Session 3- adiobook extract

The harsh grey clouds above fled from the north blocking out the blazing sun, clouds that reflected in the eyes of a wanderer, a rogue. He crouched low on the edge of a building, looking out over the city. His blood boiled as he saw the flickering lights of a grand palace in the distance, he watched as guards walked from tower to tower oblivious of everything around them. He clenched his teeth as he thought about  the oncoming storm. He waited there for the first rumble of thunder, he pulled his black hood low over his face as it shook the eternal heavens.

A broken man of only twenty he had more blood on his hands than many a man twice his age but that was just it… as he drew a deep breath he pondered the idea and motives for his actions. A girl. Not a lover, something more. His only family. A child of only thirteen. Why should she suffer while he was free to wander the open roads? He heard the chatter of night-watchmen bellow.

Then the tide came in… A great tide of the Ogre Kingdoms. Ten thousand mad things storming iron gates with iron cannons stuffed with axes, cutlery, sticks and chain mail among other more sinister things. Ten feet tall with blood soaked tanned flesh. His keen eyes picked up details that many would have missed. A number of their ranks ran screaming through poorly built wooden buildings, their flesh alight and catching on warm, dry interior supports. All the charge took was the promise of food and a few dead beasts.

The man smirked as he deployed a pair of the most uncanny tools. Blades hidden within his leather vambraces. The two men ran from their post unaware of the shadow that haunted them and a second later they were face down into the floor with blood leaking from the wounds in their throats. The man stood as an ogre bellower ran towards him. There was no way around the thing so he ran straight for it, retracting the two blades at his wrists and drawing a nimble short blade. He brought himself to a sprint, running along the wall and jumbing head first into the path of the ogre pulling its hair to drive its head forward as he vaulted over the thing as he plunged his blade through its skull with a sickening crunch.

Sesion 2- Sound effects

Sound effects are an essential part of any media production, audio or otherwise and often the wrong sound can totally destroy a critical moment and make it seem unrealistic over or even under dramatized.

In an era where technology can do almost everything we'd need them to do in the production of a media product but sometimes if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. This is the job of the foley artist and the sound effects team. Many of the sounds I plan on using are to express the violence of war, to do this many artist use organic foods, fruit, vegetables and other objects as found in the video bellow.

This after some thought while it would be creative and new for such a small project I realized it would be difficult to do in such a short space of time and as such will record sound that is more immediate to me e.g. crunching stone..

session 1- ideas...

After some thought into what I could do for this final product I came to the idea of an audio book extract. This would be a project that would be a bit of a challenge and as such I will stick to a genre that I enjoy and one that will be interesting to create sound for that being fantasy.

The next session will involve finalizing a peace to record and creating sound effects... I may need some fruit for this.

Sound for a media product

Film- The film opens with the mostly ambiance, the classic anime sound effect of cicadas in the bushes and trees. combined with the images of a blood red sea and a number of military weapons and destroyed buildings as a way of highlighting the mass devastation against the peace and quiet. The dubbing is well produced as is the animation. The score is well timed and dramatic.

TV- 

Music- In Between/ Beartooth- The song opens in the style of a more punk/hardcore song with horse, strained vocals and a rough sounding riff. The harsh (screamed) vocals, throughout the song allow the importance of the message to get across with more force and urgency the message here being that of child abuse and how people will try to push out the outsiders and non conformers (goths, emos etc). The clean vocals have been put in place for the more uplifting moments to get viewers to understand the meaning in a more understood way. 

Sound elements in media

Of course many companies have databases of about ten samples minimum for a single sound but there are others mostly independent companies that have to create their own sound effects using everyday objects many of these are found on: http://www.epicsound.com/sfx/

Rain on gravel is a very common sound that can be found in almost every film just about every genre. This sound effect can be created simply by recording the sound of a plastic bag being crumpled up.

Fire crackling is a similarly popular sound in and can be made in a number of ways from slowly compressing crisp packets in your hands to snapping matches and cocktail sticks as well as popping air bubbles in plastic wrapping.

Doors Creaking can be made again in a number of ways using almost anything with a hinge though metal hinges sound best.

Live at the chapel production rolls

There are a number of roles and responsibilities involved in the Live at the Chapel sessions many of which are absolutely crucial to the production. Lighting engineer- the job here is the management of the various lights who sit's in the performance area dimming and raising the lights with the use of the lighting desk.

Floor manager- conveys orders and instructions from the studio and introduces each take with the clapper board.

Director- The director remains withing the studio directing the cameras using a microphone.

The grip- this job while is not crucial to the production

Visual engineer- This is a job that I am often given. this job involves taking the visual feeds from the three cameras in the performance area and selecting the best shot for the production. this is often done alongside someone else using the tricaster. There are a number of skills required for this job are a keen eye for detail as you have to constantly be watching for issues in the camera work in order to create a seamless product. Another is patients as with every job but most similarly to the job of the sound engineer, communication between the two roles is a must as if the two rolls are not communicating the production may not work or at least seem half hearted.

Sound engineer- the job involves mixing and balancing the sound from each instrument and from the vocals (if any, as there is often none) with the use of the sound desk/ mixing desk. Again a key skill is being able to tell when the production is at a adequate level as well as being able to mix each peace of audio so that one instrument does nod drown out the other or visa versa.