For some reason the quality looks horrible but you can still get the idea...
Monday, December 12, 2011
Experimental: Looking Back
Well, it was a crazy semester but I am still alive! This class was wonderful. I took this class purely for fun, and fun it was. Experimental helped me to break out of my shell as a filmmaker, I pushed myself to really go for it and try new styles of film. The self portrait project was definitely something I would not have done on my own, however, I am proud to the end results and I believe my message come through well. At the very least, it looked cool! Ha.
The music video was my favorite project of the semester. I LOVE LOVE LOVE shooting with film and I had never shot on Super 8 before so that aspect alone was just magical. Being the cinematographer, I was quite nervous, what if the exposure was off or the film did not load right and we were left with nothing?! (AHH!!) Thankfully, everything was fine. Even with very little time for preproduction Chris and I were able to come up with a very interesting plan. By using a bit of camera trickery, matting, and LOTS of planning we were able to execute a simple but awesome video (in my opinion).
I was also very happy with how the installation piece turned out. With so many things that could go wrong, everything went smooth. Visually the piece was beautiful and the message/ crowd interaction was great also. Since we were the first to go people were a little shy but I think it was a great icebreaker for the night! As I was watching what people were doing to our two "technology trance" actors, one of whom was my boyfriend and the other a great friend, I was thinking "oh gosh, I hope they knew what they were getting into by agreeing to be in the installation" and also a little worried that I might be single by the time it was done! HA! Just kidding. Kind of. Any who, I was very pleased about how it all turned out.
The soundscape project and even the sound and light observation exercised we did gave me a much greater understanding and appreciation of them. I though it was extremely interesting how much the emotions of the soundscapes changed once we add the photographs to them, weird. Gathering sounds for the sound library allowed me to be creative about creating sounds, which is something I had never done before. I am confident that I could accomplish it on my own in future projects too.
Overall, we had a great semester. I learned a lot about my classmates, some I knew but got to know better and some I had never met before. I always looked forward to seeing what everyone else had done with their projects. It was really cool how different everyones work was even though we had the same assignments. I created friendships, memories, and overall knowledge and experience with filmmaking that I will never forget. Thank you Shannon for another fabulous semester!
The music video was my favorite project of the semester. I LOVE LOVE LOVE shooting with film and I had never shot on Super 8 before so that aspect alone was just magical. Being the cinematographer, I was quite nervous, what if the exposure was off or the film did not load right and we were left with nothing?! (AHH!!) Thankfully, everything was fine. Even with very little time for preproduction Chris and I were able to come up with a very interesting plan. By using a bit of camera trickery, matting, and LOTS of planning we were able to execute a simple but awesome video (in my opinion).
I was also very happy with how the installation piece turned out. With so many things that could go wrong, everything went smooth. Visually the piece was beautiful and the message/ crowd interaction was great also. Since we were the first to go people were a little shy but I think it was a great icebreaker for the night! As I was watching what people were doing to our two "technology trance" actors, one of whom was my boyfriend and the other a great friend, I was thinking "oh gosh, I hope they knew what they were getting into by agreeing to be in the installation" and also a little worried that I might be single by the time it was done! HA! Just kidding. Kind of. Any who, I was very pleased about how it all turned out.
The soundscape project and even the sound and light observation exercised we did gave me a much greater understanding and appreciation of them. I though it was extremely interesting how much the emotions of the soundscapes changed once we add the photographs to them, weird. Gathering sounds for the sound library allowed me to be creative about creating sounds, which is something I had never done before. I am confident that I could accomplish it on my own in future projects too.
Overall, we had a great semester. I learned a lot about my classmates, some I knew but got to know better and some I had never met before. I always looked forward to seeing what everyone else had done with their projects. It was really cool how different everyones work was even though we had the same assignments. I created friendships, memories, and overall knowledge and experience with filmmaking that I will never forget. Thank you Shannon for another fabulous semester!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Installation Update
Our creative juices are flowing for the installation project! After getting feedback from last weeks class, as well as, brainstorming and planning more as a group, we have come up with some pretty cool stuff. We are still going with the clashing characteristics of the people with their eyes glued to the television and the dancers behind the screen. As long as our peoples pull through and everything works out like we hope, its going to break down like this...
We plan to have hopefully three (but we will settle for two if need be) people sitting in chairs facing a television that with be hooked up to a camera that is pointed directly at the people sitting. So basically the people sitting will be staring at themselves on the television, who are sitting and staring at themselves. They will NOT break eye contact with the television and will be as still as possible. They will show no emotions except for the completely numb looks with lethargic and glassed over eyes. They will remain like this during the entire installation.
