Evaluation

Lack of Prestige, our finished film as it would eventually be called in a nod to Chris Nolan’s 2006 film about magicians and as a reflection of the unscrupulous nature of our own characters, manages to convey a humorous narrative with likeable characters whilst demonstrating reasonable special effects with a soundscape that sets the tone and brings the piece to life. The emotional link to our two-minute exercise is admittedly tenuous as that was a dark portrayal of anger whilst this takes the form of a light-hearted comedy for the most part. The magician’s sudden change of character is supposed to be representative of this outburst of rage, and the stylistic use of reverse footage creates a stronger link between the two.  The reversal of the events in the tunnel was a late decision in the edit as the original wipe that was planned looked like a Powerpoint effect in practice, and so instead we had the magician rewind time, which makes the connection between the two films much stronger in my opinion.

With both films I think we achieved what we set out to do in the end. The two-minute successfully presents a narrative of infidelity and violence told through experimental means of using the non-sync sound criteria by visually working backwards from the end and telling the linear story with the audio. Every aspect of the film was well planned and the execution was relatively straightforward as a result of this. Lack of Prestige on the other hand was subject to many alterations during the scripting, shooting and editing of the production. The original script was re-drafted and simplified several times which allowed for a much more coherent narrative that was realistically achievable in a ten minute time frame. Several characters and confusing motives were omitted or condensed which made for a simpler shooting schedule that would allow the crew to focus on the camera tricks and other effects required. The shooting itself didn’t run all that smoothly with the actors arriving late and delaying production by almost two weeks with cancellations. The fact that they were friends of the director and not professionals had pro’s and con’s. The downsides were the obvious setbacks and laidback approach they took, with several scenes being relatively improvised, which resulted in some jarring continuity in the cuts. The benefit was that the performances were quite natural, as the script had been tailored with them in mind for the roles. Several elements of the script were altered and improvised last minute due to the remaining time we had with the actors. Their late arrival meant that the bike scene would no longer take place in the day and in a remote location, reducing the comedic effect, and also that he transformation of the woman back into the homeless man in the tunnel was scrapped owing to the spatial difficulties of a three-way split screen in the location and the limited time we had left.

In the edit a few sequences were removed that really tightened up the finished cut. Whilst filming these seemed essential but once a detached decision not to include them had been made the benefits in narrative pacing become instantly apparent. Aside from the aforementioned reversal, further exposition from the characters’ first encounter was removed which ultimately proved unnecessary, despite everyone being fond of the shot. Another was a split screen sequence of several angles of the characters walking in their magician’s attire, which was supposed to be set to a rhythmic song. Whilst I had made the song and it worked with the footage its short duration and placing within the story felt a little too jarring and so it was dropped.

The late discovery and inclusion of several special effects really helps solidify the magic and elevates it above simple split screen trickery. The muzzle flash had been a concern with regards to making the shooting look real, and we had initially tried a flash of white on the screen that wasn’t all too convincing. The puffs of smoke that accompany the vanishing and appearance of objects really do lend credence to the illusionary notion of smoke and mirrors, and helps to distract from the repeated use of split-screening to achieve this effect. Whilst discovering them earlier may have allowed for some more ambitious stunts to be planned I think it is a good job we didn’t as it could well have just become and indulgence in camera tricks and effects instead of a well rounded balance between these tricks, the plot and comedy derived from the script and characters.

The strength of this piece lies in the amusing dialogue and the realisation of the characters through the art direction and reasonable performances. The sound helps to instantly establish the comedic tone with the timing of musical cues and sound effects whilst creating a mysterious and tense atmosphere when necessary. It has a playful nature that makes the camera tricks (magic) and character interactions an enjoyable experience to watch unfold. Less successful elements are the quality of some shots; whilst some are very nicely lit, grainy shots would be a somewhat inevitable result when shooting exterior locations at night with limited lighting. There are also quite a lot of continuity errors that may go unnoticed upon first time viewing but are inescapably obvious after reviewing the footage as much as we have. These include smaller incidences such as the magician's shirt collar being open and closed, the obvious difficulties in maintaining consistent cigarette lengths, and more jarring matches on action; such as which hand the cigarette or cane will be in, and even characters positions. Greater attention should have been paid to some of these issues on the shoot as it results in some of the editing looking a little sloppy, but there were no alternatives to use. 

