Production Folder - Organising files and Sound Logging sheets with notes

Organising the sound files

 During the first week of Easter, I re listened to all of the sound files and spent some time renaming and organising them into folders to make the sound edit a lot easier. This was quite a difficult task, as some of the sound recordings from the first day of filming were hard to recognise without viewing the footage alongside them. This was mainly a difficult task to complete with sounds of slight movement which went alongside shots such as the picking up of the tie and viewing of the dropped photograph.

This was an issue that I picked up on after listening to the sound collected on the first day when I got back to Sheffield. Realising this early on, it did mean that on the second day of production, I was able to make sure to record each clip slightly earlier than the camera, in order to record myself saying a shot description for each scene and take I was about to film.

Sound Logging with notes

After listening through and organising all of the sound files into folders, I created the following sound table, and also renamed all of the best takes to make it an easier job for Adam when it comes to designing the sound in the final edit.

Filming week - Day 3 - 10/04/2014

After a long day of filming yesterday, we expected today to take a similar amount of time, but actually found that because we were aware of the issues that we did face yesterday that took up a lot of our time, we were able to act upon these and make today's shoot both productive but also a much shorter production day which left us with plenty of time to gather extra cutaways, close ups and atmos. sound recordings.

One of the main scenes that we focused on filming today was the panic scene, which was both quite difficult to film, as well as a learning experience. Because of his past experience, as well as practicing of getting into character during the weeks in between giving him a script and the filming, Jonathon did a great job at acting this out. We managed to get a close up shot with Jonathon in the exact center, which was difficult to film as he did end up getting quite emotional, which was productive for the content of the film but which did get to the stage at one point when we were unsure whether to intervene and cut the filming or not. Thankfully Jonathon was alright and I think we managed to time the cut call of the scene and deal with this well.

The rest of the filming was loosely based on the first half of the script, which mostly shows the beginning of a new day for George (our character), which is aimed at introducing the audience to him and what his usual routine and daily journey consists of. However, whilst we were on location and with Jonathon, who would sometimes act out certain scenes in a particular way that might not have necessarily have been firmly  scripted, we started to discover ideas for new shots and sounds, and began experimenting with these in different ways. This meant that it gave Sarah (visual editor) and Adam (Sound editor) a wider range and collection of footage to work with in the edit and to experiment with in terms of exploring different ways of showing the character's progressive journey narrative. This also ensured that we made best use of the time and space made available to us during this week.

I think that in terms of group work, the six of us have really managed to work well and share ideas, whilst also being understanding and patient in helping each other out with any technical or creative issues that we faced. Jonathon has also been great to work with, as he has been patient with us when we have faced issues, but we also feel that we have learnt a lot about our character from him during the filmmaking process, and it helped a lot that he knew the script so well in advance of the shoot and has also been contributing ideas to further show the character's struggles and explore their fear throughout the production process.

Personal job role - Sound Recordist

Because of yesterday's issue with the zoom sound recorder, I bought two spare packets of batteries during the morning, as I was aware the same issue could occur today and I wanted to make sure this didn't cause too much of a disturbance to the filming and progressing of the script. As sound recordist, the issue was a bit frustrating and felt difficult to get around at times, particularly during the panic filled scene. This was because we knew that we wanted to get as few takes of this as possible, as it was the most difficult scene for Jonathon and I needed to get the balance right between not wanting to have to interrupt this by mentioning the issue, but also not wanting to risk not getting clear enough audio from this scene. I changed the batteries and kept turning the zoom off during the times when Rose was setting up the camera and Jonathon was getting into character, before Oliver marked the scene, which luckily did work out as a way of getting around this issue for this particular scene.
Another issue during this scene that we faced was deciding where each member of the production crew should be positioned during this, as we were aware that it was not going to be an easy scene to film, both from our perspective as well as Jonathon's. For the over the shoulder and point of view shots of the door, we decided lighting equipment would be required due to the positioning of the door and where the natural lighting lay within the room. This meant that Sarah and Adam were aiming the reflector, whilst Louise was operating the light from behind Jonathon. Rose and Oliver positioned the camera directly over Jonathon's shoulder, whilst I worked out how best to position the microphone in order to pick up the closest sounds as possible. This meant that I ended up being positioned underneath the tripod, in order to collect as many close up details included within the sound during this scene. This worked well and was a good arrangement, however we also managed to get a close up shot from the other side of the door, with Jonathon positioned centrally as the fear starts to build in his face, which we feel will come across more strongly in the edit and connect with our viewers more.

At the end of today's shoot, we tidied up the room and made sure that everything was back to the way it was prior to our arrival on Monday, before thanking the staff and Jonathon. Transporting all of the equipment back to Oliver's accommodation was a concern that we had, as we realised that we had all of the props that formed part of the room's set design that we had left at the location yesterday, on top of all of the lighting, tracks and sound equipment. To make it cheaper for us, we also only ordered one six seater taxi, which in hindsight probably wasn't the best option, as although we did manage it was quite a difficult journey as we almost didn't get all of the equipment to fit in with us.

We arranged to keep in contact over the Easter holidays, and the three of us that are back in Sheffield for the second week (Sarah, Oliver and I) have organised to meet up to review the footage and create a rough visual and sound edit structure during this time.

Filming Week - Day 2 - 09/04/2014

Today was our first full day of filming and working with Jonathon. Although it was much a longer day than we had originally planned, it went really well and this meant that we managed to gather a lot  more footage than we originally planned and expected, as we came up with further ideas and shots to gather on the day.

When we first arrived at Wood Hill Grange, we all signed in and made sure staff were aware of our filming and alright with this. We put the following sign up on both the room's door that we were filming in, as well as the corridor.

























We decided to manage our time by splitting the group into two smaller groups; Louise (Producer), Sarah (Editor) and Adam (Sound Editor), who would stay inside and set up the lighting and camera equipment for the indoor scenes, whilst Oliver (Director), Rose (Camera Operator) and I (Sound Recordist) went to a wooded area with Jonathon (actor) in order to gather a few shots outside.

We started off gathering some outdoor shots and sound recordings, which we did face some issues with. Originally, our idea was to combine the outdoor and indoor shots, to create a representation of the character's mind set by bringing the outdoors inside of the room. We planned to do this by connecting certain shots, such as the close up of the character's feet on the floor inside, with outdoor shots which would be the same shot type but from an outdoor, wooded location. However, when we came to film this, we realised it was going to be quite difficult to recreate the exact shot again and match this up within the edit, without it having moved, even if slightly. We decided to collect all of these shots anyway whilst we have access to a location as well as our actor, so that we have more than enough to work with within the edit, and plan to discuss this further after reviewing the footage both after today's shoot and also when we come to edit the final film. We did manage to gather some further outdoor sound recordings in this location, however the recordings that we gathered from the other outdoor location earlier this week seem to be clearer as there was a road quite nearby, which did cause some interference at this location.

The indoor scenes worked really well today, as did having a group of six members for this project. Sarah, Adam and Louise helped us out as we filmed and recorded, by holding wires and operating the lighting equipment. The shoot didn't feel too crowded at any time either, which is something we thought may occur when originally planning how to arrange each member of the group before we began filming at the location. There always seemed something for everyone to be doing, whether this was redesigning the set of the room, reviewing footage and contributing opinions/further ideas for this or holding the reflector and operating lighting equipment. The group has been working really well together, and when we have faced problems everyone has been patient and understanding in trying to help to deal with these as soon as possible and without too much interruption to the filming. Reviewing the footage throughout the day helped with this, as one of our main issues was continuity, and keeping this throughout our film, which at times was quite difficult as we were moving features of the room around as part of our narrative, so needed to get the right balance between doing this purposefully and the audience understanding it and not mistaking it for a continuity error. Working with Jonathon has also been an enjoyable experience, as up until this project I haven't really had the opportunity to work with professional actors before, and feel that a lot has been learnt from working with him, whilst he also was asking us about the filmmaking process as the day and film progressed.
We finished the day off by thanking Jonathon, before tidying the room up, in preparation for filming the first half of the script tomorrow.

 

Sound Recording

Throughout today, I have noticed there has been an issue with the zoom sound recorder, in that the battery is draining really quickly, which meant that I had to change the batteries every few shots. At first, I found this quite a difficult issue to deal with, as I wanted to get a good balance between not interrupting Jonathon when he was acting and Rose whilst she was filming, but still make them aware of the problem. This did mean that we had to do quite a few extra takes, however the group were really accepting of this and we got around the problem by taking a few extra breaks than we had planned to see if we could fix the issue, and I also turned the zoom off after every scene to try and see if this would save the battery.

