I have actually done 120 pushups today because I forgot to take one of the sets but I really want to record my progress, so I did 20 more. I think my form is getting much better, so I might start to move on to a higher level of pushups. However, before this I will ask my friends about it and see if I am good to go.
Today is a quite normal day, did 3 sets before going to uni and 2 sets before bed.
Here is the link to my pushup journey:
Jessica had replied to me and seems that she likes the idea but it would be better to just include 3 themes instead of 4 as that would take extra time on that and the quality of all the themes would drop. Therefore, I decided not to do the cyberpunk theme which includes music and dramatic sound designs that take ages to complete.
Last week I have done most of the recordings and found the sound effects for the themes. It was fun and in my opinion, quite chaotic but in a good way. I feel like I am actually messing up with the assignment rather than doing this in a usual way. Normally, I should have a list for the sounds I need so that I can record the sounds more effectively in terms of time and quality, but I think it will take a lot time to do this (an excuse for being lazy) and I already have ideas on what to record so I am mostly improvising during the recording session. Although it was messy but I was able to record what I want. I believe improvising is actually better than repeating the same scene over and over again especially in the beatboxing theme. Since I have no experience in beatboxing (I cannot even do a water drop sound), I think it would be better for me to just keep repeating the same sound than edit and sync them. And so I didn’t even look at the screen and following the scenes to mimic the sounds but just keep repeating the sounds I needed. Have a listen to one of the takes during the recording:
I guess I will spend most of the time in the beatboxing theme as I takes time to select , while the other themes are mainly using sound effects. I might need to do some extra recordings or sound effects of ambience as for now I have only one so far.
It was hectic this weekend and for some reason I could not connect to the Blog website so I have been unable to update my pushup journey. But the good news is, the challenge is still going on and I am very proud of myself that I am continuing the challenge. I have almost completed 2 weeks of the challenge and so far I have already done 1300 pushups. Although my forms are not perfect yet, I have pay more attention to it and I think it has been improved since last update. I am engaging more with chest and push lower than before. This is a good sign and I think the next challenge for me would be doing more slower and having more repetitions in a row as currently I can only do 10 in a row. I am happy about the result and I will continue to improve myself.
This is the link to my pushup journey.
Another day staying in school until late. I woke up quite late today and forgot to do 2 sets of pushups before I left home and went to the uni. I did my first set when I was preparing my dinner in the kitchen around 830pm right after I arrived home. Unfortunately, my phone got some problems and I am unable to charge it so it died. I will need to find a repair shop tomorrow but before that, I can only use memo notes to record the sets.
Today, I pay more attention to how low I can reach for the pushups. I recognised that some of the pushups were not low enough and I was anxious because I wanted to finish the set ASAP. I think this is not so good, but at least I now understand that I can do better. I guess I will just suffer a bit more by doing this slower and more steady. Also, I think my arms should have put it together instead of pointing outside. This is probably the more important thing I have to work on.
Anyway, once again this is the link of my pushup journey:
Today is pretty hectic. I left home around 1pm and come back around 12 after Kendo training. I guess this week will be very busy as the assignment is due in 2 weeks and I have just started to do it. I found that my pushups are still not low enough so I will be aware of that when I do it tomorrow. It ain’t much but it’s honest work, I am glad that I am still doing this. Also, this concludes the first week of the challenge!
This is the link to my pushup journey:
I was in uni all day and after I went to my friend’s place for dinner. I have only done a set before I went home at night so I ended up getting quite tired before I sleep. Following yesterday, I am feeling good and my arms are not pain at all after 100 standard push-ups yesterday.
However, as I watched the playbacks of the videos, I found that my form is wrong and I don’t get down enough. So I tried doing it slowly and lower, but it was tiring. I thought I had become stronger suddenly, turns out it’s actually just me doing the wrong thing. But that does not matter because that also means I can improve.
Here is the link to my pushup journey:
The analysis of the shots is finished and I will list out what sounds I will need for the scene. Since I will repeat the same scene 3 or 4 times for different approaches or themes, it will sound different every time. I will first list down the sounds I need for the change and share the themes I would like to try.
Themes
Comedy:
Farnell (2010, p.401) suggests that not all sounds need to be literal as some are representative or suggestive, which does not mean they aren’t rooted in real physics. Making sounds for comedy is challenging because most are artificial sounds, and their role focuses more on creating emotion than authenticity. I believe I will record part of the sounds and design part of it with LFOs, as a lot of cartoon sounds are featured with pitch twist and wobbling that makes the sound silly. I may use the effects from sound library if there is not enough time or suitable materials for recording.
Cyberpunk:
This approach is mainly focuses on music. I will try to design sounds for the sound that syncs the actions and movements of the scene rather than only put sounds on the shot. I also would like to use the GRM plugin for pannings to make the music sound 3D and work around rather than just play back the track.
Realistic:
What I try to achieve in this approach is that I want to make it sound just like I am at the scene, and the POVs of the shots are the same as me. As I mentioned previously, this approach will create much less impact and it will sound bold. However, it is challenging as I need to make sure the sounds are played in the correct volume, angle, position, etc.
Beatbox:
I think this would be the opposite of Comedy and Cyberpunk, where I will record all the sounds instead of designing them on a plugin. However, I believe I will edit heavily with it as I have no experience in beatboxing. It would be fun to mimic all the sounds with the mouth only and edit them in a way that sounds very different.