The shoot itself had a number of difficulties that mostly stemmed from the use of exterior locations. The inability to control the environment meant that there were multiple disruptions to shots in the form of passing pedestrians and cars, and even further disruptions to the sound, which would pick up any and every disturbance even if the camera did not. The lack of power outlets also resulted in several equipment failures that meant the shoot had to be abandoned, despite bringing numerous batteries to prevent this occurrence. The actors were also quite unfamiliar with the script and so would quickly rehearse the lines whilst a shot was being set up before the camera was rolling which led to messed up lines and improvisations, some of which worked and some of which didn't. The lack of slating was also very frustrating when it came to linking up the video and audio, and should have been taken into greater consideration.
This is all in marked contrast to the first films shoot, which had been thoroughly shot-listed and properly slated, and whilst the schedule did run behind, everyone involved was familiar with the task at hand, from the actor's lines to how the action would play out in each shot and the whole process was subsequently much more efficient. Whilst this is partly due to better group planning and organisation on the first exercise I think the second film was just a much more ambitious undertaking in the scope of its production. 
The non-sync sound element of the first film was also liberating in the post-production stages as it allowed for the edit and sound to be done in tandem and then brought together in the final stage with only a few alterations required, whereas in the second instance the picture lock wasn't finished until the last minute leaving only one night to do nearly all the sound which was both stressful for the designer (me) and detrimental to the overall quality of the finished film. 
Once shooting had wrapped on both films I would then log and label all the dialogue. The first film allowed for me to select the best audio takes without having to worry about what happened on screen, whereas the second I just had to work with what had been selected in the edit. I would then write down an in-depth list of every sound effect, foley and atmos track required for the piece and set about obtaining and creating them. The sound design in the two minute exercise was created entirely by me, and I found recording every effect and movement to be a very enjoyable process and the violent requirements allowed me to be very creative. The second was rewarding in its own way as I was free to use my imagination when orchestration the magical effects, however the limited time available inhibited the development of some of these ideas. I usually come up with an idea for the score before shooting beings based on the tone of the script, and the directors vision based on production meetings, and record a basic rendition in Logic that can be adapted once the picture is finished. 
I worked reasonably closely with both directors when designing sound for the films, but was also left to my own creative devices once we had established what they wanted. I would periodically show them  what I had produced and we would discuss what worked and what needed changing. This was quite an organic process and yielded beneficial results that left everyone satisfied. I also worked quite closely on the production design of the second film, providing costumes and helping to acquire props which was a good pairing as we both shared a similar vision of how the characters should look. 
The shoots themselves were somewhat more stressful (chiefly the second) as their was an awful lot of co-ordination required. The first shoot was much more professional with a simple script and shot-list that was well executed as everyone was familiar with it. The second was much more disorganised as we had spent less time as a group on the pre-production so were not as clued up as to what shots were required, whilst the frequent disruptions of the locations would leave us waiting around for long periods until we were able to go for another take. This and the actors late arrivals meant for constant schedule setbacks and improvisations which led to some tensions and arguments on set over how a shot should be executed. I tended to stick clear of these as it wasn't really my department and we didn't need another cook in the kitchen, so to speak. I did have the pragmatic solution of the post credits scene offering a vague explanation as to what happened to the girl following the last minute alteration of the climax on set, even if it isn't entirely apparent that they are supposed to be the same character.
I worked well with the editors on both films and they were very helpful in doing their best to ensure I had something to work with. With the limited time for post on the second production I was still given a few rough cuts to prepare the rough sound cues around and we both bounced ideas off one another about what we thought would work in our respective mediums.

Whilst researching articles for music in film to aid in my crafting of the score, I noticed an interesting conjecture surrounding the restrictive relationships possible between film and music, Gorbman (1980, p.189) observes that the relationship is 'limited largely to the concepts of parallelism and counterpoint. Either the music "resembles" or it "contradicts" the action of mood of what happens on the screen.' I took this into consideration and made little effort to challenge the notion in my own scores, with the music often accentuating the actions of characters on screen, as well as the use of sound effects to animate camera movements. Rather than simply resemble the mood however I did seek to enhance it through musical devices. Some of the more dialogue heavy sequences were initially somewhat flat and bereft without any musical flourishes and they really do help to create a sense of mystery and intrigue. 

