Plan for light and sound

Right now, I'd say Barrett and I are about 50-60% complete with the project. Our plan is to complete it this fall break and turn it in Wednesday. We've decided to use photoshop and afterafects to create a limited amount of animation, using cut-outs of various photographs. Many are used as backgrounds to create scenes (much like a stage) and then have characters occupy the foreground and move between and about the spaces. After we complete the animations in afterafects, we will move the footage to final cut, place it over the soundscape, export it, and turn it in. Our story, right now, involves a duck moving about sets under the watchful eye of a witch-owl. Eventually the duck is eaten and sacrificed to a vagina-jellyfish-flower. The film then takes a much more experimental approach, moving about the landscapes and characters, removed from time, stuck in a sort of vortex of they hypothetical and the elemental.

Assn 1 B Responce

I thought this was a really challenging project since I have very limited experience manipulating and arranging sound. While it is a love of mine, I have very little hands on experience since I primarily work on documentaries or experimental films (specifically found footage) so I have very little reason to construct or manipulate sound outside of adjusting levels. That being said, I did have a lot of fun with this project. I'm actually quite surprised how much of a narrative take Ian and I took on it, as I think we both prefer the artistic and the avant-garde. Nonetheless, it was still interesting to try to make a story out of these random assortment of sounds. I think Ian and I got on a similar wavelength on how we wanted to attack this project and accomplish the objectives we set out to complete. I also loved hearing out our project compared to the other groups. I was very impressed how varied and unique each project well and felt like each group really put their own signature on their projects. I think we've got a very strong class and love seeing what everyone comes up with week after week.

Light Observations

Light has always seem to be a very fundamental tool of both cinema and life, but I constantly find myself struggling and processing it. Light seems to be a very basic concept when you think about it, but the visual spectrum makes it difficult to interpret and the physical geometry crafts it into shapes that, for me, are very difficult to understand. I am getting better at it and am still very interested and invested in its function. My primary focus on light recently has been interior "mood" lighting within apartments and dorm rooms. I love going over to people's houses and apartments and seeing how they use light to shape very simple and boring rooms. Most often people use softer, amber lights in corners which, while simple and typical, still strikes me in a very beautiful way. I've also noticed a trend of people using holiday lights as mood lighting, either with or without additional lamps to give strikingly vibrant colors to rooms. I know when I move into my next apartment and have a little money to throw around, lighting will probably be one of my main concerns and want to craft it in a very interesting and unique way.

I also have enjoyed seeing how professional (and amateur) artists use light to craft and shape their work, particularly sculptures. This is something I've always studied in galleries aided by my moms watchful eye. I've always enjoyed more avant-garde and experimental forms of lighting, such as the AntiVJ group which I've posted a video of above. They use both lighting and geometry to create incredible visual illusions and craft these very strange and obscure scenes or, moments, within or, more appropriately, on a invariable physical structure. Though their techniques and access is unique and unusual, I think it can be recreated and explored further in smaller and more localized forms. I'm not just talking about lighting at clubs or bars either, but creating a true light performance on a small scale within an enclosed space. This is something I would really like to study and pursue when I have additional resources.

Assn. 1a Response

To be honest, I'm not really sure if I quote, unquote, learned anything from this assignment. Not to say I didn't have a lot of fun or have a great time doing it, or that I know everything (or even a lot about sound) but its something that isn't really new to me. I've explored a lot of sound in my environments and made lots of individual attempts to better understand and explore sounds in this world. My father, as previously mentioned, has a strong obsession with music, specifically in incredibly high and precise fashion, always aiming for better quality for that "pure" sound. It was quite hard to avoid in my childhood. Also, I've learned to pick up and understand smaller, more minute, sounds in my meditation sessions. So while it was a lot of fun to listen closely to all the sounds we created and discovered within our group, I don't know if I learned anything from them. Rather, I was reminded and reinforced of both the purpose and delight that sound can induce. However, knowing you Shannon, you're really going to want me to clearly state something I did actually learn (and I know you're reading this) so, here is something I did learn during this project and will never forget: when Shannon Silva says I want a project turned it in on time and at the beginning of class, Shannon Silva means that that tape better be in her hand as an actual mini-DV tape, or so help me, I will feel her wrath, and it shant be pleasant.