Final Cut (OTS Little Red Riding Hood)

Red Riding Hood | Final Cut from Word Up Studios on Vimeo.

So after a long time of trial and error, Jack, Fabian and I have completed out opening title sequence for our film noir. My main role was to composed the soundtrack and organise the costumes and props. I think I spent most of my time focusing on the soundtrack as I wanted it to be as good of standards as the actual footage, as the members of word up studios are both really good at what they do so I wanted to try my hardest in the parts that I do, to leave a good impression on the audience. We have all worked so hard in our areas to ensure a high quality production to be sent off, Even though its been stressful at times, I have throughly enjoyed the production of the opening sequence. Jack and Fabian have been great team members, I think there has been good communication between each other and have helped each others out to make sure we are all going in the right direction to allow that the narrative flows and suits the audience and typical features of a modern film noir (neo-noir).
This is where I'm going to post my evaluation on the opening title sequence : My Evaluation Page

Hansel and Gretel (Neo Noir)-Continuity Task

from Wil Allen on Vimeo.

Fifty Shades Of Grey (Sweded) Trailer

Soundtrack Analysis (OTS Little Red Riding Hood)

Timings for the soundtrack analysis
0:06-Dark Guitar
0:56-Dark Blues
As you can see I was a bit nervous but hopefully you can see what I getting at in the analysis. I talked about the making of process and how I created the soundtrack for both piece. Dark Guitar was probably the easiest to record as I only had one instrument to focus on, despite this being only instrument meaning I have got to sound as expressive as the Dark Blues track. what I would have liked to do it blend the two together instead of one started after one ends I think it would of sounded better if I linked them together somehow. to make it flow seamlessly. The soundtrack was the main focus point for me on the final production, so I wanted to try and make something that sounded a little different and modernise the traditional film noir music genre (blues) and put a twist on it to suit our film noir.

Foley Update (OTS Little Red Riding Hood)

As a group we have decided to use different sound effect techniques, as my foleying skills weren't up to standards for our final production. Jack has used sound effects that he's had found on (Site name), He has got the door knocks and a few rustles of leaves when the lumberjack walks outside, and the gun shot is another feature for our studio ident. We won't be using the foley that I used as Jack forgot that I created some and due to the rush of getting out production finished, so he decided to use sound effects that he found on internet and used them instead of the foley I created.

Character Profile (OTS Little Red Riding Hood)

Lumberjack (Played by Jack Cullum)

The lumberjack is a lonely character who doesn't feel like he fits into society, so he segregates himself in an old little house in the woods. He takes out the aggression of his past by chopping down trees. He is pessimistic towards his future and everyday he struggles to move on with his life. As a young man, there's nothing in his life for him to look forward to. Jobs seem a struggle to get and money doesn't come easy, any job will be a result. He doesn't talk much he keeps his thoughts to himself as he got used to being by himself. He looks scruffy he isn't a fancy man in shining armor, just an average unemployed man.

Bad Wolf (Played by Liam Cranston)

The bad wolf is a horrible man with lots of money, who bribes people to do his dirty work. He is a very arrogant man with no respect for anyone apart from himself. He persuades the lumberjack to do a job for him as he seems vulnerable enough to take advantage of. He also takes control over red riding, of which gets jealous when she speaks to another man.

Red Riding (Played by Chloe Smith)

Red is a secretive young women, who is stuck with the bad wolf for the rest of her life, however don't misjudge her innocent nature as inside she is manipulative, and ends persuading the lumberjack from her looks to force him to kill someone. She is extremely flirty, as she wants people to recognise her as the bad wolf constantly pushes her aside.

Foley Sounds (OTS Little Red Riding Hood)

These are the foley sounds I created, I used the tips that the foley tutorial/explanation video in the last post I posted. And from the first attempt of foleying, for the 'priest foley task' I did a while back, I used I microphone instead of my phone and I used 'audacity' as recording software, to gain good quality sound effects. I think a few of them aren't too good, however once Jack has edited them into the footage I will give proper feedback on how they work as on their own they sound strange with nothing to follow along with. We are a bit rush for time to meet the deadline, so I didn't have much time to experiment with different sounds. However I do feel like there's better quality to the sound from this second attempt at foleying.

Foley Analysis (SoundWorks Collection: Gary Hecker - Veteran Foley Artist from Michael Coleman)

This is a video that me and Fabian both discovered. It explains how to prepare and create Foley sounds. I found this really useful as from our first task with foleying I found it slightly difficult and my actual output wasn't too good, so I was looking for tips on how to Foley and I came across this video. Gary Hecker states that “timing and a huge creative mind” is key to foleying, and this has taught me to experiment with different sounds as it is difficult to find the right sound effect you need by foleying unless you test a few pieces of equipment and use them in different ways. I will use his methods for when I do my foleying sounds. I've also realised that you usually can not create the effect you want by foleying 1 sound as he had to record multiple parts to get the sound he wanted and then layered them up to get his final product.

I Do Not Own Any Of This Footage It belongs to Michael Coleman
SoundWorks Collection: Gary Hecker - Veteran Foley Artist from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

Foleying - Based on Our first Draft (OTS Little Red Riding Hood)

Nightmare

• Rustling cloth on the floor as Lumberjack gets up
• Creaking floors
• Footsteps
• Creaking looking out the window
• Dust falling 
• Footsteps going downstairs
• Rubble on the floor
• Picking up the Axe

Outside in Forest

• Creaking door open and slamming shut
• Wind blowing 
• Branches swaying 
• Footsteps leaving the house
• Leaves rustling
• (Possible some birds)

Outside in City

• Footsteps on pavement
• Knock on door x3 in time 
• Creaking door open and shutting

Bad Wolf''s Room

• Lighting match
• Match flare
• Burning cigarette
• Brushing away ash
• Hand placed on gun

Update On Our Roles (Word Up Studios)

This is and update post on our roles/involvement in our final production, As you can see that my main roles haven't really changed but it is just a reminder of what else I need to do to complete our opening title sequence. The soundtrack is completed (the 'Nightmare Scene' theme and 'Dark Blues' track is now finally completed after hours and hours of experimentation). Props and Costumes Are all done I'll give you an update post on how we found the costumes and props that we used. Aerial camera operator, I wouldn't class this as a main role as we didn't actually use this in our final production, however we used it some of the behind the scenes work, to show an aerial view of the Lumberjack's 'home' location for the nightmare scene. 

All I really need to do now is the foleying, hopefully in the next couple of days I will have a list on this blog of all the different foleying sounds we need and how to create them , however due to me not having the final production I wouldn't be able to do that, And once Jack has finished the editing or there is enough footage I could use to begin foleying I will be instantly researching foleying techniques.

Jack

• Co-Director
• Script Writer
• Editor
• Casting Director

Fabian

• Co-Director
• Location Manager
• Director of Cinematography
• Camera Man
• Lead Technician (Lighting and Equipment)

Wil

• Composer
• Costume Manager
• Prop Manager
• Aerial footage
• Director of Foley

Courtesy to Jack Cullum for assigning the roles 

Dark Blues (Final Version) (Word Up Studios)-OTS

So this is the final version of Dark Blues, Our main soundtrack of the opening title sequence for our film noir. For this version I added drums and changed the instruments in some parts as eventhough  the instruments that I changed suited the style of blues I thought that it didn't really sound dark it gave a quite a cheesy sound so I kept the melody but changed the instrument that it was played on. The melody, which was originally played on an e clavichord, is now played on a glass instrument which creates ambient atmospheric sound. We final version of this soundtrack will be this version or the last version I sent out, which we'll decide as a group which one we prefer.

Dark Guitar / Nightmare (Final Version) (Word Up Studios)-OTS

This is the final version of the soundtrack for the nightmare scene, Not much has changed from the last version, however for this version I recorded this using a different software called  Audacity' as I thought it gave a better quality of  sound using the microphones we have at school, compared to 'Ableton'. Despite this I will definitely use 'Ableton' when recording the Dark Blues track as it gives me more of a range of different instruments to build up different layers and timbres.

Creating the soundtrack for this scene has been fairly difficult as I struggled on getting the right sound, As we started using different instruments (such as Strings), Different scales to give a certain mood/atmosphere and even different tones an pitches. However I think this is my favourite version as I think it relates to the scene well.