Sound Editing Assignment 1 (Task 1)

To compress and summarise a sound recording to fit a specific space
Narcos (Opening) & Original Song: The opening to Narcos was edited down by around a minute so that the opening didn't drag on for longer than it needed to. All needed information and footage fits into the minute and a half used, no extra time would've been needed hence they cut it down, the impact of this is so that the viewers don't get bored of sitting through a 2 and a half minute clip of credits, and can remain engaged for the time spent watching it.
Another example is It's always sunny in Philadelphia (Opening) & Original Song: This opening is cut down by 2 minutes, as the music is very upbeat and represents the fun/funny aspect of the show, it's cut down by so much as just like with the Narcos opening only the needed information (credits) and visuals are shown and it doesn't drag on, and therefore bore viewers.
To eliminate flawed, repetitive, superfluous, uninteresting, irrelevant, material from a clip

In the released version of this interview a lot of footage would've been edited out. The reason so much footage was cut out from the raw footage is simply because most of it was irrelevant, like the start where he's getting set up with a microphone and the camera is being positioned properly, and maybe footage which includes an unsatisfactory response. These are cut out so that viewers are constantly engaged and not bored watching Paul being positioned properly.
To enable recorded speech to remain legal
Some background music may need to be edited out as the people recording might not have legal requirements to use that song, also some speeches, such as the 'I have a dream' speech by MLK need legal requirements to be used, therefore if this happens to be heard or referenced by a character (to an extent) it must be edited out as the filmers don't have legal requirements to use it, unless they acquire them.. Therefore some footage is cut to avoid the audio from being considered illegal, in that the filmers don't have rights to use the speech.
To ensure any indecent or inappropriate language is edited out
Lebron James swearing on TV: Although this example isn't the greatest as the delay was put in too late you can still get the idea and see that even on live television there's a short delay so that rude language can be quickly blurred out. This is done usually as most programs, this example included, are aired pre-watershed so the blurring of vulgar language is expected as children could still be watching. It's different when it's post-watershed (9pm+) as these are times when children are typically in bed so swearing is more acceptable on television, that's why shows with swearing are aired more at this time. But with live events it's more difficult to predict when someone will swear so they're usually slightly delayed so these words can be edited out quickly.
To change the chronological or logical order of a series of sounds or speech
This is used a lot in trailers and podcasts. In trailers, music may be cut and even reversed to suit the trailer, for example an action trailer, like Cold Pursuit, may use upbeat, fast paced songs, then cut out slow parts of the song so it remains fast and upbeat, lyrics may also be edited out, either due to legal reasons or desired effect, also songs may have breaks in them to allow speech or a particular scene to be heard instead of the music. And as for Podcasts, like the Joe Rogan Experience, the recorded interview may be chopped down to shorten the podcast, so that listeners won't get bored and can listen to all the important parts discussed in the interview and not have to hear or all the unimportant stuff, such as toilet breaks, unsatisfactory/unimportant talking points, etc. When comparing both examples they are both similar in that they are both prevalent for the viewers experience, they both enable the viewer to remain engrossed and not get bored.
To create impact by adding sound effects and/or music between pieces of recorded speech.
This is used a lot in trailers and movies, but can also be used in non-fiction, it is used in fiction to separate scenes, for instance if one scene has a fight sequence then music is likely to be played whilst it happens, then there may be a shot of one of the guys saying something with the music stopped, then it may completely cut to a whole other part of the film and the music may continue, a good example is Snatch(2000) at around 0:43, this singles out this one scene that lasts from 0:43 to 0:51, whilst the rest is all playing with music over the top, this is because the scene is somewhat humerous, this is used to add a spot of lightheartedness to an otherwise gritty trailer. As for non-fiction, this is used to make something more tense, for example the Planet Earth: Iguana chase, in between each line that David Attenborough says, there's tense music, that enables the scene to seem more dramatic and tense and add impact as the title states. Both of these examples have their reasons for use, but due to the nature of these two examples they have different reasonings, the movie trailers reason is to break the dramatic and gritty feel and add a humerous sense, the documentaries reason is the complete opposite, it adds a dramatic feel to the documentary, which was needed, as without music it wouldn't seem anywhere near as tense as it was. Sound effects can also come in the form of foley, foley sounds are produced by foley artists and they make up almost every little sound within the film, whether it be footsteps, clothes rubbing, doors opening, etc. These are done so that the scenes can be more realistic due to every sound being heard, which is realistic, obviously.Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this is a good example of foley artists at work.

