Effects of Sound Effects

Imagine yourself finishing your first short film. However, something is just not quite set. You have the main subjects walking through grass without talking. Can you hear the grass? Are there great sound effects when the window breaks? Can the listener really feel the presence of the crowd? Want to have the sound of a large crowd without paying for extras? Try layering a sound effect.

With the use of sound effects, you can have a foghorn while you’re filming the ocean. This creates the impression that there is a ship in the distance. Nearly every scene is filled with layers of sound effects. Most of the time, it is done without us knowing it! Imagine your subjects are sipping on sweet tea outside at night. What would you hear? Crickets? Perhaps an owl? Maybe you would hear wolves? Layer these sounds in editing.

The editor’s best friends are the sound effects. Some sounds do not capture well on camera. Some events need help with sound amplification.

The best part of using sound effects is the budget. Sound effects are rather inexpensive and can save your project’s budget. Instead of manually creating each effect, you can download a variety of sounds. There are quite a few free sites on the Internet. The best sound effects you’ll have to buy, but they are only a few dollars.

One of the biggest issues facing the entertainment business these days is legalization. When finding a site to acquire your sound effects, look for sentences like this one found on soundsnap.com, “Access 100,000 legal sounds with our economical Download Packs.” Take a look at Sound Snap. They are a great place to let sound effects inspire your creativity, legally.

Another great option is making your own sound effects. You can use your voice, your children, your kitchen appliances and even various taping speeds on your table.

Here, a youtuber named Esalaah gets creative with sound effects. He’ll give you a rather in depth description of making a gun shot noise using your mouth!

If you’re a twitter-aholic like myself, I suggest following @ProSoundEffects. This company, based out of New York City, updates Twitter frequently on their database of sound effects. On their Twitter page you can find a link to their website. A few other good ones to follow are @a1soundeffects and @sepulchra.

Remember, when creating, use what works for you. Create your own sound effects, or find amazing ones online. Either way, use sound effects to help you make your projects the best they can be! Good luck on your films!

How To: Green Screen

One of the easiest special effect to pull off is Chroma Key, or more commonly referred to as green screen. Beginning filmmakers or your typical vlogger can use this technique relatively cheap. When filming a scene where you, as the filmmaker, would like to make the background different than what it is, have your actor stand in front of a big green or blue background. The reason why green and blue are used, is because they are farthest from the color of skin. A room wall can be painted green or blue, or you can fashion fabric or poster up that is that solid color, big enough to fill the frame.

Once you’ve established your own green screen you need to focus on your lighting. Make sure you have it evenly lit before filming.

Wavelength Media, has an easy to follow tutorial for beginners. Their best advice:

“remember the two most important considerations: 1.The colour and lighting of the green screen needs to be as even as possible. You can't have anything in the foreground (i.e. part of the the subjects) which is the same colour as the green screen.”

Sometimes the simplest of rules are broken and the Chroma Key fails to look as seamless as the filmmaker intended.

For the purposes of this blog, I am using a MacBook Pro in where iMovie is the chosen editing software. It is extremely useful for a filmmaking beginner because of the ease of use and the amount of online help you can receive for it.

Step one…film your subject in front of a green screen.

Step two…film your background, or find photographs of for your background.

Step three…import all filming into iMovie.

Step four…drag the selection of film or photographs you’d like as the background into the upper left hand side.

Step five…drag the green screen film work you’d like to use ON TOP OF the selected background in the upper left side of iMovie.

Step six…select green screen and watch it put together.

Of course you’re going to have to edit it to get the timing right, but it really is that simple. I found a great tutorial that says the same steps, but shows you how to do them:

Ken, from Maholo.com, the website that can teach you basically anything you’re interested in knowing, has a video about how to use a green screen with imovie11, which for your average mac user, is a must for movie magic. I found his video at macmoviemakers.com

Finally, I’d love to leave you with a fun video of one of my favorite bloggers, one half of the Vlogbrothers, Hank, showing us, back in 2009, his new green screen.

Thanks for reading and feel free to send me your green screen work!

Filmmaking Made Easy: B-Roll

I have had so many people ask me about how I have made my videos so far and the key is time and patience. You need to shoot hours worth of footage. A lot of it will end up on the cutting room floor.

B-roll got it's name from the earlier days when cutting literally meant slicing tape. Tapes were put in alphabetical order and A-Roll was the tape with the footage of interviews and dialogue.

B-roll is basically alternative footage used to be placed under narration or between interviews or scripts. Usually the footage you take will be supporting what the interviewee is talking about. It is supplemental footage. Always shoot more than you need and never underestimate what is interesting to viewers.

Start with shooting the interviews. From there, shoot your interviewee doing their craft, or their subject, and everything that goes into their lives. Shoot different angles as well. Even a few minutes of them relaxing will edit well under a well-written narration. A well made documentary will have a lot of b-roll.

Videoproductiontips.com is a great jumping off point for amateur filmmakers and their article, Making a documentary: where to start?, has more to say than I can even begin. Lorraine Grula, the author, makes a great point in explaining B-ROLL, an unlikely vital part of filmmaking,

“If you are interviewing a scientist, get video of them working in the lab. If you are videotaping a boxing expert, get video of them working out and practicing their moves in the ring. If you are videotaping a truck driver, get video of them driving the truck plus video of them washing or maintaining the truck. As a last resort, get video of them walking down the sidewalk or hallway. I often asked people, “What would you be doing right now if I were NOT here?” Then I would take video of them doing that.

In addition to getting video of them working, get video of them relaxing. What do they like to do? Read? Watch TV? Cook? Play with the kids? Take video of them doing whatever they like to do and you can make it work by writing your narration properly.”

To view the rest of the article from Grula, check it out at videoproductiontips.com.

Dexfango, a popular YouTuber, posted a sketch-comedy video showing what B-ROLL is. Check out the guy’s hilarious video here.

For a personal example, I shot some b-roll of my everyday life. Here are shots I put together using different elements that could be talked about with narration. Keep it simple and try to keep distinctive dialogue out of it. Have a great time, enjoy the creativity behind it, and get rollin!

Welcome!

Every dream has a beginning. Today marks the beginning of making my dream come true. Welcome to Klej Productions! Here you will find articles, links and personal triumphs that affect and inspire those involved in Klej Productions. We hope you enjoy the information as well! Have a blessed day!