Treatment:
For university, I was given the task to create a short film which revolved entirely around sounds, with the exception of any kind of dialogue or music. The idea in summary I came up with was based around several sounds going on and slowly revealing what each sound was, but of course I kept trying to think how I could add more to the idea to make it as ‘full’ a story as possible, constantly adding more and more (and possibly too many) sounds that could be going on. The story revolves around an alcoholic who wakes up, hungover, before beginning the cycle all over again, all the while somebody outside is trying to get in, knocking on the door and sending messages.I wrote up a page of notes to help me figure out all the shots and sounds i’d have to record:
At this point I don’t have a title, but I’m sure i’ll come up with something.
I drew up a diagram to have a bit of an idea what the production design would be like in that dolly shot. My plan is to have different kinds of alcohol laid out all over the place, as well as things such as a tap running, a clock in the shot, and anything else I can think of on-set. Here’s to hoping this all goes well!
(-Thursday, 4th June.)
Reflection:
My assignment is now completely done and edited. Within Sony Vegas, most of the work I had to do editing was with audio fading and timing to make sure everything was loud enough at just the right time, so my project ended up looking like this:
I also used Audacity to apply an effect to the ‘beat’ playing through the headphones.
The camera I used is the Canon C100, with both using a dolly track and having some handheld shots.
To capture the audio needed for each shot, I used a combination of the sound recorded from the camera as well as using a H4N recorder to record different Foley sounds after the shoot.
The title I decided on was “Three hours earlier,” which also works to inform the audience.
I am a bit sad about a couple of errors I overlooked at the time of shooting (because I’d consider myself good when it comes to stuff like ‘continuity’ etc.) but it only gives me more incentive to be more on the look-out in the future. I also wish that I messed a bit more with lighting, as there is a clear change in colour temperature throughout the film due to some hallways being darker.
Overall, I’m proud of the film I made, and it’s helped me to explore storytelling without just through dialogue, which I have done in the past through the use of coloured lighting and ‘atmospheric’ music so it was interesting to approach this through mere sound effects. It also served me an opportunity to think about more creative, movement-oriented shots, and generally just getting used to moving a camera more smoothly.
(-Sunday, 7th June.)
The Words of Julian McHutchison 