Experimental Evaluation

Experimental Evaluation

The concept of this task was split into two different requirements. Firstly, to produce a three minute audio track that could describe a sense of place. Secondly, to create an experimental film piece that also lasted up to three minutes, which our sense of place audio piece could then be added as a soundtrack. Paired with Sophie, we discussed several different initial ideas that we could maybe work from. These included night life, local industries and factories and social activities. Eventually, we came up with the idea of looking into patriotism in football, from a fans point of view.

In one of our seminars with Debbie, she showed us a range of different experimental audio and film pieces. One that stuck out to us was a documentary styled piece describing what it was like to work in a meat factory. From hearing this, we decided to try and interpret our piece into a similar style, interviewing local football fans and receiving their point of view.

If I was to set a target audience for our experimental pieces, I would aim it at an audience of people who enjoy sport, particularly Sheffield Untied supporters or men aged 20 – 39, however for such a popular sport, it may gain other interest from women and children.

Looking at our finished piece of work, I have mixed reviews. I personally feel our audio track is a lot stronger than our film, and works better. The sounds we recorded and edited together fit well and I feel the audience is able to tell and construct for themselves what exactly is going on without having to have it spelt out for them. It is layered well and includes all relevant sounds you would predict to hear at any football match. We were lucky enough to catch a wide range of sounds the day we went out to record, overall giving us enough sound to work with.

On the other hand, the film did not turn out so well. The end result looked rushed and the unfocused shots clashed too much with the soundtrack, confusing the audience. Some elements, such as the programmes sellers and the low shots outside the ground worked well and were positioned carefully within the production. However, the majority of the rest of the footage just did not fit right. Also, we used some archived footage to help break up some of the longer shots we had to use to replace unusable ones. Although the archive film was okay, I don’t feel we thought hard enough about just how to use it in the film and where it would work best.

Personally, I really liked the idea of recording the fans and getting their thoughts about the game. As we tried to podcast a range of different people, from young children to elderly men, it gave us a range of views to pick and choose from to add to the soundtrack. I also feel that it helped to weigh down just what it was we were trying to achieve without making it too obvious. Although we ended up using a lot less vocal points during the three minutes then first intended, it is an aspect that turned out working better than expected.

If we were to undertake this project again, I think that it would be vital to structure the film more so we have a real idea of what we want it to accomplish. We were not too sure what we wanted to capture at first, so tried experimenting with various ideas as we spotting actions. Unfortunately, it did not work out as well as planned, overall ruining the quality of our films. But if we used storyboards and experimented beforehand with the cameras we use to see just what we can achieve by doing more background research, I feel that it would improve the standards of our film incredibly.

Also, I would possibly look further into editing our soundtrack more. Although I am happy with the finished result, it would be interesting to experiment and take it a step further.

During the production process, we gave each other individual job titles to help our contributions towards the project.  Sophie was Sound Recordist, and I was Sound Editor, however as we stuck to our roles, we helped each other thoroughly with all aspects of the assignment throughout, from initial ideas to final edit cuts.

From the moment we decided on our final idea, I feel that we discussed and changed several aspects of what we were trying to achieve in order to try and make it feel better. We originally wanted to create a documentary styled piece of audio to help describe to the audience was a match day felt like to local team supporters. After listening to our inspirations for the piece, we thought our three minute soundtrack would contain a lot of speech from the fans throughout describing their personal views and memories of football matches, however as we progressed through the project and had tutorial sessions with Debbie, we found that we were cutting down more and more aspects of the documentary response in order to not distract the audience too much from the sense of place. Finally, in total we only had approximately 40 seconds of speech in the whole audio piece, but looking back at what we originally started with, I feel that it works so much better.

We also planned to structure the piece as a build-up through a match day, starting with people heading up to the football ground and ending with the climax of the game. Initially, we ended the audio with a recorded chant we had of Sheffield United fans singing one of their famous football chants. After showing Debbie our rough cut edit, she spoke to us about bringing the climax of the piece forward, so it began ¾ of the way through, and then died down again. After experimenting more with this approach and moving sounds around, we changed the structure so it did just that, and decided instead to end with a quote by one of United’s elderly fans we had met at one of the matches, where his recording stated that he thought Sheffield United were the “best team in Sheffield”.

