Making My First Movie

 After hours and hours of hard work, it's finally done. I'm so excited to say I have filmed and edited my first project. The thing is ... it's a two-minute-long clip with exclusively audio. Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself, let me explain what exactly I'm talking about. 

I was instructed to make a story using only sound. This sounds easy, but it's a lot more difficult than it seems. You need to figure out all the sounds which go into making the simplest of actions, such as walking into a crowded room. You need the sound of footsteps, a door opening, then you must create the ambiance of the environment. There are multiple other factors one must consider when creating a project of this sort. 

This is the final copy of my sound story which took way longer than it should've haha. Surprisingly, the hardest part was compiling the different sounds and brainstorming how to create them. I thought of my concept for the story almost immediately after the project was assigned. It started with our protagonist waking up, getting ready for the day, and preparing breakfast. As they're getting ready, however, they realize their bus is early and they have to sprint to make sure they're not late. Our character manages to make it onto the bus and is ready to start the school day. This was my first time ever compiling and editing, ever. No matter the context, this was my first attempt at it and I'd say it was a pretty solid attempt. There were multiple sounds layered throughout the entire piece, which was probably my favorite part. We had the "rain" in the background going on while a blaring alarm clock sounded, followed by a sigh of the protagonist as well as the bed moving all at once to show a fluid sequence of events. This happens multiple times in the recording and it was fun doing the multiple trials to figure out how to blend certain noises. This process took roughly an hour and a half once I figured out what exactly I was supposed to do, it was a breeze. 

Directly above, you'll see the foley action in work. The first clip starts with the opening of our sound video. By tapping lightly on a hollow globe, we are able to generate the faint sound of raindrops hitting a windowsill. This was the exact sound that was desired, and I'm proud of how it turned out. Next was the sound of the alarm clock; rather, how it was destroyed. A laundry detergent bucket was dropped on a step stool which made the smashing sound I wanted. Now the sound of the alarm clock itself was recorded from a real-life clock, so there wasn't much creativity there. Similarly, the sound of doors and closets opening were ones found in everyday houses and we just placed our microphones next to them while recording. The sound of a zipper was probably our most creative feature yet. I found a metal object in my garage and scraped it across an ironing board and got a really close sound to what I was aiming for. It was such a shot in the dark, I'm surprised it worked. For the sound of the bus, we were able to produce a realistic ambiance sound of people talking, mixed with the bus door closing and moving. It was a consistent sound that my group managed to find. 

Overall, this project definitely had its ups and downs. Hearing the same audio clip hundreds of times trying to figure out whether you should splice it, move it, merge it was a hassle and a half for a first-time editor. However, the feeling of relief after it's finally done is something that almost makes up for it.