Video & Sound Production Project 1: Audio Dubbing & Editing

02.05.2024 - 23.06.2024 | Week 2 - Week 9

Maisarah binti Mohd Sufian | 0358458

Video & Sound Production | Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Exercises | Audio Dubbing & Editing

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LECTURES

Week 3

We started on our first audio dubbing exercise by working on the spreadsheet.

For the asynchronous class materials, the topic was about storyboards. I took a short quiz to test my knowledge.

Material Summary:

Storyboarding is an important component of filmmaking in which a visual representation is made with illustrations in sequence depicting the film. It is used for understanding narrative flow and planning shots which can include camera angles, movements, special effects, etc. in order for the crew members to understand the visual process of the film. Storyboarding is pivotal in identifying problems, planning shots, and overall preparation for filming.

Week 4

This week we finalised our audio dubbing exercise for submission.

For the asynchronous materials, the topic was on production stages, and the roles of each crew. I took a short quiz to test my knowledge.

Material Summary:

There are three main phases of the production; pre-production, production, and post-production. Pre-production is where all important preparations are done before beginning to film, tasks such as storyboarding, scouting, scripting, designing sets and costumes are done. Production is when filming begins and footage is captured by using plans made from the previous stage, it is maintained by coordinating and scheduling. Post production is the last stage where all footage shot from previous stage is edited into a final product, parts of this stage include arranging and cutting scenes, sound and visual effects, color grading, etc.

Week 9

Today we learned how to edit audio, specifically sound shaping with EQ using Adobe Audition using a given audio file sample.

Material summary:

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EXERCISE 1 - Audio Dubbing

Instructions 

We must dub and add sounds to a silent clip from the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once.

1. Spreadsheet & Sourcing Audio

I started by planning out the sounds by listing out each scenes in a spreadsheet, I also looked for some existing audio on Youtube and inserted their links.

I also recorded the dialogue on my phone using Bandlab as I can edit my voice to be clearer.

2. Premier Pro

I moved on to inserting my audio files into premier pro and lining them up to match the video.

I used the effect tools to lower the volume for individual sounds as well as pitch shifter to change the pitch of my voice to sound like a male and inserted sound transitions (exponential fade).

EXERCISE 2 - Audio Editing

For this exercise, we are to edit our own recorded voice (5 seconds long)  using Adobe Audition in the following ways:

1. Phone call

2. Voice coming from inside the closet

3. Voice in toilet/bathroom

4. Underground cave

5. Alien/Orc voice

1. Audio Editing

I imported my voice audio file into Adobe Audition and used the Effect Rack to achieve the desired effects.

Phone Call

I used the Parametic Equaliser, and brought down the bass and treble, raising the mid range to about 1kHz.

Closet

For this, I raised the mid range and brought the treble all the way down.

Bathroom

I lowered the Dry level to achieve the echo-ish sound.

Underground Cave

Here I increase the Decay Time all the way to achieve a loud echo, and lowered the Dry level just a bit for the echo to stand out.

Orc

I used two effects for this, the Pitch Shifter and Reverb. I lowered the semi-tones to make my voice deeper, and I lowered the Wet level to add spaciousness. 

2. Final Outcome

phone call

closet

 

bathroom

underground cave

orc

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FEEDBACK

Week 3:

No feedback given.

Week 4:

Instead of a very chaotic ambient noise, Mr Martin said it was more suitable for a toned down version as the chaos is happening very far in the background.

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REFLECTION

Experience

Mr Martin showed us how to insert audios very clearly and the tasks were overall simple and not too complicated, not much time was wasted in class as Mr Martin would let me off early for completing my tasks on time.

Observation

I found that audio dubbing is actually quite difficult, fortunately there was existing audio that helped me get an idea of how to speak but I imagine trying to figure out the right voice intonations and speed without having a reference can be very challenging.

Findings

There are not a lot of sound effect options on Youtube or online that will perfectly fit the scene, and that is why sound designers create the sound effects themselvet to get it right to every detail. Overall, it was fun to add my own sound effects and I was partially satisfied with how my final outcome came out.