Inspiration;

Dominik Uulberg is a German DJ/producer of Electronica and Tech House music. He's relevant to this particular project due to the fact he uses recording of nature and integrates them with his music. From the croaking frogs to the chattering of birds, Domink Eulberg always finds enough room for singing animals in his songs. That can be seen clearly if you look at some of his track tittles, such as 'Basstolpel' (Bass Gannet) or H20.;

Dominik Eulberg - Wenn Es Perlen Regnet by maghella

More Pre-Production;

After our tutorial, it was decided that the work needed more direction. As it was, the 1.50 of the work so far sounded more like a messy collection of recordings. It lacked any narrative and didn't serve well as a representation of a space. It was thought that the use of a voice over would add enough of a thread and be used to lead the listener through the journey of a passenger.

The first picture below is a script we wrote that would be recorded as a voice over, this would then be edited to make it sound like the thoughts of the passenger, hence its broken and minimal nature. Below the script in the same picture is the list of crucial recordings we needed the second time we went to the station, many of which we had previously captured, however armed with the riffle mic we planned to record them for a second time, only with the ability to get far more detail.

The second picture is a revised time line, here we've taken into account the voice over and structured it accordingly, its this copy that we will use as a guide when it comes to editing in Sound Track Pro.

Analysis of 'Journey through a train station'

Here are a number of screen grabs during the editing process of the work, I hope they portray well decisions made and techniques used in order to get the results we did.

The screen grab directly below depicts how we used a change in high frequency EQ to suggest entering an enclosed space, the way in which the effect raises and lowers over a period of a few seconds is meant to represent the elevator doors opening and respectively closing. The effect of this is a clear audible progression from space to space. Not just this, but we have used a pan during the period where the doors close, making the sound move from left to right is another hint at what is going on in reality.  

The one below here shows the extensive use of panning we've used in places, here I've wanted to pan the atmosphere sounds to suggest a movement through people.

Sense of space; Planning

Here is a suggested time line for the 'Sense of space' project, while this is by no means a strict plan of how we're to structure the three minuet piece, it was useful as it gave me a real idea of how many potential layers there may end up being. It was also useful to think about what sounds i may hear when going to record and then in what order I should arrange them to best portray a journey through the space. 

From looking at this rather messy time line, i think its clear enough to see that I plan to divide the three minuets into two. The first half being the entry into the atrium and the second being outside on the platform its self. I anticipate that the sounds I'll hear in the two areas of the station will be distinct enough to allow the listener to realise a movement through the space. I plan to add in audible hints to aid this supposed movement such as doors opening and closing, footsteps on different ground surfaces and a different 'atmos' track (amongst other things).    

Sense of space research - Chris Watson

Chris Watson 


After being introduced to Watson in class, I thought it useful to do a bit of my own research on him in hope that his work and knowledge would aid me in my sense of space brief. 


Originally from Sheffield, Chris is best known for his sound recording, specialising in natural history, hes worked up an impressive career including working with the likes of David Attenborough and Bill Oddie. Not only this, but he has also released several albums comprised of field recordings and collaborated with several other artists.

This short documentary follows Chris during a recording session, he begins to explain the process of recording and the reasons behind his love of it. It's inspirational for my work as one of the main points Chris makes is to experiment with were you record the sound from. He explains that by experimenting with this element of recording your able to discover sounds that humans wouldn't otherwise ever hear, in this case, using hydrophones to pick up vibrations of the ocean under the sand, or by getting low to the ground  and exploring the "mini jungle" of scrub land growing on the sand dunes. 


If I apply this approach to my work I too will be gain access to sounds not before heard, by changing the proximity of the microphone to the action completely different sounds will be picked up and a whole new dimension of my chosen space will be opened up to me.

Below are further examples of his work. All inspirational for the reason that they are layered to re-create a chosen space. His work does very well to transport the listener right to the scene he's trying to portray, a feat that I'll be striving for in my work. 


