Commissions Unit: Sound Workshop

What did we do?

Given to us by our course leaders, we were given a day's workshop focusing on the different types of sound and generally gaining more experience.

The morning consisted of  how to use more than one channel at the same time (e.g. using clip mics and a boom pole at the same time) where we learnt how to set up carefully and efficiently using some shortcuts on the camera (which was the Sony X1) such as the 'status' button, showing what level of sound each channel is set on and how loud/quiet each channel is.

After this, Fergus (are technical support teacher) then set us a task, which was to make a short clip learning from what we got taught today, making sure that the sound is perfect and that we have learnt how to set it up efficiently.

The Task

For this task, I worked with classmates Mark, Andy and Chris. We were thinking on making a clip where the sound is in a different room to where we are filming. This is so that we can rectify the sound in an individual room, making sure that we can get the perfect sound out of a small room.

The narrative of our clip is pretty basic as we were focusing more about the sound - it is simply a basic secluded interview which is interrupted when the two characters find out that they are being filmed.

As this was only a small day project, the editing too is pretty basic due to the focus being the sound. Below is our finished product:

Conclusion

In general, this sound workshop helped me to an extent! It added extra clarity to what I already know, helping me to make sure that I don't make any mistakes with sound when filming i.e. checking for any buzzing by using headphones, or using the 'status' shortcut to make sure that the sound is at the right level, making the perfect volume.

This workshop was very helpful especially for this unit (commissions unit), as we will be using more than one sound device for recording so that the sound for the documentary is as good as it can be.