 

Production Folder - Outdoor Location and Sound Files

For the first half of our script, we wanted to experiment with bringing sounds from the outside into the room space, to see if this would work in creating the build up of fear that we want the audience to connect with when being introduced to our character. After designing the set of the room today, Oliver and I went to a wooded area that we found just off Ecclesall Road to gather some clear sound recordings for this. We also found an area with a skip within this, which we used to our advantage by creating different sounds with this, as well as some railings next to it. On top of gathering the sounds that we required, I used this time to experiment with sound recording and create some further tests and recordings, to familiarise myself with the options that were available to us and to get used to gaining clear sound recordings. We managed to collect a wide range of recordings, and after this I felt a lot more comfortable with taking on the role of sound recordist within our film tomorrow and the rest of this week.



 Here are a few of the outdoor sound recordings that I gathered at this location:

 

Filming Week - Day 1 - 07/04/2014

Set Design

We used today to set up the location, as our film is being shot entirely within a single room, therefore everything within it needs to be carefully placed and suggest something about our character.

After arriving at location, we all signed in and introduced ourselves to the staff and informed them of our plans for the day. We went to the room that we are filming in on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, and spent some time viewing the room as it was already set out, before working out where to start with the rearrangements. We decided that we would not need to use the bathroom, as we really wanted to keep the film focused all within the one space of the room. We decided to use the bathroom as storage space for all of the items we had brought to fill the room with before we started on progressively building up the set, as well as any items that were previously within the room that we did not need.

We discussed the script as a group, and in terms of blocking we worked out that the second part of the script will be the most convenient to shoot first (whilst the room is full and set up like a long lived in space), followed by the first half of the script (when the room is shown to be empty).

The last thing that we film on Wednesday will be the progression scene - from the lived in, messy room shot, we will spent a lot of time very gradually taking away and replacing elements of the set (some hardly noticeable), in order to create the impression of the passing of time. Within the editing, this can be adapted and experimented with, and can be reversed to show the room getting very gradually messier, then maybe tidier as more and more time passes.


Empty Room Shot Layout


















Perception of Time Shot Layout -

Within this scene, elements of the room slowly begin to change. With this, we are aiming to experiment with the viewer's perception of time; we would like to show the passing of time, but also on a narrative level make the viewer begin to pick up on the fact that the character has not left this room in some time.

Visually showing the passing of time

 
 

Character connection with the outside world

The colour red will be used within our film as a symbol/recurring motif, relating to the way in which our agoraphobic character tries to connect with the outside world. There are a few subtle ways in which this will be used throughout, such as the red plant pot (the plant being another form of connection between the character bringing the outside in) and the more noticeable change to a red tie in costume. The one main connection that our character makes is when they write down (with a red pencil) in a filled diary at the same time every day what happens at a fixed spot that they look at repetitively outside of their window.

The below shot can in some ways be used to sum up our film within a single image; it will be the only area of the room that stays exactly the same throughout, even when the empty to messy transformation scene takes place - to show the importance of this one obsessive activity that our character takes part in as part of their structured, daily routine.

Prop List

Over the weekend, we have been sending this list around the group to make sure that we have all the props covered for next week's shoot.

Meetings with Jonathon (actor)

After finalising details of approaching the theme of 'journey' and adapting our script to angle it towards this, we organised two meetings with our actor, Jonathon. The first meeting was an introduction, as we were meeting Jonathon for the first time and he was being introduced to the group as well as to the script. Due to the fact that none of us had previously worked with professional actors before, we were a bit unsure of how to approach this initial meeting and so organised a tutorial with Lee the day before to discuss how to go about this. I took down a few notes during this, as although we wanted to keep the meeting informal and casual, we also did want to cover quite a few things and come across as an organised group to Jonathon. Some useful tips that we gained were:

• Mentioning the creative aspects to the film first.
• Coming up with a few key points and themes and discussing these in detail before the reading through of the script. Talk about emotions and key motifs within the film.
• Talk about a few of the strong key images, such as the importance of the colour red and what this means within the film, the idea of playing with the perception of time and the meaning behind bringing elements of the outside into the inside of the room.
• Give examples of films if possible - such as the opening of We Need To Talk About Kevin, as we looked at during the seminar.
• Inform the actor of type of direction - e.g. any improvisation? shot where we want direct camera address/breaking the fourth wall etc.
• After the creative side, discuss the logistics of the production.

