Single Camera Drama

Sound Research

Digetic Sound
Is sound that the audience hear but also the characters such as a conversation or walking down a corridor to make it more obvious you usually get a reaction from the character  this could also be known as "Literal Sound" or "Actual Sound".


Non-digetic Sound
Is sound that is not present in the story space so you cant visibly see the source of the sound on screen and the characters don't react to the sound in any way this could also be known as "Non-literal Sound" or "Commentary Sound".


External Digetic Sound
Sound coming from a physical source within the story space which you assume all the characters can hear this could be the sound effects present in a fight scene like breaking bones.


Internal Digetic Sound
Sound coming from the mind of a character such as a small piece of dialogue talking about someone you would be able to hear and so would the character but no other characters in the room.


Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1
Stereo is an older use of sound display which is based on having 2 audio channels left and right which usual means that there are 2 microphones picking up the sound and feeding it into the left and right speakers.
Dolby Digital 5.1 is a surround sound format and is the basic format used for audio on DVD Video Dolby Digital can have up to 5 channels compared to the Stereo's 2 channels the 5 channels are: front center, front left, front right, surround left and surround right.

Sound Clip

I am analyzing the use of sound in the short film above, i decided to watch until 1:30 then start analyzing. The first thing i notice is the use of a soundtrack for a while then the sound effects come in first with the woman opening the door i think that it was likely to be recorded on set with a zoom because it has a crisp sound and if not then it could of been recorded of set by simply opening a door or cabinet the next major sound i picked up on was the sound of the ripping which would of had to be a Foley effect recorded before the filming this could of been done by simply ripping a sheet or ripping the jeans the sound of the phone was likely recorded at a different point as well due to the volume of the ringing which i believe was edited i think the woman's dialog was recorded on set using a zoom because of the clarity of the recording and how well it fits to the visuals the mans voice was recorded at a different point and cut in again likely a quiet location with a zoom.

Overall the use of sound and sound effects gives you a comedic feel for this character and makes you feel as though nothing goes right for her.

If all the sound effects were recorded on set they might of been less clear which wouldn't of made them stand out as much but it may make you feel more immersed as though you were there. some effects had to be recorded separately like the man talking.



http://www.freesfx.co.uk/soundeffects/doors_windows/

The sound effect i was interested in is called "Knock Knock" it is likely to be an actual recording of someone knocking rather then folly the sound was probably recorded in an empty roof hence the echo and with a microphone of decent quality such as a Zoom or a Marantz.

Single Camera - Evaluation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSiJ9Olu108&feature=youtu.be

For my Single Camera Production we made a 7 minute Short film called Club Cerveza the story is about a man who has been set up to take the fall for something he didn't do and he's being interrogated by the bus the story mainly consists of flash backs to help aid the story and explain it.

I enjoyed this production as it allowed for a lot of creative decisions such as using the Track and dolly which was rather enjoyable I also enjoyed using our location which was the Royal Hotel which was my first taste of using a guanine location thanks to the basement we used it allowed us to manipulate the lights to get a really good interrogation effect.

I liked the end result of our production as i thought it was visually how i wanted it the only problems i had was some of the effects we put in such as the last gunshot which looked weird and some of the sound needed to be re recorded or we should of had more mic's on set.

Blocking

Today we were given the task to take a script and effectively use the blocking technique we took one of our classmates scripts and acted a scene out after acting this scene we decided to use blocking to make it more interesting so we began blocking and made the scene more interesting the scene started out with me and Dillon sitting in chairs saying our lines then we decided to stAnd up and add some movement to the script/scene we finally achieved a really good scene that we were quite proud of using blocking allowed us to be more creative and use different shots successfully. From this lesson I've learned how to successfully use blocking and how it can improve a production.

Post Production - Sound

After we finished the filming process of our Single camera Drama we began editing I decided I would create my own soundtrack for the production then allow the other members of my team to decided if they wanted to use it or not I used garage band for this but I found that quite quickly I couldn't get the hang of how to use it so I decided I would actually record some Folly effects

Foley

 I thought about trying to get a Foley gunshot sound so I browsed YouTube videos and then decided to come up with my own idea I first tried bubble wrap simple but effective it did make a pop but I think it would take considerable amount of editing to make it sound like a gunshot so next I thought to use a plastic bag and pop it, it made a considerably better sound but still slightly lacked and needed more depth to it I then decided to use a sandwich bag with air inside and I popped it, it was almost the sound I was after so I put a small amount of water in the bag and bang it worked I was happy with the sound that it made but we decided not to use this foley effect because we had already found a better one online.

Pre Production - Sound Research

For the sound segment our single camera production I decided to do some Pre Production research by browsing online for some royalty free sound effects ready for when we will need them this is a list of the websites I found.

List of royalty Free Sound Effect Sites:

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/

http://www.freesound.org/

http://www.audionetwork.com/sound-effects

http://www.grsites.com/archive/sounds/

I know that for our production there is a scene in the script where we will require some gunshot sounds so I researched further and found some so it would be easy access when I need them.

I used the first sight listed freesfx and I decided to search gunshot into the search bar. This is a list of the effects that came up once I searched I then browsed through to find an appropriate sounding effect. I then chose the effect bellow as the effect I would put into the single camera production even though its blurry it says Handgun 500 Calibur Smith & Wesson .

Pre Production - Equipment

These are some Photos of the equipment we're using for our production and what we used them for and why.

This is the 500 Watt Industrial Light we used for our production it has a adjustable pole for hight making it more mobile and help us create unique lighting effects we used this light for a couple of test shoots to help get the feel of an interigztion setting but when it came to actually filming we decided that it would be to powerful and bright and could actually ruin the feel of our interrogation setting so instead we used the lights that were already there giving us a spotlight effect.

The camera we used was a Cannon 550D we used this camera because we wanted a high quality clear image that would look visually appealing when we filmed the footage did seem slightly grainy but overall we were happy with the quality given by the 550D.



We used a Shotgun (Directional) Microphone that was attached to the top of the  Cannon 550D to give us a clear recording of the sound in front of the camera including the Actors and Sound Effects we originally wanted a Zoom for better and a more crisp sound quality but we had to go with this as it was the only one available at the time.

This is a Track and Dolly we used the track and dolly to get a smooth and subtle moving effect for our production to because we decided that we were going for more of a precise movement rather then using just our hands to move the camera which would result in a shakey effect which is not what we were after.

This is a Reflector its used to reflect the current light to try to give you dynamic and unique lighting effects we planned to use this for reflecting the light to try to enhance the visual look and get us a more dynamic lighting effect but we decided not to use this for our production due to the light being ultimately to bright and reflecting it would cause problems with big blotchy circles of light in shot.

Production - Behind the scenes

I was responsible for filming and taking photos of the behind the scenes of our single Camera Production I did so on my phone so the footage is slightly shakey.

Behind the Scenes Part 1

In this first shot Alex and Christian were setting up the shot and they were  both discussing the shutter speed and practicing test shoots.

Behind the Scenes Part 2

In this shot I captured Christian filming whilst using the track and dolly for our smooth motion i also captured part of the scene to show how we effectively used the lighting to create our desired Interrogation effect.

Behind the Scenes Part 3

In this final recording I again got a shot of the track and Dolly being used and how we used the light to our advantage again 10 seconds in where the Guard pulls back the man being interrogated's head and the light reveals him

These are a couple of photos I took of our production including a shot on the right of how we set up the shot and the production team and director on the left.

Pre Production - Budget

I made a budget for our Production so we could plan our expenses and know how much we were going to need for this production.

Pre Production - Risk Assessment

This is the risk assessment i did for out Night club location i only did a risk assessment for this location as i believe it was a more professional filming location and possessed more risks then our other location. 

Pre Production - Location Report

This is a location report for our nightclub I chose only to do a location report for this location as it was a more professional and interesting location.

Location Report

Location: Night Club

Contact Person: Mark

Position: Manager

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Feasible shooting space: Yes

Electricity

Available if needed

Audio

Noises from ballroom above

Lighting

Shooting in a dark space some lights available more light required from additional sources

only 1 extra light is needed. 

Set

there will be various props and set pieces in the background

we will need to rearrange a few different pieces of the set like chairs and the stereo system

Logistics

Close to the college 5-10 minute walk

parking is available nearby

Pre Production - Costume Design

Costume Design 

I designed this costume for  our drug dealers/thugs they will wear hoodies and tracksuit bottoms this is only a basic template and can be changed if needed. I designed this costume on photoshop using various pictures from the internet.