Extensive Concept Research
Doing research for this project has honestly been kind of confusing for me.
As the sound person on this documentary, I have not been doing any research on the mysterious death from 2008 that this film is about as I feel the subject matter in terms of just the information itself does not really pertain to me and my duties on this project very much. That is not to say the subject is meaningless to me in my process because it is important to fit the tone of the film and make everything flow as well as possible from an audio standpoint.
A challenge here could be just my ignorance as to what this project really is and the full contents of the film. As someone who was added to the production team fairly recently, I do not have much knowledge pertaining to areas such as the concrete details of the death case, interview subjects, where the film is really even at, etc. I also have no idea yet as to the stylistic approach or direction that the director is really looking for, especially in my side as to what the sound of the documentary is going to be like.
With all of that being said, I would assume that my research at this point would have to be more from just a basic technical standpoint. I can use the knowledge I have already gained from working in Alex Markowski's Sound Recording and Sound Design classes last year for basic technical skill, so that part is covered. The interview sound could be conducted like any interview one would see in a basic documentary from sports docs to news interviews to really anything featuring expert voices. That is, with a boom mic above the interview subject and a clearly seen lavaliere mic clipped on the person's chest. We do not have to worry about suspending anyone's disbelief in a documentary, so it is acceptable to show the lavs.
I attempted to read up on sound in documentaries and stumbled upon an article by a man named Jeffrey Ruoff, but I did not find the reading to be of any real assistance to me in forming a clear concept of what I should be doing in the film. Ruoff mainly went over a history of observational cinema (repeating information one would learn in either FST 205 or New Wave Cinemas as well as some other courses at UNCW) and then some basic ideas such as something along the lines of a sound person booming on location and sound maybe not flowing like a narrative because filming in raw locations. It could maybe be informative to someone unaware of sound or documentaries, but it did not prove successful in helping me find some sort of approach rather than what I would find instinctual to do anyways.
I do not that this initial confusion will be consistent throughout this production process. Once I start getting to actually work on the project and see it for myself, especially in the post-production stage where the film is truly made, I may then begin to truly understand the necessary approach to the material.
-Cody
*A link to Ruoff's article if you are interested: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~jruoff/Articles/ConventionsofSound.htm
As the sound person on this documentary, I have not been doing any research on the mysterious death from 2008 that this film is about as I feel the subject matter in terms of just the information itself does not really pertain to me and my duties on this project very much. That is not to say the subject is meaningless to me in my process because it is important to fit the tone of the film and make everything flow as well as possible from an audio standpoint.
A challenge here could be just my ignorance as to what this project really is and the full contents of the film. As someone who was added to the production team fairly recently, I do not have much knowledge pertaining to areas such as the concrete details of the death case, interview subjects, where the film is really even at, etc. I also have no idea yet as to the stylistic approach or direction that the director is really looking for, especially in my side as to what the sound of the documentary is going to be like.
With all of that being said, I would assume that my research at this point would have to be more from just a basic technical standpoint. I can use the knowledge I have already gained from working in Alex Markowski's Sound Recording and Sound Design classes last year for basic technical skill, so that part is covered. The interview sound could be conducted like any interview one would see in a basic documentary from sports docs to news interviews to really anything featuring expert voices. That is, with a boom mic above the interview subject and a clearly seen lavaliere mic clipped on the person's chest. We do not have to worry about suspending anyone's disbelief in a documentary, so it is acceptable to show the lavs.
I attempted to read up on sound in documentaries and stumbled upon an article by a man named Jeffrey Ruoff, but I did not find the reading to be of any real assistance to me in forming a clear concept of what I should be doing in the film. Ruoff mainly went over a history of observational cinema (repeating information one would learn in either FST 205 or New Wave Cinemas as well as some other courses at UNCW) and then some basic ideas such as something along the lines of a sound person booming on location and sound maybe not flowing like a narrative because filming in raw locations. It could maybe be informative to someone unaware of sound or documentaries, but it did not prove successful in helping me find some sort of approach rather than what I would find instinctual to do anyways.
I do not that this initial confusion will be consistent throughout this production process. Once I start getting to actually work on the project and see it for myself, especially in the post-production stage where the film is truly made, I may then begin to truly understand the necessary approach to the material.
-Cody
*A link to Ruoff's article if you are interested: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~jruoff/Articles/ConventionsofSound.htm
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