museum of the moving image

The demo I participated in was the flip book making demo. We took a series of photos and were able to put them together on the computer to make it look like a gif and we were given the option to print them and turn it into a flip book.
  I participated in a sound demo as well. The tour guide played a scene from the move Independence Day with several different tracts. We all know that music has the power to evoke emotions but this allowed me to really see just how much different msic can affect the the scene.in the scene the characters reacted and then there was a reveal. The scene stayed the same but depending on the track playing the reveal could come across as a good and happy event, a tragic devastating event or even an optimistic confused event. 
    As technology advanced within the media world so have our experience. There are so many layers that are so well thought out in a film just to enhance our viewership.As computer generation develops there is nothing the mind can think up than the movies can not make realistic. Once masks and elementary make up (which I saw at the museum) were the way to create abnormal looking creatures but now those are just the beginning steps. The makeup tools used now are phenomenal compared to what they were before and as technology evolves we can be more engaged with what we are seeing because of the more realistic appeal.

Sound Symposium EC

     The lecture I attended aimed to talk about a “new” kind of sound, which uses sounds normally used as background noises as score. David Barker and Pacho Velez started off their talk by redefining the elements of sound in a way that best relayed their ideas using known terms. This did not sit well with many audience members that attended the symposium, who ended the conference by lashing out and criticizing the men on the principles of their discussion. They used several scenes as examples to help define their versions of the words foley, ambiance and score.

Their example they drew upon most to express their ideas was a clip from the film Castello (2011). The scene showed a man in a well-lit factory like setting unpacking and repacking boxes full of lobsters. Barker and Velez described the sound of the lobsters being placed on the table as (their definition of) foley and the noise of the room, which was the sound of a possible HVAC system as the ambiance. However to describe their 4^th category of sound or new idea of score they pulled upon the sound of unraveling tape that was present throughout most of the scene, while the we as the viewers saw no tape.

Their argument was that the tape possibly acted as a new idea of score, setting the mood and revealing an invisible meaning.

The audience however was unimpressed with this revelation. Proclamations of “been there done that” or “been their seen that” seemed to be the general consensus. Other arguments came up that the word foley was being misused and a possible better term for what they were describing was diegetic sound (to which the men had no comment). An audience member even went as far to say that it was disrespectful to the incredibly difficult task of foley and to foley artists everywhere.

While it was clear to some (me at least) that Barker and Velez did not intend to disrespect foley artist, most of the conversation post presentation seemed to revolve around this issue and not what they talked about.

I personally understood their intent. While it angered many elders of the craft I think they focused on the wrong elements and could have brought healthy critique and advice to these men. They seemed to want to start a discussion on how background sounds can be put together to operate as score in a way to start a new trend or fashion in films. 

Updated audio project

This scene is a triangle. The camera bounces between each of the three corners of the room creating an intensity that wouldn't be there otherwise. There is a character in each of the three corners reacting differently to the situation. The first cut in the scene is a reaction shot. Lisa (Angelina Jolie) enters and slams the door. As the door closes shut we hear the slam and then it immediately cuts to Susana (Wynonna Ryder) who is across the room and her reaction to the door slamming. It's seemingly perfect an un-noticeable. Directly after we see Susanna's reaction we see Georgina (Clea DuVall) in the third part of the room who is the bystander in a confrontation that involves Susana and Lisa. As Georgina is speaking it cuts to a close-up to a chair which Lisa uses to block the door. The camera then pans up to Lisa's face revealing her emotion. Then we see a wide shot of Susana, she backs into a corner as Lisa walks towards her. We can hear faint footsteps from Lisa and loud banging is the sound in front. Once Susanna is trapped the scene cuts to Lisa as she screams at Susanna then quickly to Susanna to capture her reaction. Once there is screaming and banging taking place in the scene the camera cuts to Georgina so that we can see her reaction to all that is happening giving us a third party's perspective. The scene then cuts to a close up of the chair blocking the door as its being rattled. The door bursts open at the peak of the noise level (the height of the screaming in collaboration with the banging). It is simultaneously cut to a wide shot of Valerie (Whoopi Goldberg) busting into the door. Another cut that is seamless. The wide shot becomes a medium (more obvious) low angle shot as she walk closer to the camera and freezes asserting her dominance. Two quick cuts follow, both close-ups, one to Susanna and then to Lisa to get their reactions. The camera stays on Lisa, no-one is moving and the scene that once had a lot of stuff going on at once is now focused this one character's emotions. It cuts to  and then back to the close-up of Lisa. Once the moment is gone and the scuffling begins it its to a wide shot of the aid grabbing her and then Georgina's reaction to everything that has taken place and then back to Susana.

Audio Portrait on Michael Cady

Media 160 Audio Project

https://soundcloud.com/danielle-wright-308385056/new-york

Sound Walk

     Walking around the streets of the Upper East Side of Manhattan I heard very common keynotes, not unique to that particular area of the city but of cities during that time. It was lunch time, around 12:30.  The sounds that stuck out were of traffic. I could hear engines starting up and stopping because of the inconsistent traffic flow. They were loud robust and unpleasant when I was listening out for them but on an average day they are still happening, my mind is just elsewhere. Horns were honking almost constantly in sparatic patterns. Some long some short and in pairs or trios. This was probably indicative of the time period as the sound of loud truck engines and speeding cars dominated because it was delivery hour. Also indicative of that time "Lunch Time begins". When I listened closer I could here bicycle wheels spinning and lots of paper and plastic bags rubbing against each other in the wind. That time was also "Dog Walking time". The dogs were all peaceful as I heard no barking what-so-ever but i heard lots of leashes clacking together as the dogs were being walked in groups (probably due to the fact that neighborhood is one where residents would not be home and hire dog walkers).  In this particular area there were no Sound Signals nor Sound Marks that I was aware of , just a lot of familiar keynotes during this sound-walk.

LINK TO MY DEFINE A SPACE PROJECT FOR MEDIA 160

https://vimeo.com/141566683