Final Project

Final Project Overview

Your final project will be to craft a comprehensive five-minute sound design piece. This project serves as an opportunity to apply your skills and creativity to produce a professional-grade soundtrack. You may choose one of the following two options for your sound design:

1. Original Short: Create a sound design for an animated or live action short film.
2. Feature Film Scenes: Select three contrasting scenes from a feature film to design your sound design.

Here are some options:

• SterilleFlower_MOS_1080p_ProRes422_23-976fps.mov
• The Blender Open Movies — Big Buck Bunny, Sintel, Spring, Charge, and more. These animated shorts are Creative Commons and free to download in high quality, which makes them ideal for a complete sound redesign.
• Also find some great shorts on Vimeo

Your final submission should integrate all elements of sound design that we’ve discussed throughout our course. Each sound design must include the following components:

Foley

• Record as much live Foley as you can. Cover all three layers you practiced in Assignments 1 and 2: moves, footsteps, and specifics.
• Use the studio for controlled recordings and the Zoom recorder for anything you need to capture elsewhere.

Ambiences

• Build each setting from beds and details, following the Setting lesson and Assignment 6.
• Indoor scenes need a room tone, and outdoor scenes need the geophony, biophony, and anthrophony layers from the field recording unit.

Miscellaneous Sound Effects (SFX)

• For all other on-screen elements that do not fall under dialogue, foley, or ambience.

Music (optional)

• If your piece uses music, it must be original or properly licensed — see the working with music lesson for cleared sources.
• List each track’s title, source, and license in your documentation.

Final Mix

Follow the final mix lesson : the finished render should measure -24 LUFS integrated with true peak under -2 dB (check it with “Calculate loudness” in REAPER’s render dialog).

• Dialogue: Start with the dialogue tracks if you’re using them. The overall levels should average between -12 dB to -6 dB. Utilize compression to maintain consistency in the dialogue’s dynamic range.
• Integrating Foley, SFX, and Ambience: Once the dialogue sits well in the mix, incorporate the foley, followed by other SFX, and finally, the ambiences.
• Reverb and Panning: Use reverb SENDs to unify the sound elements by placing them in the same acoustic space. Employ panning and its automation to match the sounds to the on-screen action spatially.
• Impulse Responses: To assist in creating realistic acoustic environments, utilize additional impulse responses available here .

Documentation

Introduction to the Project

• Project Overview:
  • A brief description of the project, including the type of film (animated short, feature film, etc.) and the chosen scenes.
• Intent and Objectives:
  • A clear statement of what you aimed to achieve with your sound design. This can include the mood, atmosphere, and style you intended to convey.

Reflection

• Critical Listening and Evaluation:
  • Reflection on the final mix, evaluating what worked well and what could be improved.
  • Insight into the creative choices made and how they align with the initial objectives.
• Mixing Process:
  • A walkthrough of the mixing process, explaining how different elements were balanced.
  • Details on the use of compression, EQ, reverb, and other effects to achieve a cohesive sound.
• Technical Challenges:
  • A section dedicated to any technical challenges encountered during the mixing process, including how they were overcome.

Your portfolio

The final projects in DAD 222, DAD 310, and DAD 422 can become a three-part portfolio: a produced track, a film sound design, and an immersive piece. This is the second one. Make a clean render, use clear filenames, and keep the full project in storage you can access after graduation. Together, the three pieces can anchor a demo reel for jobs or graduate programs.

Deliverables

• Rendered video, measuring -24 LUFS integrated with true peak under -2 dB
• Stems: one rendered file per category (dialogue if used, Foley, effects, ambience, music), which together sum to your full mix
• Reaper project file
• One page documentation on the project

Grading Rubric (100 points total)

Total: ___ / 100