Overall I'm pleased with the two films we produced. The main issues were all shooting related and inevitable delays had a knock on effect on the rest of the process. The pre and post-production aided in rectifying many of these issues but more time to carefully craft the shoots themselves would have been hugely beneficial, which isn't to say our producer didn't do a great job of keeping everything on track despite the obstacles and setbacks. We generally worked well as a team and shared a similar vision for the outcome of the final product, as some of the stronger moments in both films came about as the result of in-depth group discussions in pre-production. Despite the stark differences in tonality of each film I think each succeeds in what it tries to accomplish. The non-linear narrative style of A Short Story in Brutality forces a higher level of engagement and concentration from the audience as they seek to unravel and the film's events, whilst positive audience reactions to the comedic elements of Lack of Prestige reinforced our intensions when they laughed at all the anticipated cues. Being so immersed in the projects made it difficult to have objective outlook on the finished films and so it was very rewarding to be assured that the comedy we were making was actually funny. I'm largely satisfied with the sound I created for both films, composing music that makes a dark film darker and a score that compliments the lighthearted tone of the comedy, and getting to explore a range of techniques for creating and enhancing sound effects to simulate both the real, and the extraordinary. 




Bibliography:

Gorbman, C. (1980) 'Narrative Film Music',In Yale French Studies No.60, Cinema/Sound. Connecticut: Yale University press. p,18

Omission

During the edit several shots and sequences were omitted that ultimately made the discourse flow much more naturally. One such scene was some extended exposition during the dialogue-heavy first encounter, as the magician swigs from an absinth bottle and tells the salesman that only a small percentage of reality is perceivable to the naked eye. We liked the shot and performance, especially the eye placement on the bottle, but ultimately i didn't add a lot to the scene and dragged it out. The absinth itself was a remnant of an earlier script where it served as the addictive source of the magician's abilities. There were also some continuity issues in this scene with regards to character position in shots and the removal of this helped to smooth them out.

Lack of Prestige finished cut!

+ A reminder of our first effort for comparisons sake

Sounds of Magic

Due to the cancellations in shooting we were only left with a few days to edit and put sound on the film. I got a rough picture cut on sunday and from there had to sync the audio I had recorded with the camera sounds Jordan used whilst cutting the picture. These really should have been synced before any cutting began and the fact that most of the shoot hadn't been slated properly meant for an extremely laborious process of listening through different takes, as Jordan had labeled his based on the shot type and I in chronological order of recording and most prominent line. This also meant one or two shots used in the cut had lines running into one another that wasn't detectable with just the camera audio.

It wasn't until around 18:30 on tuesday night i received a final picture lock to work with. I had already made two basic scores/songs with which to work from and elaborate but everything else was improvised on the night.

This was the main theme from which most of my motifs and ideas were derived, and is itself featured after the car is vanished. I think it captures the essence of the trip-hop we were hoping to emulate whilst  adding its own mysterious elements. I started with a drum loop on Logic and then wrote in the bassline, which would come to represent the salesman. The atmosphere Fx instrument was very useful, with a multitude of different textures and tones all featuring delays and reverbs, that changed depending on how long you sustained the note. I used this throughout the track to create atmosphere and once sustained applied alterations with the modulation and pitch wheels on the midi-keyboard.

I also used a staccato jab on the keyboard to accentuate most of the effects with an echoing resonance. 

The motif of the magician is played on a harp and glockenspiel and utilises an exotic scale, the name of which I have long since forgotten. (I'm fairly sure its an augmented scale but I was just playing around with the most mysterious sounding note progression at the time.) I'm satisfied with the result as it is both playful and strange, as befitting of the character, and all subsequent themes and ideas would revolve around this scale.

The placing of this theme after the car disappears was supposed to represent the characters unification as it is the turning point when the salesman finally believes beyond a doubt that the magician is the real deal, and their respective motifs combine. 

The second idea is much more ominous, yet it retains a laid-back beat. It is not dissimilar to my score for the two minute exercise, in that it primarily uses a piano and cello in it instrumentation and creates a sense of dread through letting the bass notes ring out. The cello notes are equal parts homage/ripoff from Gustav Holst's opening to Mars from The Planets Suite.

