(relatively) up to date info on all Jace Sound projects in the works
Category: The Real Pirate
The Real Pirate is an animated short I am producing sound for, in which a man, who isn’t taken seriously as a pirate, sees himself followed by a small and mischievous monkey.
I will insert examples of my workflow for The real Pirate via screenshots of the project below.
The Real Pirate
Workflow is an incredibly important aspect of professional post-production sound and so a lot of effort went into managing and updating my workflow as I worked on The Real Pirate. from the ground-up, I organised the project to have the optimal organisation, putting anything involving ADR/Dialogue into a track folder labelled VX (Later renamed to DX to match industry standards for project organisation), Sound effects into a track folder called SFX, Ambience into a folder called Amb and any Music, including scoring I wrote, into a folder called Score. This allowed me to mute each category separately to check the mix for each group to make sure everything had it’s own place.
Before recording anything however, I ran a quick spotting session, with an example of some of this spotting in this post, which is a key aspect of correct audio post-production workflow (Cheung, 2023)
For this learning outcome, I will be focussing on my work for The Real Pirate as that is the project I have scored and sourced music for.
Instrumentation
To start, I had to narrow down what kind of theme this project had. To do this I first watched the animatic the team had sent me, with their sound suggestions/outline on the film, and made notes on what kind of music I felt on first watch could fit the tone of the film. From this, I made mind maps on possible directions for the scoring.
In exploring scoring for a pirate feature, that wasn’t too serious and embraced the more slapstick tone of cartoons, I took notes from Morningdew Media (Holmgren, 2023) as well as suggestions from forums (Stack Exchange, 2011) on the kind of instruments present in pirate-related media. From this, I selected the accordion and the mandolin, as they are generally light-hearted and omnipresent in pirate-related media. While the fiddle and the harpsichord also made it to the shortlist due to their common presence in shanties and other music from the era or pirating on the high-seas, I felt they gave a too serious nautical tone as opposed to a piratey one.
Tone
To do this, I arranged a meeting with the animation team, the details of which can be seen in the Animation Team Meeting post. When exploring the tone the score should be written in, based on what the team and I discussed in our meeting, I went for a more clichéd take on pirate music as it lends itself better to an unserious and cartoony atmosphere. According to Holmgren (2023), Pirate Music is usually written in the key of C minor and using a mixolydian scale, meaning it would have a diminished 7th, however after a while of tinkering with the versions of these instruments in XPand!2, I chose to stick with C minor but move to a combination of Mixolydian and Dorian scales, meaning starting with the diminished 7th in the introductory piece and the title screen music. This helped to support the tone of the main characters dismay at being an unsuccessful pirate who isn’t taken seriously. by the end of the short, he is successful and feared as a pirate and so the music moves to a Dorian scale, C minor with a raised 6th, to signify his success.
Supporting visuals
To support the visuals I didn’t just score main pieces for the intro, title and end of the film but also several monophonic instrumental pieces sprinkled to certain visual elements to give the animation more life and to support the events happening on screen. for example, when the main character is laughed off by the man at the dock, a chromatic set of C minor chords are played on the mandolin to accentuate the characters sadness at being denied the feared role he wants to embody, followed immediately by some light-hearted accordion notes as the camera switches to the mischievous monkey that follows him on board, to signify his future role as a light-hearted character.
Reference List
Holmgren, M. (2023) Composing Pirate Music: Tips and Techniques. Holmsund: Morningdew Media. available from https://www.morningdewmedia.com/composing-pirate-music-tips-and-techniques/
There was a lot of dialogue required for ADR. All outdoors shots needed to be redubbed as the weather conditions ruined any and all sound recordings, which hugely impacted the dialogue beyond anything. The first ADR we recorded was for Thomas Klos, who played a construction worker in the film. He required very little direction in terms of his ADR performance, besides reminding him to shout and getting extra takes for different inflections. Next we had to focus on the main actor, Alex Morningstar, who was great to meet and work with, and whose lines were the most important to get right as his availability was quite limited. Directing Alex was a great exercise in learning which words to use to get the right performance, such as suggesting he yell rather than shout, as “shout” was getting us rather timid results, whereas “yell” got us just the right sound on the first attempt. our final ADR performance was from Danny, who played the 2nd construction worker. Having him ADR was an interesting experience as his character had to respond to some ad-libbed lines from Tom as his first line, rather than scripted interaction. This meant having him run through some test responses to set levels and check inflection and volume before giving him the go ahead, which worked like a dream.
