#7: The Ugly Side... March 5th 2009

Today I continued my task on capturing foley sounds around school. This time I,along with Josh who was filming for the documentary, concentrated on capturing the sounds of walking/running/sliding on mud, and sword fighting. We went to capture the sounds concerning mud first. Firstly, I went to the Science Department to get some gloves, then I took a large box (those lunch trash boxes around school) and filled a part of it with soil. After that, I added water to it and then brought it down to the Lower Gym Changing Room for recording. When soil is added with water, the result is mud, which is why I performed that whole dirty process. Oh and it gets worse! I then took two large stones to act as shoes and stomped on the box of mud using my hands. During recording, I experimented with the speed and power that I laid on the stones, making sure that I create realistic sounds of walking, running and sliding. After about 30 minutes of re-enacting sounds by placing my hands into a box filled with mud and ants, we finally captured what we wanted and the gruesome ordeal was finished. 

To capture the sounds of sword fighting was very simple. We went to the DT Lab and used saws and an array of tools, and experimented with clashing them together to re-enact the sound of swords clashing and scraping across each other. We finished the task within about 15 minutes.

Today I learnt of the dirty, grimy side to the foley process, and also of the lengths that one must go to in order to capture the perfect sound. By the end of it all, I felt pleased that we managed to successfully capture 2 vital sounds in our comic strip. However, one thing that really bugged me was that Josh, who was there the whole time, did not help me with anything. I had to do all the grueling work myself while he just stood there and did nothing. He did not need to record for the documentary the entire time, he could have at least helped me carry the box, or put mud inside it. I felt used in a way, and that he would still attain the same credit as me for capturing the sounds of mud when actually I did all the hard and dirty work. Oh well, what's done is done. Hopefully he would contribute more in the future.