Diary of The Lessons
Week 1
In the first lesson we spent a lot of time talking in a group and analyzing adverts. Richard showed us a variety of adverts and we talked about how the images relate to the sounds and what kind of mood the sounds create in the adverts. We talked a lot about the music in the adverts and how the music would have been written by the composers for the advert. Richard showed us some the work that he has done in the past on adverts like the Lloyds TSB advert and the advert for the Men in Black. One of the adverts we looked at in detail was the Lynx deodorant advert. We listened to the version of the advert that had no music and just ambient sounds and we analyzed it as a group and talked about what we thought the music should be doing. Richard asked everyone in the class what the thought the music in the advert would be doing and then he showed us what the music was actually doing. We did the same with a advert for a cleaning product and we analyzed it as a class in the same way.
Week 2
On the second week of learning about sound to the moving image we were given a sheet that had a list of key words on. We then worked though the key words sheet and talked about the meanings of all of the key words. Richard then asked the whole group right down the meaning of ambient sound. We discussed it in great detail and it is basically the natural sound of the surroundings of the image so for example in the advert for Lynx, there is a beach and you can hear the ambient sound of the sea and the people talking on the beach. In these lessons we were also given spotting sheets to look at the advert for the cleaning product. We wrote down the important images in the advert and we wrote about what is happening with the sound.
In the first lesson we spent a lot of time talking in a group and analyzing adverts. Richard showed us a variety of adverts and we talked about how the images relate to the sounds and what kind of mood the sounds create in the adverts. We talked a lot about the music in the adverts and how the music would have been written by the composers for the advert. Richard showed us some the work that he has done in the past on adverts like the Lloyds TSB advert and the advert for the Men in Black. One of the adverts we looked at in detail was the Lynx deodorant advert. We listened to the version of the advert that had no music and just ambient sounds and we analyzed it as a group and talked about what we thought the music should be doing. Richard asked everyone in the class what the thought the music in the advert would be doing and then he showed us what the music was actually doing. We did the same with a advert for a cleaning product and we analyzed it as a class in the same way.
Week 2
On the second week of learning about sound to the moving image we were given a sheet that had a list of key words on. We then worked though the key words sheet and talked about the meanings of all of the key words. Richard then asked the whole group right down the meaning of ambient sound. We discussed it in great detail and it is basically the natural sound of the surroundings of the image so for example in the advert for Lynx, there is a beach and you can hear the ambient sound of the sea and the people talking on the beach. In these lessons we were also given spotting sheets to look at the advert for the cleaning product. We wrote down the important images in the advert and we wrote about what is happening with the sound.
Week 3
On the third week of studying music to the moving image we began to look at a Reebok advert called ‘live with fire’. Richard told us about how he was one of the people who created the sound and music for this advert but unfortunately his version was not picked. We watched the advert without sound and analyzed it. We then watched the advert with the ambient sound only and then at the end of the lesson with the music and the ambient sound. We were also given some spotting sheet so that we could do a further analysis of the advert for homework. We thought a lot about the noise in the different rooms and the surfaces that you can hear through the ambient sound. We had a go at recording the sounds yourself too. We took the zoom digital recorders and went out and recorded a list of the sounds that we had heard in the advert in groups of four. We then got back into the class room and put the sounds that we recorded onto Quebass so that we can edit them and put them in the right place with the images. I had some trouble getting the sounds that i recorded on the zoom because the computer I was on would not accept the memory card.
On the third week of studying music to the moving image we began to look at a Reebok advert called ‘live with fire’. Richard told us about how he was one of the people who created the sound and music for this advert but unfortunately his version was not picked. We watched the advert without sound and analyzed it. We then watched the advert with the ambient sound only and then at the end of the lesson with the music and the ambient sound. We were also given some spotting sheet so that we could do a further analysis of the advert for homework. We thought a lot about the noise in the different rooms and the surfaces that you can hear through the ambient sound. We had a go at recording the sounds yourself too. We took the zoom digital recorders and went out and recorded a list of the sounds that we had heard in the advert in groups of four. We then got back into the class room and put the sounds that we recorded onto Quebass so that we can edit them and put them in the right place with the images. I had some trouble getting the sounds that i recorded on the zoom because the computer I was on would not accept the memory card.
The pictures below were pictures taken by Nattily in my class. Nattily Harry and i went out to from the lesson to record some more sounds to put in the sound on Quebass for our rebook live with fire advert. We recorded a wide variety of sounds to go over a wide variety of things witch are in the video and a lot of them did turn out very successful. A lot of them also did not work at all. In picture one, two and three (the top row of pictures) you can see harry holding the Zoom digital recorder. In the first of the three pictures Harry is recording the sound of a door close from a distance to go over the image of a door closing in the advert. In the second image he is recording the sound of the door closing from up close. We decided to get both a close recording and a recording from far away so that we could choose which one suits the door and feels right in the video latter on Quebass. It’s better to have more sounds to go over the video than fewer sounds. In the top right picture you will see a girl running towards the door. We asked her to do this so that we could record it because in the video there is also a girl running towards a door. Unfortunately this recording did not work for me and I did not use it because I found that there was too much background noise and that the door did not close quick enough to keep up with the image of the door closing quickly in the advert.
