Task 8: Evaluation

Overall I believe my dubbed video of Tom & Jerry - The Truce Hurts was a success and the SFXs I used complemented the moving image well. I think it worked well because I think I did a good job on timing the SFXs with the moving image, an example of this is the scene when Spike, Tom and Jerry are hitting each other with different objects so it required me to get three different sounds and to time them with the right objects, if I didn't get it right the audience would notice and would make the scene poor quality in terms of SFX.

When it came to recording the sounds we had to look at the original video to time our sound effect perfectly with the moving image like the sucking sound we had to make sure it was the right length and fitted in with the video.

It was fun recording the sounds, when recording talking and snoring we obviously used each others voices. The talking was us saying random things and making no sense this made it easier so we didn't have to actually write out the script of what they were saying to dub it. With sound effects like pen pot we hit a pen on the table to sound like a pen was getting put in the pot.

Overall I would say dubbing a video means you have to get the right timing with the moving image and SFXs/ music. The music I used and the SFXs I used both worked really well as they were cartoony, and the sounds I recorded I believe worked really well as well. I would of liked to have more talking SFX so it didn't sound similar and repetitive.

With my dubbed video I am pleased and proud to say it was a success.

Production Schedule

Date	What SFX’s	Equipment	Props ect
7th March	Today we recorded several sound effects, here is a list to display ones, which has been done: Talking, writing, breathing, sucking, pen dropping, walking.	We used a Sony IC Recorder (Dicaphone) to record the individual sounds. We also used Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 to edit the footage.	We used a table for the walking sound and a pen for the pen dropping SFX but for everything else we used our voices/mouth.
14th March	Today I will be taking SFX’s from Youtube and Soundfxnow.	The internet will be used a lot for this week and again editing software.	Nothing as I finished recording on 7th March
21st March	Today I carried on taking SFX’s from website I listed above. I took Tom & Jerry soundtracks for the backing track and other SFXs like hitting noises, which I couldn’t record myself.	Internet will be used like always and of course the editing software as well to export and to add the background music to my dubbed pieced. I will be using a hard drive to put my final exported video on it.	Same as above.

Sounds effect I'm going to use

Smashes, Running, Scream, Skid, Pan, Talking, Paper, Music, Snoring, Suck.

I am unsure which ones I will record as I do not know which sounds I can find on the internet, one I will be defiantly recording is the talking. I think I will get the sound effect of smashes off the internet as I don't think I will get the chance to record myself smashing a breakable item.

My Chosen Cartoon

I have chosen the classic cartoon which most people have heard of Tom & Jerry, Truce Hurts. I will be replacing the SFX for this clip for 2 minutes. I will be starting from the beginning to the 2 minute mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxHJ1q0yns

Recording SFX's

Footsteps - They put newspaper in a plastic bag and record someone tapping the bag or they just record someone walking.

Rain - Normally its salt being poured on tinfoil recorded, this sounds similar rain.

A person being punch by someone - A heavy phonebook being dropped.

A horse being rode - Sometimes its just a horse recorded but sometimes they record coconuts being hit together.

Decapitation - A cabbage sliced in half with a meat cleaver.

Preparing to work with sound effects (SFX's)

Why do you think we use SFX's in TV and Film productions?

We mainly use SFX because for example if I wanted to have a scene where Edd shot Casey I couldn't actually have that happen so I would film Edd shooting a gun and add the sound effect in after. This all heighten the experience and makes scene more believable without sound effects we would have very unrealistic films. SFX/sound are just as important as the image/visual without either we won't have the standard of film we have now.

What are the advantages of using SFX's in TV and Film productions? What do they add to overall production?

In today's industry SFX is used more than ever and it replaces most sound from the original for a more crisp. It allows you the chance to do things which aren't possible in production and live action. The main point and advantage of SFX is to make it more realistic.

What are the disadvantages of using SFX's in TV and Film productions?