This was somewhat unintentional and occurred whilst I was tinkering with keyboard and thought a mild remixing wouldn't bring about many copyrighting issues. I think this is perhaps a little too dark for the tone of our film, and would only really work in the tunnel scene when the magician appears to lose it. I also imagined it kicking in when the credits roll but the cello is perhaps just too much.

The harp returns with an arpeggio using the augmented scale reminding that everything is magic and somewhat lightening the tone.

Once I was handed the finished picture I began to elaborate on these initial ideas, using the bassline on its own to accompany the salesman's walk home, and again as a transition to the next day when he begins sparking matches. The magician's chime can also be heard as he walks away as a sort of call and response. 

A staccato harp chord taken from the score is used to introduce the Magician quite effectively, and is repeated when the salesman teleports to imply his involvement.

The card trick sequence felt a little jarring in silence as it was all that was left in of a longer exposition scene which was rife with continuity errors. The plodding bass really brings it to life, creating a sense of  puzzlement and making the whole trick feel quite surreal whilst complimenting the movements on screen. My method at this point was to watch a sequence through on Soundtrack Pro whilst Recording on Logic as I played/experimented with an idea on the keyboard. I would then export these individually and layer them in STP where necessary. 

The sitar was the positive result of an inconvenient situation. As we had to relocate from the edit rooms at midnight to the library I was aware that the computers there would not have access to the full Logic sound-banks and that some of the instruments I had used may not work there. The harp was one such instrument and I found the sitar searching for a replacement. It has a mystical quality that evokes the wisdom of the far east in a slightly cliched way but works well enough for the magician. 

I continued to accentuate occasional lines with a musical tone to maintain a comedic edge with the dialogue. The biggest departure in style comes from the Hybrid morph synth used when the salesman teleports to a new location. I gently altered the pitch wheel to create a sense of unease and the new instrumentation helps bolster the sense of unfamiliarity. The comedy is restored when the tone drops out and he slaps his head, and the silence continues in the drawn out wide shot as he cycles across screen.

During the steps scene the sitar returns with increased modulation as the Magician reveals detailed information about the salesman before it is replaced by the glockenspiel and harp combination playing a variant of the piano melody from the second score as he then reveals more about himself.

The same melody is continued once they have teleported before the second score is used. I opted not to include the cello part and I think it works better without it. There are a number of ambient synths used here to create tension and I underscored his russian roulette with a glockenspiel melody to turn it into a sort of deranged nursery rhyme. The plodding bass returns adding to the surreal nature of the magicians re-entrance after being shot.

Although I'm happy with the majority of the final score I think I could have improved the dramatic pacing of the piece if I had more time with it. There are one or two sections where the placement of music feels a little forced and unfinished as by that stage I was rushing to fill in gaps and a little delirious from the library's lack of coffee. Overall though I think it does a good job of establishing both the comedic and mysterious tones conveyed by the film and characters whilst underscoring them with their own unique musical cues.

There are a number of sound effects I used to deconstruct the films supposed realism. Chief among them was the 'whooshing' sound to accompany the whip pans and crash zooms. Inspired by the godfather of the whip-pan, Edgar Wright, and his work on Spaced (1999), and his later feature films I found that adding the sound effect truly animates the camera-movements and breaths life into them. Its actually the same recycled effect from the fighting FX sound bank, I just made alterations in logic, shifting the pitch at least one octave lower using the Apple Audio Unit Pitch to make a much deeper 'whoosh'

 I also ran the effect through the EXS24 Sample Editor, so i could alter each rendition with further control and variation to the pitch and timbre giving me a range of sounds.

A combination of a reversed and a forward playing whip sound served as the basis for the teleportation effects. I then layered them with a fiery whoosh after we discovered the puff of smoke effect and incorporated that late in the edit, which elevates the impact above simple split-screen trickery. I wanted each (dis)appearance of an object to have its own distinct signature so included instantly recognisable, exaggerated noises; the bottle clink, the bicycle bell and a deep bass rumble for the car. The pitch of each combined effect also differs depending on the size of the object in question.

The majority of effects would be the result of several layers which were then exported into a single noise. I acquired the effects through a combination of my own foley recordings using a Marantz PMD661 and Sennheiser 416 Microphone, and the University's sound FX bank and freesound.org for more unattainable noises like the gunshot.