On the middle row of pictures there are pictures of us recording a variety of different sounds around the music department. The picture on the far left is someone we found in the music department who said that he could beat box. There is beet boxing in the live with fire advert so we jumped on the opportunity and recorded him beatbocing. Turns out that he was not the best beat boxer ever but that’s okay because we were lucky enough to bump into Steve who did a very good job of beat boxing into the zoom for us. I have used Steve’s beat boxing in my soundtrack for the advert. In the picture in the middle you cannot really tell what we were recording. It was in fact recording all three of us lathing. In the picture on the right of the middle row of picture we were tiring to get a good sound for the weight hitting the floor when the weight lifter props it. We recreated this sound by dropping a mettle chare on the ground from about a foot of the ground and it did work very well and I have used it in my soundtrack.
On the bottom row of pictures we were recording a door opening and a girl running out through it. And then in the middle picture were recording Harry and I running up a flight of stars. We also recorded us running down them and walking up and down them. The last picture is a picture of me in front of the zoom. What i was doing was breathing heavily trying to sound like I was out of breath.
On the middle row of pictures there are pictures of us recording a variety of different sounds around the music department. The picture on the far left is someone we found in the music department who said that he could beat box. There is beet boxing in the live with fire advert so we jumped on the opportunity and recorded him beatbocing. Turns out that he was not the best beat boxer ever but that’s okay because we were lucky enough to bump into Steve who did a very good job of beat boxing into the zoom for us. I have used Steve’s beat boxing in my soundtrack for the advert. In the picture in the middle you cannot really tell what we were recording. It was in fact recording all three of us lathing. In the picture on the right of the middle row of picture we were tiring to get a good sound for the weight hitting the floor when the weight lifter props it. We recreated this sound by dropping a mettle chare on the ground from about a foot of the ground and it did work very well and I have used it in my soundtrack.
On the bottom row of pictures we were recording a door opening and a girl running out through it. And then in the middle picture were recording Harry and I running up a flight of stars. We also recorded us running down them and walking up and down them. The last picture is a picture of me in front of the zoom. What i was doing was breathing heavily trying to sound like I was out of breath.
Week 4
On the fourth week of studying music to the moving image we continued with getting the files onto Quebass. I had some trouble getting the files of the zoom and onto Quebass the week before. I managed to do it this week. We also imported the video file of the Reebok ‘live with fire’. This means that we are now able to move the sounds that we recorded on the zoom to the right place over the advert. Some of the sounds that we recorded the week before are: running along gravel, breathing, snapping branches, grabbing metal poles, running up stairs, slamming doors, lathing and applause, stamping in a puddle and the sound of walking. All of these sounds are sounds that we have heard in the video and we think that we have recreated some of them very well whilst some of them could be improved on. This week I have also analysed the ‘Live with fire’ advert on my blog.
This week I have also made a lot of progress with getting my sounds from the zoom digital recorder onto Quebass and I have begun to edit the sounds by cutting them to the right length and making sure that they fit the part of the video that there meant to be. I have taken a screenshot to show my progress on it. I have still got a lot to do and as you can see in the screenshot there are a lot of sounds down towards the bottom of the screenshot that I still need to edit and move because at the moment they are still very random.
On the fourth week of studying music to the moving image we continued with getting the files onto Quebass. I had some trouble getting the files of the zoom and onto Quebass the week before. I managed to do it this week. We also imported the video file of the Reebok ‘live with fire’. This means that we are now able to move the sounds that we recorded on the zoom to the right place over the advert. Some of the sounds that we recorded the week before are: running along gravel, breathing, snapping branches, grabbing metal poles, running up stairs, slamming doors, lathing and applause, stamping in a puddle and the sound of walking. All of these sounds are sounds that we have heard in the video and we think that we have recreated some of them very well whilst some of them could be improved on. This week I have also analysed the ‘Live with fire’ advert on my blog.
This week I have also made a lot of progress with getting my sounds from the zoom digital recorder onto Quebass and I have begun to edit the sounds by cutting them to the right length and making sure that they fit the part of the video that there meant to be. I have taken a screenshot to show my progress on it. I have still got a lot to do and as you can see in the screenshot there are a lot of sounds down towards the bottom of the screenshot that I still need to edit and move because at the moment they are still very random.
Week 5
This week I have been concentrating on downloading a lot of sounds to add to my ambient sound soundtrack for my blog. I have discovered a website called freesound.org. I have signed up to the website and I am now a member. This enables me to download thousands of ambient sounds for me to add to my soundtrack. The screenshot above is a screenshot of this website. In the screenshot I am downloading an ambient sound recording of a town hall.
