Final Soundtrack Evaluation

Our task was to recreate the complete soundtrack for two scenes of a film, television programme, or animation; the films that I decided to use were ‘Lucy’ (2014) and ‘You're Next’ (2011). I decided to use these films as they both involved using sound effects, dialogue, and music; therefore it meant that I could achieve a complete soundtrack for each one whilst using multiple methods that I have learnt during workshops.

Firstly, ‘Lucy’ is a film directed by Luc Besson that is under the drama, sci-fi, thriller genre - within this scene the main character is being surgically cut into, whilst having a short emotional phone call with her mother. The reason that I chose this particular scene from this film was because it is very dialogue heavy opposed to other sound aspects, therefore I could present my dialogue dubbing skills by using it. Additionally I liked that the majority of the characters talking are females, therefore as I was going to be the one doing the voice over, it meant that it would be more realistic. 

How I created the dialogue dubbing was rather easy after practicing the technique during workshops; after creating a script (by listening to the scene and typing it out) I went into a separate room as I did not want any background noise when recording, I then practiced each character a few times. From here I chose one character and used the recording aspect of Garageband to record my voice saying the script, whilst recording I tried to match up my voice with the mouths/pacing of the characters as best as I could. I repeated this process for all speaking parts and then watched it over to see how well the dialogue matched up with the visuals. I found that my practicing before hand helped out quite a lot as the majority of the dialogue was already matched up, apart from a few moments, but using the splitting tool to cut up the track and move it to where it was appropriate easily solved this. Another thing that made dialogue dubbing not too difficult was the fact that the mother character was being heard through the phone. This meant that I didn't have to match up my voice with any visuals but rather simply pace what I was saying so that the conversation flowed in a realistic manner. Although the main aspect of this scene was the dialogue I also implemented the use of sound effects and music. 

When it came to the music within this scene, I made my own track using Garageband - this wasn't too difficult as I kept it relatively simple, only using one instrument (I did this by selecting the pre-made sound called 'event horizon' (it is a synthesizer sound) in Garageband and held down a note on the keyboard throughout). The reason that I did this was firstly, within the original clip there is not any distinctive music in the background, therefore I wanted to keep it as close to the original as possible. Additionally, I felt like if I had made a more complex music track it would distract the audience from the dialogue; in this scene what the main character is saying is what you need to be paying attention to and therefore a complex and loud music track would take away from that moment. However I still found it to be important to have some kind of music track in this scene as otherwise it felt somewhat empty - the scene itself was a tense and emotional one, therefore by creating the music that I did, it allowed there to be ambience that created a tense and dramatic atmosphere. 

The last soundtrack aspect that I involved in this scene was sound effects. The majority of my sound effects were downloaded from a website called freesound.org - this website allows people to upload sound effects that they have made and let people download them for free without any copyright issues. The sound effects that I used where ones that added realism to the scene, for example I downloaded a sound effect described as fabric rustling. My use for this sound effect was for the fact that the surgeon was moving around a lot (such us moving bandages), therefore this fabric rustling effect made the scene more realistic and believable. Additionally I used phone sound effects, I used a sound effect called 'phone call tone' which was for when the main character calls her mother and is waiting for her mother to pick up. If you were in the room then you would hear the slight sound of the phone dialling therefore it was important that this sound effect was added. Along with these sound effects I used a few others from freesound.org (such as phone dialling, stitches ripping) as all these little aspects would help complete the scene and make it more realistic and professional. 

Whilst adding sound effects as separate audio tracks, I also added a sound effect on top of the dialogue of the mother on the phone. Like I said, the mother is on the phone therefore I could not have her dialogue being heard clearly like the main characters as it would not be like that across the phone - to achieve this I added an effect called 'phone call' which distorts the voice so that it is perceived to be coming from the other end of a phone. One sound effect that I did not download from freesound.org was the sound I used for when the surgeon cuts open the main characters bandages; the sound effect here was a Foley sound effect that I made. To create this I simply went into a separate room and used a MacBook (Garageband as the software) to record myself cutting up a piece of thick card with some scissors. From here I added this track into the main soundtrack and moved it to where the cutting part is scene. 

For the overall soundtrack it was imperative that I controlled the audio levels, this meant that after I recorded everything I went through and adjusted the volume of each track. This had to be done to also convey the realism of the whole scene; like in real life some sounds are quieter in others, so it should be the same within this scene unless it is for a specific reason (i.e. to be humorous in a comedy). The majority of the sound tracks were rather low as they wouldn't be able to be heard easily, such as the phone dialling it would be heard but not in a dominant manner - the loudest track within the scene was the dialogue, as mentioned before, it is the primary sound heard in the scene. I found that this scene ended up being very realistic and created a tense mood as it does in the original scene, along with this is tried to not change the mood at any point in the scene as I felt like it would have been received effectively as it would differ from the genre. Moreover, I did not differ from my proposal, as I had to plan out very concisely so that the end product would be as professional and complete as it could be. 

The second film I used to create an original soundtrack for was a film called 'You're Next' (2011), which was directed by Adam Wingard. The particular clip that I decided to use was a thirty second scene where one character begins to try and hand out knives as weapons to the other characters, however is then disrupted when the villain smashes through the window. The villain proceeds to approach the main character before lowering their axe to her, which is swiftly dodges. The reason that I decided to use this specific scene was due to the fact that it was sound effect heavy, meaning that there was far more sound effects used within it rather than dialogue and even music. I thought that this would be a good clip as it was different to the previous one I decided to use, therefore letting me present my other skills more clearly. 

Like mentioned, as this scene primarily featured the use of sound effects, therefore the first step was to find sound effects I needed. I brought the clip into Garageband and muted the original soundtrack so that it did not distract and confuse me when I brought in my own sound effects. Like when I created the soundtrack for 'Lucy', I downloaded all of my sound effects from the free and copyright free website freesound.org. The way I went about finding the sound effects that I needed/wanted was by watching through the film clip and stopping between each time I felt like there should be a sound effect, then from here I searched up the sound effects that I wanted and listened to various ones in order to find the most suited one. After downloading the sound effects I easily dragged them into Garageband where I trimmed and moved the tracks appropriately. 

Some of the sound effects that I ended up using within my original soundtrack were things such as 'feet shuffling', which was used when you see two characters move away quickly in a panic. Additionally, some other sound effects that I used was 'female breathing' and 'knifes falling' - the breathing sound effect was used throughout the majority of the scene due to the fact that you can see one of the characters shuffling and breathing heavily, therefore it was important that you heard these things to create that sense of realism. Along with this the 'knives falling' sound effect was used when the bunch of knives that the character was carrying fell after she dropped them in a shock - like with all the sound effects I used, it was an imperative sound effect to have within the soundtrack as the camera presents a very blatant shot of the knives hitting the ground in slow motion, therefore without having the sound effect to go with that then it would make my soundtrack seem incomplete and unprofessional. 

Another way, in which I used sound effects within this scene, was to create the music track. Previously in workshops I had practiced making my own music for film sequences using the pre-made instruments in Garageband, however I thought that I could also create a music track using sound effects. To do this, like with when I needed sound effects before, I simply searched up sounds in freesound.org that I believed would make a good music track once layered up. The names of the effects that I ended up using were called 'multiple sirens communicating', rhythmic tense ambience', and 'tense surreal drone'. From here I layered each sound effect track on top of each other, looped them for the majority of the scene and also changed the audio levels to make sure they were all at the same volume. I believe that this technique worked very effectively for this scene in particular, as in the original clip although there is music it isn't very distinctive sounding, therefore I felt by creating music this way allowed me to create more of an ambience than I could have done with instruments possibly. Additionally, the choice of sound effects that I used for the music worked very well together, creating a cohesive sounding music track that in my opinion came across as creating a very tense and alarming atmosphere/mood, which this scene really needed. 

As for the dialogue within this scene, there was little to none - the only dialogue you hear is at the very start of the clip when the main character says, "Okay we should each carry a weapon". I was not worried about the lack of dialogue heard in this clip as I had already presented my dialogue dubbing abilities in my previous original sound track ('Lucy'), and this original sound track was more about showing my sound effect and music abilities. However I still had to create dialogue for this scene, and to do so I used Garageband's audio recording capabilities; I went to a quiet room and recorded myself saying the line (not really needing a script) and then adjusted the volume and whereabouts of the track to make sure it blended in nicely with everything else. Once this step was done I believed my final sound track to be completed, however I watched/listened to it a few more times to make sure that all the sounds were where I wanted them to be, along with making sure the volume levels were correct and all worked well together. Once I was completely happy with it I saved and exported it.

Overall, I found this to be a successful original soundtrack as every sound aspect that I used helped set the mood and meaning, making sure that it fit within the thriller genre of the film. I also did not want to try and change the mood or meaning of any part of the sequence as I felt like it would not have worked successfully as it may not have came across as professional and realistic, as it would in a real film. Moreover, from the start I had planned the majority of this process out during my proposal, therefore I wanted to make sure that my practical work matched what I had originally wanted and intended. Lastly, I think that within both of my soundtracks, they were successful due to their cohesiveness from the precise editing and adjusting I did (such as splitting and cutting clips, syncing tracks up, adjusting volume levels, and adding different effects). The only thing that I may have done differently would be to add more Foley sounds (sound effects that I make with everyday objects) as it was not as difficult as I first imagined it to be, and they can make a scene sound more realistic in some circumstances, for example when a character shuffles away if I created my own shuffling sound effect I could have made sure each step matched up with the visuals. But although I think this could have possible improved it, it does not take away from what I have created which I am still very happy with overall.