It was a pleasure to welcome back Year 5 students from Caversham Prep School to Leighton Park on Thursday 19th June for an exciting Music Technology workshop led by our Head of Music Technology, Dan Fisher-Wienesen.
The specially designed workshop centred around ‘Foley’ which is the art of creating and recording everyday sound effects—like footsteps, door creaks, or rustling clothes—in a studio to add realistic sounds to films and videos. These sounds are carefully timed to match the action on screen, helping to bring scenes to life.
The session began with the group watching a section of the film Wall-E, focusing on the sound effects used throughout the clip. This sparked an engaging discussion about how some of those sounds might have been created, encouraging the students to think creatively about sound design.
Next, the students watched an interesting split-screen film showing mountain bikers racing through nature alongside the team producing the sounds in the studio. This insight into the sound creation process was both entertaining and educational; Although our eyes saw the action on screen, our ears soon realised that the sounds were cleverly created effects, not the real noises themselves.
The workshop continued with a fun listening challenge: the students heard different recordings and had to decide whether the sounds were made using bacon or rain to mimic the noise of rainfall. The results were definitely surprising!
After this, it was the Year 5s’ turn to get hands-on. They watched a 60-second section of a Bugs Bunny cartoon with the sound removed and were tasked with creating their own sound effects using Mac software. They could choose sounds from the library or record their own in the practice rooms, carefully syncing their effects with the on-screen action. The students did a fantastic job all round, showcasing creativity and great teamwork.
The day concluded with a delicious lunch in Oakview, offering the Caversham Prep School a chance to catch up with some of their former pupils now at Leighton Park, before they made their way back to Caversham.
Click here for more photographs from the workshop.
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