Capturing the Unseen and Unheard

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Second research

‘ Often, the most important sounds are those we don’t notice—the subtle, the distant, the quiet murmurs that define the rhythms of the natural world. ‘

Recording Natural History Sounds, Richard Margoschis, 1977

Margoschis emphasizes the value of sound as a vital aspect of the natural world, providing an auditory experience that complements visual observation. Sounds in nature, from animal calls to environmental noise, contribute significantly to our understanding of ecosystems and species behavior.

In addition to providing a historical and scientific record of locations that may be vanishing or changing as a result of climate change, human activity, or other factors, the book emphasizes the idea that sound recordings can assist chronicle changes in the natural environment throughout time and preserve a moment in time.

  • Micro and Macro Perspectives?

Micro Sounds: These are sounds that exist on a tiny scale—like the movements of small animals, insects, or even the sound of leaves rustling in the wind. These micro sounds are often missed by the human ear because they are either too soft, too fleeting, or too complex. Through close-miking and other recording techniques, Margoschis highlights how we can capture and emphasize these tiny, yet significant, elements of a habitat.

Macro Sounds: On a bigger scale, we frequently don’t fully process the sounds that are happening in the background of an ecosystem. Rich layers of sound that are not often audible to us until we take the time to pay attention to them can be found in the subtle sounds of ecosystems, such as distant thunderstorms, weather patterns, or the general hum of an area (such as a forest or a marsh). We can better understand the environment and the complex balance of natural forces at action by documenting these noises.

Idea Developing

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Primary Research
  • Field Recording, ANIMALS?
  • Movements?

I‘ve always been attracted to nature and animals, also animals’ documentary is one of my favourite.

I’m always thinking about are there any ways or methods to recognise different ages of different animals thought their sounds while I’m watching those animal category documentaries.

Fortunately, I had a experience in Africa for 7 months. I was doing volunteer works in Tanzania and Kenya, during that period, I found out that different generations of animals’ movements frequencies are different. For instance, younger animals tend to have more irregular and scrambled movements and adults’ movement are more regular or on propose. Such as the leopard as same as us, the human, the new born leopard are still during the exploration stage, their bodies have lots of turnover and leapt out motions except the suckling outside the instinct. By contrast, the adults, they are used to laying on the ground and sleeping during a day except if they have to getting up and hunting.

  • Vocalisations?

About vocalisation to wild animals, you can say it’s more similar to humans in some ways. No matter it’s the roar, the howl the chirp or whatever. The sounds made by the younger animals become more despicable and harsher, the adults have lower and threatening sound, and the elders usually make you feel powerless.

The Balance Between Art and Science

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Secondary Research

‘ The craft of sound recording lies in balancing the technical precision of the equipment with the emotional and artistic intent of the artist. It’s not just about how things sound, but how they make us feel. ‘

‘Sound Recording-the life story of a technology’, David L. Morton JR., 2006

One of the most important aspects of sound recording is its ability to move people emotionally. The listener doesn’t just hear the technical details—they feel the sound.

As Morton may indicated in this book, striking a balance between the art and science of sound recording involves realizing that sound’s technical and emotional aspects are equally significant. You risk losing control over the sound, clarity, and quality if you lack technical expertise. The technical work, however, may fall flat and fail to engage listeners on a deeper level if the recording’s artistic and emotional goals are not understood.

The Art of Sound Recording (Emotional and Artistic Intent)
‘ While the technical side ensures that a recording is clear, accurate, and of high quality, it’s the artistic side that gives sound recordings their emotional depth and impact. This is where the balance becomes more nuanced:

Capturing the “Feel” of a Performance: A key role of the recording engineer is to preserve the emotional expression of the artist. For example, if you’re recording a jazz band, the live, spontaneous interactions between the musicians should be captured as part of the atmosphere, not just the notes they’re playing. ‘

‘Sound Recording-the life story of a technology’, David L. Morton JR., 2006

My thoughts, Targets?

