3 Things I Learned In Class 3/23/2007

1. I learned about clips of video that are originally meant to represent one thing can be manipulated to mean something entirely different, especially when the right music or sounds are used to evoke certain emotions. The video clip by DJ Spooky demonstrated this.

2. I learned how to upload pictures into iMovie and edit the compilation. The duration of time for each photo can be changed so that certain photos and sounds are synchronized.

3. I learned that sometimes you do things in sound and video pieces intuitively that work out nicely, overthinking things can sometimes have negative outcomes.

3 Things I Learned In Class 3/9/2007

1. I learned how changes in the amount of photos taken over a given time can manipulate perceptions of time. For example a smaller number of frames taken over a long period of time will seem a lot slower than a large number of frames taken over a short period of time.

2. I learned that in some cases the use of sound can also change perceptions of time, it's a little harder to explain but one example might be the way the use of repetition with a sound or series of sounds can seem to create a slower sense of time especially when the sounds are slow and drawn out with a long duration.

3. I learned how to upload and edit photos in iMovie, I didn't really get that much time to experiment with it but it seems pretty straight forward.

Why I Run

3 Things I Learned In Class 3/2/2007

1. I learned the importance of taking a problem, making sure all the necessary questions are answered/analyzing the problem before conceptualize different solutions to the problem.

2. I observed the importance of making sure certain sounds don't drown out others in a piece. I also noticed how in the narrative professional piece there was one section where the background sound drowns out the narration.

3. I learned how sometimes researching and coming up with a plan for an assignment can make it easier produce effective results. I planned out how I want my research project to work and what questions I want to have answered, I'm feeling pretty good about this project right now.

nike running ad

I posted this video because I think it is a good demonstration of something I want to explain in my research sound project. When you run for a long distance you inevitably reach a point where your body and your mind begin to suffer from fatigue, at this point it feels as though there's a voice telling you to stop running. This is where mental toughness becomes a major part of running, you have to be able to ignore that and just continue to run. This nike ad illustrates this nicely.

Research Sound Project - Running

1. The topics I'm considering are Running, Basketball and Graffiti.

2. The top 6 questions that I received for Running were:
1) What kind of mind state are people in when they run?
2) Why do people run past their limit?
3) Why do people even like running?
4) How mentally tough does one have to be in order to complete a marathon?
5) What does running have to do with the way we see ourselves?
6) How do you metaphorically run/run away

3. I've already recorded some sounds but I'm planning to record more sounds this weekend.

4. The topic of running matters to me because it's something that I've been doing for years and enjoy, but It's hard to explain to people why I enjoy it and I think this assignment might help me do that.

5. The challenges I see in creating the project are mainly in collecting sounds that I can't record in person (i.e. a cheetah would be hard to find). Also I'm planning to add a sort of poetic narrative over a series of running sounds that both reflect the state of mind of a runner and explain why I enjoy running personally, so coming up with that poem could take some time.

Research Sound - Professional Examples

For the professional examples I decided to comment on Artificial Treatment and Territories de Sans Blanc because I found them both to be very similar in essence but different compositionally.

I found Artificial Treatment to be interesting because of the strange way these very artifical mechanical sounds seemed to work together. The timber was generally the same throughout the piece so that may be the reason that all the sounds seemed to blend together well, but the use of the different pitches and tones also worked in a an interesting way. The piece was almost irritating yet soothing at the same time and it's kind of hard for me to explain why exactly. There were also some occasionaly uses of rhythm throughout the piece created by a few repetitive mechanical sounds.

Territories de Sans Blanc worked in much of the same way that Artificial Treatment did, it used the same artifical/mechanical sounds with a sense of imber that was generally the same. The tones in Territories de Sans Blanc also seemed to have that irritating yet soothing quality. My only criticism about this piece is that it seemed to lack the variety that was present in Artificial Treatment and I think that's where Artificial Treatment seemed to break away from Territories de Sans Blanc.

I liked both pieces, I think that they both seemed to have an aesthetic quality about them that was somewhat pleasing, I just think Artificial Treatment was a little better compositionally.