New Short Film Scored in Ableton Live 8

Hey everyone, I've posted some of my soundcloud work here before but today I'd like to possibly get some feedback on my new short film (shot on 16mm color reversal film + canon T2i digital) that I scored entirely in Ableton Live 8 called Hierophant. Please let me know what you guys think, and if you really appreciate it, head to my bandcamp page for a free download of the virtual DVD + Soundtrack.

WWW.MIKEWCARRERA.COM

The dialog needs to come up in volume considerably. The shoe steps where louder than the words. Not bad other than that.

So... a couple of things...

- First of all, I don't know what program you used for the post production (if any) but why aren't the titles affected by the filters/color grading/effects on the film? You should add all the effects you've added to the film on an adjustment layer (that is if you're using After Effects) and put it on top of all the layers because the titles look super clean and stand out from the grainy and dirty look of the film.

- You haven't taken the room/acoustics into consideration when adding the foley. Everything sounds crystal clear and up close which is not how things sound like in real life nor should they in movies. Try thinking about what a car sounds like when it drives past you and what it sounds like when you're sitting in your living room and you can hear a car driving by outside. As you already know, it sounds very different but see if you can figure out how to replicate this. Did you use Ableton for the foley work? I would never ever do that. Also, remember to use room tones whenever there's no music to fill out the gaps.

- The music is too loud compared to the rest of the audio. Remember, soundtracks are never in-your-face loud because you don't want it to steal any attention from the visuals. Instead you want the audio and the visual to marry and become a whole, because the audio emphasise the visuals and vice versa. Plus, most of the time when watching movies you're only subconsciously listening to the music - and this is a fact.

  On 1/31/2012 at 11:16 PM, Squee said:

So... a couple of things...

 

- First of all, I don't know what program you used for the post production (if any) but why aren't the titles affected by the filters/color grading/effects on the film? You should add all the effects you've added to the film on an adjustment layer (that is if you're using After Effects) and put it on top of all the layers because the titles look super clean and stand out from the grainy and dirty look of the film.

- You haven't taken the room/acoustics into consideration when adding the foley. Everything sounds crystal clear and up close which is not how things sound like in real life nor should they in movies. Try thinking about what a car sounds like when it drives past you and what it sounds like when you're sitting in your living room and you can hear a car driving by outside. As you already know, it sounds very different but see if you can figure out how to replicate this. Did you use Ableton for the foley work? I would never ever do that. Also, remember to use room tones whenever there's no music to fill out the gaps.

- The music is too loud compared to the rest of the audio. Remember, soundtracks are never in-your-face loud because you don't want it to steal any attention from the visuals. Instead you want the audio and the visual to marry and become a whole, because the audio emphasise the visuals and vice versa. Plus, most of the time when watching movies you're only subconsciously listening to the music - and this is a fact.

no

haha. . squee's principles are very solid unless you're going for something jarring or a commentary on film in general, which is valid. haven't seen this so I won't comment

  On 2/1/2012 at 5:40 AM, sheatheman said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 11:16 PM, Squee said:

So... a couple of things...

 

- First of all, I don't know what program you used for the post production (if any) but why aren't the titles affected by the filters/color grading/effects on the film? You should add all the effects you've added to the film on an adjustment layer (that is if you're using After Effects) and put it on top of all the layers because the titles look super clean and stand out from the grainy and dirty look of the film.

- You haven't taken the room/acoustics into consideration when adding the foley. Everything sounds crystal clear and up close which is not how things sound like in real life nor should they in movies. Try thinking about what a car sounds like when it drives past you and what it sounds like when you're sitting in your living room and you can hear a car driving by outside. As you already know, it sounds very different but see if you can figure out how to replicate this. Did you use Ableton for the foley work? I would never ever do that. Also, remember to use room tones whenever there's no music to fill out the gaps.

- The music is too loud compared to the rest of the audio. Remember, soundtracks are never in-your-face loud because you don't want it to steal any attention from the visuals. Instead you want the audio and the visual to marry and become a whole, because the audio emphasise the visuals and vice versa. Plus, most of the time when watching movies you're only subconsciously listening to the music - and this is a fact.

 

no

lol

Also, sorry if it sounded a bit harsh. I didn't mean anything by it