As far as I can see, the importance of recognising or confirming the certain targets when doing recordings is super considerate.

When I’m playing an audio to audiences, I have to think about the exact feelings or thoughts they had at the moment from this audio.

Therefore, it can be helpful if the artist or the sound engineer have tried to feel or touch the sound movements from the daily life at first. This is what I always believe actually, only if you believe what happened at first, then others will believe probably. As same as the field recording, I have to believe the targets I’m recording is literally the true species, age, gender, even the motions I want at first. Then I can consider these are the materials which are available used for the further works.

‘The Street of Crocodiles’

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reflection

I want to use Foley’s perspective to reimagine this original soundtrack in my “Sound for Screen” project, focussing on the tactile, real-world noises that typically go with movie sequences. In addition to reimagining the current music, this project aims to investigate the connection between sound and the physicality of items in the bizarre world of Brothers Quay. I hope to create an immersive, tactile experience that expands on the original score and provides a new perspective on the sensory world of this animation, “The Street of Crocodiles,” by rethinking and reinterpreting these sounds using Foley techniques, which essentially involve recreating the film’s noises from scratch using tangible materials.

Filmmakers have traditionally used foley art to produce realistic sound effects, including footsteps and rustling clothing, that complement the visual action. One of the main reasons I like foley is that it’s one of the best methods to depict a video’s texture, which makes it perfect for animation. In this project, I extend the idea of Foley beyond its conventional application, handling the noises as expressive components that have the power to alter the image’s emotional tone in addition to serving as functional indicators. The objective is to produce an intriguing soundtrack that is both recognisable and alien, highlighting the universe’s mechanical and organic elements while making the viewer feel as though they have visited a world where everyday sounds have been altered, magnified, and twisted.

The first step in redesigning the soundtrack was to carefully examine and pinpoint significant aural elements in the original movie’s music. In situations where subtle sound manipulation is used to portray texture, space, and atmosphere, I focused especially on the sound design. A lot of industrial noises, such as grinding gears, distant rumblings, and creaking metal, are used in the original score to convey a sense of mechanisation and decay. Although these noises are essential to the gloomy mood of the movie, I wanted to make the Foley recordings seem more real and substantial in my remake.

‘The Street of Crocodiles’

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Process

Soundtracks Processing

Sound Effects

mainly ex.

The peeler shaves the potato’s sound — the Robert movement

The suitcase’s locker — the clock

As the mixing part, I’m mainly focusing on the Channel EQ and Compressor, which using EQ to isolate the noisy sound or surrounding sound. And using the Vintage VCA effect from the compressor, to enlarge the Threshold and the Make up to make sure the sound effects sounds like the sound in the big space.

The druming — the monkey is druming

‘The Street of Crocodiles’

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Secondary Research

Project Developing

‘The Street of Crocodiles’ By Brothers Quay (1986)

Stop motion animation

Music by (composer) 

Leszek Jankowski

Tech specs

Runtime: 20 mins Color: black and white color Sound mix: mono

Based on:  The Street of Crocodiles (book) (1933)

                    by Bruno Schulz

‘In that city of cheap human material, no instincts can flourish, no dark and unusual passions can be aroused. 

‘“The Street of Crocodiles” was a concession of our city to modernity and metropolitan corruption.’

‘The misfortune of that area is that nothing ever succeeds there, nothing can ever reach a definite conclusion. Obviously, we were unable to afford anything better than a cardboard imitation, a photo montage cut out from last year’s mouldering newspapers. Obviously, we were unable to afford anything better.’ (The Street of Crocodiles, 1933)

Background

Reflect Jewish life in the early 20th century (1901 – HOLOCAUST 1933/1945 – 2000)

The nature of memory, how it shapes us, and the idealization of youth.

Memory and Childhood

Surrealism and Fantasy

Metaphor

Employs surreal imagery and fantastical elements to explore the inner lives of characters.

Family Dynamics

The complicated relationship between the kid (narrator) and his parents.

Cultural Identity

Reflect Jewish life in the early 20th century and the impact of historical changes in this cultural context.

