Practice Interview

Practice Interview Homework

Brief:

Conduct a short 2-4 minute interview with a subject of your choice.

Aim:
I will conduct an interview with my friend, Gus who lives with me on East Slope on university campus. I would like to try and find out more about who they are as people so I shall ask 21 questions (similar to the guessing game you can play) and see if they have any interesting responses that I could dwell on in the interview. I aim to ask invasive as well as simple questions to try and catch them of guard so I can gain a more natural and honest response.

Added Notes:
I did not show them the questions I prepared prior to the interview as to enhance the natural feel of the interview. The interview took place at in town, as this was the chance I had with the Marantz audio recorder before handing it back in an hour later.  However, I recorded the interview with a dynamic microphone as I did not want any others sounds but our voices to be picked up by the microphone, but this would be near impossible whilst walking through town. We had a cardioid audio pattern created as I placed the microphone in between myself and the interviewee.


Interview Link to my SoundCloud below

Possible Questions:

1. Name, occupation?

2. What is your biggest weakness?

3. What would you do with £1m?

4. If we we're sitting here this time next year celebrating what a good year it's been, what would you like to have achieved?

5. What do you think your greatest achievement is so far?

6. Do you possess a talent/skill or anything out of the 'ordinary'?

7. What got you into making music?

8. How did you wind up getting a record deal?

9. What performances have you done? Biggest/Best

10. Who's going to win the Premier League this season?

Conclusion:
I though the interview was a success and I got what I aimed for which was becoming more comfortable with using microphones and hearing my own voice back and finding ways to make my tone seem more radiogenic. 

https://soundcloud.com/gwhale25/practice-interview-with-gus

Reading Notes: Speech Packages (Radio in Context)

SPEECH PACKAGES IN CONTEXT

Speech Package - informs listeners about a subject in which the radio station considers they will find interesting. (Rubbin and Ibbotson, 2002)

These packages are used in news bulletins or programmes and can range from 2-60 minutes.

Feature - a 'stew' containing every ingredient in the medium. (Kaye and Popperwell 1992)

Wrap - a short, simple package which may consist of a reporter delivering a script or a short interview. Billboard are extended news wraps.

Packages may be used to educate and entertain as well as inform. In essence, a 'package' tells a story (most of the time true, rather than fictional)

An important ingredient in many packages in actuality

- This is to add variety and colour to the narrative of the package delivered by the reporter.

- This could be spoken word from an interviewee or non-verbal sound effects.

Other comments may take the form of vox pops

- These are a range of opinions, edited together in a juxtaposition which invites the listener to compare different responses.

It is vital that the content and style of the package must suits its main purposes as well as it being appropriate for the target audience.

MAKING PACKAGES

Target audience and subject matter are the first decisions you need to make when its comes to relating to context.

- Deal with the subject in the way that most fairly intelligent members of the audience will be able to understand what is being said. Some radio shows specify to a certain target audience. eg. medical profession. (it would be time wasting and patronizing to explain to a wide audience)

- Find an appropriate idea!

This can be done via brainstorming. It really helps inspiration strike.

TRY TO BE ORIGINAL. Listeners get bored with the same material being endlessly recycled. Try and tell them stories which they don't know.

FINDING AN ANGLE

The choice of angle will influence the type of interviewees to be included. Finding the right potential interviewee is down to how relevant they are to the package. For example, a chief constable would be a good option if you were doing a package on crime. 

A person's opinion only constitutes worthwhile evidence for inclusion in a package in this way if he or she has some form of credentials that are appropriate to the role. 

Each perspective might have an important role to play in the package, bit its also important not to use the interviewee in the wrong way. Make sure that you know that you interviewee will actually have a good response. 

Finding the right interviewee may take a considerable amount of research. Make sure these people sound appealing on the microphone and not monotone. This may be because they voices aren't radiogenic. Ask if they could recommend someone?

Remember stuttering can be reduced in the editing stage. 

INTERVIEWING FOR PACKAGES

Be realistic with who you chose to interview, celebrities and politicians may be hard to come by as they receive numerous requests from journalists elsewhere.

Remember both legal and ethical issues involved in being over persistent in your approach to find an interviewee.

DON'T PROVIDE QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE

- With inexperienced interviewees who lacks confidence, they tend to prepare answers which sound boring and scripted when recorded and not 'real'

- It is often useful to compromise to just indicated to interviewees what areas of their specialist knowledge you're going to ask about

Try to make as little promises as possible before the interview so you are not liable for anything.

PLANNING INTERVIEWS

Make it relevant and focused! Find out about the subject matter and try and find opinionated questions to ask. The quality of research for your questioning is likely to show in the quality of the finished piece.

Remember there are Primary Sources:

- First hand information; face-to-face interviews, talking over the phone; written emails or letters

Secondary Sources

- Second hand information; books, web pages, radio programmes, videos, newspapers, CDs and magazine.

All research you do, you must check the reliability. Eg. Books are strict on publication but anyone can write anything on the web.

Questions are intended to draw the interviewee into providing the detail, the concepts or the real-life experience and observations that can be more clear. 

REMEMBER TO LISTEN TO THE ANSWERS! Its bad if your interviewee makes and really good point but you don't follow it up.

Have a combination of open and closed questions

LOCATION OF INTERVIEW CAN BE VITAL- Be sure to have the right equipment for the right environment. 

- In a studio there is minor ambient sound and high quality equipment. Be sure to use the right equipment if your outside to block ambient sounds or if your taking a recording on the phone 

PROJECT #1: Soundscape

Project: Part #1 - Soundscape

The word "soundscape" was coined by composer R. Murray Schafer to identify sounds that "describe a place, a sonic identity, a sonic memory, but always a sound that is pertinent to a place" (Wagstaff, G. 2000).

Aim/Objective:

You are required to plan, research and produce a two to five minute ‘audio soundscape’ or ‘acoustic portrait’ of a geographical place of your choice. This will include a range of self-sourced associated or abstract sounds that help illustrate the space.

I aim to create a soundscape for a futurisitc city environment or metropolis in which the viewer can identify and connect with. I will have to make use of synthesised sounds as well as making use of natural sources. Ben Burtt said when set out to create a soundscape for a synthetic world when he was creating the sound design for the Star Wars saga. He would use sounds from the real world and alter them as these would be sounds that the spectator would almost familiar with and not finding them an abnormality. 

I will use a similar process to but and if I succeed, I shall end up with a extraordinary soundscape of busy central city. The soundscape would be perfect in films such as Brazil (1985), Superman (1978) or Blade Runner (1982). Finding sounds that would fit the criteria I wanted would take a lot of planning and research.

Plan/Research:

In order to create the soundscape of a 'metropolis' from scratch, I need to identify the layers of sounds within the sonic environment which could occur. Therefore, I went to Waterloo in Central London and Brighton town as well and notified any sounds I heard within the soundscape of the city. I did this by doing a sound walk to get a familiarity with the sounds ground sounds of a city and to work out what my figure sound would be for my piece.

Some of the sounds in which I noted down are as follows:

- Cars (engines, honking, door slams)

- Traffic (lights/horns)

- Public transit (tubes, trains, taxis, boats)

- People (conversations, commutes, shouting, swearing, laughter, street performers, announcements)

- Wind (patterns, gusts, gales)

I also searched sound cloud for any possible related soundscapes and I found some inspirational pieces and noted down any significant elements.

Metropolis by Jase Warner

"Metropolis is a soundscape that explores existence in the city. Engines hum, signals sound and flicker, pedestrians whirr, light cascades through endless alleys and the relentless ebb and flow of the man-made tide pushes on."

An Urban Journey

A short journey through a teeming metropolis. Try to piece together the path of our traveller through the conversations, announcements, and other sounds present in this soundscape


These soundscapes sound similar to the soundwalks I did around central London and Brighton town centre, except an apparent use of sound effects were used on some of the layers to distort the piece from reality, giving it an eerie, futuristic film. This made me realise I would need ground sounds from the real world to set the basis of the location of my soundscape as the listeners of the piece would be able to make the connection and have some understanding of where this could be. I can add other sounds to that I could even construct myself and add reverb and echo to them to add and eerie sense of the future and distortion to the piece. Therefore, I had to locate and record various sounds using equipment such as the K6 Microphone, Marantz two way audio recorder and an iRig.

Self Sourced Sounds:

I have to find, record and edit 20 different sound effects and compile them together in order to create a specific sound scape - a Metropolis. The sounds effects I was able to compile weere:

1. Water Hose

2. Hoover

3. Helicopter

4. Traffic lights

5. Cars on the move

6. Busy shopping center

7. Ventilation systems 

8. Iron gate

9. Cash machine

10. Helicopter in the sky

11. Bus

12. Guttering

13. Footsteps

14. Children

15. Train Station

16. Waitrose

17. Cars

18. Horns

19. Alarms/Intercoms

20. Water

The first 10 sounds where recorded in Brighton and the second lot where from my travels in London and taking public transport back to university. Some where reconstructions of actual sounds.



Post-Production/Sound Editing:


With the help of Adobe Audition CS6, I was able to compile and layer the sound clips I had collected. However, I couldn't just use the sounds as they had been recorded. I have used effects on individual layers on the soundscape to give it a eerie and futuristic feel. During the editing process, I realised that my soundscape began to sound more like a busy transport station of some sort as the majority of the sounds I had collated where of different modes of transport such as bikes, cars, trains, helicopters and walking. I used various affects on them such as reverb, auto-delay, echo with partial distortion in some areas. By adding these effects it took the piece away from reality, it needed a more natural feel to it. Therefore, I went out to record some ambient sounds such as rain and wind to bring the piece 'back to reality'. After hours of manipulating the layers and effects of the piece, cutting and fading I ended up with a success piece which I believe sounded like a soundscape for a busy central city station. Not quite what I intended but a more than fair attempt.

Click below to hear my soundscape

Brainstorming Ideas for Acoustic Portrait & Interview

Acoustic Portrait

Brief: You are required to plan, research and produce a two to five minute ‘audio soundscape’ or ‘acoustic portrait’ of a geographical place of your choice. This will include a range of self-sourced associated or abstract sounds that help illustrate the space.

Rain forests - Rain, birds, leaves, wind, insects, animals, waterfalls, rustling

Warzone - Thunder, wind, marching, guns, footsteps, shouting, explosions, cars, buckles

Metropolis - people, alarms, cars, ringing, people walking, vents

Countryside - grass rustling, farm animals, river, insects, wind

Paradise - waves, palm trees, seagulls, sand, kids playing on sand

Space station - electronic hums, beeps, swiper doors, alien footsteps

METROPOLIS - Make a metropolis (Cityscape)

20 sound clip recordings ideas - 

Interview

Brief: You are required to submit a three-minute edited interview with a single individual of your choice for presentation on local radio. You must choose someone who you feel has something to say to the Brighton & Hove community.

Jodie Goffe - Musician/Student @ Sussex Uni

Freddie (sister's friend) - E-cigarettes, independent industry in Hove

Soundwalks

Soundwalks

1. A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology."
2. Using my iPhone 5 voice recorder, I have managed to record to 'soundscapes' whilst doing sound walks around Brighton. I've uploaded these sound walks onto my SoundCloud account. Below are the links to my soundscapes.

Brighton Soundwalk

This is a soundscape which I created on Adobe Audition with use of the BBC Sound FX library.

Warzone Soundscape

Sound FX in Films

RoboCop [1987]

Stephen Flick & John Pospisil did the sound design and effect for Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop and recieved a Special Achievement Oscar. As part of the nomination process for this award, Stephen Flick had to write the following letter to the academy:

Dear Board of Governors:

It was important to us to create a sound track that strongly supported the future world and characters of "RoboCop." It took many thousands of elements to make this soundtrack: natural specific and ambient sounds recorded in the field, synthesizer sounds for graphics and sweetening, digital sound processing to add dimension to robot voices and movements, plus normal Foley. We made repeated tests for every single signature sound in the film. Some sounds like the Robo gun worked the first time around, while others required significant development.

The most difficult sound effects challenge in "RoboCop" was to create believable and unique character sounds for Robo and ED-209. As is the case with any "signature" sound effect, we recorded, edited, and mixed numerous tests for each character. Although Robo is a cyborg cop and had to sound massive and dangerous, there also had to be contrast in his sound as he changed from comic book superhero and rediscovered his lost human self. In the beginning, Robo was a precise, finely tooled machine. After his near destruction by ED-209 and his own police force, he became loose and rattley. We tested over 30 different combinations of movement and footsteps for Robo alone. We tested extremely clean sounding pneumatic movements with jointed footsteps. Because the shootout in the cocaine factory is staged like a spaghetti western, we tested a variety of metal taps fitted to cowboy and heavy motorcycle boots.In another test we assembled an aluminum tube and solid plate that gave a resonate metal sound for his legs. For one reason or another, these efforts either were not "heroic" enough of they were too prominent and would be too distracting to have throughout the film. Finally, a large truck timing chain performed in Foley gave a metal linked tread sound that also was reminiscent of spurs worked. As Robo loosened, we changed our performance of the prop to reflect his disintegration. We also cut a synthesizer generated low frequency impact for every footstep.

I think the RoboCop footsteps is a great piece of sound design and truly gives the desired effect for his character. Below is a video of some of the sounds used in RoboCop

RoboCop Sound FX [YouTube Link]

Blade Runner [1982]

For my soundscape, I researched other films which had the location of a futuristic city environment, Blade Runner being one of them. I noted down sound that I could hear and identify with the location. What I learnt from listening to the sounds from Blade Runner is that they use a vast majority of natural sounds with distorted industrial sounds to take it away from the comfort of reality. The soundscape was simple, with only a few layers of sounds where there, many of them being ground sounds. Here were the sounds I noticed from Blade Runner:

- Cars
- Alarm systems
- People
- Rain hitting different surfaces
- Lightning
- Muttering
- Ominous hums and tones
- Wind
- Ventillation
- Weird engine sounds
- Car horns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrwomEhVklw

Scott's Blade Runner (1982)