This was my main focus the entire semester and the one I presented on May 6th's EPD Senior Showcase. This was one of 3 projects I made for EP-491 at Berklee College of Music, which assigned work to create a senior portfolio summarizing the work I created for the Electronic Production & Design degree, titled "Motivation".
This was such an amazingly fun project to make and I wanted to share it with all of you. Motivation is set as a short 2:30 film/documentary where I interview 5 people the question: "What motivates you?" This question has always fascinated me, as it seems to tap into the driving force and energy of people. What makes you wake up? What makes you happy and want to enjoy your day? Why do you even bother with the day?
1.) Cierra Louise (music performer)
2.) Jesse Hartov (game/film composer)
3.) Addie Anderson (game composer)
4.) Emily Joseph (film composer)
5.) Erica Meerbach (musical theater performer)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: SAMUEL KIM
SPECIAL THANKS TO: Steve Maclean
The project itself greatly benefited from the feedback and critique I got along the way. Recording vocals properly is still an element of audio I really need to work on (especially for my podcast), and it shows here that I should invest in a better microphone than a Zoom h4n and work hard to get the perfect environment for people to interview. The way I recorded everyone was in a quiet locker room in the Berklee Performance Center. No noise leaked, but I did need to EQ the dialogue heavily due to the poor acoustics of the room, resulting in dialogue that doesn't sound super pristine.
The reason for this, though, was to make the interviews feels totally natural! The room, even with lockers, was spacious, warm, and helped make everything feel like a conversation. Looking back, giving a comfortable environment can absolutely be done in a studio, and will be something I will pursue next time.
The result, overall, is a project I am proud to have as my summary of EPD and the mental and emotional knowledge I have gained from Berklee.
Enjoy.