In technical terms, I adjusted the height of the microphone for each actor and reset the levels for each actors performance, as well as giving regular directions in terms of distance from microphone to prevent popping and proximity effect, such as suggesting that Alex be 3 feet from the microphone during his yell both to prevent popping and proximity. The microphone we used was an SE Electronics X1 as it had a cardioid pickup meaning we could avoid bleed from the sound theatre.
The Real Pirate
For this project, I am planning on taking on the animation team to have them perform some fun voice acting work for their film, as I feel that it would help with fostering that collaborative atmosphere and relationship I wanted with the team, as well as making sure the performance they have for these characters is as accurate as possible to their intentions with the film. However, for the project as it’s being submitted, the voice acting for the main character was done by myself and the scream from the man on the dock at the end was performed by Finn Thomas, whose setup choices were similar to that of the ADR done by Alex for ‘Fathers Day’.
Being the sound designer for an animated film, the vast majority of sounds not involving waves and seagulls had to be performed by either myself or another student, and some of these sounds proved harder to pin down than others.
One I am particularly happy with, in terms of figuring out a more creative method for creating the sound, was the creaking of the ship.
Creative Process
Action Object Surface
initial sound – Wooden Ship Creaking
My first thought for this sound was to attempt to bend a wooden board or a plastic pole to make a creaking noise however I didn’t want to break anything and I found my attempts were causing too much handling noise, so I went back to the basics.
I thought about what creaking itself sound like, rather than what sounds like creaking.
I determined that, at it’s core, a wooden ship creaking sounds like a light, hollow, tapping of two pieces of wood. I started by grabbing a small drumstick-style stick from the shelf and tapping it on the table in the foley room, however the metallic sound of the table legs proved to be too loud, so I eventually, created this sound by tapping the small drumstick on a wooden board kept in the foley room. After some initial listening and lining up, I realised it felt too close, too clean and too high, so, in pro tools, I applied a pitch changer to down pitch the sound about an octave, on a 50/50 split for the wet/dry, and a low pass filter to make the creaking sound feel deeper, as well as automating a reverb on/off for when a scene would take place inside a ship as opposed to on the ships deck.
I met with the students behind ‘The Real Pirate’ on the 26th of March to get a better idea of what they were looking for as well as to discuss establishing a future timeline with them and to gather feedback on my work, meeting some of them for the first time and creating a more collaborative working relationship with the group.
There is a newly updated version of the project which I will embed below, showing marked improvements in terms of the chosen and recorded sound FX as well as some voice acting performances from myself.
I am yet to receive any updated visuals from the group however form the meeting I gather that some of the scenes have been reshuffled and there is a newly added scene at the end of the film where there was previously a fairly long blank space.
We also discussed having them come in to record some of the voice work and they seemed to be receptive to that idea, including performing the VA for the monkey character, further driving the collaborative aspect. Despite some minor notes that essentially came together into pieces that weren’t there visually yet, they enjoyed the version they saw and the work is going ahead as planned. However, the teams submission date for the animation is the 26th of May, meaning the version I submit with my sound design will be incomplete visually, which is rather unfortunate, however I have resolved to finish the sound design afterwards regardless, as it’s something I’m enjoying doing and I want to continue our collaborative relationship in good faith.
I have also started some light scoring as an extra addition to the projects sound.
Film Sound
‘I love you, dad’
My post-production sound editing and recording will begin for ‘I love you, dad’ this coming Tuesday (16.04.24), and I have remained in contact with the films director and sound recordist so I can best prepare my ideas for post-production sound.
‘Questioning’
On this film I have been both the boom operator and sound recordist on various occasions, including during both reshoot sessions and during 2 of the 3 standard shoot days. The crew were great fun to work with and I look forward to a continued positive working relationship with them. I am not sure when the film will be out but I look forward to its release.
Last friday I embarked on a foley mission into the ATB audio theatre to record several base AFX for ‘The Real Pirate’, pictured below is me organising tracks and recording some foley audio myself. I used Rode NTG-2s for the foley, and I recorded most sounds from between 1 and 2 feet away to prevent any proximity effect.
This post, as the title suggests, consists of the secondary research I have conducted into sound design in animation and games. As opposed to making a new post every time I do more research I will just update this one with any new notes I take, info I find interesting, etc. Each source will be headered for easy navigation and understanding.
THE CONCEPT OF “LESS IS MORE” IN VISUAL DESIGN APPLIED TO SOUND DESIGN IN ANIMATION – Farjana Salahuddin (2021)
chapter 1.1, pg 1
“According to sound designer Randy Thom, animation movies can be made more cinematic by avoiding wall-to-wall dialogues (Kiser, 2018). Animation films rely heavily on imagination, starting off with static storyboards which is then translated into visual moving images. This imaginative production can be made more cinematic and dramatic using abstract metaphoric sounds and ambience. According to Beauchamp (2013), metaphoric sounds are more effective to create a dramatic experience than literal sounds, and as many objects in animation do not exist; consequently, metaphoric sound is vital to characterization and plausibility of the object. Therefore, creative use of sound design in animation can validate and strengthen the personalities of the characters and the story, as well as guide the audience through a cinematic storytelling experience.”
Chapter 2.3, pg. 7
“Sound in film or any other media is designed for the audience, which makes it necessary to understand how the audience will perceive the sound.”
Salahuddin (2021, 16)
(cont.) “Therefore, Sonnenschein (2001) states that understanding our physiological and mental capacities and limitations can be the core of applying sound design principles for films. He states the different listening modes put forward by the film theorist Michel Chion, and introduces a fourth one as follows:
Reduced Listening – Awareness of sound from the surroundings without paying attention to the source.
Causal Listening – Listening to sound and gathering information about the cause or source of the sound.
Semantic Listening – Listening to sound that relates to a spoken or code language.
Referential Listening (Introduced by Sonnenschein) – Being affected by the context of the sound and its emotional and dramatic meaning.”
pg.8
“Kramer (1992) summarizes Bregman’s differentiation of two processes in which the audience perceives sound: schema-driven and primitive processes. The schema-driven processes refer to the audience’s perception based off their past experiences, including understanding of languages and context of sound. Therefore, this can be tied back to the referential mode of listening introduced by Sonnenschein. Whereas the primitive processes refer to the innate perceptions of sound, like the effect produced by Archetypal sounds – chirping of birds, sound of the thunder etc.”
ch. 2.3.1
“One of the most important principles in a film’s sonic landscape is the distinction between figure (foreground) and background sounds. This distinction makes a sound pop from the rest of the soundscape, making the audience focus on that particular sound. Such distinction is achieved by the sound quality such as timbre, rather than its physical dimensions (or loudness) (Sonnenschein, 2001)”
Ch. 2.3.8 pg. 11
“According to Sonnenschein (2001), sound can be described in three levels, wherein the audience consciously listens and focuses on the first level, the second level supports the environment without demanding attention, and the third level creates a united and whole soundscape, therefore affecting us subconsciously. He also mentions that the first level can be referred to as the figure, while the second and third level as background. Therefore, appropriate placement and shift of focus between figure and ground sounds is essential in building an auditory hierarchy to narrate the story. The importance of auditory hierarchy and sonic focus have been stressed by sound designers like Walter Murch. According to Murch, our mind can focus only on a maximum of two sounds within a scene (Sonnenschein, 2001). Therefore, a balance must be maintained between the use of dialogue, music and sound effects, depending on the intended storytelling.”
ch. 2.4
“According to Taberham (2018), “the audio operates like an echo of the physical world in an otherwise constructed landscape” (p. 131). Therefore, the sound design plays a crucial role in defining whether the film is going to sound “cartoony”, “musical”, or “live-action-like” and so on.”
ch. 2.5 pg. 13
“Since, animation films are specifically intriguing, where directors can get creative with the various modes of sound design, this paper will look at the films with the “poetic authentication” mode of sound design. In my opinion, “Less in More” visual design principles are more prevalent for this mode of sound design, as it purposefully neither includes flamboyant comic sound effects nor back-to-back dialogues, but tends to utilize various principles of sound design for effective storytelling and dramatic expression.”
Notes on sound design in contemporary animated films – Randy Thom (2013)
pg.228
“It is often assumed that creating the sound design for an animated film is more difficult than it is for live action. that is not necessarily true. In terms of sound effects, the number of individual sounds recorded, gathered form libraries, fabricated specifically for that film, and cut into mixable tracks tends to be about the same for a large-scale animated film and a large-scale live action film.”
“Stylization in the visuals and the sound allows us to focus, to be more precise and dynamic emotionally, as opposed to presenting a wall of indistinguishable sound and hoping that will translate as “exciting””
on Early Collaboration:
“There is one area in which sound for some contemporary animation is substantially more ambitious than sound for live action: early collaboration. On an increasing number of animated films, the sound designer is being asked to create speculative sounds for characters, places, and events as a way of stimulating the imaginations of the animators.” he then elaborates using his work on “how to train your dragon” as an example: “I fabricated many sounds… before any animation at all had been done for those sequences. The sounds that I made suggested possible visual imagery to the animators. Then, based on the animation they created, I modified the sounds or reworked them entirely, either of which sometimes suggested more visual possibilities”
pg.229
“There is a temptation in contemporary animation to “flesh out” the sound effects and music tracks extensively during the early work on the visuals. When the visuals are still simplle and crude, often only stick figures, elaborate and continuous music and sound effects are a useful storytelling crutch to make a sequence coherent and emotionally powerful. Unfortunately, once the visuals are complete and the crutch is no longer needed, it tends to stay. In my opinion this presents a problem of story focus. “
This legion of sounds, both concrete and musical, often tends to blunt the impact of the piece by making it less dynamic and less focused
Thom (2013, 229)
“Some supervising sound editors and and sound designers feel strongly that a film without complex and diverse ambient, atmospheric background sound effects is deficient. I couldn’t disagree more. In my opinion the “background sound style” should be congruous with that of the film as a whole. The storytelling style of some films calls for richly layered and constantly shifting background ambience; the style of others does not.” – in other words, there is no “one size fits all” approach or background sound for animation, just as the same is true with all other audiovisual projects.
cont. “The point I want to make is that each film I work on calls for its own sound design aesthetic. I try to make as few assumptions as possible at the beginning of each project, then work with the director to discover what seems to work best.”
pg.230
“The ideal result is clarity of message. The sonic landscape is not muddied up with unnecessary sounds that will tend to mask and thereby emasculate one another. The sounds are chosen carefully to make each moment “realistic” enough to be believable and emotionally on point”
“The term “realistic” is problematic as it applies to any film, especially an animated film. Directors often put a premium on “realistic” sounds in both live action and animation because they feel “adding realism” is one of sound’s principal jobs to provide a solid base for the fanciful visual images so that they don’t float away, out of control.”
pg. 231
“It is possible to have several layers of simultaneous sound as long as there is, for lack of a better description, a “loudness hierarchy” among then.”
Thom (2013, 231)
(cont.) “One technique for accomplishing this is to allocate parts of the sonic frequency spectrum to each category or group of sound. for example, car engines can occupy most of the bass end of the spectrum in a given moment, while voices occupy occupy most of the mid range of frequencies. The engine sounds therefore have to be designed to be bass intensive.”
“All of the sound crafts in film, except for that of the composer, have too often been categorized, misguidedly, as “technical” jobs. All sound people tend to be referred to as “engineers”. Though we use technology, just as all the other film crafts do, making artistic decisions is the essential role of the sound designer in animated and live-action films. We have initial discussions with animation directors about the story and the principal characters, human and nonhuman. Then we begin to fabricate and collect sounds we think may be useful for the project. Before I am ready to play a set of those sounds in sync with picture for a director, I have made literally hundreds of artistic editorial decisions about their appropriateness relative to mood, intensity, spacing, tempo, volume dynamics, and so forth. The tech we use is directly analogous to a graphics or drafting program that a production designer would use to make early drawings of a set for the director’s approval. In other words, we in the craft of sound are not simply the operators of gadgets, waiting for the director to tell us what the gadgets should do.” – In application of this I have started work on some mindmaps with basic ideas to for the creators so that we can work better to create a project they will be happy with
Thom, R. (2013) Notes on sound design in contemporary animated films. In: Richardson, J., Gorbman, C. and Vernallis, C. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 227-232.
This week I focussed on starting the collection of various sounds, largely centred around the ambience for the animation (waves, seagulls n such). While I did experiment with a few other sounds such as blinking and footsteps these are still in the early stages. I started this process with my initial spotting sheet done for the first 40 seconds of the animation to give myself a contained area to analyse, then creating what I call a “Solutions Sheet” which basically describes what I want to do to find or create the sounds I noted on the spotting sheet.
Spotting sheet 1 (intro)Solutions sheet 1 (intro)
After this I used freesound.org to source as many effects as I could find that I thought fit the category of sounds I can’t recreate (gulls, waves n such) and put them into various bookmarked folders associated with my general mindmaps (cartoony, cliche and basic) with an extra folder called “who know” for things I was sure I liked but didn’t yet have a use for.
After an arduous process of reformatting this blog for multiple projects, and not just the one I completed last semester, the first post for ‘The Real Pirate’ is finally here!
so, what have we got so far? besides an animatic of the full short with a basic scratch track provided by the animators, nothing to actually show on the blog just yet. I have a basic spotting sheet with some technical solutions and a few mind-maps put together with an aim to have my own scratch tracks (yes, plural) to be completed over the next week or two, and then brought to the animators for opinions.
I am optimistic about the future of this project as the animators seem very passionate about their creation and it’s really a very fun little animation.
