Sound and Picture

Film
Films are produced by a huge team when made well. While a book could be written by one person, films usually require many departments to produce high quality video.

Films start with a script. The writers will work on a script, and once that is done casting will start. Casting means finding actors to hire in a production. During this, a location scout may be finding locations to film at. Once filming starts, there will usually be a team for lighting, filming, sound recording, and various special effects crews. Special effects can be any effect produced for a film and is usually divided into 3 forms - Physical effects teams, teams that make effects produced during filming, such as a blood pack set to burst underneath an actors shirt must be on set at the time. Sound effects is much simpler, they will work on sound effects, sometimes using foley, and sometimes they will also create music. Visual effects crews will create artificial, computer generated imagery to add to a final edit of the film. Editors will then piece together each take to find the best one, build the final edit for the film, composite special effects onto the film, along with sound effects and music, then colour grade/ correct the film. Directors will also control the cast and teams to create their creative vision, and producers will work on distributing, financing, and marketing/ advertising the film.

Films usually last between an hour and thirty minutes to two hours, but can go on longer. High budget films usually go straight to cinemas, then to DVD, then to television.

The purpose of film is to entertain, tell a narrative, to make money, or a combination of all of these.

Television
Televisions view video, at it's most basic form. They can usually play DVD's or less recently VHS' but are typically best known for streaming video through satellite and box sets. A television production is usually less budgeted than a film because it has to be produced regularly. A soap for example could be on more than once a week, and is therefore on a tight deadline. Programs can have very different structures on how often they are made and how each episode follows the last. A sitcom like Friends or The Big Bang Theory have story driven episodes that are self contained per episode, so you wouldn't need to watch the last ten episodes to understand the story, although it may follow a long story over, time when a major event like a main character gets married for example.

The reason TV has so many programs with self contained narratives is because there is a wider audience that way. More people can tune in to a program if they know what's happening.

The alternative to this is a story that follows on from each episode like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, both of which have been extremely successful regardless of their narrower audience. These shows are called serials.

Recently television has made its way online, through companies such as Netflix, Now TV and Sky.

Web
The web is the most recent major development in film history. The web is full of user made videos through YouTube, the biggest video hosting platform on the internet. Many people have made a living through ad revenue on their videos, some amassing millions of viewers per day per video. The web has created other jobs too. The creation of the web has allowed for a new kind of series - a web series. A web series is similar to a TV series but usually more closely resembles a Serial. The web makes a great place to market to the newer generations that use it. The most successful web shows are aimed at younger people, like Video Game High School. Video Game High School or VGHS for short, is the most popular web show so far. Created by a team that regularly post to YouTube, the team called Rocket Jump have experimented with the many new methods of distribution that have appeared, they stream with ads online, they allow people to pay to access a downloadable ad free stream, and they stream their program through Netflix. So far their program has been viewed across many devices 100 million times.

Distributing their program online allows for the creators to stream at a resolution of 1080p, the equivalent of Full HD TV, 4k (Ultra HD, the equivalent of 4096 x 2160 pixels) and 60 frames per second, compared to the standard of TV, 24 frames per second.

The web has also had negative side effects on the film and TV industry. The UK box office is estimated to be losing £220m a year due to movie piracy, the act of illegally downloading movies.

The purpose of the web in film is the easy sharing of video through websites like YouTube, Vimeo and torrent platforms.

Hand-held devices
Phones, tablets and digital cameras can now capture in resolution that would have rivalled high quality cameras 10 years ago. This allows for people to post to social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instragram from their phones. Many people record YouTube videos on their devices and have made a career from them.

Handheld devices are important because by being user friendly and easily accessible, they introduce older generations of people to technology, and therefore the internet and its video content.

It also introduces lots of younger people to the internet. Kids who are not old enough to own a computer often now own smart phones using which they can watch videos on.

Handheld devices create new markets for filmmaking. A kids series can now be released every week and be very successful, whereas there would be no market 10 years ago. Similarly, handheld devices introduce older generations to some of the uses of the internet. For example, lots of older people watch Coronation Street. Looking online, they will find that they can watch episodes on demand. Now they can catch up on their watching for free.

Video (VHS)
VHS stands for Video Home System. Up until a few years ago, it was the most popular storage and distribution of movies and TV shows. Video was printed onto a magnetic tape, and placed into a "cassette", a plastic box to hold the tape.

VHS served as the primary form of sharing video. The BBC even used to use them. Eventually the DVD took over, as they were much more reliable and had much less data restrictions.



Studio and location
Studios are created to make high quality sound in a controlled environment free from wind and other unwanted noise. Creating a studio is first about keeping noise out, so patching any cracks in a building will help stop sound from escaping and unwanted sound from coming inside. Because of this sound studios have to be well ventilated, as there should be no other cracks where oxygen can enter, as this would mean sound could escape. Elevated floors also help, as it will decrease vibrations.

Sound studios also need to have some diffusion. If sound hits a solid wall, it will bounce off the wall creating an echo. By having furniture or carpeted flooring the sound will diffuse (spread widely) because it hits a surface that is not flat. Carpets however do not absorb low frequency sounds.

Studios also need the right equipment, like a computer, headphones, an audio interface, a Digital Audio Workstation like Cubase or Ableton, microphones, a pop filter to stop low frequency sounds from your mouth hitting the microphone, some bass traps to absorb low frequency sounds and finally a MIDI controller.
Interviews
Interviews can often take place outside, which is why using a shotgun microphone or microphone with a supercardioid pattern that records only directionally is necessary. The reason for this is because you want to capture as much of the interview audio as possible with the least amount of background noise possible. Pointing the microphone at the interviewee means that you are capturing audio from his/her direction without capturing audio from behind and some of the side. A shotgun microphone works much better than a super cardioid standard microphone, because while the shotgun microphone typically uses super cardioid pattern, a shotgun mic is much longer as it goes into a tube that prevents sound from the side entering the microphone. Foam windshields on the microphone will help stop wind, but not by much. To make the wind noise attenuation much better, a larger foam windshield made of fur, the Rycote windjammer for example is helpful.

If recording with one microphone between the interviewer and the interviewee, a figure of eight microphone is required. The figure of eight polar pattern records directionally at opposite ends, making it perfect for recording sounds from opposite sides.

Presentation
A presentation is an event in which a product or service is introduced to an audience. People use many tools to highlight the features of the product or service being sold. Presentations are used very often in businesses. Large scale presentations are often used to present ideas to the public. Apple hosts one of the most famous events. They use presentations to present their new product ranges to people.

Voiceover
Doing a voiceover means recording someones voice and applying it to a video. It can be used to narrate a documentary for example, or it could be used to salvage footage you can't use because of background noise.

Voiceovers should be great quality, as they can be created in studio conditions.

ADR is a technique called Automated Dialogue Replacement. It means recreating dialogue from a film in studio conditions in order to achieve a better quality recording. It isn't always necessary, and it isn't always for sound quality purposes. Sometimes the script can be changed slightly to adjust the tone of a scene, and when you have a large team it's not as simple as recording it again on location.

Drama dialogue
Drama dialogue is very similar to a voiceover in that it should be high quality.
In theatre the commonly used microphones are called half supercardioid. The difference between supercardioid and half supercardioid is that half supercardioid only picks up 180 degrees of supercardioid. This is great for placing on the floor at the edge of the stage as they are very sensitive to sound. They can be quite far away from the sound they need to pick up and still work well. Being supercardioid, they will pick up the sound in front of them (The stage/ actors) and very little of the audience behind them. This kind of microphone has an advantage over other microphones because it can lie on a surface without picking up sound from the vibrations coming from the surface.

Ambient sound
Ambient sound is usually used in filmmaking. It means taking a high quality recording of the sound coming from a scene. Often people go to great lengths to record people without background sound interference. Recording ambient sound separately is a great way to give life to a recording intended to be outside, and recording it separately under controlled circumstances allows for a higher quality recording overall.

Alternatively, ambient sound can be used to accompany a presentation for example.

Ambient sound is often stereo recorded to add life and depth to the recording. Stereo recording means recording separately for left and right tracks in order to combine them later. An example of a stereo recording microphone would be the Audio-Technica AT2022. You may need to use a wind screen depending on your location.
Sound Effects (SFX)
Sound effects are usually recorded in a studio, with exceptions. Sound effects are recorded with a technique called "foley". Foley means creating sound effects in various ways in a studio. If you used a salt shaker to make the sound of rain rather than rain because of budget, then you are using foley. Foley is important and if you've watched a movie, you have heard the use of foley once.
Stationary and moving sound sources


Task 3
Evidence research into how audio and visuals come together in a final production.

Diegetic
Diegetic sound means sound that exists within the frame of the film. A boat tipping over, a creaky door, or footsteps on dirt for example. The sound has to exist within the realm of the film, while being in frame. It could be dialogue for example, it could be footsteps moving across the floor, as long as it's in frame.
Non-diegetic
Non-diegetic means it does not exist within the realm of the film. If a song plays and you can't see a radio or hear any audio processes like reverb, it's most likely non diegetic. It's not always easy to be certain whether sound is diegetic or non-diegetic, as sometimes filmmakers might try to trick you.
External diegetic
External diegetic audio is any audio that can exist within the realm the film takes place in, but it does not have to be in frame. If a gunshot is heard but you don't see a gun, if a bird chirps but you can't see a bird, or if a character screams but you can't see the character, then that sound is external diegetic sound.
Mood
The mood, or tone, is the expression the film is trying to make. If you can hear gentle piano sounds, and rain, the mood being set could be melancholic, if a cop duo drive down a road at top speed, and you can hear shrill guitar solo, the mood being set is energetic. Mood usually relies on sound, but can rely on visual cues. One type of programme that relies heavily on mood is a reality TV show. A character can go from well liked by the cast to hated at the click of a few buttons. If a character makes a comment about an item of clothing, the cast could agree. If the sound is disabled on this video, and a clip of somebody rolling their eyes is shown, along with a clip of somebody staring at the character, which could be from half an hours worth of filming ago, then the mood has been manipulated to make the tv show more interesting.
Meaning
Meaning is about representation. In the movie The Truman Show, the character Truman is held captive in a world created around him, full of actors. He lives in a dystopian world where he is led to believe he is living normally when in reality, he is being filmed for an entertainment reality show broadcast across the world.

Truman eventually discovers that he lives in this world, after being given a few clues that have slipped by the production cast, like a light falling from the sky, a relative believed to be dead showing up on the street, a radio station that broadcasts his life and an inability to break out of the script of his life. When he tries to escape, he nears the edge of his world. He finds a door. The door is not glowing, it is not happy, it is dark and black. The door represents his feelings of the unknown. The door is a symbol of his soon to be freedom. It is not incredible, it is not gloomy, it is nothing, because Truman has no idea what's behind it, but it is his human nature to go and see what's behind it. Representation is used in the majority of the films you see, but unless you are looking for it, you won't see it.

Representation is about how an object can mean something you might not have originally thought.
Illusion
Many tools in film are used in creating illusion for the viewer. In horror films, one of the most used tools for illusion is lighting. Hard lighting can create intense shadows that cast across actors faces, revealing very little about the scene and actors. When movies do this, imagination runs wild. In many scenes of horror movies, harsh lighting is used to reduce the cost of films. In the famous film Alien, one very important scene (search "Alien cat scene") is used incredibly well. In the scene, it is made clear that the alien is nearby through illusion. Whereas the alien may not even be on set during most takes, you can sense the aliens presence through many tools used by illusion. You can hear the Alien, but you cannot see it. The actors suggest the presence of the alien with only their eyes pointing towards an area of the scene that is not visible. The scene lasts more than a couple minutes, but the alien only shows up for around 10 seconds. Instead of having to pay the 12 puppeteers required for the day, they may have only had to hire them for a few hours.

Acoustics

Indoor acoustics
Indoor acoustics is the acoustics properties of indoors. Indoors, as opposed to outdoor acoustics generally have a lot of reverberation. This is because walls and ceilings are flat, causing sound waves to bounce off of them. You may find that rooms with lots of furniture have much less reverberation. This is because sound is absorbed by furniture.

Sometimes certain objects vibrate, because their resonant frequency is reached. If a frequency is emit from a source that matches the resonant frequency of an object, the object will vibrate and produce sound at the same frequency, making certain frequencies louder.

Outdoor acoustics
Outdoor acoustics are slightly different. You may get a little reverberation from floor reflection, however in open areas, dealing with external factors of sound is usually not so much of an issue. The main factor is wind, and other ambient noise. In a soundproof room, this wouldn't be a problem, but outside you will need to deal with birds, people and wind. To record outside, use a pop shield in order to prevent the sound level from clipping, and a wind shield in order to pick up less wind.

Simulated acoustics
Acoustic properties can be applied via computers. Reverb can be applied to samples artificially, along with the effects of resonance.