Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

I feel that I was very confident and smooth in my presentation, and that my product showed very well throughout.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your 2-Hour Presentation (self-assessment)?

P+  

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AP

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

I felt that the two hour presentation went very well for me, and that preparing for it was an achievement that other presentations didn't require throughout the years. I had never been able to do great research, because in the past, I was never required to do much more than one or two books, which allowed me to get away with the bare minimum, something I should never be allowed to do.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

I would have done far more research early in the year, including both senior topic and Model Assembly.

(5) Finding Value

As I said in my product, I learned how to find better research, how to find that research faster, and how to present better.

My 2 hour presentation was a prime example of this, and showed how much I had grown in confidence.

Science, technology, and art all can mix, and this is potentially something I could utilize later on in a career, whether in the film industry or not.

It showed me how to find appropriate research for a number of topics extending far beyond my senior project.
Additionally, through meeting Ron Grafton, I was able to gain a number of ins to the small Foley art world.

Independent component 2

Literal
A) I, Evan Muth, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
B) I worked an additional 30 hours of mentorship with Phillip Miller at the ROP program at our school.
C) (Class attendance records)
D) I completed, as well as typical TA work, hours of work on Foley sound required for multiple student films. 
(Log: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At4aFtErPjFrdHBMaTZSbkJIYUZpNVB6NFMyQ2U3Z2c&usp=sharing) Interpretive
I worked well above thirty hours. With more than 100 hours of mentorship in total, thirty hours only scrapes the surface of the work I have done with Mr. Miller, and the ammount that I have learned from him. As evidence, one simply needs to look at the attendance records from the class.

Applied

My EQ has been helped most importantly by my independent component in that I am now able to better understand what technology is needed to be beaten.

Mentorship

Literal:

My mentorship was with Phillip Miller, the Film and video creation regional occupation teacher at our school. Every Tuesday and Thursday, from 1:28 PM to 4:30 PM, I am helping students to create films, learning how to create films, advancing my experience in the film industry. I have worked on Foley sound for many student projects, and learning how to better do all behind the scenes work in the film industry. Projects I have worked on have included pre and post production for six seperate music videos, five public service announcements, and 14 different short films, working as a Foley artist for many of them, and a sound tech on the rest. In addition, I have worked closely with Mr. Miller, in order to foster my understanding of the film industry as a whole, especially what technology is being introduced.

Log: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At4aFtErPjFrdFQ2RllMMVZpYVB5RmlOV3pKN3VpQ3c#gid=0

Interpretive:

I have learned how to best create sound effects in a manner that will accelerate the post production procedure, using my three answers. While I have personally gotten little use out of my best answer, to recognize the unknown, the others have helped greatly, and I have been able to see ways in which recognition of the unknown could be useful.

Applied:

My EQ has been helped most importantly by my mentorship in that I am now able to better understand what technology is needed to be beaten.

Blog 2 Exit Interview

1) My EQ is "How can a Foley artist best stay ahead of the rapidly evolving technology in the film industry." Having been answered three times, with "Always be working," "Recognize the unknown," and "Understand the concepts of Musique Concrete," I can say without a doubt that Recognition of the unknown is most important. This is because anybody can, with dedication, work their days off, or learn to understand the principles behind musique concrete, but it is a special talent to recognize the unknown, one that cannot be taught in any class.

2) Upon arriving at my question after an hour of debating over the wording, I quickly realized what my first answer was. A Foley artist must always be prepared to record a sound at a moment's notice. As such, I worded my first answer as "Always be working." This was arrived at by my independent component, and strengthened by my third interview.
My third interview also gave me my second answer, to "recognize the unknown." What this means is to be able to think of exactly what you need for a sound effect, and be able to create it, even when the sound required is for something that doesn't actually exist. A perfect example is the sound required for a meteor hurtling towards earth, because nobody has ever experienced that sound.
My third answer was arrived at upon reading the article "In defense of vulgarity: the place of sound effects in movies." This article referred to many prominent Foley artists as drawing inspiration from Musique Concrete, a type of music that draws sound from everyday life.

