Week 12

Reflective Report

This biggest decision in this project was making the fireball the most impactful moment, by syncing the whole sound track towards it. In Version 1 the library fire sound was used but felt too soft and long, making the prop feel light. Replacing this sound with a heavier/punchier effect and increasing the reverb, gave it more weight and space. The decision to play the vocal at the same time as the movement, change the effect of the characters effort. Now making the fireball and scream read as one event while also tightening up the synchronisation between the sound and image.

My exemplars shape these decisions. The avatar series featured its own effects and music (Zuckerman, 2023) that was designed around Zukos abilities. The Netflix sound team was able to do this by layering reverb-heavy bending sounds, demonstrating how sound can be manipulated to have weight through processing and space (Peralta, 2024; Post Magazine, 2024).

Visually the warm directional light and hard shadows create an aggressive tone, matching the energy of the fireball sound. However my skills in sound design is still developing. All the sounds are used from an open sound library and had preset and volumes changed, rather than designing a soundtrack. Where Gibson layered sounds, I merely used one. I also lack an ambient or foley track, so at times the figure feels empty in space.

Though my technical skills, I developed a muti-track organization in Premiere Pro, used Essential Sound tagging and presets. My main ongoing challenge was balancing audio levels, not matter what I did I couldn't get the fireball to sound loud enough without it clipping.

Overall the animation is the strongest part is its loudest moment, but the rest of the soundtrack sounds thin. Recording my own effects and Foley would of given me more control of the composition and more opportunities to create more space.

References

Peralta, D. (2024, August 26). Interview: Tim Kimmel and Luke Gibleon on the magic behind the sound of ‘avatar: The last airbender’. Awards Radar. https://awardsradar.com/2024/08/26/tim-kimmel-and-luke-gibleon/

Post Magazine. (2024, August 14). Avatar: The last airbender’s co-supervising sound editors Tim Kimmel & Luke Gibleon - post magazine. Post Magazine. https://www.postmagazine.com/press-center/audio/2024/avatar-the-last-airbenders-co-supervising-sound-editors-tim-kimmel-luke-gibleon/

Zuckerman, J. (2023). Avatar: The Last Airbender – Book 1. Nickelodeon.