I’ve created two frame doodles in the video, pieced together the audio, made the script, created the Pie Chart with a color palette, and created this blog post. I’ve selected “the unseen” as the font of choice, chose copyright-free music in the background from youtube, and used a good handful of images from open verse with credit at the end of the video.
Throughout the entire week, I’ve been 100% focused and even worked at home to ensure that everything was done and had a sprinkle of quality.
Font
Color Palette
Pie Chart
Script
I am Kevin Nguyen, and this is a Day in My Life.
After a great 8 hours of sleep, I wake up. This is 33.33% of the day already. Then later during the day, I take a nap which is an hour, totaling my sleep total to 9 hours, 37.5% of my day. As I get up, I take twenty minutes to get ready for work. This is production time. I brush my teeth, wash my face, get dressed in my work uniform, and take 10 minutes to eat breakfast. For the other ten minutes, I either shower in the morning or at night, but for this day, I showered at night to get rid of any butter and food grease that got onto me. Then for the other six and a half hours of production, I am working at Wetzels Pretzels, at the Capital Mall. Also during those six and a half hours, I take twenty minutes total for transportation myself between home and work. This whole productivity cycle takes a total of 7 hours, which totals 33.33% of my day. During lunch break, I take 30 minutes to eat and after work, I eat dinner for 20 minutes. Totaling my three meals, it takes 4.2% of my day, an hour total to eat. After work, I take three hours to myself for entertainment, this includes playing video games, watching tv, taking a walk, practicing digital artwork, etc. This takes 12.5% of my day. Then the rest of my 3 hours goes to spending time with my family, and this includes helping my siblings with their homework, playing outside with my siblings, having a conversation with my parents, and watching films with my family. This is the final 12.5% that completes my day before I head to sleep. From this study, I’ve come to see that with a good amount of sleep and production time, I’m able to stay happy and have enough free time for myself and my family. I’m surprised to see how much free time I have to myself from this schedule of work and home time, so my mental health can be healthy while spending some of my days making money, self-care, and driving.
I’ve learned how to use Audacity and create a Pie Chart in Adobe Illustrator. I’ve solved small problems such as correcting the font, fixing generating charts, and audio placement.
I solved the font problem by asking a peer for some assistance, and I basically had to search for the font I needed in the search feature when selecting the font for the Pie Chart.
As for audio placement, I’ve messed around with the edit settings and dragged the three audio files in the correct order, and made them into one big audio file.
When making the charts, there were multiple circles that pops up when I entered my values. I had to switch my values around and labeled the correct values and created my current pie chart.
For the presentation, I will take the role of discussing my role and some of the editor’s roles since they will not be present. We’ve already discussed how the presentation should go and he even included speaker notes so we would be ready.
I’m editing some of the images, and adding labels and circles to make sure that I can clearly present my thoughts on specific parts of my slides. I took inspiration from some presentations I’ve seen which influenced my decisions on labeling. After I had made my changes, I reviewed the slideshow multiple times so I could feel the momentum and flow of the presentation.
Following that, I made sure that in the tracking sheet, our film, slideshow, and our influences are accessible. My other team members also made sure this was achievable so we are completely set and ready.
After the presentation prep and setup is done, I communicated with the team on the Portmortem Form which reflected our goals and thoughts on our film. As of 5/17/2023, we hope to receive good feedback on the day of the presentation and further improve our abilities in the world of film.
After May 19th, we received good feedback on the film and I was enlightened on how we could make our film better. I took notes and listened intently so I could relay any feedback to my team when they need it.
Sound Design Effectiveness
With the large variety of sound effects and other audio, our editor has a lot to pick and choose from. Our film does not contain any conversation so I did not have to pick up audio from conversations, but rather focus on the foley sounds that occur in our footage. An example of this is paper crumbling and our actress throwing a paper ball into the trash. Quality audio may not be picked up from the camera so we can substitute that with my audio.
When it comes to aesthetics, the music brings a somber, blue mood to the film. It matches the color grading that our editor chose for the film and gives a hint to how our main character felt about her career and art block.
