Within our group of collaborators, we settled on the incorporation of sound as a narrative device. If the character is experiencing a moment of joy, or an instance of sorrow - the sound heard will communicate the story being told by the visuals, to make the story all the more powerful.
As straightforward as it would be to include sound in this way to compliment our narrative, the problem with thinking is that it is much simpler to envision ideas in the safety of the mind, then to put them into practise within the reality of a real world. And we had some issues not only applying sound into the narrative, but also deciding what type of sound should be included.
The beginning of the video was easy to add music in, as we had already decided that music would play at the beginning and we had filmed the character choosing a song from his phone before he began texting someone and walking at the same time. The reason for starting with music at the beginning was to mislead the audience into who the character was and what was really happening to him. We specifically chose the song "Levels" by Avicii due to its up-beat tempo and buoyant connotation; as the character walked down a street at the same time texting someone with his headphones blaring the upbeat "Levels", he was oblivious to anything but himself, bumping into someone and narrowing being run over by a car as he was obnoxiously engaged with his phone.
We had a prolonged discussion as to what type of sound should come after he trips and falls down, breaking his phone in the process, as the music would come to an abrupt end as the phone would become inoperable. We came to the conclusion that with a massive disconnect from the narrative and the music with the fall, the sound should represent his reality that the music covered up; that he is a man too far selfish and indulged with his smartphone to realise his reality: that he is an ordinary person, and without his smartphone, he just that. Once he falls down and the music stops, sounds of his surroundings - car noises and people talking away - are heard to symbolise his reality, when the one he believes in, no longer exists.
The story we are trying to tell in our video, is of a man trying to locate his love interest without the use of his smartphone, once it breaks. Once his phone is broken he would have to resort to using archaic methods to find her; and the first form of antiquated technology he uses is an information board, where the next sound kicks in, with the choice, rather controversial.
In the pre-proposal, we defined our video as a "realistic drama", and the footage we filmed upheld this notion. However, with the music we selected for this segment of the narrative and a lot of scenes within it, the seriousness of the narrative may be undermined. As we wanted an inspirational sound to signify the character's plan to find his love interest without his smartphone - no easy feat, I tell you - we went for arguably one of the most inspirational songs of all time: The Rocky theme tune. It works as a narrative device to suggest that the character is inspired to carry out his plan, but it takes away, I feel, from the gravity of what our piece was planned to be.
We also came across some objects within the piece that had no sound when it became active in the film, which looked really strange and felt quite odd to behold. For example, as music is placed over most of the narrative to make the story more all the more powerful, certain objects that the character interacts with - namely a phone inside a telephone box and a paper map - do not have their own sound in the film, whereas they would in the real world, as music was put over most of the narrative. To give life to some objects within our narrative, we sourced some ambient sound and placed them over the relevant objects the character interacts with, to bring them to life and to add some authenticity into our film - which is now complete, after having the piece de resistance of sound was implemented.
Which means that the long-lasting saga that was this group video project, has come to an end. For most of the project's duration, this stage never looked likely, but it is strangely the reality. From its dreadful beginnings, to its stalled middle and finally, to its cumbersome but successful ending, I am glad the project has reached this stage; and finally over - until the next one begins, that is...
Ceysun Dixon KU ID: K1326851
As straightforward as it would be to include sound in this way to compliment our narrative, the problem with thinking is that it is much simpler to envision ideas in the safety of the mind, then to put them into practise within the reality of a real world. And we had some issues not only applying sound into the narrative, but also deciding what type of sound should be included.
The beginning of the video was easy to add music in, as we had already decided that music would play at the beginning and we had filmed the character choosing a song from his phone before he began texting someone and walking at the same time. The reason for starting with music at the beginning was to mislead the audience into who the character was and what was really happening to him. We specifically chose the song "Levels" by Avicii due to its up-beat tempo and buoyant connotation; as the character walked down a street at the same time texting someone with his headphones blaring the upbeat "Levels", he was oblivious to anything but himself, bumping into someone and narrowing being run over by a car as he was obnoxiously engaged with his phone.
We had a prolonged discussion as to what type of sound should come after he trips and falls down, breaking his phone in the process, as the music would come to an abrupt end as the phone would become inoperable. We came to the conclusion that with a massive disconnect from the narrative and the music with the fall, the sound should represent his reality that the music covered up; that he is a man too far selfish and indulged with his smartphone to realise his reality: that he is an ordinary person, and without his smartphone, he just that. Once he falls down and the music stops, sounds of his surroundings - car noises and people talking away - are heard to symbolise his reality, when the one he believes in, no longer exists.
The story we are trying to tell in our video, is of a man trying to locate his love interest without the use of his smartphone, once it breaks. Once his phone is broken he would have to resort to using archaic methods to find her; and the first form of antiquated technology he uses is an information board, where the next sound kicks in, with the choice, rather controversial.
In the pre-proposal, we defined our video as a "realistic drama", and the footage we filmed upheld this notion. However, with the music we selected for this segment of the narrative and a lot of scenes within it, the seriousness of the narrative may be undermined. As we wanted an inspirational sound to signify the character's plan to find his love interest without his smartphone - no easy feat, I tell you - we went for arguably one of the most inspirational songs of all time: The Rocky theme tune. It works as a narrative device to suggest that the character is inspired to carry out his plan, but it takes away, I feel, from the gravity of what our piece was planned to be.
We also came across some objects within the piece that had no sound when it became active in the film, which looked really strange and felt quite odd to behold. For example, as music is placed over most of the narrative to make the story more all the more powerful, certain objects that the character interacts with - namely a phone inside a telephone box and a paper map - do not have their own sound in the film, whereas they would in the real world, as music was put over most of the narrative. To give life to some objects within our narrative, we sourced some ambient sound and placed them over the relevant objects the character interacts with, to bring them to life and to add some authenticity into our film - which is now complete, after having the piece de resistance of sound was implemented.
Which means that the long-lasting saga that was this group video project, has come to an end. For most of the project's duration, this stage never looked likely, but it is strangely the reality. From its dreadful beginnings, to its stalled middle and finally, to its cumbersome but successful ending, I am glad the project has reached this stage; and finally over - until the next one begins, that is...
Ceysun Dixon KU ID: K1326851
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