The idea of this project came from a sound field recording report that I saw which is wrote by Paul Virostek. He mainly recorded the sounds in different sports venues, such as the cheers of the audience, the collision of players during the game, and the original sounds of the venue. Therefore, I came up with the idea of recording the sounds on the football field because I have been exposed to different types of sports since I was a child and I was also a student athlete. Among them, football is one of the sports that I have been exposed to for the longest time. For this assignment, I want to bring out the sports by recording the different sounds and environments on the football field, not only the physical movement, but also the emotional connection and communication between people, so that people can feel and integrate into it through my works. The atmosphere can also be seen from other angles, such as the first- person view of the environment and the sound of the moment, so I used zoom h3 recorder and Ricoh theta s 360 action camera to record the sound and shoot the environment.
My main purpose is to let the audience feel the unique atmosphere and sounds of the football field through sound and 360-degree images, and create an immersive experience that highlights the unique sound and visual elements of the football field, such as the players’ movements, the focus and hard work during training, everyone’s encouragement and shouting before the game, and the moments when we chanted slogans together, etc. In addition, I also recorded off-field sounds such as the banter and playfulness between players during relaxation, the sounds and emotions during celebrations, etc. These sounds and 360-degree images can not only present the atmosphere on the football field but also experience the charm of the sport. I also hope that this work can allow the audience to feel the moment, atmosphere and mood through the screen.
In order to capture sounds clearly, I used the ambisonics recording mode of zoom h3 recorder and Ricoh theta s 360 action camera to record sound and shooting during the recording process and chose to record at different times and on different courts.
Audience can feel different emotions and atmospheres at different times, places and people in the video, and the camera using a 360-degree lens can better reflect the scenes before and after various training and competitions, and also allow the audience to choose viewing angles randomly, allows them to immerse themselves at that moment and environment, further enhancing immersion.
The Zoom H3 recorder is capable of high-quality binaural recording in ambisonics mode. This technology captures sound from all directions to create a three- dimensional audio experience, and is particularly effective in sports, as football field contain a variety of sounds, from communication between players and tactical discussions to the unique sounds of kicking the ball, or to some of the environment noise. By placing the recorder and camera around the venue, these sounds can be captured in a way that immerses the listener, as if they are actually there. In addition to audio recording, Ricoh Theta S also provides a 360-degree visual view of players during warm-up/training. As the players warmed up, trained, and played football, the camara not only captured their physical movements, but also demonstrated the sense of unity and focus that characterizes of this preparation phase, and I also found that according to Andrea’s article, it was discovered that the combination of 360-degree videos and VR uses these technologies to provide different photography systems and visual combinations for sports to form a new form of experience, allowing people to have a greater sense of immersion and presence. This kind of immersive sound combined with interactive visuals, is crucial to showcasing the dynamic nature of a football pitch.
In addition, there are some difficulties encountered during the recording process, which I will briefly explain, such as the safety of the environment. Since there are many footballs on the football field during training, I will worry about the safety of the equipment. Secondly, the stability of the equipment. Since recording sound and images on the field, there is inevitably a chance of shaking the lens, so I borrowed a tripod to fix the position of the equipment to reduce the occurrence of shaking. There may also be some technical problems, such as insufficient storage space, lack of power or insufficient batteries will affect the entire shooting process, so time
arrangement is also very important. You need to ensure that the equipment and tools needed for recording are matched with the training time to record and shoot. The above is just some of the problems encountered include many that cannot be described in detail.
In summary, this work emphasizes the integration of visual and auditory elements, emphasizing the sound, space and emotion to share football culture, allowing people to understand the daily training of athletes and feel the unique atmosphere and emotions on the football field to have an immersive experience through the sounds and video on the screen.
Reference:
Virostek, P. (2015, August 19). Field report: Recording sports sound effects at the Pan Am Games. Creative Field Recording. https://www.creativefieldrecording.com/2015/08/19/field-report-recording-sports- sound-effects-at-the-pan-am-games/
Hebbel-Seeger, A. (2017). 360 degrees video and VR for training and marketing within sports. Athens Journal of Sports, 4(4), 243-262. https://www.athensjournals.gr/sports/2017-4-4-1-Hebbel-Seeger.pdf