The document provides a summary and analysis of several existing audio products that were researched, including a haunted house soundscape, an audio of making mince pies in a kitchen, and a Doctor Who audio drama. Key points made about each include descriptions of the sounds, music, and dialogue used; evaluations of what was effective and could be improved; and aspects the researcher aims to incorporate into their own audio project. The researcher indicates they want to create a similar immersive audio story without narration for their work by using sounds like footsteps, thunder, and creaking doors.

1. Audio
Megan Bannister

2. Existing Products Research
• Haunted House soundscape
– By using thunder and rain the producers suggest there is an uneasy feel in
the audio. They are using pathetic fallacy to describe the tone.
– To further the tension in the audio, they using creaking doors and loud
footsteps. This allows the listener to infer that the character is trying to be
quiet- as usually things seem a lot louder when you are trying to be quiet.
– There is lots of non-diegetic sound such as a wind chime effect that due to
its repetition sounds out of the story, as well as a loud screeching sound
that is common to horror movies when creating tension in the listener.
– The producers move between a lot of noise at once to very little- just one
or two quiet sounds- which is very effective. Such as the cut to the singing
of the nursery rhyme.
– The producers uses a range of non-dialogue audio for the main character,
such as a gasp or crying. This creates an immersive feeling as if you are the
character.
– I would like to create a similar audio story for my work that is without
narration and think using audios such as footsteps/thunder/doors
creaking will be very effective in my work.

3. Existing Products
Research
• Making Mince Pies with Jill Archer
– The audio emphasises on comfort, ‘Jill Archer’ has a familiar grandma-like
voice and talking pattern.
– The noises of the kitchen and cooking are recognisable even if you cannot
pinpoint each sound and the dialogue gives you indication into what is
happening throughout the audio.
– The product is well made as it is immersive and calming.
– The one thing I would change about this audio is that it is very simple and
quiet, I think it could still achieve its intended outcome with music in the
background (such as from a radio in the ‘kitchen’) or more dialogue or
background noise.
– An aspect I will take from this audio is really clear Foley sound effects and
playing with the use of quiet. Despite it being something I wasn’t too fond
of in the audio, I think quiet can make the listener pay more attention to
the audio.

4. Existing Products Research
• Doctor Who Audio Drama
– The audio uses a mix of sound effects, dialogue and music.
It is emulating the TV show without the visuals and does a
very good job in doing so.
– The product is well made as you can understand what is
going on, even without knowing anything about the
programme.
– The music is well composed and amplifies the effects of
the dialogue.
– An issue I have with this audio is that there is a part where
the actors are harder to understand – I believe because
they are yelling over one another. Unlike visual media, you
cannot lip read or use subtitles so I think the dialogue
needs to be extremely clear.
– The mix of different parts of audio (dialogue over music) is
something I would like to use within my own project.

5. Existing Products Research
• The Battersea Poltergeist – Introducing Uncanny
– Narration with backing music and sound effects. Theme tune. Host
interviewing a person that had an paranormal encounter.
– As the person recounts the story, there are sound effects to induce
feelings and emphasise the story. Then effective use of silence when
he says he also heard nothing.
– This is a very effective audio piece and makes me consider using some
narration in my project. There was the use of humour at the start
which allows the listener to become comfortable before the
discomfort.
– To set the scene, the host tells us when and where this happened.
They also push for the validity of this story by emphasising the
person’s sound state of mind.
– An aspect that I would change would be that the host should
introduce the guest and the story they’re about to tell, and then the
guest tells it. Instead there were pauses in the story for the host to talk
to the guest which I think removed from the atmosphere that had
been created beforehand.

6. Ideas

7. Idea Generation/Initial Reaction
• My initial reaction to the brief was a non-narrative story
similar to the first audio I researched. I think this format will
be able to help me evoke the largest reaction from my
audience.
• A difficult aspect will be learning how to create different
Foley aspects and researching how to recreate sounds.
• This is a part of the industry I have not considered so this
will be a good opportunity to try out something new and
see how I work with the brief. I think getting to create a
horror piece of media will be very exciting.
• Another difficult aspect will be correctly portraying the
story without many words. I want to be able to induce
horror in the listener but do not have a visual aid. I think
this will be an exciting challenge to explore a different
medium.