Working with The Editor
This one night, I and the editor stayed up late to make sure we have our film in the right direction. Throughout the night, we worked on our own things while also discussing the progress of the film. He’d show me the cuts and edits he made and I’d approve the sounds, scenes, and transitions he made.
Most of our interaction was through Instagram and Discord. The call was over Discord because of how easy it is to share his screen, and Instagram made it easy to communicate with the team and the editor.
How I Could Have Improved The Film
The tone and flow of the sound design were deemed to be good. There weren’t a lot of suggested changes for sound design, but there was definitely some feedback for the film itself.
The transitions were nice, however, there were some scenes where it may not have been necessary. The music gave a gloomy tune but the story may need to be revised to where we have a clear image of what’s happening inside our protagonist’s head.
Most feedback can be heard from this video:
What I Learned
I’ve learned that music composition is very important to establish a tone for a film, especially during scenes or certain points to flow actions together. With sound effects, I’ve learned how important they are to establish an environment, and good world-building for films.
During my time as a sound designer, I’ve learned how to use the equipment and was able to create plenty of foley sounds. I’ve even learned how there are unique ways to imitate certain sounds like stepping on cornflakes to replicate the sound of walking on gravel. And sometimes, you just have to do exactly what the sound is like splashing water or turning on the sink.
Today I’ve focused on creating background audio such as music, outside world ambiance, birds chirping, etc. I’ve also spent some time communicating with the editor about music ideas and will work as much as possible after work today.
1 Hour
With communication with the team, I was able to go out and execute my duties. I was able to help the team by providing more audio for the editor to work with.
5/9
Was not in class but did work on music outside of class. Communicated with the editor throughout the process of making music and it was pretty difficult. Not having musical talent made the process a lot harder but due to music references and assistance from the editor, I was able to produce a musical note.
3 Hours
Though I was not in class, I was committed to doing my part and helping the editor. I stayed up late until 4 am with the editor and ensured the film looked great. I gave input with my opinions and it turned out to be pretty nice.
5/10
We had everything turned in and our work is done. We just had to work on our blog posts, I finished my Production blog post
<1 Hour
This was the best way to record my progress and achievements while providing my influences on my actions. My production blog post gave great information on what I’ve done for the team.
5/11
We watched films and voted for the top film
1 Hour
It was good to see other films and how they’ve done. It motivates me to make our next film (If we do another one) even better. I can spot the good and downsides of every film and how important it is to have good audio, a good script, editing, and good cinematography as well as a competent director.
5/12
Today, we worked on our Weekly Journals, Production Blog Pots, and worked on our Slide Show for the film.
1 Hour
For Best Practices, this was best since with these posts, they display our abilities and evidence of us doing our jobs. That, and to prepare for our presentation on the film. We will be moving towards Post-Production.
Personal Comments
I believe I could definitely do better if I was a sound designer again. However, I do not wish to be a sound designer again. I’m able to fit any role since I had experience in every one of them. For this session, however, I did not mind being a sound designer because of our amazing editor. His positivity and his belief in my abilities, it kept me motivated. Thank you, my fellow editor. You made me happy to be in a team.
Created Foley Sounds from the list and tried to create more audio through Garage Band.
1 Hour
Yes, we finally got some good audio work done but we will definitely need more and out of class work. We had a brief discussion and went on our way to complete tasks for the film.
5/2
Continued to create more Foley Sounds from the list and had Mr. Leduc assist with some sounds. I’ve also organized the mp3 files so the editor can edit and use the audio much easier.
1 Hour
Today, I was able to communicate more and get more work done which is good practice for the real world as good work is always done with teams. Not only that, good organization makes it easier for the editor to use.
5/3
Organized work for the team to use, created a few more Foley sounds, and added them to the folder.
<1 Hour
As a sound person, making more foley sounds contributes to our project, and I’ve used youtube to assist me in creating various sounds. My team went off on their ways to do their job and I’ll be doing mines.
5/4
This day was used for mainly organizing and renaming all of our current files. Not only that, but I’ve also reviewed every footage and taken notes to figure out what sounds are needed. I’ve also talked with a teacher and I will be able to collaborate with the class to create sounds that only a large group of people can do.
1 Hour
The skills I can earn from this task is reaching out to further expand the quality of my sound products while also communicating with the editor to assist them in organizing the files for them to be ready to compose it all together.
5/5
Two of our important members were gone today we the rest of us worked on our blog posts and preparation for the weekend. I’ve been experimenting with GarageBand to see which instruments would fit our film.
1 Hour
With some experimentation, I can get familiar with the virtual equipment in order to produce quality sound and music for the film. This encourages me to seek out knowledge using the internet and potentially other people so I could effectively use GarageBand.
Personal Comments
I could definitely use more available time. With the amount of work from other classes, it hindered me from being able to commit to sound outside of class. However, after my shifts this weekend, I’ll be able to focus more on better-quality audio. Since we’ve been granted more filming time, I will be able to improve on picking up audio and effectively provide my role’s expertise when we film our scenes.
For the project, my contributions were the variety of foley sounds and other audio that may fit in the film. I was able to produce enough to where the editor may pick and choose what may fit the scene better. Every day during filming, I’d either follow to see if dialogue or sounds may need to be captured in the handheld recorder, or I’d go on my own and capture sounds that will be in the film like birds chirping outside, or water splashing.
Captured Sounds
The camera picks up the sound of reaching into crayons. Foley Sound of grabbing the crayons will replace the audio here. I did not have any more images of me capturing sound for the film because most of the time I was on my own capturing the appropriate sounds. This mp3 file is audio for the outside world. Birds chirping, the sound of wind, the sound of nature. This audio is a simple sound of paper crumbling as our main character crumbled the piece of paper she did not approve of. This mp3 file is someone snoring. Will not name who I had to snore but it was for the opening scene if we were to have our main character snore.
Foley Sounds
Foley Sounds for Various Water Splashing on Face SoundsPencil ScribblingStepping on Gravel / Crunchy SoundPaper Crumbling
As mentioned earlier, there is no photographic evidence of me capturing sounds, however, I can explain the process.
When making the footstep sounds, I take the boom mic, connect it to the handheld recorder, and had my shoes step on a variety of different surfaces. I used my hand and my feet to move my shoe in a rhythmic pattern, and that includes stepping on cornflakes for gravel, stepping on a desk for a hard floor, etc.
Most of the foley sounds were recorded by the boom mic. Recording sounds for splashing water, crumbling paper, grabbing crayons, and more.
Collating Sound for Editing
At home, I did not have GarageBand, so I used BandLab to create music with the assistance of my editor.This is the BandLab music audio. I’m not musically talented so this was especially difficult and sound very amateurish.Here is the folder where all the audio and foley sounds are organizedAs we click on each folder, there will be mp3 audio files that are labeled in order to make it easier for the editor to drag, pick and choose.This is another example of another one of my folders of mp3 audio files.With GarageBand, I used the piano key instrument and using different instruments to experiment. In this sample, I used a Female Ensemble Choir to create the effect of heavenly blissThis is the attached audio for the GarageBand evidence above
Sound Choices
We’ve decided to go with a gloomy sad tune for the film. It gives a depressing vibe that the main character has. This was because our main character was going through art block, a very frustrating situation any artist can understand. Especially how this artist is very popular and needed to get an art piece out. And so the film gave a gloomy tone that expressed how the artist felt about the whole situation.
Composition Consideration
The main communication we had for the team was through Instagram. We had an instagram group chat to talk to eachother outside of class and discuss what needed to be done for the film. When making music, I was talking to the editor about how to compose a gloomy song. Lots of adjustments were made.
The music was composed through BandLab with the usage of the piano keyboard tool and multiple instruments. Mainly the grand piano and a violin. Like again, I wasn’t very musically talented so I did the best I could.
Musical Score Influences
Inspired by Montgomery’s Mr Loverman, most of the chords I used was influenced by this song. I changed the speed and added longer notes to make it sound influenced by this song but also slightly more original.
The violin part was suggested by the editor and I felt inspired by the violin. I’ve added violin notes under the piano notes in order to give emphasis to the blue tones of the music.
What I Learned and Problems I Solved
I’ve learned how to make better use of BandLab and GarageBand on my own. However, I’ve had my huge frustrations with the two music programs. For example, there was this funky beat that came out of nowhere that did not match with the song. I solved it by putting every track on mute and put the tracks that mattered unmuted.
Not only that, I’ve had to refresh multiple times in order to keep everything working. Every time something felt off, I mute every track but the one track and play it multiple times to make sure it sounded decent.
Since I did not have a lot of musical experience, I had a couple students help me get a sense of how to make some music and even then, I wasn’t too good at it, but I preservered and made some that could be used for the film.
Be as active as possible this week and get filming and sounds done.
Work Tasks
Date
Task Description
Time Spent
Was this a Best Practice?
4/24
Today, start experimenting with different types of sound effects that the film will most likely use. Also, I will communicate with the editor about the Foley sound list. If the green room is occupied, work with Garage Band. Today was mainly focused on scouting out locations and confirming that we can film in them.
1 Hour
Yes, we were able to secure a few locations to film in and they were ideal for our film.
4/25
Discussed our tasks for the week and I also experimented more with the equipment and making test recordings for random effects. I also discussed with the editor about the Foley Sounds list and the full list should be done soon. I also am going to prepare to work with music that would fit with the scenes.
1 Hour
This did help me get into the feels of sound design and we have a clearer view of our objectives.
4/26
Got familiar with the equipment and discussed our plans for the rest of the week
< 1 Hour
Yea, it was a shorter day, wifi was out so there wasn’t too much able to be done.
4/27
We took test recordings and made notes of the scenes. Some scenes could use some clean up (clearing up some of the items on the counters) and some acting practice. I’ve made note of where boom mics could sit if needed and observed the blocking and room of the scenes.
1 Hour
Through this task, it clearly helped me think about the scenes and how the audio may fit in the scene.
4/28
Continued on discussing ideas for camera shoots, though did not get any audio work during class so I will try to get some done this weekend. I’ve received a list of Foley Sounds and I believe most of them are doable at home.
1 Hour
It wasn’t the best productive day of the week in all honesty, lots of questioning and confusion about our film’s vision but we’ve been clearing up the film’s vision together and will communicate with our editor.
Personal Comments
This week should be more active than the other weeks, we got filming to do and sound + audio for me to create. Some work will have to be done outside of class and I’m willing to commit to it.
The entire week, I was out sick and was absolutely unable to work til a couple days into Spring Break. It was a painful week and I will have to catch up fast.
“Artist At Work” by Kool Cats Photography over 14 Million Views is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
SUMMARY
Sound Design Process
Any music during the film will either be done by me or by students from the School of Rock. GarageBand will be the primary tool to have this done. I’ve had experience in this field so this is nothing new. With time, assistance, and tone setting, background music should be covered.
When it comes to sound effects, I will refer to how animated films make their sound effects. This is also not new to me as I’ve made sound effects before. Just like how I’ve imitated the sound of stepping on grass through the process of gathering paper shreds and pressing on them with my palms. I’ll explore a lot more ways to create different sounds as our team discusses our logline.
I will be working with the Director to determine what audio is needed for each scene. And I will also make sure to communicate with the Editor in order to prepare audio that they will utilize.
Storytelling Elements
Realistic Sound (Diegetic) (Character) These are sounds that exist in the audio world on the screen, basically meaning that the characters can hear the sounds that we are hearing. Making use of this, we can increase the intensity and drama of our protagonist, especially in the beginning when she wakes up to her alarm clock on her desk. The first scenes will open huge opportunities to include this element of sound and add depth to our film.
An example of this is in The Amazing Spiderman 2
Symbolic Use of Music This may occur towards the end of the film when our protagonist reaches her goal. Or as when the film is at its climax. using music will sync with the scenes and give symbolic meaning to whatever action is present. For example, we could have upbeat funky music when a protagonist figures out a solution to the main problem and works their way to the climax or falling action.
An example of this is present in the Amazing Spiderman 2 (The clip above) with the music being the overpowering feeling of overcoming conflict for Peter Parker.
