I´m all new to animation, this one will be my first ever, so please explain everything real slow, in laymans terms and from the top. And if you know a web-page where something is allready answered, give me the url.
About the project: it´s a low-budget amateur thing, which we are taking too seriously, of course. That is: no money, but we´ll find some if necessary. Most scenes have 2-3 characters, 5 at the most. We have the actors, but the procedure of recording is not clear.
What equipement do we need? A DAT? Or will Mini-Disk do? Microphones, how many and what kind of? Mixers etc.? What tech does a very basic "studio" need?
And the recording itself. Does one record the entire scene at the same time, with all the actors? Or just one actor at the time and then edit it? Or still something else?
And how many minutes of complete material can one expect to record in a day? That is, how much time do I need?
Thanks in advance,
Jevgeni.
what format is your project in? where are you going to composite?
i would recommend getting a good mic and using a PC if thats possible for you. Also record to a prorgram like Sound Forge.
It would be best to record lines by scene and character i.e. isolate individual shots and the lines for the characters in the shots.
There are several different schools of thought regarding how to record (group vs. single actor), but the thing to keep in mind is that you want as "clean" a record as you can get.
Groups of actors tend to act off of each other (as they should), and the result is that they sometimes end up "stepping on" each other (talking over the other actor). This is a problem for you. You want each line of dialog isolated with space around it so you have flexibility in the timing of your scenes. If one actor steps on another, you're locked into that timing, and if it doesn't work, you're sunk.
It takes an excellent actor (and I mean excellent) to sound like they're part of a group when they're recording solo. For that reason, if your actors are anything less than excellent, you might want to consider a group record, but be sure to tell them not to step on each other's lines. You can always overlap audio later if you decide you need to; you don't want to be forced to do it if it doesn't serve the scene.
Also, don't forget to record ambient room sound at the end of your record session. Let the tape roll without any noise in the room; it will pick up the "tone" of the room. You'll use this "tone" to fill in quiet areas in your dialog where no one is speaking. It's vital to have this - you'll find out why once you start assembling the dialog.
You have a lot of excellent questions, but it is your project. If this is a school project then you must take in the limits of whatever your assignment has built into it. As for the equipment, what do you have access to or what can you afford will shape what you do in making your sound file.
Under the best of conditions, you should record each actor separately. You, as the director, get the actors to act out the script in a number of different ways. This gives you a nice pool to build your final sound file. You could, after everyone has recored their part, find that some part of your script needs a different read from the actor. That is when you do something called pickups, you call back whomever you need and make more sound clips.
Good luck and remember I am not in the business, I am just studing it so...
(Be Ware)
Animation Sound
www.filmsound.org/animation-sound
Elsevier.com - Designing Sound for Animation
www.elsevier.com/wps/product/cws_home/705514
Whap! Zing! and A Holler: Animation Sound Design
www.awn.com/mag/issue4.01/4.01pages/geislersound.php3
Film Sound Design - Film Sound Theory
filmsound.studienet.org/
Good stuff.
I knew this individual vs. group recording question wasn´t an easy one. I still don´t have the answer but at least I know what to expect, either way I decide to do it.
Thank you all so much, I´ll start from here. And since this is not a school project, ie. I have no teacher to go for advice, I´ll be back with more questions later.
-Jevgeni
the reason i dont like group recordings is because i find it hard to get the actors together to get the right kind of 'acting'. individually atleast you can go in and discuss things one to one etc
but other than that i have had one or two guys do all together 7 voices so in the end it worked out ok.
its a question of how good the actors are and how logistically you are capable.
its a question of how good the actors are and how logistically you are capable.[/QUOTE]
Well, you pretty much said it. I suspect less problems with individual recording, taken my limited experience and resources, that is. More flexibility in post-production and easier scheduling. I think I´ll have a few rehersals/readings to establish what we´re doing, and then record it one by one.