Stand-Out Shorts

by Russell Evans

There’s no effects, no ambient track, just whatever made it to the mic on the day they shot. If your movie has enough heart and soul, it’ll sing its way to its audience whatever the levels on your timeline…

  Chapter | Twenty-Four

  Foley

  OVERVIEW

  Sound effects – or Foley – are a great way to make your movie more real, and to make up for a lack of budget.

  Foley is the process of getting additional sound effects to add extra quality to images – anything from footsteps to dismembered heads.

  These real-life sound effects have a huge impact on your movie. They bring it to life, just like the focus on a camera lens throws sharpness and clarity into the frame. Although most filmmakers want things to look natural in their films, to achieve this natural effect you have to use artificial means. Recording sounds as they were on location isn’t quite enough to enable them to conjure up that location. They need a little help, just like a coat of varnish brings out the grain in wood.

  Often you need Foley because certain sounds were not picked up well enough on location. When an actor opens a door to leave a room, for instance, it is almost impossible to get a wide shot of the actor and also pick up a close sound of the door handle being turned. And yet when we watch the movie we need to get a sound of the door up-close, to make us feel that the scene is real.

  To record good Foley, the quality of your studio is crucial. You’ll need a large space, big enough to make a mess with trays of gravel to walk on, for instance. Typically, Foley is best recorded at a distance of three to eight feet from the subject. Experts suggest covering the walls of a small studio with sound-absorbent material to deaden the acoustics.

  RECORDING FOLEY

  WHAT DO YOU RECORD ONTO?

  It is easier to record straight onto video; when you view the tape later, you can visually see the Foley being created on screen so it’s easy to maneuver around the footage to find the right section. Or you could record onto a digital audio recorder, a hard drive unit that records high quality audio.

  MOVES TRACKS

  The problem with recording sound on video is that it seems too perfect and not authentic enough to be real. Usually this is because it’s the little background noises that are missing, the ones we don’t really hear but which we notice if they are not there. Your first job, then, is to record the sound of clothing moving as people walk or move. Sit near your mic (use a unidirectional external mic) and simply rustle the cloth that your actors wore, while watching the playback of the movie.

  WALKING TRACKS

  You might often need a walking track to add some realism to a scene. Again, it’s very hard to get realistic walking on set, but you might prefer to record your walking Foley just after you finish shooting the main scene, while you are still on location, as then you get a realistic sound of what that particular floor sounds like.

  If you do it in a small studio, get the right floor covering and pace it three feet away or more to get the right atmosphere. Walk on the spot.

  AMBIENCE

  To get an authentic feel of the sound effect, double record the sound. Use a mic splitter that plugs into your camcorder, letting you then plug two mics into it. The first mic is the one close by your sound effect. The second is a boom mic placed much further away, picking up general room ambience or “presence.” The combination of these two tracks recorded together is much more full and rounded than a simple sound effect.

  SPOT EFFECTS

  Bats flying: quickly open and close an umbrella, recording from about four feet. For birds, use a leather glove flapping.

  Crunching bones: stuff a cooked chicken with thin wooden rods, then beat with hammer. Vegetarians can use frozen whole carrots or celery.

  Punches: hit rolled-up newspaper with a stick. Or try punching the palm of your hand, then adding some extra treble and distortion on your audio software.

  Elevator door: close a filing cabinet while a single bell rings.

  Heartbeat: stretch a piece of fabric and pull in a sudden, double pounding sound.

  Human mutilation: stab into watermelon. For serious beatings, use a broom stick hitting a mattress.

  Robots, moving: photocopiers replicate that convincing whining, almost hydraulic, sound. Increase bass for larger, scarier robots.

  Weapons: many Foley artists suggest using standard gunshot noise, from an air rifle or existing gunshot effect, but adding in the details, such as clinking metal and a sudden hydraulic burst of air. Mix to the middle of the range, rather than treble or bass. For gun loading sounds, use a metal staple gun or stapler, and open and close the fixings.

  Walking: on snow, lay a piece of carpet on some gravel and walk gingerly. For moving through a swamp or mud, use your hands to imitate footsteps in a small tank of mud and water.

  For other sounds of crunching snow, fill a small leather bag with flour or small seeds and push down.

  Underwater explosives: record a toilet flushing and slow down to half speed with reverb.

  Thanks to David Filskov at Epic Sound (www.epicsound.com/sfx/)

  Experts’ Tips

  Paul MCFADDEN, sound designer, Doctor Who, Bang Productions, London

  “We set about creating the mood of the film by laying atmosphere tracks. this would be birdsong, wind, rain, et cetera along with more weird atmospheres that create a feeling of suspense. We then lay the ‘spot effects’ which give the series the ‘hollywood’ feel. these would include explosions, gunshots, spaceships, table smashes and so on. the sound editorial team work alongside the picture guys and use sound to point out certain visuals that you the audience may not have seen. let’s take for example an episode of Doctor Who series 2 called ‘tooth and claw.’ this was a huge sound job for us at bang. a totally cgi werewolf eating people. Without the sound of werewolf feet, growls, Foley effects and crowd screams and so on, the werewolf wouldn’t have half the impact that it eventually had. in total I produced about 32 tracks of sound just for the werewolf alone.

  “When I designed the werewolf I actually growled and acted the scene vocally. I then pitch shifted my voice to give it weight and mass. I really closely mic’d it so I could get all the glottal effect that I was producing with my voice. I then ‘beefed up’ the big growls with various animal noises. lion roars, bear growls, et cetera. I then synced these with my original voice growl so that they were in time with each other. Most of the time the growls were made up of about six tracks. then we would record the Foley feet and hair moves and anything that the werewolf touched or walked over (smashed doors, et cetera). this gave the wolf a ‘real’ feel.”

  * * *

  SECOND OPINION

  Foley? No way. It’ll sound artificial and obvious. You want a B-movie, go right ahead. Any sounds you want can get recorded on location when the acoustics sound perfect and realistic. Just move the mic a little closer when you shoot, or redo the action just for the mic. And when exactly do you need to know how to record underwater explosives unless you make Steven Segal movies?

  Chapter | Twenty-Five

  Screening for Feedback

  OVERVIEW

  You made the film – now get some feedback on how it is. Test it out as a Beta version before you go wide with it for real.

  Experts’ Tips

  Nick Broomfield, film director, The Battle for Haditha, London/LA

  “Have lots of screenings afterwards. Often you get so close to the film that you don’t give information, often fundamental information, because you assume everyone knows it, and they don’t and you only learn that by showing it. Show it to friends, other filmmakers, but more than anything people who respond on an emotional level, rather than get intellectual about it.”

  * * *

  Screenings are a way of showing your movie to a small number of people to find out how it looks so far.

  However much you try, you can never see the movie as it really is because you are too close to it, you spent too much time on it – it’s your baby. You don’t even know when
you have finished: you can edit and edit for days and weeks and never quite decide that you have the final cut. You need to step outside of your own view of it and find out how it is for everyone else. How do they see the movie? What do they like best? Do they even notice the bits you were most proud of? Do the jokes hit the mark? And do they know what it’s all about? You also need to know who likes your film best: age, gender, and what other films they tend to like. Ultimately, let the screening become a way of getting more objective about the film.

  There’s no way of knowing except to show it to a few people and gauge their reactions. That’s a screening, and it’s going to be your first audience.

  STEP BY STEP

  1. Set yourself a fixed time to edit and stick to it. A three-hour session per final minute of screen time is a good starting guide for how much time you need.

  2. When you know your footage is OK and you start editing, go ahead and fix yourself a date to show it. Don’t push the date back, just go for that screening as the first draft of the movie.

  3. Get a venue. Go for neutral ground away from your place – you’ll be more objective. Ideal places are rooms in clubs and bars where you can access a projector, keep uninvited people out but also include a few drinks and snacks. Ask your local arts center if you can use a room. You might get it for free if you plead poverty or suggest you commit to work for free for the center for a few hours. Schools, universities and colleges are also likely to offer you space, and often for free if you are local.

  4. Invite people. Ask a number of friends so you get some support but also ask them to each bring at least one other person unconnected with making movies. You need a mix of gender, age and background, but if you know for certain that your film is aimed at a certain kind of person, you could restrict your invitation to a particular group.

  HOW TO RUN YOUR SCREENING

  1. Get to the venue early and lay out enough chairs, checking that every seat has a good view of the screen.

  2. Run the movie on screen so you know the projector works with your disc format. Check sound quality and play the movie while you sit furthest from the speakers to check everyone can hear dialogue.

  3. When people arrive, tell them what the movie is about briefly, what you hope to do with it and then move briskly on to the screening.

  4. After it’s finished, you need to get feedback. You can either ask the audience to fill out cards, or you could simply have an open discussion about it, maybe as a question-and-answer session. There are pros and cons either way: some people feel more comfortable giving verbal feedback straight away rather than writing it all down, and they are more likely to give more detail. But you might get more truthful answers in anonymous cards. It’s your call. Either way, be prepared to hear some hard truths.

  5. Take your notes of the discussion, or the completed cards, away with you and make some time to go through them. Put the results into categories such as technical (like not being able to hear the dialogue); story (not being able to follow the plot); characters, and so on.

  SECOND OPINION

  What if everyone else is wrong, and you are right? Resist overreacting and making huge changes to the movie. After all, it isn’t a Pepsi taste challenge; it’s art not consumer testing. The reaction at the screening is just one audience, so think carefully before taking on board what people say to you about the film.

  Instead, trust your own reactions to watching the film. When you watched it during the screening you will have seen the movie through fresh eyes, as you sit among the audience, so go with your own feelings about what works and what doesn’t.

