12/12 & 13/12 Editing

So from the previous two editing sessions, considering no sound design had been properly scheduled I believe I have done quite the considerable job. I have managed to structure the sound from the beginning of the rough cut to the fighting scene. Some scenes like the fighting scene are going to take a considerable amount more time to edit as there are different sounds expected or can affect the consumption of the film. I do not believe a completely finished edit will be done, so I hope that a piece is completed that is at least near completion.

A concern that I had from the beginning of the film has come to fruition and that is the under appreciation and inadequate approach to the organisation of sound. As sound relies heavily on the visual image, I could not begin sound editing without at least a rough cut and I certainly will not be taking responsibility for lack of time provided for sound. In saying that, the progress of the sound has been great and I look forward to seeing what occurs of the next couple days.

According to tutorial I had with Chris and some members of the group, I should be expecting a revised rough cut tomorrow. It will be interesting to know why this cut isn't received if this happens, however I am confident that my fellow group members won't let me down.

10/12 Tutorial

Though I had made Chris aware about my times of work the day before, he could not rearrange the times of my group’s tutorial, which resulted in me having to leave early. It would have been very helpful to have an earlier time slot, but as such he could not make any changes.

Danayet said that the sound needs to start undergoing the process, which I told her that if she met up with myself and had meetings with prior to the previous, the process would of already begun. She taken offence to this, which I can understand why, however needs to admit the errors in place. I politely told her that the group’s organisation has been a complete and utter shamble, an example is that with less 7 days to go, a complete rough edit still has not been made. Taken further offence she replied with comments about my absence at shoots, however I corrected her on the matter that the most common reason for my absence for shoots is due to the lack of notice provided for a shoot. Politely I explained that my commitments will differ from yours and the groups, however the group can make shoots in short notice and I cannot. Being stunned by my responses she discontinued the conversation as she seemed to understand the errors made with organisation.

Moving forward, Chris questioned what was the next step and Danayet asked for me to come on Sunday at 1pm to pick up an updated version of the edit. By a miracle, I had decided to bring in my sound hard drive, which nobody had asked me to bring incase there was any files I could obtain from the group. TS made me aware that he has not had a hard drive to work from, which means he has and will only be able to edit from the mac computer that he is stationed on. I did not want to bring up my concerns to this workflow as I believe this will deepen the increasing separation that has become very apparent between the group and myself. I asked instead that he copy all the files over to my hard drive, so I could begin sound editing for the scenes he has already edited together. He does plan to make changes, but we will see how everything goes. Danayet also asked for myself to come in on Monday at 10am to review the progress of the project altogether, which I think is a brilliant idea. It would be great to have as many people present whilst sound editing to get as many suggestions as possible. I agreed and said these times will be fine. I haven’t been in contact with Emily or Louise in a little while, which I am sure they occupied with other modules being due in soon and if there is anything they would like to contribute that they will contact myself or the group.

I would like to come into the edit suite tomorrow after work and start working on the sound design of this project. Completing the sound design of my other project has provided me with more confidence to sound design in Pro Tools, which I think will be a big bonus in completing the group’s soundtrack. Though progression is being made, I am concerned that not enough consideration has been made for sound and that the little time the group has offered for sound designing is appalling. I hope that the soundtrack will be complete before our presentation, however we will see what happens from here on out.

Tom is also up for accompanying myself tomorrow in the edit suite, which will be a big help towards the project. Members of the group can choose to interact in a negative and unprofessional manner, but my main concern is this project and that will come first no matter what.

6/12 Editing (short overview)

Today I completed sound editing for my sound project. I used this exercise to improve my confidence for the sound edit I have to do for my drama piece.

My initial idea was to create a piece that was inspired by the theme of the undead, similar to The Evil Dead (which I watched here https://screenhits.tv/Viewers/Player.aspx?mediaID=9DBF0414-6DE1-437D-BB64-34AD5BAFA2A4). My workflow consist of grabbing and manipulating sounds to sound more eerie and dark.

The impression I get from my finished piece is that there is a spectator in the woods watching the events of the black man being left in the water unfold. The spectator bears some sort of relationship with the black man, which is why the rate of their breathing increases and he continues to spectate the boat through its journey. The black man is a victim of Ebola, which is suggestive from the radio broadcast heard when a man is seen opening letters and the crew are en-route to a destination away from the disease. As the dark song slowly fades in, it emphasises the lack of remorse these militant men hold for the black man, however it could represent the feelings the men harbour inside. The clip ends with the man looking through into binoculars, leaving the audience to remain curious about what the man sees.

The song I used is a remix of the temple of time song composed by Koji Kondo and is a part of the soundtrack album The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

3/12 Tutorial / Problem-solving

I met with Chris to discuss the issues I have been having with my group. I explained to him that the notice they are providing me with for shoots are too short and that this is a big issue. It is why I haven't been able to attend shoots as Louise has a schedule that doesn't say what hours I am working. From the shoots I have been made aware about, I have missed the early morning one and the most recent one, which involved a miscommunication on location around the library. Professionalism should be upheld at all times and any member shouldn't portray themselves in an offensive and childish manner to another member.