Initial meeting with the actor

The first meeting that we had with Jonathon went well, as it was casual but he also brought up his own interest and questions about the idea quite early on, which informed us that he was keen to stay involved and gave us a starting point. Oliver (Director) described the more creative aspects to the film first, in terms of how he envisioned certain shots to look and the overall feel of the film that we would like to try to achieve. After mentioning the three motifs of the key, the colour red and the ukulele, Jonathon asked us about why we chose these items specifically, which meant we were able to discuss this in more detail and share an understanding of the build up of character that we are creating. We mentioned that the key is symbolic for the character's hope; the key will always be shown in some way, even if very subtly, when they are seen to be struggling against anxiety or appear to be thinking - at times when the audience may connect this with the character trying to make progress. The colour red is used to represent the theme of connection; items such as the plant pot and pencil that the character obsessively notes down observations outside of the window with are bright red, as is the coat seen on the girl who walks by - they are his way of connecting with the outside world.  The ukulele is the most different item out of the three, as it is more of a mystery and room for a number of different viewer interpretations as to it's purpose. It can be seen as a hobby to viewers, but it can also be interpreted, through an understanding of the character, as an item that reminds them of their past. This idea may subtly come across to viewers during the shot in which he is shown to be looking at himself playing it through the mirror, before quickly looking away, suggesting it is reminding him of something. The cutaway and close up shots also subtly show the date circled as 1st May, and at times this changes to April as a full month marked full of crosses. Although perhaps not noticeable on an initial viewing, these subtle details form a connection to the end of the film, in which the audience are made aware of the fact that it is the character's birthday on this day, so the ukulele could also be symbolising something to do with the fact it is his birthday. We wanted this to be an item that different audience members take different interpretations away from, as we don't intend for our film to be too firmly scripted, which is one of the reasons that we made the choice to include no dialogue at all. Instead, we want it to make viewers think and spend some time working out the film's content and links to the character, and aim for different viewers to take away different elements from it and interpret it in their own way.

We then went on to discuss the themes before going through the script, and Jonathon openly discussed his own experiences of suffering with anxiety and panic attacks particularly related to the outdoors and suggested ways in which he felt comfortable with acting to portray and reflect on this. We were all really grateful that he felt able to share this information of his personal experience with us, as it felt like the trust and working relationship was beginning to build between us as the filmmakers and the actor from this early stage onwards.

Second meeting with Jonathon

After a week full of further developing the idea and creating storyboards, shot lists and sound plans, Oliver and I decided to meet up once more with Jonathon, who had been in contact with us after the last meeting, to finalise plans for the filming dates. We had previously been in contact to share prop and costume details as well as to send call sheets, and Jonathon came to this meeting with some props that he wanted to show us before the start of filming. We also used this meeting to discuss the logistical side to the film in a bit more detail - we gave Jonathon an address and contact number for the location, discussed payment arrangements for travel expenses and exchanged contact details for a few more members of the group. This meeting also seemed to go well, and after reading through the script and informing us that he had been practicing getting into character for the past few days, we left the meeting with sharing our enthusiasm for the project and agreeing to stay in touch by email over the next few days, before meeting at the location next week to begin filming.   

Location meet up

After discussing our possibilities for a location, Lee has offered us the opportunity to film in an empty room at a nursing home in Sheffield. We are really grateful as a group for this, as it makes it a lot easier for us to travel there and back and deal with any potential issues that we could face with the filming, than if we were going to be filming in Halifax for 3 days, which is what we originally planned. We went to visit the room this week to get an idea of how the film will look and the space available to us, and have all agreed that this will work well - especially once we have set up and designed the room to fit our character.

I took some panorama images of the room, so that we could all re-look at it during our upcoming group meetings, and also plan out how best to decorate it as our set/single location space for the film to take place in.

Casting Call for actor

One of the biggest challenges that we faced as a group was finding an actor, and knowing the right way to go about doing this. After reading through the script several times, we all imagined our actor to be older than a student and preferably in between the ages of 30 and 40. This was partially due to the nature of our script; we have given the character quite an extensive back story in order to present the actor with this but also to fully understand our character ourselves, which will come in useful when thinking about other features of the film, such as the background set design features, costume and also the way in which we will choose to direct our actor. Because of this, we all felt that to reflect the nature and history of the character's backstory , ideally a non student actor would seem more realistic to our viewers which is important as we want to keep the film feeling as real as possible, as it is dealing with quite a sensitive issue.

