What's In the Stew?

My Audio Arts Major Project is in the Stew ... woohoo



Many of you know the story behind my major project, but I will relay it again. In consultation with Ashley, it was decided that I would basically restart my project with a new film with four days until the due date. The new film is Spring Romance made by Becky Zhang and it is great. Ashley was doing the sound for it and had worked with the movie maker in making it longer. Thus, it is approximately 4 minutes long.

Without the pressures of time this movie would have been a lot of fun to work on. I did not initially realise how humorous it could become. My friends who came in and did voices added a whole new dimension. I express gratitude to Poppi for doing the voice of the flower at the last minute and I hope you enjoy hearing yourself in the movie.

Here is an excerpt from my documentation:

A number of key areas were identified as main focuses, given the short period of time to complete. These include the music track, vocalisations/voices, the bashing of the can scene. Successfully creating these elements along with the right atmospheres and effects would bring the movie together.

In starting, I attempted to source as many effects as possible. A number of these were provided by Ashley, but it was important to produce as many of my own files as possible. Recording the grass sounds and bashing sounds helped this scenario. The bashing sounds were originally recorded with a shovel hitting a tin, but this was updated by bashing two music stands together. The sound was much fuller and when I do a 5.1mix will sound fantastic when sent to the sub.

Creating appropriate music tracks in a short space of time (about 2 hours) was going to be challenging. It was challenging and they were rushed, but the bass guitar (played by me) and the piano (played by Robert Ellinger) worked surprisingly well. Combining the music with the vocalisations brought the film to life. Various sound effects like the sheep, grass munching, cow poo, and windmill are highlights, whilst the door and watering need more work.

Due to the short period of time to complete this film, the mix is stereo only. I will come back and complete a 5.1mix for my own benefit at a later point. An audio commentary is also planned. ‘Spring Romance’ would have been a fun movie to work on without the time pressures, but the sound works, and I like the reintroduction of the music in the credits. At some point I do wish for the credits to be updated, and a bonus track may be added.
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I hope that the credits will be updated, as it says Ashley Klose is the musician. One last thing I wish to say and it may horrify some is the location and nature of the tin bashing. In between the Steinway grand piano and a Neumann U87, a tin was repeatedly struck and smashed by a shovel-wielding friend for foley/sound effects. Unfortunately these sounds were not used, but were fun to make/record. The replacement sounds were not as vicious, but were better suiting.

The "Stew" is complete. Everything is in there. I hope the tasters give full marks/compliments to the cook.

Albums that made this blog possible:
7-10 Split by 7-10 Split

If you look carefully through out all the entries you may get a good indication of my favourite bands/albums or who I was enjoying at the time.