'When' - Bees Sound Design Tweak 001

Another part of my feedback for When was a suggestion to return to my bees entity and make the soundscape more overwhelming. I wanted to increase the audio levels of the music as well, so I decided to play around with the bees as well. I added in another layer of insect sounds that were at a higher pitch as well as increase the volume of the whispers. Hopefully this is an improvement!

Major Project: Soundscape Progress Update 005 (With Music)

I've now added the music and soundscape Bruce Reid created for my film. I spent a long time tweaking effects and volumes of different sounds to try and ensure that the main voiceover could be heard, important whispers and sound effects were audible where important, and that the music shined through when I wanted it to.

For the line about 'rejection' I initially began to play around with the music cutting out mostly, but I found it odd and immersion breaking. I think leaving the music there keeps the film uniform and flowing since prior to the 'rejection' cut-out the music is quite subtle...so when it's all that is left remaining I hope it keeps the film moving without the cut-out being too distracting. I did, however, do a similar effect for my gem. This is because I have whispers, the screen doesn't go black, and again I want the gem to be aggressive rather than just eerie.

I'm still adjusting all of the volumes, I tend to work on sound design using high quality sound-blocking headphones so I realise it sounds different on computer speakers. I'm trying to alternate how I work so I get it working alright both ways. I am really happy with how this is turning out so far.

I've also been considering adding some sort of 'warning' on my film and Art Of. I don't want to seem dramatic, but since my film discusses some serious topics I feel it may be irresponsible for me to not give any sort of context to the film's subject matter especially since the title is quite ambiguous.

I worry that some things I say in the film (some of which are things people say to me that I myself find triggering) may be destructive for others to hear if they are in a bad place. I have a similar situation with my Art Of, where I discuss my reasoning behind what each entity represents. While I specifically avoid using numbers, sizes, measurements, and so on...I am aware that things I say could possibly be seen as triggering and I want to be sure I'm not doing anything harmful. Due to this, I plan on adding a 'please be aware' sort of message to my film and Art Of just to be safe.

Major Project: Soundscape Progress Update 004

Here is the fourth update on my soundscape. I've already begun playing around with the volume of different clips to soften certain sounds out if they cause the audio to spike, such as the glitch transitions. I was going to add more positive sounding whispers during the 'hope' portion of the poem, but to me it wasn't working right and still sounded a bit sinister. I also feel I want to keep with the idea that the absence of stimuli is soothing to me.

Due to this, I left this part of the film quite free as I suspect the music will take over during this part of the film. I will now be adding the music and soundscape Bruce Reid created so I can see how different parts of the film work with the music and if I need to adjust the volumes more and/or move clips around. From here I will be able to better determine if I need to record more whispers and what sort of 'flavour' those whispers would have.

I also decided to tweak the line being Anorexic is having a precious gem in terms of timing because I wasn't completely happy with it.

Major Project: Soundscape Progress Update 003

Today I made more progress with my sound effects and soundscape. I added a few more voices to the bees scene, although I may go back and add more later on. My initial goal is to put a first layer over the whole film, then add my music, and then move things around again as I suspect some whispers will have to be moved and adjusted. I'll then go over everything again and begin playing around with the volume levels of all the elements as I decide when I want the music, sound effects, or whispers to shine through more. I also plan on doing another recording session next week to collect a few more phrases for the whispers.

The sound effects for the needles is still in progress, I'm not 100% happy with it just yet. I also wasn't sure what I wanted 'wires' to sound like so I just began experimenting with some more abstract sounds which I think work nicely in conjunction with whispers. I also have the soundscape quite subdued during the 'happiness' portion as this is another part of the film I expect the music will take over.

Today I also got my final music from my music composer, Bruce Reid. I'm very excited to have my music, although I'll probably continue working on the rest of my sound effects without it so I keep the initial pass consistent. Afterwards, I'll add in the music and adjust as needed, especially knowing that some soundscape aspects were also created with the music. I'm aiming to have my initial sound effects pass completed by Monday so I can spend the next week tweaking everything.