While the couch potatoes (people staring at the tv) are sitting and staring, we will have three silk screens surrounding them. One will be behind the television and the other two will be on either side of it making a 3 sided cube or possibly more of a fan shape depending on how much space we have (we need enough space for the audience to easily walk through). Each screen will be set up and secured with C-stands. Directly behind each screen (on the outside of the installation- not where the audience will be walking) will be a person. There will be one light from an Arri kit behind each person silhouetting them and transferring their shadow onto the silk screen that will be visible to the audience. The person in the middle will (hopefully) be a guitarist who will be playing low key, mellow chords on the guitar. The movement of the guitarists hands and body will be visible, however, his face and identity will not. The other two screens, that will be on either side of the guitarist, will be female dancers. The dancers will be calmly moving their body to the smooth tunes with complete fluidity.
Though we have most of the installation worked out, we are still trying to figure out ways to really get the audience involved. I think it would still be pretty darn cool without any audience involvement besides them simply walking through, however, it would make it MUCH better if there was some way to connect everyone.
Overall, our message is to represent how the growth of technology and the media has completely taken over the younger generations lives. It is my hope that the juxtaposition of the mindless people starting at the television against the creativity of music and dance will illustrate that representation. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, I am ALL ears! I can't wait to see how everyones installation turns out!
We plan to have hopefully three (but we will settle for two if need be) people sitting in chairs facing a television that with be hooked up to a camera that is pointed directly at the people sitting. So basically the people sitting will be staring at themselves on the television, who are sitting and staring at themselves. They will NOT break eye contact with the television and will be as still as possible. They will show no emotions except for the completely numb looks with lethargic and glassed over eyes. They will remain like this during the entire installation.
While the couch potatoes (people staring at the tv) are sitting and staring, we will have three silk screens surrounding them. One will be behind the television and the other two will be on either side of it making a 3 sided cube or possibly more of a fan shape depending on how much space we have (we need enough space for the audience to easily walk through). Each screen will be set up and secured with C-stands. Directly behind each screen (on the outside of the installation- not where the audience will be walking) will be a person. There will be one light from an Arri kit behind each person silhouetting them and transferring their shadow onto the silk screen that will be visible to the audience. The person in the middle will (hopefully) be a guitarist who will be playing low key, mellow chords on the guitar. The movement of the guitarists hands and body will be visible, however, his face and identity will not. The other two screens, that will be on either side of the guitarist, will be female dancers. The dancers will be calmly moving their body to the smooth tunes with complete fluidity.
Though we have most of the installation worked out, we are still trying to figure out ways to really get the audience involved. I think it would still be pretty darn cool without any audience involvement besides them simply walking through, however, it would make it MUCH better if there was some way to connect everyone.
Overall, our message is to represent how the growth of technology and the media has completely taken over the younger generations lives. It is my hope that the juxtaposition of the mindless people starting at the television against the creativity of music and dance will illustrate that representation. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, I am ALL ears! I can't wait to see how everyones installation turns out!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Installation Idea
Everyone, especially myself, were very intrigued with Bill Viola's interactive style of Video Art Installation. Personally, I really liked how a lot of his installations are pieces where the audience walks into it, separating it from everything else. Since there will be a lot going on in the Playground the night of the installation projects, the idea of having a project that is separated from everything else will really be a nice touch!
We are still brainstorming and working out the kinks but as of now we are going to take these four shadow boards (they are the same idea as a paint canvas but instead of a thick canvas fabric they are silk - the ones from The Calico Room) and put them into a square with one side that people can walk into. On the outside we are going to have lights (probably with gels in front of them) and people and/ or shapes that will be creating the shadows onto the outside of the shadow board while the audience is inside of the 4 boards all with different images projected onto them. We will also probably have some audio, whether its music, recorded sounds, etc., that will accompany our overall theme of the installation!
We are still brainstorming and working out the kinks but as of now we are going to take these four shadow boards (they are the same idea as a paint canvas but instead of a thick canvas fabric they are silk - the ones from The Calico Room) and put them into a square with one side that people can walk into. On the outside we are going to have lights (probably with gels in front of them) and people and/ or shapes that will be creating the shadows onto the outside of the shadow board while the audience is inside of the 4 boards all with different images projected onto them. We will also probably have some audio, whether its music, recorded sounds, etc., that will accompany our overall theme of the installation!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Cucalorus!
This weekend has been one of the most exciting weekend, and one of the most exhausting weekends of my life! I loved every second of this crazy weekend but boy am I starting out the week tired. The Cucalorus event started for me on Tuesday when Norwood Cheek spoke in our class. It was very awesome meeting such a cool filmmaker and I really enjoyed seeing his music videos, especially since we had just turned in our film for the music video shot on Super 8mm. Norwood was a super nice guy whom I became pretty good friends with during the festival! I really liked this part of his presentation where he said, “when in doubt, dissolve” what he means by this is yeah a dissolve is an easy way out, but if you “have to” dissolve, something just isn’t working for ya!
