Link to the audio:

https://soundcloud.com/user-364198477/sound-ass2-fear-interview

Reflecton:

In this assignment, we did an interview about emotions, there is no doubt that I will let my interviewee tell a story that is mixed with strong emotions. Sharing emotions is a very private thing. Before the interview, I thought about how to start it and how to guide the interviewee telling the experience into the microphone without scruple. Before studying this course, I rarely had the experience of doing audio interviews. In my cognition, people talk face to face and record with a camera is how a complete interview works. In Tiffanie Wen’s(2015) article, she talked about the charm of audio, an audio uses a dramatic structure, telling stories through dialogue can stimulate the audience’s imagination rather than narration from the perspective of God. They can generate more vivid images in their minds and easier to associate with them. Such stories can arouse people’s emotional resonance and interest. In order to make the whole interview clearer and smoother, I prepared a rough script for myself, so that I will not lose the rhythm and clarify the purpose of my interview. Although I can use post editing, I still need to control the rhythm of the interview due to the 2-3 minute time limit. Chris Wodskou(2016) explained 16 techniques for creating scripts in his article. He believes that scripts are a way to adjust the listener’s ears so that the listeners can prepare for the next thing or absorb the ideas, stories, or information which I’m presenting. I wrote down my thoughts and questions to ask, and some key words as reminders. Before starting the interview, I told my talent that this conversation will be showed public as an academic work, but I hope she can feel free to tell her story. Getting permission from the interviewee is particularly important for their privacy protection. In order to make the interviewee more clear about our purpose, I also communicated with her for the intention of this interview in advance. During the interview, I guided her to tell the story by asking questions.

Before editing, my audio length exceeded a lot. I tried to make a complete and clear story, therefore, I deleted a large part of it. As an audio interview, I added different sound effects and background music to make the story more attractive. Tiffanie(2015) mentioned the importance of using sound effects in her article, representing the sound of the object or the environment, and the sound lens. This effect makes the listener feel more spacious of distant sounds. I added different background music at the key moments of the story. In addition, I interspersed some environmental sounds and the voice of the “protagonist” possum to restore the story scene as much as possible, so that the audience will be more substituted into the scene. I still have a lot to learn about making audio. I hope I can tell a more profound or shocking story for the next time.

Reference:

Tiffane W, 2015, Inside the Podcast Brain: Why Do Audio Stories Captivate?, The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/04/podcast-brain-why-do-audio-stories-captivate/389925/ viewed 25th Aug 2020.

Chris W, 2016, The craft of writing for radio: 16 tips from a veteran script-writer, CBC, https://www.cbc.ca/radio/docproject/blog/the-craft-of-writing-for-radio-16-tips-from-a-veteran-script-writer-1.3562474, viewed 25^th Aug 2020.

Release form

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AZf6-S1FtYta9Mh5Zxe3BO2k6ZgkpbxL/view?usp=sharing

Audio

https://soundcloud.com/user-364198477/life-during-the-epidemic

Reflection

This week we completed the first assignment of this semester. Doing interview is not a strange thing to me. In the article “Podcasting and Podcasts, Parameters of a New Aural Culture”, podcasting imbued in us the enthusiasm of possibility. Namely the possibility, in ‘one space’, the conversations about lives and experience relating to a subject which you interested and passionate about, generates a deep sense of connection (Llinares et al. 2018). I chose my friends around me as the interviewee, at first, I was worried that she don’t know what to say, fortunately, she was very interested in this topic. She talked a lot about her current situation. During the interview, I found it is important to be a qualified listener. It is a kind of respect for not to interrupt when telling the story and give some response in an appropriate time. McHugh(2011) mentioned it ‘aerobic listening’ in his article, that ears-on-stalks concentration we give our interviewees during a long and fraught oral history interview. Due to the remote interviews via phone, I found that the audio quality is not good enough when editing. I am still in the exploring stage for the using Adobe audition. I hope to solve this problem in my future works. At the end of the interview, I told my friend that our conversation will be public, she agreed with that and signed the release form. This is a very important part for protecting others’privacy but it is easy to be ignored by the producer.

Reference

Llinares, Dario, & Fox, Neil. (2018). Podcasting : New Aural Cultures and Digital Media. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Siobhan McHugh. (2011). The Power of Voice, commentary, Transom.

wk7http://www.mediafactory.org.au/xinyuwu/2020/06/01/week-7-documentary-story-structure/

wk8http://www.mediafactory.org.au/xinyuwu/2020/06/01/week-8-audio-tracks-voice-sound-music-silence/

wk9http://www.mediafactory.org.au/xinyuwu/2020/06/01/week-9-materiality-and-the-environment/

wk10http://www.mediafactory.org.au/xinyuwu/2020/06/01/week-10-writing-the-documentary/

wk11http://www.mediafactory.org.au/xinyuwu/2020/06/01/week-11-crafting-the-edit/

wk12 http://www.mediafactory.org.au/xinyuwu/2020/06/01/week12-finalising-and-reflecting/