3) I found that there was shockingly little research on my topic, very early on in my work. One of the few websties that held consistently valuable information for me was filmsound.org, the source of nearly 50% of my articles. Upon discovering this site, and the plethora of external links from the site, I was able to accelerate my research and increase my knowledge of my topic immensly.

4) My two most significant sources are my third interview and the article "In defense of vulgarity: the place of sound effects in movies." My third interview, on it's own, gave me my second answer, and solidified my first, as it was the most in depth and helpful interview. The article mentioned above was influential in crafting my third answer, as it opened my eyes to potential sources of inspiration for Foley artists.

5)

Blog 23 Junior interview.

1) I interviewed Jamison Jackson, from North house.

2) What Ideas do you have for your senior project and why?
Well, I would like to do my senior project on the LAPD because my dad is a Lieutenant II of the Gang & Narcotics division there. I think it would be interesting to investigate the job life of an officer, not just the "home life" I know my dad for. This would consist of ride alongs during the workdays, as well as filling out some paperwork. All of which I'm more than willing to do.

3) What do you plan to do for your ten hours during summer?

My dad works a ten hour work day, so I'll just literally "follow his shadow."

4) What do you hope to see or expect to see in watching the 2013 2-hour presentations?

Something cool i guess. I wasn't really hoping for or expecting anything. I'll just probably write down some notes that i can use for next year.

5) What is your topic, why did you choose it, and how did you complete your ten hours?

I decide I wanted to do something else a few months in, besides just film, so I chose something neat, making all the weird effects. I was told I had to do something and film. So I decided I would start general, and worked with the fire marshal's office down at Manhattan Beach, did all the safety checks at the sound stages there.

Interview 4 Questions

1) What was the most challenging project you have ever worked on and why?

2) How do you increase the efficiency with which you work on Foley for a challenging project?

3) How did you get your position with the company with which you currently work?

4) Do you, in your everyday life, hear a sound and think of potential ways to use it in your work?

5) Is there any particular sound director that you have worked with who you think excelled at their job? Why or why not?

6) Is there any sound recording software that you prefer over any other?

7) Have you ever felt a need to change the way that you work in a major way, and if so, how?

8) Do you prefer using a "black box" type database, or would you rather create every sound on your own?

9) How often do you have to update the technology that you use in your industry?

10) On how many projects have you worked directly with the director, and have they been positive experiences? Why or why not?

11) When you first arrived at the company you worked with first, what type of project did you work on?

12) Would you recommend a new entry into the field to take classes on new programs in order to learn them all at once?

13) When working on different genres of film, for example, horror vs. family, how do you adapt to the different types of sound these projects demand?

14) Do you prefer working on television projects or movies? Why?

15) How can you best recognize a sound that you can use as an effect that you have never experienced firsthand?

16) What trait is most important in staying in the field for long periods of time?

17) How long after you begin recording sound do you typically begin cutting it into a final product?

18) Is there any specific scene in any movie that stands out as the most challenging you have ever recorded?

19) How can a Foley artist best stay ahead of the rapidly evolving technology in the film industry?

20) What connections have you forged with others in your field that you think have contributed to your longevity in Foley?

Blog 18

1) What is the best way for a Foley artist to keep ahead of the rapidly evolving technology in the film industry?
2) For a Foley artist to remain relevant, they must be able to form connections with others in their field.
3) Currently, there is no Foley artist organization, and workers in the field are often left in the dark as to others' techniques. If they communicate, they will be able to formulate better sounds.
When a group comes together, if they do, they can help to amass a much larger sound database than they would otherwise create.
If Foley artists began working together, every bit of work that they do would increase in efficiency, allowing them to be faster than so called "Black Boxes."
4) artoffoley.org
5) I plan to study why groups/unions are not formed.

Blog 15

1) I will be continuing my work in assembling a wide range of sounds for a sound library, this time attempting to create all the sounds from a few short films I will decide at a later date.
2) Foley work takes up an enormous amount of time, due to setup, travel, and research.
3) This will help me, much in the same way that my original Independent Component helped me to find my first answer.

