Friday, 20 June 2014
Soundtrack worksheet 3
If a soundtrack needed to be made the first person to go to is the director as it is their choice of how they want it to sound like. Then you would have to consult the sound team which would consist of editor, audio mixer, Foley artist etc. The audio mixer would decide what level everything is, the editor will know which point to put everything. A composer would need to be told what you want from a score they are to create. Firstly, spotting would have to be done on the film. This means someone would sit through and watch all the footage to check for any mistakes or continuity issues. When this process has finished the director will put a picture lock in place, this is when the editor has finished the final cut so all the images are in the right place at the right time, ready for the soundtrack to be edited over it. Recording sound securely is something that would be needed to be planned out too. Sound teams need to have a plan B in case it doesn't work, like for example adding an extra mic to a shot to catch a certain noise that just one mic wasn't getting on its own. The use of a clapper board is very helpful in terms of the sound too, it gives the sound editor a pointer as to where to match up the audio with the visuals timing wise.
Door closing http://freesound.org/people/JarredGibb/sounds/219495/
Knife http://freesound.org/people/Mixedupmoviestuff/sounds/179222/
Pouring water http://freesound.org/people/runirasmussen/sounds/172377/
I used my colleagues house for this film. When I tested the sound there was no other sounds. It was really quiet and the only way to have background sound was to make it.
I chose to use a stereo videomic because it produces good quality sound and is very portable. I could've used a zoom but I would have to match up the audio which is quite risky if you do it for the first time. I could've used a boom pole with a rode shotgun but I had noone to hold the boom pole on set.
MP3 - This format is a compressed sound file. As they are compressed, the files are also smaller so easily transferred.
AIFF - AIFF is short for Audio Interchange File Format. It is standard format for Macs and was created by Apple, it is basically the Mac version of WAV files. These files are uncompressed so therefore much larger in size but keep a good audio quality.
WAV - Waveform Audio File Format is completely uncompressed, meaning they keep the best possible quality. A downside to this is that they are very large file sizes however they are the most flexible out of the three file types.
Both AIFF and WAV files are very flexibly when it comes to editing and post-production due to their superior sound quality and the fact they remain uncompressed.
There were no copyright issues because all of the music and sounds were either created by me or are on creative commons.
Door closing http://freesound.org/people/JarredGibb/sounds/219495/
Knife http://freesound.org/people/Mixedupmoviestuff/sounds/179222/
Pouring water http://freesound.org/people/runirasmussen/sounds/172377/
I used my colleagues house for this film. When I tested the sound there was no other sounds. It was really quiet and the only way to have background sound was to make it.
I chose to use a stereo videomic because it produces good quality sound and is very portable. I could've used a zoom but I would have to match up the audio which is quite risky if you do it for the first time. I could've used a boom pole with a rode shotgun but I had noone to hold the boom pole on set.
MP3 - This format is a compressed sound file. As they are compressed, the files are also smaller so easily transferred.
AIFF - AIFF is short for Audio Interchange File Format. It is standard format for Macs and was created by Apple, it is basically the Mac version of WAV files. These files are uncompressed so therefore much larger in size but keep a good audio quality.
WAV - Waveform Audio File Format is completely uncompressed, meaning they keep the best possible quality. A downside to this is that they are very large file sizes however they are the most flexible out of the three file types.
Both AIFF and WAV files are very flexibly when it comes to editing and post-production due to their superior sound quality and the fact they remain uncompressed.
There were no copyright issues because all of the music and sounds were either created by me or are on creative commons.
Thursday, 19 June 2014
Notes to help with factual programming (News Essay)
Codes and conventions
I looked at Fox news and BBC to understand codes and conventions of a news show. News shows will have a VT insert. A VT insert will generally have a reporter on the scene talking about the subject. There will also be other footage about the subject with a voiceover on top of the footage. A VT insert might have an interview. An interview is when someone asks the person questions about a certain subject. The interviewee will normally be involved in the subject in some way. In the studio there will be one or two anchor(s) to give that days headlines and handover to VT inserts. In the studio everything is live. There will normally be an into which will have a jingle and graphics over the top. There will also be graphics showing who people are and how they are involved. Another use of graphics is to show statistic/information. They start by having their jingle play over a graphic with the name of the show. Then there is a establishing shot of the set with the presenters. Then it turns into a medium shot of the presenters. Once they've talked about a story a VT is played. After the VT it goes back to the presenter. It then continues doing this until the last story and ends. Once it ends it goes back to the establishing shot of the presenters and will do the jingle and show a different graphic. News show also use multi camera unlike documentary or short film. Most news shows are live like the BBC, fox and Channel 4.
