Unit IIIAudio, Lighting & The TV Studio

Audio & Sound Control

Sound Pickup Principles & Microphones

How does music make you feel??• I will play 3 songs, for each of those song I would

like you write down an emotion you feel when you listen to it.

• What type of movie scene do you see in your head when you hear the music???

• Discuss it with your partner. • Song 1 – 1:40• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoHSLwOmNS8• Song 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=vbFm1H9yUhg&list=PL9PNdK4GvlqunrTaTUW4f7kf5SmPHtMI5&index=1• Song 3 – 3:25• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6MPANgIYcg

History of Music in Film• The majority of silent films were accompanied by anything from

full orchestras to organists and pianists. Books of music were published to provide the accompanists with ideas for scene music, categorized by mood, event, or element.

• Many of the films came with a "suggestion list" of what music to play in which scene.

• Music continued to be a part of film and still today plays an influential part in the storytelling aspect of a film.

• Music can serve several purposes that are either important on the emotional side of the movie or help/enhance the storytelling.

• It is not only helpful but essential for any director/producer to keep the music in mind when planning/shooting the movie.

Learning Garage Band – Songs• http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=8MfRHiVHXsU&list=PL919D238C5B8CC8CB

Learning Garage Band - Loops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xr_xJ9TM00

Garageband• Now that we have watched the Garageband tutorials, you will have some time

to become familiar with the program.

• If you need to watch them again, they are located on my teacher page under the Unit III Tab.

• For this activity please pick one of the following emotions:• Suspense/fear• Happy• Sad• Relaxed• Excited• Anger

• For the next 30 - 40 minutes, please try and create your own song. • Use at least 5 different loops to make a 30 second track. • Remember: songs in film are meant to evoke emotion or help with

storytelling. For this activity have an emotion in mind BEFORE you begin to create your song.

Lesson 2

“The Right Music For the Right Scene”

Garage Band Project• In pairs, you will choose one of the following scenes or

trailers and create your own musical score to be the background music for the clip you selected.

• Remember what we said music in film is primarily used for: To make the audience feel a certain way and enhance the storytelling aspect of the film.

• Trailer: Nightmare on Elm Street • Trailer: 300 • Scene: Indiana Jones – Stealing the Golden Head• Scene: Motivational scene with the coach – Remember the Titans • Scene: ET Flying• Scene: The Notebook –Last Scene• Scene: Back to the Future - Chase• Scene: Rocky

Microphones Lesson 3

Audio Basics

• In audio the sounds the microphone hears are transduced (transformed) into electric energy—the audio signal. This signal is made audible again through the loudspeaker.

• The basic sound pickup tool is the microphone, or mic (pronounced “mike”).

• Good audio requires that you know how to choose the right mic for a specific sound pickup—not an easy task when faced with the many choices available.

Types of Mics - Condenser

• Condenser microphones are generally used for critical sound pickup indoors, but they are also used in the field. They are especially prominent in music recording. They produce high quality sound.

Types of Mics - Dynamic

• The dynamic microphone is the most rugged. You can take it outside in all kinds of weather, and it can even withstand occasional rough handling. You can work with the mic close to extremely loud sounds without damaging it or distorting the sound too much.

Types of Microphones• The zone within which a microphone can

hear well—is specified by its pickup pattern.

• Its two-dimensional representation is called the polar pattern.

• The omnidirectional mic hears equally well from all directions. Visualize the omnidirectional mic at the center of a sphere. The sphere itself represents the pickup pattern.

• The unidirectional mic is designed to hear especially well from one direction—the front. Because the pickup pattern of a unidirectional mic is roughly heart-shaped, it is also called cardioid.

Polar Pick-up Patterns

Audio Cables• All professional microphones and

camcorders use three-conductor cables (called balanced cables) with three-conductor XLR connectors.

• They are relatively immune to outside interference from unwanted frequencies. With an XLR jack in a camcorder, you can use any professional audio cable to connect a high-quality microphone to the camera.

• Most consumer microphones and small camcorders use the smaller RCA phono plug or the mini plug for their (unbalanced) cables.

• You can, of course, also transport digital audio signals with a FireWire (IEEE 1394) or an HDMI cable over short distances.

Chapter 7

• Please use the online book and complete the Chapter 7 quiz.

• Chapter 7 is all about audio pick-up.• Knowing the different types of microphones will

help you choose the best one if you would like to record your own song for your music video.

LightingStudio & Field

Light• No matter how the light is technically generated, you will work with

two basic types: directional and diffused.• Directional light has a precise beam that causes harsh shadows. The

sun, a flashlight, and the headlights of a car all produce directional light.

• Diffused light causes a more general illumination. Its diffused beam spreads out quickly and illuminates a large area. Because diffused light seems to come from all directions (is omnidirectional), it has no clearly defined shadows; they seem soft and transparent.

• Light intensity, or how much light falls onto an object. Also called light level, light intensity is measured in American foot-candles.

• A foot-candle is simply a convenient measurement of illumination—the amount of light that falls on an object.

• One foot-candle (fc) is 1 candlepower of light (called a lumen) that falls on a 1-square-foot area located 1 foot away from the light source.

Measuring Illumination• Baselight refers to general illumination, or the overall light

intensity.• You determine baselight levels by pointing a light meter (which

reads foot-candles or lux) from the illuminated object or scene toward the camera.

• If there is insufficient light even at the maximum aperture (lowest ƒ-stop number), you need to activate the gain circuits of the camera.

• Incident light (what enters the lens or what comes from a specific instrument)

• reflected light (bouncing off the lighted object).• Contrast refers to the difference between the brightest and the

darkest spots in a video image. This can also be adjusted on the camera itself or after the video is shot in editing.

Shadows• Attached shadows seem affixed to the object

and cannot be seen independent of it. Take your coffee cup and hold it next to a window or table lamp. The shadow opposite the light source (window or lamp) on the cup is the attached shadow.

• Unlike attached shadows, cast shadows can be seen independent of the object causing them The shadows of telephone poles, traffic signs, or trees cast onto the street or a nearby wall are all examples of cast shadows.

• Falloff indicates the degree of change from light to shadow. Specifically, it refers to the relative abruptness—the speed—with which light areas turn into shadow areas, or the brightness contrast between the light and shadow sides of an object.

Color• In a camera, the beam splitter divides the white light transmitted by the lens

into the three primary light colors—red, green, and blue (RGB)—and how we can produce all video colors by adding the red, green, and blue light in certain proportions.

• These are called additive primary colors because we mix them by adding one colored light beam on top of others.

• The standard by which we measure the relative reddishness or bluishness of white light is called color temperature. The color differences of white light are measured on the Kelvin (K) scale.

• The more bluish the white light looks, the higher the color temperature and the higher the K value; the more reddish it is, the lower its color temperature and therefore the lower the K value.

• white balance refers to adjusting the camera so that it reproduces a white object as white on the screen regardless of whether it is illuminated by a high-color-temperature source or a low-color-temperature source.

• When white-balancing, the camera adjusts the RGB signals electronically so that they mix into white.

Studio Lighting

• The workhorse of studio spotlights is the Fresnel (pronounced “fra-nel”). Its thin, steplike lens (developed by Augustin Jean Fresnel of France) directs the light into a distinct beam.

• Three Point (triangle) - Key light, fill light and back light

• Key (spotlight); fill (flood); back (spotlight)

• Three Point plus background light (background light will illuminate the area behind the scene)

Lighting Instruments• Despite the many lighting instruments available, there are basically only two types:

spotlights and floodlights.

• Spotlights throw a directional, more or less defined beam that illuminates a specific area; they cause harsh, dense shadows.

• Floodlights produce a great amount of non-directional, diffused light that yields transparent shadows.

• Ellipsoidal spotlight produce a sharp, highly defined beam. They can also be used as pattern projectors.

• You can, of course, take small Fresnel spotlights on-location, there are portable spotlights that are hybrids of spots and floods.

• V-Light: v-shaped portable lighting fixture which can light up large areas relatively evenly.

• LED light: light- emiting diode, emits soft white light.

Lighting Worksheet 1

• Please read through the four-page lighting worksheet.

• You may keep this worksheet for reference. • Please answer all questions on the last page of the

worksheet. • This will count as a formative grade.

Music Videos

Music Videos

• A music video is a videotaped performance of a recorded popular song. It is usually accompanied by dance or a fragmentary story. Music videos often use concert footage.

• Typically music videos are three to five minutes long, they frequently include quick cuts, stylisations, fanciful and use computer graphics.

• Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.

• Music videos can accommodate all styles of filmmaking, including animation, live action films, documentaries, and non-narrative, abstract film.

• The rise of music videos came in the 1980s, when MTV (Music Television's) format was based around them.

• The first video show in 1981 was… Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwuy4hHO3YQ

Different Types of Music Video Styles

• Please look at the sheet I have given you. • It has different examples of techniques used while

recording a music video. • Go onto YouTube and see some examples of each

technique used. • I will give you 15 minutes to skim through the

different videos.

Creating a Music Video

• Now that you have learned how to create and edit music on garage band, and also how certain types of music evokes certain kinds of emotions, you will have a change to make your own music video.

• For this project you will have the choice to write your own music and/or lyrics, or use an existing song to create a music video.

• Take the rest of the period today to discuss options with your group and begin preproduction.

• I would like confirmation on whether you will write your own song or use an existing one by the end of this class.

• I would also like a basic outline of ideas you have for your video.