Finished Possession Clip

Protools

Throughout the process of putting audio to the video i used Protools LE 8 software to spot, edit and mix sound effects and music. All of the instrumentation was done using sampler plug-ins in the software, mixing and layering them appropriately. 

Storyboard

The female character quickly moves her head back; timpani drum will be heard to dramatise this movement and dark background ambience will begin.

The first introduction of ultrasound sound effect to convey to the viewer that she is pregnant.

The first creaking footstep on the floorboards and slow fade in of string section.

Again the ultrasound should be heard at this point when she looks into the baby's bedroom.

The first camera change to the husband where an extra minor note to the string section will be added to convey to the viewer that he is a threat.

Another camera change to the husband which follows to her looking at the door, another minor note will be added to strings again to convey to the viewer that he is a threat and fear of him.

The female character runs down the stairs; louder running footsteps will be heard.

After running down the stairs she quickly looks up and this is where all sound will dramatically stop.

Research

The following clip from the movie saw uses a lot of dark ambient sounds to convey the fear of the woman who survived the trap, for example at 40-52 seconds and throughout the clip. I would like to use the same kind of ambience in the possession clip for the same reason as i believe it is very effective. Another influence i will be taking from this clip can be found at 1minute 19 seconds; the use of percussive sound dramatically convey her head movement. I plan to use a timpani drum similarly in the possession clip to dramatise the female character swinging her head back and also give a dramatic start to the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VZn8LYFS78

Research

The following scene from lost uses crescendoing tremolo strings which suddenly stop to create tension when Jack is pointing the gun at Ben. I believe that this clip shows a very effective way of creating tension. I would like to employ this technique of crescendoing strings in the possession clip however instead of tremolo strings i would like to use some pizzicato.



The same technique is employed in this clip; the strings and brass sections crescendo with every punch. However he use of it in this clip i believe is not as extreme but works well.



This scene from the TV show fringe, i believe,  is also another good example of the use of strings to create tension and a dramatic build up:

Short Treatment

The scenario i have chosen for the possession clip is that the female character is pregnant and married to an abusive husband. She has lately decided that she wants to leave him, however she is scared of what he will do to her, even though she is carrying their child. What i would hope to portray through the audio is, that fact that she is pregnant and also the tension build up as she is trying to sneak out of the house without him seeing her.

I intend to convey to the viewer that she is pregnant by including the sound of an ultrasound at two key points in the clip; when she clutches her stomach and also when she walks past the child's bedroom.

As for the building tension; as she gets closer to the door i will use an dark ambient layer to fill the silence at the beginning of the clip (i took this technique from when i used it in the film, i believed it to be a success). Then crescendoing pizzicato strings will lead up to the point where she stops at the bottom of the stairs. Every time the camera changes to view her husband in the kitchen an extra minor note will be added to the the pizzicato string section to try and convey to the viewer that this character is a threat.

As for footsteps of the female character i wanted to keep them to a complete minimum throughout the clip until she begins to run down the stairs, as a way of trying to give more of an impact on how "rushed" she feels at that point to get out of the house.

Possession Clip

In this blog I will be taking you through the development process of creating audio for a clip from the film “Possession”. In this clip you see a female character standing in a bathroom washing her hands then clutch her stomach. She then proceeds to walk down the corridor to a child’s bedroom where a baby’s cradle is in shot. Walking out of the room and down the stairs with hesitation, she see’s a man cutting vegetable’s on the kitchen counter, she then looks towards the door.

Throughout this project I will be carrying out the same techniques and processes that I took while working on a 13-minute film. The two following video’s are before and after editing and mixing. All sound on the first video is from the camera’s microphone and the second has been editing and mixed myself using audio from on scene recordings in protools. The director provided the guitar music; all other audio is of my own.