Tag: learning outcomes

RESEARCH – Naked by Mike Leigh + How This Informed ‘George’

13421070 / / Individual Reflection, Research, Role - Supervising Sound Editor

Mike Leigh’s Naked is a British, semi improvised drama starring David Thewlis. It is a favourite of mine in the drama genre, and I thought it could be useful to study it’s audio dimension with reference to ‘George’.

Most aspects of the piece are very realistically constructed, and the audio as no exception to this rule. I felt this would give us some useful pointers for the sound design of George’s static sections.

Graham Fuller, interviewing Mike Leigh, pointed out that he is ‘economical with the camera movements in his films,’, and watching the scene below we can see how audio is used to enhance the power of the actor’s performance where the camerawork simply allows it to happen. The audio however tells a different story, walking the line between enhancing the mise en scene without compromising the realism of the environments, with the objects that are active (the postcard, for example) in any shot are given a sound focus to draw attention to the actors interactions with them. The postcard signifies an aspect of the two character’s shared history in the story, and the audio is used to draw attention to this, but without compromising realism of the scene.

We attempted a similar thing with the radio in the second scene (post titles) of George. The report being broadcast from the radio (cleared for use from the BBC’s The Report on Radio 4) pertains directly to the story of our character, and slips in and out of the audio ‘shot’ throughout the scene as well as remaining tied to camera perspective.

As for further observations on Naked, dialogue is a massive part of the audio and in most cases the rest of the scene is very much subordinated to it, and it is here that it digresses most substantially from our project. What is useful however, is the way the people’s bodies are put into the scenes even when they’re not speaking through the sound of mouth movements, breathing and the general sound of the physical. Considering the fact that, as post production of ‘George’ advanced we realised that the main character’s lack of dialogue (and corresponding lack of bodily movements etc in our location takes) meant the character often doesn’t seem ‘present’ in the film, I decided we should pass over the entire film and record an extra track of these. Most of the sounds the character makes in the film are additional if they are not dialogue.

The film had no specific supervising sound editor, but it’s dubbing mixer – the person who would have handled the final mix of the various audio aspects – was Sue Baker, who apparently worked in sound design for film fairly sporadically from the 1980’s to 2000, but worked as a supervising sound editor on both Donnie Brasco and Four Weddings and a Funeral. The scene from the former below is interesting from a props / dialogue mix perspective (ignoring the music) – A sense of threat and claustrophobia is suggested by the close perspective of the moves and breathing of the characters.

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Key Points –

Research of the film ‘Naked’ by Mike Leigh – Planning & Research

  • To expand my knowledge of the theory and audio techniques deployed in the films influencing ‘George’, and in drama as a genre more generally.
    Assess the technical requirements of a production to inform the selection of appropriate tools, techniques and processes

15/12/15 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT – ROLE DIARY – Post Begins

13421070 / / Audio Production, Learning Outcomes, Process Management, Role - Supervising Sound Editor

Despite the production problems, we have still received a version of ‘George’ with all the scenes complete before Christmas, though this differs noticeably from the film as originally discussed in terms of scene and shot lengths and is not a ‘picture lock’ version as we were originally promised. We’ve already had to start the post-production process proper even though the film will still be undergoing edits and other alterations into January, as we will be unable to complete the work to a good standard if we wait for the picture lock version to begin the finer audio work, mainly due to inability to access facilities for the required amount of time now the critical period of post-production has shifted into the new year. Considering these factors myself and the team decided that some slight changes of audio direction were warranted.

Some plot devices which our original audio plan had relied upon have not made it into the picture, and the overall feel of the piece has changed to such a degree that I feel the picture now dictates the arc of our audio work much more than we had originally planned, mainly due to the differences in style of the multiple directors who’ve created it and the way these have been constructed across the film. For example, the picture is very static early on but becomes much more animated in terms of shooting style later, a result of the two different directors shooting styles, and this provides a very definite ‘arc’ to the technicality of the piece. This provides the audio the opportunity to work with this overall arc or to counterpoint it, or a combination of the two. Whatever the choice, we feel our sound design should certainly account for the fact in some way, and in doing so enhance the synergy between the audio and the visual.

Also, in referring to my original briefing and synopsis, it is noticable that several devices used in the original script for the picture to hint at the dark past of the film’s protaganist have been removed. Our original audio plans, particularly with reference to our musical score, had looked to represent this theme strongly in intending to present a reasonably ‘normal’ drama style soundscape with an undertone of dissonance.  Indeed, the film overall has generally been simplified and is less rich in references to the character, which has also altered the balance of the themes the script originally portrayed.

All this meant I felt we should seek some guidance and run some new ideas for the audio past our new director as the new creative lead on the project, as well as enquire which themes within the piece were now to take primacy given the changes, and particularly to check that the mood of our music was still relevant to the vision of the piece and to their taste. As such, we touched base with the new director and the rest of the team just before the Christmas close-down of our facilities to demonstrate our work in progress and outline our plan for alterations to some of the more complex scenes. This meet was very useful with feedback on the work in progress being uniformly positive, and we used the opportunity to agree when a picture lock version of the film would be provided (8th December), and gave some advice as to what we need if further edits are to be made now we have begin the fine detail audio work, such as close foley editing. Specifically, we need the exact scene, shot, take and time information of any cuts, fades or additions to enable us to catch up with these in the context of our audio track-lay as quickly as possible.

Nominally, we have agreed to try to have the music for the piece completely recorded by the  10th of January and agreed to deliver as close to a completed film as possible by the 19th.. This leaves us a few extra days to tweak and QC our final hand-in and double check our paperwork etc.

