The audio story tells a ghost story about Humpty Dumpty. It uses sound effects like cracking eggs and screaming to support the story. Different voices are used for characters to distinguish them. While the sound effects help the story, the author feels they could have added more detail. More focus on the target audience also could have improved audience appeal. Overall, sound effects engage the listener but leaving some room for enhancement in future projects.
2. Existing Products Research
• Doctor Who- Drama
This product is an audio drama. At the start of it they have
started to use a low based synthesizer. This quickly sets the
mood and they also use a slow piano to help confirm to the
audience that there is a bad thing happening.
Later on in the audio, the Doctor uses a lower pitched tone
of his voice to sound more intimidating. This also sets the
tone that the Doctor is talking to someone potentially evil.
They use sound effects such as a flamethrower to create the
action that is happening, and the scream that is played at the
same time tells the audience that some one is being hurt.
Finally, the music at the end fit in well when the doctor starts
to become intimidating. It sets a mood and makes the
audience feel more like something important is happening.
3. Existing Products Research
• Short Cuts: Noel – Documentary
This is a podcast about a little girl at Christmas. They made it
very clear that it was Christmas from the start of the video by
using a Christmas song. This makes it clear to the audience
what is happening. At the start of the podcast, they make a
song using a conversation that a girl has. This is good as it
makes more interesting. Later on in the podcast between
people talking there is always some sort of music in the
background so that it isn’t silent at all. They use sound
effects such as clocks when they talk about clocks and a crow
when one fly's by. This makes it feel real and draws you into
the podcast more. Their use of narration allows them to use
a calm voiced tone to also tell the audience that it is a
mellow toned podcast.
6. Foley
I think that the Foley task both positives and negatives to it.
firstly, while recording the audio I took the a copy of the
video with me. This allowed me to sync up the footsteps so
that they where at the same pace. I found that the
recording went well as I managed to not pick up any
background noise which meant I didn’t need to go back and
re record. When editing, I found that some of the audio
that I recorded didn’t sound real for the scene. So I used
the audio editing tool in premier pro to change the bass
and echo Etc. This allowed me to make it fit into the video
clip more. Unfortunately with this process of recording, we
had to wait until there was no one in the area that we was
going to record in so that we didn’t pick up any unwanted
noise.
https://youtu.be/JtCCHYVbO8A
7. Recording
For recording the nursery rhyme I tried to record in a few
different locations. This had both positives and negatives
to it. Firstly, by recording in different locations I had a
mixture of recording that had some echo and places with
no background noise. By doing this I was able to find the
best location that will have the cleanest audio
8. Garage Band
With the making of the garage band I found some pros and cons
with working there. Firstly, I was able to have a full range of both
instruments and MIDI loops. I was also able to layer all the
chosen sounds together to make it as clear and so that nothing
clashes. A negative is that you cant change the midi loops. This
would have been good as I could have taken an instrument or
two out which I thought didn’t work as well.
11. Idea Generation/Initial Reaction
Reactions?
Positives- The formats that I could use will
be easy to use. I have had previous
practice with audio and have an idea on
what to do. This project is also all audio
based meaning I wont have to rely on
anyone and I don’t have to wait for certain
weather or time.
Difficult Aspects- For starters gathering
audio might be a little difficult. If I am
wanting to record all the Foley myself I
might struggle to find a good locations to
be able to get clear audio or accurate
sounds.
Ghost Story- I think that having to make a
ghost story wont be too bad. It will be
difficult at times as there isn't many
natural sounds I could record for a ghost
or monster. I will also be able to think of a
story easily as I enjoy paranormal themed
TV shows.
12. Proposal
Working Title:
The Truth Of Humpty
Audience:
The audience for this will be young adults between the ages of 17 and 25. I have decided to use this
age as this is the audience that will have both the time and interest in the paranormal and will be more
open to believing in the impossible. I also want to aim my product at males as I will have a larger
source of research for them. I can use myself as primary research as I can tale it to how it would appeal
to me as I am classed as my target audience. My secondary research can be audience from other
paranormal podcasts or stories. This can give me a background to what others have used to appeal it to
the audience. I will include music that I’ll make to set a spooky tone to initially draw the audience in. I
will also include sound effects that will both line up with the story and keep the audiences attention
and interest.
Project Concept (approx. 200 words)
I will be making a ghost story based upon true events. Firstly I will have the podcast start with some
spooky ambiance and have the title of the story being said. This will have the audio pan onto the start
of the story where I will include lots of sound effects to help support the story so that the audience can
also feel like they are in the story. During research I found that it is good to have some sound effects
but don’t add too many as this could be too much, be distracting or sound tacky. I also found out that
music helps the story a lot. If there isn't any music it can be a bit bored. I will be adding some low
ambiance music to set the spooky tone.
16. Sound Effects
Sound Effect Needed How I Will Create the Sound
Egg cracking. For this I can get a real egg and crack in on the
side of a bowl.
Screaming sound I will get either myself or another member from
my class to scream.
Ticking clock With the audio recorder I will capture the audio
from a real clock ticking
Lightning strike and rain For this I can re create rain and clash some
sheet metal together to create lightning.
