Research into Recording Ambient Sounds and Dialogue

Recording Ambient sound 
In film making ambient sound recording is the recording of atmospheric or background noise. Fundimentaly ambient sound is any sound that is naturally created by the environment of a clip for example, wind, sounds of ocean, birds etc.

When making a film a sound recorder will often record 30 seconds of ambient sound. This means they ask everyone to be silent and just record what is there anyway. Room tone can be recorded in this way to help out the sound editor. it gives a basic sound that the room has which could be from anything, for example machinery. This gives the editor a background slate to work with so he can add dialog and other sounds over the top of it.

Recording sound on location is often preferred by sound recorders, This is because it is easier to record the sounds that are there and then tweak them later if needed. The sounds that are recorded on location are more unique than sounds found in a sound library.

In the film the Hunger Games ambient noise was recorded in a jungle and used 4 mics in 2 pairs in each pair each mic is set up facing in opposite directions. Then the other pair was placed around 50 meters away. This achieved all around sound recording more the best quality recording to create an immersive experience. Panning through speakers used when editing to enhance the immersive surrounding effect.

Recording Dialog 

 Recording dialog can often be difficult because it is not as simple as recording with the mic on the camera a lot of the time. This is because of factors like how far away the subject is. The environment conditions (e.g wind) can distort the sound that is recorded from a camera. Ultra directional microphones are used for exterior shots. Directional mics are used for interior locations. It is important to place the microphone close the the actors mouth so it is loader than the background noise so the dialog is clear.

Looping also known as Automated dialogue replacement (ADR) Is the process of re-recording dialog from the original actors. This is done when the quality of the original recorded piece of dialog is not suitable for the final cut. This is usually because the dialog is difficult to understand because of other external noises, for example wind or animals in the background. Sound editors will look through clips that have been shot and choice which ones need re-recording. An actor will watch the original clip and try to re-create the dialog, but it will be recorded in a sound studio where optimum sound recording can be achieved. Hard cuts are usually not advised because of the clarity of the dialog can be compromised by ambient and background noises.

Ambient noise is important while shooting conversation scene because it is likely that shot and position of the camera will need to be changed, especially if you only have one camera to record with. This means cutting between shots which entails finishing a clip and moving the camera. Because cutting to the next shot will take time it offers a continuity problem. It is possible the ambient noise is not continuous so there can be noticeable differences between the shots, For example the sound of traffic approaching, getting loader. The shot will be cut and then by the time the next shot is recorded the traffic noise will have become loader than it should be in real time.  

Scene 6 shot 13 After Effect

For this effect i needed to create a teleport effect to make him dissapear and then re-appear. I decided to used smoke effects to do this. I had 9 to choose from. First i put the clip of him throwing the ball before the clip where he is in the distance jumping up in the air. i put the smoke effect over the first clip and rescaled it. then i timed it so the smoke started when the ball was nearly landing. The smoke covered the character and then the clip changed. the smoke overlapped so when the smoke cleared he wasn't there and then i did the same with him in the distance but created the smoke so he appeared from it. I then lowered the opacity of the smoke because it wasn't very convincing. I then thought that adding colour correction would give nice effect. I decided to use red because it was the same colour as his jumper.

Scene 6 shot 9 After Effects

For this shot i needed to create the visual effect of a ball being thrown then stopping in mid air infront of the characters face and floating there for a second. I needed first to find an image of a tennis ball. After this i cut it out and made it into a vector in photoshop. Then i imported it into after effects  and put it on top of the clip. Then i resized the ball using the Effects>Transform>scale and reduced the size till it was right. Then i had to position it by using the transform tool. I positioned it first in the character who was throwings hand. After this i used effects>colour correction and changed a number of factors to make it the most realistic colour so it matched the ball we used in the clips before. Then i added motion blur becuause it still looked too unrealistic because of the detailing on the ball. The camera moves from right to left so i didn't need to adjust the motion of the ball. I just had to add in some rotation key frames to make it look like the ball was spinning.

After Effects Scene 6 shot 1

In this shot i needed to create the look of the character (max) having super speed and running really fast. I needed to time re-map the clip and add in key frames to adjust the speed the clip went at by using the time re-mapping tool. I speeded up the clip for the part she is running then slowing it down to the original speed when she stops to pick it up. Then speeding it up again untill she gets back to the group.

PUBLISHING AND COPYRIGHTING

RIGHTS OF USE
Publishing rights are the rights to use a piece of music that have to be obtained from the people who own the copyright to the piece of music. Publishing rights are the right to the lyrics and composition and only exists after the music or words have been recorded or written down. As opposed to a recording license, this needs to be obtained from the person who performed the piece of music. For example the use of a cover recording of a song. The Recording rights will need to come from the performer.

To clear a piece of music so you can use it in a film you would need to contact the publishers and find out who owns the rights to the music. Then you would need to get permission from them to use the music. Often you will need to pay for this and it can be very expensive. Alternative methods are using license free music. There are websites that people can put there music on and you can use them freely. For my film i used a friend who i knew made music and asked him directly if i could use it in my film. He was happy for me to do so.

If the composer has been dead for over 70 years then copyright expires and you dont need to seek clearance for the composition. However you will still need to get clearance from the rights holder of the recording to use it.

Incidental music works as the soundtrack to a play, film, video game, tv programme, radio show or something that isn't primarily musical. It is less common for music in film to be referred to as incidental music but more often as the 'sound track' or 'score'

CREATIVE COMMONS 

Creative commons is an organisation that are expanding the number of creative works for others to use and share legally. They release copyright license that are free to the public.

Creative commons allows people to share creative work on the conditions of your choice. It allows more freedom and flexibility than regular copyright procedures. It means people can easily change conditions of copy right. It also means the people using the work dont have to worry about copyright infingment but they are still required to abide by the conditions set.


THE LICENSES

1.

Attribution 

CC BY 

This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

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Attribution-ShareAlike  

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This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.

Attribution-NoDerivs  

CC BY-ND

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you. 

Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC 

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND

This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

  

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

MY CHOICE OF MUSIC

https://soundcloud.com/bcidemusic/lay-low

I choice this music because i knew that a large portion of film was dialog so straight away i knew i would need a neutral instramental track. I thoiught this one would be suited because it has a repetetive tempo which reflected the mundane atmosphere of a school but i think it also had an underlying tone of tension which added to the atisipation something unusual was going to happen. 

and it was not likely to over power the voice over and dialog in the film. 

Foley Artist research

A foley artisit job is to create sound effects for film, tv or video games. They need to create sounds externally and add them into the final clip. The priority for filming in terms of audio is to record dialog rather than sound effects so they must be created and added in. They are usually difficult to recreate a what the sound effect is being used for so immitations are used. Also it can enhance the atmosphere of a clip by making it more dramatic to give more impact.
First footsteps of the characters are recorded then the background footsteps. Then they go through a prop pass which is creating sound effects for all the things happening on screen.

A foley artist creating a sound by dropping a bowling ball

Foley artists need to be skilled and experienced in thinking of ways to make different sounds to full effect. A creative mind is needed to do this and an ear for how the effect will work with a clip. Timing is also important because they need to sync it to the footage.
A foley artist will use real objects to create sound effects rather than digital techniques is because they can create a more authentic sound and it is often possible to create many different sounds with the same item in the way it is manipulated.

Example of a foley artist studio 

Some examples of objects used are snapping celery for a broken bone, biting some uncooked pasta can create a crunching sound that would work for a broken nose

Submarine clip audio analysis

The Purpose of the music in the clip is to reflect his mind state and the tone of the footage. The music relates to how he is trying to find himself and the music has a busy and restless nature. It i also there to bring all these clips together because they aren't all from the same scene or period in time but they are all related to the letter he is writing. The music ties all these in together.

The music includes wood wind instruments and is an instrumental track. The music is nutral and means that the main focus is to the footage rather than the music. If it had lyrics i think the focus would be taken away and it woudn't be as effective. Also no lyrics is needed because it is being voiced over and would be too confusing to listen to. The music is there to link all these clips together into a montage like sequence. The music is has a reminiscent feel which is what is needed because he is looking back at things that have already happened.   The music changes slightly in tempo and style at different points. usually reflecting the nature of the clip at that time. For example when he is on his own the music is more subdued and when there is more tension it is a faster beat

The Experiment

META DATA screen shot