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Critical and artistic consideration of the rough cut version relative to the original audio plan – Planning & Research
Team management and interaction – Process Management, Professional Practise.

Learning Outcome –
Structure intellectually rigorous and coherent ideas to an advanced level in order to communicate ideas through the integration of form and content.

Personal Learning Outcome – 

To successfully manage a three person team in delivery of the entire soundtrack to a new piece of visual media efficiently.
To successfully manage the audio team’s interaction with film’s director, editor and producer on a practical and creative level, and ensure the audio team’s work is delivered on time and to a good standard.
To manage the post-production workflow and direct the creative contributions of the audio team as efficiently as possible.

PLANNING – Location Selection and Recce

13421070 / / Audio Production, Learning Outcomes, Process Management

Location selection for George was well underway by the time we agreed to get involved but, as a local to Lincoln, I was able to make a couple of suggestions.

We decided to make George’s home a residential house which is currently empty of tenants I’m aware of. This seemed sensible because the original suggestion was a student house of one of the crew and I felt that an empty house would present less obstacles for dressing and less likelihood of interruption to the filming process, and a more controllable environment for us to work in in general. The film crew concurred with this point of view upon seeing the house, as well as feeling it was a stylistic improvement that fitted the script more naturally.

We next performed a preliminary reconnaissance of all the locations bar one, as per Grant Bridgeman’s repeated admonitions in our earlier lectures.

The sound team and I performed a reconnaissance of the house from the perspective of problems for the location audio and the obvious issue, with a reasonably busy road outside and old style, single glazed windows, was traffic noise. This noticeably worsened at different times of day, and led to us advising that the few scenes with dialogue were scheduled in the quieter periods.

The graveyard in the script was also checked over well in advance, and again suffered from traffic noise even though the shoot location itself within the context of a large site was as far from the road as practicable. We also noted the lack of cover from the weather, and the relative distance and inaccessibility of the location if the crew attempt to reach it on foot, which was being mooted at the time. Again the timing of the shoot was clearly to be an issue, as it had an effect on both light levels for working and traffic volume.

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KEY POINTS + LEARNING OUTCOMES

Reconnaissance of locations – Planning, Process Management, Contribution.
Learning Outcome – To contribute extensively to the practicalities of creating and recording music for, and of recording location sound for the piece.

Project Overview + Learning Outcomes

13421070 / / Audio Production, Learning Outcomes, Project Overview

Semester A Audio Project AUP3003M group comprising:
Alice Asbury (Music Supervisor) – http://aliceaudioproject1.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk
Gareth Bailey (Supervising Sound Editor)
Rory Hunter (Location Audio Supervisor) – http://roryhunter.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/

Project Overview + Film Synopsis:

The Semester A project for the above group is to provide the audio for a 10 – 12 minute short drama created by a group of Media Production students, directed by Lucy Norton.

The following synopsis of the plot was provided by the client – “The film is about an old man (George) who struggles with everyday life tasks, encouraging the audience to sympathise with him. However, through the film there are suggestions that George has a dark and unsettling past that asks the audience to questions exactly how they actually feel about him. The film is based around the themes of judgement, punishment, forgiveness and loss.”

Client Requirements + Timeframe

We are engaged to provide a full score (preferably composed), location field recording of the audio and dialogue on set for roughly 8 days of filming, and full audio post production and editing of the audio, including additional foley and dialogue replacement as necessary.

Filming is due to commence October 26th for a two week period and scheduled to conclude by Sunday 8th of November, and the project audio must be completed and delivered in compliance with BBC audio guidelines by the 17th of December 2015.

We will receive an assembly cut of the film circa 4th of December, and will deliver the finished soundtrack to picture by December 16th leaving time for quality control, final paperwork and submission for all parties before the deadline. Prior to receipt of the assembly cut we will have provided a number of temp music tracks and work in progress for audio atmosphere, as many specific plot devices and scenes edited prior to the assembly cut’s delivery as is feasible which should enable us to deliver scratch mixes of the audio tracks for all or part of the film as required.

Group Aim

  • To create and deliver the soundtrack to the film ‘George’ by Lucy Norton, Charlotte Hughes, Shaun Standring and Angelin Selvanathan.

Group Objectives: 

  • To create an effective musical score and soundtrack that suits the themes of the film and supports the story in a manner concordant with the picture and the preferences of the director.
  • To successfully manage and conduct location recording to capture useful dialogue and atmospheres that will form the basis for some sound design aspects of the picture.
  • To create believable and relevant atmospheres and sound effects in post production, and edit these into a full soundtrack using foley, location recordings, composed music and replaced dialogue where applicable.

Outcomes as the project’s Supervising Sound Editor: 

  • To successfully manage the audio team’s interaction with film’s director, editor and producer on a practical and creative level, and ensure the audio team’s work is delivered on time and to a good standard.
  • To judge the initial direction of and maintain the consistency of the overall tone of the audio team’s work on the piece, and liase with the director to ensure this is concurrent with their vision of the piece.
  • To manage the post-production workflow and contribute extensively to the design, construction, editing and mixing of the audio for the piece.
  • To manage the delivery of the soundtrack at various stages of the production along with relevant paperwork, to the director and producer.

Other personal learning outcomes:

  • To expand my knowledge of the theory and audio techniques deployed in the films influencing ‘George’, and in drama as a genre more generally.
  • To contribute extensively to the practicalities of creating and recording music for, and of recording location sound for the piece.
  • To have a good degree of creative involvement in the conception and direction of the soundtrack for the piece.
  • To successfully manage a three person team in delivery of the entire soundtrack to a new piece of visual media efficiently.

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