During the second week of this studio, we all have stretched out our media production muscles a little bit further and have stepped to the next stage in which was audio recording. We were given an activity to focus on audio as part of our expertise exercise and this time we had to visually visualize what this audio would look like if there was a video that comes with it, without actually recording it.

Firstly, we were put in pairs and have given the freedom to record audio that focuses on one action. We were given a specific kind of zoom recorder that I have never used before and was very nervous touching. But, all of us again before going ‘out in the field’ were showed how to utilize the equipment appropriately by Paul. I honestly wasn’t very confident with utilizing audio equipment in any cases because I am not exactly great at it. However, the ‘audio part’ of any film or short documentary is so incredibly vital, which is exactly why it’s also very difficult to get a perfect recording or shoot a good ‘audio’ without replacing or modifying it later on in production. I doubted myself a lot during this exercise where we had to shoot a decent audio of a specific action, but I was able to follow Paul’s guidelines, take notes on how to use the equipment properly and record something that ‘isn’t too bad’. I was paired with Cheyenne and I recorded an audio of footsteps. Although there were some background noises as we did not shoot in a more quiet place, the main or initial recording of the action could be clearly heard. Thus, we completed this exercise or task with a quite well-recorded audio and ended the day being more comfortable using audio equipment.

Lastly, other than audio recording the last session this week involved us being able to match our audio recording we did the last time and visually film the video for it. To me, this was an interesting exercise because usually, I film something first and do the audio later or most of the time, even use the original audio from the video and enhance it further during editing. But, this was definitely a different way to approach filmmaking that I certainly enjoyed learning about. Paul showed us clips from a movie called ‘Silver Lining Playbook’ that was given as an example of a good scene that incorporated many excellent cinematic elements, such as, good music, hard cut scenes, incredible audio recording (sound design) and much more. This particular scene that he showed us was eye opening for me, I didn’t look at this scene the same way I did when I watched the whole movie the first time. I certainly noticed the difference on how it was collated together with all the technicalities and that surely inspired me to try to extend my knowledge and ability more in this studio, starting from the exercise Paul have given us.

To start off, this exercise were done in groups of 4 or 5 and we shot anything around uni that could possibly match our audio recordings. My group recorded a couple of shots behind building 9, near Melbourne jail, we shot actions that incorporated knocking on the door, walking (which could be used with my ‘footsteps’ recording) and more. Additionally , we also shot more fresh new audio recordings, this time, I was responsible for it and I was surprisingly happy with it.

All in all, this week have definitely enhanced the way I look at my abilities upon utilizing an audio equipment. I have definitely begun to be comfortable being able to use an audio equipment and record something that sounds decent enough without much of faultiness. Although there are much to learn ahead of this studio, the past two weeks have definitely made me look forward to what’s to come in the future projects.