The final lock for Where The Sea Doesn’t Follow will be sent over on the 28th of April. With this in mind moving forward to the upcoming deadline – I realised it wouldn’t be possible to complete sound for screen work. Upon reflection, I chose to create 4 different soundscapes based on the previous sound maps which I had created.
The soundscapes will provide me and the film team with a sonic taster of the audio world which I am hoping to create when receiving the film. After speaking to Victoria the producer of the film (on whom the story is loosely based). We worked together to create a list of items, animals, and sonic objects that would typically be found within each environment. For example within the flat set in China, along with the Chinese street; Victoria provided me with detailed examples which would specifically be found in each zone. This enabled me to create a realistic plausible sonic world.
I began with 4 specific soundscapes…
1.) English Seaside Town
2.) Chinese Mountains
3.) Grandma’s Flat – China
4.) Streets of China
All had their own unique sonic identity and this project allowed me to create a sonic picture ready for the final post-production in April. I found this task really helpful in regards to sound designing full stop and do believe I will carry this forward into future works.
When reflecting upon the sound pieces created I found that the overall content was a little busy and overcrowded sonically. When I receive the actual picture I think going forward I will strip back certain sound fx in the backgrounds and ambiences where necessary. I felt that during this task I had over-compensated for the fact the picture was not there and overcrowded my soundscapes with too many sounds. This can create confusion for the listener and take away fluidity from the piece. Each piece needs to be sonically clear where the location is set – especially due to the low budget of the film and having to shoot this in a false scenery.
The soundscape titled ‘English Seaside’ has many background spots sounds including arcade noises, children playing and traffic drone sounds. This detracts the emotional aspect and makes the soundscape seem chaotic and busy. As this will be a recurring motif to represent home and safety I feel that within the end film I will strip this back to be more insulate with a better emotional impact.