 The painfully drawn out bicycle shot is largely exaggerated, with the rusty squeaks and whirring of the bike being the only sound left in for greater comical effect.

The gunshot was made from a combination of a revolver shot, and a shotgun blast which provided a much lower frequency. I also added in a pulped melon sound used in the previous exercise. Compression was used to maximise the blast impact without spiking the decibels and I then created a high-pitched frequency to emulate ringing in the ears, as the gun had been fired in a relatively confined space.

I used the waveform generator and adjusted the frequency of the sine wave to an unbearable range of 10,000 Hz, and drastically lowered the volume so as not to completely deafen the audience, which was merciful on my part as it really was an ear-splitting experience. I also applied a delay on one of the gunshots to simulate the echo reverberating around the tunnel.
A cuckoo clock can also be heard underscoring the pistol-whip, which was again supposed to be an exaggeration of reality.

I reversed several sound effects for the instances when the magician rewinds time, such as a the card trick effect, and later when the entire tunnel scene is reset. I chose the core sounds (gunshot, hammer cock, several whooshes and a piece of dialogue) to illustrate the essence of what had just transpired

I was very conscious of character movements when adding the foley, using keyframes to make sure every footfall was in place and paying close attention to how the matchbox was shaken with each hand jerk, as well as any obvious fabric movements. Platinumverb was also applied to the footsteps in the tunnel for greater resonance, with adjustments made to the room size and shape, and the amount of wet signal and reverb time.

A great deal of automation was necessary with both the effects, and the dialogue, to make sure levels stayed consistent throughout and so the effects would be noticeable when they were required to be.
The dialogue waveforms could differ drastically in the amount they spiked depending on the actors performance and whether or not they shouted lines, and how close i was able to get the boom in without disrupting the shot (the tunnel for instance was difficult to get in close enough).

As well as compensating for the audio spikes I also made sure to pan accordingly depending on the character/object's position on screen.

Finally the atoms tracks were recorded separately at the same locations each scene was shot using a Rode NT4 stereo mic. I was concerned about some of the tunnel dialogue being ruined by the tweeting of birds and passing cars as some takes were rushed in our eagerness to wrap. Most of the takes used however were relatively unimpeded by this and didn't detract from the tension of the scene in the way i suspected they might.

Again i'm pleased with the effects created and that I got to experiment with a different approach than the two minute exercise. This films genre offered unlimited potential when creating sounds for magical effects and allowed me to use my imagination rather than sticking to arbitrary foley to maintain realism. In hindsight there is a noticeable absence of a sound for the appearance of the gun in the magicians hand (the swap is masked with a close-up cut of salesman), this is simply something I missed in my rush to get everything finished on time for the presentation.

Production Stills

 Magicians wares.

Magical Matches - Use at own risk.

 Spare any change?

 Setting up the tracking shot

 Hobo with a Shotgun... mic.

 Nick Devine living up to his name in Magicians garb

 The gruesome twosome

 Amy once again steps in to suffer pain and misfortune at the hands of our cruel directors

 (she's fine)

 The blood projectile wasn't adequate

What the morning commuters must have thought of this still makes me chuckle.