Chris has attempted to understand the details of the situation, but has also attempted to remain impartial and unbiased. The source of the miscommunication is the group's attempt to contact each other via Facebook. In my opinion, this is the most unreliable method in which communication can be established.

Chris has told me that the alternatives would be to create my own 5 - 10 minute piece, which would prove too difficult at this stage or to create another 2 minute piece, but it wouldn't fulfil the brief. One alternative incase everything goes wrong is to get the edit and create a sound edit myself that differs from the group's.

I am going to take Chris' advice to be proactive and to contact the group in regards to sound designing. What I have said is to meet up on Friday at 1pm if everyone is available and if they are not to meet up another day.

With that being said, lets hope the sound side of the project does get picked up onto its feet and that the project progresses forwards. My main concern is that with such little time, these aren't the kind of problems to encounter we should encounter especially at this stage, but as long as the project is completed. That is all that counts.

2/12 Editing

So today I had a session on Pro Tools, I was able to start putting my project together on Pro Tools. I am still not familiar with the keyboard shortcuts but I have a standard workflow I can now adhere to. I have already begun sampling and experimenting with different effects and sounds on Soundtrack Pro for this piece, however the biggest issue is always going to be porting over a project from Soundtrack Pro to Pro Tools. There are options to save the tracks as OMFs or AAFs, but these are not as compatible as project files.

I always knew this was a potentiality, so I never went too overboard with structure on Soundtrack Pro, however I had this idea to duplicate the track of the heavy breathing recording by myself and for each of the duplicates. To extreme and soft pan left and pan to create an eerie atmosphere of different levels of heavy breathing. This will contribute towards the final theme of the undead receiving the dead.

The edit is slowly progressing in the right direction, but from my tutor feedback today, I need to make the piece string together a little more clearer. Even though my piece will be more art house and experimental, I want the structure to be understood without reducing the creative quality of the piece. As I edit, this will be one of the main objectives within this piece.

28/11 experimenting

So over the weekend, I booked out a hydrophone with a contact adaptor, marrantz and audio technica shotgun microphone to start experimenting with sounds. I captured some good sounds that I am really impressed with, experimenting led me to putting the hydrophone in the sink, connecting to different surfaces and scratching, rubbing, hitting different surfaces.

The interesting thing about the hydrophone is that the sounds reverberate very well and differently for each surface. Different sounds are achieved depending on the surface area and the distance between the microphone. I am hoping to cycle and record to see what kind of interesting sounds that would make.

25/11 Recording

Today I recorded sounds for the drama film I am working on. The majority of sounds recorded were in sync sound as this is what the director has requested specifically. I had a meeting with the director that was cut short due to the lack of time of availability. I needed a lot of direction with sound, however I think more attention is being paid to how the film will look and not how it will sound.

The day has gone splendid. I have managed to record all the sounds that I required from set and got on really well with the talents. I backed up the recordings straight away, as I noticed Tom's zoom recorder was very faulty during recordings. There were times it would record and times it wouldn't.

That being said, I do believe it is unfair that we paid for one of the talents, I think with an alternative method of scouting, it would of been possible to find a father who was prepared to be in our production for free. Maybe the organisation of our project would of caused less appeal, however once telling a talent our amazing idea, I am sure we would of been able to seal the deal for free.

In terms of direction, speaking with the director prior to this. She has outlined that she would only like SYNC sound to be in the final piece, which I solemnly object too, however it is the director who makes the final call in these creative decisions and I am sure she has an idea to why she would like it to be so.

The project is moving forward and that is a great sign.

It would be great to meet up with the director to discuss some more ideas, but as she had said, she is quite busy and will get back to me.

1/12 MIP Shooting

What an atrocious day, I am sure squirrels could co-ordinate a shoot a lot better than my group has done. Not only has my group made it clear that they are possibly harbouring negative inclinations towards myself, they have failed to accurately and appropriately organise a shoot. This being said, a night before an early morning shoot is definitely unprofessional and unpractical for the project.

From what I have gathered from terrible attempts to maintain a schedule, which I had already created an easy and accessible method for everyone to maintain. The group has decided to adopt this "improv" method, which involves only making aware members who can make every session, because they have commitments that involve less time. That being said at least we managed to begin using the documents I created online for everyone to use.

Though my manager has given me the privilege to rota my own hours each week, I still am misinformed and informed inadequately about shoots that are upcoming. Examples include: making a spreadsheet that never displays my hours, organising shoots with short notice and being incapable to make another member aware of changing or unforeseen circumstances.

I believe today or this evening was the least practical and biggest fail to get a shoot done appropriately with sound and as such unfortunately hope it does not affect the final cut. I will strive to ensure communication that has been displayed by other members is returned in full with the utmost professionalism.

I do also hope communication isn't further severed like it has been in the past with members' phones becoming lost and will push myself to actively write all research I have undergone towards this project.

Though I have voiced my concerns to my lecturer, I believe the best action to undertake is my own action and to withdraw all concerns.