The News' audience, political bias and contract with the viewer. The audience is being persuaded to watch things by the way the show has been edited and what has been said by the presenter and the member of public being interviewed. In FOX news they are very bias and one-sided, in one of the shows they had got 3 conservative politicians and only democrat. This meant they could win in an argument as it would be three against one. They reason they do this is to make them look stronger and know what they are talking about. The images shown on the news show may only be good images or bad images, depending on the story. In BBC news they interview members of the public, this means it isn't bias as everyone has their own opinion on everything. In FOX news they don't really go out to the public and ask questions and getting different answers each time, instead they get politicians, or people who are high up and have their own opinions on the story. This can be bias as they aren't using anyone else's opinion or taking others opinions into account. IN FOX and BBC news they both have VT inserts and have voice-overs. This is different on both channels as FOX or BBC may talk about the story in brief or full detail, but speak about the good side of the story brushing the
As the News covers such a wide range of worldwide affairs, lots of different kinds of people are represented. Whether this is age, race, gender or religion, the news as a supposedly unbiased and impartial source of information should represent all of these without using bias against or for a particular group of people. However the news doesn't always manage to do this and can use stereotypes, both good and bad. As shown in Outfoxed, Fox News use representation to suit their own propaganda. Being very pro-Republican, they often carefully select who they have on their show to represent each side in political debate with Liberals. They will make sure the Republican speaker is good looking, dressed smartly, very confident and loud etc. Meanwhile they will pick Democrats who are the complete opposite of this. They will choose people who are perhaps quite shy, not very physically imposing and not good looking to make the Republicans seem better. This of course is not a fair representation of either Republicans or Democrats but as it suits the propaganda Fox wants to put across, they actively seek to create these miss-matches.
Multi-camera setups are used in a studio to capture the studio from different angles, this doesn't add much intimacy to the feel of the presenter, where as in their VT's they use one camera to make it more intimate. In the studio at FOX and BBC News they both use multi-camera setups in the studio as it isn't as important in the studio than the VT. Multi-camera setups are used to catch every angle of the studio, there are usually three cameras on the set, there is a camera in the middle focusing on the presenters or main person, then either side of the camera is a camera on a much wider angle. These two cameras catch much wider angles of the presenters and studio. The best thing about a multi-camera setup is that you don't have to start and stop the action to capture different angles, it can flow much smoothly and not take as long to film. The downsides of multi-camera setups is that the lighting can be good for one camera and then the other cameras it wont be as good. Another problem with multi-camera setups is that hiding a microphone or equipment on the scene from one camera can show up on another camera.
The codes and conventions are the same as the News, except the codes and conventions for documentary are a lot different. In all documentaries there are voiceovers. The voiceover will encourage the audience to think they have a special knowledge or that they should pay attention to others opinions. Like in the news but not in as much detail and length but there is real footage of events. Most people believe Documentary is non-fiction, however, all the events presented are to be seen as real by the audience. In all the Documentaries lighting is only used in dark rooms or interviews, all the diegetic sound we hear is coming from the footage of the clip, not by the added in audio for effect. Archival, or stock footage, is from a library or archive and inserted into a documentary to show historical events or to add detail without the need for additional filming. In documentaries, there isn't a lot of editing, but when there is it isn't of an amazing standard, it can be really basic or over exaggerated. When the editing is over the top it can ruin the intensity of the documentary, this is because if the documentary is sad or touching it can lose this feel when there is loads of graphics or over the top editing. Documentaries are structured by having voice-overs of VT's, interviews, VT inserts, music, all this build intensity for the viewer. In documentaries the lighting is at least 95% natural, the only time it isn't is when there are interview rooms setup. The sound as well is usually all natural, this is to add intensity. In documentaries, the interviews with the so called 'experts' are used to authenticate the views expressed in the documentary. Sometimes they will disagree with the message of the documentary, although the film maker will usually disapprove with them in some way. What makes Documentaries different from the News and Fiction-films is that documentaries are set out different. Documentaries have more VT inserts, voiceovers, interviews and more intensity than the News and Fiction films.