Unit 24 (Sound Editing)

Mood And Atmosphere - Sound can easily create a desired mood and atmosphere, this works because we can connect certain music with genres of film due to, for example slow, creepy music can tell us instantly this is a horror genre and that danger is close. Another example is in action films, fast paced, fairly loud music can help increase engrossment and can imitate the fast action on screen, a good example is the music used in superhero films.
Audio Fade - Audio fade is when a sound either gradually builds up in volume or down in volume, this can help to separate two scenes, because unlike a sound bridge which connects the scenes by having the same sound in both shots, an audio fade disconnects two scenes as the sound quietens down then stops as the scene swaps and the music in the new scene fades up/in, so in short the purpose of an audio fade is to separate scenes.
Dialogue - Dialogue is all possible sounds from a character's mouth, these are usually recorded on set and not separately like Foley and musical sounds. However they can be recorded separately if necessary, for instance if a scene has loud music they may record the scene with the music played live, then separately record the dialogue and layer over the top to fit the lip movement.
Dialogue can help us to understand a character, voices can usually trigger our stereotypical thoughts so we get an instant expectation of a character. Dialogue (Whether it be what's said or the sound of the voice) can help define a different mood (for instance the whispering in 'A quiet place' can make a creepy, quiet mood/atmosphere and also define the genre quite easily, that being horror.), and the accents can help define a setting, for instance Italian accents mean the setting is likely Italy
Example (This video shows a wide variety of different lines in films that are well-known and liked, this shows how important dialogue is, so much so that the exact words can be remembered).
Voice Over - Voice Over is usually non-diegetic narration, spoken by a character in the film/show, it can help to explain a character, narrative or other details. This way instead of watching certain things, we can have it quickly and easily explained to us by a voice over. This is also used a lot in non-fiction productions, mostly documentaries, for instance Blue Planet, David Attenborough narrates pretty much the whole time over clips of animals and wildlife.
Ambient Sound - Ambient Sound is the background sounds (For example: 1, 2, 3) which are present in scenes, they are usually birds, wind, possible vehicles depending on location, etc. These sounds are usually edited out in post-production, but can be kept in to keep realism, although in non-fiction they're usually kept in, especially for documentaries, so that the viewers can get a sense of the surroundings and environment, whether it be an animal documentary like Blue Planet or a historical documentary.
Synchronous/Asynchronous - Synchronous sound is when the sound matches what is on screen perfectly, for example footsteps correspond to feet walking, this is usually most common in non-fiction unless music/narration is playing to a degree where the footsteps would be understandably unheard, it's the same with fiction productions, however these are more likely, compared to non-fiction, to have music playing over the sound so its unheard. As for Asynchronous this is when the sounds match the action being performed but aren't precisely synchronised with the action, This is more common in fiction productions, but can be used in non-fiction as well, this is effective as it can potentially link 2 scenes as seen in the fiction example.
Soundbridge - A soundbridge is an editing technique that carries a visual transition, this can help with continuity and can connect two scenes which may have otherwise seemed unconnected.
Example (The alarm clock is the sound bridge, this enables us to realise that these 2 scenes are related and so we can assume that he was just dreaming, if there was no soundbridge we may assume these events both happened and that the first scene happened the day before.
Foley Sounds -Foley Sounds are all the sounds except music, and dialogue, recorded separately in a facility, these sound effects are layered in each scene so that every possible source of sounds has a sound, whether it's footsteps, grass brushing, wind, clothes rubbing, etc. These can be used for both fiction and non-fiction for similar reasons
Example (This man uses everyday objects, and even obscure objects to create sounds that you wouldn't expect, for example tapping a wet flannel to be used for blood dripping)
Sound Motif - Sound Motif is when the sound ideologically matches the onscreen action, so, for example, when an evil character appears on screen, music deemed evil plays so that us viewers can begin to understand that the character is evil.
ADR - ADR is when the other noises except dialogue are recorded on set and the dialogue is recorded afterwards and overlayed over the footage in post-production.

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-animation/0/steps/12222
https://www.dragonframe.com/introduction-stop-motion-animation/
https://www.dragonframe.com/introduction-stop-motion-animation/
https://www.pebblestudios.co.uk/2017/07/29/william-horner-the-history-of-animation/
https://www.history.com/news/the-lumiere-brothers-pioneers-of-cinema
https://www.imdb.com/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/
https://www.animateclay.com/index.php/articles/11-stop-motion-pioneers/44-willis-o-brien-the-man-who-created-kong
http://www.harryhausen.com/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-vankmajer
https://www.youtube.com/?gl=GB&hl=en-GB
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Director&id=timburton.htm
https://www.aardman.com/tag/nick-park/

Assignment 1 Task 2(Techniques And Formats)

Time-Lapse

The purpose of a time-lapse is to show how something changes, therefore time-lapses are often used during sunsets to show the change from day to night, they’re also used to see how food changes over time, to see if it moulds. Time-lapses are used a lot in films to represent a passage of time. Some good examples of time-lapses are these: 1

Movement in time-lapses are hard to capture, typically people walking by are only in the time-lapse for a second or 2 at a push. This is visible in this time-lapse of abustling Dubai.

Plasticine

Plasticine’s purpose is to create a somewhat realistic looking animation, showed by the plasticine human models, paired with unrealistic aspects, such as a face melting for instance. A funny example of a plasticine animation that has both realistic and unrealistic feature is Pingu’s The Thing by Lee Hardcastle.