For our experimental footage, majority of the first shots we captured were fine and we could put them straight to use in Final Cut Pro. We wanted some shots of the pitch from inside Sheffield United’s football ground, and tried to contact the club for access, which was later turned down. As we could not collect the footage we formerly wanted, we looked online at some archive footage and tried to find some clips that we felt would fit in place instead. In the end, after some further discussions, we decided to edit more with the footage we had already collected and used snippets of archive film to try and help cut it up, and were finally able to cover the three minute piece completely.

We did not encounter any major problems during the project. Some of the audio we had recorded did not turn out very well when we went on to begin editing, meaning we had to make time to go back and try again. Also, as mentioned before, some locations that we did not manage to get permission for filming meant that we had to rethink ideas and plan again. 

From undertaking this project, technically I feel I have learnt a lot more than what I was first capable of in September. One of the biggest things for me that I have accomplished is being able to correctly use and produce a piece of work using Soundtrack Pro. Before University, I had never previously attempted to use the programme and was not too sure on how it even worked. Within a few weeks of being on this course I have been able to grasp the basic idea of the programme and along with Sophie, help to create a soundtrack for our experimental that fits the brief requirements.

Although there are a lot of areas on the software I am still unfamiliar with, I feel that it is a personal achievement to learn the basic and put them to good use, experimenting with the audio we recorded and develop it into a piece of work.

We also tried a different method of shooting when recording shots for our experimental film. I am familiar with film with my DSLR, however we decided to film our shots in a different style to what we usually would record normal footage for a short film. We captured majority of the shots out of focus and blurred to try and create a dream like vision; so the audience viewing it could just be able to make out what it is they are watching, but in a way they feel like they are seeing either a dream or someone’s memories. I feel it was a risky idea to go with and we were not too sure whether or not it was going to turn out the way that we had imagined it. Although the end piece shows that room for improvement can definitely be made, I am glad we decided to experiment more with our camera shots to try and create something different.

Overall I think Sophie and I worked well together to produce this piece of work. We were able to work alongside one another efficiently and successfully to complete the task in hand. We also made sure we kept in contact with each other as much as possible throughout the semester, communicating via emails and text messages when we were not at University.

We contributed equally to the project; splitting all the tasks required between us so we were able to help each productively to achieve our aims. We both attended editing sessions and went out to record together when possible; however, if one of us was not available to help towards filming or recording, the other would still do their best to get something done. For example, one evening where I was called into work and there was a home match at Bramell Lane, Sophie still went along to record some much needed audio which overall created on of the main back tracks to your experimental piece.

I personally feel that as a team we had several strengths throughout the project. We worked hard to collect the audio and footage we wanted, and went out of our way to try and contact various sources, including media departments at both Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday football clubs, to attempt to add more depth to our experimental piece. We both gave initial ideas to our piece of work and gave contributions throughout to try and constantly improve things. We also gave critical feedback and responses to each other and our ideas to make sure that we agreed on what we were producing, and would both be satisfied with the final outcome.

Although I feel that we worked great together as a team, I felt we did lack in some areas and we have some weaknesses that could be improved. Our editing skills can still be improved as I feel for what is meant to be an experimental piece, our editing of both film and audio is fairly basic. Also some of the camera shots I collected could have been a bit sharper and framed better, although I don’t feel it is a major issue.

One of the main improvements I think we could have made would be to make tighter schedules and plan ahead further in advance to make sure we had enough material to work with. For example, I contacted Sheffield Wednesday quite late into the project after Sheffield United denied us filming access. As Sheffield Wednesday never replied, we found ourselves slightly short of footage for our three minute audio piece and had to resort looking at archive footage that was not our first option, and then editing our original copies of footage either further.