#of course it's not the best designed section but being completely halted in progress is such a turn off in HL

[vegetacide]

TaG: Bloodlines (Part 11)

Veg • notables: Still kicking...

As always TY @gumnut-logic and @scribbles97  cause they put up me invading their PM’s

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Rating and General warning: Mature content head. If you are not a fan of medical issues of a female nature in relation to pregnancy please proceed with caution.

Characters: Virgil/Kayo.

E N J O Y

8-8-8

Part 11 - Pengalihan

Thunderbird Two banked around the crest of a hill to come across a scene of complete madness.  The red and blue lights of emergency vehicles flashed all around, people were scattered about in unorganized chaos and a couple of GDF troop carriers had just arrived and were off loading personnel and equipment.  In the middle of it all sat Thunderbird One, her long streamline haul gleaming in the bright utility lightings that were being used to light up the mining sites service area.  She was  cordoned off and guarded  by a row of black and whites that were doing their best to keep the gawkers back and out of the way.

Hitting the comms, Virgil brought Two to a hover some hundred meters up the rise. VTOLs blasting the hill side and flattening what little vegetation still remained among the scree and debris that had been dumped along the embankment.

“Thunderbird Two to Scott. On site,  you got a place for me to set down.”

“I see you Thunderbird Two and I’m working on it. Veer left ninety degrees.  Once those dozers have vacated you should have enough room to set down and plenty of room to work.”

Virgil looked to his left and watched several hard hats racing towards a group of parked dozers in a back lot just behind what looked like a collection of construction trailers. From his vantage point he could make out a clear line of sight to the mine shaft so getting pods to where they need to be wouldn’t be a problem.

“F.A.B,”  He adjusted Two’s altitude to kill some of the turbulence rushing down the hillside and kicking up dust down below.

“Wow, it’s a mess down there.” Gordon said from his copilot seat,  his nose almost plastered to the right view port.  “Who’s in charge of this mess?”

“No idea,  it’s a collaboration of a couple big construction firms last I heard. No wonder Scott is having a hard time of it.”

The chair next to him swiveled in his direction and Gordon pointed a thumb back over his shoulder. “You don’t seem all that surprised by this.”

He shrugged,  his eyes scanning over his controls and keeping an eye on the progress of the dozers below.  “Been keeping tabs on the progress on a few engineering sites. This project has had a lot of set back in recent months.  The other construction firm was brought in ahead of schedule in hopes that it would speed things up. .  Stupid idea if you ask me,  they were no where near ready for the extra crew.  No way they could keep proper safety measures in place with these extra bodies in play.”

One of the many downfalls to projects of this nature. The money behind it all wanted results and their quarterly statement to be in the black. There were a lot of funds riding on the transcontinental transport tunnel that was going to bridge the gap between the Western tip of Russia through the Diomed Island chain and across to the Eastern end of the Alaskan land bridge.

It was a daring venture to say least.  The Bering strait was rough on the best of days,  trying to construct a tunnel system some fifty odd meters down in a sedimentary trench deep enough to hit bedrock was anything but easy.   An engineering feat of epic and mind blowing proportions.  If they could accomplish it,  the implications on commerce would be huge and add a whole new avenue for transporting goods from one end of the world to the other.

Top that with the latest in maglev rail systems and it would revolutionize the shipping industry.  Run with robotics and minimal manpower in transit,  low impact on the ecosystem once fully implemented and someone was going to be sitting pretty on a pile of cash.  That was of course if they could get it built.

One delay after another had plagued the project from the get go. From faulty equipment,  personnel issues and bad timing with the weather.  Now it seemed something had failed in a big way and from what little information John had been able to provide on route, there may or may not be upwards of forty six workers trapped down the this access shaft.

Securing Two, Virgil swung about and signaled to Gordon to follow.  Passing through the bulkhead they made their way to the pod bay, Two starting to rise up on her struts as soon as they had cleared the reinforced doors.  The hull beneath his feet rumbled as she trundled upwards but he paid it little attention,  pod assembly first and foremost on his mind.

“Grab a medkits and blankets and a couple backer boards,  we have no idea what we are heading into.”

‘Got ya,” Gordon nodded, already heading to the supply area at the back of the bay.  “Think John or Scott have any new info yet.”

Distracted by the controls in front of him, Virgil shrugged non-committedly. “Your guess is as good as mine.  Comms down the shaft seem to be fried and John was having a tough time getting thermal readings. Too many metallurgical components in the surrounding sediment are throwing his readings off.  We’ll have to take our own scans while we are down there."

“You think that will work?”  Gordon’s voice carried back through the bay.

The heavy assembly system kicked into life.  Not knowing what they were walking into, he decided against the track system and went right for the bifurcated spider legs and traction gear.  He just hoped that that tunnel wasn’t flooded, thought the pods could easily handle it.

He eyed his exo-suit a moment and with the easy brush of a finger on the console it unlocked from its loading bay.  Another quick flick and it was loaded up on the back of the pod.  Better to have it and not need it.

Task completed, he turned to give Gordon a hand with the gear.  “Ya,  it should as long as the tunnel hasn’t been too compromised and isn’t flooded we shouldn't have an issue.”