I started the festival off with a work-in-progress documentary, which was very interesting since I had never been to a work-in-progress. The filmmakers, whom were two beautiful women, would show a 15-minute or so clip that we would then discuss as a group after. I was very interested in this documentary because it was discussing the need for industrial hemp to be legalized and the issues that surround that topic. Afterwards, I spoke more with the filmmakers one on one and they offered me an internship with them! I quickly whipped out my card and made plans to meet up with them after Thanksgiving to talk more, the festival was off to a great start!
I went to numerous screenings, most were feature length documentaries and narratives but a few shorts blocks as well. Some of my favorite films that I saw were; Tyrannosaur, King of Devils Island, Happy Happy, Kumare, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Boy and Fresh Swkeezed. This years line up was quit dark. Pretty much every film was violent or depressing (or both) and I believe that is because of where the world is right now. Times are hard for everyone and that is absolutely coming out in the films that are being made.
The shorts in this year’s festival were defiantly on the longer side! Most were 20-30 minutes. The two shorts that really stood out to me where Boy and Fresh Skweezed. Boy was a cinematically beautiful film about a young boy in the transformation into a young adult. I did really like Fresh Skweezed but I felt like it was a little too long. If they had shaved five minutes off of it, it would have made it a stronger film. Overall, I really enjoyed the film Fresh Skweezed, the main actress was absolutely amazing, I met the directors that night and they were so nice and very cool people!
The final screening of the festival was Norwood Cheek's 10x10, which was 10 bands and 10 filmmakers who raced to make a video over the weekend. They turned out great! Kruel's video however, was by far the best. Describing it will not at all do the film justice but in a nut shell it was Kruel dancing and playing the game instruments (guitar from guitar hero, ect) in the most amazing costumes. This block was a lot of fun, everyone was in a great mood, cheering and laughing a lot, having one last hoorah of the weekend. So, I started off Cucalorus with Norwood, and finished up with Norwood!
I met some of the most amazing people this weekend. There were filmmakers from all over the world, from all different backgrounds and ages, but EVERYONE was so kind. We all had a wonderful time with one another and experiencing the festival in general. Cucalorus was extremely special for me not only because I was so honored to get a pass and see all the wonderful films, but also it was so refreshing to be reminded of how rewarding filmmaking is. I have been so wrapped up in school lately that sometimes I forget what I am striving for, and Cucalorus defiantly brought that back to me. Overall, I had an absolutely amazing weekend. I am very sad that it is over but I sure am tired!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Project 3 (Music Video) Film Shoot
Our third project for Experimental was to shoot a music video of a song that we could secure the rights for and using Super 8mm film to shoot on. This was my first time using Super 8 so it was pretty exciting! We did a video for the song "Radar" by the local band Apollo on Fire. My position in the shoot was DP so Chirs (the director) and I worked together to come up with a great idea for the video and create a storyboard and overheads.
We executed the preproduction of the film wonderfully so the production when extremely smooth. Chris had calculated the length of each shot (plus a few extra seconds to be safe) and figured out that we had enough film to shoot everything we wanted plus extra takes (room for mistakes and just other options). Our group worked as a team to get the set design laid out the way we wanted, lights set up, camera and focus ready and practiced the camera movement before out actor (the lead singer of Apollo on Fire) arrived. The group collaborated on everything, from the best way to accomplish the needed shots down to what equipment needed to be check out, who would pick it up and return, what props we needed to acquire, etcetera. We worked diligently and professionally to accomplish our desired shots. The editing of the project will really be the cherry on top and truly create this fantastic video.
As the DP for the project I was a little nervous about being responsible for shooting the Super 8mm film. What if the film was not loaded correctly and none of the film turned out (AHH!!)? What if the focus was not perfect? Or if the exposure was a little bit off? Thats the more nerve racking thing about shooting on film instead of digital. However, I have to just trust myself and my knowledge of film and know that it will all be okay! :) We will see!
We executed the preproduction of the film wonderfully so the production when extremely smooth. Chris had calculated the length of each shot (plus a few extra seconds to be safe) and figured out that we had enough film to shoot everything we wanted plus extra takes (room for mistakes and just other options). Our group worked as a team to get the set design laid out the way we wanted, lights set up, camera and focus ready and practiced the camera movement before out actor (the lead singer of Apollo on Fire) arrived. The group collaborated on everything, from the best way to accomplish the needed shots down to what equipment needed to be check out, who would pick it up and return, what props we needed to acquire, etcetera. We worked diligently and professionally to accomplish our desired shots. The editing of the project will really be the cherry on top and truly create this fantastic video.
As the DP for the project I was a little nervous about being responsible for shooting the Super 8mm film. What if the film was not loaded correctly and none of the film turned out (AHH!!)? What if the focus was not perfect? Or if the exposure was a little bit off? Thats the more nerve racking thing about shooting on film instead of digital. However, I have to just trust myself and my knowledge of film and know that it will all be okay! :) We will see!
Monday, October 31, 2011
A Night at the Movies: From Art House to "Microcinema"
This article by Rebecca M. Alvin was very interesting but had a underlying sense of nostalgia. Alvin starts off by explaining that most of the art houses closed by the mid- 90's as a result of videotapes and the ease of watching films in the comfort of one's own living room. However, certain films that were harder to attain, like foreign and independent films, remained in the few art houses that were still open. Alvin then talks about the difficulty of defining what is and is not considered labeled an "independent film." Some major factors in the disappearing of art house cinemas are due to the financial issues that makes programming independent films risky, the grown of home entertainment systems, and the final is the intertwining of mainstream and art-house audiences.
Although a majority of microcinemas have disappeared, there are still "makeshift" theaters in many communities. Some are in cafes, basements, bars, or like the Aurora Picture Show, in churches! Even in Wilmington we have a few small microcinemas. Thalian Hall puts on "Cinematique" which has a older audience so it tends to be more "mainstream independent" films. However, James Kreul shows more rare independent films every Monday night in the second floor of a local bar in downtown Wilmington called The Opera Room. Not only is it not in a historic theater like Cinematique is, but it a makeshift theater where they simple put up a screen and close heavy curtains to block the sound from the bar downstairs. No matter where the independent art house films are being shown, the environment of watching and discussing them is what creates the full experience!
Although a majority of microcinemas have disappeared, there are still "makeshift" theaters in many communities. Some are in cafes, basements, bars, or like the Aurora Picture Show, in churches! Even in Wilmington we have a few small microcinemas. Thalian Hall puts on "Cinematique" which has a older audience so it tends to be more "mainstream independent" films. However, James Kreul shows more rare independent films every Monday night in the second floor of a local bar in downtown Wilmington called The Opera Room. Not only is it not in a historic theater like Cinematique is, but it a makeshift theater where they simple put up a screen and close heavy curtains to block the sound from the bar downstairs. No matter where the independent art house films are being shown, the environment of watching and discussing them is what creates the full experience!
Monday, October 24, 2011
My Role in the Music Video Project
For our Music Video, we chose "Radar" by Apollo on Fire. My role is Cinematographer so I will, of course, be responsible for DP duties and camera operator. Chris (Director) and I figured out a killer idea for our video (not only for shooting but we planned our shots so that we can create the video we envisioned) and then collaborated on the storyboards. Since we only have about seven minutes of film with the Super 8mm, we discovered ways to truly utilize the little footage that we have for the coverage we need. In post I will be doing special effects and compositing. Our video will contain some camera trickery which includes some camera movement (tracks, pans, etc) and we also have plans for things like matting in post. However, I do not want to give too much away because we really want to keep it a surprise! :D
Chris and I figured out how to come up with an incredible video but not being too complicated or over ambitious. Our aspirations are high, but not overly difficult to achieve. In the end, this tactic will (hopefully) work out in our favor!
Inspiring videos:
I really enjoy "La Blogotheque" videos! They are just awesome and have a documentary feel to them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDqppyzjPYQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvvQQHnpRfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBO5dRGrubE&feature=relmfu
Some other good ones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KrmxavLIRM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKXlgISd3iA&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIn1NECpV10&feature=relmfu
Chris and I figured out how to come up with an incredible video but not being too complicated or over ambitious. Our aspirations are high, but not overly difficult to achieve. In the end, this tactic will (hopefully) work out in our favor!
Inspiring videos:
I really enjoy "La Blogotheque" videos! They are just awesome and have a documentary feel to them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDqppyzjPYQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvvQQHnpRfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBO5dRGrubE&feature=relmfu
Some other good ones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KrmxavLIRM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKXlgISd3iA&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIn1NECpV10&feature=relmfu
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Self Portrait
When contemplating what to focus on for my Self Portrait the question of my future kept creeping up in the back of my mind. Similar to my classmates, I am at a point of life where “what to do next” is always sneaking into my thoughts. College students get bombarded with the “what will you do after college” question, more specifically, Film majors are constantly asked, “what do you plan to do with film?” Since those questions are constantly on my mind, and because that is the most prominent aspect of my life right now, that is what my Self Portrait will be. My plan is to use the birthmark that is under my right eye as symbolism of “my mark in this world”. When I was a child my mother always used to tell me that the birthmark was a kiss from an angel. Since faces are how we most commonly distinguish one another, and the birthmark is a very prominent part of my face, it will represent me.