  ESSENTIAL RESOURCES:

  A venue to show the film with projector and screen, connected to a DVD player or Pc, or camcorder.

  Postcards for audience to write comments.

  Section Four: Share Online

  SHARE ONLINE

  This section is all about how to get seen on the web. Your film deserves the biggest audience, and one that really understands your work. Find out how to create a hit on YouTube, get a workable plan to make the most of the web, and make use of networking sites, all to publicize and share your movie.

  Chapter 26 : Create a YouTube Hit. This chapter talks about how to make the most of the biggest sharing site, and to ensure your film gets seen in big numbers.

  Chapter 27 : Web Your Movie. Does your movie look bad online? This chapter helps sort out technical problems that can seriously affect how your movie looks on the web.

  Chapter 28 : Your Web Plan. Now the campaign starts. Find out how to create a strategy that uses every part of the web to work hard for your film.

  Chapter 29 : Social Networking. A brief guide to the best networking sites to find advice, news and share wisdom.

  Chapter 30 : Create Your Own Web Series. Make a series of films that create a buzz like a network show.

  Chapter 31 : Your Online Publicity Kit. A complete guide to what you need to create a professional and well-oiled publicity machine for your movie.

  Chapter 32 : Online Screenings and Festivals. Show your movie at an online festival, or on a TV slot, or on one of the many local and national screenings near you.

  Chapter | Twenty-Six

  Create a You Tube Hit

  OVERVIEW

  Your movie deserves a big audience but sometimes it’s hard to shout loud enough to get people to watch it. With YouTube, Vimeo and other video sharing sites, there are a lot of ways to create a buzz around your movie that are legal, don’t use spam and help bring it to the viewers.

  FIGURE 26.1 This parkour video scored over 7 million hits, mostly in Brazil and Eastern Europe, and its maker has over 4000 subscribers to a dedicated YouTube channel.

  WHY BOTHER?

  YouTube and other sites have grown massively in a short space of time. With so many movies on line now it’s harder than ever to make sure yours gets a fair viewing. So it figures that you should take advantage of YouTube features so that the maximum number of people see your video. Only then can you be sure that it finds the right audience who really connect with your movie.

  There are pros and cons to each video sharing site but whichever one you prefer, a lot of the same tips apply if you want to increase the number of people watching your movie.

  Start with two big ideas: first, the quote from that great baseball movie Field of Dreams – “build it and they will come” – just doesn’t work on the web. People don’t just stumble across your movie, they won’t seek out quality movies, and the number of hits a movie gets isn’t connected to how great that movie is. Second, you’re pushing this movie of yours because it’s a neat, original movie.

  If you have any doubts about whether you should try to create a buzz for your film, ignore them. This is no different from the pre-Oscar campaigns run by the big studios, but without the free Gucci bags. Just avoid spam-style methods and stay on the right side of YouTube, aiming for as big an audience as you can, legally. You deserve to get seen.

  STEP-BY-STEP

  1. Start by making a unique video that’s creative, imaginative or does something new. A movie that has something new to say, or says something in a new way or with a new twist, gets a real chance of scoring a big audience. It’s not enough by itself but all the steps from here onwards are no help if the basic movie is poor. Most likely you are proud of your film, if a little nervous that people are going to see your prized new work for real.

  2. Make sure the movie fits and works well on a small screen. Check out Chapter 27, Web Your Movie to help your movie survive being compressed for the web. That’s all about the technical stuff, like checking your screen text is readable on a small web screen, and that your shots and editing, colors and lighting all look OK after compression.

  3. As you shoot, use social networking sites and messaging (like Twitter) to keep people in the loop about your project. It’s easy to lose interest about a short movie that a friend is making if the last time they told you about it was a few months ago. Simply send emails each
week to friends who supported you, film students, people who helped your budget, and people you may have met briefly at screenings, shows, or video industry expos.

  4. Stop for a moment and think about whether you want your movie to be a YouTube hit now or maybe later. That’s because if you want it shown in film festivals – online or on Main Street – it needs to be an exclusive for them, not something that people have already seen. The same goes for TV slots (see Chapter 32, Online Screening and Festivals).

  5. If you are ready, upload the movie to YouTube and your preferred video sites. Some sites take longer than others to complete the process – YouTube is slower to upload at certain peak-usage times, but generally faster than most other sites. Vimeo might crash more often but gives better presentation for your video. Facebook can be a little slower to upload.

  6. Then sort out tags and other stuff on YouTube, as described in the table below, to make the most of the site. Go through the points about how to create the right category, use thumbnails, and so on.

  7. Find the right community. Vimeo is especially good at letting you create your own bespoke community that matches your movie. Use this as the core support for your film, with members pushing it heavily in every other site they link in to. You can also create mini-communities within groups, like having your own corner of the Experimental Film community, just for Scottish filmmakers.