Sound Work Shop

Today i attended a sound workshop run by a lecturer called Joe, who i have had some lessons with last year. Unfortunately i missed the last lesson due to being ill but from what i head today they spoke about diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

Diegetic sounds:

Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film: 

• voices of characters 
• sounds made by objects in the story 
• music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world 

Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. 

Another term for diegetic sound is actual sound  

Diegesis is a Greek word for "recounted story" 
The film's diegesis is the total world of the story action  

Non-Diegetic sounds:

Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: 

• narrator's commentary
• sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
• mood music

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space. 

The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening.  We know of that certain sounds are represented as coming from the story world, while others are  represented as coming from outside the space of the story events.  A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror), or to surprise the audience (comedy). 

Another term for non-diegetic sound is commentary sound. 

(http://filmsound.org/terminology/diegetic.htm)

Today we were told to download some files from the UCA website in the DDD section and then import the files onto the Abobe Audition which i havent used before. We have five individual files in total and .... to be finished tomorrow

Breaking down the scripts into possible sounds.

The beaten hotel had memories flickering from almost every corner. Drifting into short dreams, at times I thought I heard the putt-putting of old Model Ts pulling up to the lobby, dropping off elegantly gowned women accompanied by pillars of the community in cool, white tuxedos. Opulent repose, 1920s desert style. Back in 1919, when the Geronimo was built, edges of huge desert tracts were still nearby. Horses and Model Ts pulled up to the community growing around the new University of Arizona.

When dragging hours in the hotel corridors reached post-midnight hush, time secretly eased its pace. My eyelids would droop; then faint brown light oozing from dust-covered globes caught my lashes. Momentarily I’d catch the glimmer of sparkling chandeliers and the bright warmth of the old-time light bulbs. They had a filament in them that you could see clearly, and it wouldn’t hurt your eyes to look. Sometimes I fancied flickering on the dreamwalls, flames dancing in the lobby’s old fireplace. But when I opened my eyes, all I saw was a sealed up chimney and an old black and white TV sitting where the logs used to burn.

Different sounds and ambience:

• Old Model T's
• Lobby
• Elegant Women
• Pillars - well turned out -high up men
• Horse shoes, possible horse noise
• Carriage - wheels, possible creaking
• Sparkling Chandeliers - possible sound of glass blowing in the wind
• old fire places - spitting wood, cracking.

Old model T's - The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to October 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that opened travel to the common middle-class American; some of this was because of Ford's innovations, including assembly line production instead of individual hand crafting.The Ford Model T was named the world's most influential car of the 20th century in an international poll.

Elegant women - Im sure i can find a lot of old recording from the 1920's and even from 1920's films. definitely worth having a look at, getting a good feel for how they talk, vocabulary etc. - i should also look at what women wore in the 1920's cause this can help me get into the character of the women and decide what accent sounds right and which doesn't! 

Horse noises: A horse can whinny, scream, nicker, and even low growl. When a horse nickers it can mean that it likes something, or when its feeding time, they nicker to there feeders. When it screams it can mean a warning, an urgent call, or (GET AWAY!!!). When a horse whinnies, it may be trying to find something, answering another horse, or letting something (or someone) know that it is there. 

• The Neigh or Whinny - A neigh sounds like a squeal followed by a nicker and is very loud.  The term whinny is also used to refer to a neigh.
• The Nicker  -  The nicker sound is produced when a horse creates a vibrating sound with his mouth closed using the vocal cords
• The Blow -  The blow sound is produced when a horse exhales through his nose with his mouth shut.
• The Snort -   The snort sound is produced when a horse exhales through his nose with his mouth shut and produces a vibrating sound in the nostrils.
• The Squeal -  A horse squeals with his mouth shut.
• The Scream  -  A horse screams while fighting with another horse.
• Clip clop of the horse shoes - determines pace, is the horse fast or slow? Being a cart horse i imaging it would be going at a slow pace - would i then have a man/the driver saying 'stop'? etc 

Chandeliers: i know it doesn't say in the passage that the chandeliers move in the wind but it could be nice to hear parts of the chandeliers knocking against each other - not like in titanic where they are making a racket, but just a gentle chime - imagine a wind chime for instance. It would be a delicate noise, a rather soothing noise!

Fire: Spitting - crackling, warm and intense.. fire itself does not make noise, fire from burning objects or gas causes reactions which cause noise. Example, burning wood, the wood burns to embers and cracks and boils sap. which all causes noise. In the passage it doesnt say what they used in the burning fire place, but im assuming it could have been wood - as it was a up market hotel at the time it cant have been coal as that was used for steam trains etc which was deemed a low class substance at the time (apparently)....

30 Audio Introduction

We have to create an animation ready body of work relating to sound demonstrating the key skills of recording, editing and production. We have to create a 30 second editted audio sequence based on a chapter or short passage from a book of our lecturers choice. We have no received the sequence and this is what we will be basing the audio on:

 ‘Tales from the Geronimo’ Scott Frank 

The beaten hotel had memories flickering from almost every corner. Drifting into short dreams, at times I thought I heard the putt-putting of old Model Ts pulling up to the lobby, dropping off elegantly gowned women accompanied by pillars of the community in cool, white tuxedos. Opulent repose, 1920s desert style. Back in 1919, when the Geronimo was built, edges of huge desert tracts were still nearby. Horses and Model Ts pulled up to the community growing around the new University of Arizona.

When dragging hours in the hotel corridors reached post-midnight hush, time secretly eased its pace. My eyelids would droop; then faint brown light oozing from dust-covered globes caught my lashes. Momentarily I’d catch the glimmer of sparkling chandeliers and the bright warmth of the old-time light bulbs. They had a filament in them that you could see clearly, and it wouldn’t hurt your eyes to look. Sometimes I fancied flickering on the dreamwalls, flames dancing in the lobby’s old fireplace. But when I opened my eyes, all I saw was a sealed up chimney and an old black and white TV sitting where the logs used to burn.