Transcripts
General interview with Sobia, no camera just sound:
S= Sobia
T= Tazmin
All the dialogue marked in red are the parts the Director has asked me to include in the poetic documentary and parts we may use in the long length documentary.
T: 'Would you like to just tell us about yourself, what are you likes, dislikes, aspirations, something about yourself?'-
S: 'Yeah, urm, I recently got a job at Whirlow Hall Farm, and urm, I've always loved animals since I was a young age and urm, my role is an outdoor education assistant. So I work with people who have got special needs or anger management problems and that's something I'm really passionate about because I'd like to work with people who have got learning difficulties or, have special needs.'
T: 'What inspired you to do that?'
S: 'Ermm, I think it's partly because I'm deaf, I know what it's like to be deaf like how hard it can be, umm, and how good it can be as well and that, you know, just because you have a learning difficulty or.. whatever, a mental problem, it shouldn't stop you from achieving your dreams.'
T: 'That's really nice. Urmm, can you inform us a bit more about your hearing impairment? You know, was, was you born with it?'
S: 'Yeah, urmm. I was born with it and I have two hearing aids and the deafness that I have is moderately deaf so, if I took my hearing aids out I wouldn't really be able to hear anything. Um, and what's interesting actually is, er, it goes down my female generation, umm, apparently thats not scientifically, like, right? (laughs under breath). Apparently it's meant to be 50/50, there's meant to be some males in my family who are deaf, urm, but we haven't really seen anyone yet, so. That's kind of interesting and I think it's interesting that it could be literally 50/50 every time but that's just amazing because my birth mum is deaf, her grandma's deaf, her great great grandma's deaf and it just goes back and back and back. So, yeah, there's just a whole list of people who are deaf and I've always been told that if I had a female it would be deaf and if I had a boy he wouldn't be deaf.'
T: 'How does that make you feel?'
S: 'Urmmm, I think it's interesting.'
T: 'And, you know, how do you feel about you're being deaf, did it ever get you down? Or did you just get on with it?'
S: 'Yeahh, I mean, there are days where it is really really hard, 'cause it's very hard to explain to someone what it's like to be deaf and I think because it's not a.. visual thing really, like you know, if someone's disabled and they haven't got an arm I think people are more sort of like sympathetic for that, and it's not like I need sympathy or anything but a lot of people think just because you're deaf it's not a big deal. umm, and it's very hard in like social situations, urm, 'cause I can't hear like being in a really big group or being at the pub for example that can be really difficult because it's just really loud. Urmm, but it's not all bad like, you know, I've been deaf all my life so you just kind of- I don't really know anything other than being deaf so I haven't really got anything to relate it to so you just kind of.. get on with it I guess.
T: 'Er, I agree with you on a sense that because it's not a visible thing, people don't notice it or pay attention to it as much, 'cause I'm really into mental health and- '
S: 'Yeahh'
T: 'Importance of people acknowledging and supporting mental health problems, but they think well I can't see it so it, it doesn't exist but-'
S: 'Yeah, yeah definitely'
T: 'So has it ever affected your life in terms of relationships with family and friends and your social life-'
S: 'Yeah, urmm, like, I think it's always affected my family and friends in a way, urm, there have been times where I've had arguments with my friends because they've just kind of been like oh it doesn't matter anymore because they just get frustrated with me saying, "What did you say?" or you know, I'm not being able to hear you. Urmm. I think my family sometimes get a little bit frustrated but you know, it's, they know what to do in a situation where it's really loud, like say if we go to a restaurant or something we'll just try and sit somewhere more quietly. Urmm, and I think, I mean I always get stereotyped like as soon as I say I'm deaf everyone assumes that I'm stupid or I can't talk properly or, erm, I just can't hear anything you're saying, so that can be a little bit frustrating. But erm,you know I don't really blame them because they don't really- '
T: 'Understand?'
S: 'Yeah.'
T: 'Erm, so, with making friends and things have you found that, despite everything, it's quite easy you know, people have been quite... they just don't see it, they just don't see it as an issue to be your friend?'
S: 'Urmm, I don't think I've ever had someone not be my friend because I'm deaf . Urmm. Like they've always been really supportive and just been really interested in it more than anything, urm, like Barney for example. He's just really, like supportive of me being deaf and, urm, like he's, he's amazing because I've taught him how to like sign language as well, so, when I don't have my hearing aids in at night like, we have our own sort of like little conversation so he'll tell me if he's going to the loo or something and then I won't panic. Which is really nice.'
T: 'That is really nice. One other question that I was going to ask you was do you agree that it should be like a, a universal language that everyone should learn because I think that's true, since starting this project I really feel like it's something they should teach in the school curriculum, things like that, do you, do you agree with that or?'
S: 'Urmm, I think so yeah, urm, what's interesting though is that, urm, I went to High Storrs and, ermm, the people.. we don't do sign language at High Storrs but there is a deaf unit and erm, then there's Silverdale that do the sign language and erm, the deaf community have a big sort of hatred for each other, like they don't like each other so High Storrs hate each other and Silverdale hate each other, which is really odd so High Storrs don't like you to sign, erm, but Silverdale do. And their argument is that you know, if you teach a child when they're younger, when they're deaf, to sign they will never speak which I think is ridiculous, like I think it's just... you know stupid. And I actually had like sign languaging, erm, and like a teacher that came to my home and, like, I learnt it and I do agree that like I think everyone should learn it because it's not just for deaf people I mean, just communicating with someone who can't speak English or whatever or we can't speak their language is a really good way of being able to understand someone.'
