Lesson #9: Introduction to Documentaries

Today in class, we spent a period working on our foley projects. In our second period, we were introduced to our next unit - documentary. Zhu laoshi showed us two silent documentaries that are both produced in the 1900s. The topic of the two documentaries are quite different - one is about the traditional lifestyle of Eskimos and the other simply records a natural phenomenon (rain). My perspective on the authenticity of documentaries have completely changed after this lesson. 

Nanook of the North // Robert J. Flaherty // 1922

Zhu laoshi asked us if we thought that the content of the documentary about the Eskimos - "Nanook of the North" was preplanned / staged or not. At first, most of us believed that it was real, but it turns out that one of the most interesting / captivating scenes - the hunting of the walrus, was a staged event. The filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty, requested his Inuit actors to use the traditional harpoon to hunt instead of the modern rifles that they normally used. In addition, it turns out that the main character's name, supposedly Nanook, is a made up name as well. Despite the fact that many criticised him for “deceptively portraying staged events as reality”, I believe that his intention behind the act of staging the event is simply to show the audience the lifestyle of Eskimos from a different, unique perspective. Nonetheless, this was a complete surprise to me and I am shocked at how much control the director has on the film. Not only can he preplan a scene and manipulate the audience's minds, through the process of post production, the director can also rearrange the shots anyway he / she wants and change the entire scene.

Rain // Joris Ivens // 1929

The shots in the documentary "Rain" are all very aesthetically pleasing. Ivens, fascinated by natural phenomena, not only made a documentary about rain, he also created another one later on about wind. "Rain"'s subjects are numerous and anonymous and the film focuses on capturing intricate detailed shots of the rain's interaction with the city. It is unique as it is ambiguous - there is no clear fixed message that Joris Ivens is trying to convey, unlike "Nanook of the North". Perhaps he was trying to portray the beauty of nature / rain and thereby reminding us to appreciate our surroundings. 

Peer Review

Today, we reviewed the foley films from our class and another class. As a class, we provided positive and negative feedback for each group. 

My group's film received generally good feedback. The class agreed that the dialogue was well-written and suits the character. One distinctive attribute of our film was that the static noise produced naturally by the microphone, unlike the other groups, has no negative impact on the film and instead helped with creating a realistic old factory environment. As the film reaches its climax, the pitch of the music also increased and thereby helping with the enhancement of tension in the atmosphere. We paid attention to small details, especially the mechanical sounds such as the turning of the table, the scraping of metal against the plate, and the placement of the bowls.

Scraping of Metal Against the Plate

However, one of my classmates pointed out that certain part of the dialogue was missing or delayed. There was a part where the man in suit did a hand movement and spoke but we did not record / put any dialogue for that. We should have paid even more attention to the details to reduce the errors in the film.

All of the films were unique in their own ways. Many of the groups evidently put in a lot of effort in their production and created remarkable results. Out of the 11 films that we watched, the most unforgettable one in my opinion would be Polar Express. The film consisted of a lot of complex / intricate sounds, with the sound of the old fashioned steam train being the most impressive. There was a long period of silence in the beginning of the film. Some thought it was awkward and that they should have filled some sounds in, but I think that the complete absence of sound plays a crucial role in the film as it helps build up a creepy, mysterious atmosphere, heightening suspense. The strong contrast between the sudden abrupt noise of the train and the silence before that effectively surprises the audience and thereby stimulating their urge to find out what would happen next. The fact that they included the sound of clock ticking reveals the fact that they paid a lot of attention to the minor details, which I think is why their film was so successful as each and every single sound contributes to creating a realistic environment. From what I remember, the only bit that they can improve on is the sound of walking on snow, which they could have used powder / cornstarch to replicate a more realistic sound. 

Completion of Film

Lesson 7 / 8: 5th November, 2015 / 13th November, 2015

In our last two lessons, my group mostly spent our time in the Editing Suite. We edited our film and also took note of what sound effects we are missing. We fixed some minor flaws, such as the timing of the dialogue, and we also finished recording the missing sounds. We spent some extra time after class to complete our film.

