Exercise: new soundtrack

I removed the original audio track and replace them by new recorded sounds. As the background I used a noise of a washing machine and clock ticking. I put there a breathing to enhance a presence of a person who is looking for something. In total I made five layers.

I really like the background noises, It makes the video more real, even in the original track the washing machine was not there. I was playing with the sound when the bottle is opening and I could not match precisely the hand moving with the sound, but finally I found a position for the sound which is good.

Great experience with adding sounds in post production. I like it more than original because it builds the atmosphere better.

Here is a printscreen of the layers.

Washing machine sound

I like the sound of washing machine which reminds me a helicopter and airplane. I like the metal sound in washingmachine1 file which sounds like somobody is eating from metal plate.

Washing machine 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCVrNsYgnKs

Washing machine 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOigkcNtjXE

Washing machine 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDnoU0tYiWA

The Blair Witch Project

Here are my notes I made when watching the film:

A shaking camera, strange sounds, piles of stones, strange items hanging on branches, automatic focus of handy camera is crazy, camera is looking on ground, no worry about composition, all of this elements support the authenticity, mystery, darkness, strangeness ....

24:49 "Hello" (Is anybody out there) scene: dark, we just hear some strange sounds, we did not see anything just the team members lightened by camera light beam. Great scary scene.

(they have a map but no notion about a compass, they are lost in the wood)

Shots without composition. The camera is long  zoomed and is dancing forth and back between the figures, looking on their mackintoshes. It must be real!!! :-)

29:13 nearly black shot with visible noise caused by low sensitive camera, some noises. Alone in the dark wood. "It must be a dear". Great work with sound, I was really scared.


38:52 a quarrel about the map. Great sequence how to build a forlornness, despair, conflict.

41:32 curious things from branches hanging on tree branches. I like especially that one when I thought it is high as the trees but it was close up shot!

43:30 the night is here again, we are in the tent, it is dark, we do not see anything, after a while the camera is on and focused on a textile. We see children voices for a moment and suddenly something is drumming on the tent and they run away of the tent. They turn the camera light off and we listen the sounds. Amazing how to build scary atmosphere.

58:36 nice black and white shots of trees.

59:00 strange voice again like Josh is shouting (he disappeared). Here I notice the noise of camera. Again, scary sequence with a sound of wind.

1:10:13 The house. We see that sequence through two cameras. Josh is shouting Mike's name. They want to find him but someone is there ...... We are left with questions .... who was there? The witch? I do not think so, what about the notions about children at the beginning of that story.

Great movie with scary, loneliness, forlornness, despair atmosphere. 

Exercise listening

I love those items which produce steadily continuing sound like washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, heating system, boiler etc. It is not easy record the sounds separately because the recorder Zoom is so sensitive that any sounds which are produced nearby is recorded. You need quiet place to get clean sound but what can you do when the items are installed in kitchen next to living room where wife is watching  TV and dogs want to know what are you doing  :-).

I load here some sounds which I like. When I listened them many times the imagination come to me and  every time I can imagine something different. Here are my notes about the sounds:

Dishwasher4: http://youtu.be/rdw3eYzXTgQ

repeating rhythm, it reminds me washing machine, blue colour, a beach

Dishwasher5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA1pEsmLWkU&feature=youtu.bea 

black space, coldness, it could be a plant where machines are working, no man

Microwave1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAiFYWe71sQ 

a cooling thing, a ventilator, it is hot, it is a place at the back of building where air conditions are placed.

The imagination is endless. The sounds can be used as source of another items, they are interchangeable. We always connect what we see with what we hear but what we hear in film could not be real it can be illusion and it is the great power of sound in film. The heating sound (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAGAaAfJOcY) can produce very great atmosphere - dark, tension, mystery, loneliness etc. (I remember sounds in Lynch's film EraserHead)

I have to collect another sounds of those items in future and learn more about sounds and music. 

I have bought a reflection plate 5v1, so the video shows how the reflected light works:

I also bought white polypropylene sheet with tripods. I tried to light the background. The video shows also my mistake with camera position. Camera monitor did not reveal whole frame of shot, so that is the reason why we can see the edged of sheet. I have tried to light the figure from bottom to make more dramatic shot:

I have tried a green sheet to separate a green color by key effect and replace it by a picture. The key effect is not perfect because the light did not illumine whole sheet evenly. I have noticed here that the automatic white balance change the tone of skin in that shot, it is more orange (red) color here. I changed the color to be same as the background.

Here is the place where I build the scene (It is in my work).

ZOOM H1 V2

I have bought a recorder ZoomH1 and last two days I was playing with it. For next exercise we should record sounds and I was not satisfied with recording them on video camera. This Zoom is so simply and small for recording and the sound is amazing. 

Here are some recorded sounds:

Town: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWZqBfFkZFg&feature=youtu.be

Stream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqA9h3YfAU4&feature=youtu.be

Heating noise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAGAaAfJOcY&feature=youtu.be

Lighting for Film, Book 1, Ian Ingram Young

This interactive book for iOS (iPad - I do not know if it is for other systems) is just amazing. There are many basic practical things about lighting. Ian Ingram Young shares his experience with lightning in film through short videos. What lights to use, how to use them, what need to be analyzed about location where you want to build a scene by lighting.

I am looking forward to reading his Book2 when it is publish.