Conclusion

The editing is now complete however although I am happy with the finished piece. I feel that we maybe should have used our time more wisely – we could have improved the final piece to a large degree, for example we could have gone back to James’ voice over of character Boatswain - doing so we could have recorded in a small and more quiet room – this way receiving less background noise allowing for a more realistic and less processed voice to be used in place.

Edit problems!

With the edit almost complete we ran into two problems in particular.

Original Boatswain voice over; although the performance of the Character Boatswain was delivered well we received a lot of background noise due to trying to recreate a large hall and recording in quite a large room with the intention of displaying good use of binaural sound . This background noise was removed in the edit – to an extent but lowered the general tone of the performance.. Ultimately we had to process the voice a lot

Falling feel; This part of edit took a lot longer than expect and due to not practising on creating a sense of falling prior, a lot of time was wasted. In the end we used a series of whistles, gusts, hairdryer recording and even the sound of wind hitting oncoming car. I feel that we could have accomplished a sense of falling a little better but on the other hand without the visual aid I think that it was a hard task in itself – maybe we took on too much and should talked through a different scene.

Sound recording update;

Terrible weather

The weather throughout the majority of the weekend has been very bad. The rain made it impossible to record for the likes of atmosphere tracks like the field scene as scheduled for the Sunday.

Fortunately I had a contingency plan of doing some recording on Monday morning at around 8.30 – 10.30 (early enough to hopefully hear birds singing for the atmos track) The rain for that day is only forecast for evening around 5pm so this gives us plenty of time to record anything we missed also. Following this we will begin the edit.

Schedule for sound recording

The following attachment is a brief recording schedule which I put together for the weekend starting 9^th December.

Sense of space - Audio schedule

ROUGH DRAFT.

Connor Elliott & Ben Wilson

Saturday

·         Tie Clip mic | Car / death sequence setup and initial planning | 11AM - 12PM

·         Tie Clip mic | Car / death sequence  | 12PM - 2PM

·         Edit - Home computer / library mic | Rename collected files and briefly order and edit | 3-5pm

·         Tie Clip mic | Atmospheric sounds - crossing road prior to death - pedestrian crossing, beeping etc | 7PM-8PM

Sunday

·         Directional Rifle | Atmospheric sounds - Field "Heaven" sequence - park? | (AM - Midday)

·         Directional Rifle Mic |  Create/Foley sound - "Wind" / "Falling" etc | (1-2pm)

·         Directional Rifle/ Tie Clip mic | Plan and test voice over w/ actor (James) | 3PM - 6PM

·         Edit - Home computer / library mic | Rename collected files and briefly order and edit | 3-5pm

Monday

·         Tie clip mics | Setup - Performance studio | 12pm - 1pm

·         Tie clip mics / Directional Rifle | Close audio and Foley intake of protagonist - Mouth movements / scuffles etc | 1-2pm

·         Tie clips mics |  Initial interrogation/explanation scene w/Actor (James)     | 2-4pm

·         Tie clip mics | "Heaven" Flashback sequence w/ Child actor or alternate scene | 4.30- 5.30PM

Tuesday (PM)

·         Hydrophone mic | Underwater sequence - bathtub?  | 2PM - 4PM

·         Directional Rifle mic | Voice over & dialogue for above scene | 4:30PM - 6PM

·         Edit - harmer edit suites | Rename sounds and place in rough onto timeline |

8-10pm

Wednesday

·         Edit harmer edit suites | complete final draft | 11am  - finish

Inspirations 3 analysis - The Dark Knight

We wanted to incorporate an object into the project that character Boatswain plays with or uses throughout. This will help build up the tension whilst also contributing to maintaining audience attention throughout the long dialogue sequences.

We discussed many different objects but found that a coin is perceived well when manipulated in editing software from an audio perspective.

