Production Diary

Process Of Production:

Pre-Production

Objective / Task:

Decide On Project & Meet Group

Notes:

For this project, I will be working alone. I am working on a short animation and this week, I met up with the team to discuss their ideas for developing the soundtrack to their animation. Last term, I decided that I wanted a jump-start into a project for this term, therefore with the amount of time that I had before meeting up with them, I created a rough musical score to allow the animation students to get a sense of how I am going to approach their soundtrack. Upon meeting, they were impressed by what I did, and to continue the way I was.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

The advantage of meeting up with the animation students allowed me to develop a full understanding of their needs and wants for the soundtrack. In result, I discovered that the animation is set in an ancient era, almost Greek or Egyptian, and not Medieval as I initially thought. Understanding the era has allowed me to break down instruments and certain musical theory that will be included in the composition.

Target For Next Week:

Process Of Production:

Pre-Production

Objective / Task:

Research Into Similar Works

Notes:

This week, I have concentrated into watching several animations from “How to Train your Dragon” and “Looney Tunes”. Alongside, I have also been fascinated by Ben Burtt’s work on “Wall-E”, where on the bonus disk, it has a section of him describing the process of creating the movie’s soundtrack.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

The videos have allowed influencing my understanding of how a soundtrack is interpreted within this particular field.

Target For Next Week:

Process Of Production:

Pre-Production

Objective / Task:

Research Into Similar Works (Continued) & Create Time-Schedule

Notes:

Continuation from last week, I was doing research into the sound department. Two books which I have found useful in the past, David Yewdall’s “Practical Art in Motion Picture” and Ric Viers’ “Sound Effects Bible” are going to be kept close to me whilst doing this project. I have also created a time-schedule to know where I am at each week and to set target between now and the deadline. As I only have the animation at this current time, the sensible decision for me to make is to compose the music first. This is because, if I create the sound design now before receiving the final animation, there maybe syncing issues due to the time frame. Therefore, to keep myself on track, I have given both composition and sound design, four weeks each.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

Whilst creating my time-schedule, I know that I have two big roles, which is creating the music and sound design. As I am working on my own, I need to be careful with time and make sure that I do not focus on one element and completely forget the other.

Target For Next Week:

Process Of Production:

Pre-Production

Objective / Task:

Learning and Creating Blog

Notes:

This week, I have made sure that the blog has been set up. This is including important headings.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

It has been a slow process within production due to other educational commitments.

Target For Next Week:

Process   Of Production:

Pre-Production

Objective   / Task:

Create Presentation Proposal & Present It To The   Tutor

Notes:

I have prepared and presented my proposal to my   project to my tutor David McSherry. I discussed the way that I would work   within the following criteria: Overview & Project Outline, Aims &   Objectives, Format For Submission, Roles, Influences, Audience Profile &   Blog, including the Research Material.

Strengths   & Weaknesses:

From the project tutorial, we discussed ways for   which I could work and one of them would be by creating a time-schedule. The   time-schedule will help me identify ways to which I can split my different   roles to help me succeed better in achieving my deadline. David also advised   me to put all of my presentation in my blog too.

Target   For Next Week:

Process   Of Production:

Production (Composition)

Objective   / Task:

Start to compose music.

Meet with animation students.

Discuss distribution of information.

Notes:

This week I concentrated on creating the first few   minutes of the soundtrack and arranging a meeting date with the animation   students. We discussed ways of distributing material to each other via online   and this was decided to be done through Facebook and Dropbox. The reason for   this is because as other assignments are in the way, it gives us a more   flexible way of keeping in contact with each other.

Strengths   & Weaknesses:

As I was still working with the animatic, I was naïve to how much   would change through when creating the actual animation. When meeting with   the animation students and receiving their updated animation, I soon realised   that the length had changed which would also affect the composition which has   been made. What I have learnt from this is to not expect the composition that   you made from the animatic to stay the same within the actual animation.

Target   For Next Week:

Process   Of Production:

Production (Composition)

Objective   / Task:

Start to compose music.

Meet with animation students.

Discuss distribution of information.

Notes:

This week I concentrated on creating the first few   minutes of the soundtrack and arranging a meeting date with the animation   students. We discussed ways of distributing material to each other via online   and this was decided to be done through Facebook and Dropbox. The reason for   this is because as other assignments are in the way, it gives us a more   flexible way of keeping in contact with each other.

Strengths   & Weaknesses:

As I was still working with the animatic, I was naïve to how much   would change through when creating the actual animation. When meeting with   the animation students and receiving their updated animation, I soon realised   that the length had changed which would also affect the composition which has   been made. What I have learnt from this is to not expect the composition that   you made from the animatic to stay the same within the actual animation.

Target   For Next Week:

Process   Of Production:

Production (Composition)

Objective   / Task:

Complete the final stages of composition.

Notes:

These past few weeks I have been concentrating on   trying to complete the final stages of the composition complete.

Strengths   & Weaknesses:

It has been a few challenging weeks because I have   been multi-tasking with trying to complete the musical composition with the   rest of the other assignments. I was concentrating on the stages where the   knight approaches the llama after successfully escaping from the traps. I   gave my tutor a preview on my current work so far and he suggested for me to   record it with real instruments. He also advised me to read upon Anahid   Kassabian’s book Hearing Film in   response to my exposition essay.

Target   For Next Week:

Process   Of Production:

Production (Sound Design)

Objective   / Task:

Finalise Music

Start Collecting Sound Effects

Notes:

These have been very hard few weeks due to   concentrating on other deadlines for university. I have managed to collect   some sound effects and complete the music.

Strengths   & Weaknesses:

Time-scheduling has been an issue, and since I have   not been able to get around to focusing on the practical, this has put my   time back for the sound design. On a plus note, I have managed to complete   the music, where the animation students are very impressed with what I have   done.

Target   For Next Week:

Process   Of Production:

Production (Sound Design)

Objective   / Task:

Do some Foley Design.

Organise paperwork.

Notes:

I have also met up with the animation students to   discuss their final animation.

Strengths   & Weaknesses:

I have met up with the animation students this week,   where they discussed their deadline and their final animation. Unfortunately,   their animation will not be finished in time for my deadline which makes it harder   for me to pull the initial creative ideas and place them for my submission. I   have discussed this with my tutor, and he has advised me to just submit the   version that I have now.

Target   For Next Week: