NEWS

Academy of Film’s Final Year Student Movie Soundtracks: Mastered in the Dolby Atmos Sound Facility

2019.06.05

 

Under the guidance of Dr. Robert Ellis-Geiger the soundtracks of twenty undergraduate final year film projects were mastered in the Academy of Film’s newly commissioned Dolby Atmos film sound mixing facility.

 

Students applied Dr. Ellis-Geiger’s music album mastering techniques to their movie soundtracks, which allowed the twenty individual soundtracks to be cross compared in terms of dynamics (perceived loudness) and spectral balance (low, mid, through to high frequencies). The process of soundtrack mastering is critical for an audience to experience an even loudness and spectral balance. The entire process took just over 9hrs to complete, which is very fast as there are twenty movie soundtracks that ranged in duration between 30-40 minutes.

 

After the soundtracks were mixed and mastered a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) was then made. The process of making a DCP involves bringing together the finished digitised (colour corrected) movie with the finalised digital soundtrack.

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HKBU Among the First in the World

 

According to Dolby, ‘Hong Kong Baptist University is among the first education institutions in the world to feature a Dolby Atmos sound mixing facility’. After further checking, within the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong Baptist University’s, Academy of Film is currently the only institution of higher education with a Dolby Atmos sound mixing facility. In the North Americas, there are around six institutions and only three in the UK where students can gain an experience in producing Dolby Atmos movie soundtracks.

 

Dolby Atmos is being implemented into movie soundtracks and cinemas throughout the world at a rapid pace and represents the potential future for immersive cinema and home entertainment sound.

 

Currently, Vudu and Netflix stream movies containing Dolby Atmos soundtracks that can be played back via domestic receivers and Apple’s iTunes released movies containing Dolby Atmos soundtracks in around November 2018.

 

The 2018-2019 Film Honour Project Screening. There will be 19 honours projects containing 19 short films from the final year students screened in June through to early July. Screening details are below:

 

(*All screenings are free admissions)

 

1st Screening:

Date: June 15 - June 16

Time: 13:40 (Admission) - 19:30

Venue: Hong Kong Science Museum (2 Science Museum Road, East Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong)

 

2nd Screening:

Date: June 17 - June 19

Time: 10:00 (Admission) - 14:30

Venue: The Metroplex (G/F., E-Max, KITEC, 1 Trademart Drive, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong)

 

3rd Screening:

Date: July 1 - July 2

Time: 12:40 (Admission) - 20:00

Venue: Room 201-202, 2/F, Academic and Administration Building (AAB), Hong Kong Baptist University (15 Baptist University Rd, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong)

 

(Warm Reminder:Please be punctual to the admission time. It is not allowed for admission after a short film starts. Late comer can only be admitted during the gap between the end of a short film and the start of the next short film.) 

 

Screening Rundown:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AOybBcbPu_8L5baTI3aT5ndmvCglFKhB

Brief of all Short Films:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XsxPJPJvetgPbcM7D-mzjKeBHi-nd1gH

Facebook Page for more updates, photos and trailers:
https://www.facebook.com/hkbufilmhp1819

Instagram for more updates and photos:
https://www.instagram.com/hkbufilmhp1819/