Vipula+Journal+1

__**Journal 1 **__ Our film is about a man named Ben who has agoraphobia. His main companion is his teddy bear which he tends to have conversations with. When the next door neighbor moves in, he's intrigued by her and wants to meet her. The problem is that he can't leave the house. The film shows the process of him conquering his fear of getting out of the house. In addition to agoraphobia, it is shown that he was bullied as a child (a girl rips his teddy bear's head off). When one of his neighbor's moving boxes almost topples on to her, he finally manages to conquer is fear in order to save her. Ben notices a necklace inside the box, and recognizes it: it was the same necklace that his childhood bully wore.

Firstly, I have to think about creating mood. Woody Allen tends to have up-beat jazz music (especially in 'Sleeper') to create a comical mood and atmosphere. In our film, the point of the first few attempts at trying to get out of the house is to make things comical and light-hearted. Therefore, I'll most likely be using either jazz music, or some other light-hearted background sound. When Ben has sort of a panic attack towards the end of the film, there has to be some sort of sound that can create tension. In Spanish cinema, sound is often used to create tension. Movies like Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth all had very intense atmospheres with the specific sound they use. Here the sound will go hand in hand with the cinematography and editing to create the tension as needed (for example, lots of close-up shots and jump cutting). Additionally, I think it would be a good idea to include some sort of deep breathing to create tension. It will make things more clear that Ben is having a panic attack.

Finally, I will include a number of foley sounds as needed. So far, I know that there has to be a foley sound for the very beginning where Ben is typing on the keyboard. There will also have to be other sounds, such as doorbell, the sound of kids playing on the playground, the girl next door dropping her boxes, etc. These details will be more clear later during post-production.

__**Journal 2 **__  Since my role in the film is sound designer, I've been thinking about how to record the sound. I know that I'll need a microphone, but I've always had trouble keeping the sound consistent between takes, particularly with dialogue. The book Audio Postproduction for Film and Video by Jay Rose was helpful in this aspect. The book has 6 different diagrams which show where the mic should be positioned around the actor's face. Even though the conditions are varied and I'll have to experiment for a bit, the book also gave some useful general tips on mic placement (145):


 * Don't put a large diaphragm mic directly in front of the talent's mouth
 * Don't put any mic at chin level or slightly below, pointing up (blasts of air will be recorded as the actor breathes)
 * Don't point a mic directly toward the mouth from in front, unless you're at least 16 inches away.

All this information will be very useful and will save time when recording dialogue for our film.

 Jay Rose also emphasizes the importance of room tone. 'Back then' a lot of film productions used to record with everyone standing very still a few times while filming. This happened a few times throughout the day because apparently room tone changes throughout the day. I will definitely take this into consideration when filming, especially since our film tends to have a lot of silent moments, so having room tone will be important if I decide to not use any background music or sound. If there is no room tone, the whole scene feels like a void. Room tone is also useful for when there is some sound that I need to delete (for example, unwanted footsteps). I can delete that sound and replace it with the room tone.

 Since IB doesn't allow any copyright music, I've been thinking of ways to create my own music. For now, I've been thinking about what instruments my friends play and checking if they'd be willing to record for me. I've also been thinking about what I can do with the garageband sound effect library, since that is allowed. So far I'm thinking about mixing a few sound effects to create a new one.

 The book also taught me some new sound terminology. For example, "Hard Effects are individual sound effects in sync with on-screen (or scripted off-screen) actions" (215)

 In terms of Foley sounds, the book goes into detail on how to create foley footsteps. This would probably be useful in our film because since our protagonist is someone that spends a lot of time in his house, he would be walking around a lot. The book even describes how to recreate some footsteps using substitute materials. For example, "To stimulate grass, walk on carpet and mic it from a couple inches away. The crunching fibers are fairly convincing" (221) Although I'm probably not going to have to recreate my own floors, its still interesting how professionals recreate some sounds.


 * Journal 3**

Over the past week I have been moved to a different group due to some complications. But I decided that I will continue to do the sound for my previous group (Beyond The Doors) as well as my new current (title undecided) group.

