The Many Processes of the Project

To begin with, all of the processes that I used through the project ended up being altered in some way or another.
This is mostly due to myself not understanding enough of what needs to be done until the issue raises itself, that
is when I make a change and resolve it. However, some of the time it's the process of sending pieces to others in
a concise and sensible manner. This is when more may arise, like files not loading or corrupting, so I have to find
other ways to have them sent and or sorted.

In this document you will see all the ways I had sorted out the process and the problems they caused for the
Entire Project. Whether it's composing or recording, it's all written here. It can be seen more as the organisational
guide to the project.

Before the compositions-

After deciding that Helena and I would work together on this project, we had to decide on a process that would make sense for
us to be graded fairly and understandably. This is where our first proposal took place, and not long after, our final proposal
shown below. We decided that I would focus primarily on the audio composition and scoring side of the project, as well as the
mixing and panning of the final film. However, it did of course not go very well to plan, but you will read more about that further
down.

The other thing I did was to actually read the book that Helena had written and to start creating ideas and motifs for the
Characters. We spent many a meeting in 2021 at a coffee shop in Ford, West Sussex, going through ideas and pages of notes
for the project. So many notes in fact, I seem to find pieces in every corner of my studio. So that's the beginning of our Journey.

As a note to mention, all of the projects created are in 24-bit 48k.

Writing the compositions before the Dialogues-

Looking back at the project, I find that being able to write with just ideas from a book was so much more freeing creatively,
compared to being confined to an area of time. I was able to set up each project the way I wished and there were no issues at
all. Until it came to actually having the dialogues all blocked and in place to start really writing to.

The Final Process of Hearing the Dialogues-

After the incredible auditions from so many voice actors, we were overwhelmed with how we would all make this make sense.
But thanks to Helena, we had a full converted script from the book to help us order the scenes. So in the end we decided on
creating a project for each scene with the dialogue blocked but not yet fully staged and edited to allow me to compose right
away.

However, there was one issue. Due to the Dialogue projects having their own fixed tempo (83) and time signature (4/4), any
changes to them would cause the audio tracks to move and distort. I tried to find ways around it, but because they were only
blocked, I could’t consolidate them or separate them from the project, so I came up with another idea. Whilst 83 bpm was
perfect for some scenes, the ones that weren’t I created a new project with timing markers after I had set the tempo and
changes I would make to the composition. This way round I was able to produce better and more effective writings that worked
well when finally put back into the dialogue project as just a single .WAV file. This worked well, although some things still
needed to be sorted like, sudden tempo changes and misplaced markers. If you place the marker before you set the tempo, the
markers move, and the seconds change. So it was apparent that I would have to do the Tempos first.

Even though this worked in the end, there were many projects and ideas before that, which had to be sorted and or removed
entirely from the whole project. I of course kept the promising ideas for future references and motifs.
The Process of Keeping a Diary-

To be honest, I was very naive starting this Diary, I thought if I wrote down everything I did for each day it would be fine, but
after many attempts and forgetful days, I ended up with over a hundred projects to write about, some of which weren’t even
worth talking about either. Not to mention all of the other notes I had to write after meetings and changes. So it turned out I was
not very good at keeping a diary. It was sad however to only really find that it wasn’t working after 10,000+ words on the
document. While yes some of it was useful for me to look back on. It really didn’t make sense with how much there was and
how random it appeared. This being said I came up with this process, which ended up helping quite a bit.

Primarily using Keep Notes-

Any time I had something to note, I had to write it down on my phone or computer here. Which worked very well, apart from
when I had no access to anything.

Taking screenshots-
I found this useful for when I needed to remember what I was doing, as well as refer quickly without having to read anything.

Realistic Goals-
Creating myself realistic goals down the line helped me stay on track with a lot of my project work, but even then it seemed a lot

Even though it did help, I'm sure there are a lot of important bits of information that I left out due to not remembering to put them
into the notes and mis-placing my various created notes or multiple devices. Because I just had sudden ideas and things to
write down, I just used what I could when I could. The difficult part was remembering where it all went and what I was talking
about.

Sending piece to Yuen for Transcribing-

I had already written some information on how I sent the pieces to Yuen for scoring, so I will be taking parts from the original
diary for this section.

05/11/22-

After the cues are done, I will go through with more polishing and maybe more reverb, even though the standard reverb given is lovely and
atmospheric, but maybe just something to pull everything together in the same space/ atmosphere.

08/11/22-

For today I had a meeting with Helena and Yuen about the project and how Yuen would receive the projects to help transcribe things. We
have decided to transfer things across using one drive, this being the projects and any notes. However, since Yuen would not have some of
the samples, I am sending the MIDI, but also the audio to help with the ideal sound of the instrument/s. We will then have discussions
throughout the progress. So far, the musician numbers for the recording are growing nicely.

I will also be slowly moving the ready for polishing cues into my template I set up ( 02/11/22 ). This way Is keeps within the professional
and legal requirements of a project like this in audio post.

09/11/22-

Including audio tails. But not volume and panning automation as it is already on the MIDI sample themselves.

Green tag is ready to be Transcribed and Orange will need to be sorted for transcribing, the process to make it easier to score.
10/11/22-

In order to score, everything has to be on the grid or intentionally not on the grid. This is because, when composing with samples,
sometimes the MIDI notes will overlap one another, to allow for things like Legato techniques to be activated. However, when translating
this on to a score, it will just give the wrong length note and confuse the software and eventually the player. Therefore, it's best to order
the notes for transcribing the exact length they should be, allowing for the software to read it correctly. That way, the transcriber can read
it and put the correct marking for, say, Legato.

Before:

After:

Also, the lengths aren’t always what they sound like due to automation, so Yuen and I have to go through and change what’s necessary to
actually have the notes end where they sound finished. This is because automating silence is better through expression and dynamics,
rather than volume. Allowing the layers of the samples to change as the “volume” becomes quieter. Also, hence why the note can tend to
be slightly longer than how it sounds.

Some instruments are repeated for volume, but obviously that is not how it works in reality, so I will record what I can, and then use the
samples alongside to help boost the sound. Since super realism doesn’t call for this type of genre/ style of film/ book. Sometimes it will
make recording difficult, so I will need to think about balancing for the score.

For example, In Ember’s theme I had to reduce the other instruments for the Flute to shine through. Other ways would have been to layer
in a.3 groupings with other wind instruments, but that’s not what I wanted for the tonality of this theme.
11/11/22-

Because of the size of Orchestra, I would have to use the already made samples to go alongside the recordings. My lecturer stated that if
you have a few live players, it can really make the samples sound more realistic and give it more character.

As well as this, I am having to think of how the score and performance would work. So, for louder pieces, have everyone play, and for the
quieter pieces, have a sort of divisi for the instruments. The only other thing to think of is the balancing of the orchestra and miking
techniques, for instance, using close miking for the smaller numbers to help with size.

Update* - The above statement worked very well, and in some cases the numbers of musicians gave the pieces a new, characterful sound,
of which sounded balanced and intimate.

When organising my projects, names and colours will help when moving to the full final project page for post audio production and such.
So far, the main project files use the sample music as comped audio files, or temp music for until recordings are done and edited in
February.

Transcribing-

*In the transcribing process some parts will need to be split into different staves, since I had written for multiple lines in one instrument
track. *

After a couple of goes I have come up with a system for transcribing sending and organising. Since Yuen doesn’t have the samples I have, it
makes sense to deactivate them after they have been split down to Audio for Yuen to hear. This would also produce less power usage for
the computer/ projects. This way the automation still exists for Yuen to read and translate to score.

-Red is don’t transcribe

-Projects met with an orange and green tag are for, Ready to be Transcribed
-When they are transcribed, they are then fully green and not orange and green

Finally, Yuen balances well by looking at all three levels of volume: Dynamics/ Expression, Note Velocity, and Volume automation.
Although I only use Volume automation if I really must. It also helps in mixing, when everything is done, I have more than enough head
room to play around with volume if I need to. This is so I don’t mess with the tonalities and feeling of the instruments I have created.
Checklist for the Transcribing-

If I hadn’t made it clear as to Yuen’s role in this dissertation I will try my best to explain now. Yuen has transcribed
many times before for an Orchestra, so it was a great help that he offered his time to make sure the scores I was
producing made sense for an Orchestra. Luckily most of them did, with a few adjustments in the timing of notes. I
myself struggle with sheet music, so without him, it would have been incredibly difficult.

Sending pieces to Helena-

In the end, instead of sending large, high quality .wav files to Helena via email or messenger, I instead bounce down a much
smaller MP3 file through messenger for Helena to listen to and provide feedback based on the scene's feeling and what should
be done. Most of the time there is no criticism, but in some cases I had to change or even re-do certain pieces to better suit a
scene.

This being said, for the more important audio files and ones that need to be lossless, I have been using we-transfer to safely
transfer the files over to Helena.

Tracks for the Orchestra-

Because we found that most of our Orchestra were volunteers ( we paid for their travel £30 each ), that it would be best to give
them something to practise before the day. This ended up being useful because I had a complaint about the music being too
simple, but on the day, the player found it too difficult to play. However, the players that practised played very well and were
very professional.

The process for the Orchestra-

-Backing track with Click ( All instruments not used at all in the Orchestra Recording, mostly percussion )
-Players instrument with click
-Full Piece with click
-Full Piece without click

Everyone got these files tailored to their instrument, and were easily managed through a simple one drive folder system, where
everyone was able to access their scores. However, for the future, the backing track wasn’t needed since most players found it
more distracting than useful.

One Drive Folders- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EQdIlBUEJKD3y6pslKKmNnlInd0Kfzzt?usp=sharing

It should be, anyone with a link can view these files?
The Process of keeping track of the Project between myself and Helena-

There were many discussions over the years as to how we would decide when a project is ready for the next stage, and in the
end we decided on using the Tags features that Apple provides in the finder windows. This way we were able to colour
coordinate what correlates to what. I have different colours than Helena, but the translation was fairly simple and
understandable. This is because communication would sometimes be scarce, so colours tend to change over time. Even
though we fixed them after our meetings.

After trial and Error, my side came up with this combination-

Green- Very Complete ( locked )

Green & Orange- Pieces done and ready, just needs final touches on sound design & Foley
Purple- Quick search access to important folders
Red- Don’t touch, or no music needed
Green & Red- No music but complete ( locked )
Blue- Sent to Helena

The process of sorting the audio only files-

Coming near to the end, I needed a way to get all the audio files in one place to be sent all at once. This is when I came up with
the simple idea of gathering all the final pieces from the complete scenes, some needed to be separated or comped together,
due to some pieces being in the same scene. Because these pieces hadn’t been fully mastered yet, ( Helena’s job to master
everything together, before I mix the resulting combined pro-tools project, to then be mastered again by Helena). I moved all
60+ pieces into an empty project and levelled them all to match ( dynamic levels kept the same ), to allow for an easy listening
experience whilst being assessed.
The Final Stages-

After Helena had received my pieces, she put together the rest of the Sound Design and Foley into the main projects. However,
due to time constraints before doing any of that, she had to shrink the scenes but still try to make them understandable. This is
where some of my music gets moved around and put in different places, in some cases removed entirely or used as transition
pieces instead. However, despite the changes, it still does make sense.

Helena then had to consolidate the files, along with all their effects and Gain Staging settings to move into a master Pro-Tools
project for the now 62 minute long Premiere. Everything that will be heard film wise is on that project. Then it was my turn to go
through each and every scene, automate, pan automate and gain stage everything in 7.1 surround. This took a long time. A
note however, was that given the room we were in, we were expecting some issues with the translation to the cinemas 7.1
surround. All of the channels were correct, but there were more elements like the LFE being too loud in the Cinema, and some
of the rear channels not being as loud as what was set up in the University for us. SOmething to learn for the future.

After this, we took the 7.1 Master and Stereo Fold-down into my final cut pro project, where the many AI pictures were added,
bit by bit, each with a transition and correct placement for the panning. This was my job to do, and I learnt a lot since editing
pictures to music is very new to me. The credits and final song were also added here and then exported. However, it wasn’t that
easy. Unknown to me, it would not support the exporting of 7.1 surround sound. So after lots of panicking and trialling of
premiere pro, nothing was working. It turns out putting the picture to 7.1 audio was quite difficult. And then realising that
because I was using headphones I didn't notice the change in 7.1 to 5.1 because I was only doing the final picture stage.

So with lots of thinking, researching and very little sleep, I discovered that the DCP software I downloaded for the cinema
allowed me to import the 7.1 master, as well as the video I had been able to export. After a few setting up issues and realising
7.1 is actually 12 channel for some reason ( rear surrounds 11-12 ), I was able to press “Make DCP” and it worked, but not for
long. I had to then also figure out how to move it to the cinema. This was a simple task in concept. But due to the cinema DCP
running windows, the drive would not be picked up. But luckily I found a piece of software called “Paragon” that allowed me to
buy a drive that can be formatted in NTFS. Then the DCP was loaded onto the cinema servers ( Just in Time ). There ended up
being some minor syncing issues and things I missed out on the picture stand point, but we only noticed in the cinema, since
there was no time to redo anything.
DCP ( Digital Cinema Package )- Allows us to translate video and audio in to the cinema

As a note as well, due to the King's Coronation, we were unable to use the 7.1 suite that was set up for us because the building
was locked. This meant for the times I couldn’t go into the room, I had to pan everything at home using a 7.1 plugin for my
headphones. This made it very difficult indeed.

The Final Process-

As of right now, I am uploading all of the documents and PDFs onto the website you will be given, however, you
will also have a copy of all of these in the SUB folder, which is also where you will find all of your Audio files.

I believe that is everything in terms of processes, although this is a very summarised

document on how much work and effort was put into this project. If you haven't already, you
can move on to the motifs section, which is where you will be able to enjoy some music rather
than so much reading.