Gear stowed away, they climbed aboard the pod and without further adieu the heavy blast door of the pod compartment rolled up and out of the way.

The scene outside hadn’t changed much in the few moments it had taken them gear up and unload.  People were still scattered about but now the GDF was corralling them into groups further back from the shaft entrance.  Several bulky shapes of GDF flyers were circling above, kicking up loose debris as they chased off news droids that had invaded the DZ airspace.

Thumbing his comms, Virgil signaled to Scott and his figure appeared out the mess of suited and uniformed people crowded near One.

He didn’t look pleased to say the least, the crease between his eyes evident even from a distance.  His long legs ate up the distance, the GDF that appeared behind him forming a blockade to keep the riff raff at bay.

Virgil popped the canopy,   the plexi-shielding swinging up.  He squinted and grabbed his helmet as the one of the flyers came close, its Vtol downdraft warm and swirling up dust.

“Scott,”  He nodded with a grunt as he swung down out of the pod,  his heavy soled boots thumping.  “We got a sit-rep yet?  John was surprisingly vague.”

“Not intentionally.”  John’s voice crackled through the comms in his ear.  Virgil wasn’t surprised his brother had been listening in and his early words hadn’t been meant as a slight though he knew John wouldn’t take it that way.

“For a construction project this big you would think they would be more organized..” Scott huffed skidding to a halt, his eyes doing a quick scan over the gear that was assembled. “We’re getting contradicting accounts of what happened.   Some say there was a section collapse.  Others, an explosion of unknown origin.  I’ve taken some preliminary scans but the results are inconclusive.  All I know is there is a pocket down there about hundred and fifty feet down the shaft that’s blocked off.”

“Signs of life?”

Bringing up the scan details on his wrist comm, Scott pointed out the area in questions. “Audio’s picked up tapping.  Standard Morse Code but it stopped about twenty minutes ago.”

That wasn’t a good sign. “Number of missing still the same?”

“I’m waiting for confirmation.  More came up the shaft after the initial count.  Visibility is poor down there so we’ve had some stragglers.”

“Take the pod down, check the integrity and see if you can get further signs of life. I’m going to try and get the story up here and a firm headcount.  I’ll also relay info up to John. Comms in the mine are sketchy at best so line of sight is required.” 

“F.A.B.”

Eyes track the movement of the spider legged pod as it crossed the compound.  The machine was a wonder and from what he could see from his vantage point the interior of the pod bay it had departed from was no different.

The technology was revolutionary in innovation and design. International Rescue reputation was well warranted in that regard and he could see why his employer would be so obsessed with them though he knew there was an underlying darkness to the obsession.  He’d seen it himself a time or two.  Disposing of the remnants of whomever it was that crossed his path.

It was a thankless job but he was paid well for his efforts and his well financed employer never skimped.

Slipping between two of the many supply shipping containers that dotted one side of the service area,  he obscured himself in shadow.  Away from the hubbub and chaos of people darting to and fro there was little chance he would be spotted.  The GDF were too entangled in their own task of trying to bring some sort of order to the situation to take notice of one solitary figure.

He’d snuck around easy enough before the evacuation order had been announced. After the noisy blast of a  horn in triplicate it was as if he was invisible. The contradictory rally points purposely imposed and uncorrected making the ensuing tangle of people the perfect cover for him to slip in amongst the moving mass of bodies.

His counterpart had been waiting for him, standing off to the side and obviously not one of the many clambering workers with his pristine coiffed hair and tailored pants. The dirty hard toes boots a decidedly tacky but necessary accompaniment to his apparel.

The acknowledgement of the others presence  was simple and took but a second of eye contact and a briefest of nods. His associate then easily donned the façade of a simpering idiot  and joined the hurried workers. Disappearing as the first thundering roar of rescue entered the scene.

The man truly was an idiot though so slipping in to the role he was to play was only natural.  He really had no idea how much he was being manipulated. Every action, one his employer had direct,  every reaction one that was completely expected.

The association with the billionaire inventor was just one part of the puzzle, a naïve one at that as the twit had no idea who was really behind all the careful planning.  Planning that had been meticulously cultivated over the last several months so that all the players would be exactly where they needed to be at precisely the right time.

He knew exactly how important this next stage of the plan was and there was  the real threat of cold steel at his neck and an unmarked grave in his future if things didn’t go the way his employer envisioned.  Not an appealing end to his career to say the least.

Billionaire dealt with, he returned his steely gaze to the task at hand. Tracing the path the pod had taken he watched as the canopy opened and one of his targets hopped down, followed shortly thereafter by another and a greeting of sorts took place between them and a third.   He knew as much as his employer would divulge about the ongoing grudge with the first responders though he cared very little about the true nature behind it.

He was being paid handsomely for his work and the bonus of screwing over that family was rather appealing.  Taking them down a peg or two was something he had wanted to do from the first time he’d met them.

Further pondering though would have to wait for a more appropriate time as he had a task to complete.  Part one of the plan had gone without a hitch and the true responsible party’s identity was safely out of sight.