I plan to incorporate the angel kiss story and allow that to lead into “my mark” which will then allow me to explore what is my mark is going to be, at least what I plan for it to be. I will include my love of film, more specifically documentary, as well as, my love of photography, which I will base the next phase of my life around. I am going to film my birthmark, and things like rolls of film etc. as well as incorporate some found footage. Ideally, the found footage will be old school ‘self help’ videos about choosing a career or something along those lines. If anyone has any comments and/ or ideas I would LOVE to hear them! :D
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Completed Sound and Light Project
For the final part of this project my group and I took the sound scape, "a hot and dusty morning," that was created by another group and manipulated images to go along with the audio. The images were complied by the entire class and made into a "library". Each group took one roll of realistic photos and one roll of experimental photos. If the first roll of experimental was not bracketed then it had to be redone creating two rolls of experimental which actually only added to our library anyways.
Once the library was complied into our project, my group (Colleen, Amy, and myself) went through the photographs picking out the ones that we thought would work nicely with our soundscape to create a eerie and somewhat uncomfortable short. After picking out the photos we wanted, we began to place them based on the sounds. Basically we listened to the section of the soundscape, thought about how it made the audience feel, compared that to how WE wanted the audience to feel and chose the photo that would best convey those feelings and emotions with the assistance of the audio. Once we had a bit of an 'outline' we started to manipulate the images. We changed the contrast, cropped them, reduced or increased the scale, moved the center point, played with effects that would "distort" or "stretch" the photos, and added a few silly video effects just for good measure! We wanted the piece to encompass emotions of morbidity and give the feeling of being very eerie so some images we simply enhanced the contrast and left it still, which can also be uncomfortable.
Overall, I was happy with my groups work. I allowed Colleen and Amy to do most of the driving and decision making so that they could get more hands on time with FCP but chimed in when necessary. They did a great job and hopefully feel more comfortable with FCP now!
I thought it was very interesting seeing everyones projects. Although we all had the same library of sounds and images, each project was very different and had each owns style incorporated into it. Jose made a comment in class that I thought was completely dead on and want to reiterate his point. It was absolutely amazing how different the soundscapes where once the images were added. The sounds really changed and, shannon is going to hate this but, they told completely different stories once the visual aspect was added on. It was a very interesting process to see first hand!
Once the library was complied into our project, my group (Colleen, Amy, and myself) went through the photographs picking out the ones that we thought would work nicely with our soundscape to create a eerie and somewhat uncomfortable short. After picking out the photos we wanted, we began to place them based on the sounds. Basically we listened to the section of the soundscape, thought about how it made the audience feel, compared that to how WE wanted the audience to feel and chose the photo that would best convey those feelings and emotions with the assistance of the audio. Once we had a bit of an 'outline' we started to manipulate the images. We changed the contrast, cropped them, reduced or increased the scale, moved the center point, played with effects that would "distort" or "stretch" the photos, and added a few silly video effects just for good measure! We wanted the piece to encompass emotions of morbidity and give the feeling of being very eerie so some images we simply enhanced the contrast and left it still, which can also be uncomfortable.
Overall, I was happy with my groups work. I allowed Colleen and Amy to do most of the driving and decision making so that they could get more hands on time with FCP but chimed in when necessary. They did a great job and hopefully feel more comfortable with FCP now!
I thought it was very interesting seeing everyones projects. Although we all had the same library of sounds and images, each project was very different and had each owns style incorporated into it. Jose made a comment in class that I thought was completely dead on and want to reiterate his point. It was absolutely amazing how different the soundscapes where once the images were added. The sounds really changed and, shannon is going to hate this but, they told completely different stories once the visual aspect was added on. It was a very interesting process to see first hand!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Response for Assignment 1B
For assignment 1b we were grouped with one other person and told to make a "sound scape" with the library of sounds that our class had recorded the previous week. After taking the .aiff files and making them into subclips, renaming them, and sorting them into the correct groups bins (sound effect, ambient, and voice based sounds) we then took the clips and made a two minute sound scape. The sound scape was not a narrative based project, however, they were centered around the specific line that each group picked. Celestial and I picked the line "His definition of a Hustler".
We decided that our sound scape would incorporate the typical sounds that a "hustler" would hear in a day. We started off simple, with a few sounds that worked together to create a smooth beat and tone, while using sounds that mirrored one another. For example, we used a clip of someone eating chips and then mimicked it with a clip of a piece of glass lightly scratching on cement. The sound of the chips crunching was very similar to the glass being scrapped so the combination of the two acted as an audio match. As the sound scape grew, we had multiple sounds that created a chaotic symphony. Sirens, squeaky bicycle breaks, foot steps, and voice based sounds flooded in. A large crash of glass breaking cut through the noises followed by a few beats of silence creating a dramatic situation within our sound scape. Celestial and I repeated short clips of voice based audio multiple times to give it a "skipping" effect as well.
As the sound scape started to wrap up, we incorporated a farewell conversation of two friends on the street along with a few high pitch, and quite annoying, sounds. The squeak from a fan as it spins around and around and the constant buzz of a transformer continue after the conversation finished and then slowly faded out concluding the sound scape.