Independent Component 1

LITERAL
(a) I, Evan Muth, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
(b)
(c) Independent component work log
(d) I created a small sound library, that filled to the brim my iPod's memory.

INTERPRETIVE
My work is important to my senior project, as it showed me the best ways to work, how to maintain the greatest efficiency, and how not to work. For every minute of sound I have recorded, other than ambient noise, I spent at least ten minutes setting up and/or gathering equipment and supplies. My computer refuses to allow me to publish my sound library off of my cloud storage, but I can and will bring in the sounds that I have recorded on my iPod.

APPLIED
My understanding of Foley art was furthered by this project in getting my mindset into that of a professional. Rather than walking through life and just breezing by, I now look out for sounds I can use in some way. I am, as I used in answer to my EQ, "always working." I constantly notice new sounds and how they can be used, and I am able to recognize how sounds in professional films are made. An example occurred in my mentorship, when I noticed that the sounds of a chair dragged along the carpet in just the right way sounded quite like vehicle treads on a gravel road. Beyond noticing how I can make new sounds, I have noticed the intricacies in creating my own sounds. I can tell exactly what sounds I need to add in order to make something more realistic. While recording the sound of a dog walking by putting paper clips on my fingers and clacking them on wood floor, I realized I was missing the jingling of a collar, which I created using my key ring!

Blog 13

My 30 Minute Plan

Blog 12

1) What is the best way for a Foley artist to remain relevant?
2) With technology becoming a more and more important part of the movie industry, how can a Foley artist keep up?
3) What programs do you use in your daily work as a Foley artist?
4) Do you think that it is better to incorporate more of the arriving programs, or to work with physical objects and why?
5) When a movie comes out, what is the most efficient way to work on the sound?
6) What projects have you worked on that you felt were challenges due to the strange sounds needed or different constraints?
7) If a director asks you to do your work in a way other than what you have experience with, what is the best way to adapt?
8) At what point does it become necessary to overhaul your methods?
9) If a Foley artist needs to change how they operate due to a differing in the needs of an audience, what might cause this?
10) What other steps could I take towards finding answers to my first question?

Blog 5b: Science Fair Proposal

1) Foley art.
2)
3) If a person watches more films per month than the national average, then they are more likely to recognize manufactured sound effects as real.
4) Beginning with a survey, I would find 22 people who watch less than ten hours of film and scripted television per month, and the same number each of people who watch between ten and 20 hours, and people who watch more than 20 hours. From there, I will play six sound samples, each made up of two samples, one real, and one fabricated. The sounds will be: A gunshot, a slap to the face, a crackling fire, a dragonfly, a crashing wave, and a horse trotting. I will record which of the sound effects each participant feels is the real, and which they think is manufactured. Compiling this data, I will look at who was more likely to think sounds were real, and, hopefully, prove my hypothesis. I can use this to determine what methods of sound creation work best, and begin compiling a sound library that people will find most realistic.
5) Behavioral/Social Science

Blog Nine, Working EQ and Possible Answers

1) In my presentation, my working EQ was: What is the best way to become a great Foley artist?
2) How can Foley art continue it's relevance in an increasingly technological world?
3) In order to maintain relevance, a Foley artist must be able to innovate, and create increasingly more realistic sounds.
A Foley artist must be able to more consistently create sounds that fit to the film than can be found in online databases.

Rough Draft of Presentation 1

10 Minute Presentation

Prepared By:

Evan Muth

House:

East House

Working EQ: What is the best way a Foley artist stay relevant in a world ruled by digital technology?

