Evaluation

Throughout this task the recording of the Sound Effects went really well, and they worked well with the moving images. Even though the recordings didn't sound exactly the same as the original sound effect for the Tom & Jerry cartoon, you could still understand that it was the right sound effect for the image and that it worked well with the scenario. 

The sound effects I recorded were Jerry eating, a door closing, Tom hitting Jerry on the head with a spoon and Jerry blowing the soup on the spoon and Jerry falling off the cheese dish. Firstly Jerry eating SFX, this was quite easy, all I had to do was slurp my lips together to make it sound like Jerry eating the butter or cheese, i'm not too sure what it was. Secondly a door closing, i took a dictaphone home and recorded myself closing a door. Thirdly, Tom hitting Jerry with a spoon, to get the hollow SFX I made a popping sound by putting my finger in my mouth, placing it against my cheek and pulling it out. This made a hollow SFX. When Jerry falls off of the cheese dish i used a wooden door and knocked it in time with the moving images, this sound effect was quite hollow and made a thudding sound. Finally Jerry blowing the soup on the spoon, this was recorded at home by blowing water off of a spoon.

The Sound Effects I downloaded were: Dialing an old phone, an old phone ringing and some voices. The dialing and ringing of an old phone needed to be downloaded from Youtube because I didn't have an old phone at home or in college. I downloaded some funny voices online purely to add humour to the cartoon, these were the Youtube hit of "I'm a Sssnaake" this is a guy saying I'm a snake in a weird voice. The final voice I downloaded was from the Simpsons, the waiter who always says "Yyyeeesss" very strangely.

Throughout the 2 minute cartoon, I feel that the sound effects I used matched with the moving image. This is because I chose sound effects that would match the material making the noise, such as a wooden door closing, I searched the internet for a wooden door closing sound effect, I also tried closing a door at home to compare the sounds from the internet and the cartoon to get a matching sound. 

If i were to do this task again the only thing I would change is to record all of the sound effects myself and use more sound effects. This is because it would be harder to make more complex sound effects to match the images and you could completely change the context of the cartoon to how you want it, either to make it more serious or funnier. I would also like to work on the voices of the characters, I did find some funny quotes online but if I looked for a longer period I could of possibly found better voices for the characters.  

Production Schedule

Production Schedule

16-3-12

Today I plan to gather all SFX's from the internet, including the bedding track, I will also book out a dictaphone to take home and start recording more SFX's. I will be using websites such as Youtube and Royalty Free Music, this is because there are a range of video clips on Youtube which have been shown on TV that I could possibly use and Royalty Free Music have loads of sound effects that will be very useful. 

23-3-12

Today I will upload all of the SFX's I recorded at home, I will record at home because I will be able to sit in a room with complete silence with no interruptions or background noise. I will also start to put everything together in Premier Pro and possibly finish the assignment if I have everything I need.

30-3-12

If I haven't finished the assignment, I will carry on editing my cartoon together. I may need to gather more sound effects if I feel the ones that I already have don’t fit, but I will definitely finish today and hand in my completed project as it is the deadline. 

Recording SFX’s

Footsteps

Grassy - For grassy footsteps use newspaper in a plastic grocery bag and softly tap the bag.

Metal - Bang a boot or a heavy shoe against a heater.

Rain

Rain is recorded using tinfoil and salt, you drop the salt on the foil to mimic the sound of rain.

Some being punched

Rolled up newspaper being hit with a soft wooden stick, or hitting real meat such as a pig.

Bacon frying

Crumpling cellophane creates the sound of bacon frying.

Elevator door

Closing a filing cabinet in conjunction with a hotel reception.

Gun cocking

Briefcase catches being closed slowly, again close miked.

Horse hooves

Coconut halves.

Preparing to work with sound effects (SFX’s)

Why do you think we use SFX’s in TV and film productions?

