Final Porfolio
Sam Overbeck
2016-2017

Peppa Pig Movie Scene
We had the assignment to create a movie scene cover, complete with voice overs, sound effects, and music. Aidan and I chose a scene from an episode of Peppa Pig, a kids show featuring a pig and her friends and family. The scene we chose is about Peppa and her friend Suzie, and they are trying to whistle. We chose this because we thought it was a very funny scene, and we wanted to see what it would sound like if our voices were coming from the animated characters. The first step we took was making a script of the episode, and recording our voices as the characters. Then we matched it up with the video, so that appeared to our voices were actually coming from the animated characters. After we did the voices, we wrote simple melodies for the title music, and used the song Mary Had a Little Lamb as underscoring music, although it is hard to hear. After this, there were still sound effects and little noises that were not in the project. This is called Foley, and although we rarely notice it, movies and TV shows would sound very odd if they didn't exist. After we had put all the elements in the video, we adjusted the volume of them, so that it sounded similar to the actual video, and all the music was balanced.
Rising Above
When we made this song, we chose to write it in A dorian, to try something new. Neither my or I had done anything with modal music, and it proved to be a challenge. After choosing the key, we decided that the verses would be minor and sound more sad, and the choruses would be in major and sound more happier. When we made the chord progression for the verses, we had to keep in mind that all the chords would be moved up one note, as it is a dorian key. When we named the song Rising above, we had a certain theme in mind. This was that you can surmount any fears or troubles, and in the end, everything will be alright. Since this was one of our early songs, it is not very complicated, in terms of adding a synth or wind instruments. This song was also a bit repetitive, because at the time, we were still working on song form, and how to make patterns in a song that made it catchy.
Sunset
This is a song that my partner and I were planning to put in the first concert, on January 19th, but did not quite finish in time. We wrote the song, but had not made a video worthy of being in the concert. The song was seating music, because seating music does not need a video. The chord progression in this song is fairly common, but to try something new, we started the progression at a different time, and made the one chord the second chord to play. We also tried to put a lot of contrast into different parts of the song. For example, the chords for the verses were quite sad, but we attempted to brighten things up by making a happier chorus and melody. I remember contributing to the rhythm and drum beats of this song, and that is one of my favorite parts. I like how the baseline is played, and I think the timing of the chords fits well with the overall sound of the project, and what we wanted the song to feel like. The baseline also fits almost exactly with the drum beat that we put in. I play the drums and my partner is a bassist, and we thought that that was very cool.
Blue Stuff
Towards the end of the year, one of our projects was to create a blues song, with a proper blues chord progression and drum beat. We used a typical progression, with the I, IV, and V chords. The song is rather slow, so the chords in the background ended up playing for a long time. To make things more interesting, we chopped up those chords, so that they were not playing for too long. Since this song is in three, we had to use a shuffle drum beat. If we did not use a beat that was also in three, then it would not sync up with the music, and nothing would be in time. Personally, I like the sound of shuffle beats, because is associated with swing dancing, and the beat itself appears very swing-like, while regular rock beats do not. To make the melody, my partner improvised with brass instruments, until we found licks or tunes that we liked. We also played around with the timing of the melody versus the chord progression, which I think was very cool, because it does not always sound like a regular blues-timed song.
Timbo
This was our last song, and I think it is the best in this portfolio. We made it for the concert on May 17th, and I believe that it does a good job of representing our experience from this class. We finished the song just in time, and although we did not have time to make a very good music video, the song made it into the concert. This project is a bit different from the others that my partner and I have made, because it does not feel as secure as other songs. For example, songs often sound good if they have a range of frequencies, or different types of sounds or pitches. This piece does not exactly have that, and this made it feel almost as if different instruments were not connected as they ought to be. This also depends on how we balanced the volume of each instrument, and knowing how to do this well came from other projects before this. Previous songs had also taught us how a certain beat will sound with a certain tempo, baseline, melody, etc. BY this time in the year, we had also been learning about Song Form a lot, and we tried to apply that to this song, and I think we did well.
Comments (2)
Kai Hazard said
at 1:03 pm on Jun 12, 2017
There are a few spelling errors for example didntn and makingn. I would suggest talking about the sound effects besides the foley.
npatel-masini2020@... said
at 1:16 pm on Jun 12, 2017
I find this one of the funniest videos that I have ever seen. ALthough, I would like to know more about why you chose this and what were your motives?
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