Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Unit 38: Foley Sound (Shaun of the Dead)

Soundtrack Production



We have been tasked with producing a soundtrack using Foley Sound for a clip of our choice.

Time Codes

Listed below are all the sounds we will need to produce for this clip from Shaun of the Dead.

00:00 - 00:20 Footsteps on pavement

00:20 - 00:40 Footsteps on floor tiles

00:01 Shaun trips on curb

00:05 - 00:08 Shaun yawns

00:07 - 00:09 Footsteps of runner on pavement

00:35 Shaun slips on bloody tile

00:26 Shaun opens freezer 00:34 Shaun closes freezer

00:28 Shaun picks up can of Coke 00:31 Shaun puts can of Coke back 00:32 Shaun picks up can of Diet Coke

00:40 Shaun opens freezer 00:44 Shaun closes freezer

00:44 Shaun sighs

Now we need to decide how to recreate these sounds through Foley Sound.

Sounds like footsteps, yawns and sighs are sounds we can easily create ourselves, but we will have find some way of creating more complicated sounds like the slip, the cans and the freezers.

We also need to choose some music to accompany the clip. This music should be slow, eerie and spooky. It should create an unsettling atmosphere and give the idea that something isn't right.

We will have to use Audio Panning when creating our Foley Sound. From 00:07 - 00:09, when the runner passes Shaun, we want to make his steps sound closer and closer and then more and more distant as he comes and goes. This will be difficult but, through panning, we can create this effect. This will mean the sounds matches the visuals in the clip and should be more realistic.

Our Finished Product

http://youtu.be/jfNktIcTX74

Evaluation

After being tasked with producing a soundtrack for this clip, I rewatched the full scene from Shaun of the Dead that the clip had been taken from. I took a closer look at the clip, noting down the sounds that could be heard (car alarms, music in the shop etc.) and the visuals on screen and also took a note of at what point during the clip all of these actions occurred and for how long they lasted. This meant that, when it came to producing these sound effects through Foley art, we would know what different sounds we needed to record and how long in seconds they should be. Hearing the sound effects used in the original clip also inspired the ideas we had for our own sound effects that we produced using Foley.

Next, we had to actually create these sound effects. We worked together to produce these sounds ourselves. Most of these were fairly simple as sounds such as running, yawning and doors opening/closing were all sounds we could easily recreate ourselves. Some sounds, however, were more complicated. One sound we struggled with was the sound of Shaun slipping on the bloody tiles. To produce this sound we needed to make sure we were wearing the right shoes on the right material. When we found the perfect combination, we were able to produce a fitting sound effect.

It was after recording our sounds, whilst editing, that we made use of Audio Panning. This effect was required at the point in the clip when a runner quickly passes Shaun from the right of the screen to the left. His footsteps should have been able to have been heard before the runner was actually seen, which we did by adjusting the audio clip's levels, resulting in the runner being able to be heard before actually appearing on the screen. Also, by panning the audio from right to left, we created the effect of the runner coming closer and closer, passing Shaun, and then becoming more and more distant.

Overall, the sounds we produced for our clip were appropriate and were edited (cut to be shorter, made quite etc.) to fit perfectly to the visuals. We found a soundtrack to accompany the clip too. It's a slow, eerie piece of music, which is perfect for the creepy atmosphere of the clip from Shaun of the Dead. This soundtrack, and the sound effects we produced, worked together to create an eerie and unsettling atmosphere that was perfect for the clip and added another layer of creepiness to the clip.

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