In my opinion SFX’s are used to enhance actions during a scene and to mimic real life sounds. For example dropping frozen peas on a tin tray makes a great SFX for rain on a tin roof. Also when reloading a gun, it can be quite quiet, so using an SFX will enhance the sound of the reloading which will make the sound more distinctive.

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

Sound effects have many advantages, they make a scene sound more realistic when someone gets punched, there is a thudding noise. Another advantage is that they are cheep to make; to mimic rain all you need is a tin tray or grains of rice. SFX definitely makes TV and film sound more interesting, especially with Noel Fieldings Luxury Comedy show, its not really that funny, but with the SFX it helps you understand that you’re supposed to laugh at that point.

What are the disadvantages of SFX?

There are a few disadvantages of SFX; it’s mainly to do with the wrong SFX in the wrong place. For example when you know an actor is walking in flat shoes, you don’t expect to hear an SFX of a shoes with a slight heal. Another disadvantage of SFX’s that you haven’t created is that you don’t have control of the ambience, so that sound effect could have been recorded in a room with a high ceiling or there could be a quiet background sound, which you definitely don’t want.   

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.  

Post Evaluation

During this task me and my group have learnt to think about what sound will be like on location and how to improve it. We discussed many ways to improve our sound after the first time we recorded, for our first location which was the inside noisy, we decided to move away from the high ceiling and go at a quieter time. But this still didn't make any difference because the location we chose was always too busy and too loud. For the second location we discussed that moving slightly away from the car park would reduce the sound of cars driving past. this worked but we still had some sound of the cars in our footage. Finally our last location we decided that there wasn't much we could do to improve the sound, so we decided that having an empty classroom and turning all the Macs off would be the best option. So we did that and our sound was even more quieter. 


Throughout the task the group well as a team, no arguments just straight down to filming in the locations we chose. Communication was good, but at times it was only me and Jess who came to the lesson, so we couldn't film until another group member either came in late or we had to hope there was more of us next week.  

Task 3 - Analysing our footage

Noisy Indoor - Stairs near the cafe


Whilst filming near the balcony cafe stairs we came across a few problems. Firstly, we filmed underneath a high ceiling so Jess and Dans voices were echoing which didn't sound to great. Secondly there were a few people sitting behind us on the computers and they were talking quite loud which made it hard to hear the presenters. Another error was that people kept walking down the wooden stairs and they were not exactly light footed, so that sound interfered with ours. We could improve this next time by filming at a less busy time period e.g not close to lunch. We also need to make sure that we film away from the high ceiling to avoid any echoing. Finally using a tie-mic will focus more on the presenters voices rather than the surrounding sound.


Quiet indoor - Classroom 


Filming in the classroom was the perfect location to film in, but even though everyone was quiet, there still were a few disturbances. The first disturbance we encountered was the fans from the Macs, because the Macs are dusty inside the fans have to work more so the became quite loud, so this was picked up on our recording. Another disturbance was mobile phones, whenever they send or receive a text the mic pics up a buzzing sound which is really annoying and it can ruin your work. Next time to solve these disturbances we could make sure all the Macs are turned off, so the fans are not spinning and whoever is in the class at the time of us filming has to turn there phone off or not be in the classroom at the time we are filming so the phones wont interfere with the sound.


Outside - Near the airplane steps


We knew that when filming outside we would have a few issues with the sound especially with the wind. Firstly we should make sure there are not too many people out have a fag, this is because they all talk quite loud and we couldn't really hear the presenters too well. People also kept walking past and you could hear their footsteps because they walked quite close to the camera and boom. We also could have chosen a more sheltered location away from the wind, this is because the wind is picked up and it can over power the presenters voices. However we could avoid these disturbances by firstly choosing to film when there are less people having a break, so we will get less interference. Secondly, moving the boom closer to the presenters so there is more chance of their voices being louder and finally we could film in a less  busier location, this will stop the number of people walking past.     

Filmed today !

Filming went well today, we found a good quiet place to film and all other locations worked well and had lots of background noise :)