In many Sci-fi program they overuse SFX's and this makes it unrealistic. An example of this is in a many Sci-fi programs like Doctor Who overuse the sound effect of laser guns.

What is the job description of a Foley artist?

A Foley Artist creates and performs replacement sound effects in sync to picture in a recording studio, such as footsteps, clothing and properties’ noises, paper movement, doors creaking, dogs scratching etc. They work under the direction of a Sound Editor and often use their own extensive collection of small props. They are the unseen actors who reproduce sounds, required when the original track is either unusable or completely replaced as in the case of foreign versions.

Evaluation (analysing sound)

My group consisted of me (Harry Plunkett), Edd Headen, Jack Neale and Casey Brown. During this task we recorded Jack and Edd reading from a script, we did this purely to analysis the sound. We filmed in three different location, the first being a empty classroom, second was outside in the car park and lastly was in a busy corridor.

In the empty classroom we encountered our first problem which was the nearby computers and the florescent lighting producing a slight humming sound and also some sound from outside the classroom. When we came back to filming the second time we used a personal microphone instead of using the boom, this got rid of the humming sound and there was less people outside of the classroom so it was more controllable.

The second location which was outside in the car park we had several problems such as buzzing from the generator we were next to and nearby traffic. The way we got round these problems and learning from the first attempt we moved from the generator and luckily the weather was a lot less windy, moving meant there was no buzzing but there was still a little bit of traffic which we could not do anything about.

The last was in a busy corridor for this there were two problems found out after reviewing our first attempt, the first one was people walking past and a common problem which is in most location is the humming fluorescent lights. The way we got around this is using the personal microphones cause we had successful sound quality from using it for our first location. People walking past is a hard problem to get around but we decided to do it when it was least busiest and when people walked past we asked them to keep the noise down.

As a group, we worked really well as we have work together before and there's always chemistry. We talk to each other daily and this makes it easy to get ideas to each other. If I did it again I would defiantly chose this group again as it was such a success.

Overall I believe our second attempt was a lot more successful than the first, we learnt from our experiences and made the sound quality a lot better using different microphones works in certain location such as using a personal microphones only really work well indoors cause it can't handle the weather conditions. Moving location is one of the easiest things to do to sort audio problems but it can really effect you production.

I have learnt from this task and I will be taking this information with me when doing my FMP, the audio is important to any production and I want to make mine as good as possible.

Analysing our footage

Inside Location

Empty Classroom

The audio for this location was near perfect overall but there was a slight buzzing sound/ humming from nearby computers and the florescent lighting. I wouldn't change much of this clip as the audio worked perfectly.

Outside Location

College Car-park

The audio for this location wasn't that great as there was the noise from the generator nearby and also it was a winding day so we were getting interferences. Personal microphones would of worked better in this situation.

Inside Location

Corridor

There is a lot of background noise/ interference from people walking past which takes your attention away from the presenters.

Locations and Equipment list

In my group it consists of me (Harry Plunkett), Casey Brown, Edd Headen and Jack Neale.

The three locations we will be filming in is The Balcony Cafe as our busy inside area, an empty classroom which is our quiet indoor area and our outside location will be the southern car-park.

The equipment needed will be the college cameras (Sony PD170) or Jack's camera (Canon 550D) and sound kit to obviously record the sound.

Edd Headen will be news reporter one

Jack Neale will be news reporter two

Preparing to shoot on location

1. Having a plan is important for any production because it helps you know what you are doing and where. If you haven't planned where you were going to film the atmos could be overwhelming, this would ruin any sound you try to record and possibly could ruin your piece.

2. Like I said it could possibly ruin your piece and some people would find it unwatchable. This is very common with news reports because its live TV and they don't decide what location the news will be at.

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gotpvhqSNvc

This is a news report for Hurricane Irene, the weather is so heavy it makes the guy's voice hard to hear which really draws your attention away for the report. In a news report it is important to listen to what is being said.