We manipulated the clips by speeding them up, as well as, slowing them down, reversing them and putting audio effects onto them. Before this project, I did not know much about audio effects and what they do to the clips. We tried to play around with them as much as possible, however, I feel like they were not doing much to distort the clips. It is very possible that we were not applying enough of the effect to hear much of a difference though. Regardless, in the end, we had a sound scape that I am very proud of. In my opinion, it was unique and creative. I am very excited to see what the next group does with it by adding the still photography images!
We decided that our sound scape would incorporate the typical sounds that a "hustler" would hear in a day. We started off simple, with a few sounds that worked together to create a smooth beat and tone, while using sounds that mirrored one another. For example, we used a clip of someone eating chips and then mimicked it with a clip of a piece of glass lightly scratching on cement. The sound of the chips crunching was very similar to the glass being scrapped so the combination of the two acted as an audio match. As the sound scape grew, we had multiple sounds that created a chaotic symphony. Sirens, squeaky bicycle breaks, foot steps, and voice based sounds flooded in. A large crash of glass breaking cut through the noises followed by a few beats of silence creating a dramatic situation within our sound scape. Celestial and I repeated short clips of voice based audio multiple times to give it a "skipping" effect as well.
As the sound scape started to wrap up, we incorporated a farewell conversation of two friends on the street along with a few high pitch, and quite annoying, sounds. The squeak from a fan as it spins around and around and the constant buzz of a transformer continue after the conversation finished and then slowly faded out concluding the sound scape.
We manipulated the clips by speeding them up, as well as, slowing them down, reversing them and putting audio effects onto them. Before this project, I did not know much about audio effects and what they do to the clips. We tried to play around with them as much as possible, however, I feel like they were not doing much to distort the clips. It is very possible that we were not applying enough of the effect to hear much of a difference though. Regardless, in the end, we had a sound scape that I am very proud of. In my opinion, it was unique and creative. I am very excited to see what the next group does with it by adding the still photography images!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Light Observation 2
As I sit on the balcony and look at the natural light that is surrounding me I think about how neglected and unappreciated it is. By this I mean that besides the sunrises and and sunsets we take for granted the beauty of natural light.
Although the rain and the cloudy skies effect my energy level, there is something quite peaceful about them. This sunlight struggles to push its way through the clouds and every now and then there is an opening where the beautiful golden light floods through. The rays of light create strips of harsh and soft light as if a hard light was placed directly next to a defused light. As the sun is once again covered by the clouds my eyes begin to get bored with the light coming from the sky.
My eyes bounce around from place to place until a large puddle catches my attention. The puddle sits still on the side of the road. The same white light that was peeping in through the windows onto the babies faces is now engulfing the surface of the puddle. The water is acting like a mirror and reflects the light off of the top of it. As the rain begins to spit once again the sprinkles allow the puddle to dance about making the reflections of the light wiggle around on the puddle. The rain creates what would normally be another unappreciated beauty, however, this time is does not go unappreciated or unnoticed.
I sit an admire the puddle but the smell of a dirty diaper from one of the twins that I take care of brings me back to reality.
Although the rain and the cloudy skies effect my energy level, there is something quite peaceful about them. This sunlight struggles to push its way through the clouds and every now and then there is an opening where the beautiful golden light floods through. The rays of light create strips of harsh and soft light as if a hard light was placed directly next to a defused light. As the sun is once again covered by the clouds my eyes begin to get bored with the light coming from the sky.
My eyes bounce around from place to place until a large puddle catches my attention. The puddle sits still on the side of the road. The same white light that was peeping in through the windows onto the babies faces is now engulfing the surface of the puddle. The water is acting like a mirror and reflects the light off of the top of it. As the rain begins to spit once again the sprinkles allow the puddle to dance about making the reflections of the light wiggle around on the puddle. The rain creates what would normally be another unappreciated beauty, however, this time is does not go unappreciated or unnoticed.
I sit an admire the puddle but the smell of a dirty diaper from one of the twins that I take care of brings me back to reality.
Light Observation 1
As I sit in the living room of the family whom I nanny for observing light, I notice some new aspects to a room that is very familiar to me. I look at the sweetly sleeping seven month old twins. Their soft skin is kissed with a white light on the right side of their faces. The light is trickling in from the slightly cracked blinds, giving me a small glimpse of the light gray sky. The sunlight tries to push through the rain clouds that are acting as heavy blankets creating this white light that is reflecting on the babies faces.
There is a yellow tinted light coming from behind my head that covers the left side of the twin's faces. Softening the harsh white light as well as reducing shadows, this pale yellow light acts as a fill light. The more I observe the twins I notice how they perfectly lit they are. The white light coming from outside as the key lighting, the soft yellow overhead light acts as the fill light and light that is peeping through the french doors behind the twins becomes a backlight. This creates the very appropriate "halo effect" on the crown of the babies heads.
All of a sudden this well known space seems completely new again.
