Tag / sound

by harrietread

My Take on Casey Neistat

Modern media and communication technologies has given way to a whole plethora of talented people able to present themselves to a mass audience online. The majority of these talents and figures that become known worldwide are YouTube ‘vloggers,’ who blog regularly on a video based platform. And today, I want to discuss the interesting personality that is Casey Neistat.

Neistat is a filmmaker, producer, vlogger, co-founder of his own social media app (Beme), and also a very adventurous man. He has travelled so far that he has essentially gone around the globe several times, and thus has had an incredibly fulfilled life so far and he is only 34. His films, including his vlogs, are visually and technically stunning. While sometimes he prefers a point and shoot Canon Powershot to his marvellous EOS 5D Mark III DSLR, his films and videos maintain an elegantly edited and smooth finish. He is a respected media practitioner and producer, and working as a freelance commercial director has allowed his reputation to skyrocket and he has landed countless projects with companies such as Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Google and J Crew.

I just have one issue: the guy can’t keep a camera intact for more than about 30 seconds. Consistently, he has had mishaps involving dropping, breaking and damaging his cameras and having to buy new ones. If all heroes have a fatal flaw, his is that despite his incredible talent and inspiring productions, his technologies can barely withstand his active lifestyle.

The first time I became really aware of this fact, and also when I questioned my respect for him, was when I watched his 78th vlog, ‘Quitter.’ In it, he ranted for a few moments about the inadequacy of SD cards in his Canon EOS 70D DSLR, and then proceeded to gratuitously axe the camera before immediately buying a brand new 5D Mark III. It was in this moment that I, a broke university first year, saw Neistat in a much less favourable light. To myself I thought, How dare he destroy the camera I can only dream of having and then calling its superior a ‘piece of crap’?

At the same time however, I still respect Neistat. If I saw him in the street, I would lose my cool and make an enormous embarrassment of myself trying to say hi to him. The thing is, this one big part that I dislike about him does something that I don’t see alot from other YouTube personalities; it humanises him and reminds me that even though he is an extraordinary human being, he’s still just a human being. That’s what I think that I admire most in Casey Neistat, being able to get a better sense of his personality. As my own films and photography are greatly inspired by his style of visual media, it is refreshing to get an understanding of how other creative minds think, work and act.

by harrietread

My Take on Filming with Sound

PB3’s deadline is just around the corner, and today I have just about wrapped up shooting the original footage for the final cut.

My only problem is: I am not used to editing or producing films with dialogue or externally recorded audio. I haven’t done so much as stretched my wings beyond little experimental timelapses and music videos.

My first problem that I am encountering is recording audio. To put it bluntly, I simply don’t enjoy recording audio, whether I am using an H2N Zoom or my iPhone 6. Conceptually and technically, I struggle with understanding how to edit or improve sound that has already been recorded; alot of the time, I cringe at the quality of what I’ve recorded, particularly if it’s my own voice.

Jumping that hurdle and getting over the fact that I have an issue with understanding aural media is not something that I am keen on doing. But I’ll need to do something about it if I want to improve and appreciate the quality of my productions more.

by harrietread

Introduction to Interviewing

During this week’s workshop, we were sent out in groups to film an impromptu interview regarding ‘How to survive at RMIT.’ The experience was an interesting one mostly because it required us to shoot footage with people that we had not met or spoken to before, and so we had to overcome that awkward ‘just met’ boundary in order to successfully shoot the interview within an hour and a half.

Three things that were obstacles in working with unfamiliar people on an interview were:

  • Deciding where to film
  • Deciding who was going to be interviewer/interviewee
  • Deciding what questions were going to be asked

When filming with new people, creative decisions become difficult ones to make because often, people are nervous that their ideas will be judged poorly or harshly or that they may embarrass themselves in some way. In my group, we all understood quickly that we could not afford to be shy in the short space of time that we had; each of us quickly took on leadership roles in our own ways to allow us to progress in a fair and open-minded fashion.

by harrietread

This past week, I went down to Mornington peninsula with 4 other friends on a photography expedition. Armed with a Canon EOS 1200 DSLR and a Nikon FE2 film SLR, it was a nice break from the world to go down south and indulge in the incredible natural world.

There’ll be a follow up post about the developed film, but I gotta say, it was a little daunting. I only had about 25 shots a roll, and neglected to bring more than one. Oopsie! I was also nervous because the night before, I had managed to tear apart my last film roll trying to take it out of the camera. Lesson learned: Read the manual.

The shoot itself was daunting, because the beach (whose name I forget) and rocky rock pools that we visited was the epitome of ‘treacherous nature.’ Clambering up rocks and over agonisingly lumpy stones was exhausting, but worth it entirely as we saw the ocean breathing and crashing so close to us.

by harrietread

Baz Lurhmann’s Use of Sound

I like to think of Australian film director and former music video director Baz Lurhmann as a king of sound design. He uses diegetic sound in a way that is powerful and gripping, creating vibrant worlds that seem to assault the senses with exaggerated noises, foley and sound effects.

A scene that perfectly embodies the Lurhmann use of sound is from his 2001 film Moulin Rouge, early on in the narrative when protagonist Christian (Ewan McGregor) enters the Parisian nightclub for the first time.

Here, Lurhmann’s experience in making music videos is shown clearly; this is essentially an enormous music video. We hear several different songs, all MODERN songs, not of the year the film is set in (1899): Because We Can (Fatboy Slim) Lady Marmalade (P!nk, Lil Kim, Christina Aguilera, Mya) and Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana). Lurhmann often uses contemporary, catchy and rhythmic music in his films regardless of whether or not they fit with the time period; this is seen and heard in the Great Gatsby (2013). The use of modern music, particularly music associated with dancing and partying, creates a surreal atmosphere. It feels surreal in the sense that despite being in a different era and time, we can relate across time periods to the partygoing atmosphere.

Additionally, throughout the scene, the diegetic sound is clearly pronounced; the partygoers stamp in time to the beat, their clothes rustling is exagerrated, and as the scene progresses these sounds become more exaggerated, and emphasise a sense of the wild, rambunctious and unbridled excitement of the club. Additionally, the audience feels sucked into this hypnotic psycadelic whirlwind of the Moulin Rouge, and the use of the modern upbeat soundtracks allow them to relate to the scene; a wild Friday night at a bar or club.

Baz Lurhmann’s unbridled and indulgent use of sound and music sets him apart from other mainstream filmmakers, making him a king of sound design.

by harrietread

Learning about Sound

The most I’ve understood about anything related to sound in my life has been how tempo and beat works; I used to dance when I was a kid, and you’d get a glare if you missed your cue. Thus, I have little interest in the finetuned details of the physics and nuances of sound/music/etc.

At the same time, however, I have always had a significant interest in editing films with sounds, music, soundtracks, foley, etc; so clearly, I have a little work to do in terms of getting a sense of the whole shemozzle.

Going through the reading given on Sound was my first step in understanding sound in media, and focused on the technical and physical aspects of how sound occurs, how we hear it, and how we can record it. Now that I know big words, like that cardioid, super cardioid and hyper cardioid microphones are the kinds of mikes good for recording sound from a single perspective, I feel as though I am clearly the no.1 expert on everything aural even though just trying to press the chords on a guitar cramps up my arm.