We decided to post a number of adverts in a few different places, with the aim to get 2 or 3 actors interested, so that we always had a contingency plan. One of these was the Sheffield Hallam Drama society, who I agreed to approach and got one response a few days later. The actor was around 22, which wasn't ideal but it was positive to have someone interested and gain such an early response, so we kept this in mind as a contingency. The other way that we chose to contact potentially interested actors was through a website called StarNow. Louise (Producer) set up an advert on here, and thankfully a few days later we had two responses from. The first was from an actor who hadn't had too much experience, but was keen to get involved, and the second was an actor who had a lot of experience, in both student films as well as larger scale productions, who also openly shared his own past experience surrounding having panic attacks, part of which related to going outdoors.

We held a group meeting in the library to discuss the situation and all have a look at both the responses, before reaching a decision and organising where to go from here. Although we were pleased to get two early responses, we all felt like Jonathon - the second actor - seemed like an interesting choice of actor, and we felt like having his own experiences and using these as a reason to want to become involved with our film could be really advantageous to our film. We sent him a message back thanking him for his interest and asking if we could meet up later this week , and within a few hours had arranged a meeting for Friday at the university.

Drama research - Set Design and Character links - Beginners (2010, Dir. Mike Mills)

Within our drama film, one of the most important elements for us to think about is the way in which the design of the room reflects upon the character. The choice to only use one location, and in particular only one room, was due to us wanting to focus more on the character and make the audience work to discover who they were and begin to gain an insight into their fear through the design of this.

I did some research into production design, which is an area to filmmaking that within our other projects this year we haven't explored in as much detail and discovered the possibilities with this as a separate job role. I found that from this, I learnt a lot about how much time and effort goes into the designing of a production, and just how subtle elements of the background can be, yet they still hold significance to the character or broader themes of a film.

Thinking about linking this to films that I have seen that don't use too many separate locations, I decided to research the production design process in Beginners, a film which I enjoy for the way in which it creatively tells the narrative.

As well as re-watching the film, I found the following interview with set decorator Coryander Friend to be useful in thinking about our own film, especially his last answer in which he discusses how the audience's connection with and understanding of the characters is established through the use and design of room space. This is something that we aim to achieve within our own film, as we want to make subtle adjustments within the features of the room's design, to show the perception of and passing of time - but also to make the viewer look for clues within this that link to our character. We aim to do this in a way that viewers might not necessarily notice on an initial viewing, but pick up on  some of the subtle design features in closer detail if they watch the film again and begin to connect these with their understanding of the character.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2012/02/christopher-plummer-mike-mills-beginners.html

 In some ways, the character of Oliver in Beginners can be seen as quite separated and alternate from the outside world that surrounds him, which holds a small similiarity between the way that we want our character to come across as to viewers. Some of the shots in Beginners show design features such as items from the outside brought indoors e.g. plants, and others show the design of the house to seem very lived in and it feels like a creative space. This gives the audience clues as to the character who lives and spends so much time in the space. Within our own film, we also intend to bring items from the outside into the room space, and include sounds from the outside alongside these, to make the viewer question the space that they are viewing and also the headspace of the character that we are aiming to portray to them.

 

Sound Design Analysis - Elephant (2003, Dir. Gus Van Sant)

Elephant (2003, Dir. Gus Van Sant)

Another film that can be analysed for it's use of effective sound design is Elephant, directed by Gus Van Sant. Throughout the film, there are many long shots taken down empty corridors, often focusing on one character walking away from camera. Within these scenes, sounds such as echoing and high pitched sounds communicate the sense of place, and that of isolation and capturing fear. I think the sound in this film is really strong, as it works well to convey meaning to the viewer, and to some extent, in some scenes the whole film's narrative can be told through sound alone.

By viewing this film, I have gained inspiration and ideas for our own short drama, in terms of looking into creating a character's headspace and communicating this to an audience. Within our own film, we have one wide shot of the full room, both when it is empty as well as when it is messy (passage of time scene) which if incorporated with a mixture of outside sounds could work well to convey our main theme of fear and the control that this has on the character.

Analysis - Kitchen Stories (2003, Dir. Bent Hamer)

Kitchen Stories (2003, Dir. Bent Hamer)

Kitchen Stories follows an observer, whose job it is to view the kitchen habits of a single man (a research subject) in an attempt to understand his character. I have found this film really interesting to view and also to be really useful to analyse in terms of the similar angle that it takes to our own film - that of exploring character through space. 

Within Kitchen Stories, one space becomes more than just that and instead is used to tell and drive the narrative. With our own film being set in just one room, we wanted to achieve having a focus on observation from the viewer's perspective. Another similar connection between our own film and Kitchen Stories is that the understanding of a character through this close observation is explored. The viewer is constantly looking for clues, finding themselves in the position of the observer's character during the film, making it appear as quite a self reflexive film.

