UNIT 24 – SOUND EDITING What are the reasons for editing digital sound files? There are many reasons why people edit digital sound files across a range of media sectors one being shortening and extending a clip, shortening and extending clips is commonly done so it fits with the image. If it didn’t it would be lagging and look off. Another popular reason for sound editing is deleting unwanted audio or video. For example if there was a unnecessary long pause which is obviously not part of the script you would delete it, as well as poor quality sound like unwanted background noise or other material which is not needed. If you work on the news or interview people not live you will find that the majority of the audio and video is cut down as. The interview or the news often takes a long time to cover however, the editor will cut it down so that only the most relevant parts are shown. This is because It is too long for people to sit and watch the full thing without getting bored so the simplify it to keep it interesting and entertaining, this is called soundbite and it’s most probably the most common form of editing done across television and radio, most certainly things that will reach an audience. A lot of time editing will be used to change the meaning of what was initially recorded. This method is used commonly on reality television programmes. The producers will cut out the things they don’t want you to see, focus on things they want you to see to portray a person as either good or bad and twist people word by cutting and editing facial expressions and words to form an opinion on the person presented. Its causes a lot of tension and drama and therefore is good to get people to tune in and watch their show over other shows. An example of a fixed TV programme which is really popular in the United Kingdom as well as Australia is ‘Love Island’ where people go to find love. It’s a source of entertainment aimed at young people from 16+ the programme is known to be edited as many viewers noticed in the last series and there has been interviews where the people in the show have said it’s been edited to make them and other young people like themselves to look bad. Editing audio is not only used to delete and cut stuff up it’s also used to add forgotten stuff and audio which is hard for humans no mimic. Music producers do this often. This is because the artist can’t make two or more different noises at ones so they will do it separately and add the noises on top off each other to make it sound better. They will also change the pitch of the artist voice a lot of the time to match the music or the person. If producers were not to edit digital sound files the final product will not be to a good enough standard. People would lose interest due to the piece taking too long or annoying sounds. Therefore, it is extremely important that there are people editing digital sound files.
What is ethical editing? Why is ethical editing so important? (Here you should list what ethical editing is. Why it is so important? You should refer back to your notes and homework on ethical editing) (You can probably copy and paste extracts of your homework into this paragraph – whilst also adding more context) Ethical editing is important in both traditional and digital media. It is the duty of an editor to read through and change things other journalist wrote. Ultimately they get to pick and choose what goes in and out of the news meaning that they control what they want the Public to see and what they don’t want the public to see. In many cases the news covered is biased. If a journalist wrote something positive about the government for example, yet the editor was strongly against it and didn’t want them to be seen in a negative light they would cut it out and not publish it. These editors also have a lot of responsibility because what they chose to include could get them into serious trouble with the law and they could even be sued. In some cases they have to deal with plagiarism this is when a journalist has copied a story from someone else or used images which is owned by someone else. The editor would have to report plagiarism to the chief-editor and this is where they will decide what happens to the story and the journalist. After getting a reply from the chief editor and the IEEE the journalist may get informed about what they’ve done and this could result in them getting a strike or in the worst cases could get fired. Another common example of common ethical editing is in documentaries. In documentaries the camera crew would have hours and hours of footage which they would not be able to shove into let’s say an hour’s long episode. So because of this the editor will only show the most interesting bits yet delete parts which they think will not be as interesting however, a lot of the time the editors of shows will get dragged by the public because of what they choose to include or not and sometimes the public can see that the producers are clearly editing stuff out or changing the real story due to the story not adding up.
Why must speech remain legal? Does it breach any laws? Freedom of speech is very important for a country to have because if it didn’t it would mean that the government would have full control of what goes on with citizens and when freedom of speech is restricted it can lead to oppression, human right violations, and many more serious consequences. For example if a social group of an ethnic minority was suffering from racism or unemployment but was living in a predominately white country and they wanted to have a protest to persuade the government to make it illegal for companies to not employ someone due to their race they could change the law due to freedom of speech However some countries do not allow freedom of speech, for example North Korea. This means that if any citizen felt uncomfortable where they are and wanted to be heard by the government with hopes that a law could be heard or changed it would not even be considered. This is bad because many citizens of North Korea are depressed due to the lack of freedom of speech and the dictatorship from the government. In North Korea the government use an old hypodermic theory called propaganda and you’ll find many communist countries use this. Propaganda is where the government use different media platforms such as posters, television radio etc. to give biased information to influence citizens. This links to sound editing because in things like radio and television producers would have been told to select the most powerful words said in a speech. Softer quotations would have been edited out. Some producers would change the EQ frequency so the speaker could sound more masculine as this suggest power and leadership. There are many ways sound could be used whilst producing a biased message in today’s propaganda. If other countries like places in Europe were to edit speeches so that it influences the people to agree with the government this would create a democracy and freedom of speech wouldn’t exist leaving citizens sad. This is why it’s very important that free speech remain legal.
Provide an example where sound has been edited?
https://youtu.be/07nWgqc3cck Sound has been edited in this clip. The producers have faded the audio wave in out so that it gradually syncs with the music. Another thing which is used in this clip is the scissor tool, this was used to cut out unwanted sound. You can hear it’s been cut due to the change in subject of the convocation. I think it’s been edited like that for entertainment purposes. If the clip was not edited it would be boring and most probably repetitive. By editing the clip this way the producer contributes entertainment as well as relevant subject for the audience the show is aimed at.
What are the reasons factual content is edited? Factual content is the type of content you will find in documentaries. It’s important to edited footage out because documentaries take hours to film and if it wasn’t edited and audio was not cut out it would result in hours of footage which is too long to be interesting. Also in factual content involving people you often find people rambling which again is irrelevant and doesn’t interest people. If these boring things do not get edited out it could result in a loss of people watching or listening.
3 different types of fictional content: 1. The wolf 2. Walk don’t ride 3. Hard fall
Factors of fictional content: -
Educational
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It’s relatable
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Creates awareness
What are the reasons fictional content is edited? In documentaries there is often many hours’ worth of irrelevant footage which would be seen as boring or repetitive content.