It was only a matter of time before their patsy’s involvement would be discovered.  He was a well known man after all. Infamously so when it came to International Rescue and he wouldn’t be able to hide in the crowd for long. His reputation for failure in his chosen field was well known and his employer had made sure that his ineptitude was something that couldn’t  be missed. Use of him as a distraction in the past had already proven rather successful in aid deflecting from their true goals and there was no doubt that he would be again.

He himself was a part in the grand scheme and he took a certain amount of pride in the subterfuge his involvement had incurred.  The Tracy family really had no clue. 

Leaning on the shipping container,  he zeroed in on the sudden bustle of organized activity.   It appeared things were moving again as two of the brothers hustled back into the pod and it started moving towards the mouth of the shaft.

Palming a small, encrypted communication device he quickly activated it.  “Targets on site and entering shaft.  Phase two is a go.”  

Message sent, he snapped the device in two and tossed it over his shoulder into the brush. His thick padded work jacket and mining helmet soon followed.  Straightening he did one final check of his GDF Blues  and stepped out  into the harsh halogen brightness of the industrial lights.;

8-8-8

TBC

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[spicynbachili1]

Arab refugees in Bangkok long for home amid immigration crackdown | Refugees

Bangkok – Six years in the past, a number of days after taking his highschool exams, Ibrahim and his household fled Syria to Lebanon the place they boarded a flight to Bangkok.

Arriving within the Thai capital on vacationer visas, they skilled freedom away from the horrors of battle in Syria. 

However since their visas expired, they’ve been dwelling as undocumented migrants.

“We considered Thailand as a transit level,” Ibrahim advised Al Jazeera, “and that we might keep one or two years. But after six years, our lives are caught in limbo.”

In Thailand, Ibrahim’s household utilized for resettlement within the US solely to attend for 2 years with no progress.

They then requested resettlement in Canada, restarting your complete course of.

In Bangkok, it takes a mean of three to 4 years to finish the resettlement course of, leaving many refugees weak and pissed off. 

“We might like to reside right here, it is just like the Center East. Persons are pleasant and can speak to you, in contrast to folks in Europe who will not say hiya,” stated Ibrahim. “We not dream of peace, solely of a passport.”

Thailand just isn’t a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Conference and the Thai Immigration Act of 1979 views anybody overstaying their visa as an unlawful immigrant, together with asylum seekers and refugees.

Refugees and asylum seekers are caught up in a police raid and transported to an immigration detention centre [Al Jazeera]

The UNHCR advised Al Jazeera that Thailand is residence to 103,000 refugees with an estimated 6,000 city refugees from nations together with Pakistan, Somalia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, and Syria.

Thailand was among the many final nations to keep up a consulate in Damascus, making it an obtainable visa at a time when doorways have been shutting to these fleeing Syria.

Mirvat got here to Thailand in 2012 quickly after graduating from Damascus College. 

Six years later, she stays in Bangkok the place she has had 4 youngsters however has not been capable of pursue her profession. 

“Probably the most troublesome factor is that our children cannot attend faculty and don’t have anything to do,” she advised Al Jazeera. 

The best concern going through Bangkok’s city refugees is arrest and in consequence, many keep inside their houses for lengthy stretches of time.

“I can not go to the market and am scared to go to the hospital. We really feel scared by every little thing,” stated Mivrat.

Syrian-Palestinian refugees promote conventional meals each Friday on the Islamic Middle in Bangko [Panithan Kitsakul]

Refugees’ fears have lately been heightened by a significant police operation that started in October with the appointment of Surachet Hakparn, the brand new immigration bureau commissioner of the Royal Thai Police. 

“Operation X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner” goals to spherical up and detain undocumented migrants, with asylum seekers and refugees caught up within the clampdown.

Police raids have led to lots of of refugees and asylum seekers being held at immigration detention centres.

Final month, the immigration bureau additionally revoked bail for undocumented migrants who might have beforehand been launched on 50,000 baht ($1,500).

An estimated 200 refugees from Syria have been amongst these summoned again into detention.

The recurrent fable that refugees are a safety menace and a drain on society is just not true. Palestinians and Syrians are extremely productive and resourceful.

Evan Jones, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Community

Refugees beforehand granted bail are actually topic to elevated harassment and arrest, stated migrants and rights teams.

“The immigration detention centre just isn’t designed for long-term keep, however lots of of detainees keep for multiple yr,” Puttanee Kangkun of Fortify Rights advised Al Jazeera.

Most are overcrowded with greater than 300 detainees held in a cell designed for 70 inmates. 

In violation of kids’s rights beneath worldwide legislation, youngsters are separated from mother and father and siblings whereas unaccompanied boys beneath the age of 12 are held alongside grownup males.

Formally, Thai authorities declare that some refugees have pretend UNHCR playing cards and that the operation will verify their paperwork, and re-release real asylum seekers on bail.

Nonetheless, native refugee rights teams advised Al Jazeera on situation of anonymity that they have been sceptical, noting that the Thai authorities works intently with UNHCR and might simply verify its database. 

“Beside the UNHCR card, which has virtually no that means beneath home authorized provisions, [refugees] don’t have any different authorized safety,” stated Puttanee Kangkun.

‘We don’t ask for cash, solely to be resettled’

The hostile surroundings has made a nasty scenario worse for refugees. Over the previous yr, Thai immigration police have focused African immigrants in Bangkok in what has been criticised as racial profiling. 

In comparison with Somali, Nigerian and different African nationalities, Arabs have had moments the place they have been capable of evade authorities extra simply and luxuriate in a point of higher freedom.

Ibrahim and his mom used to complement their remittances by promoting Arab road meals together with shawarma, hummus, and bread at neighborhood occasions and close to native mosques. However the latest clampdown on immigration has put a cease to this.

Basil, a 20-year outdated Palestinian refugee from Syria, defined: “For a very long time, I might exit, eat, get together and have a life right here. However that has all modified now.”

“Soi Arab”, the Center Japanese quarter within the coronary heart of Bangkok’s vacationer district of Nana, is residence to eating places the place younger Syrian and Palestinian refugees work with out documentation. 

“I used to be paid 250 baht ($7.50) a day for a 12-hour shift washing dishes and the proprietor gave leftover meals for me and my household,” stated Basil. 

But lately, fearing police raids, house owners are asking refugee staff to remain residence. 

“No person is working now,” stated Basil.

Regardless of the latest immigration raids, refugees Al Jazeera spoke to weren’t vital of the Thai authorities. 

“We really feel deserted by the United Nations,” stated Mivrat. “We don’t ask for cash, solely to be resettled.”

‘Soi Arab’ in Nana district is fashionable with Center Japanese vacationers and a few refugees have discovered work there [Kittipot Promprakai/Al Jazeera]

Sources advised Al Jazeera that round 20 % of the refugees from Syria in Thailand have been resettled, which is excessive in comparison with the lower than 1 % international common for third nation resettlement. 

The bulk have been Syrian passport holders, with solely round 50 people left in Thailand.

These caught in Bangkok are primarily Palestinian refugees whose choices are extra restricted. 

No Palestinian refugees have been resettled in 2018, whereas resettlement to the US has floor to a halt for the reason that election of President Trump. 

“For a lot of Syrian and Palestinian refugees, the unhappy actuality is that they could by no means be thought-about for resettlement in a 3rd nation,” Evan Jones of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Community advised Al Jazeera.

“With international resettlement numbers dropping, these people could also be caught on the fringes of Thai society for years and even a long time forward, unable to entry a few of their most simple human rights.”

If given a alternative, many Palestinian refugees from Syria would settle in Thailand. The bulk interviewed for this story have college levels and had established careers earlier than fleeing the battle.

However inside some sections of Thai society, Arab refugees are perceived as posing a safety menace.

“The Thai authorities ought to settle for the fact that not each refugee might resettle in third nations, so the idea of native integration must be considered in steadiness with nationwide safety considerations for a sustainable resolution,” stated Puttanee Kangkun of Fortify Rights.

Jones added: “The recurrent fable that refugees are a safety menace and a drain on society is just not true. Palestinians and Syrians are extremely productive and resourceful and produce a variety of expertise and information that would assist profit Thai society.”

Even when the Syrian battle ends, Palestinian refugees who travelled to Thailand on now-expired emergency paperwork have misplaced the best to return to Palestine. Renewing their journey paperwork has additionally change into rather more troublesome for the reason that Syrian consulate in Bangkok closed in 2017. 

Refugees that Al Jazeera spoke with estimate that there are 400 Palestinian refugees from Syria remaining in Bangkok, with one other 201 from Iraq and 15 from Gaza. 

For a few of them, resettlement shall be to a fourth fairly than a 3rd nation. 

Asma was born in Haifa in 1940 and as a younger lady fled Palestine for Iraq. She was displaced once more by Iraq’s descent into violence after 2003, dwelling for 3 years in a refugee camp in Cyprus earlier than arriving in Thailand. 

“I requested the UN to ship me residence to Haifa,” she stated. “I simply wish to be in my nation.”

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[tennietj03-blog]

There's Big Money In Cold Pressed Oil India

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The Number One Reason You Should (Do) Cold Pressed Oils For Cooking

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[marcopaulinsounddesign-blog]

Sound Design in the Moving Image - Research Document

In this document I will be going into detail on sound in the moving image. One focus will be the music that accompanies a movie and how it can affect the whole mood of the viewer. My other focus will be on the sound design aspects of a film’s soundtrack. This includes the foley effects and sounds generated through various techniques in order to best suit the image on screen. To narrow my focus even further, I will put horror and thriller films in the spotlight, exploring the ways in which composers and sound editors effectively cause the emotions of fear and unease within the viewers mind through manipulation of innate instincts we all possess. This document will evidence the research I have made over the course of this project and throughout my learning curve I have put the skills and techniques I have aquired into practice through exercises which I will give examples of alongside this document. These exercises include creating different sound solutions for the same clip which creates different moods caused by the elements of sound I have used. I have provided a slideshow presentation which will deliver what I have created. Firstly, however, I will give evidence of research I have done which has helped me in producing the creative examples.