VoiceOver
The voice over is a very important part of the reebok advert. I make the advert complete when it is played over the images because it link to the images. When I thought about recording my voice over I took a few things into consideration when thinking about who should record the
voiceover. I have decided that it should be somebody with a deep voice so that it sounds more serious. This dose rule out the option of having a woman doing the voice over. I did however consider having a wide variety of different people doing the talking each saying a sentence each and mixing together the lowness of the male voice and the highness of the female voice. However I did decide against this option because when thought about it I notice that it would take a lot more planning and would take up a lot more time that it would have done if I was simply doing the voice over with one person.
voiceover. I have decided that it should be somebody with a deep voice so that it sounds more serious. This dose rule out the option of having a woman doing the voice over. I did however consider having a wide variety of different people doing the talking each saying a sentence each and mixing together the lowness of the male voice and the highness of the female voice. However I did decide against this option because when thought about it I notice that it would take a lot more planning and would take up a lot more time that it would have done if I was simply doing the voice over with one person.
Here you can see that I have recorded my voiceover for the live with fire advert. In the voice over I am saying the words. I have dried to say
them in as low of a voice as possible.
them in as low of a voice as possible.
Working towards the final outcome
Reebok Advert Spotting Session
Analysis of Reebok Advert
The song in the Reebok live with fire advert is ‘Sleeping Land Pt. 1’ by ‘The Rustle of the Stars’. The first scene of the advert is a woman tying her shoe laces, shortly followed by a woman walking into a gym and then two men doing exercise. These first three scenes all take place within the first four seconds of the advert. The music in the first four seconds is setting a tone for the advert. There are synthesized violins that sound as though they are warming up/tuning, this creates the idea of warming up before exercise. This creates suspense for the advert because you know that there will be more to come. The music is in the background, they emphasise this by having a group of friends talking. You cannot hear what they are saying exactly but you can feel the tension building.
At around 10 seconds the advert begins to show people doing yoga and gymnastics and pushing there body’s to the limits. At that point the music is still creating suspense with the synthesisers and the string sounds. Then there is a man with a low monotone voice talking in an ethereal manner intruding on the action in the advert and the anticipation in the music. The man says: ‘Life doesn’t care what you look like, or where you come from, it’s not here to judge you, it doesn’t care how tough you are, it knows you’re not always pretty, easy or perfect, life simply asks that you join in.’
Whilst the man is talking there is a variety of different scenes that show people pushing themselves in the gym, lifting weights, running races, dancing and putting their heart into what they are doing. At around 35 seconds the music in the advert changes from the stings and violin synthesizers sound which was creating lots of suspense to a more driven feel with a bassy drum keeping the rhythm and making the song more powerful. You also begin to notice a piano which has been there but just very subtle. The melodies that are being played on the piano are very high. They begin very simplistic and they progress into more virtuosic interesting melodies that help to give the peace the change from the suspense section to the driven section. Meanwhile whilst the music is building up and getting more intense so are the scenes on the screen. They go from gentle exercise like warming up and stretching to much more strenuous exercise where you can clearly see the athletes being passionate and pushing themselves to the limits. This correlates to the music.
Towards the ending of the avert when the screen goes black you can see scenes where the runners are embracing life and hugging and showing that they are happy to be doing exercise and that they share a feeling that they’ve accomplished something. The music dies out and then it says ‘Live With Fire’ then ‘Reebok’. The advert ends there.
At around 10 seconds the advert begins to show people doing yoga and gymnastics and pushing there body’s to the limits. At that point the music is still creating suspense with the synthesisers and the string sounds. Then there is a man with a low monotone voice talking in an ethereal manner intruding on the action in the advert and the anticipation in the music. The man says: ‘Life doesn’t care what you look like, or where you come from, it’s not here to judge you, it doesn’t care how tough you are, it knows you’re not always pretty, easy or perfect, life simply asks that you join in.’
Whilst the man is talking there is a variety of different scenes that show people pushing themselves in the gym, lifting weights, running races, dancing and putting their heart into what they are doing. At around 35 seconds the music in the advert changes from the stings and violin synthesizers sound which was creating lots of suspense to a more driven feel with a bassy drum keeping the rhythm and making the song more powerful. You also begin to notice a piano which has been there but just very subtle. The melodies that are being played on the piano are very high. They begin very simplistic and they progress into more virtuosic interesting melodies that help to give the peace the change from the suspense section to the driven section. Meanwhile whilst the music is building up and getting more intense so are the scenes on the screen. They go from gentle exercise like warming up and stretching to much more strenuous exercise where you can clearly see the athletes being passionate and pushing themselves to the limits. This correlates to the music.
Towards the ending of the avert when the screen goes black you can see scenes where the runners are embracing life and hugging and showing that they are happy to be doing exercise and that they share a feeling that they’ve accomplished something. The music dies out and then it says ‘Live With Fire’ then ‘Reebok’. The advert ends there.