Foley: sound effect unit 38

Jack Donovan Foley (1891-1967) began what is now known as Foley art in 1927. He had started working with Universal Studios in 1914 during the silent movie era. When Warner studios released its first film to include sound, The Jazz Singer, Universal knew it needed to get on the bandwagon and called for any employees who had radio experience to come forward.
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For example, the man who played the piano. He created the foley sounds for piano. 

If you recording all of foley sounds can be tiring and take a long time. Foley art can be broken down into three main categories Feet, Props, and Cloth.
Feet:
They used their feet to create a sound.
The recording studio had lots of different shoes and floors to make a sound.  
Cloth:
They used lots of different type of cloths. The foley sounds are softer sounds.
For example, Foley artists will have to add the swishing of clothing as the actor’s pant legs rub together while they went downstairs.

Foley is recording sound in post production to improve the quality of the audio in a film. The key to recording Foley is to match production sound as closely as possible. For example,  microphones typically used on production sets including Neumann KMR 81’s and Sennheiser 416’s to make this happen. http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=49137

Any 'soft' sound in a film are improved using foley techniques. It is important to allow sfx to be added in post-production that improves the "soundscape" of the film. It also stops any copyright problems because all the sounds will be produced and created in-house. The sounds would be made more dramatic for example, 'Evil Dead' The noise of an ankle breaking was a pen and an apple snapping and crunching.

Foley effects are created through a new sound added into the film during production. They used the sound like footsteps, clothes rustling, crockery clinking, paper folding, doors opening and slamming, punches hitting and glass breaking. 

For example: Sherlock Holmes Fight Scene
It has the main character in a fight scene. There are great examples of foley sound when the actors hit each other. Each punch has a sound like a crunch of bones like the sound of rock's falling when the actor fall down. The movement of the punch is slowed down to show the drama of it. Wind sounds are created to show that the punch is powerful and it is going to hurt the other fighter. There is also a narration which is non-diagetic because in the world of the film the characters cannot hear it, only the viewer.

Diagetic:

Diegetic, Non-Diegetic, Juxtaposition, Mood and Meaning;

• Add another example for each of these in the same level of detail previously. Really good so far

The diagetic sound come from the actual scene. It is part of the real life of the film, plus, we can see where the sound comes. For example, voice from characters and chairs, doors, punches and footstep. Also, diagetic sounds come from off screen for example, a door creaking, a car sound outside.
For example: Fast and Furious 3 : Tokyo Drift - Race 1: I think the sound of the cars racing is diagetic sound. It makes it believable and realistic. It creates a mood of excitement with the spinning cars. It makes the heart beat faster.
Look at the example: The diagetic sound of screaming is used throughout the trailer to create the thriller and scary effect. The sound of the voices are purposely poor but it matches the home movie handy cam film style.


You could see where the sounds came from.

Non-diagetic means there are sounds that are going into the editing process.
For example, the voice over of god, narration, SFX (guns/explosions etc) and mood music.
It can be any sound which is not naturally in the clip.  Music is added for a certain effect, this music is non-diagetic sound.
In Requiem for a Dream, the drugs scene is a good example of non-diagetic sounds. Each clip is very short and is enhanced by the foley sound. For example, the sounds of the drug powder landing on the table is like the sound of the mouth with air leaving it.
For example: Paranormal Activity 3 Trailer (Official)
Non-diagetic sound is used throughout the trailer to scare the audience such as a "woooosh" sound effect. The trailer establishes that the film is based around a family in their own home, and also establishes that the daughter of the family has some connection to the ghost.

The viewers and characters couldn't see where the sound come from. The pan made a noisy in thekitchens.

Diagesis means the telling of a story by a narrator. The narrator can be a character or may be invisible to the viewer but only heard by the viewer, or is coming from above and commentating on the action of the film for example, Sherlock Holmes fight scene.

Mood and meaning
 Non-diagetic sounds could be added when a character has just found out about a tragedy, there would probably be soft slow music playing in the background to show the viewer the character’s emotions and to sympathize with their pain.
In The Ruby Slippers - The Wizard of Oz (3/8) Movie CLIP (1939) HD The conversation that is going on between the three characters is linked by the music being played as background,. the emotion in the voice is copied by the music.  The non-diegetic music is supporting the narrative, but at the same time it is giving the audience a more emotional attachment to the scene.


There are two different types of music about birth and death playing along side each other to create tension and confusion for the viewer.

