blurb

1. Audio
Finlay McCall-Smith

2. Research- If you are unable to find your own examples, you can use the ones
below.
• The Archers (audio drama)
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qpgr/episodes/player
• Short Cuts (documentary/factual)
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mk3f8/episodes/player
• Lore (documentary/factual)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3RGz7Q_qlI
• Doctor Who (audio drama)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA50biqUB-8
• Soundscapes
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIUTO4gx5Eg
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JVm2IZ3ChU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc5YHodcXpM
DELETE THIS SLIDE WHEN DONE

3. Existing Products Research
• Doctor Who
– This piece is set out as an audio drama where the listener is uninvolved with
the characters. There is no narration but there is dialogue between characters,
sound effects of clanking and other typical sci-fi effects such as smoke and
there is subtle music to add to the emotional intent of each of the lines.
– I think all in all this is very effective when tied together. Certain sound effects
are a little confusing out of context but I have to trust that they would have
made sense with it. I feel it could have possibly been made better if an effect
had been layered over the characters voices to make them sound as though
they are in a more natural space and not directly against a microphone, echo
effect for example but otherwise I thought it was expertly put together.
– Aspects of this that I would enjoy using in my piece are the different types of
music to provide emotion i.e. Low Noted String Music which evokes dread or
tension and high notes to contrast with this as a way of peaking the intensity
for certain moments. I would also enjoy doing a narrative based piece, such as
this, with characters who don’t necessarily exist outside of fiction.

4. Existing Products Research
• The Story of Lord Haw Haw Documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj6463eg0wA
– This piece is set out as a documentary, containing both narration which speaks
directly to the audience as well as many other techniques such as era specific
music (world war 2 marching band themes) and audio clips from other media
which existed as material for the Documentary’s basis. There are also
occasional sound effects, whether intentional or not, such as the crackling of a
radio which once again solidifies the time period and immerses the audience
better in the story.
– I think this piece is made well, containing enough variation within itself to stay
consistently engaging, between narration and pre-existent stock footage, as
well as re-realisations of events.
– If I were to take anything from this, it would be the contrast between
narration and reality footage that allows the audience to gather a sense of
meaning from what’s being told, as well as a sense of emersion from the
characters being in existence there and then. They can generate more specific
opinions of a certain character if they hear what is being said directly by them,
but the narrator can act as exposition which ultimately guides the listener and
takes the story somewhere.

5. Existing Products Research
• The Archers
– Introduction music to set the tone. Lots of exposition from characters
to explain what’s going to occur in the episode and fill the audience
with the pragmatics they need to understand the events. Lines such as
”it is a vow renewel”. Door sound effect for people going in and out of
the scene and announcements or greetings to explain who is who.
– Overall, I think this production was very well made. The exposition and
general aids for the lack of video are very much not subtle at all but
they are definitely necessary. The sounds effects help best to explain
the story without the need for dialogue, such as the generator going
off but otherwise, the plot relies entirely on character’s remarks.
– If I were to take anything from this production it would be the idea of
using music in the beginning of the piece to set the tone before
introducing any characters, as well as use of sound effects over
dialogue exposition to explain the events of the piece.

6. Ideas

7. Idea Generation/Initial Reaction

8. Experiments

9. Foley
• Include your work on foley and some writing
about what went well, what could be better
and what you have learned.
• You should include a link and a screen shot.
Don’t embed your work, it won’t work.

10. Recording
• Write about your experiences of recording in
different places.
• What effect did it have? How will this
influence your project?

11. Garage Band
• https://finlaymsmedia.blogspot.com/2021/12/audio-music-test.html
• What went well for me was being able to effectively use the arpeggiator
effect and work within the musical key to create something that is
somewhat consistent.
• I think on the parts where I free handedly played, it was quite a bit janky
but for a test in a short amount of time, it serves its purpose. I’d love to
spend more time with the software to be able to produce something
higher quality for my project.
• The samples on the actual app were all fun to explore also. I would like to
see how translating some samples of my own via MIDI would be and
whether I could create some more compelling pieces with the addition of
a sustain pedal etc and a proper instrument to play.
• The piece turned out relatively simplistic and for that I’m happy. If I had a
better idea of what sort of genre I was creating a piece for, it may be
easier to make something that sounds at all evocatively compelling but in
this instance I wouldn’t say I achieved that. Its just a simple experiment.

12. Proposal
Working Title:
The Fourth Dimension
Audience:
Young adult individuals of either gender with an interest in the supernatural or sci-fi type genres. People who
can get on board with a slightly more unusual concept. I believe this piece would appeal to them as it is quite a
psychedelic idea that, if handled correctly, could present itself as more intriguing than a straight forward Ghost
story premise. In general, younger people are more interested in more convoluted ideas, as they don’t follow
patterns and conventions we’ve seen before through typical media we have already consumed. Anything
different can be more stimulating and so with my piece, I will try to stray from what makes a stereotypical
Ghost or Horror story to achieve something that will appeal to my target audience.
Project Concept (approx. 200 words)
My Project’s concept is essentially about a woman who contracts a disease far in the distant
future that spreads psychologically and thus must be put inside a simulation so that she doesn’t
spread it. This simulation is managed by a Narrator who keeps her captive and formats all her
actions and words as a story. This means as the woman is trying to escape, all of this is being
documented to the audience. I believe this would be effective in being disconcerting as it plays
with the fear aspect of being trapped or without release and even after being released, the
character finds themselves looping back to the same point or line where the story restarts again.

13. Planning

14. Story
I have chosen to do something loosely based on the
5 College Street story I researched about the girl
trapped in the room by people afraid of catching
her virus. The twist is, it’s in the future and she’s
stuck in a meta similation-esque world which is
being read to the audience through narration. I
thought this would help bring the story to a more
contemporary setting of story-telling as Sci-Fi is
often enjoyed nowadays, while also staying true to
the horror of the original premise.

15. Script Draft
Ominous music plays, dark and mysterious. Lots of high and low piano notes.
Banging Sound effects like forceful hitting, rhythmic and consistent
Narrator: Our story starts with a young woman named Amelia.
Banging sounds cease.
Narrator: Amelia was lost, stuck inside a space she didn’t understand.
Amelia: I can hear you. But where are you? And where am I? Let me out right now!
Narrator: Amelia was confused. Trying her best to argue against reason, she spoke to the apparition in her head.
Amelia: Why are you just relaying everything I do to me? Get me out of here.
Narrator: Amelia looked in desperation for an exit. She tried banging on the walls again. She came across a selection of
tools and decided she would try her luck with them. A knife, a hammer, a chainsaw but none of it worked in her favour.
Amelia: (out of breath) Tell me what will then.
Narrator: Amelia sat herself down, tired from all her efforts but she wasn’t alone. (Amelia gasps)

16. Script Final
Ominous music plays, dark and mysterious. Lots of high and low
piano notes.
Banging Sound effects like forceful hitting, rhythmic and
consistent
Narrator: Our story starts with a young woman named Amelia.
Banging sounds cease.
Narrator: Amelia was lost, stuck inside a space she didn’t
understand.
Amelia: I can hear you. But where are you? And where am I? Let
me out right now!
Narrator: Amelia was confused. Trying her best to argue against
reason, she spoke to the apparition in her head.
Amelia: Why are you just relaying everything I do to me? Get me
out of here.
Narrator: Amelia looked in desperation for an exit. She tried
banging on the walls again. She came across a selection of tools
and decided she would try her luck with them. A knife, a
hammer, a chainsaw but none of it worked in her favour.
Amelia: (out of breath) Tell me what will then.
Narrator: Amelia sat herself down, tired after all her efforts.
Amelia: So I’m stuck in a story book.
Narrator: A few days prior…
Amelia: Wait wha.. (Amelia is cut off silent by the sound of
rewinding)
Narrator: Our story starts with a young woman named Amelia.
After a breakout of a new plague on her street, it becomes
apparent Amelia’s family have become unwell. (coughing
sounds). They decide to keep themselves inside until it blows
over but Amelia isn’t like her family. She finds herself utterly
immune to its effects. Still, the village people have grown weary
and decide to take matters into their own hands, bricking up
their door in the night. Amelia awakens. Wait no, no
Sounds of crowds of staff, cluttering, concerns being voiced. The
Narrators voice comes through clear but in the form of a head
Medical Professional. Beeping of a heart monitor.
Narrator: Oh Gosh, she’s awake. Quick, put her back in or we’ll
all catch it.
Nurse: Simulation rebooting.
Ascending white noise commences.
Narrator: Our story starts with a young woman named Amelia.

17. Sound Effects
Sound Effect Needed How I Will Create the Sound
Banging I will try hitting different density surfaces with my fist to replicate this
noise.
Music I will record this using my digital piano which can transfer over to my
PC via the midi cable
Voices Voices will be recorded using my PC’s microphone and the Windows
Audio recording software
Knife, hammer, chainsaw Knife can be done with something thin like a screwdriver against a
hard surface, hammer can be done with something blunt like a can and
chainsaw can be done with most likely a wind-up mechanism on an old
wind-up radio of mine.
Rewinding Can be achieved with a record player or just in software with effects
White noise and Heart Monitor Can both be achieved with the sound effects pre-loaded onto my
keyboard.

18. Actors/Locations
Actor Role Location for recording
Zuzanna Slupinska Amelia My Home
Finlay McCall-Smith Narrator My Home
Coran McCall Nurse My Home

19. Resource List
Resource Owned/Cost What sound effect will it be
used for?
Microphone Owned Voices
PC Owned Editing/Music
Digital Piano Owned Music
Random assortment of tools Owned Banging, escape sounds etc

20. Production

21. Daily Reflection Day 1
• Today I began with recording the Narration
• I recorded the lines that will be spoken by my
character and am generally happy with how
the process went. There were a few messed
up lines but I recorded replacements and
hope they’ll work seamlessly in with the rest
of the piece during editing
• I have also started to edit these small amounts
of audio together as a rough cut

22. Daily Reflection Day 2
• Today I recorded the rest of my lines and Zuza’s lines.
All in all I’m very happy with the audio quality of all
these lines so far but could argue that the way they are
edited together at this stage is not particularly fluid.
• I attempted to make Zuza’s lines echo to change them
from being so similar to the Narrator’s but this failed as
the software couldn’t edit two of the same audio clip
close enough together for it to sound effective. It
would’ve required starting the project again at a higher
frame per second count or binning the fps count
altogether since there is no video and using a software
more accommodating.

23. Daily Reflection Day 3
• Today I recorded some of the main bits of foley to be used
in the piece. I used items as discussed in my plan but
couldn’t get my old record player to work so had to
generally scrap that idea. Other replacements I tried were C
notes on the piano warped to create a strange effect but I
decided upon just a rough cut away to put across the point
that the world had been reset and I believe it works well.
• I’m happy with how the product has turned out with some
of the foley in there and am especially pleased with how I
managed to figure the sequence with the hammer and
knife etc, though the Chainsaw I would have loved to have
found a better substitute for, given better resources.

24. Daily Reflection Day 4
• The final day I spent time just roughly shaping things
together so that the piece works a bit more fluidly. I
recorded music to have at the beginning of the piece
on my digital piano and uploaded it as MIDI to be
converted to MP3. This music is simple enough, just
consisting of semi-tones shifting up and down, around
the note C. This is a common technique used for
soundtracks, most famously in Jaws and James Bond to
name a few.
• I’m happy enough with the end product to consider it
finished but will see if I can find time to make
replacements for certain foley in the piece or just add
in extra sounds to make it seem less empty.

25. Evaluation

26. Research
• I believe the research helped give me a basis for how to approach a horror
story. It explained the tropes and common ideas of the genre.
• A strength of my research was finding stories that were particular to York
and thus were more comprehensible to me, as well as being set in a
setting that I was familiar with and could easily base a story around.
• A weakness was that my research didn’t coincide with my initial ideas at
all, as not too many of the Ghost story premises felt particularly powerful
or outstanding to me. I should, in hindsight, have spent more time looking
into psychological thrillers or sci-fi horror and that may have resonated
more with where my mind was at for planning.
• I think if I were to do this project again, I would base the planning off the
research regardless of what I want to create personally to make the overall
production of the product easier, as I could just replicate existing tropes
and link back to the research for it.

27. Planning
• I believe a strength of my planning was the script. I enjoyed writing it and
wasn’t too displeased with the actual wording of the lines. I would liked to
have improved upon the overall concept but I didn’t want to dwell on it
too much as it was a hard concept to fit into a small piece without being
too on the nose and full of exposition which would ruin the purpose of
this project.
• A weakness of my planning was not plotting enough initial ideas for foley
and not working more into the script but also making foley that I had
included quite difficult to replicate without the actual items being used. If
I were to do this again, I would definitely choose to include a larger array
of different sounds that I have pre-existent ideas of how to replicate. That
way I don’t leave the pressure on myself during Production.
• The overall effect my planning had on the product was positive, though. I
was able to follow my script almost to the word and adapt upon it where
necessary but it all acted a strong basis of where to go with my project.

