Editing Foley

Joseph Pallot / / foley, LO4

When it came to editing the foley our job was quite easy, because almost all of the sounds happened in the centre of the screen and needed to be low down in the mix because they weren’t important focal points in the film, such as miscellaneous cutlery sounds and other little sounds like that.

We did have a little bit of trouble though with finding the perfect level for some of the more important sounds, such as the car engine, the door slamming, and the gunshot sound. This is because I personally found it hard to gauge how much louder and more prominent these sounds should have been without having the atmos and dialogue tracks present as well to relate them to.

This meant that I had to go back three or four times purely to raise and lower certain foley sounds to find the right balance. This also had an effect on our LUF measurements for the broadcasting limits, because every  time we altered, the average loudness of the film would change slightly.

Once we did have the right levels though it was just a case of adding little bits of panning wherever I could to add more of a stereo feel to the film, such as an automation for the engine of the car to come across the screen, and for certain footsteps to walk off the screen in some sections.

Overall the foley mixing was one of the easier tasks of this film because there was no weird or overly creative sounds for us to attempt to recreate.

Learning Objective 4 Review

Joseph Pallot / / LO's and Evaluation, LO4

– To use foley acting to help create a realistic soundscape within a film

I was able to recreate about 90% of the sound effects that are in the film by using foley, and by using foley I was able to isolate sounds that we wanted to keep but wanted to control, such as bags being put down, which aren’t necessarily important to the main film but would still be noticed if they were missing.

Also due to the research I feel like we were able to capture the foley in the way that we wanted, rather than just recording foley because it’s what’s expected, I now understand that the foley is recorded separately so we can have better creative control within the mixing stage, which makes a lot of sense, and helped to put me in a better mindset while recording the more mundane sounds.

Again, the media team were very happy with the mix of the whole film by  the end of the mixing so I think we were able to successfully recreate the soundscape realistically.

 

Learning Objective 3 Review

Joseph Pallot / / LO's and Evaluation, LO3

– To use relevant techniques to attain the best possible audio on location

This objective links strongly to LO1 but an extra point that adds to this LO would be the fact that we were recording everything through multiple devices to give us more options and opportunities to capture the best sounds we could. I was also able to put all of the boom techniques I learnt into practise, meaning that the sound quality improved from the first filming day to the last day because I was becoming more comfortable with controlling the boom pole and also becoming more confident with judging the amount of space I had while still being outside of the shot.

Learning objective 2 Review

Joseph Pallot / / LO's and Evaluation, LO2

– To use music to create an emotional atmosphere within the film

I struggled with this Objective as there was not a lot of external guidance as to what emotions I should be tapping into. Nevertheless I was able to pick out some atmospheres that were created through the performance and accent them slightly with music that portrayed similar characteristics. Through my research I was able to find music that portrayed a similar emotion that I was going for, and was also able to find useful tips on how other people create music for film and tailored their rituals towards myself. One blog talks about how they limit the amount of tracks they use so I tried the same technique and came out with sounds that I found to be extremely useful to the full product.

Through reading I was able to pick up some useful tips that helped with the creation process such as watching the film through multiple times to integrate my writing into the world that the film creates.

Overall the group approved of the music I created, which I would say means that I successfully created music that adds to, and helps to create the correct emotional atmosphere for the film.

 

Learning Objective 1 review

Joseph Pallot / / LO's and Evaluation, LO1

– to improve location sound techniques focusing on boom operation

I feel like I was able to achieve this objective because of the research and practise I’ve had over this project. This is the first time I have attempted location sound as well as it being the first time that I have witnessed a project workflow from start to finish within sound for film.

Through my research I was able to learn relevant techniques that helped for us to be ready at all times during filming, as well as being able to get a better quality sound from recordings purely by altering the way I stood or held the boom pole, or the ways I taped the radio microphones.

And through practise on the filming at Harlaxton Manor, I felt that by the end of the weekend my judgement on finding the sweet spot while using an extended boom pole had improved and I could hear the difference from Friday to Sunday.