Juxtaposition in sound soundtracks.
Two things put together which are very different. For example, happy music at a funeral and a horror scene with happy music. It is put there to confuse the viewer.  Jeeper's Creeper is a happy song  used in a scary film. it gives a creepy feel to it. The viewer is expecting something horrific to happen in the following scenes. Jeepers Creepers Song (Lyrics) 
 Michael Moore uses juxtaposition in Fahrenheit 911, when he plays the song "What a Wonderful World" while playing scenes of war and violence.

The final scenes in The Godfather 3 are also a good example. You see the family attending the baptism ceremony and you see the murders taking place. there are two scenes linked with each other so you see them happen one after the other. The baptism is the good, celebrating the birth and naming the child, the other is dark, bloody and evil. Heavy, dramatic organ music plays for both scenes. Here is other example, The Baptism Murders - The Godfather (8/9) Movie CLIP (1972) HD

Planning for the Soundtrack;

Remember to include the planning documentation for the soundtrack for animation. This must include; Sounds to be created, how to produce the sounds, locations and timings

Unit 5 outcome 1

Learning outcome 1: unit 5

The brief is really useful to client and filmmaker and the filmmaker can check the brief if they can do it in full confidence or it can match the filmmaker’s skills and knowledge.

Structure of a brief  

Contractual:

Contractual is like contract, for example a client and a media firm agree to create the contract of works. The contract can have details about what a client wants. The client and the media firm negotiate an agreed time and amount of money to be pay. The client and you make an agreement to keep the information of the brief private.

It has a good format because the contract might have more great detailed to avoid any misunderstanding. However it’s quite non-flexible, so not so good where the project change as it progresses.

Negotiated:

Negotiated is like making a deal in between the client and a media firm. For example, the client wants it finished in two weeks, however, the media firm disagrees with it. They need two weeks more. They will make a decision and they agree the conditions.

Ii’s good because the client will get what he/she wants, but because the media firm is not competing against others the client doesn’t know if they are getting a good price.

Formal:

A formal meeting is when the client invites the media firm to come to his/her meeting room. The client expects the media firm to show their works to the client. They discuss about the work. The client gives the brief to the media firm for approval.  Formal briefs are written documents with budget, detail and deadlines.

An advantage, the client and agency agree on exact terms and conditions. The agency knows exactly what they must do within the agreed budget. However at disadvantages, it’s a bit less freedom to be creative than Informal.

Informal:

An informal is opposite to formal. The informal can be,  emails to send the brief and call the media firm to discuss the brief or using the webcam. A contract would still have to be agreed and signed by both the client and the media firm.

An advantage, the agency that does the work has more creative control over the final project.  This might make the project work speed up but if the brief is not written there then it might be some misunderstanding later.

Commission:

Commission means the client recognise the media firm has a good reputation. The client likes their work. He/she want them to do some special work for them. The client will offer a commission to the firm to do produce a specific piece of work.

The media firm do the work what they want to for the client. The project would be faster if others have not been invited. However, if the work does not go to plan the agency’s reputation might be ruined.

Tender:

The client sends the briefs to all of the media firms to make the pitches for him/her. As media firms would fight other media companies to get the work. The client looks for the best reputation, costing and the best skills.

There is a good way of making sure the client gets what they want at the right price, but it takes some time to talk the process.

Cooperative brief:

The client sends to some of media companies to work together. The media companies discuss what roles they should get to meet the client’s requirement. They have to work to the same budget. They have to work as team and communicate for information about work and deadlines.

This would be good for two different firms to share their complicated jobs. However, it will be more important to make sure there is a written agreement. So they know what they are supposed to be doing.

Competition:

The media firm will be in competition but main thing is more likely that brief might few detailed. A lot of businesses can apply and compete against each other. The client will pick the best idea within the budget.

An advantage, lots of great ideas and a great reward if the client chooses you.

A disadvantage, it might be hard to decide in between all of the media firms that have forward their proposals could slow the project down.

Negotiating the brief.

• The client may not understand any problems that you have in the production. Example, the client did not know that the filmmaker did not have the specific equipment. The filmmaker may be unable to match his skills to the brief.
• You need to negotiate deadlines in detail for example, a time schedule. The client may not understand about the post-production processing.
• You will need to make them aware of copy right. The owner of the work has their right however others cannot copy it unless it has their licence agreement.
• If you don't read and too confident about the brief and then decide to sign it, you must have to fulfil the terms of the brief. If you break the brief’s conditions then legal action could be taken by the client against you and you could end up in court.
• over ambitious expectations happen when the client or the film company agree to certain terms which create problems when the work has started. For example, the client expects work to be done in one week but the company is unable to make it after one week or they promise to complete the work to a certain deadline but it is impossible to do.

Amendments:

There may be changes to the agreed brief, for example the budget might be bigger than you thought example, using good quality, printer ink, or travel to locations, equipment and actors you might need for the film. This would need negotiating with thee client to agree on either a new budget or the project will have to completed with different, cheaper equipment.

The original brief will have the fee the film company will be paid for, for the creation of their project however, some contracts will have a condition (rule) in it that says the amount of money paid to the film company can be amended – paying a higher fee or a lower one. This might happen if the final work is not the quality the client expected.

Self Development:

The brief would help me to find a new way to development my new skills, knowledge and exploring the method of learning a new tools from media software. I will learn how to research the background of ASBOs and how they work. I will learn a new skill using the 3D maker software such as 3D MAX software for a title and then learn about how to import 3D objects into After effect CS6 from 3D MAX software. I would learn about using a new type of video formats for an internet because it’s very easy to upload to the police’s website or YouTube. I will improve the soundtrack to appear to our audience.

Learning new skills:

I will learn how to follow a brief and understand the client’s wishes and think a twice before you sign the contract.

Multi-skilling:

My time management must be good to keep to deadlines. So I will do a plan of each bit of work and the days I will do it. I will use the speadsheet for film schedule.

What is Stop Motion?

This is me aged 14 year's old. I made this film using stop motion techniques.
I am now going to explain how stop motion began...

Stop motion is done in individually photographed frames so they look like they are moving. They are played as continues sequence. Stop  motion is used alot in TV adverts.
"Techniques"

Stop Motion started with Edweard Muybridge's Running Horse. There is an example of the movement of a horse in motion. Edweard was asked by a horse owner to find out if his horse's hooves came off the ground all at the same time. He set up the cameras near the track parallel to the horse's path. He used 24 cameras and they were 27 inches (69 cm) apart. 

The shutters were controlled by trip wires triggered by the horse's legs. He managed to take photographs with all the horse's feet off the ground.
 

He move the images onto the glass and blend the photos to create a different angle. He called it a "Zoopraxiscope" Zoo/prax/iscope/.
People couldn't believe it!
For example.


It is called "PERSISTENCE OF VISION" Our brain is fooled into thinking it is moving.
For example, this is still image. "Mind trick"
s

20th century,
At late 1910/20, Willis O'Brien (below photo), he was a sculpture who also created models: a caveman and a dinosaur. His first work was "The Dinosaur and the Missing Link"

For 'King Kong',Willis O'Brien started by making the model of a gorilla. He then animated the gorilla. He developed the "Rear Projector Effect." The projector was at the back (rear). Frame by frame he would picture the characters. He would also use plates behind the characters as backgrounds. In for example, "The
Lost World"





















Another pioneer who was influenced by Willis O'Brian's work was Ray Harryhausen (Above photo). In the 60s he produced
Jason and the Argonauts. He designed pre-film backgrounds and then added an overlay. Jurassic park producers used Harryhausen ideas to animate the  monsters in the film. He did Pre-film backgrounds then an overlay.
"Dynamation" was influenced by Ray Harryhausen using the 3D models. Models were added into react with the human actors. For example "Voyage Of Sinbad" in 1960(Below photo).


The roping sequence was hard to do. A jeep had to be used to "lassoe" the dinosaur from Gwangi. 24 frames = 1 second of the film.

The technique was very effective and simple. He projected a live action image onto a rear screen to capture the animation table with the model. He placed a glass sheet in front of both. He used the matte line to ensure not to make to close to camera and background. The wax pencil used for to correct the frame and he thought that the line was accurate. He used the paint with black matte paint on the lower section, below the line. He photographed the model reacting to the live action on the plate. After this, he made a second pass in the camera to put back in the lower previously matted out section so creating a combined image with the creature looking as if it was part of the live action. 
They used the metal wire to animate the actors' rope.


Hallmarks of his work. Ray Harryhausen gave the animation life and the animals looked real. They reacted with the human actor and he was a key developer stop motion.

Another great influence in the stop motion world was Jan Svankmajer (below photo). His work was complicated and surreal. He used live motion and stop motion and sound to create scenes and movement. Of course, stop motion does not have sound- the animator has to put it in after. Jan's sound effects created atmosphere and helped to tell the story through unusual sound effects. In Alice in Wonderland he used surreal sounds to create a powerful, creepy and scary film. the characters are silent but the sound effects give the scenes comedy with a surreal twist to it. His work was Alice In Wonderland. In the scene, Jan uses non-diabetic piano music with short sound sounds to link to Alice running and then disappearing into the drawer.

He took 2 pictures for everyone movement.

Terry Gilliam was influenced by Svankmajer. He created animation using cut from magazines, books, photos and newspaper. He started off with a storyboard and notes on the sounds he wanted. He used a template with marks on the edge to show him which shot to film. Gilliam's animations mix his own art,with strange,  shapes, with backgrounds and moving cutouts from antique photographs, mostly from the Victorian era.


Shooting with one frame mean that an animator

Shooting on ones means that the animator moves the object he/she is animating every time a picture or frame is taken. It's a lot of work, but when it's done correctly the result is some very smooth, impressive animation. 
Shooting on twos means that the animator moves the object he/she is animating and then takes two pictures or frames. The animation isn't as smooth but it still looks great and it takes less time to animate.  It might seem like it would be better to just animate at 12 fps or 15 fps and that shooting duplicate pictures or frames is a waste of time and space, but sometimes you will find that you need to animate on ones to get something to look right. For example, if you have a character walking down a street and a car drives by quickly, you will want that car to be animated on ones, otherwise it wont look right as it passes the screen. So, you would move your puppet and move the car, take a frame, then move the car again without moving the puppet and take another frame. If you were shooting at 12 fps or 15 fps, animating the car on ones wouldn't be an option.



Tim Burton is known as Nightmare Before Christmas director. He create his many artworks for the characters which were give them the good visuals. It took him about 3 years to make and their puppeteers worked on it. The frame rate was 24 per second to create the illusion of three-dimensional, real-time action.

As a young boy, Burton would make short films in his backyard on Evergreen Street using basic stop motion animation techniques or shoot them on 8 mm film without sound (one of his oldest known juvenile films is The Island of Doctor Agor, that he made when he was 13 years old).


Burton was influenced by Dr Seuss, an American writer and cartoonist. He worked in the animation department  of the U.S Army.


The success of his short film Stalk of the Celery Monster attracted the attention of Walt Disney Productions' animation studio, who offered young Burton an animator's apprenticeship at their studio. He worked as an animator, storyboard artist and concept artist on films such as The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron and Tron.

Genres and forms:
Pixilation is a stop motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. 
The object is not changed instead the actor is recorded moving  like a human puppet. It was the idea by Segundo de Chomon. His films was "The Electric Train" in 1905 and El hotel eléctrico (Spanish: The Electric Hotel) 


Cutout animation is a technique for creating animations using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or even photographs like Terry Gilliam's style. A great and very successful project is “Southpark”  It was created in 1997. The first episode was produced using cutout animation then the creators used software which copied the cutout technique.


Clay-animation: The most popular form of stop motion animation, it uses clay and putty etc. They usually have a skeleton of wire to maximize and to help the movement.“Wallace and Gromit” in 1989.


Puppet animation: It uses puppets (general difficult  in structure, made with fabric, latex or wood, unlike clay models, the characters do not need constant retouching. “Bob the Builder” 1999.


Silhouette animation: Characters are only seen as black shapes. The shapes are shouwn using a back-light.The original silhouette animation technique was more a form of puppetry using what was hinged paper dolls  These dolls were positioned against a solid backdrop on an animation stage and filmed with a rostrum camera, and repositioned with each frame, moving in sequence and posed much like hinged and jointed dolls.  Inspired in the European theatre of shadows, the figures are just  a dark shadow. “The adventures of Prince Ahmed” (1926).

Model animation:  Variation of “Puppetoon”, where characters of stop motion mix with real images characters. “Who framed Roger Rabbit” (1988). The work would probably have been influenced by Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen who pioneered using stop motion with live action.


Go motion animation: Phil Tippett and Industrial Light & Magic created the go motion technique for the first time for some shots of the tauntaun creatures and AT-AT walkers in the 1980 Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back.: A step further in the evolution of stop motion, it uses computer technology to achieve a movement more real by imitating the blurred effect of a body or object in movement. Jurassic Park (1993).


Graphic animation: It is based on computer generated images, these images range from graphic interchange format (Gifs) to web pages created using more complex programs like Macromedia Flash. It uses 2D and 3D. “Kung Fu Panda” (2008).

Object animation: The objects are real objects, not created. Norman McClaren was a pioneer of this genre used in his short “A Chairy Tale” (1957) where the protagonist is a common chair. They used pixilation, this is a stop motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor is like a living stop motion puppet.