Since my current group is still working on the final script, I have been thinking of ways to maybe accompany them in terms of sound. So far the film (in my opinion) seems to have a mysterious tone to it. It'll probably be filmed on a quiet, lonely night. I've been thinking of ways I could incorporate sound in such a movie. First and foremost, I would need foley sounds. I found a youtube video about animation sound design for the movie 'Wall-E'. I remember watching it in class a year ago, but to come back to it and refresh my memory of it was useful. The video explained different ways sound was made for the movie. It even goes into how the original disney movies created sound. This gave me lots of inspiration as to how to make different foley sounds. For example, a night scene could possibly have some wind in the background. To recreate a wind sound, just drag some sort of heavy object on a carpeted floor. The speed that the object is dragged at is how fast the sound of wind blowing will be. I'll be thinking a lot about outdoor sounds, as opposed to indoor sounds in 'Beyond The Doors'.

For 'Beyond The Doors' I've also been thinking about how to incorporate some foley sounds into the film. Since the script has been finalized, I can now start thinking about exactly what I'll need. Right now I'm sure that I'll have to record some sort of typing and clicking for the computer scenes. As for the dialogue, I found a video called "Sound design tutorial for film", and they made a good point related to recording bad sound. "You can't make a bad recording sound great" This is probably also true in terms of cinematography; bad footage can't be edited to be good. This is why I'm planning on being very cautious when recording dialogue. I'll be making sure after every few takes that the dialogue is being recorded properly. The video also says that if a sound is recorded badly, the option would be to either mask it, filter it, don't use the scene all together, or go back to the location and rerecord it. Since none of these options sound like they'll have good outcomes, the best thing to do would just to be cautious when filming.

Something that I need to be thinking about for both my films is composing some music if I ever need to create a diegetic sound. I've been thinking about the resources that I have and also the resources that my peers have. I know how to play basic guitar so I could probably think of some way to incorporate that into the film. Additionally, I know that some of my peers can play flute, clarinet, oboe, drums, violin, piano, etc. I would need to figure out exactly what kind of tone I'm trying to create, so that I can pick out the appropriate instruments and try to compose them to suit the tone. I found a interview of Mark Isham, who is a professional film composer. One of the tips that really caught my attention was that he prefers to compose the climax before anything else. This could definitely be something that I could think about when I'm doing the sound editing for my films. He also said that he composes music for films by simply watching a scene without knowing what the movie is about, and thinking of 10 or 15 different compositions for that scene, and puts it back in to see if this works. Although in my case I already know what the movie is about, but I could most certainly look at a scene, stop and think of different ideas I might have for some music.

Sources used: __http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSf8Er2gV_Q__ (Wall-E foley)

__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWN3RJGUetk__ (Sound design tutorial for film)

__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E33zgIdUhcg__ (Composer Mark Isham's Tips for creating a movie soundtrack)

__**Journal**__ **4** Although 'Beyond the doors' has already started filming, I've been looking at some more sources that give tips on sound recording and editing that can help me for my other group's film (At 3pm), and for the rest of the filming days for 'Beyond the doors'.

One website seemed rather important because it was a little tutorial on how to use the microphones that we are provided with from the school. This is probably going to be helpful during filming because in the past it has happened that I think the microphone is recording, but it actually isn't. This is where I have to be more cautious on set (like I mentioned in my last journal) and make sure the microphone is working properly. The tutorial also teaches how to delete any unwanted files, which might be useful when it comes to editing because I wouldn't have to go through all the bad recordings, and it would save me a lot more time. Finally, the website gives a few quick tips for recording sound. Some of these were helpful reminders. For example, "Test out sound conditions with a quick recording before you begin". The tips also mentioned a 'widescreen'. I've never used a widescreen in past films but I might consider it this time, since we have a number of outdoor scenes where there is dialogue. The widescreen will "keep the voice sounding steady and even without the hissing and spitting noises that a normal voice can have". Although it is recommended for when speaking to a large group of people, or when talking and singing and the same time, I think it would be good to have that extra caution to have good dialogue. Additionally, the "hissing and spitting sounds" for me can be the wind that might blow over during the outdoor scenes (although I'm sure there is specific equipment to avoid that)