After finishing the production of the final documentary, I feel very fulfilled, we spent a lot of time and energy on this project. At first, I was confused about this topic, due to this tough time, I don’t know how to make this environmental documentary. For the topic choosing, my original idea was rejected by the tutor, after discussing with the classmates, they gave me some inspiration, and I suddenly thought of this interesting thing which just happened few weeks ago, it was fresh to me for combining my life and documentary. The whole process of making this documentary was an exploration journey for me. We have learnt a lot of filming skills in the class, I used the way of desktop documentary in my own film, it is a totally new experience for me, in addition, I learnt how to added the appropriate sounds in my film. Moreover, I learnt how to tell a story and make the audience resonate. Because of the shooting environment was limited, I collected all the materials on the internet, this was a big challenge for me, I had to find what I need in the overwhelming academic sources, I don’t want my film to be boring so I cut them a lot. If conditions permit, I think I will add more shooting materials, which will make the film more natural, real and infectious. In addition, during the production process, I found that I haven’t fully mastered Premiere, it is not enough to simply record the screen and play for a documentary, I need more technical skills to make it looks diverse. I will strengthen this aspect in the future studying. For my project, I add a lot of background sounds to make it fluid and natural, I think that worked well. The online class in this semester was a challenge for me, I was uncomfortable with this at first, I need to studying more autonomously to keep up with the process of each week. But I’m glad that I adapted to this way, I like this course and enjoy the process of learning new skills of  filmmaking, recording life has always been my hobby, after finishing each video, I felt l have learnt a lot. There is one regrettable thing, we don’t have too many chance to cooperate with others in this semester, I wish I could have more experience to work with others, this will gives me more inspiration and makes me learning more.

This week we’re getting on with our final documentary, all documentaries editing is a form of manipulation, it is an opportunity to exploring the creative editing and structural styles of professional outreach(Fox, 2017). During the process of making documentary, I found that creating a natural and coherent ambient noise is a challenge for me, I tried to restore the scene that the story taken place, therefore, I need to find the ambient noise that matches the storyline. In the article “Documentary Media: History, Theory, Practice” by Broderick Fox(2017), he represents that human ear is more sensitive to breaks and ruptures in the soundtrack than the eye is to editorial mismatches or jumps, therefore I try to make the background sound more fluid, use multiple audio tracks to insert different ambient sounds, vocals and background music to diversify the background sounds, thus giving the audience a various listening experience. In addition, when I making the dialogue, I found the post-arranged dialogue looks unnatural in the video, which largely reduce the audience’s sense of substitution and viewing experience. Therefore, I’m still considering about the form of presenting story. In the desktop documentary part, I found that a large amount of stated information and materials make the movie too single and academic. Fox noticed that the viewer handled the information completely differently from the reader, when watching a documentary, viewers often less able to control the speed at which they receive information. If your documentary contains a lot of speech or text information, you will soon encounter the problem of diminishing returns, which is also the problem I am solving. I added some questions and subtitles to let the audience understanding better. In addition, for the technical aspects of production, I tried to make the interface richer, not just recording the process of searching for information, I want to make this process more interesting.

Reference:

Fox, Broderick, Documentary Media : History, Theory, Practice, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/RMIT/detail.action?docID=5103711.

Reflection

In this week, we learnt how to write a script and narration in a film. Writing scripts is undoubtedly the hardest part for me, it is crucial to move film forward. Narration is secondary to visual, it is a part of the overall narrative, but can’t lead the narrative(Das, 2007). A compelling narrative can be funny, sarcastic, spare, poetic or elegant(Sheila Curran-Bernard 2010),  in order to make a good narration, we should consider different ways and perspectives, keep narration visually is a challenge to the script writer, narration should back up a visual instead of trying to overpower it(Das, 2007). In the film “Night Parrot Stories” by Robert Nugent(2016), his script is not simplex narrative, he uses a gentle and peaceful tone to tell the story. With the piano music in the background, his script likes a poem, it well connects the external world in the film and the  narrator’s inner world, which attracts the audience and makes them resonate with it.

Script

After hanging up, I started to think about it, i was hard to fall asleep.

What is it?

If it’s not a human, why would it harass my friend at late night?

Is it really a ghost?

No, I don’t believe in ghost.

I started to searching this strange noise online, until I found this article, this guy seemed encountered the same thing as my friend, yes, it’s exactly the same sounds as we just heard.

Obviously it’s not a ghost, but an wild animal possum.

I never heard this name before.

Isn’t it cute? They like sneak into human residential area, steal the fruit in your backyard. It has round eyes and short body, seems no threat to human.

However, someone says “no!”.