Door slamming I can slam a real door loudly.
Evil laugh I will get either myself or another member from
my class to laugh
Sword unveiling . I can use a knife and a knife sharpener to create
the scrapping sound
Echoing and crunching of
shells.
For this I can get a real egg and use the cracked
shell to move around in my hand creaking
together
Footsteps I can record my footsteps.
18. Music
Band Name Track Name Link
UNKNOWN Humpty dumpty theme https://youtu.be/pWdE3wPCy8c
UNKNOWN Creepy background music https://youtu.be/QTFLYCMkyiM
https://youtu.be/vohFxJ982Ic
19. Resource List
Resource Owned/Cost What sound effect will it be
used for?
Egg £2.25 Eggs cracking
Egg shell £2.25 Egg Crunching sound
Clock Owned Ticking sound
Knife Owned Sword
Heavy shoes Owned Footsteps
21. Daily Reflection Day
1- Script Writing
In this process I had to do something
reasonable new to me. For the starter of
this section I started to think of the
characters and full story that could be used
in it. In script writing I had to make sure that
it made sense without any visuals. After I
made my first copy of my original story, I
thought of a new idea which I thought was a
lot stronger and that I preferred. This was
good as I could see new techniques that I
could possibly do. After making the first
draft of the new script. I went back and
wrote on what I though I could do extra for
example adding different sound effects and
being specific with the tone of the
characters voice to add more detail to them.
I liked making the script as it allowed me to
have something strong to work off and it
also allowed me to work on Foley which I
can use that skill in later projects.
22. Daily Reflection
Day 2- pitch
shifter
In my first part of my editing I started to edit the background piano audio.
The original background audio is all the same pitch, throughout the project I
lower the pitch as certain points. For example I lowered the pitch of the
background music when the actual story starts. This is to show the audience
that it is starting to get more sinister. This also sets a mood which I feel that
It has successfully given off. I also used the pitch shifter tool to change the
pitch of my voice. I used this at different points. I change the narrators pitch
to make him sound more sinister as I believed it wasn’t creepy enough. I
also used the pitch changer to lower the pitch of the ‘Unknown Character’
to make him sound like both a totally different character and to make him
sound a lot eviler and more sinister. Finally, the pitch shifter has been used
to edit some of the sound effects which was too high pitch and didn’t fit in
very well. By lowering the pitch then it allowed the audio to fit and it made
it clearer to hear.
23. Daily
Reflection
Day 3-
effects
With using adobe audition, I have lots of different access to the
different track and audio effects. Firstly with having the effects I have
a choice to put an effect on either a single clip or the whole track. This
was good as I was able to quickly change the audio of all the clips on a
track if needed. The effect setting had many default tracks that I could
use. For example there was settings such as spooky, which I was able
to use to for the cracking of eggs and footsteps echoing. I was also
able to use the singular effects which allowed me to customize them a
lot more to fit how I want it too. For example I use the pitch shifter to
change the pitch of characters voices to fit the scene to how it want it.
24. Daily Reflection
Day 4- layering
In this section I started to layer everything together. I ordered them by
the effects each soundtrack will have. For example, I ordered the
eggs cracking on the same track as they were the same kind of
sounds. These are similar audios that I wanted to keep together so I
could; one, find them easier and two, edit the whole track instead of
editing the audio individually. As I wanted the background piano to be
quieter, instead of editing the specific audio I was able to lower the
whole track which was helpful, especially with the narrators track.
With that I cut up the track first then decided that I needed to
increase the sound, so instead of editing them all individually so that
the audio was higher, I changed the whole tracks volume up so that it
changed them all, this also allowed me to go and edit a couple of the
tracks to either lower or higher it if needed. Finally, using separate
makes it all cleaner and more organised to find what you need.
26. Research
The good thing about having done research before making the product
is that is allowed me to look into different types of audio files which
included other stories and podcasts and get an idea of how they should
sound. The three products that I looked at gave me an idea about
possible sound effects and a structure of how to make it. Something I
learned for the research was not to have to many sound effects. I found
that having lots of sound effects made it sound tacky and that too much
stuff was going on at once. I also found that in my research there was
some weaknesses. I didn’t think that there was much room to expand
for example. To have improve on my research I could have done some
mood boards to think about sound effects, story and setting. Finally,
with research I could have added more protocols to make sure I went
into as much depth as I can. I would have liked to have made a survey to
ask my audience what kinds of scary stories they prefer to hear.
27. Planning
With my planning I can see that that there was many strengths and
weaknesses. For starters I made an idea generation which allowed me to think
about my story and with my proposal it made me think about things that I
wouldn’t normally think of myself, this was a big strength as I was able to
develop the story more. The rest of my planning was thinking about sound
effects, locations where I could record and the music that I might use. I found
this whole process to be useful as I was able to get all my sound effect and
location ideas all sorted before I started to create my audio. Finally with my
planning I was able to make multiple drafts of my script. In total, I made three
scripts. The first one that I made was a script for the original idea. After the
first draft script for the original idea, I got a new and improved idea for what I
could do. This did take up some time to think about all the new sound effects I
would need and the areas to film. There was a couple of weakness with this
planning. In this I didn’t really focus about how to make it more appealing to
the audience. This also meant that I didn’t use my research into account as
much.
