Unit 38 - Sound track report - Two Movies

 Two Movies Sound Layers

Movie 1- The Dark Knight Rises

• Released: 20 July 2012
• Genre: Action, Crime, and Thriller
• Director: Christopher Nolan  

The Dark Knight Rises is the third film in a feature film trilogy.
It has been eight years since Batman taken the blame for the death of Harvey Dent. This is due to Batman taking the fall for Harvey Dent's murder. However, a new evil force named Bane has arrived in Gotham and aims to take over the city and expose the truth behind who Harvey Dent really was. As Bane starts taking over the city, it forces Batman to come out of retirement and fight.


Sound department: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm  



The department has a large team including three-foley artist and ten mixers. Hans Zimmer did the music for The Dark Knight Rises. Hans is an innovative Hollywood composer that has won an Oscar for his music in The Lion King. He was also nominated for another for his score on Christopher Nolan’s Inception. He has been working with Nolan on films for the past eight years and he worked closely with Richard King, supervising sound editor and sound design on this film.

Scene:Link to the Scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE08pz1soog 

The scene kicks offs of with a score that fades out when the lights go out and different score starts to fade in. this score that is associated with Batman so it makes us aware that Batman is back.  This stays playing until about halfway when Batman in corned. When he escapes the police it start once again. The sound has been edited to stop the score playing when Batman is not in control and it starts when he is.  The score is quite dominant and is non-diegetic and it there to accompany the action. The scene also contains sound effects when we hear police cars and other vehicles; this establishes the size of the chase between the cops, the robbers and Batman. There is a non-diegetic sound effect of a bike driver being grappled up off his bike. This noise is heard to make it clear about what has happened. It also makes the audience feel existed that Batman is back at his best with new gadgets. Halfway in the scene Batman walks into shot we hear a non-diegetic ‘thunder’ sound effect; this makes Batman’s present stronger on camera and would have made a large impact at the cinema. This sound effect works in parrallel to the  entrance of Batman. The last 40 seconds of the scene is diegetic sound that can be heard by the characters. Sound types like sync sound like dogs barking and dialogue. There is a use of Foley at the end on the scene when “The Bat” vehicle takes off.  Sound designer Ken Johnson came up with the idea to use a weed wacker and change the blades.  Three minutes into the scene when Batman is getting back on the Bat-Pod we see Batman go for right to left and the sound does the same.  The channel of sound matches the position of the character.  In a cinema it would have been 5.1-surround sound that would have tracked the moment of the Bat-Pod.   

A conclusion to the sound design of this scene is that it is designed to trill and excite the audience about Batman’s return. The sound adds to the verisimilitude of this world. Hans Zimmer and the sound department have desisted to use Batman’s theme score throughout the scene to establish that he is back and strong. There is a good balance of the other types of sound, which enhance key sounds. When they pause the score they use dialog and sound effects like vehicle noises, walky-talky and weapons; this adds a sense of a realistic atmosphere with action and danger. When we hear dialog between the police we anticipate for the out come of the chase. The use of surround sound makes use feel closer to the action.   
 

Movie 2 – The Wolf of Wall Street

• Released: 17 January 2014  
• Genre: Biography, Comedy, Crime 
• Director: Martin Scorsese

Sound department: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993846/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm:

The department consists of forty crewmembers which four Foley editors. Eugene Gearty (sound effects editor / supervising sound editor) and Philip Stockton (dialogue editor / supervising sound editor) have both worked and won an Oscar for their work together on Hugo (Directed by Martin Scorsese). They have both worked together on Life of Pi. Robbie Robertson was a executive music producer for Wolf of Wall Street and has worked with Scorsese for over thirty years. He wanted to bring a “blues” style to the film. 

