Initially sorting out the soundtrack was important. The song I had chosen for the animation was 8 mins long, whereas my animation was only 2.07 mins. It was important to use the music as a tool to introduce each section of the narrative, therefore there was a necessity to make sure the tempo and eeriness grew as the animation went along. I found that simply placing the track below the animation didn't work as there isn't three changes in the sound within 2 mins anywhere on the track. Instead i went through the song, identifying what parts of the song would suit each section. In the end, I ended cutting and moving round the music to suit my animation. The last section actually has the beginning of the song as it was the most dramatic.
As well as a soundtrack, I went about recording my own sounds. Both earlier in the filming period, collecting sounds from the forest, and then creating my own later on my room, using my voice and furniture in my room. I also used a couple of tracks from freesound.org such as the birds and the bear roar. This being because the birds in my own recordings were drowned out by cars from a nearby road and the bear roar I wouldn't have been able to collect as I had no access to roaring bears.
Here are few examples of my own sounds that I added and what techniques I used within the program to add to the overall atmosphere of the piece.
Humming
The concept of the humming was originally meant to highlight that the protagonist, Callisto, is unaware of Juno following her. Also it could be another connection to her vanity- She's too pre-occupied with herself to be aware of the danger around her.
The two songs I recorded myself humming were the lullabies Hush little baby and Rockabye Baby. I chose lullabies to firstly link with the story of Callisto in The Metamorphoses of Ovid (Callisto is attacked because she has a child out of wedlock) and secondly to add eeriness to the first section. Lullabies have been used a lot in the horror genre as the use of child voices and songs can chill the audience.
Initially, when placed into Audition, the humming soundtracks were too blatant and fought with the music in the background. The sound workshop with Paper Cinema, has showed us some effects you could add to the tracks. I chose echo to give depth to the sound and give the suggestion that her humming was bouncing of the trees.
These images show how changing delay time and feedback on the echo is easily and quickly done. Also what is helpful about this program is that you can change all the sound clips under one track session at the same time. This definitely cuts down on time and energy. As well as adding an echo, I changed the volume in which the humming plays at to blend in with the music. Therefore if I needed the soundtrack to be quieter than the sound effect and vice versa this can be easily achieved by placing the clips in different track sections and edit the sound volume.
Here is a clip of the finished humming edit.
(This image shows my work in progress in Adobe Audition).
Antagonist Attack:
As the soundtrack clip I used for the first section didn't quite have a climax or dramatic point, i decided to merge it with a louder and more emotive clip from the song. This in itself is to depict the shock and panic of the Juno's victim, i.e. Callisto. I also combined the music with a knocking sound effect. I wanted a sound that was harsh and gave a sense of sudden movement towards the victim. Below are a few different sounds I experimented with to try and capture this action.
This shows my initial intent of the sound start off as a scratch which turns into a louder thudding. However I concluded that it was too confusing for the listener and just to stick with the same sound just getting louder.
This sound was created by thudding the wall in my room. Its effective, but the effect is quite flat and not as a dramatic.
This sound had a similar tempo to the last clip but seemed so much more effective as a knock, giving it definite and loud thudding noises.
Now here is a video clip combining the visuals and the sound.
The scream:
Here I have used my own voice again. The idea of the scream is to leave the audience in shock, ending the first section with an obvious disequilibrium. Then the empty chair and disappearing leaves appear on screen, giving the audience a pause for thought before the transformation section starts. The scream was in the same track section in Audition, therefore it has the same echo technique, making it fade out atmospherically.
Rustling of the 'fur':
This sound was creating by shaking and brushing the actual piece of costume that I was adding sound to. It gives them impression of movement in the paper 'fur' and also the suggestion of wind in the setting.
I preferred the sound in this clip so much more as its been well made to fit with the legs moving one after the other. Also it sounds more like it moving in the wind.
This sound didn't work as well as it sounds too 'crunchy' and generally the timing didn't really fit with the visuals.
Here is the final version with video reference.
Getting up:
This was recorded by setting up a fake forest floor using brown paper, tissue paper and some of the paper leaves I had made. I then reenacted the action seen on screen. I managed to record not only the movement but also my breathing, making it more recognisable as human movement.
(Fake forest floor)
I ended up having to make two copies of this clip for the final soundtrack as it was too short and I wanted to have sound covering both getting up and some of the movement in the following shadow shot. In result the sound effects blend into the music in the shadow shot, increasing the tempo making it a more intriguing shot.
This sound didn't work as it was far too obscure and not clear as someone getting up.
The effect in this sound is much more successful. I made sure to stomp my feet to create a louder 'footstep' sound.
Now for the finished version....
Scratch sound effect:
Seeing as this is a close-up of a walk, I wanted to emphasise the detailed noises such as you would draw details in an illustration. I recorded this noise when in the forest, it was created by dragging a stick across the bark of tree, similarly to the claw sounds in the last scene as the bear claws up to the mirror.
Heavy Breathing Sound effect:
I have added breathing sound effects to two scenes in the animation. Both to build attention towards the climax of their section. I have used different sounds for each section though as each expresses different emotions.
- The first of the breathing sounds is meant for the character of Juno. Here the breathing reflects on her anger building as she prepares to approach Callisto. Generally its fairly consistent in tempo and volume.
The following tests are meant for this scene:
breathing 1- This was the least successful as it was way too overwhelming for the scene and it peer feedback stated it was "too huffy" for this scene rather than angry (with the means to attack).
breathing-2- I preferred this much more as it was more subtle and convincing as someone preparing themselves for an attack or something they feel passionately about.
and with the video reference....
- The second has been placed near the end of the animation, in the build up to the full bear reveal. The sound is meant to reflect the panic and fear of seeing how she looks in the mirror. The sound clip starts with with long intakes of breath and gradually get louder and more hysterical. This has been created with short intakes of breath as if the character is struggling to breathe. This took me a few tests to get the right effect i needed. Here are a couple of examples...
This was the initial breathing sound recording I made. I don't actually mind it but i think there needs to be a dramatic change in the shortness and volume of her breathing.
When I put the first test into the sequence it became apparent that the bear growl I downloaded from freesound.org stood a lot. Obviously it won't appear completely legitimate but I want to make the transition between human and bear voice smooth. Therefore I started turning my breathing into a growl. Then from there I changed the fade in/out on both the voice and bear clip so that they would blend into one another better than before.
Here is the finished result...
Bird song
This was the other downloaded sounds. As i said before, I did intend to use my own forest noises but nearby cars made it difficult to separate the bird sing from the traffic noise. Instead I found a sound clip that sounded similar to the sounds I heard in the forest myself...
I decided to use bird song in my animation as it was a constant sound that i heard whilst filming there. I felt that by adding bird sounds it would create a familiar ambience that one feels when they are in a wooded area.
I used the bird sounds to both introduce and end the first section. The first appearance of the sound helps introduce the setting along with the pan shot of the forest. Then the second comes on after Callisto screams and goes hand in hand with the leaves disappearing animation. This fades as the animation goes on and this absence of bird song in the rest of the animation depicts that something is not right.
Here are the two usages of the bird song in the final animation.
(End of first section)
(Beginning of first section)
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