Hotel Scene - Final Video

Desert Chase - Final Video

Studio 7 recording - ADR / Foley

 Today I carried out my initial recordings for the ADR elements of the project in a session in studio 7. Having the studio booked out from 3 - 8.45, I was able to carry out a large majority of my work in this one session. For the recording session I was recommended by the studio help desk to use an AKG C-414 microphone for a good clear sound. This microphone was also mentioned and recommended in 'Audio Postproduction for Digital Video' (Rose, 2002) for use in ADR. For the session I was assisted by both Andy Hickey and Luke Fantom, both of which are Leeds Met students, who manned the desk when I was not available and acted for the scenes providing voices. When acting the person in the live room was assisted by both the film to act along to providing cues as well as the marker track. The person recording the vocals was to stand close to the mic so as to eliminate as much room ambience and reflections as possible, giving me a clean recoding which I will be able to take away and edit to fit with the video.

Creating Wind Using White Noise

  To create the ambient wind heard towards the start of the 'Desert chase' scene I decided that the quickest and most effective method in doing so would be to create the sound myself using a synthesiser. This would allow me to wholly effect the sound to fit it to the purpose that I intended as well as eliminating any difficulties with trying to record wind to the quality that I wanted.

Recording of classic Triumph car for truck engine

If I am to collect as many of my own sounds as possible, one of the larger tasks that I face be to obtain the sound that I want for the truck engine in the Desert Chase scene. On deciding to do the sound for the chosen film and considering how I was going to record the sound of an engine suitable for the truck shown in the scene, my immediate thought was this classic Triumph GT6 owned by a neighbour. I recorded the car when it was stationary from three different angles to obtain a different sound on each recording, and to give myself a number of options during the editing process.

Completed marker tracks for film clips

 Completing a marker track for the scenes that I have chosen within Logic will act as a listed guide for both the recording of the sounds as a checklist and a method of easily locating where the sounds are to be placed. The marker tracks will be set into three different groups per each scene; the ambience, ADR, and sounds effects, making it easier to separate between each of the categories.

Books description of Chigurh's shotgun

Cormac McCarthy's description of Chigurh's silenced shotgun in original book - "Left most of the upper part of him spread across the headboard and the wall behind it. The shotgun made a strange deep chugging sound. like someone coughing into a barrel."

The Coen Brothers - Use Of Sound In No Country For Old Men

 Watching the film No Country For Old Men there is a certain focus and attention to detail to the audio aspects (as well as the visual) in the creation of tension and mood through the manipulation of sound and the effect that silence can have on the audience. During the film there was little in the was of a score, preferring the use of silence to create tension. This meant that there was ample opportunity to be creative in the use of sound effects. Skip Lievsay, sound supervisor and re-recording mixer on the film, states in an interview for 'Focus Features' - "[we] concentrated effort to create simple and elegant sounds that helped progress the story... The simplified version is that you have to be quiet before you are loud. But there are other more complicated [strategies], like having the sound be ragged, or having things build upon and then pop in, or changing the balances between background and foley, like having footsteps be much louder than they normally would be"

Craig Berkey - Sound Designer / Re-Recording Mixer

 Craig Berkey talking in an interview with 'Designing Sound' about some of the processes behind making and choosing the sounds;

"Strange 'Thwump-pop' sounds. I took those and effected them and that became a good low end base for the sound. I then experimented with several elements to work with the base sound that were short and rose in tone like pitched up reversed female scream or a pitched up servo." - Berkey talking about the making of the sound for Chigurh's cattle gun.

"To me the winds were the score for the film" - Highlighting the importance which wind played in the film as there was no score but wind helped to create the feeling of isolation.

No Country For Old Men: Hotel Scene

No Country For Old Men

 No Country For Old Men was released in 2007 to critical acclaim taking a new approach to the wild western thriller genre, both in storyline and production. Written and directed by the Coen brothers (Ethan and Joel) who's previous titles include Fargo, O' Brother Where Art Thou?, and True Grit; the film makes full use of the sound effects and foley elements to create the mood of tension and unease throughout, rather than relying on a score composition.

 For my project I have chosen to redo and redesign the sound for selected scenes from No Country For Old Men both taking into account the visuals shown in the film and the direction in which sound would best add to the film as a spectacle, rather than necessarily being true to what is shown on screen, to create and build a feeling which can keep the audience in moments of suspense. The scene which I am going to recreate the sound for is the 'hotel scene', or more specifically from 54:33 - 59:36. I chose this scene because it has a range of techniques used in the actual sound for the film which builds suspense for the audience through sound alone, as well as it also having a small action sequence.

Binaural Recording Applied To Video

 Binaural recording is a recording technique which has been around for more than half a century, but has never quite become a method which is widely used and credited for its advantages in the recreation of a real life sound space via headphones. This however, with the gain of popularity of 3D film and television coinciding with the growth of the use of hand held devices using headphones, could be a technology which has a place in the future of sound for TV and film.

Steve Balaam - Big Ant Video

 Made contact with Steve Balaam via the phone regarding a collaboration between myself and Big Ant Videos entailing myself creating and placing the sound to one of their videos. Had a discussion about what I was looking for in a video including my interest in placing binaural audio to a piece of film appropriate to exemplify such techniques to which the use of a 3D piece of film was mentioned. Since the initial phone conversation there has been further discussion about the possibility of a film being provided. However, subsequent discussions have caused me to come to the conclusion that due to time constraints with deadlines, planning for the project, and the busy schedule for Steve at Big Ant Video, it is unrealistic to press on with the collaboration.

Email Correspondence

 Spoke to my tutor Dave Raybould via email regarding my difficulties in sourcing a suitable video which would act as a sufficient platform to create a sound design track using binaural techniques. The conclusion of the conversation was to focus on a piece of film to design and record the sound for initially, using binaural recording for some parts if appropriate given time and feel of the film.

Leeds Met Film School

On recommendation from Steve Parker I have made contact with D.M. Smith from the Leeds Met Film School. This was to enquire if I could make contact (and what the procedure was behind getting in touch) with current students in order to collaborate on a project whereby I provide the sound design for a film. This resulted in myself being directed to a directory which I could place my name onto stating what I was looking for and had to offer. However since this was no guarantee of an immediate response for a short film being provided I thought it best to source my own video.

Proposed Plan for Project

Project - Sound to Film

 I have always been drawn towards how a sound or piece of music can effect somebody's emotions or perception of an image, a space, or a scene; so it was on this basis that I chose to pursue the creation and application of sound to film for my project. Sound can play a pivotal part in the success and feel of a piece of film, although it is usually the case that if it is done well and effectively, it will go unnoticed.