#finalyearprojectresearch

I was much happier with my sound design for this project but maybe just because it was simpler. We had known that the test shoot scene for KEEPER was going to be one of the hardest scenes of the film. Comparatively, the scene we were shooting for TSM&M didn’t involve any action at all, just people talking so I could really focus on the basics and make it a lot more polished in a lot less time.

I spent a day and a half total on the sound design. After helping give some feedback on the edit, Jake handed the AAF over the Monday and I had finished by Tuesday night.

The boom recordings in the projection room were quite noisy, some taps and the aforementioned engineering work in the background. Luckily the LAV sound was perfect so for Tim and Sean’s conversation I relied completely on this. For the auditorium scene, I used the boom with some noise reduction rendered in, and layered the LAV mic underneath to give him slightly more presence.

As I had planned (explained in the pitch), I focused on finding the unique reverb of each setting. Using the ‘Space’ plug-in, I found presets that were a similar match to the look and feel of the space on-screen and then tweaked them myself, saving them into my session folder for recall later. I also added EQ to the voices to make them sound more like they had been recorded from where the camera was stood. For example, Xander’s voice, coming from behind the window, has lost some of the high end frequencies to artificially construct this window/wall in the sound we are receiving. Aux tracks proved very useful throughout the session, allowing me to send multiple tracks to the same reverb plug-ins.

Once the dialogue was sorted, I moved on to creating a projector sound effect which would change depending on which room we were in. (Louder in the projection room, and panned to the left, quieter with less high and low frequencies in the auditorium.) I decided the sound should stay in stereo as it felt like a component of the atmos.

Then I needed to construct something to play from the cinema screen. I made an aux, routed dialogue to it so I had a temporary output to monitor and then added EQ and Space plug-ins to the track. I messed around with both plug-ins until I had a sound that mimicked the output of cinema speakers and I was pretty pleased with the outcome. The plug in settings are seen here.

I took to Freesound to find some ominous sounds and choral singing to recreate my own version of the Star Gate sequence soundtrack. The finished thing is primarily made up of creepy strings and wind, manipulated with Pitch Shift. I then routed this through the Cinema Speakers Aux and it worked!! The effect was more obvious with dialogue but I still like the result.

I automated the Star Gate sounds to drop in volume and pan to the left as we move to the projection room. I also automated an EQ plug on the routing folder they were in, so the higher frequencies were lost as they ‘passed through the walls’ into this secondary space.

Earlier in the trimester I had planned that I wanted to make it sound like an old movie so I watched a video about ‘how to create a tape effect on digital sound’. The main takeaways: compress the hell out of it to emulate the reduced dynamic range, reduce the attack of the transients, EQ it to favour the mid frequencies and at some kind of saturation. This guy’s video was talking about music, but I assumed similar principles would apply. I had already read about the reduced dynamic range in old films so this seemed about right. I decided to apply these effects to The Narrator’s dialogue - mid frequency EQ, heavy compression, some fiddling with the Enhancer plug-in. I briefly tried to experiment with side chain compression to make the Star Gate sounds dip under his dialogue but it wasn’t working and I couldn’t figure out where I was going wrong. I thought this would have added to the vintage sound. It’ll have to be something I figure out in the new year.

Robbie then came in to take a look at the sound edit. His main note was that the Star Gate sounds were creating the wrong tone. Upon listening again, I agreed.

We had this idea a lot earlier in the trimester to use a piece of music in the sound design. It was a simple guitar piece that Robbie had written and recorded on his phone; he’d used it in a sizzle reel for the project. It was definitely lighter in tone, a little bittersweet sounding perhaps, so I imported it and added it under the dialogue exchange and it kind of worked.

I wanted to make it sound somewhat diegetic at first so I added EQ to make it sound like it was coming from a old radio (above) and panned it to the right (other side from projector sound to balance it out). I then automated the EQ to get it back to normal, automated the pan to center and the volume to increase as the scene transitioned and The Narrator’s dialogue came back in. The song remains this way until the end of the film.

I think I got too invested in AD-ing and all the prep that goes into just making the shoot happen, that forgot to properly consider the sound design. Also, balancing two projects in different stages of development has been quite tricky.

