#workshop 5

Image making: Render

Image making: Render

This week, we talked about sound frequency and recording techniques used for filming. The lab started off with the discussion of how much Hz (Hertz) the human ear can hear as they get older and did a test to see how much hertz members in the class can hear where I found out I am capable of hearing no less than 17,000 Hz.

As well as discussing sound frequency, we talked about different microphones used. In discussion we talked about various microphone such as omnidirectional microphone, unidirectional microphone, cardioid microphone and mini-cardioid microphone.  Each of these microphones are used for specific purposes such as the mini-cardioid microphone being used wide shots where it is hidden in plain sight from the camera and shotgun microphone is used for record from a direct angle of the person speaking.

Sound production was also another thing we worked on in this week’s workshop. We were assigned a tasked in which where we recorded noises, whether door opening or someone walking up the stairs, and uploaded those noises onto Logic Pro X and create a short audio file with loops and instruments. Throughout this process I meddled with different loops and adjusted the equaliser on the sounds recorded to create a short song file. To find the loops that suited the sounds recorded, I searched through the hundred of loops provided until I found some that suited the sounds.

Adjusting the sounds recorded with the loops in Logic Pro.

Warm up

A command exercise: the class had to walk around the room following basic commands, then had to do the opposite of the command given to raise the focus. This was followed by a short relaxation exercise.

Alternative personality exercise

We were all given slips of paper and were told to answer questions o them - e.g what's your worst habit? What do you fear? This was then swapped with another class member. We had to take on the characteristics of the description written on the piece of paper in a variety of exercises. First walking/physically. Then speaking to another person in character. Then a simple 'park bench' improvisation exercise that was based around sitting on a park bench in character, followed by waiting at a bus stop, then on a crowded train. It was interesting to disassociate oneself from reality and become a completely different person in these situations, which is exactly what happens in the play.

Dissocia booklets

We were asked to look up information about what the disassociative disorder actually was. We learned that the disorder was a psychological coping mechanism that usually occurred after a traumatic event, when the mind literally takes itself out of the traumatic situation and 'disassociates'. We had to apply what we found to certain scenes/characters in the play and were then asked how we would consider playing the lead character knowing about the disorder.

Final scene exercise

We were split in half, and one half was given the final scene from the second half, while the other had to perform a scene from earlier on in the play. Both were rehearsed/ performed, followed by a discussion that tackled the acting styles of both scenes and their extreme contrasts, which lead to our wondering how the play would differ plot-wise if the acts were shown in reverse order - with the second act performed first.