Research Into ambient sound recording

Ambient sound is the sound you hear in the background of a film that has no real meaning apart from to add depth to the scene, like wind, footsteps and anything else that actors in set could also hear, ambient sound is important because without it a scene would just feel like a set and not have the same level of realism you would expect, because no matter where you are there's always ambient sound, and these sounds build a picture of the surroundings, this is why ambient sound is often recorded on set rather than using a sound bank, the sounds are already guaranteed to fit the set because you're on set, a sound from a bank however won't sound as good or change the mood or stand out as different too much

In ambient sound hard cuts are not used in the mixing of the sound as ambient sound is supposed to be natural and sound like its supposed to be there, if there are sudden stops and starts can distract the viewer too much and not provide the effect that they want

Location shooting can be very bad for recording dialog because you might get ambient sound that you don't want in the clips, for example you want to be able to add ambient sound after the recording of the dialog so any ambient sounds in the dialog will clash.

dark knight making of: questions

Describe how Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan worked together to create the music for the Dark Knight.

the two would discuss ideas together and when Zimmer felt that maybe he was going to far, he said that Nolan would just push him more and more closer to the edge to get exactly what they needed, Nolan also listed to all the samples that Zimmer made that lasted hours on a plane ride to give Zimmer his opinion

What was the process that Hans Zimmer used to come up with the music?

he experimented with crazy methods of sound design by using razor blades to make sound, tapping pencils and other outlandish things.

What was Hans Zimmers intention when making this soundtrack? (0.30 for clues)

he wanted to make something that people would hate, he wanted something different, something truly insane and crazy, like the joker himself. 

What qualities did Hans Zimmer want the music to have? (try and find at east three)

• he wanted it to be playable for a second and people would know, that's the joker's music.
• he wanted it to be very out there, like, very different and never before heard.
• he wanted people to hate the music, he wanted it to be very provocative and make people feel fear and feel he mayhem.

How do you feel about the final score? and explain why you feel it works/doesn’t work.

i think it works very well, the slow build of a tone builds so much tention in the simplicity that adds so much more feeling to it and so much more depth because it's so simple, the joker himself contrasts the music but also compliments it so well, the music is the image of chaos and anarchy like the joker himself, however the music being simplistic contrasts because the joker is very complex and smart, but it all adds up to it matching perfectly in the film.

5 point guide on how to compose music for a film

Step one: know what type of music is needed to be written, it's always important to have a goal and something you need to get done, it's pointless being asked to do 'some music' but with no other requests, always make sure that you know exactly what is being asked or what you need so that you can make what is actually needed

Step two: Make sure you have the equipment you need, if they need a full orchestra and you just have a basic set up with a computer and a mic you might not have what is needed at all to satisfy the requirements, you either want to get a better set up, or drop the Job entirely, if writing for your own film you might want to change what music to have or try to hire someone else.

step three: make your own kind of music, although it may be hard to be original especially when you're surrounded by amazing masterpieces it's still important to stand out and not just write another imperial march, even if it would work in the film. experimenting is a good way to make your self stand out, push the boundaries and try and do something weird that also works, making your music original and tailored for the project will make it have a greater effect on the audience watching because they will also be able to make the link that it's build together and music will add so much and create a rich environment and deep meaning to make the watcher / listener feel something. 

step four: make sure your music is fitting well with the film, the music is made to compliment what is on screen, for example let's take Darth Vader from Star wars a second, the Imperial march fits Darth Vader perfectly with a rhythm matching his long strides giving him so much more power on the screen, replace that with tiptoe through the tulips and you have a whole different scene, even without music entirely the scene would look a lot less interesting. Your music has to have the same effect, make it a part of the scene, another level, not just a  tag-along piece but something to change it.

Finally, step Five: make sure the director is happy with it, but don't ask for feedback before it's done, as the director may not see what it will be like finished as you know, when it's done you can present it to them and get their opinion, after all that is done you can ask them what file format they want it in and how they want it sent to them and then you're done!

sources: 

http://www.wikihow.com/Compose-Music-for-Film

http://voices.yahoo.com/10-tips-writing-music-film-movie-2300898.html

Have a nice day :) 

Foley sound

I used these videos below to answer the following questions:

What is a foley artist, what do they do and why are they needed?

a foley artist is a post-production sound creator, their job is to add in sounds that might have lost potency on set and to add drama to scenes using sounds, like a horses hooves or a sword being drawn, even down to each step someone takes is usually added in post with foley sound, roughly 90% of on screen sounds in big budget films are actually foley so they're very important to the final piece of a film.

Explain the order in which the Foley artist creates the sound (mention the 'prop pass')?

first they do all the footsteps of the lead characters in the film, then the background footsteps, then a "prop pass" - providing sound for anything moving on the screen 

What are the key skills and qualities foley artists need to have?

you have to have the right timing to know when to put in a sound, you also need a good creative mind to be able to decompose a sound into it's most basic form to creare a realistic composition of sounds to make a realistic effect.

What is the advantage of using real objects to create sound FX rather than using digital production or sound libraries?

with a real sound you can trick the audience into thinking they know the sound already and you can't fake validity, it sounds a lot more accurate when it's filmed a lot more analogue. 

Using specific examples describe how key sounds are created (use the Star Wars and Robin Hood clips if you want).

in robin hood they created the sound of swords being drawn using a spatula dragged across a piece of metal, they also created horse sounds using the hooves layered with metal chains and leather bending and a man doing horse snorting noises to come together and make a very realistic horse noise. 

Self appraisal

Audio
the audio in my sequence had it's good and bad points, for example i added sound effect for the effects to good effect in the overall feel, however the dialogue quality was rather poor being full of background noise because we only used the mic on the camera. the sequence could have been more tied together with music but i had not find appropriate music for the sequence at the time of the rough cut.

special effects
the special effects are quite good in my opinion, the ice ball (power ball) -the first effect- turned out quite nice, the build up of anger and flames were yet to be implemented but with the footage i have edited prior looks good.

the sequence as a whole
i feel the way it was edited was good, the cuts weren't too distracting and made the sequence feel natural, the shots used were quite poor, however and this makes the sequence look poor as a result
the peer review feedback said that it was an entertaining sequence to watch and the effects were good but the audio wasn't great.

Music legal stuff -unf-

To read the page for yourself :3 http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/licenses/

Publishing rights indicate that you must speak to the publisher of any music as they own the copyright for the music rather than the artist themselves, recording rights indicates that you most likely have to have the permissions of the composer or lyrics writer to use the music in the film.

you can clear a piece of music by checking it's copyright laws, for example a popular song on the radio will most likely have an army of lawyers ready to make sure you're not using the music without permission, and to get permissions you will need to talk to the publishers or whoever owns the copyright, once you have your permissions and they understand what you're using the music then you can use it for what you got permissions for.

the composer of a song -or whoever owns the copyright now- has to have been dead for 70 years before the copyright is abandoned and nulled, the licences can be picked up though, so don't assume that it's royalty free because they're dead.

incidental music is music that could be heard in the background but was not intentional or used in the film in any plot points and not noticed, for example walking through the street and someone's playing it out their window and you catch 5 seconds of audio with the song in, however you have to be careful, as if it's too much you can still get screwed in court.

creative commons is an act that allows people to share their work in a creative way by copywriting it using creative commons, their work can be allowed to be used but with different rules associated with them, for example some allow you to use them with credit, basically allowing the use of their work but if you grant them credit in the work that you used it in. there are licenses that allow people to remix or tweak the work however the remix can't be commercialised and sold.

creative commons exists to help artists control their own work more so that there was available with a regular copyright, maybe they wanted to see what the community has to offer in terms of remixes and tweaks to their work, and creative commons allows people to do that and gives artists freedom to choose what happens to their work

there are six different types of creative commons licenses, here they are in order:

Attribution 

this allows people to remix and adjust your work and even sell it on after as long as you are credited for the organ of the content.

Attribution-NoDerivs 

this allows people to redistribute your work commercially and not so, as long as the work remains unchanged and you are credited 

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

allows people to remix and tweak your work but cannot be commercially and you have to be credited, and any work created under this licence has to be given the same licence.

Attribution-ShareAlike 

allows people to remix and tweak and build on your work and even sell it on, as long as you are credited and the work created from anything with this licence is also given the same licence, this is the licensing wikipidea uses.

Attribution-NonCommercial 

allows people to remix and tweak your work as long as they credit you, they have to be non comercial works after but works created do not have to have the same licensing.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 

the most restrictive of all the creative commons licenses, work can be downloaded and shared, as long as you credit the creator, the work can't be changed or commercialised, however. 

the music that i chose is "modern vibes" by Kevin MacLeod

i chose the song after searching for a suitable song for a while and it seemed to fit the gap in the film nicely with it's slightly mysterious and magical feel. the sounds sound mostly made up of digitally created sounds and some kind of xylophone with bells making a simple melody that is slightly jarring but in a good way for my film.

i got my information from here:

http://whiterabbitisme.wordpress.com/tag/why-is-creative-commons-important/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/before-you-start/music-rights

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