8. Yorkshire Ghost Stories
• The Grey Lady – East Riddlesden Hall
– After catching her in an affair, her husband murdered her lover and
trapped her behind a brick wall. She is said to wander the house, looking
for her lost lover.
• The Roaming Wraith – Goodramgate, York
– Physically handicapped in the 17th Century, he was accused of witchcraft
and spent most of his life hidden away in his home. At 18, he hung himself
and his ghost still haunts the building to this day.
• Stick Man – Stonegate, York
– Laurence Sterne, an author, lived next to an elderly gentleman who nightly
feared intruders would break in. To frighten them off, he would bang his
walking stick against the wall. After he died, the knocking was still heard.
• 5 College Street
– During the plague, a married couple died of the disease whilst their young
daughter remained uninfected. The door was bricked up, so she yelled out
of the window for help, but people did not believe she was clear of the
disease. Her crying could be heard for days until the house fell silent as
she had starved to death. There are reports of a young girl looking out the
window and sounds of crying despite the building being empty.

9. Idea Generation/Initial Reaction

10. Experiments

11. Foley
A learning experience I have had with Foley is
understanding how much sound must be layered to
create a ‘normal-sounding’ environment and seeing how
much noise people make when moving around. Even
things like the hum of a fridge or lights buzzing are
needed to make the audio feel right.
As with the music video, I find synchronising the audio
with the video something that went well.

12. Recording
• I didn’t realise the effect being in different places would have on
the audio. When you are outside, there are different factors
affecting your overall sound quality such as traffic and wind. Being
indoors gives you a much more controlled environment to record
but, obviously, if I have any scenes outdoors then I will have to
record outside.
• When we recorded inside there was still challenges as we recorded
in college. We had to time our recordings around people walking
past and hope that there wasn’t background noise as we recorded.
• When I layout my plot for my project I will have to consider how to
get controlled recordings outside and find a suitable place for them.
If possible, I will need to emulate the surroundings of wherever the
recording is meant to be to better copy the background noise.

13. Garage Band
• I enjoyed learning how to use Garage Band as I have composed music before but only as a
score not as layered recordings. The challenge with Garage Band is keeping on the beat as
you play as it is more work for yourself to fix it afterwards. An aspect that went well was
being able to layer different sounds and loop things quickly. I did not think I would want to
use it within my audio piece but now I have learnt to use it I think I will be able to
incorporate it into my work.
https://youtu.be/n7pcl4yDAco

14. Proposal
Working Title:
The Haunted House
Audience:
I believe this project will be attractive to women between 16-24. I think because I am within that demographic
I will naturally create something more appealing to that age range. I want the product to entertain my
audience and be an immersive escapism. I believe women will be more receptive audio as they will empathise
with the story of the ghost. However, I don’t think this is exclusively for women and men will be a secondary
audience.
I think this audio will appeal to the Socially Conscious type A and Belonger psychographics. This is because the
story is about an abusive relationship, in part. Therefore the belonger will respond to the familial aspect of the
story and the Socially Conscious will respond to the morals in the story.
Project Concept (approx. 200 words)
The listener is the protagonist, exploring an abandoned house after hearing stories that it is haunted. They
start to slowly uncover what really happened as the ghosts start to appear. The protagonist is chased out of
the house but when they reach the door they are unable to get out. The listener is left in suspense.
The audio is a soundscape of the protagonist entering the house and exploring it. Upon entering they hear
ghostly sounds and the faint story being played out.
I want to have very little dialogue within the piece to make it easier to immerse the listener into the audio
piece.

15. Planning

16. Story
• The story I have chosen to do is based on the
The Grey Lady at East Riddlesden Hall.
• The listener goes to investigate a haunted
house
• They hear mysterious noises of a woman as if
they are not alone in the house and soon have
to escape.

