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The Goldfish, a short comedic-drama which follows a young woman with an odd, unforgiving dependence on her pet. she attends a group therapy session, where she learns the benefits of independence.

my role as a sound operator included sourcing and maintaining sound equipment and operating the equipment as directed. As well as creating ideas for a soundscape for the script.

my initial thoughts on the script was that it had both a dark and meaningful theme shifting tones between somewhat depressing to lighthearted.

I thought the sound could align with how Lena views the world with and without J.C. In the beginning, when she is looking for her sock and feeding J.C, the music could be fun and lighthearted, and then she gets the voicemail

from Sophie, the tone could shift to be a bit darker as she doesn't want to be without J.C. Similarly in the Community Centre because she doesn't see a point in it at first but as she listens to everyone's stories her perspective changes and with that the sound would become more animated with the music. Then I was thinking when she goes back to her apartment the darker music starts playing because it's no longer a comfort space for her and J.C, and only when she is letting go of J.C at the lake she feels free and the warmer music would pick up.

after reading the script more and listening to the opinions of others, i found that the script was more comedic than melancholic and that more comedic elements could be incorporated into the soundtrack for example using the sound effects of water bubbles/splashing when the camera is pointed at J.C to highlight the absurdity of needing to carry a fish everywhere for emotional support.

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As a sound operator i also had to create lists of what would potentially be recorded as well as an equipment list.

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My role as a performer was to do independent research for the development of My character and Perform my character in the scenes they are in.

Auditioning

To audition I prepared and recorded two monologues for characters in the story.

The two characters I auditioned for were:

Marla

Hosts group therapy sessions. She has a humorous yet commanding presence and a natural-born leader.

Jasmine

An understanding, slightly self-conscious character who always tries to see the brighter side of negative situations.

the character i was assigned was Jasmine.

Rehearsing

We did a table read to solidify the characters we will be portraying.

rehearsing with other actors was something i found difficult as there were multiple occasions where not all the actors were present. We would have someone fill in for those actors. I would also rehearse by my self, going over lines where i did not need to interact with others. i also used that time to better understand my character and how she would react to other lines.

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I was only able to do the sound recording on one of the shooting days as I was also an actor and had to divide my role with the other sound operator.

the scene i was the sound operator for was the lake scene where Lena decides to let go of J.C and move on.

in this scene, the required sound needed to be recorded was:

the dialogue

the outside noise

cars passing

the lake

Lena passing by people

Lena pouring J.C away

Sadly due to some members of the public some takes did not have sound recording on them.

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The character Jasmine in the community centre scene.

for the community centre we had two filming days.

on the first filming day we were not able to get through all the shots of the group therapy, so we utilised that time for rehearsals in the space that way we were more prepared for the next day.

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In filming rehearsals we went over opening shot ideas for the community centre scene. The character marla walks in so there was a focus on the characters's shoes.

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We also went over reactions to the character Lena for the circular shots.

I wanted the character of jasmine to be confused at first, not understanding the reasoning behind the fish J.C then slowly warming up to Lena as she becomes a part of the therapy group and tells her story.

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Before & After

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As an actor i went with the costume department to try on the outfit they had come up with for the character.

this included:

colourful short sleeved shirt

bright green vest

skirt with flower design

pink bandana

pink arm warmers

hair charms

blue jeans

different coloured shoes

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As the character is cheerful and flamboyant the makeup department wanted the makeup to reflect that.

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As a sound operator i like to keep the sound files organised while recording to for convenience in editing. while we were shooting i named each sound file after each take.

e.g. Sc4Sh6Ta4

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after production the editing team made it apparent that we needed to re-record pieces of audio in the dialogue.

during pre-production i did an induction for the voice recording studio.

I spoke to the relevant actor for the dialogue needed to be re-recorded and booked the studio, with a screen so the actor could sync with the video, for the closest time available. This was difficult as the studio was in high demand.

I made the booking from 9am to 11:45am as that was the only time slot available, but due to the actor being delayed and neither of us having the edit needed for the actor to speak at the same time to. we started recording at 11:20am.

though we recorded the ADR we unfortunately did not realise the sound was not recording the actor so the audio replacement had to be done manually by the other sound operator.

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Communication

I will prioritise improving communication between my role and the relevant departments to prevent delays and ensure clear understanding of tasks.

Scheduling

In the future, I will book rooms and equipment in advance to prevent scheduling conflicts and ensure that tasks typically handled in post-production are completed during pre-production for a more efficient workflow.

Duality

I will also be more mindful of effectively managing multiple roles and ensuring they do not interfere with each other.

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my character's prop was confetti as she uses it to distract others when she feels awkward or embarrassed. this was not in the original draft of the script but was added in after being suggested.