Production Report

Production Report

Name: Oliver Guy

Student Number: B3010203
vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/114864001

Out of all the modules, sound was the one I was most looking forward to as I feel like it’s my strongest skill within film. I have always been interested in music but it wasn’t until I started the course that I became really interested in creating a sound design for film, last year I was never really confident to be cinematography, so in ever project I was just got left with sound. This module has taught me a lot and has dramatically improved my sound skills.  After learning all the different elements, filed recording, dialogue, ADR, Foley and everything else that go’s into a good sound design its makes you appreciate sound a lot more.

I chose to create the sound design for John Hillcoat, The Road for my final project. Before starting the sound recording or the design I thought a lot about the tone and mood I wanted to create. I hadn’t seen the, nor did I want as I didn’t want to get influenced by what I saw and heard. I didn’t just want to create a copy of the original I wanted to be quite creative and put my own unique spin on the film. Although only a short clip all the clues, father defending his son who are trying to survive a post-apocalyptic world.  After watching the clip though a couple of times I wanted to create a very atmospheric sound design with lots of things happening in the distance, crows croaking, dogs barking and so on.

My research began by looking at a series of games by Bethesda called Fallout. The game takes place in this deserted wasteland where big creatures roam the streets, I’m a big fan of the games and as soon as I saw the clip from The Road, I was instantly reminded me of the game. The game has an incredible sound design, a plays a huge part in the feel, tone and mood of the film. The atmospheric background noise is quietly eerie and most of the times the only thing you can hear is wind and the sounds of animals as they’re run behind you.  The sound design really puts you on edge and adds real suspense to the game. Another sound feature I really like in fallout is the use of radio, in ever house you enter they is always a sound of a radio playing 1950s propaganda music. I really like this contrast between the happy music and the bleak surrounding and was something I was keen to use in my sound design.  I used the sound of the radio twice in clip once in the petrol station and then at the end of the film. I really like the sound of the broken radio. I was planning on using a different song at the end of the film to give a perception of time. However after I thought about I just imagined this song been on a loop playing over and over again on every radio station. I find the sound of old music quite haunting and eerie, and felt it was perfect for mood I was trying to create.

It’s quite hard to find positives in your work after you’ve been working on it for so long it’s much easier to pick out the negatives as they no matter how small or big there are the things you notice. Saying that, I think the atmosphere, that I recorded, suits the mood and tone of the film. The sound its self was quite bland as they not much happening apart from me hitting the microphone every now again. It wasn’t until I upload the sound into pro tools and added reverb that the track becomes really eerie and atmospheric. At first I cut out the parts of me tapping the microphone and it wasn’t until I accidentally extend one of my cross fades that I noticed the reverb makes the taps sound like things are happening around these two Characters, it almost feels like someone or something are making these noises.  I think the atmos combined with the crows croaking are one of the strongest parts of my film and after the presentation that became clear as lots of group agreed. The atmosphere creates this atmospheric, low basses sound while the crows make it sound quite haunting and eerie. Like something is going to happen to these two characters. The recorded the sound of the crows in the summer where they where also a lot of high frequencies birds tweeting, Darrell showed us a technique to get rid of unwanted frequencies using the 7 Band EQ back in one of our earlier workshops. I turned the low pass filter to its steepest point and moved it ( certain amout) to get rid of them unwanted  high frequencies, I the added a reverb effect.

I make the film seem more realistic, I tried to create a rich sound design, anything that produced a sound no matter how loud, quite or noticeable would have a sound in the film, cloths rustling when the characters moved, picking up and putting down. Although these sounds you might not notice while watching a film, it’s something you only really notice when they not there. I also added a lots of reverb to the tracks to make the sounds a little bit more realist, without the reverb the sounds really flat.  I spent a lot of time working on footsteps and making sure they where in sync, this was very difficult at some points in the film as you are basically guessing when they foot hits the ground. As they are too people walking I created two different tracks one for the son and on for the father, when watching the film they are walking at pretty much the same speed so once I had the fathers footsteps sync I then duplicated this for the sons. I did this just so I had a template form what speed the son was walking at and then individual replaced each footstep with a different one then lowered the volume of the sons footsteps so it didn’t sound as heavy.

I did a lot of work on Foley sounds as some of the sounds where just impossible to get, like the tree falling and the trolley.  The tree sound is made of about 32 individual sounds, I was asked in the presentation if I needed that many. I probably didn’t need that many but I felt the more sounds I had the more realistic the sound would be. I did try taking some of these sounds out but to me it just sounded flat and you could tell it was someone just snapping twigs. In the end I had to foley the sound of the trolley my original plan was to find one but that wasn’t possible in the end.  The sound is made up of a couple of different sounds, the wheel, the squeak and the bottles hitting each other. I think out off all things we have been taught and learnt this semester, Foley has been the most helpful and possible the most enjoyable. I think its great listening to one sound and then having the ability to imagine it as something else. 

I think if I was given more time I would have like to have spent more time working on the levels, because I recorded all the sounds I want everyone to hear them. However some of the sounds are much too loud in the mix, like that plastic bag and metal clunk when he grabs the petrol pump. These where things that I only noticed in the presentation, I quickly changed then afterwards but I would liked to spent more time doing so. Another thing I would have like to change was the footsteps, I spent so long getting them sync up near the end they sound a little out of time. I also wish I had used a variation of different footsteps, as it is the same sound when he’s on gravel and grass. Although I did change the footsteps when they walk on snow. In our Foley workshop Darrell showed us a technique of how to create the effect of people walking on snow using cornflour. From the start I never wanted to a Midi composition and I glad I haven’t, although I wish I experimented with this area of sound a little bit more. This is an area of sound that I have always found exciting and think it can be really effective in film.  I stand by my decision not to use one but part of me wish I tried.

As for this project I feel like I’ve learnt a lot about sound and how to create a good sound design. I have learnt things that I would have never known before and gained many skills. Overall I’m quite happy with the sound design I have created, they are things that I would like to change and they are things I would like to have done differently but I think when you work on a project for so long you are always going to feel that way. I think the piece works really well and I’m happy with the final outcome.