Objectives (Specify skills/information that will be learned.):

	Guide	Time
Introduction	I will speak on what the idea is behind Foley, and give an example of one of the stranger techniques used in a film.	1 min	Important Source 1: Filmsound.org
Verification (Steps to check for student understanding)	Beginning of Presentation: How do the students think that certain sound effects were made. End: Check that they were paying attention by listing a few effects and asking how they might have been made.	1 min

Body (Give and/or demonstrate necessary information)

Break down what you plan on talking about into manageable sections. Literal: I will discuss some of the things I have learned about Foley, including how they work, what it is that they do (Moves, feet, and specifics) and why they matter to movies. Interpretive: Talk about Filmsound.org, the website where I have gotten much of my research, and how useful all the research from the site has been. There is a hearty supply of interviews on the website, including many with the sound team from Star Wars. Applied: All of this is furthering my EQ because it helps me to understand how the industry survives. Interviews are very important, because I need to get opinions from experts on how their job matters, etc.

Literal: 2 min Interp: 2 min Applied: 3 min

Visuals

Activity (Describe the independent activity to reinforce this lesson)

No Activity for this Presentation

x min

Materials (for activity) No Activity

Conclusion

I plan to ask if there are any questions, take a bow, thank them for their time, and walk calmly off the stage.

1 min

Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

1) For my independent component, I plan to work toward assembling a Foley sound library. This involves creating hundreds of sounds, and creating detailed descriptions of how I made the sounds and what I could potentially use them to represent in a feature film. I would also be helping to create sounds for more specific needs, including Lucas's haunted maze for the haloween dance, and any films being made for the video ROP.
2) My plan can meet the thirty hours requirement simply by continuing to discover new sounds. A simple example of this is spending a few hours walking around and recording ambient noise for a city scene, or recording a trip to school.
3) My independent component will allow me to gain more insight to Foley art, bringing more depth to what they actually do. I will find out what some of the challenges behind my project work is, including how you make more in depth sounds.

Blog Assignment 6

1) What are the projects you have done with film sound?

2) What do you find most interesting about sound in films?

3) Why did you choose to work in your field?

4) What were the first projects you worked on?

5) When did you begin working for your company?

Blog 5a

1) Foley Art.
2)There are very few databases for sound effects that elaborate on any techniques to make the sound. If I am able to discover the reasoning behind this, I may be able to alleviate this sorely lacking area.
3)The industry lacks communication between different production companies. With the information I gather through this, I may be able to achieve similar results as the first problem.

Blog 4: Project Reflection and Working EQ.

1) So far, I think I may well have narrowed down my topic. I believe that I am going to do my project on Foley Art, rather than on film in general. Foley art is the creation of sound for movies.

2) My Forbes magazine article about Foley art has greatly helped my topic decision.

3) As of yet, all my endeavors have worked out quite well.

4) As stated above, nothing has gone south, though I expect that to change.

5)  The only one of the three subquestions I can honestly answer is the third. I am hoping to get an interview with the head Foley artist at Warner Brothers Studios.

Blog 3: Interview Preparation

I plan to interview Philip Miller, the Film and Video Production ROP teacher at iPoly.

In addition to the five required questions, I plan to ask how he entered the field, what were some of his first professional projects, how he came by his current job, etc.

Assignment 1: Summer mentorship component

Assignment

Literal Known

-July 12, 2012, 10:00 AM-1:00 PM

-August 29, 2012, 10:30 AM-1:30 PM

-August 31, 2012, 9:00 AM- 2:00 PM

-Total hours spent shadowing: 11 hours.

-My duties consisted of helping to assure that everything was up to the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) codes, walking the four foot area around the edge of the studios, and turning in permits for things such as sound stage open flames.

Literal Need to Know

-I would very much like to know what are the most direct ways to enter the field. I have not yet been able to go in depth with interviews of directors and other higher up crew members, so this is something I am particularly interested in. I hope to be able to learn more with future interviews on this topic.

-What are some of the more intricate lighting techniques? I am very interested in lighting, I find it to be one of the more fascinating aspects of film techniques.

-I am interested in knowing more about the foley artists, or sound technicians. The idea of using everyday noises for strange applications is incredible, and some of the stranger noises are even more amazing.

Interpretive

-The most important thing that I learned from this experience is just how much effort and how many people it takes to produce, direct, and create a film.

Applied

-I have not yet decided on a more specific topic than the general field of film as a career. I will be narrowing my search as I go, but it is quite general as of now.