Although Kitchen Stories feels from a viewer's perspective that it is communicating the need for a further level of engagement between characters in order to fully understand and interpret them, our film plays on more of the production design features and what a person's own space and habits communicate about their character, without the need for dialogue. I think on some level our film is also trying to challenge viewer's own perceptions of the fear Agoraphobia, as we explore the fear itself in so much depth and show elements to it that viewers may not necessarily understand or associate with their understanding of the term Agoraphobia.
This connects in some ways to Kitchen Stories, as it goes into further depth about the theme of observation, and leans towards the idea that even by the close observation of a character, it can still be difficult to fully understand them through this alone. When viewing Kitchen Stories, through an understanding of the narrative as well as being aware of our own viewing habits and the way in which we are observing characters, there is a joint understanding between viewer and character that it is difficult to gain an accurate insight into the world of another character through purely closely observing them. Within Kitchen Stories, there is a suggestion that more needs to be done, such as communication and involvement with the character in order to fully understand them, whereas within our own film we are aiming to take more of an insightful look into just five minutes of a character's daily fear, aiming to go with more of a behind closed doors narrative, instead of revealing much reason behind the character in terms of their backstory. 

Production Folder - Treatment marked with sound notes

 



When I was first given a copy of the updated treatment, I read through it and made the following notes on how I felt sound could be used to emphasise the key points within it. I have realised that with us using a completely empty room, there is likely to be some form of background noise that will be picked up, so I will need to get as close as possible to the item or action that is occurring in order to get a good enough quality and selection of recordings to work well alongside the film. 

 

 

3 act structure to drama film

After holding a group meeting to discuss the development of the idea, we have decided on following a basic structure of three main shots within our film, in order to follow through with our intended approach which is to keep the film as simple and realistic as possible. Five minutes is quite a short amount of time for a film like ours, as we want to keep it slow paced and avoid cramming too much in, but instead connect with the viewer through showing a steady progression through our character’s fear.

 Taking this into consideration, the first section of the film will be purely focused on introducing the character to the viewer, and although not much is happening on screen, we would like to introduce the fear itself through bringing sounds from the outside indoors during a scene in which the character is waking up and following what appears visually to be a normal, structured morning routine. The panic attack scene will also occur here, but will have a very slow moving and steady build up to it, as the character will be shown to pace the room a few times and struggle to mentally prepare themselves to get closer to the door.

The second section of the film will be quite different visually to the rest of our film, as we are aiming to show the passing of time through showing an empty room very gradually adapting to a messier, more busy and lived in looking space. Through not showing the character at all within this scene (as they are in the wardrobe, which becomes clear to viewers in the next section), we want to make the viewer question the whereabouts of the character, but also question why the room is changing so much.  Because our film is focused on giving the viewer an insight into what the fear of Agoraphobia consists of, at times we intend for them to not really understand what is happening and want them also to feel a sense of being stuck in the room when they really want to see footage taken from outside of this one space.

The third and final part to the film will be the character’s own progression; their journey from having another day stuck inside and following their strange but familiar routine, wishing that they could go out, to making the next step of going to put their shoe on, as well as the coat that they always wear inside. The aim with this final part to our film is for the viewer to not actually know if the character finishes putting his shoe on, but be made aware of the addition of this to his usual routine, and the suggestion that he might be considering making the next step towards facing his fear.

 

Sound Design in We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011, Dir. Lynne Ramsay)

Sound Design
 
http://designingsound.org/2011/09/paul-davies-special-the-lynne-ramsay-collaboration-exclusive-interview/

As well as finding the visuals interesting and very effective throughout the film, I was also keen to find out more about the sound design that connects with the viewer so well, and how this was achieved. After some research, I found the above interview, and found the section on Foley, and how this can be used to create feelings of isolation relating to characters in empty and quiet locations to be particularly interesting. Our own drama features a single character, trapped in just one empty room, and so this made me think about the possibility of incorporating Foley sounds into parts of our film, especially those where the character feels isolated and trapped, which could further help the viewers to connect with our character and begin to understand their perspective of the empty room.

I thought about the concept of ‘hiding’ and then also about how we could visually show this within our own film through making connections between the space and the character.  When initially coming up with concepts, the main thing that I struggle with is condensing my ideas down to one clear concept to work with, so by doing this at an early on stage within the production, I am hoping that this, along with working with the other group members to share ideas around, will help in keeping our concept simple, as we want to create a film that feels real, and use sound as an element in achieving this.