There is a yellow tinted light coming from behind my head that covers the left side of the twin's faces. Softening the harsh white light as well as reducing shadows, this pale yellow light acts as a fill light. The more I observe the twins I notice how they perfectly lit they are. The white light coming from outside as the key lighting, the soft yellow overhead light acts as the fill light and light that is peeping through the french doors behind the twins becomes a backlight. This creates the very appropriate "halo effect" on the crown of the babies heads.
All of a sudden this well known space seems completely new again.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Assignment 1A "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
This project went very smoothly actually. My group and I worked very well together! We all collaborated in creating the sound effects we needed and finding good ambient and vocal sounds. At first, noticing the more quiet noises was a challenge. However, once in a better routine it came easier to pick up on the more faint sounds around us. We recorded sound outside of my house that is on the corner of 8th and Princess St, as well as, downtown on Water St.
The most interesting sound we found while we were simply walking around my neighborhood was broken glass on the sidewalk leftover from hurricane Irene. We were able to scrape it on the concrete, drop it on grass to make a hallow sound, throw it against something hard to make it shatter, and simply move piles of it around to get "clinking" sounds. I thought these were a few of the most interesting and unique sounds that we came up with for our sounds library.
We experiment with the differences of the mics. A couple times we would record something with the omni mic that is attached to the H4N and then record the exact same thing with the shotgun mic so that we could truly hear the difference in the pick up patterns.
Between the sound observation exercise and the recording and editing of the sound library I was able to have a much stronger hold on the idea of sound and creating sound effects. This project was overall beneficial to me for learning about sound.
The most interesting sound we found while we were simply walking around my neighborhood was broken glass on the sidewalk leftover from hurricane Irene. We were able to scrape it on the concrete, drop it on grass to make a hallow sound, throw it against something hard to make it shatter, and simply move piles of it around to get "clinking" sounds. I thought these were a few of the most interesting and unique sounds that we came up with for our sounds library.
We experiment with the differences of the mics. A couple times we would record something with the omni mic that is attached to the H4N and then record the exact same thing with the shotgun mic so that we could truly hear the difference in the pick up patterns.
Between the sound observation exercise and the recording and editing of the sound library I was able to have a much stronger hold on the idea of sound and creating sound effects. This project was overall beneficial to me for learning about sound.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sound Observation: Public
This evening I went to my favorite coffee shop to hear what I could hear...
Entering the coffee shop I was overwhelmed with the grinding sound of coffee beans accompanied by the loud hizz of the milk steamer.
Customers spoke in calm murmurs as they gave their orders to the employees while the cash registers beeped.
An occasional giggle.
Clinking of coffee mugs and other various dishes filled the air.
Deep clunking sounds of footstep came and went with an occasional high pitched clapping of heels on tile floors.
I heard a long swooshing sound followed by a thud every time the door opened and closed.
When open, the sounds of the outside world flood in: cars swishing by, a dog barking, birds singing and crickets chirping and the day comes quickly to an end.
Chairs squeaking again the floor, followed by a plop of body weight hitting the seat.
I could hear the heavy downpour of water out of the faucet as if the water was racing to get to its destination.
Constant tapping of keys on a laptop to my right was interjected with the occasional throat clear from the man to my left.
The sound of a fast moving fan for a cooler begins loud and slowly drowns off.
Car keys drop loudly onto a table creating a high clank.
I heard the scrapping of paper against clothing as pages in a book were turned.
Mellow rustling of items in an oversized bag.
A low clicking of a pen, open, closed, open, closed.
Flicking of fingernails.
Deep breaths.
Sniffling nose. With an occasional powerful horn sound from the old mans nose into a handkerchief.
A woman on her cell phone talks in a high pitched, nasally tone as she walks into the coffee shop. She tells the person on the other end of the conversation her issues of finding the right wedding dress, making sure to accentuate the important words by saying them much louder and more pronounced than the others. Eventually her jabber is drowned out by the saving sound of hizzing milk as it is frothed for a coffee.
One by one the people began to gather their things, creating rumbling and crinkling sounds, thuds, zippers closing, chairs squeaking and dull footstep trailing until they reach the door that swooshes open and they march out into the night.
As the coffee shop empties I hear softer noises like the dull humming of the AC unit.
The faint jingle of jewelry clanking together.
Muffled vibrations from a cell phone.
Pens scratching on paper while the hand that controls it slides across the paper.
A long exhaled yawn is released representing that the symphony has come to an end.
Entering the coffee shop I was overwhelmed with the grinding sound of coffee beans accompanied by the loud hizz of the milk steamer.
Customers spoke in calm murmurs as they gave their orders to the employees while the cash registers beeped.
An occasional giggle.
Clinking of coffee mugs and other various dishes filled the air.
Deep clunking sounds of footstep came and went with an occasional high pitched clapping of heels on tile floors.