28. Time Management
I felt like I have managed my time well and I successfully finished my production
work on time. I think that I gave myself to many different projects to complete in
the time that I was given. For example I tried to keep changing the audio until it
sounded better. I could of also saved time if I didn't change the original script to
the knew one. I also feel that the sound effects are up to a good detail but if I
improved how I did my planning and got my sources earlier on then I would have
had more time to make it better, this could have also allowed me to have the
sound effects to have more detail and be more crisp. I could have also had more
time to get more audio if needed. I do feel like I managed my time well but if I did
this again then I could have created a time management plan. This would have had
something for me to follow so I had all my tasks set out before I started recording
and making. But the way I did it, I had to keep thinking about what the next task
was going to be and I had to sacrifice things that wasn’t as important for me to get
things such as the narration to a good enough level. In conclusion, I think that in
future projects I should make sure to make a time management sheet. This will
also me to get through the tasks quicker and have everything planned out.
29. Technical QualitiesDoctor Who Audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA50biq
UB-8
The Truth OF humpty Dumpty
https://youtu.be/yA16J1825gQ
On the left is a Doctor who audio story created by the BBC, while on the
right is the truth of humpty dumpty audio which was created by myself.
In certain parts, I find my product similar to the product by the BBC.
Firstly, both the stories included sound effects. These added to the story
to help develop it more. I also find that we have both made the sound
effects sound realistic. The BBC have used more sound effects which I
think makes it more interesting. There sound effects also sound a little
clearer which I think makes it sound professional. My audio sound
effects are a little more exotic as I have sounds of egg cracking which
isn’t common in audio projects. In my project I edit some of the audio to
make it sound deeper which makes it fit in better. Finally, I feel that my
audio project is a little bit more descriptive in the sense of narration,
this makes it a little clearer to understand what is going on.
30. Audience Appeal
With my audio file I feel like I have successfully appealed to the
audience at parts, but I also know some things that I could have done
to make the project appeal to the audience more. For starts I think
that the sound effects have appealed to the audience well. I also feel
that I have added enough sound effects to keep the audience
interested. If I did this project again, I would try to add more sound
effects to add more detail and make it more realistic. I feel that the
story makes sense of the use of different voices for different
characters helps go keep the audience interested and makes them
want to carry on listening. Finally, thinks that I could have tried to
focus the project more on the audience. This would have made it
more appealing for them and made them want to be interested.
Editor's Notes
Go over as many slides as necessary. Research at least 3 products.
Discuss the use of sound effects, music and performance. How have the producers suggested a location/time period and created a tone/feel
Try to break down what you can hear. How do the different sound elements work together? How do sound effects add to the drama? What part does music play in the work?
Try to listen to a variety of different types of radio programme. If you listen to drama and documentary, you will give yourself a better understanding of what exists and what is possible. It will also help guide your project.
Go over as many slides as necessary. Research at least 3 products.
Discuss the use of sound effects, music and performance. How have the producers suggested a location/time period and created a tone/feel
Try to break down what you can hear. How do the different sound elements work together? How do sound effects add to the drama? What part does music play in the work?
Try to listen to a variety of different types of radio programme. If you listen to drama and documentary, you will give yourself a better understanding of what exists and what is possible. It will also help guide your project.
Using Neil’s Toolbox, log all the resources you have used
Provide a brief summary of the story/stories you have chosen
Log your initial thoughts regarding the set brief- What stories could you use? How do you feel about the different potential formats? What are the positives about this project? What could be some difficult aspects?
Create a mind map of all the things you need to think about for your project.
Initial draft of your script. This should then be refined.
Final version of your script, ready to be used in production.
What music could you use? This should be copyright free. Explore options online for copyright free/public domain music or make your own on Garage Band
Log your thoughts and feeling related to what you have produced. Discuss methods and tools you have used. Reference everything you have done today. Use screenshots
Log your thoughts and feeling related to what you have produced. Discuss methods and tools you have used. Reference everything you have done today. Use screenshots
Log your thoughts and feeling related to what you have produced. Discuss methods and tools you have used. Reference everything you have done today. Use screenshots
Log your thoughts and feeling related to what you have produced. Discuss methods and tools you have used. Reference everything you have done today. Use screenshots
What were the strengths of your research? How did your research help your product?
What were the weaknesses of your research? What could you have done better/improve? What effect would this have had on your product?
Think about existing products as well as practical experiments
What were the strengths of your planning? How did your planning help your product?
What were the weaknesses of your planning? What could you have done better/improve? What effect would this have had on your product?
Did you manage your time well? Did you complete your project on time or would your products have improved with additional time?
What would you have done if you had more time to produce your work?
Compare your work to similar existing products and discuss the similarities and differences
Is your work technically detailed/complicated enough? What effects and techniques have you used? How did you create your effects? How did you record your audio? Did you use any foley methods?
How have you appealed to your target audience? What specific bits of content would appeal to your target audience.