In this section I will talk about the history of sound in the moving image and explain its importance in helping me improve my skills in this area. From the day that sound and image were first put together, a variety of skills and techniques have been developed which can all, to some extent, be used by modern day composers, sound designers and editors. I aim to document my learning of these techniques before applying them in my work.

The first device that could play back a sound that had been recorded was developed by Thomas Edison in 1887. It was named the Tinfoil Phonograph due to the recording surface being a piece of tinfoil wrapped around a grooved cylinder. The cylinder was rotated using a hand crank. When sound waves stimulated the tinfoil diaphragm, the resulting motion caused movement which brought a stylus down onto the tinfoil. The movement would move relative to intensity and pitch of the sound waves so the resulting indentations captured the sound. Edison also conceived of having motion pictures to supplement his phonograph. He invented a device called the Kinetoscope in 1891 with the idea that sound plus a motion picture would be more entertaining than sound alone. Unfortunately at this point motion picture was entertaining enough on its own that silent movies halted the commercialisation of movies with sound.

Another early pioneer of early talking pictures was Auguste Baron. He invented a device named the Kinetophone which combined sound and visuals. Transmitted signals from microphones were engraved on copper. A motor would then spin the phonograph and camera at the same speed so that they were synchronised.

Due to financial issues, Baron had to abandon his work before he could show commercial projections of it. The Lumiere brothers, however, had successfully begun commercial projections in 1895. Although this was a step forward for the film industry, the first showings had several issues. One of these were problems relating to synchronisation. Due to the phonograph not being a very sensitive piece of equipment, it would often have to be in shot so that it could capture what the actor was saying. This also meant that it was hard during projection to playback the dialogue line in sync with the picture. Due to the delay in the progression of synchronisation, the silent movie industry overpowered talking pictures and became very successful. These silent movies were accompanied by a piano which would act as an expression of emotion to what was happening on screen. It would also be used to cover up the loud noise caused by the spinning projector. Alongside the piano a lecturer or narrator who made sure the story was being followed while also filling in important dialogue and creating any sound effects that were needed.

In 1926 a big revolutionary event occurred which saw Warner-Brothers introduce something called the Vitaphone. This was a sound-on-disc system which used wax discs in conjunction with the projector showing the film. Sound effects were recorded onto this and then synchronized with the picture. Don Juan was the first feature length film to use this technology. The Vitaphone system soon gave way to another which was created by Fox and General Electric. This system was called Movietone. Sound was converted to light which was recorded on to the film strip. When the projection was played, the light was converted back into sound making synchronisation easier. Eventually more techniques for synchronisation started to arise such as post production, over-dubbing and booming microphones. Before this films with dialogue had little movement due to actors having to stay in one place where a microphone was fixed. The first film which really commercialised films with synchronised music, sound effects and dialogue was The Jazz Singer which, despite its overt racism, set the benchmark for how films would work in the future. This was due to the fact it had music to emote and describe certain aspects of the film which composers always aim to do today, synchronised sound effects to give a sense of realism and hyperrealism to actions within the film and dialogue which synchronised to the movement of the actor’s lips.

Now that I have given an overview on the history of sound synchronised film, I will narrow the focus towards the sound designers and foley artists who bring all the actions and events, small or large, alive within a film. A sound designer is responsible for acquiring and synchronising sounds for actions and events on the screen. When the sound designer starts work and who they work with depends really on the type of film. On smaller budget productions the director may shoot the whole film and, when they are happy with the final edit, employ a sound designer to make their additions afterwards. On bigger films however with a higher budget to spend on a sound designer, they may work directly with the director perhaps before or during shooting, taking into account the sound that needs to be occurring within particular scenes. This happens a lot in big budget sci-fi movies where a sound designers needs to be aware during filming of exactly what needs to be done. Sound designers need to record, acquire, manipulate and generate audio elements. They work closely with foley artists who record the sounds of normal actions and events such as footsteps and closing doors. I will in this document refer to them as sound designers also.

The sound designers on a film will need to know in detail what the film is about and what the story is. They begin their work by studying the script, this helps the them get a grip on the film and find out about any sound the film may call for. The sound designers may get direct orders from the director on specific sounds they want or sit in on rehearsals and sessions while giving advice on certain sounds that may work. After they are happy with the amount of research they have done they will start to create the aural universe for the audience. During the research they will have identified all of the sounds needed into categories. Spot effects come under the foley effects bracket which include gunshots and impacts, these are usually created using direct recordings from the foley artists in a foley studio using either the exact object or things that create a sound similar. The sound designers will have also identified the atmospheric effects. These include ambient sounds such as rain, wind and traffic noises. Then there are specialist sound design effects that include unnatural sounds such as dinosaur or alien noises. All of these sounds create natural aural worlds for the viewer as well as abstract soundscapes that may represent a different world. The aim of the soundscape is to create a connection between the viewer and the picture by engaging natural connections they are used to and stimulating imagination through the use of abstract sounds. Once all the sounds are compiled the sound designer may act as or work with a sound editor, sequencing the sounds in synchronisation with on screen action. After this is complete the sound editor will use several mix techniques to polish off the final score. I will talk about this later, firstly I will go over several techniques a sound designer may use to get the desired effect

The first technique I will talk about involves the use of space in the mix and working around dialogue. Due to the psychological nature of how we react to sound, our minds select sounds and naturally hear them over others. An example of this would be the human voice, we mentally foreground this in front of other elements. This means that sound effects mixers and editors have to focus the sounds so that we can hear them. For this reason using raw sounds from real life would not be good enough as we would naturally filter them out over a human voice.

Another technique would be using selected sounds. Sounds selected specifically for certain things, situations or events can create tension, atmosphere and emotion. An example of this would be motifs used for certain characters. The villain in a storyline could have a more ominous sound associated with them so when that sound is triggered the audience are put on edge. Another use for motifs is to connect two different characters. A certain sound associated with a specific character can also magnify their screen space by overwhelming other sounds. This allows for a subtle dominance in presence of that particular character even if the scene is not about them or they are off screen.

Another interesting idea used by some sound designers is the use of less literal objects. This applies a lot in the creation of spot effects. Often when trying to replicate a sound in a studio the real thing may sound unconvincing possibly due to the fact it is not being recorded in the same situation as one screen. A technique used to battle this is understanding the essential qualities of the sound you are trying to create within the on screen situation and using several less literal objects to build the sound. An example of this would be in Ben-Hur where it is reported that the source sound of a whip cracking was a large steak being slapped on someones thigh.

Another technique for achieving a certain sound is starting with a dry original source sound and manipulating it in different ways. These include distortion, speed change, reversal, frequency shifting and filtering. Through the use of these and many more audio manipulation techniques, plus the use of the thousands of software plugins available, a sound designer can start with a very basic source sound and manipulate to be something completely different that suits on screen action. Through the use of combining two sounds, certain emotion can be added to an action. An example of this could be somebody writing a letter of bad news and the sound of the pen being subtly layered with an uncomfortable sound such as nails on a chalkboard.

Thinking outside the box is an important quality for a sound designer. Using this quality they can often source sounds for interesting on screen events from mundane sources. An example of this would be in the film Terminator II where the sound of the character T-1000 passing through metal bars is a recording of dog food coming out of a can. This shows that a sound designer needs to be able to seperate themself from the knowledge of the source sound. This will help them to see the source sound as a solution to the on screen action even though it not literal at all. This can often make the sound more convincing.

An important thing for a sound designer to consider would be how the sounds they are creating relate to the story of the picture. The sound designer should be working at all times with the director to create a sonic medium which not only brings the picture to life but also relates to the narrative and thematic elements of the film. A good example of this would be in the film Jurassic Park. Gary Rydstrom designed the roars of the dinosaurs before the models for the beasts were actually created. This shows that Gary created the sounds not to match an image on screen but to follow the narrative that describes the dinosaurs. This shows that sound designers must not be too fixed on the on screen action but must also focus on what the story is telling and how their sounds can give an expressive edge to that storyline.

There are several ideas and techniques I have outlined that will help me build a skill set in creating and sequencing sounds to fit an image. In the next section of this document I will talk about the music side and all the techniques and skills composers use to lift a moving image with music.

The role of the sound designers and foley artists is an important one, but the role the composer plays in a film soundtrack is just as vital. While the sound designers bring to life various normal or abstract situations with supposed real life sounds, the composer can mold the entire mood of a scene through their different techniques of instrumentation and composition. The composer must write and direct original music for the film which must both be technically correct and also be appropriate to the mood of different situations throughout the film. The composer, therefore, must work in close proximity to the director, discussing ideas for when and where the music should be placed to make the director's vision come alive. The composer must also be able to work in different situations with a variety of different people such as orchestras, bands and sound designers. In order to achieve the vision of the director, the composer is often brought in as early as the first cut and from this moment they start their work. The composer acts as a supervising music editor in a large group of people working on the music in a film. An important thing anyone working on a film score needs to keep in mind are the ‘hit’ points. These are cues that form a precise list of timings that show each point where musical emphasis may need to be made. This is important whilst composing your score as each hit point needs to be synchronised with some form of musical hit. A way of doing this would be to have the hits of certain instruments being directly on this cue point; this would work in situations with fast and sudden emphasising moments. Other types of hit points could cue a long sustained note whilst others could signify a rhythm of drums. One part of cueing up a score is marking every single significant moment but the other part is recognising which of these are more important and need musical backing. Another thing to consider when working on the hit points is how the important ones link together. One way of looking at it could be that the more important cue points are islands with the other cue points in between acting as stepping stones for you to walk across. It is in the composers interests that the score flows throughout the cues.

Anyone doing a composition for a film needs to think further about the frequency spectrum than someone who is just creating a piece of music. This is due to the fact there are certain frequencies occurring already in a film soundtrack that the music could clash with. One of these is the human voice which at talking volume can have a fundamental frequency between 85Hz and 255Hz dependent on age and gender. The composer must think tactically when choosing instrumentation so that the frequencies of the instruments do not overlap with the people talking. The composer must also be aware of the dominant sound effects in a scene as these will have cutting frequencies that need to be avoided.

