A Brief Summary of The Reading

The article, “Sonic Imaginations” by Jonathan Sterne majorly looks into the conceptual integration of quality sound elements into the live sofa individuals. The article traces the development of sound items from the time when people believed that sound was only made by the gods to the point when sound is made by humanity and contained in at least 3.5 billion phones. The articles then go-ahead to explore the vital elements that have brought about core changes in the sound levels in the society. Key among the elements is the sound studies and the role sound students have played in the development of sound, as we know it today.

The Position of The Text and Its Significance

The text is exploratory in nature, trying to juxtapose the role of sound in life through descriptive modeling of the sound elements and factors. The relevance of sound in the process, therefore, is vital in developing quality elements that dynamically expands the positions and the application of sound and sound attributes in the society. The explorative analysis of the roles that the sound factors have always played in the lives of the individuals who have considered sound vital. The text explores the cultural value of sound, thus attempting to explain the anthropology of society through the sonic eyes. The article also explores the political role of sound, thus attempting to explore the use of sound through the development of political values in society. Environmentally, the article also plays a role in attempting to explain the position of sound to improve the environment through sonic values. 

The significance of the study in the development of sound and sound values are all important in realizing the role and value of sound in the community band society. Through analyzing the development of sound studies and sound students, it is always important for the society to understand how sonic values can be used to improve the sectors of the society in which it can help improve. In this case, it is important that the stakeholders find relevant use of sound in the areas of sound application to the environment, politics and cultural values. This is evident when the dynamic scope of the article is captured in the core contents of sonic imagination. Jonathan Sterne stated that. 

“Sonic imagination is a deliberately synesthetic neologism—it is about sound but occupies an ambiguous position between sound culture and a space of contemplation outside it. Sonic imaginations are necessarily plural, recursive, reflexive, driven to represent, refigure and redescribe. They are fascinated by sound but driven to fashion some new intellectual facility to make sense of some part of the sonic world” (Sterne, 2012 p. 5).

How Reading Changes Understanding

Initially, I thought that sound development is a complex process that was given to natural evolution. However, the article has convinced me that people can sometimes stake deliberate efforts that can also improve the level to which success in sound development and application can be reached. I have realized that sound can be modified to fits a culture, a political grouping or even a given environmental concept. 

Importance of The Reading in Relation to Media Marking 

Through the reading of the article, I came to understand the position and the role of sound studies. I have come to note that sound development and change are in our own hands. Therefore, it is always possible to have the right sound development needs through a concerted need to understand why sound items may change as they have been seen in modern society. I have learned that sound is beyond the mere common sense, but also a way to describe society, culture like language and even achieve success in sound development. This is a useful concept for sound media marking as it helps to further inform the situation of sound in society. 

Influence on Future Audio-Visual Work

I have realized that the article is useful in the development of research elements. I have noted that the articles explore the key research areas that have been developed to underline the concept of sound development through sound studies. Therefore, sound students have always been considered useful agents for the modifications, reproduction and developing of sonic attributes of life. Sonic Imagination has been useful in redescribing sound that goes beyond simply listening and hearing, but eloigning sound to the realizing cultural, political and even environmental aesthetics of quality sound. The article, therefore, attempts to put sound elements and values to the context of the required development of concepts that help to make a living through the sonic attributes a useful adventure. These are elements that I will need to include in my future interceptions with sound.

Reference

Sterne, J. (2012). Sonic imaginations. The sound studies reader, 1-17.

This link of my in progress of assignment 1

Assignment 1-in progress

This is the link of assignment 1-whole folder

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YySUHXnoeLrTydUafPvWJdn4gMqzouXW

-completed collage

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15JfMMbbPmUoKUjcuqEnnc2O_2XEpvwlN

-sample library

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ERfhycoZEIw5gBrkKVFWqFIgLcVIuQUv

-reflection

In the first assignment 1, I used five sonic elements which I recorded in class. I tried to record a lot of sounds in order to better master the use of recording machines. The first one is the sound of paper turning. The second one is mouse click. I hope these two sounds are dull and unified. And then it shows the boredom of society. The third sonic element is curtain pulling, I think it serves as a bass to highlight other sounds, but it is not too flat. The last two sounds are the sound of tapping metal and the sound of tapping metal. These two sounds can be reflected in more detail. I chose this selection of sounds because they are shows the most ordinary life that makes people have closeness and understand better.

Here is the story about my audio- In dull social work, everyone is lonely. The same life is repeated every day. There is no communication between people. The sound of mouse clicks in the big and quiet office is particularly obvious. It’s good to think quietly and meditate to experience loneliness. The sound of metal tapping reveals inner complexity, and the sound of paper turning over pages is like turning a new chapter in life. Hopefully in the final edition, the combination of the front and back voice scenarios will not be too abrupt.

