Jonathan Williams

As well as personal projects and music video production, I am also doing sound recording for Wallpaper (Dir. Megan Oxley) which will be a new opportunity for me and will challenge me to learn and adopt to a new role. Wallpaper is a story about loss and discovery. (See Megan's blog for more details).

What has challenged me about this project so far is thinking about what equipment will be best to capture the absolute best audio possible. I have emailed our sound technician regarding equipment and he gave me advice about recording dialogue. He said that the type of microphone used depends on if you are recording audio outdoors or indoors. For outdoor recording he suggested using super-cardioid microphones, which are directional microphones (as they have a heart-shaped pattern of sensitivity). These are more efficient for outdoor recording as they hone in on the subject that they are pointed at, and don't capture much of any other sound. Cardioid microphones, on the other hand, are Omnidirectional which, simply speaking, means they are much better suited for capturing interiors as typically there would be less background noise to be filtered out and is good for recording dialogue between two, three or even four characters.

"In rooms with poor acoustics, close-micing with cardioid mics can work wonders at minimizing reflected sound."

One piece of equipment that I need to be inducted on is the 633 Sound Device and Integrated Recorder. The 633 is a compact, six-input mixer with an in built 10-track recorder. It records to both CompactFlash and SD. All six inputs plus output buses left/right can be recorded to individual tracks. The 633 records up to 10 separate tracks, each in 24-bit, 48 kHz uncompressed WAV recording (96 kHz and 192 kHz sampling up to six tracks) to SD and CompactFlash memory cards. The two cards can be set independently, recording either identical material for a real-time backup, or combinations of WAV and time code stamped MP3 files. This is a very special piece of kit, however, I will have to be inducted on it in order to use it for the grad film so I will have to figure that out and find an alternative if it doesn't work out.

Preliminary Equipment List:

• 633 Sound Device and Integrated recorder (Or Maranz if 633 doesn't work out)
• Fishpole for Pistol Mic (2.5m)
• Microphone Fishpole (4m)
• Sennheiser EW100 (Lav Mic) x2
• AT877 Pistol Mic & XLR x2 for interior dialogue
• Sennheiser 416 Microphone x2 (on film production gear list)
• Floor Mic Stand x2
• Deluxe Rode Windshield x4 
• ME-64/66

Recently I was recommended to attend a lecture at UCA Epsom that was hosted by the Music and Marketing course from that university.  Speaking there was Heather Swaine, the Director of Digital Publicity for a music PR company called WMA, and she was speaking about her career in music promotion and her journey of how she got into the role that she is in.

As I am planning to set up some for of Company after university, I couldn't pass up the chance and so Jamie and I drove to Epsom to see what she had to say. I was a bit hesitant at first because I wasn't sure how relevant it was going to be for me. However I was deeply surprised and picked up a wealth of useful 'tips and tricks' that I will certainly be able to apply to my current project as Producer for a music video.

Anyway, here are some of the notes I took down that I feel I ought to share:

• When contacting a client you need to tell them what they can get out of it e.g. Free promotion or whatever.

Resolution 1

Music Video Production

Because of a desire to form a production company after university, I am Producing a body of work for a total of six clients, although we are prioritising one music video for an independent artist called Chrisen which Jamie discussed in his blog. I also intend to direct a few of my own music videos, inspired by experimental techniques I discovered in second year to create some visually rich work.
For these music videos I will primarily be working in collaboration with Klara and Jamie, whilst crewing people from all years of DFSA and film production to help on shoots.

Using music video theorists to drive my research, the goal of these music videos is develop a better understanding of the concept of music video, it's place as an art form and its ability in more recent years, to adapt and change with the evolution of new genres and almost limitless visual potential. I also want to develop my abilities as a visual storyteller.

My role as producer so far has consisted of contacting artists and liasing with them and talking about what the creative workflow will be. So far I have been linking previous work and outlining to the artists how we want to be 100% collaborative in the way that we operate. At this point we have 2 live sessions lined up, as well as 4 more music videos (6 in total . Within the next few weeks I will be t

Despite producing, I have elected not to limit myself to just this. I am still very much keen on expressing my creativity outside of this medium.

A thing that I will be doing is picking apart my favourite music videos, and trying to identify the framework that they were created in. Doing this will aide me in my own creative process.

Kongos - Take it From Me

Documentary

Whilst I am producing/directing these music videos and shooting for different clients, I felt like I needed a personal project that would nourish my creativity and allow me more freedom to express myself as a filmmaker.

What I have really been exploring recently is the documentary genre. One area of the genre I have been particularly drawn to are personal profiles of individuals who maybe have a special or unique talent, or simply have a story to tell. Whilst discussing this with a classmate, we talked about how every story is extraordinary, because everyone has lived a life and had experiences that only they could experience in a certain way,

I initially thought about pitching a series of 4 short documentary profiles of people and their stories, the intention being to explore the part of their consciousness that makes them who they are as a person.


My idea is rather personal to my family - I want to create an experimental documentary about the my grandmothers dementia, and how it has impacted my family.