Lab 9: Finish Audio Portrait

A Cold Freezin' Night

DUE THIS WEEK: Project 2 (Audio Portrait of a Person)
BRING TODAY: USB, headphones, music and/or sound effects (as .wav files)

Sign-up for a SoundCloud.com account!

Music:  Beware of too much music!

• Use music as an accent or a background. 
• Control levels to keep it from competing with voice and mix it down. 
• Don't fake it! Use music and SFX to enhance what is there, not to try to instill some emotion that isn't.

Sound Effects:  Again, be careful. The best sounds are often the ones you record.

• sounddogs.com (commercial SFX)
• archive.org (public domain material)
• freesound.org (sound sharing)
• mobygratis.com (royalty free film music)

The final piece should be 3 to 4 minutes. The mix should use elements including the voice of the interviewee, ambient background sound, music, and other sounds as you see fit.

Remember to identify a theme that will make your piece say something special about the world, or the "human condition." A story becomes compelling when it communicates something unique that others can relate to.

DUE NEXT WEEK IN LAB: Blog #3 (MOMI Trip)

Lab 8: Edit Audio

DUE THIS WEEK: Blog #2 ("What I Hear") is due.

BRING: USB, music, sound effects, & headphones

"Just Another Fish Story" by Molly Menschel

TOMORROW: Meet at the Museum of the Moving Image at 12:45PM SHARP (unless you have made arrangements to go on the earlier tour)! 

DUE NEXT WEEK: Audio projects (at end of class)

Lab 7: Record Project 2

BRING TODAY: USB and pre-interview questions.





Interview Tips (adapted from Natalie Conn)

1- Listen to the background noise. Is a fan on? Air conditioner? Can you move to a quieter location? Can you close a window? If outside, is there wind noise? Cars, airplanes?

2- Get your levels. Have the subject talk about their breakfast so that you can get the correct audio level. If you're just doing sound (no video) make sure the mic is about 4 to 6 inches from the subject's mouth. And check the audio level. It should be alittle above the middle. Around -12 db.

3-Notice your subject's speaking style and body motion. If they have a very dynamic way of speaking, be prepared for louder moments like laughter and move the recorder slightly farther away or slightly closer when they are talking softly.  If they are alittle nervous, they might fiddle with something in their hand or chew gum. Try to make them feel comfortable, have them remove the gum and reduce noises in the audio.

4-Try not to ask Yes or No questions. See last week's post. If you don't want your voice in the audio, remind the subject to answer questions in a complete sentence, including your question in the answer.

5-Don't suggest an answer in a question or finish sentences. Try not to say, "mmhmm, or "right right", or make any remark as they are talking even if it makes both of you feel alittle uncomfortable. Just knod your head quietly to let the subject know you are listening.

6-Listen to their answers instead of thinking about your next question. Follow up with questions related to their answers if they are telling a story that warrants more exploration or details or clarification.

7-Ask questions that conjure a story and give the listeners a sense of being there. For example, a line of questioning could be: Tell me about the day you first came to the United States. What were you wearing? What was the weather? How did it smell? What were you surprised by? How did you feel? 

8-Open it up. A good ending question is to ask the subject if there is anything else they'd like to add and/or anyone else you should talk to for more about the story.

9-Get room tone. Make sure to record some room tone while no one is talking!! At least 1 or 2 minutes, so that you can use it for editing.

More (short) audio samples: 

Transom's Sonic ID Project

Next week in lecture: Quiz #2! Please refer to study guide. Watch Project 1, intro to Project 3.

Next week in lab: Blog #2 ("What I Hear") is due. Edit audio project.

Lab 6: Review Project 1, Pre-Interview for Project 2



Take a look at StoryCorps "Great Questions": http://storycorps.org/great-questions/

Types of Questions

OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS (GOOD!)
*elicit more detailed responses [Can you describe what you did at your birthday party?].
*help awaken the memory of the person being interviewed so that they may tell their story in a more descriptive manner.
*open-ended questions usually start: Why? How? Can you describe?

 CLOSED QUESTIONS (BAD!)
*elicit yes or no responses, or one word answers [Do you like spinach?  . . . Yes].
*ask the subject of the interview to remember something specific, but don’t usually help us to get descriptive answers.
*they usually start with: Who? When? Where?

FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS (GOOD!)
*help you to get more information about a previous answer [Why do you like spinach?].
*help to clarify or explain an answer that isn’t clear.
*often start: Why? How? Could you explain?

LEADING QUESTIONS (BAD!)
*contain the opinion or assumption of the interviewer within the question.
*may sway the answer of the interviewee, because they think you want to hear a certain answer.
*an example of a leading question is: “So, all of your friends moved here from New York?”
*it’s better to ask WHO moved, and WHY, WHEN and HOW they moved, in order to get richer,
 more detailed information.

DOUBLE BARRELED QUESTIONS (BAD!)
*contain two questions in one.
*may confuse the interviewee, or allow them to respond to only half of your question.
*an example of a double barreled question is: “How long have you been eating spinach, and how do you like to cook it?”
*it’s better to ask two separate questions: First ask, “How long have you been eating spinach?” After that question is answered, you can ask, “How do you like to cook spinach?”

EITHER/OR QUESTIONS (BAD!)
*allow the interviewee only two options for answering a question.
*eliminate the possibility of a third answer.
*an example of an Either-Or question is: “Which is your favorite kind of fruit, oranges or apples?”
*it’s better to ask, “What is your favorite kind of fruit?” because the answer might be mangos, and not oranges or apples.

REMEMBER: DON’T INTERRUPT
*if you need to ask a clarifying question, wait until the person is done answering
*you don’t want to disrupt their flow

Other audio resources:

Transom.org – Great technical & creative resources for producers of audio/radio
Interviewers on Interviewing – A YouTube Playlist curated by Transom
PRX – Great library of public radio projects
SoundCloud – A YouTube-esque platform for audio



Next week in lab: Record project 2. Come to lab with your question list and headphones.

Lab 5: Continue Editing

BRING TODAY!: USBs (with footage), music, & headphones!

Subway Ballet (NY Times Op-Docs) from Joshua Z Weinstein on Vimeo.

To Do on Your Videos/Demos

• Finish editing your clips
• Add a title and/or credits 
• Add music (optional)
• Export for the web using Quicktime with H.264 compression
• Post your project on your blog! BEFORE CLASS NEXT WEEK YOU WILL NEED TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT ON VIMEO, UPLOAD YOUR PROJECT, AND LINK TO YOUR PROJECT ON YOUR BLOG! 

Final Cut Pro - keyboard shortcuts

• B = blade tool - cuts footage
• A = arrow tool - moves things around (like the selection / arrow in Photoshop)
• Z = zoom tool - looks like a magnifying glass, makes your timeline bigger or smaller
• P = pen tool - when you click on the button in the lower left of the timeline....

...you can use the pen tool (P) to make points on the video to alter it's opacity or on the audio to change the volume. 

• I = "In" point - Where your movie, or clip starts
• O = "Out" point - Where your movie, or clip ends

Review for Quiz!

In lecture tomorrow: Quiz!