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.
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