Sound Investigation

The Brief

This unit is currently is about creating and investigating how sound is made, added and edited into a sequence. Sound is used in the majority of media products such as animal documentaries, films, and especially radio.

When handed the brief, it had all the information we required. We could choose 1 of the 4 challenges.

Challenge one: 

• The BBC have produced a 3-4 minute sequence for a new animal documentary show called Planet Earth. Due to an error, the sound is missing from this sequence. This involves you working to write and record a suitable voice over, record Foley sound, library sounds, SFX and copyright free music.

Challenge two:

• Film Four have a 3-4 minute sequence from a foreign language film that has no sound or dialogue. This involves you working to write and record suitable dubbing, Foley sound, library sounds, SFX and copyright free music.

Challenge three:

• Radio 1 have made a mistake. Their new show is 5-minutes too short and there is going to be nothing to put on in this gap. Fill in the 5-minute gap with an entertaining segment about a current topic that would interest Radio 1 listeners.

Challenge four:

• Radio Four are looking for a brand new radio drama. You must write the script for a 5 minute mini drama, record the episode and (if you can) record your own theme music.

My Decision

When looking at my options that I had been given, I went about looking into Radio. But as I had done Radio the year before in level 2, I thought to myself that doing radio once again would be too easy for me regardless if I enjoyed every aspect of it. So as I wished to set myself a challenge I looked into foreign films and trailers to see how different they were to ours and our culture. One of the exmples is called: ATTRACTION

Although the enigma looks brilliant with then CGI, the one aspect that has diverted me to look for another option was the fact that it was in a foreign language of which i couldn’t understand what was going on in the film. While looking for an alternative option I spoke to my classmate that was sat next to me and asked him what he wished to do. He was abit unsure as well. But we worked together and agreed to complete this unit together, therefore we then looked into our options and we both liked the idea of making a BBC documentary. As there was a lot of documentaries to choose from, we went for an easier approach instead of watching and wasting a lot of time choosing which one to make the sound for. We then worked together and came up with which animals we liked. We went on and suggested that we liked birds and how intriguing they were. So the descision was made, Birds it was.

The next thing we descided to do was to look at which species of birds we wished to study etc. We looked at birds of prey, eagles, pigeons and penguins. At first looking at birds of prey.

When looking at the video above me and Ben didn’t really like the sounds that were included as they may be a bit too easy to make. We wanted a challenge. So I suggested that we would do penguins as they have to deal with many elements such as the sea, fishing, predators and so much more. The list of sounds are endless.

When watching this we knew that we wanted to make the sounds for this sequence. But Ben had an idea that we can find more videos to do with penguins, edit them in Final Cut and make our own narrated story. I thought it was a brilliant Idea and I am glad that I have chosen what I would like to make for this unit.

List of sounds and how were making them

• Penguins – Wet glass and Rubber glove rubbing.
• Drafty Wind – Vocal
• Baby Penguins – Pitch the penguin calls in Post production
• Foot steps – Glove slapped on surface softly
• Wet Footsteps – Glove slapped on wet surface + water Running penguin – Enhanced in Post production

The rest of the sounds we are going to have to experiment with making many of the sounds.

Experimentation with sound making 

With making the eagle sounds, we were thinking about ways on how to do so. We first looked on the internet to see if it would give us any information. We came across a video on YouTube. The video included a tutorial on how to create your own bird calls using your hands – this was rather difficult as you would have to learn by yourself as well as a technique on how to whistle. Unfortunately nor myself or Ben can whistle, even if our life depended on it. I then went about thinking of ways we could possibly have as an alternative to a bird call. I then thought of a solution. A piece of grass between my thumbs tight, and then blow. As I was making the sounds, Ben directed me on when and how to make the specific sounds. I also wanted to take the same approach but with cricket sounds, but this was rather difficult as it was also hard to learn to make it with your hands. Despite this, I did record one of my friends who could do it, but it didn’t sound good or seem to fit in the sequence we were adding the foley to.

Primary Research

With primary research that we undertook, we decided to make a survey to know who our audience is for a nature documentary. 

Conclusion

As you may of read above, the questions that were asked were audience specific and of which gave the individuals that participated in the survey had changes to put their own opinions as answers. Of course there are some answers that are not related to the actual question but that is the way it is. I feel that it was quite goof having 50% male and 50% females who took the survey as it gets more of a diverse opinion and data. When

The End Product