Major Project: Soundscape Progress Update 002

Here's another update on my soundscape. I haven't gotten as far as I'd like to, but I had to spend a bit of time finding some more sound effects I wanted. One of the main things I added was the sound of fluorescent lightbulbs buzzing throughout the majority of the film. It's a bit quiet in places right now, but again, once everything is in place I'll go back and tweak the volumes. 

I want to also adjust the sounds more when I discuss the positive aspects of family as I'm not 100% happy with it, but I also suspect here is when the music will be more prominent.

I created my own white noise sound effect by using the 'generate' tool and then deleting parts of the clip, stretching it, and changing around the pitch. I tried to create a similar effect for the bees so it flowed better than it would be if I just slapped on a buzzing insect sound. 

In general I spent some time moving some clips around as it took a few tries to find the whispers that I felt work best at the different parts of the animation. While I wish I've made more progress, I'm excited how it's beginning to shape up.

 

Major Project: Soundscape Progress Update 001

Over the last few days I've been spending some time working on the soundscape for my film. I'm unsure how much of it I'll use in the end as that depends on the final product from my music composer as well. For now I'm creating the sound effects as if there will be no music, so I have no gaps and can play around with the volume later on.

First I had to spend more time going over the other 3/4's of my recording session from the other week to extract clips I thought would be useful and discard the weaker ones. Now I have nearly 200 clips extracted in total including many negative thoughts, some comments other people say to me, and a small handful of positive thoughts. I am aware I may need to return to the sound-booth to record some more positive ones depending on how things go.

Here is my first update of the soundscape. I may move around the whispers later down the line if I feel certain ones fit better elsewhere. I've also begun to play around with hospital sound effects from the BBC Sound FX Library CD. I still need to adjust the reverb, the volume, and other elements to these. I've also used a ventilator sound and some foetal heartbeats to characterise my sponge and meat entities. For meat I plan on reusing the heartbeat, but possibly making it deeper/louder each time we encounter it since each shot we get closer. I also began adding some glitch sounds where appropriate.

Major Project: Disordered Whispers / Soundscape Test 001

Yesterday and today I spent some time going over the recordings I made for my whispers. So far I only went over one out of my four chunks of recording, which already gave me a decent amount of content. From this one session I was able to extract 72 clips that I thought were the most useful and I suspect I could have a similar number from my other three sessions.

I wanted to test out how this would work with my soundscape, so I took the opening of my film for Edit 001 (which requires some editing changes but this is just a test) and played around with different effects in Audition. I found I usually used a process of some noise reduction, then a custom 'Echo' effect, followed by some reverb effects. I then played around with the volume, overlapping them, and experimenting with different volumes in each ear to give a disorienting and 'invading' effect. 

I also used some of the sound clips from the BBC Sound Effects Library (Disc #28 - Hospitals) and applied a few different effects to add some more depth to the soundscape. I wanted these to just be subtle for now as I want to spend more time on them. Again, this is just a test so the effects, volume, timing and so on are all subject to change. 

While I am happy with how this is turning out so far and I've been enjoying working on it, it is honestly challenging to work on it as well. It felt weird to record these as well as listen to them spoken out loud. Despite the strangeness I feel towards it, I hope it helps create more impact and raises awareness in some way.

Major Project: Glitch VFX & SFX Tests #2

The Video Copilot 'Twitch' plug-in also comes with a handful of glitch sound effects. I've also been shuffling through some of the BBC Sound FX Library CD's from the university's library. Out of all the CD's I've looked through I suspect the 'Hospitals' one will be the most useful to me although I suspect I'll be using bits and pieces from several discs. However, I need to double check what the copyright is on these CD's as I don't want to get in trouble for using them in my final film if I'm not allowed to. 

Glitch Test 007 - Custom Settings

The above animations feature both VFX and SFX - I used several glitch sounds from the Twitch plug-in as well as a a pulse monitor sound clip from the BBC Sound FX Library. I took the pulse monitor sound effect into Audition and increased the pitch as I felt it was too low originally.

For the first test I have only the heart monitor audio after the gem spikes outward, while in the second one I have extra glitch sounds where appropriate. I want to be sure that I utilise silence and minimal sound in my animation where it would be most effective. I do plan on testing out some crystal-like sounds for this scene as well in the future, this is just a basic early test. I'm looking forward to playing more with sound especially when I begin getting bits of music. 

Minor: Creative Development Archive 'Showreel' Progress #2

I've continued to work and adjust the soundscape/voiceover for my showreel. I've decreased the overall background music and sound effects and increased the voiceover so it was easier to hear. Even though I'm not completely happy with the music and the voice clips aren't in the correct order, I hope it gets the 'feel' of the project across relatively well. I do know that when I contact a music composer (which will be soon) I want to be sure there are some clips or loops that sound more sad or menacing, while others sound happier or nostalgic since I want to be sure to convey the more positive emotions as well.

Adaptation B: Dysmorphia Soundscape Progress #1

Today I worked on the soundscape for my animation. I used a combination of audio that I recorded myself and sounds that I found online. The majority of clips that I used were originally sounds that relate to my Anxiety or Anorexia/Body Dysmorphia such as loud crowds of people, chewing, the National Weather Service alarm, car alarms, and screaming children (some of these clips I've used to morph my models in Maya). This is just the first 'pass' of my soundscape, there are certain parts I need to fine tune in terms of timing and volume. I may add in a few more clips of audio but I'm trying to be wary and not overwork it since that's a bad habit I have. So far I'm happy with it and I look forward to seeing it with my fully rendered scenes.

Adaptation B: Lighting & Soundscape Influences

I've now imported all of the models I want into one scene and set up lights for each one. This took me a while because each one is a unique shape, so I needed different lights for each model or else not all of them would come out the way I wanted. I also want them to each light up individually, so I figured it'd be best to set up lights and connect them to their corresponding model. Some of them were more difficult to light than the others, the ones where I had animated the joints and the arms/legs are stretched tend to be the most difficult. Those models I also had to remodel slightly as sometimes an arm or a leg would be beneath the floor. However, I'm liking how they are looking now.

I may rearrange them a little bit more, but I kind of like how they are set up the way that they are. I'm concerned about the render time but I won't know exactly what is going on until I render it on something other than my laptop. I think now I can do some playblasts for an opening scene where the camera moves around and the models light up one by one, then I can start doing some playblasts of close-ups. Hopefully from now on I won't need to move around the lights too much.

I also had a look at some different soundtracks/soundscapes from games, TV shows, and films that I liked because they made me feel uneasy. I figured listening to these tracks would help me get a feel for what sort of sounds I may go for in my sound design using the sound clips I plugged into my models to make the audience feel anxious. Out of all of these, the titles of the TV series 'Outcast' stands out to me...it always made me feel uneasy (especially around 00:42-00:52).

Outcast Titles from Justin Gurnari on Vimeo.

Pikatti: Editing & Sound Design Screenshots

Pikatti: Autodesk 3D Models & After Effects Composite Test #1

Pikatti: Animatic v.2 With Sound

We are currently in the process of changing parts of our script and changing/adding/removing some storyboard panels but this is the sound for our current animatic. After we make some changes, the sounds can be moved around again to fit the new animatic. We haven't added any music, we are unsure if adding music will make it too much considering parts of the soundscape are already musical but we are planning to experiment with it to see.

Pikatti: Sound Design Progress

Even though our animatic and script still require some adjustments, I've decided to begin editing and piece together the sound effects I've been gathering up over the last few weeks. This is only a small portion of our animatic and it sill needs some other details such as the jingle of the dog's name-tag, but I figured I'd post an update on the progress I've made so far. It's taking me a while to sort out some audio for the boy (which is not all featured in this clip, I'm hoping I've made/edited all of the clips that I will need) but I think it's come out alright. We are hoping that the sound will clarify some aspects of the story including explaining the collar belonged to his dog who passed away. I also have begun working on sounds for the fox, which I am hoping will help the audience know that there is a difference between the boy's dead dog and the fox.

Pikatti: Winter Soundscape Sketch II

Pikatti: Winter Soundscape Sketch I

Pikatti: Winter Soundscape Word Map

Original Painting by Thomas Smith

Blog Submission - Soundscape

Sonic Concept

Soundscape: Final Soundscapes and Sonic Concept Presentation

Sonic Concept