Media Studies: Sound Project

After learning about editing techniques, we transitioned into the sound department. We learned many techniques and how they are incorporated into the media. For instance, synchronous sound which is when sound is synchronized with what is being viewed; then we compared that to asynchronous sound which is when sound does not match what is on the screen. Moreover, we were taught how to address the audience by the use of language, narration, and breaking the fourth wall. Afterwards we were assigned videos to watch that gave us insight on foley sound and its significance in the film world.

Given all this information we were tasked to make two sound projects. One that would purely on just sound, and another where we would have to add sound to our One Word Films.

The instructions on the project solely with sound consisted of telling a story with no visual elements just audio. We were put into random pairs and asked to brainstorm and create an outline that would structure the story. On this project we weren't allowed to say more than 7 words of dialogue and had to create four at least foley sounds. Adding onto the fact that we had to do four foley sounds we also had to find sounds across the web that would add to the storytelling. During the brainstorming both me and my partner struggled choosing between a rocket ship launch or a person running late for their play. Eventually, we came to the conclusion that the play scenario would be more challenging and fun. We then depended on the outline in order to visualize how the story would go. It allowed us to better capture what would be happening and how the audio would play out. The outline was also a great tool when it came to editing as it set the place of where most things would go. In this project specifically, we used Adobe Premiere, and were able to effectively add any amount of sounds, no problem. This project allowed us to pay attention in great detail at what a scene with no visual presentation would be like, and personally I felt that we did a great job in terms of that. Although, I do think that near the end of our project we could have had a little bit more substance to create a more engaging experience.

Continuing this theme of sound, we were reunited with our partners from the One Word Film, this time not to make another short story, but instead to add sound to the OWF. For this project the instructions involved reviewing the OWF and analyzing what different types sounds would be made in the real world. Although we were back with our old partners the editing portion of the project was made individually, but the making of sounds could be shared through one another. We also had to incorporate an outline like the previous project; it gave me a very similar result and helped me immensely when editing. My outline was my brainstorming as well in this situation and I analyzed the different components, I stayed focused on details, and wrote them down. Furthermore, I created most of the sounds on my version of the project as we did not share most of our sounds between each other, and even though we did not share most sounds I found it fun and it didn't bother me. Now, compared to the previous project where I didn't do most of the editing, on this one I did and chose to use Clipchamp instead of Adobe Premiere. Then since the editing portion was individual I felt a sense of freedom where I could express my style a bit more and at the end result I felt that I did a fairly decent job. For next time though, I feel that spacing out the project and giving myself more time would give me a more clean and polished result.

Here's an editing outline for both projects:

Project #1 Project #2