This is my first time to use Adobe Audition. Through the teacher’s explanation in class, online video tutorials and self-exploration, I succeeded in mastering the use of it. I used fade-in and fade-out in almost every track to make the whole sound less abrupt and the connection more perfect. In my original recording, some sounds are too short and urgent. Delay effects combined with increased sound can solve this problem. Removing noise makes some noisy sounds clearer, but if there is too much noise, it is still impossible to remove it, especially in the street. This is one of the challenges for me, I will seek the help of the teacher or other to solve it. The combination of echo and reverberation tracks can make the overall sound very different. Another challenge is that when I use reverberation, if the original sound is too loud or sharp, it will have a very harsh effect.

-screenshot

I recorded 13 different sounds in class. I chose five of them.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ERfhycoZEIw5gBrkKVFWqFIgLcVIuQUv

Here is the story about my audio- In dull social work, everyone is lonely. The same life is repeated every day. There is no communication between people. The sound of mouse clicks in the big and quiet office is particularly obvious. It’s good to think quietly and meditate to experience loneliness. The sound of metal tapping reveals inner complexity, and the sound of paper turning over pages is like turning a new chapter in life. Hopefully in the final edition, the combination of the front and back voice scenarios will not be too abrupt.

What you gained from the studio？

After this studio, I think I learned a lot of things. The small things studio not only teach me to master the most basic shooting knowledge but also in the process of learning encountered many challenges to recognize my own shortcomings. I learned how to use equipments-cameras, tripod, microphone, lighting kit etc and the equipment safety is also very important during the shooting. A good cinematographic and television work can not be separated from careful consideration, lens’ design and shooting, selection of music, good teamwork and editing. All of these are indispensable. We tried to play different roles in the studio, each of them is very important for video shooting. We learned how to play every roles and saved time by fulfilling our duties. Although theoretical knowledge is important, when it is combined with practice, I realize that I still have a lot of things to improve and learn. When we show our works in class, the suggestions of the teacher and classmates made me reflect and make progress a lot. When I met some difficulties, the help of the teacher and peers helped me solve many problems. Although the short half semester studio is over, I have learned a lot and benefited a lot.

Pre-production

During week 8 and 9, we were divided into a group and started to work. Although everyone was not familiar with each other before, everyone was very friendly and treat the work seriously. We got an idea that two criminals are in an elevator, on their way to commit a crime, with comedic events occurring. We tried to write different scripts and chose the best three of them. The shooting requires a lot of preparation and detailed planning. First of all, we worked out a shooting schedule, invited actors who fit the roles at starnow and assigned our own roles. In class, we also discussed other preparations, such as the selection and arrangement of shooting sites, meals and equipment transportation. The choice of scenes is the first problem we encounter. It is obviously unrealistic to shoot directly in an elevator because of the poor radio effect and the difficulty of shooting. Fortunately, David has an empty house which we could set the scene to make it look like an elevator. Although this is a good place, the remote location is the second problem we encounter. Luckily, two of our group members have a car so that they can pick up other people at the railway station and transport equipments.

We discussed our free time and chose to use two days to complete the shooting. A week before filming, we completed a lot of preparations, finished the storyboards for each scene and went to Bunnings to buy materials to arrange the scene. We bought black corflute and cut them into small pieces, using Blu Tack to stuck them onto the walls. In the selection of materials, we have faced difficult again. Many materials are wooden boards so they are too big and heavy to be transported by our own cars. Finally, we found a lightweight material that was just stuffed into the car and it has reasonably price. We set up another empty room as the actor’s lounge. We also provided them with tea and snacks. The day before the shooting, two members transported equipment from the school to the shooting site. They put the equipment in advance, which saved a lot of time for our next shooting.

We arrived at the place earlier than the actors, so we had plenty of time to adjust the lights and confirm the equipment. We tried to stand in place of the actors and adjust the lights. Actually, the scene layout alone did not look like a real elevator, but it looked good after adjusting the lights. I worked as sound recorder. It was in a small enclosed room and we also had sound insulation so the radio works well. We communicated with the actors before filming in order to let them know the script better. They were very interesting and offered their own suggestions. We will reversal before every formal shoot  so that we can see the problems which we can improved.

（Adjust the Lighting in Classroom）

（Shop Purchase, Scene Layout）

（Capital budget）

（Handling and debugging lights and equipment）

（Communicate with actors before filming and prepare props）

Reflection 1

It took us a lot of time and energy to prepare well in advance, but everything was worth it. It had laid a good foundation for our later work, so that the work can proceed smoothly. When I encounter the next work, I will be more experienced to do better.

