Sound Project

 During class, I learned several types of sound techniques, examples of each, and why each of them is used. We learned terms like diegetic sound, asynchronous sound, sound motif, voiceover, etc. These sounds are created using sound effects and sometimes sound effects are created using foley. Foley is a technique used in filmmaking and sound design to create or enhance sounds that are added in post-production. These are recorded on a foley stage, which is a special recording space designed to create sound effects and is equipped with a variety of surfaces and props. They are made by a foley artist.  

After learning the basics we were assigned a sound project. The project had to develop a scene using only sound. This scene had to be 1-2 minutes long and must contain four sounds created on a ‘foley stage’. Once we are done, we must submit three files, our final soundscape, a video of our ‘foley stage,’ and pictures of our editing timeline. 

My teammate and I started by brainstorming a possible scene we could create for our soundscape. At first, we thought of doing a tour through the safari, but we remembered that our scene had to happen in the span of 1-2 minutes. So, we decided on a basketball game in the park. Next, we started working on our outline where we listed each moment of the scene and what sounds we would include. We included sounds for the atmosphere like birds chirping, kids playing, bicycle bells, cars in the distance, and the wind swaying the trees. This outline helped us envision how our final product would be and to list each sound we would need to download and create. 

Since my teammate and I wanted to do most of the editing at home, we decided to use the editing program DaVinci Resolve. I had experience with this software, but it took me some time to figure out how to use it. The program allowed us to import all our sound files and place them on a timeline where I changed the volumes and layered a lot of sounds. 

Regarding our final product, I am very content with the layering of sounds we created. We included things like the player's breathing, the jerseys rubbing as players push each other, the bike bells, the distant cars, etc. One thing I would like to improve is the blending of our foley sounds with the digital sounds, especially the basketball dribbling. I think that messing with more of the audio settings could have fixed that, but I would have needed more knowledge of DaVinci Resolve. Overall, this project was quite different from anything that I have done before, and I am immensely proud of our final product. 

 

If you want to watch our project, click here

If you want to watch our Foley video, click here

And if you want to see our outline, click here