Plasticine is useful as it doesn’t dry so the character can continuously be moved and modelled to create different poses, this is how movement is created using plasticine characters, for each frame the legs can be slightly moved, which in turn creates an aspect of movement.

Plasticine is better off in stop-motion films and less so in live action films, this is due to the fact that in live action you can’t make it seem like plasticine characters are actually moving and ‘real’, but this is possible in stop-motion.

Plasticine is used in clay-mation, not always to create the characters but to make other parts, for instance in early man, the characters’ lips and eyebrows are made of plasticine, whereas the rest of the character isn’t.

Plasticine is primarily made for films that are targeted more towards children, such as Wallace and Gromit. This is because it is easy to make less subtle, more in your face humour with plasticine, which obviously tends to appeal more to children’s humour.

Cut-Out

Cut-out is effective in many ways, it is possible to create clear 2D images with platforming, you can also create the illusion of rain, snow, any weather really. This is possible by placing cut outs of rain drops or snowflakes at the top of the frame to begin with and after each frame move them down the page slightly. This, in the end, creates the illusion of rain or snow.

Cut-out is also easy to create movement, since the image is essentially on a ground looking up at the camera and not looking side on at a camera it is not going to fall so lifting limbs up is easy to do with little to no consequence.

Cut-out is used for any means of animation so can vary for any audience, although cut-out isn’t used for feature films very often, it’s more of a ‘short film on YouTube’ type of animation style.

Example

Assignment 1 Task 2(Uses and audiences)

Advertising 

Advertising is typically used to inform audiences as for the target audience, it varies depending on the product being advertised and the stop motion production. If the advert is about a retirement home it is obviously focused more towards an older audience, as opposed to a new video game, this would be more tailored for a younger audience or middle aged audience potentially. When it comes to the actual moving image’s ability to inform an audience, a fast paced, fun, fight advert, such as Vimto, would do a better job at informing a younger audience. But a slow, easy to follow moving image, such as Money Supermarket will be more likely to inform, to a better degree, an older audience. 

Essentially, Infomercials inform an audience of a product and its purpose/s. 

And commercials inform and educate, they inform the audience of the product and its purpose, however they also educate, perhaps because they’re educating us of a new product, never before seen

Music Videos 

The point of a music video is primarily to entertain, however it can also inform. An example of a music video that does both of these is ‘Greyhound’ by Swedish House Mafia, this video is a fun, fast paced video, but also advertises Absolut Vodka. These types of music videos would tend to the interests of people who are fans of the music and/or people who enjoy or like the look of the
product being advertised. Thus meaning it will reach a wider audience than videos primarily made for entertainment purposes. However, the downside of this is the band/artist may face criticism, again, Swedish House Mafia are a good example again. Many people criticised them due to the music video seeming more like an advertisement for Absolut Vodka than anything else.  

The majority of other music videos’ main priority is to entertain, for instance Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel. This was the first stop-motion music video, meaning it was revolutionary for the music industry and many other artists started using stop-motion animation. It was also just a very entertaining music video. The bumper cars and dancing chickens in the video were animated by Nick Park, this boosted Nick Park’s reputation as an animator and therefore helped him become the great animator at Aardman he is today. These music videos that entertain only reach a pretty wide audience, people who like the music and also people who are interested in the animating will be likely to watch, thus reaching far and wide and not necessarily gaining much criticism unless the video is somewhat controversial. Another perfectly good example of a stop-motion music video is Fell In Love With A Girl by The White Stripes this music video made them huge. This proves that these kind of videos can appeal to a very wide target audience. 

Feature Film 

Many feature films are animated, weather it’s Dreamworks, Aardman, Pixar, Studio Ghibli, or Warner Bros, stop-motion films are a huge success and widely popular around the world. Stop-motion feature films can take ages to make, for instance Early Man’s production began in 2011 and was released this year, it also included 33 animators and 37 individual sets. The longest shot, which lasted 40 seconds on screen, took 8 weeks to shoot. This shows the lengths at which companies will go to make the best possible animated films possible.  

These films are primarily for entertainment, however can also unintentionally educate or inform us. Education can be achieved from them by teaching watchers of simple things, such as teaching us about chickens in Chicken Run. They can also unintentionally inform us as well, product placement is the best way this is possible, although product placement is more prevalent in live action films it can happen in stop-motion films too. Finally, entertainment, the thing that these films are mostly made for, every stop-motion feature film entertains audiences and to a clearly successful degree, this is visible in the amount of profit that these companies typically make per film. 

Stop-motion feature films can reach a varied target audience. Aardman, Pixar and other similar companies make films that are targeted more towards children, however they also apply to a secondary audience, this being the parents taking the children to see the film, this is achieved when sly adult jokes are incorporated into the film, the best example would be in Shrek when Shrek asks if Lord Farquad’s castle is “compensating for something else” this joke goes right over the head of the younger audience but tailors well to the adult audiences humour.