I looked at Fox news and BBC to understand codes and conventions of a news show. News shows will have a VT insert. A VT insert will generally have a reporter on the scene talking about the subject. There will also be other footage about the subject with a voiceover on top of the footage. A VT insert might have an interview. An interview is when someone asks the person questions about a certain subject. The interviewee will normally be involved in the subject in some way. In the studio there will be one or two anchor(s) to give that days headlines and handover to VT inserts. In the studio everything is live. There will normally be an into which will have a jingle and graphics over the top. There will also be graphics showing who people are and how they are involved. Another use of graphics is to show statistic/information. They start by having their jingle play over a graphic with the name of the show. Then there is a establishing shot of the set with the presenters. Then it turns into a medium shot of the presenters. Once they've talked about a story a VT is played. After the VT it goes back to the presenter. It then continues doing this until the last story and ends. Once it ends it goes back to the establishing shot of the presenters and will do the jingle and show a different graphic. News show also use multi camera unlike documentary or short film. Most news shows are live like the BBC, fox and Channel 4.
The News' audience, political bias and contract with the viewer. The audience is being persuaded to watch things by the way the show has been edited and what has been said by the presenter and the member of public being interviewed. In FOX news they are very bias and one-sided, in one of the shows they had got 3 conservative politicians and only democrat. This meant they could win in an argument as it would be three against one. They reason they do this is to make them look stronger and know what they are talking about. The images shown on the news show may only be good images or bad images, depending on the story. In BBC news they interview members of the public, this means it isn't bias as everyone has their own opinion on everything. In FOX news they don't really go out to the public and ask questions and getting different answers each time, instead they get politicians, or people who are high up and have their own opinions on the story. This can be bias as they aren't using anyone else's opinion or taking others opinions into account. IN FOX and BBC news they both have VT inserts and have voice-overs. This is different on both channels as FOX or BBC may talk about the story in brief or full detail, but speak about the good side of the story brushing the
As the News covers such a wide range of worldwide affairs, lots of different kinds of people are represented. Whether this is age, race, gender or religion, the news as a supposedly unbiased and impartial source of information should represent all of these without using bias against or for a particular group of people. However the news doesn't always manage to do this and can use stereotypes, both good and bad. As shown in Outfoxed, Fox News use representation to suit their own propaganda. Being very pro-Republican, they often carefully select who they have on their show to represent each side in political debate with Liberals. They will make sure the Republican speaker is good looking, dressed smartly, very confident and loud etc. Meanwhile they will pick Democrats who are the complete opposite of this. They will choose people who are perhaps quite shy, not very physically imposing and not good looking to make the Republicans seem better. This of course is not a fair representation of either Republicans or Democrats but as it suits the propaganda Fox wants to put across, they actively seek to create these miss-matches.
Multi-camera setups are used in a studio to capture the studio from different angles, this doesn't add much intimacy to the feel of the presenter, where as in their VT's they use one camera to make it more intimate. In the studio at FOX and BBC News they both use multi-camera setups in the studio as it isn't as important in the studio than the VT. Multi-camera setups are used to catch every angle of the studio, there are usually three cameras on the set, there is a camera in the middle focusing on the presenters or main person, then either side of the camera is a camera on a much wider angle. These two cameras catch much wider angles of the presenters and studio. The best thing about a multi-camera setup is that you don't have to start and stop the action to capture different angles, it can flow much smoothly and not take as long to film. The downsides of multi-camera setups is that the lighting can be good for one camera and then the other cameras it wont be as good. Another problem with multi-camera setups is that hiding a microphone or equipment on the scene from one camera can show up on another camera.
The codes and conventions are the same as the News, except the codes and conventions for documentary are a lot different. In all documentaries there are voiceovers. The voiceover will encourage the audience to think they have a special knowledge or that they should pay attention to others opinions. Like in the news but not in as much detail and length but there is real footage of events. Most people believe Documentary is non-fiction, however, all the events presented are to be seen as real by the audience. In all the Documentaries lighting is only used in dark rooms or interviews, all the diegetic sound we hear is coming from the footage of the clip, not by the added in audio for effect. Archival, or stock footage, is from a library or archive and inserted into a documentary to show historical events or to add detail without the need for additional filming. In documentaries, there isn't a lot of editing, but when there is it isn't of an amazing standard, it can be really basic or over exaggerated. When the editing is over the top it can ruin the intensity of the documentary, this is because if the documentary is sad or touching it can lose this feel when there is loads of graphics or over the top editing. Documentaries are structured by having voice-overs of VT's, interviews, VT inserts, music, all this build intensity for the viewer. In documentaries the lighting is at least 95% natural, the only time it isn't is when there are interview rooms setup. The sound as well is usually all natural, this is to add intensity. In documentaries, the interviews with the so called 'experts' are used to authenticate the views expressed in the documentary. Sometimes they will disagree with the message of the documentary, although the film maker will usually disapprove with them in some way. What makes Documentaries different from the News and Fiction-films is that documentaries are set out different. Documentaries have more VT inserts, voiceovers, interviews and more intensity than the News and Fiction films.
