production meeting 8

production meeting 8 took place on the 30th/1/14

present in meeting: sam, will and i

the problems said with our rough cuts were:

my cut problems: more work on it and finish the sequence and adding more visual effects and lastly adding more sound to areas that lack sound or need more.

will's cut: add back ground music to blend the dialogue better and also to get rid of the reflections of camera man in some shots.

Recording Ambient Sounds and Dialogue

Recording Ambient Sounds

Ambient recordings are the background noise in everyday life that we don't respond to or notice, an example what be convocations in a classrooms or footsteps in a hallway or even the humming of a radiator in a room,

Ambient sounds can range from ticking of a clock to the natural sounds of the ocean.

basically its the environment at work in audio form.

An example would be in the hunger games: catching fire, in this there are lots of jungle scenes and flips between a city and the jungle so a lot of ambient noises are included to make each individual area more immersive and realistic without it being ruined by the swapping of location.

an example would be tree's swaying in the wind, frogs croaking in the forest, birds calling, wet muddy footsteps when the characters are moving on foot, this are the examples in the jungle scenes.

the other end of would be in the city (the capital).the ambient noises would be very different indeed.

here are some examples of what be in work;

there would a humming of electricity and lights around, people possible talking in streets, concrete footsteps in rooms and city buildings, doors opening and closing etc., there are many more examples of this, ambient noises are just the environment you are in.

in a film some scenes maybe be hard cuts, which is a scene goes to the next scene without a transition and this can be bad for the mixing of ambient sounds because its a sudden of one environment to the other without a moment or two to smoothly add them together so the ambient noises just suddenly stop and start again between scenes which sounds and looks bad and completely ruins the immersive experience seeming that its not seamless, and looks rough so audio mixers try to avoid having to be in a scenario where they are working with hard cuts because it looks rough and ragged, with transitions this can be avoided by time for quick swaps of ambient noises without being noticing the environment changing.

it's best to record on set of the environment and ambient noises and not get them from record sound library's because when you record on set you can get exactly would you need from the audio and you can rely on it instead of going with sound that half sounds like what you want.

also recording on set is the real thing and is exactly what it sounds like not just a different version of it.

some examples of this are;

 fire, its better to record fire of what the visual is showing because fire can so many different sounding variations, like wood burning or cheap metals or plastic, a large fire or a small one, it could be a roaring fire you need or a forest fire not all sounds are going to be want for the sequence so with recoding it your self the sound is authentic and realistic.

another example would be the forest because of things like the weather and what kind of forest you are in, you wouldn't want a tundra sound for a rain forest, so recording on set will get you correct, accurate sound you need for the environment.

last example is footsteps, libraries may have out of time footsteps and the ground may be different e.g you want mug running and all you can find is concrete running.

Recording Dialogue

recording dialogue can be extremely difficult and it is, due to many factors recording clean solid dialogue is hard to achieve, even harder without good equipment or any for that fact, within recording on set there are a lot of sounds going on so ambient noises are crossing over dialogue and it can over power it making dialogue hard to hear, so every element of audio needs to be individually recorded, so there is a lot of work to get clean audio which can be either time consuming or hard to get.

you could record the dialogue indpendantly and then use it to dub over the clip, however this is risky in terms of audio not fitting with lips in the clip.

also a problem with dubbing the dialogue is that is sounds very odd at times and doesn't  sound like its from the scene so in the end dubbing is a bad idea to use because it's hard to master.

another idea for recording dialogue is to have a microphone on the person or near them however this also can get muffled in walking scenes or sound like its not the correct distance to the camera.

the importance of Ambient noises in dialogue scenes is so important because the sounds make the convocation flow much easier and gaps of silence are filled in and make it more smoother when shots changed and when someone new speaks.

the best way to get around recording dialogue is by using a boom microphone to pick up the dialogue.



production meeting 7

production meeting on the 19th/1/14
 on social media website meeting took place,
present at meeting will and i then conversed meeting to sam on the 20th.

me and will thought that we should change the clothes for milo in the sequence because what he was wearing was stereotypical and a cliche so it didn't look modern or realistic.
so we changed to more modern looking and died it down a bit for the sequence.

production meeting number 6

meeting on 29th/1/14
in meeting: will and i

we've decide to go and get some ambiant noises for the sequence e.g general noises and foot steps and pens.

the list follows:
paper turning
pen pot dropping
chair push
door closing
news noises
bag ruffle
foot taping
footsteps
environment noises: meeting room, hallway, outside, classroom.

rough cut of superville high

Research into recording foley sound and sound effects

Foley sounds

a foley artist is someone who creates the sound effects for films that would be in the background or be something the characters are interacting with or even the characters them selves, foley adds the physical effects of everything imaginable.

its the sound version of special effects, creating lies for our ears.

they would do this by either using props that are similar of items of the same weight or  the same material  or whatever creates a similar sound an example is celery being snapped for breaking bones or coconuts for horse shoes moving or even sheets of metal hitting over metal to create crashes in films.

the reasoning behind needing foley sounds is because the sounds that were recorded on set were ruined or not good enough or even purely were not recorded on the set because they just couldn't get the same quality of audio.

an example for why it would be needed is for horses running and if its a long shot its not going to pick  up the details that foley provides, for a medieval horse ride/chase the foley would provide, the running on the ground, the clanking of swords against belts, human shoes tapping the horse and the sound of the leather seat moving around.

most of those things would be created with odd props to make sound of a good realistic quality.

the skills needed for a foley artist is to be extremely creative to perfect sounds with different objects and layering all these sounds together before they are put together takes a lot of thought so foley artists have a huge range of imagination to get the job done.

also foley artists would need to have the skills of an actor because they have to part real emotion into every action, an example would be if someone was walking with anger the foley artist would have to recreate that and the same if someone was sneaking around.

the foley artists use an order for the sound effects, basic things would start with concentrating on the lead characters movements, which in its self has an order, starting with the footsteps then the kind of clothes the character is wearing if that kind of material made a noise  e.g armour or wet clothes.

after the lead character the extra's footsteps would be created too.

the reason foley is around and there is still foley artists is because no film will have the same sounding scenes as another film no matter the scene,
even if its horse riding scenes using sound libraries will not be perfect because its not the same, so will foley artists make the music as they watch the clip make it perfectly in line and finds to would you need.

also using authentic props will create better sounds  and make them realistic so using foley sounds is better then digitally made sound.

an example of foley that was greatly used is in the star wars films,
they had to use great amounts of creativity here.
the alien and odd creatures required sounds so foley artists had to go out and record animals all over the world then fiddle with the recording in a studio to make an alien beast like noise.
another example in stars wars is the great big heavy walking robots and they required a noise that was heavy clunking and smashing metal, so one of the many foley artists when to a factory that crushes sheets of metal then with other sounds layered with it, it made the perfect sound they needed for the robot.

Composing for film

5 point guide to composing music for film

1) Watch the film without sound, through doing that you will notice every detail and natural sound needed to create the tension needed and atmosphere.

also the emtion of the film will relay better back to the viewer and understand the focus more of the visual and allowing the understanding of sound.

2) Select the instruments, selecting the right instruments is very important  because certain instruments give certain emtions and create certain atmospheres within all forms of media so selecting the right instrument is important and then applying that instrument well. for example a piano is great to great a sad emotion but at same time, i find that using the piano is a great base starter instrument for music and creating a piece for a film because it can create any atmosphere then after that for different things you could use a flute for peace and tranquility, drums for tension or battle scenes.
so getting the right instrument for the right moment is important so the atmosphere isn't broken by a saxophone in a funeral scene for example.


3) getting the right beat and flow, it is important to get the right pace for a film or a scene because other wise it will out of time and sound and look bad together to create a unsettling and terrible sequence.
you want to keep a good pace with the actions in place at the time an example would be to have a battle scene with faster music than normal and flowing beat of battle to keep pace of fighting and opposite to that is having a calm scene so the beat would very slow and calm and keeping to the actions of slow or no movement at all.


4) Keeping the same theme, it is important to give off the same atmosphere and emotion through out the film and to do this is it simply keep to the same genre or instruments of emotion from a song an example would be to have hip hop music in rom com, scary music in a horror, feel good music for a comedy. so keeping the same theme and atmosphere is important so the viewers feel a certain way to a certain character or the same with the story understanding the all round vibe the story gives will relate to the music to represent.



5) Lastly experiment, it is important to try out different pieces of music and different versions of a certain piece of music because the elements may wrong and not fitting to the moment in the film, by this i mean you may have the perfect melody for sound of horror however the tension might be all wrong and need be building up in good time or perhaps the pace of the music is too fast for the actions in play, so experiments will allow to create music that near perfect in every element so the viewer is fully immersed and keeping to the atmosphere created by the music.




Batman the Dark Knight

Hanz Zimmer and Christopher Nolan worked together from an early stage of the making of the film even before post production due to Chris wanting Hanz to create a piece of music that relate to the joker well and Chris inspired him to do this by showing him images and short parts of films to create the piece and they worked closely through out.

Hanz went through out a process to find instruments or play certain instruments in ways to create tension and get the feel he wanted an example would be when he used razor blades on piano strings and played the violin in a certain way of being very slow and in a non-stop back and forth motion. he experimented a lot with these theories of sound.

Hanz wanted to create a piece that provoked the viewer and made them truly hate the piece and the joker out of terror. he didn't want people to feel for the joker at any point or see his view and he did this with the song due it not relating back to viewers.

3 Qualities Hanz wanted to create were fear and hatred for the piece and the character it represented (the Joker) he did this to have the viewers not feeling for the music and in fact hating it through fear of the joker and it provoking them to not wanting to see his side or feel what he feels so the music does a good job of making sure we do not.
another quality Hanz looked to create was tension he aimed to create a massive amount of tension through out the whole sonf in massive mounts to keep the viewers on their seat and always wondering when the Joker would be striking again.
Lastly Hanz tried to get the music to the most minimal point where even if you heard a short snippet of about 2 seconds you would relate do what that meant and that the joker was lurking around somewhere and the tension of appearance could be brought up with in a seconds notice.

My View

Overall i find the piece to be extremely effective in all the aims it set out to achieve, because the music that is the joker's theme is very much his theme and it relates to him well and gives of the same hatred and terror as the character and me as a viewer i associate the song with him however i do not relate him the song like it's intended to be.
Because most music is meant to reflect the character we are watching and cheering on so the music will relate to their emotions and how they are thinking so we can feel those feelings in music form to know they are doing and feeling however the joker and his theme do the opposite of that which is goof because simply he is insane, and a villain so we are not meant to relate to him and understand the tune of mind we simply meant to understand the terror and madness he brings and Hanz Zimmer has done excellent job to do this

rotoscoping research

what is rotoscoping?

 Rotoscoping is a type of animation technique, which animators use in films to trace over the top of a shot, doing one frame at a time, it was useful making realistic animations in a time where we didn't have our level of animation technology.

Brief history of rotoscoping.

Rotoscoping originally consisted of artists tracing pictures frame by frame over frosted glass to create a realistic action scene which would otherwise be impossible.
 The technique was created by Max Fliescher and was used in his series 'Out Of The Inkwell' which started in 1915. and then patented the technique in 1917.

Since then it's been used in a number of famous films, like Snow White, where rotoscoping was used to study the movements of humans and animals It was used in many cartoons across many countries until computers eventually replaced the technique

orcs chanting

in the clip of the of the orcs chanting there is smoke added in the back layers on the sequence and also in areas added to the front layer, it is well done in the way it looks like real smoke and natural, it is a nice final cut and the smoke gives a feel of terror as the orcs appear chanting from the mist and shadows 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oBvNFMt9Ic

VFX SHEETS

use of music in film - legal considerations

Rights of use

Publishing rights is where you get personal permission to use music that it belongs to and who is the owner of the rights. so the record label or the publisher of the music give you permission to use the music within your film.

Recording rights is more or less the same thing but the people whom actually created the music give you permission to use the music in your feature.

this can be done by contacting the performers them selfs.

another way this could be accomplished is by getting a different version of the song that someone created with the license to do it, then ask them if you are allowed to use their cover/version of the song.

the person who created the alternate version is more likely to reply and allow you to use the music piece.

with rights of use you need make sure you are clear of using this can easily be achieved by finding out the license the music has and what rights are behind it and also who owns those rights, then once you found it would be a simple case of contacting the owner of the rights and asking for permission.

issues concerning if the performer has died and if you can use their music, is simple if they have died 70+ years ago the rights and license have expired, so all that is required is to contacted the website of  where you have found the piece of music.

Creative Commons

Creative commons uses licences to expand the range of free to use music, this organisation does this so it can be used and shared publicly with the legal rights.

this helps the public acquire music for their own individual projects by giving them the chance to use the music.

creative commons exists due to the very restrictive licences on music and its exists to counter this problem of restrictive structures on the music.

it gains the licences for anyone to use the music and have less restrictions on them, so really creative commons is for everyone to get the chance to use music legally.

Different types of licences 

(BY) Attribution- music can be used as long as you credit them for their work.

(SA) Sharealike- the music is allowed to be edited but you have to make sure the edited piece is free to use as well.

(NC) Non-Commercial- its free to use the music as long as its not in a commercial and making a profit from it. 

(ND) Non-Derivative- it means you can use the original music for use however no editing is allowed

of course these are not just individual licences a lot of these  pair up and come into play together.

here are six examples.

(BY) Licence

(BY) + (SA) Licence

(BY)+ (SA) + (NC) Licence
(BY)+ (NC) Licence
(BY)+ (ND) Licence
(BY)+ (ND) + (NC) Licence

The music I will use in my sequence

song track: Hold hands while riding a bike.

genre: classical/inspirational

Link:

why is choose this music.

the reason behind the choosing of this song is that its calm and not sad or happy its very walking pace because its suites well to the fact of the progress coach being very factual of the school and is not either angry or friendly he is just being helpful in the simplest way, so the music adds to the atmosphere of it being mediam emotion meeting in a neutral ground. it also has a steady beat playing through the track through out so its like the heart beat of characters or even adding the flow of the scene walking so keeps up a moving beat.

the genre of the piece is classical and very calm and meidam emotion level, with a correct tempo that is not too slow that make it seem sad or too fast to make it seem up beat and happy.

music analysis

The purpose of the music in the sequence is to create background audio for the montage and smoothly adds together the flash backs and real time to be more immersive to help with the narrative flow.
with this music it is smoother and just sounds all round better due to not having random silences in the sequence and keeping the same purpose and mood/emotion all the way through and not changing purpose.

the elements within the sequence are quite mediam paced and the emotion level is the same becuase the scene is not sad or happy, its just sort of sincere because the character is trying to be helpful and is not telling tales/memories that are sad or funny, he is looking back at them on a different view and is trying to see the helpful inspirations their moments give and his view on it helps to see this.
The tempo within the this clip is Andante which is walking pace, further developing the point that its not happy or sad, because its like the main character is walking with words on the letter, explaining the these past events with a helpful hint and telling them as fact not as a funny story or a sad event just examples to prove is point and the tempo is right for this because its a mediam pace, too slow would seem like it was sad and too fast and up beat would seem happy and joyful.

the Genre is the sequence is classical, classical is perfect here because its suits well to give off the meaning and purpose anything else would be inappropriate to the clip, the classical shows off well the sincere feel of giving facts and not trying to be too emotional either way, happy or sad.

Fluets and strings are mainly used in the sequence to give the right tone and not be too over powering with drums and too much electronics, it's nicely acoustic and relaxed.

Lastly the meaning of the music within the clip and how it relates and influences the atmosphere,
The sequence is Oliver's (main character) thought process, its rather subjective and keeping too facts and not being too emotional only with a hint of guilt but mainly he is just trying to be helpful.
the meaning of the music is that the music portrays the letter in showing that its olivers thoughts on the papre there for his music and explains the atmosphere he gives off of being sincere

20th/1/2014 production meeting

present at meeting: sam, will and I

20th January - Film Xavier and the Progress Coach walking out towards student centre (Ashers scene).

Book the academic support room for Mindy's scene to film in.

Film Ashers scene in the student centre.

Updated schedule to be more filled and specific as well as having the rough one.

Create a Trello account and fill in the blocks.

Improved photo shots

improved shot 1, scene 1

this shot was greatly needing improvement from the rule of thirds being broken and it not being either symmetrical or having a reason behind it, in the new shot it is at an angle and keeping at a lower angle to see the characters scene  more in depth and getting closer to the dialoge to be more engaged.

improved shot 2, scene 1

shot 2 was originally breaking the 180 degree rule so it had to be re-shot no matter what, but with that chance we added loads new elements to improve it, like straightening the tables and getting the shot symmetrical as before the two group members had a timed shot so couldn't judge it as well as they could have. also the lighting is more friendly and a lot less stinging to the eyes.

improved shot 3, scene 2

improved shot 3 was highly more improved in terms of the rules of thirds, because now the sides of the hall lead up to where the feet of the characters are, so are guided to look at them even though they are a focal point this adds to the effect  of leading up to them, also the long shot was done better because the feet made it into the shot and gives off where they are heading instead of them standing still.

improved shot 4, scene 2

in shot 4 the angle was changed to make the shot better in so many ways like the factor that you follow the framing along to see the characters.

the angle also shows less background and focus' so much more on the characters and making it valid that they are the point of intrest not the background.

and lastly the angle show off more where the characters are heading towards the movement is increased in terms of where they are heading.

improved shot 5, scene 3

this shot was one that needed to most improved to because the characters were so far away and the scene was full of junk, e.g posters and extra chairs, etc.

also the lighting was terrible because a sudden sharp beam scrapes the top of the shot and gives off terrible unwanted flare.

improved shot 6, scene 4

also here we have a shot that had way to much unwanted and unneeded background, it also had the angle changed to give off an improvement on were the characters are heading also the headmaster is leading the walk which is more natural. 

Health and Safety risk talk

Health and Safety

elements to be aware of whilst filming on site.

- be cautious of the surroundings e.g people.

- also be aware of areas of hazard like slippery surfaces or tripping hazards.

 - if climbing or mounting objects with a bit of height to them make sure to ask for help from staff to make it safe as possible.

- wear a high visibility jacket to inform others of your presence so they can respond safely as you do as well.

new script 2.0

Xavier is a shy, yet powerful 15 year-old boy, with the power of fire control. He can create fireballs in the palm of his hand, and he can control flames to do whatever he pleases. He is a very passive person, but with high morals and is willing to do whatever he can to make things right.

He usually walks around in very casual clothing (jeans, flannel shirt and patterned woollen jumper), and wears a brown messenger bag. He always walks around with over-ear headphones in too.

health and safety

Prop Table

Contingency plan.

NUISANCES

Problems

1) The group working together and better, no messing around.

2) The group being committed to film times and getting it done on time and right.

solutions  

1 and 2) Have a group chat to discuss dates and major planning e.g costumes and needed equipment also props.

MINOR PROBLEMS

Problems

1) The costume set up for headmaster and Milo.

2) Getting the dialogue retyped up.

3) the possibly factor of having music in the sequence.

   

solutions

1) ill get a suit for headmaster and everyone looks for chav like clothing for milo.

2) go onto adobe story and re-write dialogue so it makes sense in the sequence.

3) talk to the group if we want background music and what kind of music, if any.

DISASTERS 

problems

1) different views on the sequence e.g visual effects, shot types and dialogue.

2) The the whether going to the worst condition on filming day.

3) in need of a female actor for Mindy.

Solutions

1) get straight what we want for each shot and it's post production needs.

2) Film on a day when the whether is good, and look at forecast the day before.

3) ask a girl to be in our sequence.   

Casting notes

Xavier

a 17 year old male teenager, average height with mediam length dark hair. average build.

Head Master

a 40-50 year old man, just above average height around 5'9 with short brown hair. big build.

Asher

a 16 year old male teenager, just above average height around 5'11, with short cut brown hair. average build.

Mindy

a 17 year old female, around average height for a girl (5'6), brown hair mediam to long length. skinny to average build.

Milo

an 18 year old male, rather tall man about 6'2 and with short to mediam length hair.

production meeting.

meeting at 06/01/14 with Will, Sam and I.

schedule:

 filming schedule

13th to the 14th film scene 1
15th to the 16th film scene 2

17th to the 20th film scene 3

21st to the 22nd film scene 4

23rd to the 24th film scene 5

27th to the 28th film scene 6

29th to the 30th film scene 7

sound schedule:

31st to the 3rd to get all sounds completed for the sequence.

visual/special effects:
4th to the 7th is the effects time.

final edit/all done:
10th to the 14th finish the sequence.

casting:

Xavier = sam.
asher = will.
head teacher = chris.
mindy = girl in group.
milo = charlie.


Locations:
already done.

working between after effects and premiere

when working between premiere and after effects there are a few simple ways to link the footage that is in both sources, lets say your footage is in premiere, one way of linking it to after effects is by simply draging the sequence file from premiere into after effects then it would link up the two.

another way to link up the two pieces of software is by highlighting the footage then right click on the highlighted clips and then selecting 'replace with after effects composition', merging the footage into one within after effects but it still gets the job done.

These are just two ways of transferring the footage which are very good ways of quickly setting up a link.however it is important to save in both pieces of software at all times because they are sharing data which need to both save on either end.