Edits, sound mixes and color grades

Using PR this software was very new and difficult for me. Firstly, I watched videos about color grading which provided by Paul. Then I searched the Internet for many tutorials. When I encountered difficulties that I could not solve, I turned to my team members for help. I spent a lot of time on audio synchronization. In order to show the real effect, I also searched the Internet for a lot of music and sound effects. Because many sound effects were very detailed, I need to revise them carefully and repeatedly. However, when the tone of the film changes from dramatic to comedic and mundane, so will the score. The elevator will have diegetic stereotypical elevator tunes playing in the background, which we hope adds to the mundane and therefore, the humour of the scene. In my draft edition, the color of the scene is warm. But after a group discussion, we felt that the cold tone could better show that it was an elevator scene and that it was about killers. After the class presentation, the suggestions of the students and teachers also helped us a lot.

（Editing…）

(Original)

(Before)

(After-Final)

Reflection 2

This is one of the greatest advances that I learned to use PR this software. It is very important to combine theoretical knowledge with practice. Every detail should be noticed, and the choice of music should be considered repeatedly. Listen to other people’s suggestions and make improvements to achieve better works.

Collaboration

A good work is inseparable from good teamwork. In a team, we shared our strengths and advantages, constantly absorbing the strengths of other members, and communicating with each other that we can make a better work. In the process of cooperation, everyone is growing and progressing. One plus one results in more than two, that is to say, team work often outperforms one person’s achievement. Film production is not a matter of one person, but the collaboration and cooperation of the whole team or even multiple teams. Through this studio, I realized the importance of people do their different roles that can not only improve work efficiency, but also improve the quality of work. If the creator wants to finish the production of a film, besides the experience and ability of the producer, he must be prepared in advance. The theatre group is often a temporary team, even if it has made sufficient preparations, there will be various accidents, make the necessary preparations to avoid unnecessary risks as far as possible. In addition, the unexpected response measures and plans should be prepared in advance for emergencies. Reasonable budget allocation, maximizing the use of existing funds, controlling the shooting cycle, and selecting the most suitable actors. All of these were done through our team discussion and careful preparation so that it makes easier to shoot later. I learned to work with others and it also can make a lot friends. After all, film is not a technical arena, people-oriented is the most important.

(Group photo)

Final video

1.

<iframe src=”https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wFznsfPbkLa_IrWSZdjYL2iItlppMSTL/preview” width=”640″ height=”360″></iframe>

We had to shoot a two line script written by someone in our class. It was an interesting project which two groups shot each other. Although it was near the end of the course, I still have lots of space to improve and many technique skills want to study. There were a great deal of advantages in this project. No one would ever follow a pessimistic leader, and the same goes for team members. A positive, “can-do” attitude is critical for the good team member. We arranged the division of labor ahead of time, discussed how to shoot each scene and even noticed every detail. I’m still recording this time. We also filled in the sheet to match our scene with our videos and sounds which I found that useful when we are editing in the following exercises. We found a place where the light was good so that the tone and clarity of the picture were perfect. Not only the light was very good but also the small number of people made the audio very clear, and the details of the audio very clear. We shoot a lot of details and tried different angles of scene which is very helpful to our future editing. We used very little time to complete the shooting, which is inseparable from adequate preparatory work and tacit division of labor and cooperation. Although I think it is good enough, there was still had some problems. In the later editing, it was difficult to lip-synch and screen switching could also be more natural. The final product is better than we expected. I hope that through this experience, I can reflect and improve in the next video production process and it is better to solve the same problem.

2.

<iframe src=”https://drive.google.com/file/d/1re4c-vnIwmCk6UNm3wGLgiz41_4mTou6/preview” width=”640″ height=”360″></iframe>

From this exercise, we need to shot a footage and sound stairs corner. I found that creating scenes has become increasingly more difficult, both in terms of production and editing. Our group worked out the shooting plan ahead of time so the whole process was not so rushed. Our group members worked efficiently. We discussed how to shoot every scenes together and we have work division at the same time. I was alone in recording and radio work this time. Although we succeeded in recording all the sounds and shooting all the different lenses, I think there are still some drawbacks in sound recording. There were a lot of  noise so that the audio is not very clear. Even though the radio is very close to the characters, it can’t receive the voices of both characters at the same time. We should find a few quiet place before filming that can make the whole scene tidy and the voice could be clean. If we can record the dialogue and the sound of cards, the quality of our video can be highly improved. There was an another problem which we recorded so many times. It was too hard to match the sound and video together. We also forgot to try to use different angles therefore it is localized and many details were not shot. As a result, our later editors did not have enough material. We took repeated shots of the same scene instead of switching between different scenes, thus wasting some time. The movement of the camera could also be improved. It could be taken from the first perspective of both sides to make the audience feel more interesting. I hope that I can pay more attention to the details and make the video more perfect at next time.

Clip 1

1.1 original

1.2- I raised the overall brightness and changed the whole tone to warm tone. The character’s emotion matches this tone perfectly. The deepening of contrast highlights the characters.