The documentaries audience, political bias and contract with the viewer. In documentaries, the viewer can have different opinions than someone else, for example the mother of Lynx and Lamb, she was a racist. Whereas others may disagree with her beliefs and her way of life, but others may believe that she is correct and knows what she's talking about. In 'Bowling for Columbine' Michael Moore's voiceover at the beginning with the montage images are to show how violent America is or the montage of images of those soldiers and terrorists America has trained. This isn't a good way to show America, but yet again there's a bank in America and when you sign up for an account they give you a free rifle! This shows why America is so bad, they trained terrorists and now are fighting with them. Terrorists have ruined this world and America are to blame.
Documentaries will always feature representations from a wide range of different people. This can cover race, gender, age and beliefs etc. Documentary film-makers have full control over how different groups of society look and come across in their films. For example Michael Moore makes gun owners look like idiots and thoughtless. He highlights a story where a gun owner put his rifle on his dog and somehow the dog managed to shoot him, showing that the owner was an idiot and didn't think about the consequences of his actions. He also features an interview with James Nichols, the brother of Terry Nichols who was convicted for the famous Oklahoma City bombings. In this interview Nichols gives off the impression that he is a deeply disturbed and crazed individual and said to Moore that he keeps a 44. Magnum Revolver under his pillow. When asked to prove this he takes Moore into a separate room, away from the camera's and shows him the revolver before holding it to his own head as a 'joke'. This shows that Michael Moore is putting across a very negative image of gun-owners. During his investigation he also looks at the reasons behind the increased number of American citizens purchasing guns and the state of fear in America. During this section he shows a montage of news clips where black men have been accused of murdering someone. Although this obviously isn't Moore saying that the state of fear is down to black men killing people, he is showing how the news portraying them as potentially dangerous has driven up fear in Americans, particularly white Americans and highlights this as a possible reason why gun ownership has increased. In Louis and the Nazis he shocks the audience by showing Prussian Blue, a Nazi-Folk duo which consists of twin little girls. Although they look like what you'd expect from little girls, innocent and sweet, the documentary shows that in fact they sing incredibly racist Nazi songs. This is shocking to the audience because this is not how little girls are usually represented.
Why single camera setups are used. These are used to add intimacy to interviews. There are many plus sides of a single camera setup, there used to add intimacy to interviews, it saves a lot of time for the crew to setup. This is a good thing as they can then get their shots and lighting in the correct position and know how they are going to set out the interview. In 'Louis met the Nazis' the interviews with the skinheads, Tom Metzger, his daughter and wife and the family that Louis met in their garage. These interviews are very serious, especially the one in the garage when Louis is asked if he is Jewish, he doesn't answer, leaving the house owner stressed and wanting him out the house. The interview between them two was very awkward after the house owner didn't know if he was Jewish or not, because he wouldn't allow a Jew in or on his property. In 'Bowling for Columbine' the interviews in that were either very touching or ones that made you annoyed. They interview victims of the Columbine High School Shooting, who have bullet wounds in their body and are still going about their everyday life. The interview with them you feel sorry for them, you understand what they have to live with and how scary the day was when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 13 and injured 24.
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Sight and sound presentation
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1I3i4nNVGF9C747ZUncb69kJXn6zKGIRxqij9qStLtTA/edit#slide=id.p
News show recording
In today's lesson it was Maddie, Dee and Joe's group's turn to record their news show, and so they had the entire three hours to set up, rehearse and record the news programme. I was a camera operator in this group, on camera one, and so I knew where to set up and what to do during the news show, although they decided to change a few things at last second.
The camera operators were given a script to follow with camera directions on it, so at the beginning, they asked me to zoom in on Steff as she was talking, stay a close up of Steff for a while before returning to a wide shot of both Steff and Chris. This then changed half way through because the other members of the production group in the vision mixing room decided that they didn't like the way it looked, and also thought that the camera had been moved because they could see part of the black curtain in the shot. The camera hadn't been adjusted, however, so I spoke to Dee and we both agreed to simply move the camera to the left slightly so that the camera wasn't quite so far to one side, and therefore the curtain wasn't in shot. This worked out better, because even though it wasn't at quite an angle, it still worked.
I was also told half way through the second rehearsal that they were adjusting what they wanted me to do during the run through, and that they also wanted close ups of Chris during it, and not just Steff. They gave me an updated script with the new camera shots on it, and I followed it up until the point when they wanted me to cut from a close up shot of Chris, to a close up shot of Steff which was impossible to do during the few seconds that they stopped talking for, and so I told this to Dee. She agreed with my suggestion to simply leave it at a wide shot of the both of them during that part of the show, and then go back to close ups afterward that.