Sounds for the scenes
As the scene is an action scene with many actions and fights, I think putting the focus and making sound changes on them will gradually change the atmosphere. This will save me a lot of time as well. Therefore, I will mainly just write down the sounds of the actions and movements I will focus on. I will also write the sounds that I find interesting to work on.
Punching sounds
Punches involve in the first ten seconds of the scene where Neo and Trinity are fighting the soldiers on the rooftop.
Comedy:
I had a listen to someone putting cartoon sounds to a fighting scene on youtube are they seems to be not really punching sounds, but rather just sound effects. However, it sounds amazing and not awkward at all. These sound includes metal clash,
Cyberpunk:
Since the punches involves only in first half of the scene, I will make a rhythm that represents the punches and after the punching. I probably will work on something to mak a contrast with the punches, potentially pistol shooting.
Realistic:
Being realistic means there will be no more dramatic punchy sounds like as we see them in action movies. To do that, I will get a pillow and punch it for the recording because I think the momentum and the sound of punching a pillow is similar to punching someone with clothes on.
Beatbox:
Unfortauntely I cannot find any tutorials on making a punch sound. However, I do found a lot of making drum sounds so I might try making the kick drum sound and make into a punch sound with editing.
Gun sounds
Comedy:
I immediately think of the prank guns when I am thinking what sounds I should get for the pistol shooting sound this theme. However, whenever I saw these prank guns appeared on the screen, it is always not the prank gun sound, but either party horn sounds and pop sounds. I think using these sounds seems to be a good idea. Actually, why don’t I use the rubber chicken?
Cyberpunk:
There are pistols from Neo and Agent Smith. They are using different pistols and shooting differently. Comparing to dodging I think shooting is not much important so maybe I can do a countermelody for the rhythm of shooting, where the rhythm when Neo’s shooting shot will be densed and it will be slow and impactful when Agent smith’s shooting.
Realistic:
I think gun sounds here should be similar to the original scene as they generate a great sound when firing.
Transforming sound (Pilot to Agent Smith)
Comedy:
I have no idea what to add for this yet but I will check the sound affects of cartoons to see which one matches the best.
Cyberpunk:
I will make a dubstep wobble for the movement that sounds unpleasant to synchronise the mood of the shot.
Realistic:
Since it is being realistic I think I will not put any sound effects here but adding the hitting sound when the pilot hit the window of the helicopter.
Bullet dodge sounds
Comedy:
For Agent Smith’s dodge I think I would add some silly sounds but for Neo’s dodge I think I will leave it empty or just adding a bit of sounds. This is because I can’t think of any sounds that fit into the scene but I think I can put some carnival music here.
Cyberpunk:
I will have the same approach as mentioned in Gun Sounds. I will try to present a easy, comparably chill feeling in Agent Smith’s dodge and tensed in Neo’s dodge.
Realistic:
To be fair it is impossible to be realistic as the times slows down. What I can try is to
Walking sounds
Comedy:
I will pair the sounds with squishy toy sounds. I have forgotten where I have seen this approach, but the closest one I could think of would be the intro scene from Pixar, where the lamp (By the way, His name is Luxo Jr.) jumps towards the Pixar Logo. It sounds ridiculous, so I think it would be a good approach and the only challenging thing would be getting a squishy toy.
Cyberpunk:
I would not focus much on this theme but I will use the flow of the music to create the rhythm of the movements of the characters.
Realistic:
Generally speaking there is no special approach to record the walking sounds in this theme. But there will be heavy editing with EQs and reverbs to imitate the rooftop soundscape.
Beatbox:
I think to generate sounds of walking would be stimulating shoes rubing/kicking the floor, which is the sreeching sound.
Farnell, Andy. Designing Sound, MIT Press, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=3339445.
I have a bit more free time today. I went to church in the morning until 3pm and went back home after that. Since I am fully recovered, I have done all the push-ups back to standard form. I am feeling tired after doing all 5 sets, but definitely much better than on Day 1. I just cannot believe that in such a short period of time, I am starting to adapt to the workout and I am very happy about it. Maybe I may just find the correct form to do and so I did not hurt much. I am excited to see how my body will grow by the end of the month.
Here is the link to my push-up journey.
I don’t have much time as well today as I visited the tower of London this morning, and right after that, I had Kendo training. When I finished the training, I went to church to have dinner with my friends (The church offers dinner for £3 only!). But I managed to find time gaps between and do the pushups.
My arms are completely fine now, and I am able to do knee push-ups for all 5 sets. I will see how my arms feel tomorrow and decide whether to try doing standard push-ups again. But no matter what, I will definitely finish 100 push-ups tomorrow.
Here is the link to my pushup journey:
My arms are still sore, but less and I feel like my form has gotten better. I did not have much time today to do push-ups as my schedule today was quite full. I went on a cruise sightseeing tour this morning at 10am and had lessons in the afternoon until 5pm. I was studying in the library until 730. Usually, I would prefer doing 2 sets in the morning and 3 sets after I go home, which is usually in the evening. Because of the tour, I only did it once before I went on the tour. But at the end of the day, I completed the challenge, and I hope I can keep going on.
I might try to do the knee pushups again tomorrow. Here is the link to my pushup journey: