Archive for the 'Sound' Category

mdcm3002_ 2010 Handing in your Project Proposal Week 5

Published
by
greentea
on March 28, 2010
in Admin, Animation, Project, Sound, Video, Web and Workshops
. 0 Comments

Due week 5 (Thursday 4pm) 30% 1st April

mdcm3002_ 2010 Handing in your Project Proposal
You will need to submit a .pdf document dropped into the mdcm3002 locked drop box on the school server.
Note: Instructions detailing how to access to the server will be posted on the mdcm3002 website shortly and in also posted in the labs.

Please name your .pdf document specific to each workshop lecturer, using the initial of each lecture first name at the start of you submission.

Exactly as described below:

ANIMATION
Alyssa’s Workshop
A_yourfirstname_lastname.pdf

WEB
Brigid’s Workshop
B_yourfirstname_lastname.pdf

SOUND
Clare’s Workshop
C_yourfirstname_lastname.pdf

VIDEO
Fabian’s Workshop
F_yourfirstname_lastname.pdf

SOUND
Mark’s Workshop
M_yourfirstname_lastname.pdf

These document can be dragged and dropped into the mdcm3002 Drop Box on the School Server.

Please keep a backup of all your work!
(note: ensure the document is not in use when dragged & hold down the option key while dragging to ensure you don’t just copy the “icon” for your work. This drop box is write only so you can not see you document once dropped)
fass-media-servers-user-instructions-mac

Stop Motion Animation Studios

Published
by
greentea
on March 22, 2010
in Admin, Animation, Project, Sound, Video, Web and Workshops
. 0 Comments

We have very special stop motion animation studios! Please look after them and return all equipment borrowed and leave the room as you have found it. Very clean and tidy!

NOTE: Pre planning is very important for your shoot, storyboard & all your making things need to be ready to go.Don’t waste your booking time trying to buy tape or plasticine. BE PREPARED! Bring your hard drive as well!!

Animation students only can borrow the swipe access/key and kits for stop motion, I have to provide a special list to the borrowing desk. If you are not in the animation workshop this session but were last session, and you intend to make a stop motion animation you will need to email me a.rothwell@unsw.edu.au so I can put you on the “LIST”.

There are two stop motion studios, both have table top and rostrum(shot from above) equipment

Booking for stop motion will not be possible until week 5.
Level 1 Webster, inside the swipe access door( the little corridor near Lab 136)

Collection opening hours: Monday 10am – 10.30am, Wednesday 10am – 10.30am, Friday 10am – 10.30am.

The loan period is two days (48 hrs) or a weekend (72 hrs), once a week.

The booking sheet is outside reception on Level 3 webster (stop motion 306 is blocked out) this is for my classes, so we can over write that as needed in week 5.

http://trc.arts.unsw.edu.au/resources/portableequipment/webster/videoextras.shtml
Borrowing Guidelines for Sound & Video Equipment

Access to production equipment is restricted to students and staff within the School of EMPA who are undertaking production courses. For portable equipment which is available to all FASS staff and post-graduate students check out our recording and presentation equipment.

Read these guidelines carefully and in full before booking any production equipment. If there is something you are unsure about or if you have any questions please speak to your Production Tutor or the AV Support Officer.
Booking Production Equipment / Kits

Students may only borrow equipment for work that is an assessable part of their course.Equipment/kits must be booked in advanced by writing your name in the Booking Sheet. The Booking Sheets are on the counter outside the School of English, Media and Performing Arts foyer (Lvl. 3). You (and group) may only borrow equipment for one Loan Period per week. If you are working in a group, book in one person’s name only. You can only borrow equipment you have been trained and approved to use.

Borrowing of the 3CCD cameras is restricted to 3rd year, Honours, MA, Video Exercise and 2nd year session 2 Students, in the appropriate course.

If you no longer require the equipment, cancel a booking by crossing out your name on the Booking Sheet. Collect equipment from the Equipment Store - room 134 (1Q5). The Equipment Store is open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, between 9.30am - 10.30am. After 10.25am on loan days equipment, which has not been collected, will be made to other students. Students must make a police report and inform the School Administrator immediately, if any equipment is stolen.

The Loan Period

The loan period is two days (48 hrs) or a weekend (72 hrs), once a week. This means you can borrow from:

Monday 10am until Wednesday 9.30am, Wednesday 10am until Friday 9.30am, Friday 10am until Monday 9.30am. There are a small number of kits, which can be borrowed for up to one week (see booking sheet). For one week hires, you may not borrow more than once per week or have consecutive bookings.
Collecting Equipment

Collection opening hours: Monday 10am – 10.30am, Wednesday 10am – 10.30am, Friday 10am – 10.30am. When you collect equipment/kit from Equipment Room 134 you will be asked: What equipment/kit you have booked & to check that the items listed on the Contents Card are in the Kit. To provide your full name, a contact number and your UNSW student ID card and to “sign out” the equipment. When you “sign out” the equipment/kit on the Borrowing Sheet, you are agreeing to 1) accept financial responsible for that equipment/kit, 2) return the equipment/kit at the specified date, time and place and 3) abide by the Production Equipment - Borrowing Guidelines.
Returning Production Equipment

Return opening hours: Monday 9.30am – 10.00am, Wednesday 9.30am – 10.00am, Friday 9.30am – 10.00am

Before you return equipment; recharge all camera batteries, pack and tidy the kit, check nothing is missing. Return borrowed equipment/kit to Equipment Room 134, at the date and time you have agreed. Do not return equipment to any other rooms or offices. Ensure that the equipment is checked and “signed in” as complete and undamaged by the AV support Officer.
Late or Lost Equipment

Students who return equipment late may lose up to 10% of their marks for that assignment and may be suspended from borrowing any equipment until they have met with their lecturer. Equipment is ‘late’ if it is returned after 10am on the return date. Students who return equipment/kits ‘incomplete’’ may receive a verbal warning and will be required to return the missing item(s) that day. Students who have received a verbal warning and again return equipment/kit ‘incomplete’ may be suspended from borrowing any equipment until they have met with their lecturer and may lose up to 10% of their marks for that assignment.

Equipment/kit not returned within five working days of the return date will be considered ‘lost’. Students may be liable for the total replacement cost of ‘lost’ or ‘stolen’ equipment/kit. Students who fail to replace, or reimburse UNSW for, ‘lost’ or ‘stolen’ equipment may have their course results withheld.

it all hinges on the sound

Published
by
wobbsy
on March 29, 2009
in Sound
. Closed

i had an experience recently that made me realise just how important sound is to a truly great production. now, as a sound producer, this is not some narcissistic babble. it is true that any great production is the sum of its parts and if there is something missing or doesn’t work, then the production as a whole falls on its face. now, onto my case in point.

hands up those who have seen Guy Ritchie’s latest, ‘Rocknrolla’? i have seen it twice, both times in cinemas, but both times were different. the first time i saw the film was at The Ritz, on ‘tight-arse Tuesday’ of course, and i was absolutely blown away! the scripting and the dialogue that Ritchie delivers is genius, a great balance between action and humour; the casting is spot on with Toby Kebbel stealing the show in the final scenes playing crack-head rock ‘n’ roller Johnny Quid. but the part what blew me away was the sound. the sound was huge heightening the suspense and drama and underpinning the comedic element of the film, whilst the accompanying soundtrack could not have been more on the money. the film surpassed my expectations of Ritchie, going further than both his classic London gangster films, ‘Lock Stock’ and ‘Snatch’.

However, and here is the point i wish to make the second viewing left me bitterly disappointed.

Let me set the scene for you: it was a quiet friday night, and as one does on a friday night, i was looking for some entertainment. a small gang of my buddies and i decided a night off the booze would be good for a change and so settled on the idea of heading to Govindas, a hare krishna joint on Darlinghurst Road that offers up a delicious deal of all-you-can-eat vegetarian wonders and a movie in a small and intimate cinema for only 25 bucks! so off to Govindas where we literally ate all we could, and headed up stairs to the cinema where, other than the usual arrangement of cramped cinema chairs, you are greeted with an assortment of bedding, couches and beanbags with which to make your viewing pleasure all that more, um, pleasurable. it is truly a fantastic set up, i was so comfortable i even whipped my shirt off.

but from the opening credits i realised something was wrong. the sound setup in the cinema was absolutely terrible! there was only a small pair of stereo speakers situated up the front next to the screen, and being in the backrow, we could barely make out the sound. the stereo system had zero dynamic range and seemingly were without any bass capabilities. it was like watching a bootleg copy of the film that had been caught on a mini-dv camera by some shaky-handed, bald, sweating Thai delinquent that had somehow been passed off as a genuine copy to the kind folk at Govindas. i couldn’t believe it! the sound was just awful and the full effects of the film were just not there. the sound was flat and the action seemed stale. the dialogue didn’t feel right as the intonation and inflection of the characters voices was missing, and as you can imagine the delivery of speech felt dead. the film as a whole suffered. it just was not the same, not even close to being the same experience as the first time i saw the film.it almost felt like a b-grade movie which it certainly ain’t.

after talking up the film as the best piece of cinematic entertainment i had witnessed in a long time, i was left red-faced as the full of effects of the film could not be impacted upon my peers. the poor sound let the film down massively! words do not begin to explain this, but what it made me realise is that any production is only as good as its poorest aspect, and the sound let the film down, making the whole thing seem utterly sub-standard.

so i guess where i’m going with this is that as media producers who are all multi-talented and with the abilities to work with an array of media platforms, we should be striving for excellence with everything we do. for if if we build super websites, beautifully constructed with interesting design contents, but settle for crappy content, or produce an awesome video but don’t think about the sound and use some contrite garage band loop, then we let the whole production down. for it is the productions where every aspect is tops that we sit back and say, that was awesome! if you think about how we view media we do often take productions to pieces, analysing each aspect and saying, well that part was good, but i didn’t like this; or that was good, but was let down by this, etc. but it is the productions where every facet works together to construct a perfect whole that are the ones we remember.

so let’s not become complacent, and strive for excellence in every aspect of our work! happy producing.

some ideas for sound production

Published
by
wobbsy
on March 17, 2009
in Sound
. Closed

hey again, here are some of my initiall responses to our ‘lounge’ theme.

my first idea was ‘live lounge’. the ‘live lounge’ can be a literal place or space where audio producers are invited to come and share their work, experiences and ideas with working with audio. the space will be videod and the video will be fed into the ‘live lounge’ website where it can be viewed in realtime or videos can be stored for later. The audience will be ‘linked’ to the ‘live lounge’ in realtime through a twitter feed that the artists who are being previewed in the lounge can access, so a potential audience can communicate directly with the artists, asking questions, offereing feedback and directly engaging with what is happening in the ‘lounge’. I am thinking that this website can be used as both an educational tool, for audio peoples to come and share their knowledge with an audience of amatuer audio producers, as well as a potential place for collaboration, but perhaps most importantly, as a potential place for entertainment, with live dj sets on a friday and saturday night for example, and interviews with audio artists.

My second idea for the ‘live lounge’ was to have an interactive website with a myriad of pre-recorded audio loops and sounds that can be mixed by users on the fly, producing a totally interactive radio program where users from all around the world can mix the soundtrack at any time. This mix will be broadcast live and mixed as it happens in realtime. however, i am unsure if this is even possible, so it needs further development.

So, these are my initial ideas, and as you can see there is great potential for collaboration with web, video, and other audio students, and after having great experiences working with you guys last year i am really keen for further collaboration this year, so if you like my ideas, or think they can be improved or would like to work with me, please let me know as i am keen for any feedback! thanks

Sneaky Sound System

Published
by
glasgowmegasnake
on March 9, 2009
in Sound
. Closed

So, I have a little confession to make. I snuck a look at the mdcm3002 (Advanced Media Production) site and saw the project brief.** This was about 4 or 5 days ago, and in that time I began to think about the project and what I could do with it.

This is the first part of some ideas I might explore this semester, concocted just before last weekend:

So,

    The Lounge.

Ever since the beginning of (or, in fact, a little bit before then) last semester, I’ve always wanted to do a sound installation. I think part of the inspiration stemmed from one of my Gen-Eds (GENR0003: Spirit, Myth and Sacredness in Architecture - a Gen-Ed I highly recommend to everyone, although, I must warn you, it’s a 2 hour weekly lecture).

Basically one of the things that stuck out to me was that “architecture belongs to space and embraces time; true appreciation of architecture is one in which the observer moves, and the architecture stay still.”

If we take the idea of a lounge, which usually stays in the same place, people/observers, and thus sound, moves through that space that contains the lounge. Sound waves must travel through a medium of some sort; otherwise, how would we feel/hear them?

If we utilise the physical presence of the lounge, some scenarios that could be explored include:

+ different types of lounges (ie. a lounge in a hospital vs. a school office or something, vs. a lounge in a nightclub…)

+ lounge on moving day, the lifespan of a lounge (including op-shops, parties and the dump, etc…)

===

The next blog post will include some half-past-midnight revelations from Sunday night/Monday morning.

** I did, in fact, put my hand up in response to whether anyone saw the 3002 site before the lecture, but then again, it was more of a tentative, half-raised one. Oops.