Sound Project

     Hey everyone! For the last few weeks in AICE Media Studies AS, we have been working on learning all about sound. We've learned that sound gives dimension to scenes, adds emotional impact, complements visuals, makes visuals more realistic, and much, much more. We've also learned about sounds like Shepard's tone (several sounds separated by an octave layered on top of each other), non-diegetic sound (sound that is incorporated by the non-native world), and much more. We have learned the difference between sound effects, which are artificially created, and foley sounds, which are sounds mimicking other sounds created physically for a more dramatic effect. We have focused a lot on foley sounds and watched a lot of people use all sorts of objects to create some. 

    After learning a lot about sound, it was time to put what we learned to use. We were assigned a project, The Sound Project, in which we were first given a partner. Then, we were instructed to work together to brainstorm a scene, create an outline of the sounds in that scene, and then create a 1-2 minute soundscape. The overall goal of this project was to convey some sort of story with sounds alone. There were no visual elements allowed, and the chosen scene had to be able to realistically take place in a 1-2 minute timespan. Most of the sounds for this project could come from digital effects, but four of the sounds had to come from random objects on a foley stage.

    When approaching the development of our project, the first thing we did was come up with scene ideas. Originally, we were going to do a coffee shop but then settled on a woman going to the beach and drowning while surfing. We made the change because we wanted to make the piece more interesting. Next, we created our outline. We tried to separate the overall story into multiple parts and write out all the individual sounds of the scene. We wanted to include all the sounds that we could to make the scene more realistic. When editing, we made some changes to our plan, but the outline kept us overall organized. If you want to see our outline, it's shown below. 

    

    After creating and submitting our outline, we started downloading digital sounds and came up with ideas for our foley sounds. We started to edit our project in class using Adobe Premier Pro and filmed our foleys at home. We used many digital sounds, like ocean waves and four foley sounds. For example, we shook dice between two cups, which mimicked shaking sunscreen spray before you use it. If you want to hear and see the creation of all our foley sounds, watch or click on the link below. 

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Click Here To Watch Our Foley Stage Sounds

    While editing, we constantly referred back to our outline to make sure we weren't forgetting anything and to make sure that our soundscape was organized and in order. We did run into some problems while editing, such as much of what we edited one day in class didn't save and we had to redo it. In the end, we figured it out and submitted our project. 

    Overall, I really enjoyed doing the project and really liked how our soundscape turned out. I think we did a really good job of the sounds of the beach and used a good variety of sounds to portray the scene and create a story. I think we could work on the foley stage sounds as well as add more layers to create a more in-depth scene. 

    If you would like to listen to the final project, you can play the video or click the link below.  

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Click Hear To Listen To Our Soundscape