FVS

Sequence of individual class sections subject to change

SPRING Term 2010
24-1101 Film and Video Sound 8:30 am
Columbia College Chicago
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago IL 60605
Course Coordinator: Sharon Zurek

Instructor: Kerry Kelekovich

Audio Suite Phone 312-344-6585
Email Address: kkelekovich@colum.edu

Required Texts and Materials

Text: Reading material provided in class.
See your Oasis BOOKMARKS and HANDOUTS for course material.


Supplies/Materials

All drives and Cds/DVDs are provided, however, it is HIGHLY recommended that students buy a storage device for backup and transfer.


Bibliography, supplemental and suggested readings
John Woram's Recording Handbook


Instructional Resources Fee: $115

Content introduction
Welcome to Filmsound. I have taught this course for over 20 years and hope to assist you in your quest for understanding audio concepts for film & video production.
Filmsound presents new audio information and reinforces solid sound practices for filmmakers and interested students.

Course description
Course introduces students to theory and techniques of sound recording as applied to the film and video mediums. Students learn to record and edit voice and sound effects. Course examines the theory behind advanced motion picture sound, sync systems, and digital multi-track recording systems.

Course rationale
Students that traditionally enroll in Filmsound have a keen interest in audio production for film. While it is not required that you have a technical background, basic computer skills and the understanding of basic principals of filmmaking are required.

Grading policy and evaluation procedures

Credit hours: 4 credits

Grading scale:

100-95% = A
94-90% = A -
89-86% = B+
85-83% = B
82-80% = B -
79-76% = C+
75-73% = C
72-70% = C -
69-60% = D
59% + Below = Failure

Standards and proportions used:

33% Midterm + Weekly Quizzes + Field Assignments
33% Final Exam
34% Aliens Final Project

 

Prerequisites:

24-1100 VISUAL AUDIO, 24-1010 PRODUCTION I

Goals and Objectives

At the successful completion of this course, the student will have a thorough understanding of audio post-production for filmmaking including the basic operation and usage of the ProTools digital editing software (Avid) and the techniques and mind set to go from location recording and foley work to picture enhancing ADR techniques. Teamwork and group strategizing is a vital component of this class.

 

Requirements and assignments:

Weekly Quiz; Field Assignments; Midterm; Foleys & ADR; Final Exam; Aliens Final Project (includes: MEETING DEADLINES, Participation, Practicals, Mixing Logs & ALL Field work)

Classroom policies

Academic Integrity:
All students are responsible for ensuring that original work is correctly attributed.
Students must give clear and complete attributions for the work of others in their films.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in the failure of the course.


Attendance Statement:
There are no excused absences.
Your third absence will result in an automatic reduction of your final grade by one letter.
Your fourth absence will result in an automatic F for the course.


Absences:
Use email evening before class when possible.


Tardiness:
Arriving 15 minutes after the scheduled starting time for the class will be considered a late arrival.
Two late arrivals will result in one absence.
Leaving earlier than 15 minutes before the scheduled end for the class will be considered an early exit.
Two early exits will result in one absence.
Late work and makeup assignments:
All late work is expected to be turned in asap.
However, if the assignment is not turned in by the next class meeting, the student will receive an F for that assignment. ALL rewrites are due the next class.


Incomplete Policy
No incomplete grades will be given for this course.

 

Additional suggestions, guidelines and or notice:

  •  Mandatory Attendance for individual conferences
  •  No pagers or cell phones allowed.
  •  No late work will be accepted without prior clearance.
  •  Your Oasis portal will include handouts to download and weblinks to utilize for reference including glossaries from various sources to help define   language and concepts found in this class.
  •  Basic computer operation and writing skills are required for this class.
  •  Proficiency in performance with a musical instrument is not required but it is MOST welcome.

 

Conaway Center Statement


Students with disabilities are requested to present their Columbia accommodation letters to their instructor at the beginning of the semester so that accommodations can be arranged in a timely manner by the College, the department or the faculty member, as appropriate.

Students with disabilities who do not have accommodation letters should visit the office of Services for Students with Disabilities in room 520 of the Congress building (312.344.8134/V or 312.360.0767/TTY).

It is incumbent upon the student to know their responsibilities in this regard.

 

Disclaimer statement


Please note that individual class sessions are subject to change. The instructor will make every effort to keep the students informed of changes in the schedule. Some items may change at the instructor's discretion, but the overall workload will not change.

 

Return of Student Work


No work will be returned.

It is the student's responsibility to make copies of all work turned in.

Course Calendar | SPRING '10

WEEK 1: 1/26 INTRODUCTION: FVS

• A 15 minute segment of the blockbuster sci-fi film Aliens is used throughout the semester as the target of your sound experiments.
• The working protocol is defined and a schedule of events highlighted.
• Profiles & entry survey.

