Sound
The use of sound is crucial in media products such as film and tv as it makes the project more realistic and helps to engage the audience. Sound design is the process of creating sounds for a variety of needs and editing them into footage.
Foley Sound
What is Foley?
Jack Foley
How does Foley work?
Noises such as bones breaking can't be performed on live set so Foley sound design is used. Foley is the art of using a wide range of products in a recording studio to re-enact these sounds.
Jack Foley was a sound effect artist in the 1920s. He was hired by a radio studio to create live sound effects to sync with the radio host during broadcasts. Jack developed this technique and the unique sound technique is used a lot in modern day.
Foley sounds are created in a studio using a variety of props and products. Then in post predicted the sounds are edited into the footage ensuring they look realistic.
Practising Foley Sound
To practise this we were given eight sounds to recreate using the Foley Sound method. We used Zoom H4N Mics to record these and used a variety of products outside to replicate these sounds. For example to recreate a fire sound I crumbled up dead leaves in my hand in order to sound similar to cracking wood burning on a fire.
Zoom H4N Mic
Stereo Mics- this is were the audio gets picked up. When recording sound ensure that the stereo mics are close and directed towards the noise.
Display Screen- this screen has a lot of features but mainly shows the time length of what you have recorded. It also shows the sound waves so you can see what audio is getting picked up by the mic.
Record button- this button is for when you are ready to record with the mic it is important to make sure that the red light surrounding the button is flashing it is on standby and ready to record so you must press the button again.
I struggled with this task to begin with as was unsure on how to properly use the Zoom H4N Mic so failed to successfully record some footage. After being shows the correct way we recorded some sounds to produce Foley sounds. In the future I will rent out a Zoom Mic and get in practise of using is so I will be more efficient with it.
Capturing and Adjusting Sound
Having good sound is important in film and makes viewing them more realistic for the audience. There are lots of different sound equipment that have different uses.
RODE Mics
RODE Mics are microphones that click onto the top of a camera and are good for general ambience noises.
Lapel Mics
Sound Kit
Lapel Mics clip onto collars and shirts and record clear crisp voices which is ideal for interviews.
A Sound Kit is good for all audio within a film because of its powerful mics and ability to point towards the sound you want to capture.
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition is the software used to edit audio. It can manipulate audio and create full, layered audio.
Sound Story Task
A Sound Story is a recording with no video footage just sounds. For our task we chose from the sound kit available and went out to film sound effects to make a sound story. We chose to use a Zoom Mic and filmed a sound story about a chase.
This are the sounds we collected. We had two setbacks while filming our sound story. One of them was that we were unsure of how the Zoom Mic fully worked and accidently didn't film most of our sounds. Our second issue was that it was a reasonable windy day so some of our footage had bad audio due to the wind so we had to film inside.
To improve in the future we would use a sound kit with a dead cat cover so that we could film outside and the wind wouldn't effect the audio (unfortunately on this day there was no working sound kits available). Furthermore in the future we would have a better understanding of the equipment and the process would be easier. The task was fun as similar to filming Foley Sounds we had to be creative so for the thud we dropped our bag onto the floor.
Editing Sound Story
To edit our sound story we used Adobe Audition. First we imported the audio files and edited them together in the correct to make a short sound story. If we would have been more successful with the filming process our Sound story would have been longer and be more detailed but now we have learned how to record sound effectively for the future.
Overall this sound task was a little hard as our group faced some challenges with our technology issues and wind outside. We finished the task with a short 10 second sound clip which tells the story of a chase. I have learnt a lot that I can put into practise in the future.
BBC's 'The Social'
BBC Radio Norfolk is a local radio station in Norfolk. It is produced from the Forum in Norwich and according to RAJAR the station has a weekly audience of 152,000. BBC Radio Norfolk has a schedule each day including a variety of different shows and talks throughout the week. The show we are focusing on is ‘The Social.’
‘The Social’ is a show that is broadcasted live every Wednesday evening from 6 to 10pm on both BBC Radio Norfolk and BBC Radio Suffolk. The target audience for this show is 14-to-23-year-old and this age group are the only ones allowed on the show so that remains representative to the target audience. ‘The Social’ gives young people a place to talk about their lives and what they do. The topics brought up in the show are suggested by young producers, meaning they are relatable to the audience. These topics range from fun and entertaining to heavier and more serious topics. This show is a great way to be educated and informed on topics and to also relate to what is being said.