Guanacaste


Wilddawn

A Journey Through a Train Station

As I should have said before posting the 'London sound survey' link, my partner and I have decided to set our three minute 'atmos' track in the Sheffield train station. We plan to create a piece that can be recognised as a journey through the space, starting as you enter through the sliding doors into the main atrium and ending on the platform edge about to board a train, or on board and as the train pulls away. Due to this narrative we anticipate the piece staring out quite bleak and quiet, then as we move further in to the station, more and more layers being added, resulting in the end becoming quite busy and cluttered. We plan to create the narrative thread through the use of foot steps, voice overs or platform announcements, we are hoping these elements will be adequate to suggest a character either rushing for a train or simply moving through the space.    

Below are some picture of the space we will be trying to represent;

The interior of the atrium

The main entrance to the atrium

These pictures alone gives an indication to what the finished piece will sound like, the space in which we aim to represent is large and open, suggesting a lot of echoes and it will be relatively busy at all times, suggesting quite a busy atmosphere. One part of the station that you can't see within these pictures are the two cafe's, being quite dominant in the station we plan to make use of them also.  

On the platform its self you find all that you expect to find, lots of people, tannoys, staff members, pigeons and most obviously, trains. We hope that all these elements will find a space to occur within the three minuet piece. 

Platform edge

Sense of space

While researching for my own recording, i stumbled across the website 'London sound survey'. It has a huge number of sound maps of locations all over London, as well as 'sound actions' of everyday noises, in their words, "Sound action recordings are of sounds designed to have an effect on others, including situations where many people make sounds together for some common goal. Often they're of voices, but they also include sirens, bells, fireworks and more." In the case of this website, the sounds include anything from a street seller flogging in Wembley, to a platform announcer on the Underground. These many sound maps and actions havbe helped inspire my project by showing my whats possible in the way of recording in train stations, or in this case the Underground. It has also given my an idea of what other sounds we're likely to pick up while trying to record specific things, such as foot steps, voices, announcements and the general 'buzz' of any busy space.

(London Sound Survey )

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Storyboarding;

These are the storyboards for my camera & edit exercise, while it doesn't document the whole project, it includes the more complex external sequence, filmed at the Sheffield botanical gardens.

Edale Schedule;

EDALE LOCATION SHOOTING STUDY VISIT - SCHEDULE

WED 26TH OCT
BY 4.00PM	ENSURE YOU HAVE COLLECTED YOUR EQUIPMENT FROM STORES & CHECKED IT. PLEASE BRING AN EQUIPMENT LIST WITH YOU WHEN BOOKING OUT KIT.
THURS 27TH OCT
9.45AM	MEET SHEFFIELD TRAIN STATION BRING: ·         EQUIPMENT ·         PLANNING DOCS FOR YOUR SHOOT (treatments, scripts, storyboards, schedules, shot lists, reference materials) ·         ANY OTHER THINGS YOU REQUIRE FOR YOUR FILM SUCH AS PROPS/MAKE UP/COSTUMES ETC. ·         FOOD ·         WATER ·         APPROPRIATE CLOTHING ·         TRAIN FARE ·         MOBILE PHONE ·         COMPASS ·         MAP OF THE AREA ·         ANY ESSENTIAL MEDICATION YOU REQUIRE IF FOR EXAMPLE YOU ARE DIABETIC
10.14AM	TRAIN LEAVES FOR EDALE
10.47AM	ARRIVE EDALE
11.00AM	PRE SHOOT BRIEFING - The Rambler Inn Edale, Hope Valley, Derbyshire S33 7ZA Tel: 01433 670268 E-mail: therambler@dorbiere.co.uk
11.15AM	PRODUCTION OF PROJECTS SUPERVISION TUTORS GROUP A - ESTHER JOHNSON GROUP B - DEBBIE BALLIN GROUP C - DOMINIC GREEN
6.00 PM	MEET WITH STAFF BACK AT THE Ramblers Inn FOR DEBRIEF & POST SHOOT PINT
19.28PM	TRAIN LEAVES FOR SHEFFIELD
20.03PM	ARRIVE SHEFFIELD
FRI 28TH OCT
10.00AM	RETURN CHECKED EQUIPMENT TO STORES

Portrait of Place; Tutorial

After receiving feedback, it was agreed that our rough cut didn't need to much doing do it. The simplicity of the cuts were thought to enhance the mood of the piece, rather than down grade it.

