Tutorial One
In our first tutorial we proposed our project idea of our project to Lee. Our idea was to create the soundtrack for an animated piece, created by an animation student at the University of Lincoln. After some discussion we decided to establish ourselves as an audio post-production business, showcasing our work on our website which would include re-design work and the short animation. Lee then created a list of things to work on in the meantime, including:
- Register your Blog URLs
- Declare what it is we are going to make. (Project Objectives, Joint)
- Look at website styles. (Project Objectives, Joint)
- Investigate potential films, redesigns etc. to work on. (Project Objectives, Joint)
- What will you have learnt by doing this project, 4-5 statements. (Learning Outcomes, Individual)
We also needed to decide/ act upon a few key points with our product. Including; investigating free web design packages such as Wix and Yola. Shortlisting potential clips from online sources that you could redesign, and meeting with your Animation director to get a full breakdown of the audio assets that you’ll need to create.
Tutorial Two
In our second tutorial, we discussed how to approach presenting our business in more detail. This included looking at the websites of similar freelancers and how they present themselves, as a benchmark/guide as to how we should promote ourselves in a professional manner. It was stated that we could ask advice from people in the industry how to improve upon this. We also discussed that our show reel should reflect a wide range of abilities in our work, but not so broad that we look like “the jack of all trades”. We also needed to decide how you’re going to divide up the workload.
Tutorial Three
In our third tutorial, we discussed further details of what the website should include such as our team and contact information. After looking at other websites and discussing what employers look for in a sound designer, we concluded that our site should not be too ‘text heavy’ and have a lot of focus on our show reel. It should also be very easy to navigate around. We also discussed that we need to work coherently with our client, communicate with them effectively so we can meet their specific requirements (of the animation). We should start to make suggestions to her about examples of music and sound effects. When dividing the research workload, Lee suggested the two types of research should include:
- The processes and practices of sound design.
- Market research – the most effective way to present our portfolio.
All objective information, planning and the timescale of our project should be collated for us to present to Lee the following week.
Tutorial Four
In our fourth tutorial, we gave a presentation outlining the premise and details of our project. See the link to our presentation below.
Animation-Portfolio-Project (1)
Tutorial Five
In our fifth tutorial, we discussed the depth of research needed into creating our redesigns and how they should reflect that we are ‘technically capable’ and ‘creatively smart’ to potential employers. We should also research what people are actually looking for in a sound designer. We decided our website needs to be lean, stylistic and easily accessible. We looked at potential and similar clips for us to work on and redesign. Websites such as www.aicp.com was a good source for visual pieces with good sound design, dating back to the 1990’s. For next week, we were to send Lee our ideas for which redesigns we wanted to work on, so we could discuss if they were suitable.
Tutorial Six
In our sixth tutorial, we spent the majority of the session looking at our shortlisted videos for potential redesigns, and decided which ones would work best to show case ability and creativeness. Lee suggested the importance that you can create professional impact sounds in our work, as it is an important aspect of sound design. We spoke about the importance of our research into the project, and how all content should all link back to the blog and our learning outcomes (include pictures, videos etc.) This is because our research should shape how we work on our redesigns and animation pieces. Other topics considered included:
- Access to royalty free music, once purchased we can use as much as we want.
- A future tutorial will be skipped, in order to create an hour-long, practical, sound design workshop.
Tutorial Seven
In our seventh tutorial, we looked through our blogs and spoke about tweaking a few details such as the wording of our learning objectives. We also spoke about the importance of making our research linear on our blogs, and how we should be regularly posting any new research that we find relevant to this project. We also discussed how at the end of this research, we should state how it is relevant to our individual learning objectives. We should get in touch with our animation client about further benchmarks and aesthetics of what specific sounds she requires, no matter how subtle or dramatic. We finished the tutorial with a discussion about music sites that we could use in our designs, they included; Beat sweet, AKM music, Pump audio, Pond 5, Active Music and mobygratis.com
Tutorial Eight
For our eighth tutorial, Lee came into the sound theatre where myself and Ben were working on our redesigns. Lee looked at the current progress of our current recordings (they had not been mixed yet). We then had a discussion about our client and how we need to ask for some more content from her, as she had been away to Japan as part of her course. We also discussed the importance of a ‘tick sheet’ and how this planning technique can benefit us in the organising of our project. Myself and Ben started to write out a tick sheet immediately after the tutorial.