Post
by A.K. Williams » Sat Apr 04, 2015 2:37 pm
Hi John,
a bit late I know, but joined the forum only last week hence the lateness.
Watched your film and for me it is a good little film. You appear to be aware of the audio problems and that is the only thing that I would comment on. The over-riding problem is the music, not your choice because if that is your taste and you consider it suitable for the piece then that is all that matters, but the volume levels are somewhat erratic and at certain points overwhelm all else. Tim Stannard has already pointed out that 'ducking' the soundtrack ('dipping' I prefer to call it) under your voice-over and 'peaking' it up the other side would substantially improve things the film is about your chosen subject matter, in this case the Seamans' Mission, not your chosen music. I have found in my own experience such as it is, that music levels as with all sound levels are crucial and even just the slightest alteration makes a surprising difference when everything combines. There are certain subjects which are enhanced by 'careful' choice of a musical piece, but again only you can decide.
Again in my experience voice-over if you are going to do-it-yourself is critical. I did my first back in 2009 purely because I prefer to work alone most of the time because arranging others for input of any kind is never as easy as 'getting your own out'. Once I'd got over the initial embarrassment of hearing myself played back (which took a bit of time) I simply pressed on with varying results and to-day am always conscious that I am still practising at every attempt which, I am sure, will never change. I am always surprised when people tell me that they avoid putting their own voice to film as, when I have heard an example of what they have done, It sounds fine to me, as does yours. There are, however, some areas where it sounds as though you have switched equipment or something, the delivery simply in terms of quality alters as if you have picked up on it at a later stage and altered all your settings. Picking up at a later stage should not be a problem provided you use the same outfit, I've been using the same head-set (8 quid from Tesco) all along and levels are always reliable. I use Adobe Premiere Elements by the way, which gives the option to alter audio-gain and I ensure that the values are consistent throughout, from what you say you have recently switched video-editing software, but it will certainly provide adjustments for all your audio needs, play around with them and see what they do.
As regards narration, I noticed that you had the opportunity to introduce comment from the Curator. If you have the chance it is always a good move to get other 'talking heads' on screen, it varies the structure of any film and adds interest for the viewer. Not everyone is comfortable with appearing on film however, particularly given a speaking part which is another problem to deal with, ideally you require those who can 'be themselves' in order to omit that self-consciousness thing, not someone who tries to 'act' the part of a narrator. I have had a couple of episodes where this has occurred and I found it difficult to smooth over the affected sections so that the end product looked and sounded reasonably well.
The best person to teach you a good voice is yourself, your voice in this film is, to me, a good voice and more importantly you have the courage to put it on display, you enunciate well without falling into that trap of going 'posh', nothing wrong with sounding posh by the way, but if it is not natural to you just don't go there natural is crucial keep at it and it will improve I can assure you.
After all that remember that we are not Hollywood the financial and technical constraints which bind us will (probably) always be there, but that does not mean we cannot become very good amateurs, imagination is the key and if you have that the practical elements will follow.
Good luck.
Tony Williams.