Now that I have gone over all the general techniques and skills required to effectively produce sound effects and music for moving image, I will narrow my focus onto the genres of horror and thriller films such as Silence of the Lambs, The Birds and Sinister.

In this section I will look deeper into the sound design sides for the specific genres of horror and thriller movies. These types of images rely much more heavily on aural imaging due to the sometimes wildly abstract characters in the story and situation that happen. There are several key elements that sound designers need to take into consideration which I will talk about alongside techniques used specifically by horror movie sound designers that are proven to provoke a sense of eeriness, tension and fear in an audience.

One element I will talk about is the background sound within the scene. This includes ambiences and distant foley sounds that could be relevant. These sounds set the viewer in the world of the film and determine the mood of a particular scene from the onset. It not only helps the audience to realise a possibly abstract scenario but also to resolve whether or not the location is safe. Sound can be used to create tension in a certain area which will make the viewer feel uneasy to be in that particular place. These sounds include eerie hums and nonlinear sounds. One particularly good example of background noise in a horror movie is Ron Bochar’s work in Silence of the Lambs. In the dungeon where Lecter is being held, the ambience used was particularly interesting. Bochar said that animal screams and noises were built into the ambience that gave an organic sense of danger. This used nonlinear sounds which I will discuss later.

Another thing a sound designer on a horror or thriller flick needs to be aware of is the unseen character. This could be the antagonist hunting down the protagonist. The sound designer needs to be able to create this character aurally without the viewers seeing the character. This means there are several considerations the sound designer must take, such as the characters size, speed and proximity. The size of the character can be determined through the frequency spectrum. Lower frequencies are usually associated with larger things whilst high pitched sounds are attributed to smaller things. This is true for footsteps where you would need more impact for a larger character. In the case of, for example, a spaceship, a higher pitched hum would be associated more to a smaller drone whereas a deep rumble would more closely relate to a large ship. The speed of the unseen character is another important aspect the sound designer needs to consider. This will determine and reveal more characteristics of the unseen antagonist to the audience. The effect can be achieved through careful sequencing of footsteps and potential contact with other objects. Creating the speed of the character aurally can tell the audience a lot about its intent and personality. An example of this could be made with two types of murderer, one that is calm and collected hunting down their prey would move slower and more carefully while an out of control one would be running around and crashing into things. By using sequencing and foley techniques to realise the speed of the character, it can be made clear to the audience exactly what their intent is and what threat the person they are hunting is facing. Proximity is the next thing that needs to be determined. This is important in building tension between the unseen character and the possible protagonist. How close the character is can determine more traits about the unseen antagonist, possibly revealing new characteristics that will surprise the audience or confirm their fears. Dependent on the space in which the scene is set then there are a few techniques a sound designer can use to reveal the proximity of the character. One of these is frequency control, low frequencies travel further than high frequencies as they are more powerful, so sounds that are distant will have less high frequencies in them. A sound designer can fiddle with the EQ in order to achieve a more dull sound. The next is volume control, sounds that are further away are quieter which seems obvious but volume becomes very effective when the character starts to move closer to the audience’s ears in the film. A sound suddenly being very loud after being quiet shocks the audience making them realise how close it is. The next technique often used is the use of reverb and delay to create echos. The type of reverb depends on the space in which the scene is set, but generally reverb gives the impression a sound is further away as there are more surfaces in between the audience and the sound for it to bounce off of. This again is effective in creating the surprise of the approaching character as when the antagonist is right up close the sound will be much dryer and harsher.

Another element of the soundscape the designer needs to consider is subjective sound. Objective sounds are literal and include real foley noises such as footsteps and breathing whereas subjective sounds are those used to intensify an action even if that sound would not be heard in real life. They are used to show what the protagonist is possibly hearing in their own mind. This is a useful tool that sound designers can use to accent a scene because it taps into the realm of the protagonists imagination, forcing the audience to not only feel their own sense of fear towards the unseen character but to also feel the protagonists. Now that I have explained the several elements in horror/thriller films that sound designers manipulate to create fear in an audience, I will no go into detail on some interesting techniques used specifically for the purpose of creating anxiety and fear.