The coin could also be perceived as a metaphor to the primary plot – referring back to Michael’s two flashbacks and the coin have two sides... against the two sides to Michael’s past life – the good (Field scene w/ son) and the bad (argument with wife – w/ multiple voices crying etc)

 I guess a good example of a coin used within a film is The Dark Knight (2008) Directed by Christopher Nolan. Character Harvey Dent who later becomes Batman Comic-villain “Two-face” The villain leaves his victims fate to ‘chance’ with a coin flip deciding what happens.  The scenes in which he flips the leaves terrifying results upon the victim, usually leading them to confess etc, although their reaction is due to the script in itself and being terrified that they might be killed – I believe it’s the physical sound of the coin as its flipped through the air that keeps my attention and the tension of the scene at a high

Purgatory

I found this image and thought it was of relevance to our idea and script. The following is a painting of "purgatory"

 'Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven. This is a theological idea that has ancient roots and is well-attested in early Christian literature' [**]

Despite our idea not been about the choice between heaven and hell, the plot lands the protagonist somewhere between earth and heaven... Much similar to purgatory but this time character 2 boatswain acts as a mere guide to the next world which we perceive to heaven.

[**] Purgatory definition was found on Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatory

Script.

The script in which to be given to actors. The script starts after the death of protaganist.

INT. HALL
          The hall is pitch black.

                              ARCHIBOLD BOATSWAIN
                    There are only two sides to a coin,
                    two sides to which it can fall, but
                    suppose the coin lands on it's
                    edge?

          Boatswain's voice has the tone and language of a classic
          English gentleman (from the 19th century). Boatswain's voice
          gives off a large amount of reverberation (the area they're
          in, is to the scale of a large concert hall).
          Boatswain circles Michael talking at a speedy pace flipping
          a coin in his hand.

                              ARCHIBOLD BOATSWAIN
                    Dearest Michael, forgive me, but
                    you must solely listen to what I
                    say, for we have not a single
                    moment to lose.
                         (Beat)
                    I'll clue you in my friend, the
                    powers that be, deemed it time for
                    your passing and now you are in the
                    waiting room of worlds. I am your
                    guide, a damn good one I might add,
                    although, you mightn't think so in
                    the moments to come.  

          The sound of a huge coin being flipped chimes in the
          distance gradually filling the hall with it's sound.

                              ARCHIBOLD BOATSWAIN
                         (Slower and serious)
                    The life you lived has left you
                    with a choice, which side of the
                    coin you wish to fall? As your
                    guide I can only lay your paths
                    before you. NOW, allow me to show
                    to you, your sins.

          The huge coin strikes the ground, shattering the floor like
          glass. Michael plummets through air. Sounds of a woman's
          screams and crying fly past.

                              WOMAN
                    Why Michael! I loved you. You broke
                    my heart.

          The rushing of air quietens to the sound of running water
          below.
          Michael crashes into the ocean. All other sounds are drowned
          out, as Michael falls deeper the roar of the waves quieten,
          Archibold's voice sounds clearly in the distance.

                              ARCHIBOLD BOATSWAIN
                    This is your sin, stealing you,
                    drowning you, crushing you into a
                    black abyss.
          Dunned sounds of people crying create an inaudible din of
          noise. Then suddenly silence, Boatswain's voice whispers in
          Michael's ear.

                              ARCHIBOLD BOATSWAIN
                    On the other hand.

          EXT. FIELD
          Michael burst out of the water, gasping for air and coughing
          his way back to life. Inexplicably he's lying in a field,
          the sound of a soft breeze passes through summer trees.
          Slowly the sound of a child playing fades in from the
          distance, when Michael hears this he quietens and becomes
          attentive.
                              ARCHIBOLD BOATSWAIN
                    This is my favorite memory of
                    yours. Unmisstakable isn't it, the
                    smell of freshly cut grass, that
                    perfect breeze brushing through
                    summer trees. A broken heart didn't
                    stop you loving, this is your
                    salvation. All men are both good
                    and evil Michael, you're no
                    exception. And now you choose,
                    which side will you fall?
          A single coin flip is heard, it hits the ground, spins for a
          moment then falls on it's side.
          The End.
                             
                             
         
                             
         
                   
                             
         

Inspiration 2 - 'A matter of life and death'

A Matter of Life and Death" (1946) a romantic fantasy film set in World War II by the British director Michael Powell, the film follows David Niven who plays as a WW2 fighter pilot who is forced to jump out of his plane with no parachute. He then wakes on a beach unharmed or injured. The high courts of heaven made a mistake as he should have died but "could not find him" due to "Typical" English weather. Throughout the film the high courts decide whether or not he should be brought up to heaven or remain on earth - in court explaining both the good and bad parts of his present life.

Me and Ben loved this film and have taken some inspiration to it. We have tried to create a similar scenario of death and being guided the choice on what happens next. However we are looking into flashback sequences instead. On the other hand you could argue that this has little relevance to our audio project or the use of binaural sound and just briefly has some similarities in terms of plot.

 Our plot is done through the eyes of the protagonist for immersion purposes and also has several other inspirations (refer to blog)

Riddle of character

We felt that it was important feature to the plot if the character acting as a guide (‘Boatswain’) spoke in riddle and in a depth about wording and placement of what he says within the final edit.

Ben has written a few lines of dialogue that Boatswain will say;

“This is your sin, stealing you,

                    drowning you, crushing you into a

                    black abyss.”

“Dearest Michael, forgive me, but

                    you must solely listen to what I

                    say, for we have not a single

                    moment to lose.”

A new script?!

Me and Ben met up today and shared script ideas - these ultimately lead to a complete change in script.

Ben had the idea of the audio project again being through the eyes of the protagonist (audience) 1^st person effect.  The protagonist will be killed within the first 20 seconds of script (either murder - gun shot, argument out of control or car accident or hit by a car whilst crossing road.) From here there will be a brief silence before a roar of sounds syncing and mixed together in the edit arise and then again in silence. Voice on the other side of the room ultimately describes to the audience where you now are. The voice circles the protagonist creating a sense of space (tie clip mics in full effect) still speaking in riddle. He soon suggests looking at his SINS. Morph affect - glass smash plus roar of car again?

Drops in water and submerged - second character now shouts at protagonist (muffled effect processing to as he's still trapped under water) Transition to flashback scene in which he has an argument with his wife "How could you, I loved you"  - Character 2 voice softens " however on the other hand"  pulls him from water (choking and coughing sound) - Ambience is played | multiple sound recorded to recreated a summers day setting on field, bird tweets and trees etc. Child in the distance laughing.. "Pass the ball dad!” "I love you dad" "Can't we stay?"  - Second character resumes his riddle - (ultimately saying this is his favourite memory of you ) clicks his fingers - and back in large room; silence, slight echo on voice to create a large room feel. Circles protagonist still talking in riddle and says. Now you choose.

End

Unfortunately this idea was merely talked over and therefore did not write up the idea in full, however Ben has offered to construct a full script for the plan while I gather sound effects and ambience.

New plot needed?

We arranged a plot involving an interrogation scene. The protagonist would originally be in the boot of a car, (unaware to the audience) here sounds would have been inputted clinks, indicated, car skid, mouth movement in attempt to speak (gagged) the car stops and the boot opens and is dragged out of the car through a restaurant (binaural sounds in effect here) a back room - a generator or fridge is running. Large but empty room... Here echo as man on the other side of room is already interrogating another "suspect".

The man then turns onto the protagonist (the audience) circles while quizzing them about a money situation. Previous suspect begins shouting back at him "leave him alone" etc. directs conversation to both suspect.  GUNSHOT.  (Long break - audience think the protagonist has been shot) "The next one is for you" END

However following a tutorial with Debbie, although she liked the idea of binural sound she found it to be too generic and cliché. So over the next few days on how the script can be changed to be less cliché or scrapped for another script idea.

Inspirations 1

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller are proclaimed to be experts at creating binaural audio recordings that provide uncannily convincing experience of whispering, etc. They also know how to compose compelling filmic images.  Cardiff and Bures Miller In their show of 05, they presented two large-scale pieces: The Berlin Files, 2003, a video projection with immersive sound, and Cabin Fever, 2004, a miniature diorama/drama including headphones with binaural audio. Both polished, professional productions, they were technically impressive and wowed many.

I terms of relevance Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller work has helped me understand binaural sound and the great sense of immersion it gives off. I consider Cardiff & Bures to be a key inspiration for this piece and think the effect they use to convey binaural whispering pays off and will suggest to Ben to look at this technique.

What is Binaural sound?

Binaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being in the room with the performers or instruments. This will give a greater sense of immersion and me and Ben also had an idea to do through the eyes of the protagonist for the above reason.

However me and Ben have slight doubt because when played through loudspeaker interferes with binaural reproduction, headphones are required for full immersion.

I have found a good example of binaural recording as a virtual haircut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA 

This is reasonably relevant as me and Ben has talked about recording a torture sequence? With the one character tied to a chair and the other character circling the tied up character and interrogating. Takes a similar form to the scene from Casino Royale where Daniel Craig is beaten to a pulp.