Throughout the course of this project, I hoped to learn about being a live recordist and better myself in mixing sound for visual media. I tailored my learning outcomes to help me embrace this aspect of the project to its full. Heading down a more technical route allowed Joe and me to keep separate in our tasks, which allowed for a smoother workflow from both of us.
To record high-quality dialogue and effects with the 633 on location.
My first learning outcome was to record high-quality dialogue. Taking advice from Grant Bridgeman and different research sources I learned that the dialogue is the most important part of on set recording. Everything else can be recreated with ease in post apart from dialogue. It was made clear from the start that we wouldn’t be able to bring the actors back for ADR so focussing on recording dialogue to a high standard while on set was paramount. Having been shown the capabilities of the Sound Devices 633 in my second year I knew this is what we needed for the shoot. Incorporating this into the learning outcome allowed me to explore more about it as a unit, and to understand more about its features. The 633 proved itself on set and delivered us fantastic audio. I feel this was a good learning outcome as from what I had learnt recording dialogue was critical. If I were to change it, i would potentially add recording Atmos into it or change it to all live sound elements.
To implement and understand different methods of recording Foley and post-production effects.
This learning outcome was designed to follow the first one. Having focussed heavily on dialogue, I wanted to look into Foley. Having done Foley for previous projects, I had an idea of how to do this. I wanted to add to this experience by looking into professionals and learning some of their techniques. In regards to post production effects, I was curious to know how these were implemented when mastering film audio. This was an interesting learning outcome, but I found there wasn’t too much to look into. Foley techniques seemed very similar with the only variations being in the different objects used. The effects also appeared to be used with more of a stylistic approach in mind. If I were to change it, i would look into the objects within Foley and keep it just related to this.
To recreate an environment in a post production context
Harlaxton Manor inspired my third learning outcome due to its unique characteristics. When researching we found photos that showed grand halls and large rooms. From visiting the location, we discovered that each room sounded very different and spacious. As we would be focussing on dialogue during recording, I wanted to look into recreating the spaces in post production. This learning outcome was, in my opinion, the most interesting. Unfortunately the more I looked into it the further from recreating an environment I got. It seemed more about keeping dialogue clean and not really having too much space. I did still enjoy researching this, however.
To seamlessly work with actors and a filming team on both locations and in post production.
As I had never worked with a film crew before I wanted to have a learning outcome that reflected on working with them. I feel this went well due to the testimonials received. I also think how the problems were handled aided in this as well. If I were to repeat this process I know realise how much involvement is needed from both sides. This is something I would look to improve on.
I feel the main strengths of this project was our teamwork. Joe and I work together well and accomplish tasks efficiently. This helped when it came to dividing up tasks and working on specific things together. It allowed us to be professional while on and off set and to be in control of each aspect of audio. Although no matter how good our communication was it leads on to the biggest weakness. Contact with the media team was weak. Even though we tried to arrange regular meetings, there were a few things that went misunderstood and created problems. These problems took time to fix and caused the project to take longer than it was originally meant too. This could have been solved through more communication and a better understanding of the workflow from both sides. There were parts of the process that it seemed neither side knew about. These would have helped the project a lot. Our relationship with the actors was something we were proud of. Over the course of the filming process, the actor Callum became comfortable working with us. He even mentioned about some potential projects he was working on that he could pass our information too. This was perfect for us to hear as it had meant our skills and attitude were correct in his eyes. Another area which is promising is that the film may get placed into some film festivals. This is great exposure and a good way to showcase our work to a broad audience. Having this happen allows us to link a copy of the film to potential future clients.
Aside from the communication aspects, the other big factor against us in the project was speakers. With the media team listening to our work through terrible speakers, they were getting a poor impression. This lead on to issues with tutors and us having to confront them about problems that simply weren’t there. This caused a lot of frustration to both sides but was thankfully rectified. Although I believe this is something that should be addressed in the future.
The filming aspect was incredibly enjoyable as I had never done live sound before. While on set I aimed to be as professional as possible with both the technical side and the social side. Joe and I tried to keep this theme throughout the process with being as transparent and open about what we were doing at each part. I learnt about dealing with media production students and their surprisingly weak audio knowledge. This caused issues with the project and I feel was one of the significant communication problems.