1.3- I adjusted the tone to a cool tone and deepened the shadows. But I also brightened the highlights so that we could still see the character’s face in a mysterious atmosphere.

Clip 2

2.1 Original

2.2- I lowered the contrast and saturation to make the green of the seat less obtrusive. The picture becomes soft because of the low contrast and the high brightness.

2.3- I lowered the brightness in order to create another atmosphere of terror and weirdness. In addition, I changed the overall tone to warm red, lowered the highlight and raised the shadow.

Clip 3

3.1 Original

3.2- I raised the highlights and lowered the contrast in order to make the characters stand out but make the whole picture soft.

3.3- I lowered the brightness but increased the contrast. In addition, I have lowered the saturation, which I think can create a tense atmosphere. Dark tones match the character’s expression more harmoniously.

From every music, stills, videos, lists, sounds that have inspired or form part of my development. In the film, in order to keep the narrative coherence and the performance of the characters uninterrupted, from another point of view, in order to keep the audience’s thinking when watching the film uninterrupted.From the producer’s point of view, it is impossible for a movie to complete the whole film shooting in one scene. From the viewer’s point of view, the audience can’t tolerate that the scene in a movie has not changed at all. However, because the scene is changed from one scene to another, it often interrupts the narrative coherence of the lens, resulting in jumping phenomena. Special consideration should be given to the quality of products. I find that music is a very important part which rendering the atmosphere of the whole film. The mood, rhythm and theme expressed by music are consistent with the mood, rhythm and theme presented by the image content in the picture. Color is an important element in film audio-visual language. There are two kinds of color appearing in movies: tone and local hue.

Videos

The scene shows the character becomes a black swan, the music is amazing.  It shows the transformation. The black swan is not a complete symbol of evil. It represents desire, struggle, not cowardice, and not hiding, not suppressing all desires. The only principle of Black Swan is to pursue pleasure.

(From2:00)

This scene shot the world is a kaleidoscope of surprise and joy for an 8-year-old boy, Isha, who is communicating with this strange world in all the ways he can think of, and enjoying the generosity of all things on earth. However, Isha is a problem child in the eyes of adults. His grades are not good. His ranking in the class is low, and his mind is full of all kinds of fantastic ideas.

Stills

These are stills from the movie I’m with Cancer. Four good young Adam’s life is very successful, work smoothly, family harmony, unexpectedly, only occasionally troubled by his back pain was diagnosed as a cure rate of 50/50 cancer. The attack of illness, the departure of Rachel’s girlfriend and the sadness of his mother made Adam, who was confident in facing the illness, gradually feel depressed and desperate. Only the dead party Kyle accompanied him in his unique way.

These are stills from the movie Lars and the Real Girl. It is under the influence of “she” (rather than “it”) that the previously silent Lars slightly opens the dusty heart window for a long time.

Location

Library- Focus on one student/ From outside of library into the library

Elevator- A short wait can also be a long ordeal

Bus station- A people just sit, missed so many bus but he is still sit there

Tram- The man wear earphone and that is clamorous/He relying on the glass window

Action

Running/ sluggish play mobile phone

Character

Workers with formal wear/Students

Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron. The music ‘My heart will go on’ is the background music, it shows the charm of music and deepens the theme of the film. Slow melodies, elegant voices and scenes complement each other. It triggers people’s thinking about love, happiness and the value of life. The sounds of waves and boats are also used in background sounds. A combination of natural and aesthetic senses to shows the love. The epic clips of Jack and Rose flying in the bow are absolutely classic shot. The shooting of this scene is half real, half special effect synthesis. The intoxicating red sunset in the sky is a live shot, such magical moments are fleeting. At that time, the actors did not have time to rehearse at all. All the shots rushed to shoot, causing some of the shots to lose focus. But the beautiful sunset is really a gift from God. Dust color picture shows the age sense and the beauty of love. The close-up of their face were taken later and the details were added to the special effects, such as their hand in hand and kiss. Close-up, long shot, zoom in and medium shot are repeated switching and application. It not only tells the location of the protagonists, but also shows the details of their expressions. There are some shot are from the back of the protagonists, it makes people feel like in the first angle of view which have more sense of substitution. With the help of subjective lens, the audience develops with the characters in the play. In terms of the setting and what was captured visually, ocean, ship and sunset composite a beautiful picture scroll perfectly. For the camera movement, the details of scene are slow and protagonist’s movement are also very slow which shows the expect and nervous. The lengths are slow, and they are emotional. Such emotions need to be lengthened, so they tend to be slow. Their world time is full of love and hope, which slows down time. But I think it is flawed, could be improved upon. The lens were switch too fast that make the audience see things in a blur and can not immersed in the movie. And some lenses are out-of-focus and blurring may be caused by switching, or the light. Although this is a classic scene, there are a lot of spaces could be improve.

This is the scene

https://youtu.be/0PUPneeCGhs