The first technique I will go into is the use of infrasound. This is a sound of very low frequency which is given credit for unsettling and freaking out humans through us being able to feel it over hearing it. Infrasound means sound that is below the normal range of hearing, for humans it is 19 Hz or below. Infrasound does exist in nature and is produced by things like earthquakes, storms and some large animals such as whales and elephants. Infrasound has been shown to evoke an emotional response in humans with several examples outside of the cinema world showing this. One example of this would be an experiment conducted in 2003 where scientist placed a ‘bass-cannon’ which emitted sound at 17 Hz into a concert hall. 750 subjects were invited to listen to contemporary music in the concert hall whilst the 17 Hz sound was laced in within. Interviews with the subjects revealed that odd sensations such as extreme sorrow and anxiety increased up to 22% while the ‘bass-cannon’ was active. The effect that infrasound has can be taken advantage of by sound designers to catalyse a scary storyline. The previous experiment was conducted to back a hypothesis that the infrasound produced by church organs are to blame for the sense of spiritual presence people sometimes feel in church. The parishioners possibly relate these senses to a metaphysical presence due to their brains trying to contextualise what they are perceiving in their environment. The same thing can happen in the movie theater with people watching a horror film. If there is infrasound subtly laced into the soundtrack of the horror film then the odd sensations may be caused in the viewers, this in turn will be coupled by their fear of what is happening on screen visually. The boosted sense of anxiety caused by the infrasound will be attributed to the scary visuals by the natural contextualisation that occurs in the viewers brains. The end result is a visual that is made scarier to the audience by tricking them into thinking the effect of the infrasound is actually the sensation they are experiencing because of the visuals. This is an interesting technique and I will explore different ways to create the sound later through synthesis and the extraction of infrasound from natural sounds. I will now go into detail on another element used by horror movie sound designers and composers called nonlinear sounds.

Nonlinear sounds are sounds that we are made to be naturally alerted by in nature. These include sudden sounds with strange shifts in frequency and frightful tones which trigger an innate sense of fear in humans. Things such as sharp changes in pitch and volume takes more mental effort for us to process causing more stress. The reason these sounds are so effective is partly to do with how we process sounds. Although light travels faster than sound we process sound much quicker than sight. Light activates photoreceptor cells in the retina, which travels down the optic nerve, gets sorted in the centre of the brain, gets decoded in the visual cortex to figure out edges and shapes before going to other parts of the brain which recognises the shape. This can take up to half a second. Signals coming in through the ear, however, only have to travel over five nerves before being sorted and recognised by the brain. This makes the startle reflex one of the fastest thoughts you can have. This means that our reaction to sounds in cinema are much easier to activate than reactions from sight. Sound designers and composers use nonlinear sounds to trigger an innate sense of danger and fear cause by the strange harmonies and frequency shifts often attributed to animal cries and alarm calls. A skilled sound designer can change a recorded sound and fit it to represent something on screen. A good way sound designers incorporate feelings of danger into a normal situation is by hiding nonlinear sounds into the regular sounds within the scene.

Horror and thriller music also incorporates nonlinear sounds in order for the audience to naturally feel uneasy while listening to it. A good example of this is Oskar Sala’s work on the film The Birds. He used an instrument called the trautonium and through his skill and knowledge in the instrument, was able to produce most of the soundtrack using it. He was able to instill several sharp tones and random frequency shifts into the soundtrack which triggered the audiences fear of nonlinear sounds. He also used the trautonium to create the sounds of the birds themselves. This meant that the birds had an unnatural and electronic feel giving the audience the impression they have changed into monsters. Another good example of using nonlinear sounds within music is the soundtracks for Sinister and Sinister 2. The composers Tom Hajdu and Andy Milburn use samples that sound like humans or animals moaning or crying and incorporated them into the music for the parts of the film where the evil character is being shown. I found this to spur a very effective response in myself as hearing those sounds coupled with the dissonant notes and drums of the music increased the chills I was experiencing.

An effective technique to use to achieve a nonlinear sound is by playing notes out of their normal range which can be achieved by recording an instrument normally, putting the audio into a sampler inside a DAW and playing notes way above its range. This creates a sound we are not normally used to hearing which triggers our alert senses and puts us on edge. Another good technique for processing musical material is the use of distortion. A heavily distorted instrument or voice sounds quite chaotic and makes us think it is a random and threatening noise. The shrill noises that are caused by distortion also sound like a human or animal scream. An animal scream will make us feel instinctively alerted and uncomfortable due to the potential danger of that animal while a human scream triggers an evolutionary response making us think that someone within the tribe is in danger. Composers take advantages of these innate responses to nonlinear sounds and intwine them within their scores of instruments to make the audience naturally fear the music and add another edge of tension to the onscreen action.

Tension can be caused by composers using dissonant notes and nonlinear sounds within the music. The composer can slowly build up a sense of tension which they can either leave unresolved, keeping the audience on edge or releasing it along with the onscreen action while the audience is primed to be frightened. A good example of a composer using unresolved tension is in the film Jaws. The composer John Williams worked well with the on screen picture by using the famous string arpeggio to build up tension in the audience. Due to the killer shark nearly never being seen in the movie, the tension caused was almost always unresolved, keeping the audience on edge for most of the film.

Throughout this research document, I have picked up and learned of the fundamentals that all sound designers need to consider and focussed my learning onto the horror and thriller genre. I have learned several basic techniques that should be considered on any solution I put to an image and I have learned of several interesting ideas and techniques which I can use in specific situations where the story or action calls for it. I have been practicing these techniques on a few horror and thriller clips during the course of my learning. These include a practice clip given from a sound design website which allowed me to explore my skills in building the unseen character, creating background sound and building tension. I have also practiced on a trailer for the movie Rings which gave me a chance to explore my techniques in using nonlinear music and syncing it to a trailer style clip. I will upload these videos to Youtube and post a link to a blog I have created that tracks all the techniques I have used for creating the solutions for each video.