Expressive Sound (Diegetic) (Outer World) There will be plenty of natural sounds in the scenes that I will recreate. However, in order to add dramatic effect, these sounds will be altered. I believe this can make great use in our film since it will deal with art, and naturally there will be silence here and there in the film. With silence, there can be small noises like a buzzing fly or a phone ringing.
A wonderful prime example of this is in a film, Barton Fink 1991
Surreal Sound (Meta-Diegetic) (Inner World) These sounds will represent our protagonist’s inner world. This is perfect for our film since our film will base around her inner world. These sounds are present in nightmares, dreams, hallucinations, wishes, etc. The film will make plenty of use of that.
The Film, Inception, displays this really well in this scene
Test Recordings
Here are a few recordings with first-time experience with the boom mics.
A few problems were the noise the boom mic makes. However, this should be an easy fix. I’ve noticed some elements on the boom mic were loose or not clamped, so if I were to make sure nothing is loose, there shouldn’t be too much noise emitting from the clashing within the boom mic.
As a reference for myself, in order to use the boom mic and handheld recorder combo, I must plug in the cord to connect the two items. Then I have to click the record button twice to begin the actual recording since the first click will let you adjust and observe how sensitive the audio is picking up and you can adjust the mic to your liking. The boom mic must be swift and not noisy when recording. The stop button will stop the recording and I will be able to replay my audio with the replay button that is near the stop button.
Equipment Checklist
Boom Mics
Hand Held Recorder
Recording Workflow
Locations Map
One of the locations, where the protagonist will wake up.
Then we have a scene where the protagonist will be walking as the camera follows. The boom will follow and I will make sure I make minimal noise
Foley Sounds
List of potential sound effects:
Sound Effect 1: Alarm rings. This will be at the beginning of our film when our protagonist wakes up
Sound Effect 2: Chair creaking Our protagonist will be waking up and sitting on the chair. This will be in the beginning as well.
Sound Effect 3: Different world transfer, whooshes, and magic This will be a complicated sound effect where the protagonist enters her own world (In her mind.) This will occur in the rising action
Sound Effect 4: Footsteps of all kinds This will occur throughout the entire film since our protagonist will be traveling on foot in different environments.
Discussions with Director
We also discussed outside of emails talking about our flow of work and how we will each achieve and accomplish our tasks. After school and during the weekend, some of us will be working on any unfinished tasks needed to be done. Foley sounds will also be thought of and sent to me with great details so I can replicate them or bring the sound to life.
I also spoke with the Editor and we agreed that there will be another list of Foley Sounds to produce. So every day that there is no film shooting, I will be in the green room replicating the foley sounds needed for our film. But on the days we film, I will have a sound cue sheet if needed, and do my very best to catch up all the audio in our scene when our actress and actors speak.
Influences from Films
Dunkirk (2017) The Sound editors were Richard King and Alex Gibson Sound Mixers were Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, and Mark Weingarten The audio, music, and sound gave rising tension and used an effective tone of the music, the Shepard Tone. What I’ve learned from studying Shepard Tone: In short, the high pitch becomes quieter, the middle pitch stays the same volume and the lowest pitch becomes louder. This creates an illusionary audio where it seems as if the music is rising more and more, which gives a perfect way to rise tension.
Another film I’m taking inspiration from: “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.”
Edgar Wright expresses huge creativity in the sound design of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. There were tons of sound effects that adds a dramatic effect to each action, like a whooshing sound effect when the camera moves, the bed creaking when Scott sits up on his bed, or how the sound of pouring and drinking a beverage was greatly exaggerated. These sound design techniques would make great use in our film since I will be able to sync my audio / sound effects with the scenes.
What I Learned and Problems I Solved
I’ve learned the many different ways sound can be used. Whether it be in the form of music, sound effect, or natural sounds, they can be manipulated in order to add effect to films. Our film will be influenced by the film, “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” The genre we are striking for is comedy and using what I’ve learned from Edgar Wright’s work, I will focus on producing plenty of foley sounds for every necessary action/movement our protagonist makes.
Some problems were noise from moving the boom mic. But as mentioned before, in order to minimalize the noise made by the boom mic, I have to make sure everything is clamped and not loose. I will also note this when I make sound effects. I will be having a stand that will pick up every audio that is emitted for foley sounds.