Shooting Day 3

After several postpones and cancelations we were finally able to recommence shooting on wednesday 24th April. The delays became particularly frustrating after a while as I planned my days around the assumption we'd be shooting only to find out the actors weren't coming in the evening. I appreciate that they have other commitments back home but setting a concrete date and sticking to it would have been much less of an inconvenience than a 'probably sunday if not definitely monday' only to cancel completely. With only a week until presentation I was well aware that every day we didn't shoot would mean less time and more stress for the final job of adding sound which would fall to me. There was a lot of shots to get through as we only had the actors for one more night so had to make sure we obtained everything.
They arrived later than expected which proved troublesome as it would be getting dark soon and we had several daytime shots we needed. First off was the establishing market scene filmed on the moor, as the salesman is introduced flogging DVDs. We set up the stall under one of the existing marquees creating a fake table out of stacked cardboard boxes, with an open box full of mine and Robin's DVDs visible in frame. We were selective with which titles should be visible, including The Prestige (2006) in the foreground as a nod to the magician theme, and having Pamela Anderson thriller Barb Wire (1996) as the film picked up by the customer, as it is the kind of terrible B-movie one would expect to find on a knock-off market stall. This was fairly efficient to shoot bar one or two takes where passers by would look directly at the camera.
Next up was a scene in which the salesmen is walking home and begins sparking the matches he was given, whilst unbeknownst to him magical things begin to happen. The first instance involves a cider bottle appearing next to a homeless man. As a small none speaking role I had offered to do it, and neglected shaving for 6 weeks to look the part, borrowing clothes from friends to complete the guise. We used a location next to the moor for convenience as the light was beginning to retreat, and the use of split screen would require identical lighting to be convincing. The bottle that appears was originally supposed to be a large 2 litre that would be instantly visible but we ended up using a smaller glass, which I hope will still be noticeable when it appears. As the crew was over the road I wasn't quite aware of when they started rolling so I'm not sure how my positioning will match up when split screened. The next match struck was supposed to teleport the salesman into the middle of nowhere, with the subsequent strike materialising a bike which he would painstakingly ride across a wide shot, signifying how far he had been transported, however this had to be completely revised on the night as it would be too dark by the time we got to a remote location as well as too time consuming to travel to and from it. This was instead shot in a car park, which is less effective as it doesn't give the impression of his being far removed and inconvenienced.
We then returned to our original location to get a few pick ups to fix continuity errors we had noticed from the first shoots, as well as the tracking shot following the car vanishing. These went reasonably well bar the usual sonic disruptions, however it did eat into the time remaining for the rest of the shoot leading to some stress. Said stress peaked when reworking the bike scene as it was improvised on the night which led to some producer/director arguments. I can understand Robins frustrations over the frequent rescheduling, especially as the one in charge of making the schedules; and I think the inclusion of shots not previously listed or practiced was the tipping point. Christi is somewhat idealistic and not all that pragmatic as a director and I think he assumes what he envisions in his head will work in practice without undertaking the necessary technical research to pull it off. When Nick teleports he wanted a crash zoom out from a close up of his face to the longest shot possible. He wanted to do this by changed lenses mid zoom which Robin assured him wouldn't work which resulted in a drawn out debate over its possibility. We set up tracks and tried to achieve it through a combination of track and zoom but it was impossible to smoothly operate these functions whilst keeping the focus in the right place as well.
We then filmed the steps conversation in the basement of another car park that several restaurants back onto. With only three camera set ups and satisfactory lighting already available this was a much calmer procedure and allowed for Christi to focus on the performances themselves, which became much improved with each take of this scene. We had already seen flares of brilliance in Jim's magician but here Nick's salesman becomes more relatable with nuanced bravado in the more intimate exchange.
Finally we were off to the underpass to film the climactic showdown. This was the scene everyone had been looking forward to the most but we were also running out of time and darkness at this stage. One particular grievance for me was the tweeting birds in the nearby trees that were constantly audible, as I'm worried it will detract from the dramatic confrontation with no chance to get any ADR from the actors. The acoustics in the tunnel meant that sound would travel round several times which was annoying when every overhead car echoed before silence resumed and we could continue a take. Amy once again starred as the girl I had asked was no longer available following previous cancellations. Her fate was another thing that had to be improvised on the shoot owing to lack of time. In the original script she was supposed to turn back into the tramp once the magician rectifies the situation and makes his own corpse disappear, however there was limited space in the tunnel to accommodate all the split screens, and the actors still had to drive back to leeds and were getting impatient. We instead just added a line ('what happened to that woman?' 'Don't worry about him') and shot a post credits pick-up of me in the tunnel the following day. We had also constructed a squib based on one of the party-popper tutorials from a previous post, however as the magician is shot from a downward trajectory the blood splatter would have to be on the floor, and the projectile didn't work upside down.
It was a relief when we finally wrapped on a night that had its ups and downs but for me on the whole was an enjoyable experience. Although the rejigged scenes will be slightly detrimental to the impact on the narrative I'm also very happy with a lot of the footage and performances obtained. The pressure is on now for me and Jordan in post to fully realise this vision in less than a week. Back to work we go.

Comic coincidence

Whilst reading a DC comic I noticed marked similarities to the final showdown in our film. A character is shot dead before he nonchalantly appears from offscreen/panel seeming completely unfazed by what has just transpired. This could be useful in informing the way we storyboard this sequence. Anyway here it is: