4.2 Pitching your documentary proposal

In the week starting  Monday 2nd March you will be all be pitching the proposal for your documentary in David's lessons. If you are in groups everyone must contribute to the planning and delivery of the pitch.


The proposal should be a Powerpoint presentation delivered  in front of the class who will be asking questions.

The proposal must cover the following :

content outline; target audience; resources; personnel requirements, eg cast and crew, group/individual roles , budget; project schedule /deadlines , market fit ( possible channel/time of  broadcast, USP)

FINAL SOUNDTRACK PRODUCTIONS : PROPOSAL

FINAL SOUNDTRACKS


For your final assignment you will be planning ( writing a proposal) then completely redubbing the audio elements from two moving image scenes ( film/TV/animation , 1 minutes +)

This will put into practice the techniques you have learnt during the audio workshops and you can use at least one scene you have previously studied.  You will be  assessed for the following ;

Creativity , technical quality, detailed and varied sound mixes, variety of technical skills and methods used, range of sound types and sound sources.


Remember :  You must recreate all of the diegetic sounds that the audience would expect to hear in your scenes, such as  dialogue and sound effects. You can choose to add in other non-diegetic elements such as music or voiceover.

You must use  some dialogue dubbing, music and  at least one Foley( homemade)  effect  in at least one of your soundtracks. It would be best to use music in only one of your scenes and  a variety of subtle and creative techniques in both of your scenes

FINAL SOUNDTRACK PRODUCTIONS : PROPOSAL 

Create a  written proposal for both of  your soundtrack productions  on the blog  that must explain in detail information about the following and what you are planning to achieve in the soundtracks. These will be working documents and be handed in with the completed soundtracks.

Sequence summary( e.g name of film , length of sequence )

 Client  ( the director of your chosen film scene)

Sound Fx information (  list of sound effects in each scene to be recreated , library to be used e.g freesound.org , Foley effect details, recording location information ,  ambience recording location ) 

  Music information ( diegetic/non-diegetic , genre of music, placement in scene , potential effect on mood and meaning , source  e.g studio/live recording/library sounds /Garageband ,  any copyright and licensing issues  e.g  MCPS -PRS)
  

Spoken word information ( types e.g dialogue, monologue,voicoever , accent /dialect, potential effect on mood and meaning of scene, techniques to be used e.g  lipsync , studio recording, recording location e.g studio, other environment )


Personnel  (  voice actors , technical support e.g media technician )



Resources   ( detailed information about microphones , computer hardware/software ,voice recorders etc. that you will be using. Find the media technician and look online for this information.)

ASSIGNMENT 2 : Workshops evaluations and video files

ASSIGNMENT 2 : Workshops : evaluations and video files 

Deadline :  31/1/2020


You need to submit written  evaluations in Word document format ( single or multiple files) and
 video files ( mp4 )  for all of the workshops listed below.

 Make sure your evaluations focus on the technical and creative processes you completed in detail following the blog instructions  , any ideas or techniques you experimented with , possible alternatives and other ideas you could have used instead , as well as using key terms related to soundtrack production ( check 38.1 for help). Evaluations should aim for being a minimum of 300 words each.

Make sure all files are clearly named.



1  Adding a voiceover

2  Dubbing dialogue

3a   Adding music 1 Library music

3b Adding music 2    Creating music in Garageband

4  Recording an interview ( you can submit an audio file such as mp3)

5  Adding sound effects





Create a new Personal folder in googledrive and upload all of your files into it. You should be able to drag them in.



Share the folder by creating a link  and email the link to Romilly before the deadline .

romilly.walden@coulsdon.ac.uk

WORKSHOP 5 : Adding Sound effects

WORKSHOP 5  : ADDING  SOUND EFFECTS


You  will be  replacing and adding suitable background ambience  and  original diegetic sound effects ( rainfall, traffic noise, gunshots, footsteps etc.)for  a film or television sequence  

There are videofiles available on ART-MEDIA/MEDIA/SOUNDTRACK PRODUCTION/ 

You can also use a scene you have previously used for another workshop. You may want to use a scene without dialogue as you will be probably me muting the sequence.
If you want to make a long scene shorter , you will need to edit in in iMovie before adding to Garageband. This workshop requires a lot of editing so your chosen sequences can be fairly short.



REGISTER WITH FREESOUND  and use the website to search for and download suitable sound effects,



Drag the videofile into Garageband and mute the original audio if necessary.

You should use a mixture of library sound effects ( freesound, Youtube etc.) and  at least one Foley sound effect(  an effect you have recorded yourself. )  The advantage of Foley sound effects is that you can make them precisely fit the scene , rather than relying on existing sounds. You can record homemade sounds such as footsteps, room ambience , turning pages etc. using the laptop or your phone and then import them into your Garageband project.


