LO4: Be able to record, edit and review sound elements.

Evidence of recording

 These are photos of me recording my audio for our trail. I set up the microphone which was fairly easy as it was already plugged into the computer, all I did was adjust the height of the microphone and move it till it was a suitable distance from my mouth. The sound guard is on the microphone to reduce echo heard on the microphone as on the guard there is foam which is designed to absorb the sound waves.

 I used the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 2nd generation for changing the input levels so that it wasn't too loud or quiet when inputting the audio I also used this to change how loud the audio played back through the speakers as it was good to be able to hear how you sounded however it couldn't be so loud that it caused interference through the microphone.

I used Garage Band on a Mac to record the sounds onto as I know how to use this software at a level that will make our radio trail sound professional, my group took it in turns on the mac as when one of us where speaking another person would then use Garage band to start the recording and stop it. Another good thing about Garage band was that we could add easy effects there and then and see if they sounded good however we left this to post-production. 

(I wrote this)

Evidence of editing

This is a piece of audio that we imported into Garage Band I used the slider at each end of the audio clip to change where the audio starts and ends.

 This section of Garage Band was used to add effects to our audio.

This was used to edit the effects so it sounded better.

I used these sliders to change the audio levels so they all were at an appropriate volume.

I added a fade out at the end so it didn't just suddenly stop as this would sound weird.

(Abbie and I edited it)

The Final Product

This is our First version of the trail, that I edited. After listening back to it Fran believed that to make it better we need to add sound effects:

Gaining feedback 

we gained feedback through questions in a survey after showing the people the trail, we asked mostly quantitive questions as we can get the most information out of these questions.

It's clear from these surveys that the audience thinks that when it comes to the radio trail they care about how the presenters come across like they are entertaining, we could add a bit of comedy in the trail to make it more entertaining for the audience. It seems Jeni wasn't someone that this radio trail really appeals to and isn't someone in the target audience as the thing she dislikes is 'the style it represents' we obviously aren't going to change the style of the show for her, this is just someone that dislikes the show itself as not everyone will be interested in the trail. The things that people liked it, the language we used, the sound effects and how the presenters are represented which is very important when people have said that presenters are the most important. It seems to improve this trail we need to maybe make the presenters funnier and add a few more sound effects, however, the sound effects we've got are already good we just need to add more. 

Our audience told us to make the trail better we need to make Abbie less loud both me and Abbie are around the same loudness, they said also to make it less boring we could add another sound effect other than just at the start as they felt throughout the whole thing just having that beat in the background made it quite plain. They also said they didn't like the ending and they said we need to add a bit more of a jingle at the end.

The final product.

I changed the audio levels so that everyone sounds around the same level this is good as if someone is too loud or quiet it will be less enjoyable for the audience to listen to. I also added the jingle at the end and I think it works really well as it sounds professional, like it came from a real show. I didn't end up adding the guitar into the final trail as no guitar effects worked with the trail therefore I didn't add it in, the audience agreed this was the best plan.

(I wrote this)

LO3: Be able to plan the production of sound elements for an identified media purpose

Ideas for the type of show we're making a trail for

This is a plan for the show we'll be advertising, this is important to create a plan for the trail as this is what we've got to try and make the audience want to listen to. This is important along with the audience to create the ideas for a trail.

(Abbie and Fran made the mindmap)

The Audience

We identified the audience that we will be aiming our radio trail at using a mood board and a readers profile:

This clearly shows who we're aiming our programme at. This mood board includes brands that the audience will have like Lacoste and Topshop and brands they want, like Rolex and Supreme. They are an ABC1 audience so they definitely have quite a bit of disposable income. They enjoy doing creative activities such as the example used in the reader profile, dancing. They do not enjoy hanging around rough areas and prefer to stay far away from 'chavs'. The best way to advertise to the targeted audience is to create a trail that doesn't sound like it'll be something that is appealing to 'chaves' and mostly something that they can listen to and believe they'll be able to relate with the show and enjoy listening to it.

(I made the audience moodboard, Abbie wrote the audience profile)

What we need to include in the trail

I made this mind map, this is an overview of what we need to think about when writing the scripts. It's important to plan about what we're going to include in the script as this will make the script writing process faster and easier, this will also make the script more effective as we will include everything that we need to make a good trail script. We need to include something that could attract a group of people as this could gather a lot of new listeners and fans of the show, this can be advantageous for the show, an example of something we could do is have a guest star which would be somebody with a lot of fans, attracting their fans. We need a friendly but high-class atmosphere as this fits with our ABC1 audience as they dislike chavvy behaviour but want a friendly informal atmosphere. We definitely need to make the show sound entertaining as if it does not it will mean that people won't want to listen to the show. We need to make the advert more interesting as if there was no music it would sound boring and the audience will probably lose attention. We need a brief description of the show to inform the audience of what the show really is as this can make them want to watch the show. Introducing the presenter will be effective as if they appeal to the target audience, which they will, then they will obviously be more likely to listen to the show to hear more of them. The trail will be fast paced as the target audience is teenagers and young adults and usually have short attention spans, so to keep their attention we need to keep saying new things to make them listen through the whole ad. We need to inform the listeners when the show is as without this information they won't know how to listen to the show. They need to remember the name RAD radio as that is the purpose of this advertisement, to inform the listerner on RAD radio and persuade them to listen to it.

(I wrote the text and made the second mind map Fran made the first mindmap)

Legal and ethical

This is an advertisement, therefore, we need to follow ASA's guidelines:

Section 01: Compliance

We must follow all the rules which is stated on the ASA website.

Section 02: Recognition of advertising.

We need to make sure that the advertisement is clearly different from the show it's being broadcast on, we can do this by trying to make it seem like an advertisement rather than part of a show. We will use our own style of music and we'll start the trail in a way that is clear that it's an advertisement as we'll say something like 'tonight on RAD radio, rather than introducing it like 'good afternoon, I'm Matt' similar to the way a show would be introduced.

Section 03: Misleading advertising

We need to not mislead the audience by saying fake things about the show just to make them listen to the show this means what we say in the trail has to only be things that will be in the final radio show. An example of something we include in the radio trail is Kaidawg's interview as this means he has to be in the actual show otherwise the audience will likely complain, this could result in consequences such as our show not being allowed to air or even being fined. We can't make the advertisements too unclear either, we're best of trying to make it as clear as possible what RAD radio is and what is going on in that nights show. We can use exagerations as long as it's clearly an exaderation and the audience can tell this. 

Section 04: Harm and offence

When creating the advertisement we must think about the effect it is going to have on the audience as we need to make sure it's suitable for all ages, ethnicities, religions and genders as this trail is being broadcast on Sheffield live which is a community radio so there's a larger chance of any ethnicity, age, gender or religious person listening to the show. We need to think of the generally accepted standard when it comes to what people will find harmful and offensive, taking this into account we can minimize the chance that there will be widespread offence. We're aimed at teenagers and adults, however, anyone could listen to the advertisement or the show so we need to make sure that we do not make our trail so that it could cause physical, mental, moral, or social harm to anyone under the age of 18. We will be using sound effects on our radio show however we cannot use sounds that are likely to create a hazard for certain people such as using a car beeping sound effect as this could affect people listening to the radio in their car. We can avoid creating a hazard with sound effects by using clearly fake and unrealistic noises so no one could believe that their real. We can't encourage any negative behaviour such as prejudice or dangerous behaviour.

Section 05: Children

We are broadcasting this Trail during the daytime, therefore, there is a high chance that children will be listening, therefore we must take into careful consideration what we will put in the trail. When writing the script we need to think, would this be acceptable for a kid to listen to, if it isn't then we need to change it otherwise there could be complaints meaning we could get warnings from ASA and it would just give a bad reputation for our show if our advertisement got complaints meaning we'll probably get fewer listeners as it may make people not want to listen to the show doing the exact opposite of what it's meant to do. Our target audience is 16 - 24 and ASA class a child as someone who is under 16 so what they class as a child is not in our target audience so it doesn't have to be something kids would enjoy or find entertaining, however, it can't be something that'll affect children if they did listen to it.

Section 06: Privacy

We're using our guest star Kaidawg in our trail this is important to think about as the ASA and just general law states we can't use slander and talk about them in a defamatory way during this advertisement therefore to avoid any issues we should let Kaidawg listen to the advertisement to see if he is okay with the advertisement and then get him to sign a consent form to show he is okay with it.

Another thing to think about when it comes to legal and ethical issues is the Copyright and Patents act 1988, this means we can not take someone else's work and use it within our product without their permission. To make sure we don't run into any issues we must only use media that we know we can use for free and have the permission of the creator to use, we'll do this by using websites like freesound.org and incompetch.com which are licenced under creative commons meaning we can use the music and sound effects from these websites for free.
(I wrote this)

The script

Rough script:
All three members of our group wrote a script to look at all the different ideas we could come up with, we would then use the parts we like of each to create the final product:

My script:

Frans Script:

Abbie's script:





































I then took the sections that I liked and made it into the final script. I liked the part in Abbie's script where Kaidawg talks in the promotion as this will attract his audience as he talks about how he's going to talk about his up and coming album, also if they aren't paying attention when they hear his voice they may pay attention to the trail. Either way, having Kaidawg speak on the radio means that they are more likely to listen to the actual radio show. I also liked how both Fran's and Abbie's script was more specific with the music as they said 'upbeat' and 'lively' while describing the background music this is good as it makes it easier to know what type of music needs to go there during in editing. In my own script, I liked the slogan that I used as it enforces a brand for rad radio and gives the audience something to remember us by. I also like the part in my script where I say that the audience are 'not going to want to miss a second' of the show as this really pushes across to the audience that the show is special and that they should definitely watch the show. I liked the emphasis of RAD radio on Fran's script as it makes it more likely to listen to the show as they'll have more of a chance of remembering the name of the show which is important for a radio trail.

Final script:

As you can see I took the parts that I liked from each script and merged them all into this script that I think would be good for the trail.
(The scripts are clearly labelled, I wrote the final script and the analysis of the script)

Sound effects and background music we can use

sound 1 - bomb: https://freesound.org/people/ljudman/sounds/33245/
sound 2 - TV: https://freesound.org/people/ljudman/sounds/33243/
sound 3 - Lightning: https://freesound.org/people/ljudman/sounds/33246/
sound 4 - Forrest: https://freesound.org/people/reinsamba/sounds/18765/
sound 5 - City street: https://freesound.org/people/sagetyrtle/sounds/36734/
sound 6 - School bell: https://freesound.org/people/John_Sauter/sounds/11171/
sound 7 - Cheer: https://freesound.org/people/John_Sauter/sounds/11171/
Sound 8 - Fire: https://freesound.org/browse/tags/field-recording/?page=2#sound
sound 9 - bar crowd: https://freesound.org/people/lonemonk/sounds/31487/
sound 10 - electronics: https://freesound.org/people/suonho/sounds/3647/

Music 1 - https://freesound.org/people/Flick3r/sounds/48544/
Music 2 - https://freesound.org/people/djgriffin/sounds/20518/
Music 3 - https://freesound.org/people/edtijo/sounds/240376/
Music 4 - https://freesound.org/people/frankum/sounds/404027/
Music 5 - https://freesound.org/people/joshuaempyre/sounds/251461/
Music 6 - https://freesound.org/people/frankum/sounds/208520/
Music 7 - https://freesound.org/people/frankum/sounds/320499/
Music 8 - https://freesound.org/people/frankum/sounds/382063/
Music 9 - https://freesound.org/people/frankum/sounds/333795/
Music 10 - https://freesound.org/people/JPMusic82/sounds/274466/
Music 11 - https://freesound.org/browse/tags/drum/electronic/music/?page=2#sound
Music 13 - https://freesound.org/people/FoolBoyMedia/sounds/250143/
Music 14 - https://freesound.org/people/Hoerspielwerkstatt_HEF/sounds/345264/
Music 15 - https://freesound.org/people/Greek555/sounds/395067/
Music 16 - https://freesound.org/people/maggad/sounds/260007/


Music effect 1 - https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/410895/

I looked around on free sound.org and found sounds that I think would work within our style radio show. I have got them all so that when it comes to editing we can sample each different piece of music to see what works best with the trail. We can also find each sound effect as I've labelled each one what it is, this is so when we need to put in each sound effect we can put it into the radio trail.

(I found all the music and sound effects)

LO2: Foley sounds

Equipment used:

To make sounds:
-Coat:  rustling
-Black tape and straw blanket for walking on leaves, using feet for walking and hands for a dog
-Metal door chain for clinking keys or metal hitting each other
-Walking on different surfaces:
   Nice house: tight wood
   Old house creaky wood
   sand: snow
-Watering can: rain
-Wet ground and footsteps: Walking in the rain
-Ice cream cone and wet dough for a egg cracking

To record sounds:
-Microphones
-Tripods
-Sliders
-software
-Track ball

LO2: Know the techniques and elements used to create sound elements for an identified media purpose.

Ben Burt

Ben Burtt's job is to create sounds which are original, this consists of all the sounds from the background noise to electronic sounds. He has to create everything from his own imagination using all his own plans. For a laser gun he stretched out a slinky and hit it with a wooden stick which made a laser sound and he knew this would work due to his years of experience working with sound. He sometimes went out to record real-life sounds which would all be put together to make a realistic sound but he is very interested in the creation of sound. He created sound by rubbing wood against a canvas but also pulling a canvas across a carpet. He stores a lot of his sound on tapes so that he has sound prepared for when it needs to be used in a film creating a sort of library of sounds
When listening and editing the sound he uses sliders to change the volume of each piece of sound he is using and listening to how it sounds and edits how loud each component should be.

He was famous for working on Star Wars as he created sounds that sounded realistic and the film now consists of the some of the most recognisable noises. He recorded real bear noises and mixed it with other animals to create a growling noise that sound like an actual animal and so the audience don't notice that the sound effects were recorded separately to the actual film. For R2D2 he wanted to create a human-like robotic noise which doesn't actually speak English, he tried using computer noises however this sounded too robotic and not human enough so he added his own voice and mixed it using a mixing desk to mix the computer and human noises to mix them together creating a human-sounding robot.

He also worked on Indiana Jones he created the sound in the famous scene where the massive boulder rolls down behind Indiana Jones using the sound of car wheels rolling down a gravel hill which sounded right for a boulder rolling down the hill. He discovered that the car tyres sounded right just by chance in a car journey where he heard it and they just pulled out a microphone and started recording.  He created the whip sounds by actually going out and recording whip cracks in different areas, showing sometimes it is just recording the real thing and putting it into the film afterwards. Location of recording is important in this case as there is the slightest difference in the sound of a whip cracking in a forest to the middle of a city.

Another thing that he has worked on is WallE which is important as all sound in WallE is artificially made as it is an animation, he describes it as 'creating a whole new world of sound' and they completely create their character. In this, though he found machines built just for making sounds which sound like real life sounds, such as a rain machine which was just a big cylinder with little balls in it that sound like rain. Another machine which he used in Wall-e was something called a thunder sheet in which you hit a large metal sheet and it sounded like an actual storm. In Wall-e he actually created the sound effects during production which was very strange, he actually made sounds using the storyboards and rough animations and a group of people would critique it. He first decides on how he creates a sound through physics and how they would sound in the real world however if this does not work with him he scraps the realism and creates what he believes works. He used an army generator to create the sound of Wall-e moving slowly and if he moves faster additional sounds where added such as an inertia starter which was used to power old planes, this worked perfectly for Wall-e as it sounds like fast-moving robot wheels. He used a device called the vocoder to create the robotic synthesized noise of eve to create a human-sounding robot.

Practice example of applying soundtrack tools.

I created this clip with Abbie, Abbie found facts on red squirrels while I wrote down the facts into a script. I timed the script to see how far each section took up, I also looked at where I wanted to start each section as well, knowing where each section started and ended I could see how much of the video was taken up by voice overs.  Once the script was finished we went into a sound booth and I recorded the voice of  the narrator onto garage band and then exported it as a .WAV file and then put it into Adobe Premiere and matched it up with the video and then I exported it.

(I wrote both of these)

LO1: Understanding the use of sound in media products

Blade Runner:
https://youtu.be/aFJF2CRASRM
In Blade runner sound is important as it is both a Science fiction film and includes rain so to make the audience believe what they are seeing is real. They use futuristic car engine and electrical noises to make it seem like a futuristic scene and they use oriental market music and speaking to set the location. They use a loud speaker sound of someone talking about moving to the new world to set the current state of the world. They do this to create vermislitude as this is a soundscape of what you would expect to find in a futuristic city. At the beginning of the clip we hear a car engine but not a normal car engine a futuristic sounding car engine as we see a hovering car fly past which makes it seem like it is a real car from the future flying past as that's what we hear. We also hear beeping of cars which we cannot see making the audience believe that there are lots of these flying cars going about without actually having to see them setting up the scene of these shots being set in a large city. We then start to hear a large ship producing a speech that is talking about moving to a new future in a off world colony which allows the audience to further see the advancements of the human race and how the shots are not located in a nice area. We then move down into a Chinese market where we can hear talking, electrical buzzing sounds, weird music and rain. All sounds are used to create the correct atmosphere in the scene as it allows the audience to know what the location is as we can hear a Chinese market place so we know thats where it's set. It also allows the audience to know that it's in the future as we can hear futuristic car engines and a speaker talking about a new world colony.

Saving Private Ryan:
https://youtu.be/DSKerypwUDM

In saving private Ryan they start the scene quiet and peaceful with open waves to set the scene, we then hear people struggling with bottles and being sick to represent how they are feeling. Then all hell breaks loose and we hear explosions and gun shots to show that this is a battlefield and all the soldiers are in a dangerous situation. After the door to the boat is opened people get gunned down and the audience can hear the bullets flying past and going through bodies and hitting things this creates realism as we can believe that there actually are bullets flying at these people because not only can we see it we also can hear it. There also is no music used in this scene which is also used to create realism as there wouldn't be music in real life it also give the audience room to think as music isn't distracting them it makes them real understand just how bad the situation these men were forced into is. As men fell into water the camera goes under water with them as it does the sound changes so that it sounds like it's under water this is done so that we actually feel like we're in the scene as if the the audio continued as normal it wouldn't look right. The water sections also give quick breaks from the battling where we taken out of the battle and then put back in. There is a section where one of the soldiers is looking around and seeing some horrific sights and at this point everything goes quiet this is so the audience can witness all these terrible things and take it all in without any distractions from guns noises and explosions.

Jurrassic park:
https://youtu.be/IpdxcQ1zYN0
In Jurassic Park the music is used to create an atmosphere and change the mood for different sections using different styles of music as these can influence the audience and change how they feel to make it so they have the emotion you want them to have when you want. The music is loud and dramatic during the section they are flying towards the island to get the audience to feel excited about the island it then changes to more adventures music once they are exploring the island to further change the mood to fit the scene and make the audience feel excited for adventure but also curious what the island holds. It picks up once they reach the open field to build up the excitement and then it cuts out once they reach their location. When they see the dinosaurs for the first time the music that is used is upbeat and mellow to represent the relaxing yet unbelievable atmosphere.

Skyrim:
https://youtu.be/QLnPwnJJcFQ
Skyrim is a role playing game so it is very important for it to immerse the audience into the world which Skyrim does very well with its sounds. Skyrim uses different noises such as birds chirping in forests and fire crackling in lodges to really create an atmosphere. Most things create sound such as characters within the game and animals, an example of such is when you are in one of the big city you will hear someone shouting about religion but a religion which does not exist in the real world this creates a story to do with the world within Skyrim. You can also hear market places and just people talking which help you to believe you really are in a village in the world of Skyrim. Taverns also sound realistic as there will be the sound of someone playing the lute, a crackling fire and sounds of people talking. Weather is also a big thing that creates noise as if you could see weather but not hear it, it would just feel unrealistic and fake, however you can hear effects from rain to wind which creates a suspension of disbelief. In caves you can hear wind flying through tight gaps creating a whistle which makes it feel like a cave rather than the same as the outside world and theres more effects on top such as water dropping and mice which is there to just really push the idea that you are in a cave. Monsters and creatures that attack you all have their own sounds and growls which make them seem real. Creatures that don't exist have non existent voices that allow you to believe they are real things that are alive and attacking you the growls show it's aggressiveness and primes you for attack. As you fight with swords you hear clanking and metallic noises to make it sound like real swords hitting each other.

James Acaster's Findings:
This has a live studio audience who laughs at the funny bits to make it more funny for the audience and show them where to react. There is no bed to begin with but as time goes on the mood changes as one of the presenters starts telling everyone a story where there is a sting as the music changes to a sad tone to relate to his story of a brown banana this is now the bed which is inserted in to change the audiences emotion for the story. Some stings have been used as the topic changed this shows the change in subject such as when they start talking about kiwis where a guitar riff is used. There is a foley sound of someone opening a door to make the scene sound like it is a real conversation in a real location this also helps the audience visualise the woman walking into the room as we cannot see this. There is a theme tune for the show which is played at the beginning and end of the show this is done to create a brand for the show and also allow the audience to know when the show has started and ended.

Alton Towers:
https://youtu.be/g86RPUZNbB0

In this advertisement we can clearly hear that the narrator is on a rollercoaster through the noise of a  rollercoaster going up the lift hill through the clicking noise and then we hear it rush down a drop.  The narrators voice changes as the roller coaster drops down a hill so we know he is on the rollercoaster, this is done as this is an advert for a theme park so the audience listening hears the excitement and fun at a theme park, they may relate these sounds to their own memories. This also allows the audience to understand the advertisement has to do with theme parks even if you are not listening to the narrator. All the sounds put together to create verisimilitude and makes the audience actually believe that what they are listening to is a man on a rollercoaster even if everything was recorded apart. The rollercoaster noises could have been recorded by doing field recording around the park , however this was probably artificially made using foley sound which could have been done using a metal chain and a metal rod to create a clinking noise.      

(I did this analysis)

LO1: Key terms

Link 1:

Foley - A technical process by which sounds are created or altered for use in a film, video, or other electronically produced work.

There is no foley

Sting – Musical/Audio punctuation to show a break or change in a program.

The music changes when it goes from the live part of the show to the pre-rec part this is done to show that they are two different sections which have different effects on the audience.

Bed – Instrumental music played in the background of an audio product or promotion.

There is a backing music in this clip to make the clip sound more inspirational and just so the empty spaces aren't as blank and have something to fit them.

Jingle - A produced programming element usually in the form of vocals to accompanying music often produced in-house to identify the show, DJ or the station. 

This is just a section of the radio show so there is no jingle.

Pre-Rec – A pre recorded element played into a live show, this may be to add to a factual item or segment,

The parts where the freestyler footballer and her family are talking this is all pre recorded and inserted into  the radio show so that the freestyle footballer and her family don't have to come into studio and they can be edited to sound how the produces want them to sound.

Vox-Pop  - literally voice of the people, a pre recorded sound clip getting public opinion on a topical issue. 

No Vox-Pop is used in this clip as it is not needed.

Ident – A station's name often accompanied by music, a jingle or an animation.

This is just a clip so there is no ident.