Essentially I didn’t get anywhere near enough wildtracks of the movement, enough voices or enough impacts. And I didn’t have time to foley it. Also the LAVs were way too close to peaking since the actors were yelling into them so they were unusable. The boom sound was mostly good thanks to Tom and Gaby so that was something at least. But I was constantly battling against the echoey space and terrible acoustics. (I’d noticed it on the day as soon as they started yelling but it had been too late to do anything about it by then.)

I should have been better prepared. I know I’ve had similar problems in the past where I don’t go in with a clear idea of what I need in the edit - where I can’t hear the edit yet so I can’t plan what I need to get. And so I inevitably don’t get enough wildtracks and then it makes it so much harder to design.

I don’t think I knew what the final result was going to sound like at all when I approached this. Or I just didn’t think about it. Anyway, it’s been a huge wake up call.

I’m really disappointed that none of the ideas I had planned came to fruition. I wasn’t able to foley impacts despite spending three days on the one minute scene. I didn’t record music because we couldn’t get the guy over in time and in hindsight, it just really wouldn’t have suited the tone anyway.

Looking forward to the real shoot, Ben and I are going to have a lot more discussions about sound, breakdown the script together in way more detail and make sure I have a clear understanding of the vision - and what this will sound like. I’m going to try and do a sound ‘paper edit’ to make sure I have it all mapped out and to highlight any gaps in my working.

@ Filmhouse Edinburgh, 22.11.23

We returned to the Filmhouse on the Wednesday of the same week to shoot. By this time we had narrowed it down to 4 shots and had secured an extra hour’s access in the morning. We had kit drop off that same day at 4:30 and had to be out of the Filmhouse by 4 anyway so there was no room to run over schedule. Taking pack up time and rush hour traffic into account, I aimed to have us wrapped by 2:30. My schedule is linked here, and my very rushed, very empty call sheet is here.

After a lot of horrible, vaguely traumatic incidents with Uber drivers (I’m now converted to Bolt) we managed to get the kit to the location. The crew gathered outside so that once we got access we could immediately start moving kit into the auditorium. We were using the back entrance to the Filmhouse so we didn’t need to worry about loitering around with kit as much - of course this would have been pretty much impossible from the front entrance on the main road.

Once inside the camera team started setting up the camera and the lights they needed for the first shot in the projection room, then moving each piece of kit up as and when it was needed. It was slightly inconvenient going up and down the many sets of stairs (two down, one up and vice versa) every single time but there just wasn’t room to store the kit anywhere else safely.

Jenny was very kindly recording sound for me in the morning so she got set up in the auditorium as well. The cast blocked the scene with Robbie while she got prepped. They stood in for camera and lighting checks, up in the projection room, and then I got them sent back down to Jenny to be mic-ed. During this time Jake also went on a couple runs to the shop across the road to grab last minute, in case-of-emergency batteries, snacks and a lot of water.

We basically used the auditorium as a base throughout the entire shoot. We were aware how small the projection room was but of course it felt even smaller once the camera and lights had been moved in. With all the electrics and just the number of bodies it started getting quite hot and there wasn’t much ventilation so I made sure no one was in the room unless they were needed, got lights and camera switched off when possible and kept crew to a minimum.

Jenny found it hard to boom in such a cramped environment and we kept getting boom shadow. Then some engineers started working in the room next door creating the occasional beep and muttering the occasional phrase - not ideal. It wasn’t ruining the dialogue per se but it would require some work in post.

I hope I’m not speaking incorrectly saying that I think Aimee would have liked a little longer to light. I was conscious of time and probably hurried her on a little too quickly. We only ran into lunch by 20 mins in the end and that was after Robbie sprang a whip pan shot on us out of nowhere. So perhaps there would have been more time to light. But in the moment you just don’t know what else might go wrong e.g more engineers show up, they get louder etc etc. I think making these judgement calls will just come with time.

Rosie Playford is Mira

In the afternoon we were shooting the split diopter shot in the auditorium. Alex Caldow was taking over sound from Jenny, and doubling up as gaffer, and I was sitting in as Mira. My starring role had been sprung on me and I had no choice but to reluctantly take it in my stride. Did wonders for the self esteem…..