Import and edit your sound effects in  Garageband  to make them sync to the visuals  and match the mood and meaning of the scene  as accurately  as possible. This may involve changing the length or pitch of the sound , or by adding effects such as reverb in Garageband. These can be accessed by clicking on Edit in the window on the right in Garageband and choosing from the list of effects.


When you have finished recording and editing the music , export the movie . ( Share/Export movie file )




Write a blog evaluation summarising the technical processes you completed , which sounds were the most challenging to recreaate, how the Foley recording was achieved and the overall technical success of your edited sequence.

WORKSHOP 4: Interview Recording on location

WORKSHOP 4 : INTERVIEW RECORDING ON  LOCATION ( INDOOR AND OUTDOOR)

In groups of 2/3 , you will be planning and recording a brief interview  , using  audio hardware recording equipment . You will then be recording this interview in TWO specific indoor and outdoor locations and explaining  the technical  results and differnces



PLAN : You need to create a minimum of four questions to ask your interviewees

These can be about your upcoming documentary topics, an education issue, a social issue or another area of interest.




 RECORD  your interview in  2 appropriate locations ; this should be somewhere relevant  or suitable for the subject of the interview  ( outdoor and indoor).  This can be done using your cameras if it is to include filmed content 


          

EVALUATE :  Assess and compare  the technical quality and clarity ( meaning) and the atmosphere and sense of realism( mood) of the audio content of the interviews and the positive and negative effects the location and choice of microphones  had on them. This will  include summarising the technical information about the microphones chosen  and analysing recording  factors such as  background noise , weather, convenience , technical quality, atmosphere, or realism . If any other factors affected the quality or content of the recordings you should also explain this.



Recordings should be saved on your drive and all work completed by the end of term 

WORKSHOP 3 : Adding music

WORKSHOP 3 : ADDING  MUSIC TO A SCENE IN DIFFERENT WAYS     :    



Download a  suitable  television or film videoclip   that does not contain music .

There are videofiles available on ART-MEDIA/MEDIA/SOUNDTRACK PRODUCTION/ 

If your sequence does contain music, you will need to mute the entire audio content of the scene.

If you want to make a long scene shorter , you will need to edit in in iMovie before editing the audio.




Method 1 : 

You will  be adding music   from a sound library such as freesound or  youtube  to a film sequence.

You will need a music file in a format such as mp3. This can be in any genre or style of music.

Try and choose a piece of music that changes the mood and meaning of the film sequence. You can also experiment with using different music to create different moods.

You should edit the music for length , fade in and out if necessary and add any effects to help the music blend into the scene.

When you have finished mixing the music , export the final movie as in previous workshops and save.






 Method 2 : 

You  will be using Garageband and creating suitable original diegetic or non diegetic  music  for this sequence .

Record your soundtrack using the instruments in Garageband.  Remember , music for the moving image does not need to be complicated , but should help create a mood for the viewer that matches the narrative, characters  and genre of the sequence. The music does not need to be throughout the entire scene.

Look at this tutorial and the help files in Garageband to get more familiar with how it works.

When you have finished recording and editing the music , export the movie .

TIPS : 

You should turn off the metronome in the Control tab.

Play your notes by turning on Musical Typing in the  Window tab.

Change software instruments in the right pane....orchestra and strings are particularly good for
 film soundtracks.




Write a blog evaluation summarising the processes both methods  , the reasons for your choices , and comparing the effect you feel each method of adding music had on the mood and meaning of the scene

WORKSHOP 2 : Dubbing Dialogue

Dubbing dialogue (pairs/ 3s)

You will be muting the original audio, then  recreating  the spoken word content of  short  film scenes   and dubbing it over the original moving image sequence. 

For this workshop , your main focus should be timing and technical accuracy in lipsyncing and editing : you will not be graded for how similar  your voices or acting  are to the originals. 

  Select a suitable  film sequence from

ARTS_MEDIA / MEDIA/ 1  2018 SOUNDTRACK PRODUCTION/ Dubbing workshop clips  

or download your own from Youtube ( convert to mp4 using a Youtube converter).  The scene must  have some onscreen dialogue .

   Write a script of the  spoken word content of  the scene ( if there is a lot of dialogue, you can use just part of the scene ).

  Record your dialogue  matching your recording as closely to the original as possible. This can be done live on Garageband , with the video playing back as you record , or through practice and copying what you hear.

Don't worry about editing the other sounds in the clip: this workshop is all about dialogue.

Edit the sequence to ensure the dialogue is synced to the original sequence as closely as possible. This may involve some editing of the recordings.


You can adjust volume within the track . Click on MIX /Show automation on the top of the screen and add points to the volume envelope

  File /Movie/ export audio to movie     as a mov file   and save to your desktop.

  Finally , upload your clips to a new blog post called DUBBING WORKSHOP ( can be via Youtube)

and write a 200-300 evaluation of your workshop experiments.


This should include :

explanation of technical methods and software/hardware used ( recording, editing , microphone type, sound quality, background noise etc)

explanation of any problems or errors