28. Time Management
• I’d say my time was managed reasonably well. Though I struggled to find time outside
of College hours for various reasons, I managed to make use of lesson time to the best
of my ability. The only issue with that was that I opted to use a lot of my own resources
at home, as I’m more comfortable with how my PC operates. As a result, it meant my
time was cut down considerably for editing and other jobs that required my PC or using
any resources such as my microphone at home to record audio. I think the production
side of the project could’ve been much easier, had I just worked around using the Macs
and the software they provide instead of just what I’m familiar with.
• Otherwise, despite a few setbacks and delays, I feel I managed to get a reasonable
amount of work done in a short space of time. I would just make sure to plan my time
much better in future to make sure I don’t waste any time being unaware of what to do.
If I were to do the project again with more time, I’d definitely contribute a large amount
of that to the production side. I admit there’s definitely a lot of the end product that
could have been brushed up and worked together slightly better if I’d had more time to
be so intricate about the details. I’d also liked to have made the production longer and
included a large amount more Classic Horror Tropes, just to fit it inside that genre
slightly better, instead of it being a slightly more ambiguous piece, as it ended up being.

29. Technical Qualities
• In terms of technical quality, I can only really fault my piece on a few bits of foley and
some rough editing. I was happy with the way my samples sounded for the most part. I
thought the actual voice recordings were mostly of high quality and with minimal
background white noise. I was just upset that certain bits of foley such as the chainsaw
sounded very dissimilar to what they were trying to replicate.
• I’d say the way the audio clips were all cut together was acceptable also but the use of
foley was sometimes a bit jarring when put alongside the voice-over.
• I also say the methods I used to create the foley were creative enough. I used a plastic
sheet, for example, to replicate a sort of heartbeat during the moment in which the
character wakes up. This was ineffective to me as the plastic sheet was too small to
produce any decent sound from but not completely unrealistic.
• The microphones used were much better than I’d expected also and required very little
post-processing white noise reduction though small amounts of de-noising effects were
adding to clips here and there. That may have harmed the piece in the end however by
making certain lines stick out without the necessary reasoning behind that so all in all
there were pros and cons to all aspects of my technical production.

30. Aural Qualities
• I’d say the work sounds relatively good. I’m very happy with how I managed to
balance all the sound and not have certain music or foley come in far too loud
above everything else. I’m also happy because I managed to resolve an issue,
during the editing process, where audio would come mono out of just the left
ear. This was resolved through control panels in the audio section of
lightworks and meant that the audio sounds good no matter if it’s listened to
through a speaker or headphones or any substitute.
• If I could improve anything, it’d be the complexity and quality of the music and
especially foley. I’d also add more fades and sound effects, especially during
moments of transition to solidify that the scene is changing to the listener. I
wish I’d added more to aid the listener through all aspects of the story also.
Sounds, exposition or dialogue; Anything to make the story more
comprehensible would’ve been beneficial in my opinion but other than the
audio often being slightly ambiguous in this regard, I’d say it is generally quite
a pleasant piece to listen to.

31. Audience Appeal
• I believe I appealed to my target audience of young adults intrigued by the genres or
sci-fi or psychological thrillers through my story concept and main character who is left
quite unexplained besides her repeated name. Her name “Amelia” is also a common
name and her lack of character explanation means the audience can put themselves in
her shoes quite easily. It’s inevitable of course to alienate certain genders when
deciding upon a character as one gender but that was something unavoidable to
consider on my part, I believe, as the character had to have a voice and that voice
wasn’t going to relate to everyone equally.
• I believe the idea of isolation and the theme of being locked or trapped may relate to
contemporary audiences though as COVID definitely had that effect on people within
the last few years. This is a factor that makes the story much more relatable and brings
the audience much closer to the main character and thus makes the Narrator seem
more menacing.
• If I were to make the piece again, I definitely would allow for more character
development through Amelia though. Perhaps some jokes or comments made on her
part to make her seem more human. I believe this, as well as some more classic tropes
of my target genres, would help to make my piece more well-understood and therefore
appealing to the audience but otherwise, I’m not displeased with how it went.