Sound exercise evaluation

Our next media assignment was to film a sound exercise trying to use the different types of sound that can be found in the media.( Diegetic, Non-Diegetic etc).

The sequence that we filmed was supposed to tell the story of a person who comes in to a room, falls asleep has a nightmare and wakes up and leaves. It starts off with the character in a happy mood but then ends with them in a stressed and unhappy mood.

We did use most of the types of sound but however the ones that we did not use some because we could not find a way to put them in.

Non-Diegetic sounds were used quite a lot throughout the whole filming sequence, all of these Non-Diegetic sounds were also Parallel with the video. They were all pieces of music to go with the sequence. For example straight away we used a happy song to start off the film to try to get the audience into a happy feel toward the film. There was also tense music used to try to get the audience on the edge of their seat and finally we used somewhat some unnerving song at the end to finish off with an unsettling feel.

On and off screen sounds were also used throughout this piece of work, for example at the beginning of the dream there is some music playing the moment that the protagonist finds out that she is in a dream, which then turns into on screen sounds as we see the source of the music is a phone. More off screen sounds are found when there is a knock on the rooms door as well as when the character taps the table. There is also some on screen sound when there is a hand that bangs against some glass.

Overall I think that this project went well as we managed to use most of the sound techniques that we were asked to do but however for next time I would like to make an improvement that we would use all of the sound. I also think that we used the sound well to show the mood and the sounds were all captured properly and as well as we wanted them to.

Sound Exercise

Assessment of first practical assignment

Assessment of first practical assignment

Through the first film that we made, we tried to tell the story of a girl who was looking for something, her cat to be more precise. We decided to choose this as our story line as the aim of the video was just to show a basic understanding of using different camera angles to use and to be able to understand what they mean, for example the high angle camera shot shows someone as being really weak and defenseless where as a low angle shot shows someone as being strong, mighty and powerful.

We did not include all of the camera shots and movements but however we did manage to use most of them. The main reason on why we did not use most of them is because we did not know where to put them in on the video.

At the beginning of the video we managed to use different types of ranged shots we done this just to introduce the film, we done this to a sort of intro to the protagonist of the story, we then decided to go into a Point of View shot and then into a pan shot  to give the viewers some sort of idea on what the protagonist is looking at so its  way to help the viewers see what is happening, we then cut it into a tilt shot to show how tall the protagonist  is and to also show how committed that she is, next we went into a tracking shot, this was to include a way into following the protagonist on their journey, next came an over the shoulder view because again, this was like us following her journey, then came the rolling shot in which the protagonist looks by a bush and the camera rolls to help get a better view of what the character is looking for, next we chose to do our best example of a crane shot despite the fact we didn't have a crane to do it, then we into another over the shoulder shot to carry on with the protagonist’s journey and finally we went into a low angle shot into a close up.

In some of the scenes the camera was held quite well, however in some scenes such as the tracking scenes and the crane scene the camera was not held properly as we did not have the right equipment for the job, we were only using a camera with a tripod so indeed it was relatively hard to keep some of the shots steady as all we had were are arms to keep the camera steady.

I think that some good elements of the film was some of the camera techniques and movements, for example the camera was held incredibly steady for most of the film despite the tracking shot as we didn't have the correct equipment with us, this also happened with the crane shot as we didn't have a crane to do it with us, we had to get the tallest person to stand up and hold the camera as high as they could.

Finally I would need to make improvements on certain aspects on the film for example on the shots mentioned above; I would have to make sure that the camera is held properly and much more steadily and on a shot at the beginning I would have to make sure that the camera stays on much more even ground so then it would not be at a slightly off angle.

Sound

Sound is constantly being used in films, sound can be used in a variety of ways, like for example can be used to try and change the mood of the film, it can be used to represent characters and themes of the films.

Sound can be split up into different parts, for example:
Diegetic sounds: refers to the world of the text. Examples could be that of dialogue, sound effects, music with a source within the text e.g. a radio.

Non-Diegetic sounds: refers to everything outside the world of the text. Examples that could be of voiceovers and soundtrack.

On screen sound: the audience can see the source of the sound.

Off screen sound: the audience can't see the source of the sound.

Sound can also be furthered into parallel sounds and contrapuntal sounds, parallel meaning that the sounds match the action where as contrapuntal sounds do not.

Furthermore sound bridges can be used to help create a smooth transition from one scene to another.

The Birds 

The Birds is a film that was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and is about a women who travels to a place called Bodega Bay and where she and the town is attacked by a flock of dangerous birds.

In this film the threat is not from a villain or anything like that but it is from nature, Hitchcock believed that this was a good idea as a film like this has never been done before. Thanks to this in this film it shows that there is no where to hide from these dangerous creatures.

Like most other thrillers this film has fast pace and constant action, this is what makes it a thriller.
This can be seen in this scene were a man has been killed by these incredibly dangerous birds.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0aAfXp9WAU

The birds uses a specific device at the end of the film, it ends on a cliff hanger which is a device commonly used in thrillers. Hitchcock used this to show the birds as some sort of never ending nightmare as if the birds will always be against us and trying to get us.

In the schoolyard scene Tippi Hendren does not know the birds have been gathering but the audience does. We have knowledge denied to the character. This is dramatic Irony. In Schoolyard scene the underlying score of the innocent child’s song is in contrast to the evil in nature this gives the audience some sort of an unnerving feeling.

The macguffin of this movie is the lovebirds that the female character brought with her.

         Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience, "to put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like” he has definitely succeeded in this film as it is something that has never been done before in any movie and it gives the audience something to think about. As they may think about how they have and still are mistreating birds throughout their lives and this film may make them think about them in another way.