There was a bit of a dispute on how to get to the final shot of the film, we knew we wanted to keep a symmetrical element by starting and finishing with a shot of our character looking at first where he was headed, then looking back at where he had come. The problem was with the fading day light, come the end of the shooting day we had run out of time to film any more inserts that would help solve the otherwise clumsy transition to the final shot. In the end we decided to include two unplanned cross-fades, while this takes from the simplistic and somewhat bare feel of the film, it made a much better and well rounded ending, not only by solving the problem of a lack of usable footage, but adding to the sense of a passing of time and completion of the journey made by our character.

If anything was learnt from this it would be to always over shoot. Even if at the time that extreme close up of a bush seems a little pointless, you never know when it might come in use. 

Squarepusher - Come on my Selector (Directed & Edited by Chris Cunningham)

Like a lot of Cunningham's work the use of editing really sets his stuff apart from others. Usually partnered heavily with music, he manages to bring to life the non-dietetic sounds and turn them into an integral part of his films. Obviously being the official music video its was important the piece be relevant to the soundtrack, however whats inspiring is the way that the images match up so perfectly and arguably artistically with the sounds.  

All his work, be it in partnership (as it often is) with Aphex Twin or Bjork, he always seems to be able to capture the essence of the song in his films, a feat that your average 'chart song' video desperately lacks.

  

Edale Shot List;

As neither me or George had been to Edale before, although the research had been useful, we still had to use a bit of guess work when coming up with a shot list. The following are just starting points on which to elaborate when actually there and able to see what we had to work with.

Long Shots:

Shots of the natural landscape, the hills, fields, far away villages/grouped houses. Both with and without our character moving through them.

Mid shots:

Character moving through a verity of scenes (Progressing further into wilderness). Streams, woodland, country lanes, wildlife

Close up's & extreme close up's:

(For use as inserts) Stone walls, foliage, water or any interesting natural textures.

Two shots that we know we would want to capture were a couple of over the shoulder perspectives, looking firstly up at the hills and then secondly a similar shot, looking back down from atop a hill at the village our character has traveled from. These will be our opening and closing shots, used to express the idea of a journey.

Portrait of Place

The aim of this piece of work was to work in pairs in producing a three minute, silent film. To be shot in the peak district, its main purpose was to explore and portray the space in which we were filming. While the main focus of the work should be on interpreting the landscape, the use of characters or individuals within this could be used also.

Me and my partner chose to create an experimental piece with a narrative thread in the form of a person moving through their environment, starting their journey in the village (civilization) and ending atop one of the peaks (wilderness). We thought this a good method to further illustrative the wildness and seclusion of the peak district. While the idea of silence may in other projects hinder the emotive response, we felt in this case, due to our want to portray the landscape as plainly and honestly as possible, silence wouldn't distract from the imagery of the landscape and actually enhance the sensation of isolation.


Research:

As neither of us had ever been to Edale we thought it necessary to do a little research into what surrounds we would find ourself's in once we arrive. A simple google map search of the area proved very valuable and gave us a pretty clear view of what type of terrain we would encounter. Due to growing up very close to Dartmoor in Devon, (a landscape very similar to the Yorkshire Dales) I was well aware of the limitations as well as opportunities for shooting.

The official Edale website (www.edale-valley.co.uk) was also very useful in planning our shoot. Like Google, it gave us a better idea of what to expect when we arrived to start filming and helped plan for certain shots, such as wide's of the rural landscape.

Before going to shoot in Edale, we thought it best to have a look at similar pieces for creative inspiration. While the two videos are vastly different in the landscapes they portray, the way they are filmed are very similar and very relevant to the my own project.



Afghanistan – touch down in flight from Augustin Pictures on Vimeo.

Dartmoor - Philip Bloom Comp from James Watson on Vimeo.

Here is a short film we were shown during university hours, this is what inspired me the most when developing our own ideas. Where as this was filmed over the course of a year and ours only one day i never expected my own work to match anything like this, however its use of editing and coloring is crucial to the feel of the work. A method i hope to apply to my own film.

Film analysis; Sessions 1 & 2

During these sessions we looked at a number of short films and were asked to evaluate them through the use of these questions;


1.      Identify the themes of the film. What is the director's primary aim?
2.      Describe what you consider to be the film’s main focus
3.      Did you like/dislike the film and why?
4.      Was the film successful/unsuccessful in dealing with its subject matter and why?
5.      Was there an element within the film that particularly stood out to you?
6.      How does the films form (structure and style) relate to its content?
7.      Discuss x2 techniques used in the film which you found interesting 
8.      Was the sound appropriate to the approach/style/subject of the film?

Steel Homes

While watching this short documentary the first thing that strikes the audience is the starkness and clinical feel of the piece, this is portrayed through the distinct lack of vibrant color, the use of lengthy shots and lack of quick edits. The sometimes ghostly voice-overs of those people who use these 'steel homes' adds to this somber mood. The form that the director has chosen to take on definitely relates to the less than positive content, the long shots and the bleak coloring connotes a sadness that is reflected though the interviews of those involved. 

It's interesting that the director has made a conscious decision to only tell the stories of those people who have somewhat sad emotions tied up with the objects in storage. The use of shots and framing suggest that the director intended for his work to seem almost observational and not want to interfere with those they are documenting, the audience never once witnesses direct contact between the film maker and those being filmed. While the use of the interview voice overs juxtaposes this theory, its also reminiscent to that of the voice over contained in nature documentary's, suggesting the director is taking a look at human behavior, just as directors of natures documentary's do with animals.
If we take this into consideration then I believe the documentary does well in dealing with its subject as not only does it effectively shed light onto these often hidden lives, but does it in such as way that the audience are led to question the behavior of the people we are subject to view.


Christmas with Dad

The documentary stood out for the reason that its content was a window into quite an unfamiliar world, the stark representation of the family environment was in places quite shocking and sometimes even uncomfortable to watch. This was made possible through the directors ability to capture a lot of natural moments of the family dynamic, from watching the footage not one of the shots or sequences has a 'set-up' feel to it, this helps shape the way the audience reacts to it and adds to the shock value.
The way all the shots are hand held and somewhat 'jerky' is symbolic of the messy environment and really helps get the audience to feel like they are really there, amongst the chaos. The use of sound is also used to achieve this 'messy' quality through the loud, overlapping voices of the eight children. Throughout the documentary we get a soundtrack of household conversations and noises that gives every shot a sense of busyness and disorganisation.
Non diegetic music was subtly used in places, reminiscent of hand cranked music boxes that seem to appear around Christmas time that each play a different festive hymn. This gentle yet sorrowful music was used in the opening sequence, played on top of a montage of juxtaposing bright and colorful Christmas lights. Perhaps a metaphor for the family quite desperate struggle during this supposed happy time of year.
Overall I liked this documentary for the way it played with the audiences emotions and perceptions. Its hard not to take an objective opinion of the Dad in the initial parts of the documentary, however as the narrative evolves and certain elements are revealed I believe the audience are left feeling guilty for the way they originally perceived what they were watching  


Salaryman 6


The first thing that strikes the audience are the carefully composed wide shots, the static style of the shots are highly reminiscent of photographs, a reference to the automated camera the protagonist wears around his neck throughout the film. This not only adds to the narrative thread, but warps the audience perceptive of the characters world, just as he himself seems to have a warped sense of reality. The color palette of the film is also significant as the level of desaturation is reminiscent of the characters mood as well as emphasising the mundane.

There are many underlying themes dealt with in this work, the main ones being repetition and a sense of insignificance. The repetition of many of the shots and the way in which they are framed and the strong angles connote both these, as well as a sense of entrapment. All the frames

I believe the subject matter was dealt with well, the cinematography relates directly to the theme and all aspects of this film re-enforce the mundane, the repetitive or the robotic tendency of both the characters behaviour as well as the world he lives in.