Xander (The Narrator/the bald guy lurking behind me in the photo above) had a tongue twister of a speech to read out, approximately 50 seconds long so that obviously took a few takes. Then we shot my bit. The less said about that the better. The plan is to later stitch these shots together in the edit to create a split diopter effect.

There were a lot less things for me to think/worry about for the auditorium scene and we wrapped with plenty of time to get kit packed up. We even got time to grab stills of all the HoDs in the cinema seats (for the crowdfunder or the instagram or some kind of promotion purposes).

Photos by Ben McMorran

(or, the reason I’m not sound recording)

Photo taken on set of Popper, dir. Bonnie Sanderson

I AD-ed on three projects this trimester: two of my own KEEPER and TSM&M, and one I’m not an HoD on, Popper, directed by Bonnie. I’ve talked briefly about my experiences on the former but I thought I’d dedicate a post to AD-ing in general as it’s something I’d like to continue to pursue.

I have a love/hate relationship with AD-ing. It’s one of the few types of on-set stress that I find manageable. I’m naturally quite a bossy person, I like organising other people even if I’m bad at it myself. I think it pushes me and continually teaches me how better to communicate with people. Comparing this year’s experience to Longboard Nights last year (when I also AD-ed with Ben as Director and Alex as DOP) I think I felt a lot more confident talking to people and shouting for quiet when we needed it this time around.

And yet every time I AD, it draws out the enemy of self-confidence - imposter syndrome. It’s especially bad on sets where I don’t know the team.

So, Popper. I should say, I loved being a part of this production. The sets Bonnie and Juno made were insanely cool. I wanted to be a part of making it as soon as I heard the idea! But it also terrified me. I’m not used to working with people out-with the course, and whenever I do I can’t help but focus on all the things I’m doing wrong, or even just the things I’m not doing perfectly. And that doesn’t get you anywhere. I don’t feel like I did a very good job AD-ing for Bonnie but I did enjoy being on set.

Going forward I’d really like to speak to other people who AD or maybe just watch someone else because I feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing well or what I could be doing better. I’m just listening to the voice in my head that tells me I’m bad at everything and that’s probably not the truth.

For the real shoots next year I’d like to AD on something but I’m not sure if I’ll maybe try and record the sound for my own sound design and then AD on other peoples’. More of that in the posts on sound design.

Robbie managed to secure the Filmhouse as a shooting location!

Firstly, thank you so much to the Filmhouse! It was so cool to get to film in a real cinema. We hadn’t had any luck and it was getting so close to the deadline. We were looking for a auditorium and a projection room and they were kind enough to let us use both. And we’d barely have to set dress which was going to be a massive help considering we don’t have a dedicated production designer.

The Auditorium: spacious, not too many plug sockets (made a note to make more, hopefully pick one up from The Film Cult), no annoying hums that weren’t consistent, no outside noises! (The benefits of shooting in a room that is built specifically to keep outside sound out!)

The Projection Room: I can’t believe they let us in but they did. Very small, not a lot of space to move, made a mental note to keep crew to a minimum and to store kit in the auditorium, only bringing up what was necessary. Up a long flight of stairs, made a note to remind people to be careful. No annoying sounds, no external sounds, lots of practical light options and lots of interesting infrastructure which might occasionally create barriers between camera and actor but could also be used to frame/create leading lines. Also not many plug sockets, made sure to ask which ones we could use.

I left the recce feeling a lot more upbeat about the project. I knew Robbie had been struggling under the weight of writing, producing and directing so it was a huge relief that we were going to have a really good shooting location. And with easy access for picking up and dropping off kit.

Off the back of the recce I sat down with the shotlist Aimee had created and with Robbie’s help we began to schedule the shoot.

@ Harrison Park, 16.11.23

Before even the recce Ben, Alex and I had a meeting to schedule the shoot day. After the recce we met again to make some adjustments. The schedule we agreed upon is linked here.

As 1st AD my job was to keep everything running, and if possible keep us on time. We didn’t get off to the best start: kit transport was taking longer than we’d hoped and then to top it off we very nearly lost the location less than an hour before we were due to start shooting. Luckily, Lucy (Best Producer) Gilmore managed to convince them otherwise!