The only real trouble I had was that if I wanted to adjust the camera up/down (like I had to when changing from a close up shot of one of them to a wide shot of the two) the camera squeaked really loudly, and so I had to wait until a VT clip was playing to do this, so that the microphones wouldn't pick the noise up.
The auto cues were also finally set up, so the group used them. This meant that the presenters could look at the camera more and read from the auto cues instead of having to keep looking down at the paper script in front of them.
During the final recording of the show, I think things ran very smoothly for the group from what I saw on the studio floor. I obviously haven't seen the full recording, but there was no huge issues from what I could see, and I think things went extremely well for them.
We then had to choose who would be recording next week after packing away. It was our group that was chosen, so we have to work on the issues we had during our last run through and try to sort them before next week.
The camera operators were given a script to follow with camera directions on it, so at the beginning, they asked me to zoom in on Steff as she was talking, stay a close up of Steff for a while before returning to a wide shot of both Steff and Chris. This then changed half way through because the other members of the production group in the vision mixing room decided that they didn't like the way it looked, and also thought that the camera had been moved because they could see part of the black curtain in the shot. The camera hadn't been adjusted, however, so I spoke to Dee and we both agreed to simply move the camera to the left slightly so that the camera wasn't quite so far to one side, and therefore the curtain wasn't in shot. This worked out better, because even though it wasn't at quite an angle, it still worked.
I was also told half way through the second rehearsal that they were adjusting what they wanted me to do during the run through, and that they also wanted close ups of Chris during it, and not just Steff. They gave me an updated script with the new camera shots on it, and I followed it up until the point when they wanted me to cut from a close up shot of Chris, to a close up shot of Steff which was impossible to do during the few seconds that they stopped talking for, and so I told this to Dee. She agreed with my suggestion to simply leave it at a wide shot of the both of them during that part of the show, and then go back to close ups afterward that.
The only real trouble I had was that if I wanted to adjust the camera up/down (like I had to when changing from a close up shot of one of them to a wide shot of the two) the camera squeaked really loudly, and so I had to wait until a VT clip was playing to do this, so that the microphones wouldn't pick the noise up.
The auto cues were also finally set up, so the group used them. This meant that the presenters could look at the camera more and read from the auto cues instead of having to keep looking down at the paper script in front of them.
During the final recording of the show, I think things ran very smoothly for the group from what I saw on the studio floor. I obviously haven't seen the full recording, but there was no huge issues from what I could see, and I think things went extremely well for them.
We then had to choose who would be recording next week after packing away. It was our group that was chosen, so we have to work on the issues we had during our last run through and try to sort them before next week.
News show breakdown
NEWS SHOW BREAKDOWN
Group Name
| ||
Group Members
|
Nicola Sinclair, Jemma Land, David Neale and Connor Sadler.
| |
Job Roles
|
Crew Member
| |
Producer
|
Nicola Sinclair
| |
Director
|
Jemma Land
| |
Floor Manager
|
David Neale
| |
Script Writer
|
Connor Sadler
| |
Art Director
|
Ashley Hodges
| |
Vision Mixer
|
Ellis Bishop
| |
Sound 1
|
Frankie
| |
Sound 2
|
Deanna Ricketts
| |
Lighting 1
|
Joshua Bates
| |
Lighting 2
|
Joe
| |
Camera 1
|
Chloe Pearce
| |
Camera 2
|
Rory
| |
Camera 3
|
Lesley Cross
| |
Presenter 1
|
Chris
| |
Presenter 2
|
Stephanie Preston
| |
Runner
|
Maddie
| |
Runner
|
Corey
| |
Time
|
Action
|
Notes
|
1:45pm
|
Lesson start.
|
5 minutes to make sure latecomers arrive.
|
1:50pm
|
Setup studio floor.
|
Following floor plan, table, sofa and chair put in position.
|
2:00pm
|
Set up cameras.
|
Runners need to tape wires down.
|
2:20pm
|
Set up lighting.
| |
2:30pm
|
Set up microphones/audio.
|
Silence in studio whilst audio is tested.
|
2:40pm
|
Test audio/microphones.
| |
2:45pm
|
Test VT clips/introduction/outros.
| |
2:55pm
|
First run through.
|
Makes notes on what needs changing.
|
3:15pm
|
Break.
|
15 mins.
|
3:30pm
|
Make any changes that are needed.
| |
3:40pm
|
Second run through.
| |
4:00pm
|
Make any additional changes.
| |
4:10pm
|
Live recording.
| |
4:40pm
|
Pack equipment away.
| |
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