T: 'Yeah erm. And, erm, from you being deaf what support have you received from your family the government and anything like that? I know you just mentioned your school but, erm, yeah have you received any helpful support?'
S: 'Yeah well, erm, there's a thing when you're at school where you can get statemented which, ermm, it basically means that you get support from school, you get like a radio aid so you can hear the teachers better, ermm, they come into classes and help you, and so that's been really good. I think when you leave school though it can be quite a different world, erm, 'cause when you're younger, so when you're in the children's hospital they're very supportive and very sort of like, you know, they encourage you to kind of be deaf I guess but as soon as you leave school and you go to the adult hospital it's really really bad because no one sort of cares and you're very much independent so, like now, like that I'm nineteen I don't really think I get much support from government and like, you know, I think they're really shit at the minute but erm, my family and friends are amazing like they're really supportive and they do the best they can.'
T: ' Urm. And could you tell us about your family?'
S: 'Yeah urmm. Well I'm adopted so, I have two mums who are gay and two sisters who are really lovely, and urm, one of them lives in London so I don't get to see her a lot, urmm, but she's always been understanding of my deafness and like, tries to help me in anyway she can. Which is good. And then my younger sister Nala, she like, kind of, makes me happy because rather than making it into a sad thing she'll joke about it so if I've misheard something she'll make it into a joke, but then that's helpful for me because it can be really funny and nice.'
T: 'I've, I've noticed that as well 'cause obviously I'm really into mental health, you know, a lot of people who do suffer mentally they just take the mick out of themselves, they're just like I can't change it, I can't deal with it, I'm gonna make jokes about it I'm gonna get on with it. And I think that, that's a really nice thing and it's nice that you take it that way as well. Urm, so can you tell us a bit more about your like, your adopted family and you know their names and any little things?'
S: ' Yeah urm. My sister's are called Nala and Tara and urm, they, we're actually not birth related, so erm, they have separate families as well, ermm, though what's quite funny is that everyone says we look like each other, but we don't really, I don't think we really look like each other, erm, and then I have Margaret and Janet who are my mums and we go on a lot of holidays together so, urmm, yeah, like we have a lot of fun times.'
T: 'And how would they describe you? In three words that your friends and family would use to describe you what would you think they would be?'
S: 'Urmm, friendly, err, chatty, and urmm, I guess very sociable like I love talking to people and making new friends and like getting to know new things and stuff, like that I'm not afraid to try something new.'
Half way through this project I changed my role from editor to sound designer. Therefore, for our 5-10 minute documentary I was in charge of recording the sound and creating a soundtrack piece for the edit.
As I have explained in one of my other posts, one of the lapel mics was giving off a buzzing sound whilst we were recording an interview, so it was my role in post-production to clean up the sound and try to get rid of the buzz. I used Adobe Auditions with the noise reduction tool to do the best I could to evacuate the buzz.
After finding the right frequency at which the buzzing noise was at I then reduced part of that frequency, not too much so the voice of the contributors were distorted but just enough so the buzz was almost completely gone. This method seemed to work, with only making a slight echo on the voice recording.
When it came to making a soundtrack for the 5-10 minute documentary, I needed some inspiration or influences for what kind of mood and tone I needed to create for the spectators. So me and the group started looking for some artists/tracks that we thought had a good relevance to the film which I could work off.
Here are a few we would like to have a comparison with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0o8JCxjjpM&list=PLdhdnrR3DmA-xLjrlKYNCq4cqsMzs4cfr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFr9StkVwTk
http://www.jeaniefinlay.com/wordpress/love-takes/
This track was my main inspiration for the soundtrack piece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT9FKnB28YQ
I started the production of my soundtrack off with a simple beat that I used a grand piano tool for. This helped shape the speed and tone of my piece.
I recorded in my piece by using a midi keyboard plugged into Protools, this way it was easier than creating notes and effects on Protools manually.
I then added an ambience-like track that would run all the way through the piece as a way of layering all the notes that would be used. I used an alternative pan on this track which means it moves from left to right so then it would sound just like the one on my inspiration musical track 'Darling' by Adam Barnes.
I also changed the frequency a bit on the piano track so then it had a bit more bass, this would make it sound more powerful, like the theme of the documentary. I changed the frequency by using the EQ plug-in and increasing the low frequency levels.
I also added some reverb so then each note would echo into each other and make the whole track seem more emotional and deep as that is the main theme of our documentary so we can portray Sobia's emotions from being deaf.
For the more complex part of my piano track I used the note format to move the notes that I had recorded around so then they were all in time and sounded right.
To finish off my piece I added a few notes from the solo violin effect to add a little more background to the soundtrack so then it didn't sound so boring and plain. I have learnt from this project that it is always better to layer up your sounds to make them sound more realistic and dense.
My finished soundtrack was a little longer than 1 minute, so the director and editor could add the track into the slide cuts of the documentary. I am fairly impressed with my soundtrack as I feel it represents the theme of power and accomplishment within the documentary. This is a link to my finished, full soundtrack:
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