Class discussion:

AMBIENCE

Ambience pertains to the pervading atmosphere of a place. (Often more of a psychological, rather than technical description) Ambience is widely used as a synonym for ambient sound. Ambient sound consists of noises present in the environment. In film and video sound production the term Ambience usually means the background sound accompanying a scene. Ambience is used for background sounds. (1) present in the original production recording (a better term for it is presence) (2) deliberately added in sound-effects editing in order to provide an acoustic space around the rest of the dialog and sound effects. In Silence of the Lambs, when Agent Starling (Jodie Foster) is down with Lecter in the dungeon, there were animal screams and noises built into the ambience. (One element of the ambience is a guy screaming in pain. The screaming was processed, slowed down and played in reverse)

* Subjective Ambience:

In the trial scene of Philadelphia - instead of using reverb to a voice as the convention says for hallucinating - sound designer Ron Bochar used subjective ambience. He dropped the previous room tone and shifted the ambient sound. He also changed the spatial placement of the ambient sound - from left, right, and center speakers to surround speakers. Ambience helps establish the scene and works editorially to support the picture editing by, for example, staying constant across a picture cut to indicate to the audience that no change of space has occurred, but rather only a simple picture edit. Conversely, if ambience changes abruptly at a picture cut, an indication is made to listener that the scene also has changed.

sources:
Elisabeth Weis: Creating sounds for Demme
R. L. Mott: Sound effects radio, TV, and film p 202
Tomlinson Holman: Sound for Film and TV

WEEK 2: 2/2 The Nature of Sound

• The electro-acoustic chain and our role in it.
• ProTools introduction... The field kit recorder... Project defined...
• Book field kit to record SFX and Radio Cues (due in 2 weeks).
• Production groups defined.

* Recording Exercise #1: Groups take to the streets for location pickups for their time-line needs

WEEK 3: 2/9 Shaping Sound with Microphones

• How mic placement and selection plays a part in recording voice and sound effects.
• Design types & reception patterns discussion.

Discussion about Aliens and ambience/SFX.

WEEK 4: 2/16 Lecture: See A Sound / Hear A Sound

* THE ADR SESSION: Casting for ADR and logging the script are discussed. The various machines, techniques for transferring and calibration standards are also discussed and demonstrated

• Trackbuilding concepts

Field Assignment: on-going over the next few weeks:

1. MANY SFX/Presence cues recorded/imported for the Group Global Need.
2. Group casting for dialogue.
3. Radio Transmission Cues. Divide cues between group members.
4. Log Everything you do.

WEEK 5: 2/23 ProTools Part 2 + Microphones

• Editing SFX and recording Foley & ADR for Aliens.
• Class booking protocols discussed.
• Groups schedule working timeframe for members.
• Foley Recording & Trackbuilding fundamentals
• Create working timetable:
• Stage 2 @ 9:30 am for foley sessions.
• Lectures and support material reviewed.

WEEK 6: 3/2 PRODUCTION WEEK

* Keep the desktop of the computer you work on tidy.
* Save your work in the folder you should have already created last week.
* Backup. If it doesn't exist it AT LEAST 2 places, it doesn't exist.
* You cannot rely upon any computer in any facility to hold your data after you leave.

WEEK 7: 3/9 Review for Midterm

Field recordings due for group review & critique

WEEK 8: 3/16 MIDTERM

WEEK : 3/23 SPRING BREAK

WEEK 9: 3/30 Foleys & Sound Design

Groups tackle the technical needs for coverage in "Aliens".

STAGE 2: It is the Groups' responsibility to stay on top of all booking needs and to schedule an engineer for all ADR & Foley sessions in-class or during the rest of the week.

WEEK 10: 4/6 Project Coordination & Trackbuilding fundamentals: PRO TOOLS Pt. III

• More concepts & strategies behind the creation of audio tracks for the visual medium are discussed.
• ADR, FOLEY & SOUND DESIGN.
• Groups discuss needs & timeline.
• Pre-Mixing strategies.
• FOLEY SESSIONS

WEEK 11: 4/13 Project editing week: LAB TIME

Lab is reserved for editing in groups. Talk to your groupmates to begin coordinating your timelines and remaining schedules.

LAST FOLEY SESSION / Punching up your Timelines

PLEASE BOOK YOUR MIXING TIME ON STAGE 3

WEEK 12: 4/20 Building emotional resonance

• Bouncing for ProTools and other concepts.
• Combining projects, ProTools FAQs, etc.
• Read your Bookmarks & Handouts
• Project editing week: LAB TIME 8:30 - 11 am
• Groups finish work and eventually combine individual efforts to one file (ie: presence group master, sfx master, baby alien master)

WEEK 13: 4/27 ALIENS' BOUNCES RENDERED

• Foleys planned may be recorded if you need last minute things to punchup your projects.
• Individual timeline bounces should be considered sooner than later to get a rough composite for group evaluations.

Preparation of group mixing strategy should begin to take shape.

WEEK 14: 5/4 PROJECT CRITIQUES & SEMESTER REVIEW | Stage 1

WEEK 15: 5/11 PROJECT CRITIQUES

FINAL EXAM DISCUSSION

There is no makeup for people who skip this exam. A clearance from the Film Dept.'s course coordinator is required for an exemption to this rule.

 

© 2010 Kerry Kelekovich