Post 13

13 Reasons Why - Audio Remake (INCOMPLETE)

(Above: Original scene)

Myself and Ben Wilkinson were set a task that consisted of reproducing the audio for a scene from an episode of '13 Reasons Why.' The audio segment featured 20 seconds of speech and 40 seconds of music laid between the speech. 

For the vocal recording, a voice recorder was used from Ben's laptop. Although we are aware of the drawbacks and implications of using a basic recorder (which could produce secondary feedback) the advantages are in much higher proportion - as Ben can edit the feedback out during the editing process and the basic laptop vocals recorder was more accessible to us; this saved us a significant amount of time taken to reproduce the audio track. As well as this, as the recording was saved directly to Ben's laptop, this means that there was no difficulty transfering the recording segments into the editing programe - and the recorder was relatively easy to use. 

However, as we found that the time contstraint was a large factor that affected our work, we found it difficult to assign a voice actor to the role. We auditioned 3 people who were interested in taking part in the project (see images below) and this made it easier to deligate the role after the auditions. Even though 3 ideal candidates were auditioned, none could make the date that was assigned to the recording. This was a major drawback to the remake task set. Despite this, we resolved the issue by assigning myself to the vocal role. 

The track that was played over the clip was, "Mess Is Mine" by Vance Joy. This was found by quoting the lyric, "talking like we used to do," into google. The song then opened up into youtube. From here, the link was copied across to a YouTube.com converter - then downloaded onto Ben's laptop. The same proceedure was done with the generic 'school bell.' One advantage of all of the recording material being saved onto Ben's laptop (and an 'emergency' memory stick) is that the recordings were less likely to be lost/damaged as they had been saved in more than oner file area. However, one disadantage of this is that the risk of copyright is much greater than 'burning' a track from a CD for example. Although, this was resolved by searching for a lyric video posted unofficially onto YouTube.com. Even though this poses drawbacks (e.g. low sound quality etc.) the quality of sound is able to be remastered in the editing software if necessary, the positive aspects of this method greatly weighed out the negatives. Therefore, we came to the mutual agreement that it was the best option for the project. 

(Diegetic and Non-diegetic sound explained)

Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sounds

Diegetic Sound

The sound that the camera picks up while filming that are just natural sounds (e.g. voices of character and the majority of speech - sounds made by objects being used in the story.)

Non-diegetic sound

Sound that was not picked up on screen, it is sound that has been created while not filming for a specific part of the story: narrator's story of dialogue that is too difficult for the camera to pick up on screen - sounds effects that are added to make it more dramatic (e.g. explosions - music added to create a mood.)

Distinction between diegetic and non-diegetic sound

The distinction between diegetic and non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding as an audience of what certain sounds are natural and which have been created purposely for the film. For example, diegetic and non-diegtic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror),or to create a surprise for the audience (comedy.)

Diegetic and non-diegetic sounds for '13 Reasons Why' scene. 

At the beginning of the scene, the shot is of Jason walking down a school corridor - where he looks into the classroom of his friend and watches somebody get removed from a classroom. However, no traumatic events are shown - it is just implied. This is because the body language of Jason is timid and combined with the slow paced non-diegetic speech. When the speech ends, the music fades in. The mood of the music is indie and this creates the mood that the characters are young and impressionable. However, the diegetic sound of the school bell connotes that the teenagers are in the school environment or a similar insitution.