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Every ‘The Social’ show is different and brings up different issues but always begins with a big story. Not only does this grab the audience's attention it also informs and educates about what big news is happening in the world. The rest of the show is split up into distinct categories. One of the categories is ‘Young Creatives’ this is when a young person is brought on to talk through their creative journey. It gives the opportunity to inspire others and help them get a clearer view of where they can potentially see themselves in the future. Another category is ‘Album Swap’ this is when the show receives music from potentially new and growing artists and the listen to it and give feedback. This is a great way for new artists to get out there and gain publicity for their work. ‘Relationship’ and ‘Adulting’ is another category that is important, and it talks through struggles and questions some people may have about growing up and the responsibilities and relationships that comes with it. ‘The Social’ prides itself to be a very accepting and no judgement community so any issues brought up are discussed maturely and with care. ‘Way in the World’ is meeting young entrepreneurs and how they got where they are which is inspirational to hear about and gives young people ideas of where they can go in life. Finally, ‘Who am I?’ is meeting young people around the county and learning who they are and what they do. This is a great way for young people to be inspired and educated about potential future careers.
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Overall ‘The Social’ is a great show to talk about issues in a safe and supportive environment that gives people the opportunity to learn and spread their knowledge. It also gives young people who may be interested in a career on radio to get experience and an idea of how the process works. In my opinion it is a relaxing, comforting and beneficial show to listen to, making it popular amongst young people.
Notes for our BBC Social Project
For this project we have to produce 2 topic discussion and a package to be broadcasted on BBC Radio Norfolk's 'The Social'.
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The discussion topics we chose were TikTok and Lockdown we felt they comply well with the target audience as most teenagers/young adults have or know about TikTok and everyone has been affected by lockdown.
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For each topic we came up with questions that gave the person being asked the opportunity to talk about their views and expand on others points.
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For the Package we decided to pick something that is currently happening and is relevant so we chose the Omnicron variant. We wrote a script for the introduction and chose some people to ask the questions.
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When editing we will add background music, sound effects and potentially clips from news headlines to show it is a package and make it more interesting to listen to.
Cues for 'The Social'
Cues are the introduction spoken by the radio presenter before the package is played. These are our cues for our two discussion and package. ->
The first discussion is all about Tik Tok talking about age restrictions and toxic effects it can have on it’s users.
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Next discussion is on lockdown and how students felt throughout this time.
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The package is a discussion and interview on the new variant Omnicom and young people's views on it and how it may effect people.
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Editing on Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition is for editing audio only media. We used it to crop and edit out long pauses for the discussions and for the package edited in sound effects and music.
Evaluation
When we were first put into our groups to record for our BBC Radio Norfolk 'The Social' takeover we brainstormed ideas that we could talk about and also discussed with our tutor about which ones would be most interesting or relevant to talk about. We decided to talk about TikTok and Lockdown for our discussion topics as we felt these are relevant and relatable to the young people who will be listening to the show. We had to decide whether we wanted to do an interview or package for our third instalment and originally wanted to do an interview but where unable to film in time so went with a package on Omicron. We chose to talk about Omicron as it is relevant to today and is a big aspect of the news at the moment so thought it would be good to hear some peoples opinions. At the time of filming it was quite a new piece of news and someone we asked was unsure on what it was so this proves that the show can be educational.
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Once we had gotten out ideas we made notes. This included research onto the topics that we could talk about and educate the audience and also questions to ask so that the discussions had some frame. We generated questions together and tried to choose ones that allowed us as the talkers to open up and give a variety of answers that is interesting to listen to.
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When filming we had a couple of issues with the Tascam mic we were using to record and found that there was some glitches in the recordings when we watched it back. After getting some assistance we re filmed and the result was a lot better and sounded more professional. As a group we also found it difficult to film a take smoothly as someone would get distracted or laugh but we made sure to pause then resume so that we could edit it out. I also found I lacked confidence to talk at the beginning but once I had warmed up to it and got comfortable with those around me it got better.
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What went well was that when we were talking about the topic discussions and gained more confidence we began to expand in more detail on our points and reflect on each others points which was important to be able to do for a radio show.
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Some skills I have developed from this project are being able to use a Tascam more efficiently and know how to set volume levels so that the audio doesn't come out bad. I also learnt a bit about Adobe Audition which is the editing software for audio that our group used. Although to improve I could have contributed more to the editing process to help develop my skills.
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Overall I found this project interesting as I have never worked on something related to radio. I also found it interesting hearing from the people who work in the industry and it has increased my knowledge of potential jobs in the future.