Steamboat Willie Sound Evaluation
For this week’s task, we began to look at the common elements of sound in film. Some of these elements include Music, Voice, Foley, Sound Effects, and Ambience Sounds. Before starting the main task, we learnt about each Sound Type and how they were used in Film Making. We also established the differences between Impression and Expression Sounds with Impression Sounds often representing a physical sound, and Expression Sounds representing a metaphorical background sound. Most commonly, Voice, Foley, and Sound Effects are often Impression Sounds, whereas Music and Ambience are often Expression Sounds. After analysing some examples of these different sound types, we watched Disney’s ‘Steamboat Willie’ and particularly focussed on the sound design of the film. Whilst watching the film, I identified that the most common sound elements used were Music, Foley, and Sound Effects. After doing this, we were challenged to select a section of the film and recreate some of the sound effects that we could hear using only one piece of paper. When reviewing the film as a group, we decided that the scene where Mickey uses kitchen utensils to create music would be a suitable section to recreate, as it would give us a wide range of sounds to experiment with.
After choosing our section, we began to form a Sound Design Table which listed the different sounds we would like to recreate. We did this by carefully watching the film and identifying each sound that could be heard in that section. However, whilst doing this, we were also aware that we could only use a piece of paper to create the sounds. This encouraged us to experiment with a piece of paper and discover different ways we could manipulate it to create our desired sound effects. We also needed to identify whether each sound would be an Impression or Expression Sound. Due to each sound being created through Foley and being that each sound was a natural sound effect, we came to the conclusion that the sounds would be Impressionist. On our Sound Design Tables, we listed each way in which we would create the sounds. For example, in order to achieve the sound of a washboard, we decided we would gently rub the paper up and down, in time with the pace of the character on screen, to create a smooth sound. Furthermore, to create the sound of wooden spoons banging on drums, we would lightly, yet rapidly, tap the tips of our fingers on the piece of paper.
When recording our sounds, it was important that we had a quiet place to create our sound effects as we didn’t want to accidentally record any background ambience. In order to achieve this, we chose a quiet room to record, however, distant mumbles of people could still be heard quietly. A way in which we overcame this issue was by adjusting the levels on the sound recorder. When learning about sound recorders previously, we discovered that by raising or lowering levels, the recorder would pick up sounds at different volumes. If we raised the levels slightly and held the recorder at an appropriate distance from the paper, the prominent sound would be the sound effect we are creating, and not the distant sounds of people. After we had recorded all of our sounds, we listened to them back and reviewed them. When listening to our audio, it was clear that our sound effects were the most notable of the track, and that the sounds of people that we had previously encountered in our recording space, could no longer be heard.
After making sure that we were satisfied with our audio, we uploaded our files on to Avid to begin the dubbing process. Firstly, I needed to select the specific section of the film that we were focusing on. I did this by marking in and out points on the video track and then inserting it into the timeline. After doing this, it was then important to mute all of the audio tracks that were already attached to the video track. This would allow for our own audio tracks to be placed over the video footage. Once doing this, I could begin to edit the first audio track, which was the beating of a drum. This track would need to continue throughout at least half of the clip, with other sounds gradually being added. I decided to insert this clip first because it would play on the video track for a longer period of time compared to some other tracks which would start and stop in the middle of this track. When adding the next audio of the banging of drums, I placed the track below the previous track on the timeline so that I could clearly see when each track started and ended. This also allowed me to overlay multiple audio tracks at one time. I continued to use this method when inserting the following audio tracks.
When comparing my finished edit with the original ‘Steamboat Willie’ in terms of sound, I was pleased with the similarities between the two and felt that my final edit was smooth and felt natural to the viewer. However, there were also some key differences which I perhaps would have done differently if I were to complete this task again. One of the main issues between my edit and the original is the vast differences in pitch. This issue is particularly noticeable when Mickey is banging the wooden spoons on the seemingly metal pans. In the original version, the sound effect used represents a natural, metallic sound, however, due to only being able to use a piece of paper, this wasn’t exactly possible for our edit. When attempting to replicate the sound, our result sounded more like a wooden effect, rather than a metallic effect. If I was to edit this film again, I would perhaps try to adjust the pitch of the sound to make it sound slightly higher. This could make the sound appear like it was metallic. Another issue that I faced during the edit was the lack of a sound effect for the cat’s meow. This was an issue because the action where Mickey is playing the washboard overlaps with the cat entering the shot and meowing. After showing the edit to others, the feedback that they gave was that the missing cat sound was noticeable as the cat then became the main subject immediately as it entered the shot. This was error that was made when creating my Sound Design Table as I hadn’t anticipated at what point I would cut the scene in the final edit. If I were to do this task again, I would ensure to double check the action before recording our final sounds.
I think that the main strength of this task was being able to successfully dub my sounds to the video footage. I felt that the sound effects matched well with the actions and felt natural to the viewer. A weakness of the production would be some missing sounds which we would need to ensure we established at the beginning of the task. Overall, I am pleased with the final result, and have identified a few issues which will allow me to consider the process in more depth when completing similar tasks in the future.
(Steamboat Willie, 1928) Walt Disney Animation Studios' Steamboat Willie - YouTube
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