The second website that I looked at focused on the purpose of having sound in films. This made me think about what purpose my job has, and why I am really doing what I am doing. The first purpose is to simulate reality. This is basically the idea of making the film feel more realistic and believable. "You see it - you hear it - you believe it" In my case this will probably be something that I'll follow piously throughout sound editing. For every action on the screen (except for the few exceptions) there has to be a sound that matches it so that the film is more realistic. This is where foley sounds come in. For example, in 'Beyond the door' where Ben is typing, I'll have some clicks and typing sounds to make his typing look and feel more realistic. The second purpose is to create an illusion. The website used an example of a scene with two people talking to each other at a cafe. By adding background noises, the audience gets the feeling that the two people are at a cafe. The website also uses the example of a safari in a jungle. By adding a lion's roar, tension gets created, because the safari will feel as though he's in danger. This can apply to 'Beyond the door' because there will be a few scenes that are filmed outside near a playground. By adding the sounds of children's laughter I can make it sound more like a playground and save time, rather than gathering 10 children and trying to get them to cooperate to let me record them. Lastly, mood is another purpose of sound editing and recording. This makes sense, because sound helps to create tension or any other mood in any movie. The website gives an example of a cowboy sitting near a campfire. By adding an owl's hoot or a wolf's howl, the sound editor will be using 'illusion' to create a lonesome mood. This will definitely apply to my films as well. For example, when Ben realizes that his neighbor is his childhood bully, there has to be some sort of soundtrack that helps convey that he has had a epiphany moment.

Sources __http://www.marquette.edu/library/services/studio/ZoomH4nQuickGuide.pdf__

__http://www.filmsound.org/articles/purposeofsoundeffects.htm__ __** Journal **__** 5 **

So far, in film production I haven't had much of a chance to get creative with the sound. I've been mostly in charge of recording the dialogue, follies and room tone.

For 'Beyond the Doors', we've had 4 filming days so far, which is a lot compared to 'The Bum'. Unfortunately after all that time the film is still missing a few shots here and there. We are planning on salvage that sometime this week. For the sound of it, I'm planning on using mostly follies, rather than actual background music. This is because I want to draw attention to the follies and the actors' actions, rather than getting distracted by the background music. As I mentioned in one of my earlier journals, I need to use sound to create the illusion of being at a certain place. Therefore for the playground scene I'll add some children's laughter, or something to make it seem more like a play ground. For the montage I'm planning on only using background music and removing any follies. This will give the audience a better idea that it is a routine and it flows smoothly, rather than having follies to show his each and every step. However on the other hand, using only follies might work as well because having many follies working close together can create a fast pace, which can indicate how fast his day goes buy. I think I will leave it up to how the editor edits the montage, and I'll do with whatever sounds the best for the scene. In my previous journal I also mentioned that when Ben has his epiphany that the bully is his next door neighbor, he needs to have some sort of internal and diegetic (or maybe even non-diegetic!) sounds. However, the kind of sound that will be used will once again depend highly on the editing of the scene. Whether it is a smoother and editing with lots of slow fades or a rough and fast-paced editing, the sound has to match whatever is on screen (mood-wise)

For 'The Bum' we've only had 1 filming day so far. Luckily we covered a lot for our first filming day. Our main difficulty with filming was the sun. Our first problem was that the sun moves. In other words, we had to get our filming done fast, because the shadows change directions as the day passes, and it becomes very obvious on camera. Secondly, we had trouble controlling the light ratio. The reflector helped out a lot, especially when our actor had to look down and she needed more light on her face. However, the reflector also had the tendency of making the light too hard on the subject, which made the lighting look unnatural and made the subject look 'flat'. When we came across such a problem we tried to get a different angle so that we could avoid such lighting. In terms of sound, all the sound that was recorded on that day was some how deleted. Unfortunately for me, that means that I would have to create a lot of the foley sounds on my own. Recording room-tone shouldn't be too much of an issue, because we're filming outside, and I need some small breeze sounds and cars going by. I can get this during our next filming day. The follies shouldn't be too much of an issue either, because the sounds that are needed are basic and can be easy recreated (eg. footsteps on wood). Nonetheless, for our next filming day I will be more cautious about everything being recorded, even if that means bringing 10 extra SD-cards and 100 batteries. For background sound, our director has a kalimba (an African instrument, also called 'Thumb Piano'), which he thinks that I should try to use. It creates rather peaceful and serene sound, which can definitely be incorporated into the film. I'm even considering recording myself playing it on garageband and playing around with the sound effects.