17. Script Draft
(music starts up, then wind and thunder)
(footsteps up a gravel path)
(floor creaking and door opening)
(ghostly wail)
(whispers)
female : ‘is anyone there?’
(crying)
(steps continue and crying gets louder)
(another door opens)
ghost: ‘please no… im sorry’
(loud boot stomping in background)
female: ‘hello?’
(ghost screaming then a gunshot)
(creepy music)
(breathing)
(footsteps coming closer)
(body being dragged along floor)
(incline in music)
(door rattling, trying to leave)
(gun cocking)
(silence)

18. Script Final
(music)
(wind/thunder and footsteps on gravel)
(door opening and shutting)
(footsteps on wood)
(whispers)
(footsteps quicken slightly)
(whispers)
(footsteps quicken slightly again)
(thud of body on floor)
(running footsteps followed by boot footsteps)
(panting)
(door handle rattles and protagonist hits door as they try to escape)
(music continues)
(silence except panting breath)

19. Sound Effects
Sound Effect Needed How I Will Create the Sound
Floorboard creaking Old chair or palette
Door sounds Doors around the house
Gravel steps Gravel outside my house
Thunder Tin Foil
Bats Gloves flapping

20. Actors/Locations
Actor Role Location for recording
Megan Bannister Ghost At home
Cal Bannister Protagonist At Home

21. Music
Band Name Track Name Link
Beethoven Für Elise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2vOq0oce_s
Gounud Funeral March of a Marionette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LefsSwV4zIw
Beethoven Moonlight Sonata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tr0otuiQuU

22. Resource List
Resource Owned/Cost What sound effect will it be
used for?
Tin Foil Owned Thunder
Gloves Owned Bats
iPhone Owned Recording

23. Production

24. Daily Reflection Day 1
• I have recorded most of the sound effects that
I will be using in the project.
• I was able to record all of the audio clips
around the house using household objects
which made the process a lot easier.
• I was unable to find a good way of recording
wind sounds so I blew air into the microphone
which worked well.

25. Daily Reflection Day 2
• Today I completed my recordings with
assistance from my sibling with the vocal
recordings.
• Tomorrow I plan to start editing and
organising my clips.

26. Daily Reflection Day 3
• I decided to use Moonlight Sonata as my music
piece within the audio project. I wanted the piece
to sound eery so I wrote out the first four bars
into an online programme called Noteflight
where I was able to transpose the right hand of
the piano up an octave and slow down the final
bar. I then exported it as a MP3 file and put it into
my project.
• I combined all of my audio clips together in
Premiere Pro and layered different clips.

27. Daily Reflection Day 4
• I finished off editing my audio by fixing the
audio gain on some of the clips. I also added
more layers to some sounds to create more
depth.
• I then exported my audio to Youtube and
embedded it into blogger.

28. Evaluation

29. Research
• During my research I was able to explore different stories. This
meant I could find inspiration from parts of separate stories
and elaborate on other parts. If I had not done research I
would not have been able to create something as complex.
• I think I should have researched more horror-related audio
projects as I think that would’ve helped guide me in how to
create a scary effect and sound.

30. Planning
• My planning aided my product as I was able to create a layout
of my product which meant it was easier to plan which sounds
I needed and set up my script.
• If I had put more research into creating a script I would have
found this easier and found producing the product easier.
• I didn’t find the script overly difficult as I realised I didn’t want
a lot of dialogue within my audio.

31. Time Management
• I don’t think I managed my time well. There was a lot of things
that felt last minute to complete. However, I don’t think my
project suffered heavily from this.
• If I had managed my time better, I would have liked to add
more people into my audio and create more atmosphere
throughout. To do this I would’ve gone to more open indoor
locations such as a church or hall to create an echo of some
sorts as I think this would have been very effective in my
project.
• I also would’ve liked my audio to be longer and if I had had
more time I would’ve been able to do that.

32. Technical Qualities
• I edited some clips to be quieter to make the
audio more atmospheric.
• I am proficient in Noteflight, which is an online
scoring programme and I was able to fade the
music out when necessary.
• I think there could have been more complicated
technical effects used if I had researched further.
• I used Foley for most of my audio clips but
specifically with the footsteps and doors.

33. Aural Qualities
• I think the work does sound good, I particularly
like the gravel footsteps and the music playing at
the start and end.
• I would like to have made the audio longer and
added more atmosphere in the background. I
would have done this by either having the music
play quietly throughout or adding wind sounds or
house sounds.
• I think my use of Foley pushed me to be creative
as I had to think outside of the box.

34. Audience Appeal
• I think I have appealed to my target audience.
Between the draft and final version of the script I
removed the dialogue for the protagonist as I
think it excludes a lot of my target audience – the
secondary audience of males in particular.
• I believe that the clip of Moonlight Sonata at the
beginning and end is appealing to my target
audience as it is a familiar piece to most people
and starts the audio with something people are
familiar with so makes them comfortable.