Scene:Link to the Scene:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P9KmDXIdP8  

The scene starts with just sync sound dialogue that makes us unaware where the characters are. Next we hear atmos of a diegetic storm with strong waves and lighting. This matches what we are seeing on screen. The atmos of the storm continues throughout the scene whilst there is dialogue for the characters. This scene mainly consists of sound effect atmos of the storm and dialogue. Two minutes when we can hear the sound of the helicopter braking and falling into the sea. This also would have been a sound effect. Before the water brakes into the yacht there is a “warning bleeping”, this would have been a sound effect. The sound of the glass being smashed would have been Foley. After this music starts to play. There is then a voice over of Jordan Bedford whilst the music is playing and there is also a sound of people cheering.  There is also a sound effect for a plane exploding.   

This scene starts off with realistic diegetic sound to make us feel apart of the scene. It continues like this until the water breaks in and then we view as a spectator. This happens because we start to hear non-diegetic sound like the music and the voice over.  

Animation - Techniques and Pioneers

Animation Techniques & Pioneers

 
Cave Paintings

Cave paintings have been thought to be the earliest stop motion animations ever formed. These paintings dated back to 32,000 years ago in places like Cantabria, Spain. 
The reason people now believe that these may be the oldest animations in the world is because the paintings of animals would sometimes have two heads, an extra tail or eight legs. This made people believe that these images where superimposed and that these animals would be just one animal but would meant to have a moving head.

For example a cow but its head would be moving. This allusion could be seen if you move fire past the image, this is like the play button of today.

So that was how animations where viewed 32,000 years but how were they made? The development of the paintings would require a set of tools. 

annadoherty. (). history of animation : cave paintings. Available: http://annadoherty.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/history-of-animation-cave-paintings/. Last accessed 23th Jun 2014.

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=x8exsw6yKXw

Light Painting 

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAe30VG5CI4

Animation Diary - Wednesday, 27

Wednesday, 27 Nov

Pixilation

Today I am unable to continue with my animation because I need a box of chocolates so instead I have been watching other people’s stop motion that will be using chocolates. This should hopefully allow me to gain an understanding of the movement and behavior that chocolates can have. By doing this it could help me achieve my idea.

I searched of YouTube chocolate box stop motion and I watched one called “My Chocolates” this film is done by artist and animator named Paul Heard. Paul Heard has a website that I viewed and it has links to his blog and videos. The Video is about a chocolatier making chocolate. Once the chocolates are finished and made they start moving around the worktop and then end up going into a box. This is similar to what I want in my animation with the chocolate going around the worktop. I think I will try having the chocolates moving pasted objects and maybe climb over items as well. This could give me the chance to see how over things that could get in the way of the chocolates could be animated; an example of this could be some sort of kitchen appliance.

I looked at Paul’s blog for more information about “My Chocolates” but there was none.

Link to Paul’s - http://www.paulheard.com/#!blog/cb8i

Link to the video - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=box+of+chocolates+stop+motion+&sm=3

Claymation

I also looked at another stop motion, Claymation. I love Claymation and grew up watching the great works for Nick Park because of this I thought I would look at Claymation that will involve chocolate. I found a short called Valentine’s Day by animator Charlie Butter.

Valentine’s Day is about a husband who buys his wife a box of chocolates. The wife sees the chocolates sees them and is extremely happy with her husband, but their daughter eats them. Unsure what happened to her chocolates the wife guesses that it was her husband and attacks him for supposes that he eaten them.

So the storyline does involve chocolates but “My Chocolates” is closer to my storyline then this Claymation. Also the Claymation in this video is not as professional as Nick Park’s works, I guess this could be due to time and budget.

Conclusion  

Out of these two types of animation I prefer Pixilation, I have made a Pixilation before and it went quite well. Also I want a realistic look on my animation and Pixilation because pixilation is using real 3D objects and getting them life. If I had more time and a bigger budget I would try Claymation but I would have my final masterpiece as Pixilation. If I was to try out Claymation I would want to made realistic sets like the ones seen in Wallace and Grommit. 

( uploaded this diary entry as it has been one of the most useful.)