Choice of Music

Josephine searched for royalty free comedy music for our film and adjusted the speed and length of it so that it will fit in perfectly and help enhance the sound quality. There were two versions - one was at a normal pace and one was slower. Since the film itself belongs to the comedy genre, I believe that it is important for the audience to feel relaxed and truly enjoy the film. However, the speed of the normal version created a strange, overtly tense atmosphere for the film, giving off an uncomfortable, hasty vibe. The slow version, on the other hand, is able to convey a nerve-racking mood while retaining the film's comedic nature. Hence, we decided on using the slower version as it is more suitable for our film. One unique feature of the soundtrack is that its pitch raises during the climax - when the eating machine begins to malfunction, which helps with intensifying the atmosphere of the film. 

Challenges

The most difficult part throughout the entire film production, I would say, is post-production (editing) due to the fact that it requires 100% concentration and is time consuming. There were a lot of tiny unnecessary bits in the audio clips that had to be cut off, such as the sound of the mic moving around or our own laughter. Clips had to be separated into small segments in order to match the timing of the visuals. It was difficult to trim the clips accurately, especially the dialogue clip, because the pace Isaac and Benjamin (they did the voiceover for us) were speaking at did not match the visuals. Luckily, the zoom slider tool on Final Cut Pro was very helpful and allowed us to edit efficiently and accurately. 

Zoom Slider Tool

Last but not least, it was also challenging to make the sounds sound realistic. We had to test different objects on different surfaces to create and find the most realistic sound. For example, when we were trying to create the sounds for the eating machine wheels, we used one of the chairs in the library and tested it against different surfaces. We wheeled it against the library carpet, lobby ground, and even brought it outdoors. It turns out that wheeling it against outdoor ground produces the best results as the ground is rougher and more friction is created between the wheels and the ground, hence producing a louder sound. We also realised that it is important to place the mic near the sound source in order to fully capture the sound, especially in outdoors as sound waves can easily disperse. After the foley process, we had to apply several layers of audio filters (eg. Echo, Vintage Television) to some of the audio clips in order for it to reach the effect that is most appropriate / realistic for the film. What we should have done to minimise the inconvenience is to play and watch the video clip while doing foley. We only provided the script for the two guys to follow when they were doing the voiceover, hence, they were unclear about the pace they should be speaking at. Therefore, we had to rerecord part of the dialogue and this led to an awkward, unnatural change of voice (the original one was more raspy / hoarse, while the rerecorded one was clearer) in the middle of the film. 

Another challenge was spotting all the sounds in the clip that we have to do foley for. It is important to pay attention to the minor details. We did create a sound list in the beginning to help ourselves organise and remember all the sounds we need to record for our film. However, we did not fully complete it (which we should have) and hence, it was easy for us to neglect some of the sounds. Luckily, we had Zhu laoshi to review our film and she told us how we can improve as well as the sounds that were missing. 

In spite of the challenges, I am quite satisfied with the outcome of the film. Most of the sounds matched up perfectly with the visuals and were realistic. I read a blog which mentioned that the hard parts of foley are "finding the starting point for that sound and figuring out what work needs to be done to make it sound the way you would like without having it end up sounding the same as what was in that other program." I am glad that our imagination and creativity did not get limited by any initial sounds and it is easier for us to create our own interpretation of the sounds since we chose to use a silent film for this project. Having the ambience in the background was a slight annoyance, but it plays a crucial role in our film. Its constant presence not only creates an environment, it also helps indicate to the audience that no change of space has occurred. 

All in all, it was an enjoyable experience producing this film. From preparation to doing foley to editing, throughout the process, I have gained a deeper and clearer understanding of foley and sound editing. If we had extra time, it would be nice to label all the audio clips to better organise the timeline and work more efficiently and conveniently.