Instructions Given -
"Capture live action images that contain distinct sounds (excluding musical instruments) and form a visual soundtrack. Base your imagery on a theme and use a multi-screen approach. Use at least 40 images. Try to keep rhythm in both the audio and the visulas.
Consider this assignment as having a comercial message, your subject matter should be used in a way thst conveys a message to a particular audience with considered objectives (what are you saying, and who are you saying it to?) . 2 to 4 minutes in length."
This I found a very challenging unit to complete. Not in terms of coming up with an idea - I had several that I explored before committing to the final concept. Not in terms of mastering the actual editing techniques either - thanks to a really informative tutorial session by Simon, they were quite simple to grasp. Nope, the problem lay in that in order to 'try to keep rhythm' some musical, rhythmic ability is necessary - and I personally am less rhythmically gifted than your average cart horse!
In terms of an idea for finding both sounds and accompanying visuals, there was a wealth of potential material that I came up with - I spent an hour in the bathroom, listing the different sounds I could find, and had no trouble finding way over the 40 suggested as an appropriate number - I also looked at 'sounds of the car', 'sounds when baking', even looked at the different sounds made by a selection of different doors opening and closing. Equally, coming up with a potential commercial use for those themes was pretty simple - the bathroom sounds could be used for anything from bubble bath, to bathroom fittings. But, I wanted something a little different, and took advantage of my DH's hobby of home brewing, to develop a theme for my final choice.
I spent one very chilly day, following my DH round his 'brewing shed' as he made an American pale ale from the grain. There were a massive amount of different sounds to 'collect' - from the actual grains being poured, to the sound of the scales as they were weighed; The different sounds made as the different pieces of equipment that are used - the metallic 'clink' of the catches on the mash tun, the 'thunk' of a bucket handle, the 'snap' of the refractometre (used for measuring the alcahol content of a beer) and the sounds of the process - the liquid pouring into a bucket from the copper, the bubbling of the wort as it simmered, the liquid sounds of 'sparging', the grain hitting the brew as its added, the 'rustle' of the dried hops - right through to the end result of a pint being poured, the taps being operated and even the satisfying 'glug' of the finished brew being sampled. Although not the main focus of this assignment, I really liked the visual images that accompanied these sounds too.
Commercially, this could be used to advertise home brewing equipment, a home brew web site or magazine, it could be used in a 'self sufficiency' or DIY feature/advertisement, it could just be used to advertise a particular brand of grain, or hops. With the commercial aspect in mind, I asked if the final image could be the sound and visual of a person taking a long taste of the finished brew, and it end with a satisfied 'sigh' and I was told this was completely acceptable. This I felt, would add to the commercial appeal for the target audience .
Editing took quite a while, mainly down to, as I have said, the fact that I have absolutely no musical ability - Simon had showed us how to edit by adding a sound, then using that same sound as a 'space' between beats, then laying a time line of several 'beats' to form a base line for the piece. The sounds added as spaces could be 'muted' on a separate line . In the end, this just doubled the timelines for each sound used , which added visual confusion to the problems I was having creating a rhythmically musical piece. Half way through my first attempt, finding that the settings on the mac had somehow been changed, which further confused the timelines, didn't add anything to my enjoyment of this assignment ! Eventually, after much experimentation, and being determined not to give up, and equally determined to produce a decent piece of work, I found that creating one bar, then repeating it, was a far easier and more effective approach for me personally to take. Once I got that idea in my head, I found that even I could come up with a piece that sounded pretty good ! The actual process of cutting the clips, reducing them to the required size, and placing them where I wanted them was very straightforward and not difficult to master.
Here is the finished piece - MUSICAL BREW
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