lot of time talking about first hand experience in etiquette with in the studio and how to work with difficult producers/directors. Another key element of the lecture was the talk about how to get into industry, mentioning the fact that he didn’t get into a creative role straight away. There was also key discussion on some of the phrasing used within studio when talking to fellow production team members who aren’t are familiar with your department, this is key as I’ll be working with a film crew this year and I don’t want to use certain lingo that would either annoy them or go over their heads.

 

A lot of this lecture also focused on how to hold yourself within a studio environment. An example of this was to never use phrase like “I’m tired” due to the fact that everyone exhausted and in general, it shows a lack of discipline and interest to the work at hand. There was also generalised advice such as creating a business email and make sure you put across your desire for industry. Overall, this lecture included key work practises that I’ll heavily take into consideration when it comes to developing the audio for this film.

Initially I had documented that in semester A, I was down as doing record producing however, this was quickly changed as I got the offer to work on a film during the summer. This entail made me decide that it would be beneficial to work on the film this semester, then go into doing a more producer based project for semester B. Due to my late change of plan, I was initially with Lee Gretton for semester A, after an initial meeting with Lee; me and my fellow colleague for both projects Ed Richardson, were moved to the tutelage of David Mcsherry.

 

In our first meeting with David, we set out what we’d been briefed by our production team, including details revolving dates. As stated earlier this included showing a more finalized version of a schedule that we’d be working to. This included dates that focus on recording dates and deadlines. One important piece of information that I took from this meeting with our tutor was the fact we would be required to gain a sound requirements sheet from our groups, after this meeting I would ask for this.