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.

Atmosphere: A thief

I thought that the trial of "somebody is looking" was somehow  empty in story and I wanted to add some action here. The first thing was that somebody is alone in work and suddenly a sound attract his attention, he stands up and sees somebody running away with a briefcase.

I used the three point lighting (I recently bought a set of ReadHead Lamps (2400W)) and I am satisfied with the results. I played more with lighting in a shot where the figure is running away. I wanted to produce here some figure shadows projected on floor and walls. The sound when the man is shouting to the "thief" was recorded separately. I played with color of the shots to be more blue because the original tone was a little bit more orange.





I also learnt that the PC monitor produce enough light to be used as fill or modeling light for the figure within the scene.

Atmosphere: Somebody is looking

I wanted to produce an atmosphere of tension. A feeling that somebody is hiding and watching another man. I love the three point lighting, it really works and looks great. I like the sound of paper here. I think I could add a sound which attracted the attention of the reader and maybe he can could say "is anybody there?". Also, a point of view of the reader towards the hiding man should enhance the feel of space.

Exercise Listening

In the attic

- the clock ticking

- textile cracking (as I was moving)

- my breathing

- a sound of car outside in distance

- a radio in kitchen

Outside in garden

- singing birds

- continual noise of town

- barking dog in distance

- car tooted

- cat mewing

- acceleration sound of car

- sounds from neighborhoods (glass clinking)

- kids in distance

Don't Look Now - Nicolas Roeg

A film with amazing atmosphere which left me full of mystery, with unanswered questions and frozen spine.

Opening sequence: I like the combination of still image and illustration. It is great connection between the photograph and the sequence when their daughter fell in a pool. The red color, red mackintosh, our hunch tells us something wrong happens here.

Lighting:

The red figure in Venice: This sequence is extremely atmospheric. Donald chases the red figure and when he finds  her she kill him. What a surprise, the match of the figure with his daughter. In this scene I was really scared when the figure turn her face to him. What is more I did not expect she kill him. Still I cannot believe he did not survive, why him, why the match ..... . I am glad that Robert recommended this film. I am missing films like this in those days.   

REPULSION Roman Polanski

The film was recommended me for its superb atmosphere. And yes  Robert I like it. The atmosphere here is really great I like the scene when a shadowy man disrupts her dream. One day she colored lips to be prepared for him. The sound in those scenes are silent. When I saw the first scene when she met the man for the first time I was expecting a scream but there are only clock and rustling textiles sounds as she is moving in bed. Great, the violence is boosted by the silence and we want to scream for her.

I love how they build the transformation of her perception of space. We know that she lives in "a small flat" and suddenly there are large living room and large strange looking bathroom. Amazing, I like the effect.

I like the strange things which happen there. The cracks, the rabbit, the hands. All things appeal our attention to know more why they are here.

The lighting is amazing, I watched it closely and they hide lights everywhere to light the scene dramatically. The light behind sofa and laying on floor as you can seee in this example:

The lighting lit the scene from bottm throught the window to make window shade on roof:

Every scene is perfectly build and lit, you can choose any of them and study it.

Second Lighting

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3 point lighting and U-fly steadycam

The read heads set of lamps arrived today and I made a trial.

First try with the U-fly steadycam

The Third Man: The Atmosphere

There are evidence of three point lighting throughout the whole film.  

The use of strong light creates great shadows projection on wall. This techniques produce dramatic atmosphere.

When the figures moving on within the space it is visible how the lights are placed within the stage.

The tilted camera is used a lot in this film to support strange feeling and build a tension in the story (I think).