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.

Showreel

Major Project: Updated Silk Composite

I now have my updated silk composite. I'm much happier with how this looks now, although I may go back and tweak some of the levels in After Effects. I struggled at first to incorporate the new silk into the scene since I rendered it out on it's own so I could composite it on top of the original render.

This created a noticeable outline around the silk, so I created a light wrap to make this outline less obvious. After some trial and error I think I managed to get the light wrap to work well enough to make the new silk fit into the scene better.

Major Project: Possible Silk Texture Update

As I've been working on my Art Of, I felt less and less satisfied with how my silk entity turned out. I don't dislike it, but I feel it wasn't as shiny looking as I'd like it to be. Because of this, I decided to return to that scene and see what I could do to improve it. I like the changes I've made to it based on the still renders.

I'm currently rendering out the new scene so it's just a pass of the silk, which I should be able to composite on top the old version. I'm going to see if this works out okay or not, if not then I can re-render the whole thing. Again this isn't necessary, but if I can improve it I'd like to.

Major Project: Edit 002

Here is my second edit for my film. I'm trying to create a final edit as fast as I can so my music composer can re-adjust the music he's created for the film so the timing is right. I want to give him enough time to re-write parts if needed and to give me time to really focus on VFX and sound design especially in regards to the whispers. Some changes I made to this edit include:

•  The removal of the line when I see hospitals I see ghouls.
• New footage for the lines when I think of my family I see scars and being Anorexic is rotting.
• Disordered whispers added to the opening sequence (may move later on as it's a test).
• The gem scene has been extended and voiceover moved to make room for disordered whispers.
• Voiceover for certain shots moved so they begin before the shot begins.
• Shots overall have been adjusted - for example an shot was moved to add more space between when I see jello I see vomit and when I see pancakes I see my grandfather.
• For the line when I see other people's bodies I see rejection a black screen cuts into the film. A louder ringing noise will be added later on as it will cut out audio too.
• Some transitions have changed, but this can still be adjusted later on.
• Room shot 006 (third shot of the edit - the one right before pufferfish) has been adjusted/re-rendered.
• The brick shot in the beginning of the film has been removed so the first few shots of the film focus on the room rather than the bricks.
• Some shots have been shortened slightly to keep the duration as close to 7 minutes as possible.
• This version contains re-composited footage so colour correction is more consistent and the vignette, film grain, and edge blurring can be added overtop the whole film so it's cohesive (added on very roughly at the moment). 

I'm happy with how this is turning out, although I am obviously ready to make more adjustments if needed. Once the shots and voiceover are at a point where positions/durations are locked down, I'll be able to hand an edit off to my composer for final music which I'm very excited about. The glitch effects, transitions and other VFX can continue to be adjusted for the most part and the voiceover will still have some wiggle room with timing.