‘The Street of Crocodiles’

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First Research

Project Development

After I watched few times of the animation ‘the Street of Crocodiles’, I sorted out my understanding of the timeline of this animation.

As far as I can see, I organised this animation to 6 different parts by the character development and scenes switching.

Characters:

The adult: (the kid) the main character who is deeply attracted by the world outside home.

The baby doll / dolls: The former protagonist, the protagonist before he grew up.

The Robert: The protagonist’s father, a person who lives in the old times, old-fashioned and immersed in his own world.

Watching Notes / Analysis:

The 1st scene,

Start from a adult who saw pairs of hanging arms above the roof, and a kid is running above the transparent glass roof.

Escaping? The restriction of family?

And the first time of screws are screwing out.

The awaken of self awareness.

The 2nd scene,

Transferring to another space, the interior space, a ‘ROOM’,

Exploring status.

The conflicting between the kid and the father is appearing.

The 3rd scene,

The space is changing, the adult is going to the outside, which leading by ‘Rope’.

The entrapment / the connection between the unknown world outside and the inner family.

The dust is moving.

The protagonist’s opinions is changing.

The 4th scene,

The man is observing by the ‘dandelion’? He is gazing outside from a Hole.

The desirable.

The Rope are reconnecting from 2 sides, the ice is melting and frizzing again and again. The protagonist saw himself though the hole.

The 5th scene,

Transferring to the space ‘ROOM’ again.

The decorations, the toys, slapping the windows of different boxes in the galleries.

Start Fighting.

The baby doll be dressed up (remake), and the colors appears.

The innocence of childhood is turning to adulthood.

The 6th scene,

Calming Down.

Getting back to the peaceful.

The protagonist is picking up the screws from the floor, and remakes them with the eye of the doll, the heels or putting them back to the shelf.

Grew Up, Self Reconciliation.

Research

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Secondary research

Idea Developing

As I like the director Jan Švankmajer’s style, and I’m starting to think about other animation directors who have similar styles as Jan Švankmajer.

Then the director Brothers Quay came up from my brain.

I remember the Brothers Quay mentioned in an interview before that they were also influenced by Jan Švankmajer when they were interested in animation or film making in the early days.

The Brothers Quay

‘The Brothers’ works from 1979 to the present show a wide range of often esoteric influences.

Most of their animation films feature puppets made of doll parts and other organic and inorganic materials, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere.’

Then I started to watch all of the stop motion animations made by the Brothers Quay which I could find. After watching all of their works for the first time, I was deeply impressed by one of their works, ‘the Street of Crocodiles’.

This animation can be said to be one of their classic representative works, presenting the story in a dark and abstract style.

And it just happened to meet my needs. The original soundtrack version of this animation was very musical. The composer Leszek Jankowski made very good music to guide the audience to feel the emotional changes of the characters. This gave me the opportunity to recreate a different sound version of this great animation.

‘The Street of Crocodiles’

Research

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Secondary research

My Inspiration

The film director and animator: Jan Švankmajer

‘Jan Švankmajer explored informel, which later became an important part of the visual form of his animated films. In his film work, he created an unmistakable and quite specific style, determined primarily by a compulsively unorthodox combination of externally disparate elements.’ (Wikipedia)

As someone who has seen many works from Jan Švankmajer, the animation Food stands out as my favourite anime from him. I watched this animation 4 years ago, but I still remember the foley background and the whole animation. Jan Švankmajer’s Food is an extraordinary exploration of human desire, consumption, and the absurdity of existence, all wrapped in a surreal and visually striking package.

The animation Food is one of the most unique and unsettling experiences in the medium definitely. Though not a traditional anime, Švankmajer’s signature stop-motion style, combined with bizarre, almost grotesque imagery, gives the film an otherworldly quality that leaves a lasting impression.

Then I thought, could I also choose an old animation that its original sound track with more musical style, and then make a new version of this animation in my own style with more foley recording sound effects?