My job was easy enough. I fumbled the meeting at the start. (Ben likes to gather the cast and crew for a meeting at the start of every shoot day to get on the same page. As a team we’ve adopted it as best practice.) We’ve since reflected on the shoot and decided that I’ll delegate this meeting to Lucy since I hate the public speaking aspect. Instead I’m planning to have individual meetings with each department at the start of the day to get an idea of what time they need to set up, and any other info I might need or might need to pass on.

We occasionally ran behind but easily found the time later and finished slightly ahead of schedule. This allowed us more time to get wildtracks for sound at the end.

[Also I enjoyed waddling round with my iPad like a kid]

I think our main issue on the day (after the location debacle) was the constantly changing weather - from overcast to sunny to raining. And the mud. There was a lot of mud. Alex was annoyed by his lack of control over the light and we deliberated waiting for the sun to go behind the clouds a couple times but in the end it was just so changeable that we had to keep going.

Ben later remarked that he and Alex barely spoke and yet the production kept moving. He was able to focus on cast without worrying about the minutiae of what camera, sound or production design were doing. So apparently I’m doing something right? In his eyes at least.

I think I just need to keep this communication going even more but it’s a fine line to walk between micromanaging and pestering or ‘moving the production forward’. And I’m always keen to avoid panicking the crew with the time limit because it’ll only make them work sloppier and more dangerously. I much prefer asking them how long they need and keeping an open dialogue. Anyway, I’m reflecting more on AD-ing as a whole in a later post.

The fact it ran so smoothly is down to Lucy and her production team - Eilis, Jack, Rachel, Monica - as well as everyone else that came along to help out - Claire, Kushal, Niamh, Sam, Gaby, Tom, Alyssa, Orla, Mary and Alex. A Ben McMorran production is always a powerhouse - in fact he has a reputation for stealing every crew member available - but I think it’s a testament to this group that so many others are willing to lending a hand.

Thanks also goes out to the cast and the supporting actors, especially Lewis and Findlay who continually threw themselves onto the ground in the name of our test shoot.

(And finding a sound recordist)

Sound team braving the rain and mud on shoot day

I knew I didn’t want to record location sound for KEEPER. Not necessarily because I hate recording sound but because Me and Ben have worked together as director and AD before and despite the many breakdowns I had, I really enjoyed it. I’m still lacking a lot of confidence with it but it pushes me outside my comfort zone and I don’t do that enough. This did mean we needed a sound recordist so Alex put me in touch with Gaby Hafner from 3rd year and we got Tom Walker on board to boom swing.

On the Monday before we were due to shoot all the HoDs and the sound team gathered at the location to do a blocking run through. I talked Gaby and Tom through the shots, who the boom should prioritise, when we would need to remove Will’s radio mic to make sure he wasn’t diving on top of it. We discussed if there were any issues with the location from a sound point of view - there was some construction noise and echo but it didn’t seem too disruptive, nowhere near disruptive enough to push for a new location anyway. Came away feeling confident that Tom and Gaby had it covered and that I would be there on the day to deal with any last minute questions. Of course I remained slightly apprehensive (as with any shoot) that something was bound to change on the day and it would be completely out of our hands. Ever the pessimist.

As part of our weekly sound class we went on a sound walk from Craiglockhart.

This was so cute. Uni’s been so stressful it was nice to get some fresh air and record sound without any pressing deadlines or requirements. Plus we got to try out a bunch of mics that we’d never (for the most part) used before.

Annoyingly I couldn’t get the stereo mic to work after carrying it all the way out there but this was the one mic I’d used before so it didn’t matter as much.

I had a go with the parabolic dish (pictured above) which basically operated as a slightly more directional shotgun. Got some close up recordings of my footsteps in the leaves and a gate opening and closing. It was mildly effective in shutting out a bit more of the environment sound.

Later, Jenny and I used the contact mic with Herve, sticking it to various metal surfaces and then hitting around about it, shaking the structure to try and create vibrations. I was surprised by the results. I don’t know why but I had expected the vibrations to sound different since they were coming from the structure itself straight into the mic rather than coming through the air to our ears, but the sound was pretty much the same as what we were hearing just without any background noise.

I didn’t get a chance to use the hydrophone or the binaural mics but in class the following week we listened to everything we recorded.

08.11.23