Reference:

• Bernard, Sheila Curran. Documentary Storytelling Creative Nonfiction on Screen. 3rd ed. Amsterdam ; Boston: Focal Press, 2011.
• Das, Trisha How t Write a Documentary Script, 2007, http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/programme_doc_documentary_script.pdf
• Night Parrot Stories, Robert Nugent 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEUgGV1lTmU

In this week, we learnt a new way of expressing documentary. At the beginning of this semester I was confused about the circumscription of documentary, in my narrow understanding, documentary is boring, insipid and academical, in the process of learning this task, it completely subverted my understanding of documentary, I was exciting for this studying process, it was a fresh exploring for me. We learnt to change a style of the documentary, break through the inherent thinking mode, brainstorming and reconstruct the film expression. There are many preconceived notions about Archive movies, which may be limited(Gurry， 2019). Making the film creative and less generic, we need to set up an aesthetic plan, exploring the relationship between technology selection of format and aesthetic result. We can redefine the meaning of characters or objects in the movie and give them a new vitality. In the film “I think this is the closest to how the footage looked” by Yuval Hameiri(2017), he gives vitality to the normal object in daily, let them present the story, makes the film get his own originality. This is totally different from the traditional documentary, makes it more visually. I was inspired by his style and ideas, after looking around, I picked up a pack of cigarettes which closest to me, chose it as my character in the film. It has no connection with my final documentary, but I think I can put this idea and technology to it. There is a portrait on the cigarette case, it inspired my imagination of him. I use the way of stop-animation to present a man died for smoking cigarettes, however, the “person” who smoked is this pack of cigarettes, which makes the film ironic. The process of making this film is fresh and interesting to me. In my final documentary work, I will try to break the rules and brainstorming, making the documentary more impressive and diverse.

reference:

I think this is the closest to how the footage looked. 2017. [film]. Directed by Yuval Hameiri

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reframe: Kelly Sears & Sam Gurry in Conversation, https://slamdance.com/kelly-sears-sam-gurry/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5GuqBA3cKI

In this week, we learnt about how to use sound effects appropriately in the documentary.

Sound is used to express the emotions of a film and it can promote the story development, it helps the audience get closer connection with the film or the character in a film, take audience to a deeper place. On the other hand, sound can also tells some detailed information, which makes the story more complicate. Appropriate background music leads the audience resonate with it. Human voice can’t dominate the film, In the film “Daybreak Express” by D.A. Pennebaker(1953), there’s no human voice, the director focus on sounds of ambience and background music in line with the rhythm of the film to set off the atmosphere and promote the progress of film. I like the sound effects at the beginning and the end, it is the noise of the train station, this is a well-echo from the beginning to end, make the movie more complete, this made the documentary poetic. A poetic documentary encourages new ways of perception and emotional coordination between nature, film and audience, focusing on sound to show how these films provide meaningful and fantastic moments( Warren, 2019). For the audio editing in my film, I found many sounds of ambiences, made the film more natural. For a more realistic restoration, I adds the noise of the possum in, in addition, i interspersed with background music that highlighted the tension of the story, it also foreshadowed the occurrence of the following event. All this elements made the story more attractive, closer to the audience.

Reference:

Daybreak Express. 1953. [film]. Directed by D. A. Pennebaker

Warren, Shilyh “Hum, Buzz, Gurgle/ Ecological Soundscapes in Poetic Ecodocs.” In Annabelle, Honess Roe and Maria Pramaggiore, Vocal Projections : Voices in Documentary. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury, 2019.

Part A: Thinking about story

In this week, we learnt to use the way of storytelling to express the relationship between human and nature. A story is the narrative or telling about an event or a serious of event, the way you use to telling a story attracts the audience or reader(Bernard, Sheila C, 2013). A complete and attractive story comprises 3-act, at the beginning of the story should start with a conflict, this is the cause of the question. In the middle, you should guide the journey through looking for the answer or solution. And there is a transformation in the end of the story, it should be a change of your inner thoughts or external environment. A dramatic storytelling usually involves more specifically to character-driven stories(Bernard, Sheila C, 2013). In my documentary, I chose a story that really happened in my life as a inciting incident, it promotes the development of the whole story, which is the reason that I want to explore this issue. I was tried to restore and summarize this story, the process of making documentary should be fluid and organic, a well-written film script is an instrument that for you to create emotion and epiphany at will(Das, Trisha, 2007). I spent a lot of time to modify my script, try to made it better integrate into my documentary, and grasp the emotions of audience, let them reflect the question.

Part B: Telling a story

The story happened on a late night, a strange noise disturbed the peace, my friend called me for help because of his fear, this call was the beginning of everything. We didn’t find the source of this strange noise, but it triggered my thinking of it. I started searching this noise online, after repeated confirmation, I was sure that sound comes from an wild animal possum. In the process of searching information, I found that a lot of people who living in Australian suburbs have encountered the same thing as my friend, so they complaint, and propose to kill them. However, I found that this animal will not hurt people, and it is a protected animal in Australia, I’d wish to calling people know more about this animal and try not to disturb them.

Reference:

Bernard, Sheila Curran. Documentary Storytelling : Making Stronger and More Dramatic Nonfiction Films, Taylor & Francis Group, 2007.

Das, Trisha How to Write a Documentary Script

week4:https://www.mediafactory.org.au/xinyuwu/2020/04/16/week-4-desktop-documentaries-the-computer-screen-as-camera/

week5:https://www.mediafactory.org.au/xinyuwu/2020/04/16/week-5-getting-creative-with-interviews/

week6:https://www.mediafactory.org.au/xinyuwu/2020/04/17/week-6-archival-found-footage-remix/