I heard a long swooshing sound followed by a thud every time the door opened and closed.
When open, the sounds of the outside world flood in: cars swishing by, a dog barking, birds singing and crickets chirping and the day comes quickly to an end.
Chairs squeaking again the floor, followed by a plop of body weight hitting the seat.
I could hear the heavy downpour of water out of the faucet as if the water was racing to get to its destination.
Constant tapping of keys on a laptop to my right was interjected with the occasional throat clear from the man to my left.
The sound of a fast moving fan for a cooler begins loud and slowly drowns off.
Car keys drop loudly onto a table creating a high clank.
I heard the scrapping of paper against clothing as pages in a book were turned.
Mellow rustling of items in an oversized bag.
A low clicking of a pen, open, closed, open, closed.
Flicking of fingernails.
Deep breaths.
Sniffling nose. With an occasional powerful horn sound from the old mans nose into a handkerchief.
A woman on her cell phone talks in a high pitched, nasally tone as she walks into the coffee shop. She tells the person on the other end of the conversation her issues of finding the right wedding dress, making sure to accentuate the important words by saying them much louder and more pronounced than the others. Eventually her jabber is drowned out by the saving sound of hizzing milk as it is frothed for a coffee.
One by one the people began to gather their things, creating rumbling and crinkling sounds, thuds, zippers closing, chairs squeaking and dull footstep trailing until they reach the door that swooshes open and they march out into the night.
As the coffee shop empties I hear softer noises like the dull humming of the AC unit.
The faint jingle of jewelry clanking together.
Muffled vibrations from a cell phone.
Pens scratching on paper while the hand that controls it slides across the paper.
A long exhaled yawn is released representing that the symphony has come to an end.
Sound Observation: Nature
I went to Greenfield lake, sat in the grass and listened...
I heard the chirping of birds nestled in the trees.
The low hum of children playing and people talking in the distance.
Leaves rustling in the calm breeze.
The quite chirp of a cricket hiding in the grass.
Squirrels jumping branch to branch above me and hopping in the grass, scavenging for nuts.
Insects buzz around my head.
The high pitched "SLAP" of my hand hitting my skin as a mosquito attempts to make me the main course of his lunch.
A faint, quick, clicking sound appears, as it grows louder I notice it is a biker approaching. I listen as the clicking gets louder and louder until the sound is right in front of me and then again fades until I no longer hear the clicking.
I hear muffled, delicate, trotting sounds approach and fade as joggers pass by.
The occasional quack of a duck.
Random disturbance of the lake from fish jumping, and frogs and ducks entering the cool water creating different pitches of "plopping" sounds.
Calm waves swish as they wash up upon the shore of the lake.
Quick, light steps of a toddler running appear behind me.
His young, stress-free laughter and squeals fill the air.
A man on the phone with an angry tone paces around the grass. His heavy footsteps trampling and crunching everything in his path.
The sounds of Greenfield lake turn into a peaceful symphony surrounding me.
Bio
My name is Maryosha Eggleston. I am a Film Studies major going into Documentary and minoring in Studio Art with my focus in photography. I love composing interesting and unique frames, within film and photography. Although I have not had any experience with film besides shooting on a Bolex, I think I will really enjoy working with film and the development process. With photography, working in the darkroom is my favorite part of the entire process. Manipulating and experimenting with negatives until you've gotten the desired outcome is such a rewarding experience.
Although I am not exactly sure where my career will take me after school, I hope to have some kind of videography job that allows me to travel. I am, however, very interested in post-production as well.
Although I am not exactly sure where my career will take me after school, I hope to have some kind of videography job that allows me to travel. I am, however, very interested in post-production as well.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Camper and MacDonald Response
The Fred Camper article touched on the how challenging it is to properly title an avant-garde or experimental film. It was quite humorous reading the part where Camper stated that he has students show up to the experimental screening expecting to see films for science experiments! All jokes aside, Camper brings up a great point about the genre title of "experimental". Camper states, "I made many experiments in the process of making film. I left then all in my editing room". If they are finished products then why DO we call it experimental? Camper wraps up the article with six steps or guidelines to follow for experimental/ avant-garde films. These "tests" were actually quite helpful to someone like myself who is not greatly educated on the genre, yet, and will come in hand while I watch and create my own experimental films. The MacDonald article explored the fact that when most people experience avant-garde films for the first time, they are old enough (usually in the teens or early twenties) to have a great understanding what movies are, what they are supposed to do, how we are supposed to watch them, etc. But avant-garde is introduced and wrecks those understandings. I enjoyed MacDonald's point of, "we recognize that the obvious anger and frustration are a function of the fact that these films confront us with the necessity of redefining an experience we were sure we understood". The article continues with a brief history of avant-garde filmmaking and MacDonald states that it is up to the filmmakers and their level of passion to keep the genre rollin!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)