Editing and Sound

1. Editing and Sound

2. 180 Degree Rule Review • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdyyuqmCW14

3. Montage Definitions • Soviet montage theory is an approach to understanding and creating cinema that relies heavily upon editing • In classical Hollywood cinema, a "montage sequence" is a short segment in a film in which narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion.

4. Montage • Blue Velvet • Psycho • Raging Bull • Citizen Kane

5. Montage Technique • Camera needs to move anywhere from 25 to 45 degrees in order to make a smooth transition • When moving through different symbolic shots—it is important to change up the angles and image sizing • Think about visual impact

7. Sound Recording • Video is on the screen, but sound is everywhere! • People can become engrossed in scenes with shaky camera or possibly bad lighting, but if the sound is bad you lose your audience • Also, if sound peaks—over-modulates it is unusable

8. What is sound? • Sound is energy that travels through a medium like air as a wave • When something makes a sound, it causes molecules of the air to vibrate, i.e. to alternately bunch together (compress) and to move apart (rarefy)

9. Ears and Brain • When sound waves hit your ear, they cause your ear drum to vibrate, which in turn sends nerve impulses to your brain. • This allows you to perceive the vibrations as sound

10. Microphone • When sound waves hit a microphone, they cause a diaphragm inside the mic to vibrate which generates an electrical current known as the audio signal. This can be sent to an audio recorder

11. Dynamic Mics • Dynamic mics don’t need a battery • Rugged • Cheap • Handle loud sounds • Not sensitive to soft sounds

12. Condenser Mics • More sensitive than dynamic mics • They have a greater frequency response • They need a battery • They can’t handle very loud sounds

13. Dynamic Dynamic microphones use a simple magnet and coil of wire to convert sound waves into a signal. Here’s how it works: a thin diaphragm with a coil of fine wire attached vibrates when struck by sound waves. This causes the coil of wire to move back and forth around a magnet, creating a small amount of electricity, which flows out of the microphone’s connector and through the microphone cable.

14. Condenser Condenser microphones (sometimes called electret condenser microphones) use an even thinner diaphgragm than the dynamic type stretched tight just above a piece of flat metal or metal-coated ceramic, called a backplate. When a fixed electrical charge is placed on the diaphragm/backplate assembly, its electrical output varies depending on the movements of the diaphragm, which vibrates in response to sound waves. This output signal is extremely weak and subject to outside electrical interference, however, so it must be modified and/or amplified by a circuit called a preamplifier

15. Balanced Audio Cable XLR (X-linked lymphocyte regulated) cables have 3 pins, a circular connector and are used to deliver balanced microphone and line-level signals over long distances. An XLR cable's ability to deliver a balanced signal means that the final audio signal will have less unwanted noise from outside electrical interferences. This preserves the original audio signal, even over long distances and near other electronic devices.

16. 1/8 to XLR Connector

17. Zoom mic and Shotgun

18. Directional • Omni-directional • Cardioid • Shotgun (uni-directional)

19. Omnidirectional – An omnidirectional microphone picks up sound equally from all directions (the prefix “omni” means “all”). An omnimic will pick up sound from above, below, in front of, behind, and to the side of the mic in a 360 degree sphere. The polar pattern for an omni, accordingly, is roughly circular.

20. Cardiod: Unidirectional By far the most common type of unidirectional microphone is the cardioid, so named because its polar pattern resembles a heart-shaped figure.

21. Shotgun • Doesn’t zoom in on sounds • It narrows the field of sounds it’s sensitive to • Cuts out undesirable sounds

22. Shotgun – The shotgun microphone is so named because the long, slotted tube in front of the microphone cartridge makes it resemble a shotgun. This “interference tube” makes shotgun mics significantly less sensitive to sound coming from the side and rear than other directional microphones. A shotgun mic’s extremely directional pickup pattern (called a line/gradient pattern) makes these popular for news gathering, outdoor sports coverage and TV/film production.

23. Tips Shotgun mics can be positioned slightly above, below, or to the side of the sound source, so that the mic does not appear in the camera frame. Try to avoid aiming the mic at a hard surface, such as a tile floor, brick wall, or hard ceiling. These surfaces reflect sound waves, and may reflect background noise into the microphone or cause the sound to be slightly hollow. A heavy blanket can be placed on a reflective surface to provide some temporary sound absorption. Shotgun mics are more sensitive to wind noise than standard microphones, so try to avoid moving the mic rapidly and use a foam windscreen if possible. Larger “zeppelin” or “blimp” type windscreens are usually necessary outdoors. Also, it’s a good idea to use a rubber-isolated shock mount to control handling noise that may be transmitted through a stand or boom.

24. Audio Recorders • Nagra • Digital Audio Recorders

25. Tips and Tricks • Position the mic as close to the source as possible • Especially important when recording dialogue • The difference between great footage and unusable footage is whether or not the dialogue is well recorded or not • Controlled situations are easier to work with

26. Headphones • Always where headphones—preferably ones that cover your ears

27. Problems with Camera Mics • They can’t detach • They tend to be omni-directional • They pic up sound from the camera

28. External Mic • Using an external mic • The camera can be placed for visuals while the microphone can be placed for best possible audio • Audio cable noise • Keep mic and sound person out of the shot

29. LavalierMic • It can be clipped to your subject’s shirt

30. Sound Waves • Sound waves exist as variations of pressure in a medium such as air. They are created by the vibration of an object, which causes the air surrounding it to vibrate. The vibrating air then causes the human eardrum to vibrate, which the brain interprets as sound. • Sound waves travel through air in much the same way as water waves travel through water. In fact, since water waves are easy to see and understand, they are often used as an analogy to illustrate how sound waves behave. They are created by the vibration of an object, which causes the air surrounding it to vibrate. The vibrating air then causes the human eardrum to vibrate, which the brain interprets as sound. • The illustration on the left shows a speaker creating sound waves (click the button to show animation). • Sound waves travel through air in much the same way as water waves travel through water. In fact, since water waves are easy to see and understand, they are often used as an analogy to illustrate how sound waves behave.

31. Audio Waveform in Premiere

32. Wavelength The distance between any point on a wave and the equivalent point on the next phase. Literally, the length of the wave.

33. Amplitude: The strength or power of a wave signal. The "height" of a wave when viewed as a graph.Higher amplitudes are interpreted as a higher volume, hence the name "amplifier" for a device that increases amplitude.

34. Frequency: The number of times the wavelength occurs in one second. Measured in kilohertz (Khz), or cycles per second. The faster the sound source vibrates, the higher the frequency.Higher frequencies are interpreted as a higher pitch. For example, when you sing in a high-pitched voice you are forcing your vocal chords to vibrate quickly.

35. Sound Levels • On old analog recorders 0 dB was 14 decibels higher than it is on many professional audio recorders • on magnetic tape and could push the recording level past the 0dB setting on a regular basis without any serious consequences.

36. Digital audio has a hard ceiling that is measured as 0dBFS or 0dB full scale When you push the audio level beyond that point, digital clipping occurs. This produces nasty distortion that effectively ruins your recording during the clipping. To avoid digital clipping, it's good practice to keep your recording levels well below the ceiling. A common setting is -10dBFS. This gives you some headroom for inevitable peaks and still keeps the signal loud enough to avoid noise. Many devices also include a signal limiter of some kind.

37. Audio Levels on Premiere • “The key is, you never want to exceed zero, because your audio will get distorted.” • “Now some of you might be delivering to a broadcast station, and they might have specific requirements for your audio mix level. It may be minus 18 or minus 20. The best rule of thumb is ask before you start editing and you won't have to go back and fix it”

38. Levels • Total audio mix level: -3 dB to -6 dB • Principle speaker (SOT) audio: -6 dB to -12 dB • Sound effects audio: -12 dB to -18 dB • Music when its an underscore: -18 dB

39. Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound • http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/11/23/246916733/a-sound-of-fear-forged-in-the-shadow-of-war?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook

40. Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic • Part of the story world of the film • The Most Dangerous Game • Diner Scene • Diner Scene 2

41. Offscreen Sound: Paranormal Activity 1 and Paranormal Activity 2 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS1C7kzn-FA • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDq1_2s9oyI

42. Components of Continuity Editing • Avoid jump cuts: A shot of a person sitting—cut to the same shot of the person standing creates a noticeable jump in time • Preserving screen direction at cuts (180 degree rule) • Intercutting • Note: I found the whole movie (excellent quality) on Vimeo!

43. Cutting Dialogue Tracks • Sometimes words have to be separated • Avoid clipping (up-cutting a word) • A two-frame crossfade can help make an awkward cut sound natural

44. Narration or Voiceover • Narration works best when woven in with sync sound from a scene • Be careful that background sounds do not become distracting • Ideally, final narration should be recorded in a sound booth to get high-quality clean sound Tips and Tricks from -- Digital Films a blog by Oliver Peters

45. Cut tight – The best editing approach is to cut tight scenes without becoming too “cutty”. This means taking out unnecessary pauses between actors’ delivery of dialogue lines. Sometimes it means tightening the gaps within dialogue sentences through the use of carefully placed cutaways. It may also mean losing redundant lines of dialogue, after the director has reviewed your cut.

46. No Dragnet edits – The original Dragnet television series used a certain approach to cutting dialogue scenes. Audio and video edits tended to be made as straight cuts between the actors without any overlaps as they delivered their lines. It followed this formula: cut to actor A – deliver the line; cut to actor B – deliver the line; cut back to actor A and so on. Our brains seem to react better to edits where the change in picture and sound is not always together. These are called split edits, L-cuts or J-cuts.

47. Matching action • Matching action – Matching actors’ hand positions, use of props, eyeline and stage position from one cut to another fall into the technical category of how to make a proper edit. • The greatest weight is given to whether that cut drives the emotion of the scene or moves the story along. Technical matching is the least important concern. (not that it should be thrown out the window) • The audience will often ignore many minor continuity differences from one shot to the next if they stay totally engrossed in the story. Your job as the editor is to cut in such as way that they do.

48. Don’t cut back to the exact same angle • – If you have a choice of several camera angles, don’t automatically cut back to the same camera angle or take that you just used in the previous shot. • if the director shot different takes with different framing, try to use a little of all of them. • Don’t get stuck in a cutting rut, like master/single/reverse, master/single/reverse, etc. Mix it up.

49. B-roll shots in threes • When the scene calls for cutaway inserts, it feels right to use three on a row. Not a single shot, not two, but three. • These should be at least 1.5-2 seconds long (or longer). An example might be when a character enters the room and looks around. • The POV inserts work nicely in triplets and give the audience a good idea of the landscape that the character encounters. It mimics our real-world experience of moving our head around and seeing different aspects of the same surroundings.

50. Cut for the eyes • Actors that do well on TV and in films (as compared with the stage) are all very expressive with their face, but most importantly, their eyes. • When I’m cutting an intense dialogue scene, I’m looking at how the actors’ eyes play in the scene. Do they convey the proper emotion? What is the reaction of the other actors in the scene? • What the actors are or aren’t doing facially determines my cutting. It drives my decision to stick with the principal actor delivering the dialogue or whether I briefly cut away to see reactions from the others.