Making embodiment: Assignment 4 reflection

Reflection

After the joint efforts of the team members over the past few weeks, the final project was finally completed. It is ultimately presented in video as a media form. Unlike assignment 1 and 2, assignment 4 requires not only the ability to shoot and edit, but also a test of group cooperation. The understanding of “Embodiment” is also more like an in-depth development rather than a preliminary understanding and contact process.

Throughout the collaborative process, different issues arose. The first point is we set too many requirements and restrictions before shooting, and many images and scenes were envisioned in my mind. As a result, problems occurred frequently during the shooting process, and unexpected situations continued. The scenes in the scene did not match the expectations. In order to achieve the desired effect, only multiple attempts can be made to increase the number of shots, which resulting in a slowdown in the process of the entire project. The second point is that a group member did not participate in the group meetings due to personal circumstances or even missed the class. After each discussion, we would discuss some new ideas, but due to that group member cannot be reached, the rest of us have to complete more work. After many attempts to communicate with her, she showed us some footage and expressed her opinion, but it deviated from her original idea. Because the project process is over halfway, if someone want to change, it means that all the completed parts will be discarded, so we have to work separately. The third point is because of the impact of the COVID-19. I stay in Melbourne and the other two group members are in China. This is a great test for our communication, shooting and editing. The problems I encountered this time were very difficult, and I also learned from them. Regarding the first point, I cannot use various requirements and restrictions to limit the footage before I officially put it into shooting. Setting too many frames will only cause limitations. With the basic idea and broaden the thinking may discover more “surprise”. For the first time I encountered a contradiction in the group, I was overwhelmed at first and even blamed myself. After discussing with my friends, I realized that this was not my fault, so I chose to communicate with the lecturer. Sure enough, this is a wise choice. The lecturer used her rich experience to give us suggestions, and finally ended the group contradictions satisfactorily. Although we tried our best to give sufficient time and respect, it still caused her anger. I believe that every group member’s attitude towards learning is serious and has the idea of ​​actively completing the work, but sometimes the deviation from the idea is unavoidable. So if I will encounter similar situations in the future, I think I can solve the problem more freely. Although the impact of COVID-19 is inevitable, I think we have overcome these difficulties very well. A group member has isolated in the hotel for 16 days in China, and also be restricted by the network in China, so we constantly adjust the division of labor to ensure the completion of the operation. Continuous communication and mutual understanding make us overcome and solve all difficulties and problems. Empathy, giving understanding and strengthening communication are also indispensable in future work.

Based on our initial collective ideas that about “Embodiment”, in the final media work, we change the color tone, saturation and add sound effects to give the audience a sensory impact. There is one idea which I really agreed from the reading in 2005, “indeed in most practical circumstances these sensory modalities cooperate so closely that it is impossible to disentangle their respective contributions” (Ingold). Senses always do not exist independently, they are connected between each other. The scene you saw or remembered concluded other senses as well. This fully shows that the use of video as the form of presentation can more resonate with the audience. Audience can feel the scene in the video and listen to the sound as if they are inside. This is why we chose to use video as the media form. As we all know, China and Australia have huge differences in geography and space. They are located in the northern and southern hemispheres, and they differ greatly in time, climate, and environment. There is currently a two-hour time difference between the two countries. In terms of seasons, China is spring and summer now, Australia has entered the autumn and winter. Because of cultural differences, the architectural styles of the two countries are also unique. We hope audience can be surprised to discovered the wonderful similarities under the collision of these differences. It seems as if they exist in parallel time and space. At any time, the two places are playing different but similar stories at the same time. The final presentation of the final video is very close to what we expected, and we also set a lot of creative points. For example, the beginning footage leads the audience to quickly enter the state of space-time travel. Subsequently, there are six split screens, which correspond to each other one by one. We try to guide the audience to notice the similarity between the split screens through symmetry. At the end, saying good night both in Chinese and English is also a creative point. In the split screen, there are many metaphors to express “sense”, such as walking on the grass, swiping in the bus, and dripping coffee. I hope resonate with viewers through images and sound effects. For the idea of ​​website, we will use single page to present. In this page, final video, title, subtitle and video introduction will be placed. The title of “Chrono Cross” is set by the overall feeling of final video. We want to create a feeling of parallel space and time for the viewers. Some stories are being staged in different corners of the world simultaneously, but they have certain connections or similarities, which is exactly what the subtitle “encounters in parallel time and space—distant similarities” wants to express. In addition to these contents, we will also place a picture library (all screenshots from the video), which are used to display some characteristic screens and scene to make the content of the webpage richer, thereby increasing the fun. We hope that the audience who come to watch our page can see all the presented content at a glance, avoid the cumbersome operation of jumping the page, and ensure that all details on the page can be followed. We feel that the placement of titles and subtitles first reveals the theme of the video, and secondly, it can fully arouse the curiosity of the audience, thereby prompting them to watch the video with doubt and curiosity and feel the scene displayed in the video. If you still have some questions after watching the video, you can use introduction to further understand the theme, the inspiration for these ideas comes from the online exhibition “KEITH HARING—JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: CROSSING LINES”. An introduction video is placed at the entrance of this exhibition, so that the viewer can understand the theme of the exhibition at the first time. In the internal display, there are multiple settings for a booth within multiple paintings, similar to the split screen in the video, which is also the biggest reason why this exhibition attracts me. 

At the beginning of this semester, “Embodiment” is a very unfamiliar word to me. It may convey information through physical contact. But I thought it must really complex and I could not explain it in words. In the first three weeks of study, I had a preliminary understanding of it which is use body to express or highlight the senses. What gives a lot of inspiration to understand “Embodiment” are the process of assignment 1 and 2. After practicing for six weeks, some new ideas of embodiment have produced in my mind. I think I can gain its meaning that if you can successfully transfer the emotion and senses that you want to express to the audience, that maybe means a kind of embodiment. I do not know whether this opinion is right, but I will continue exploring it. Six weekly exercises laid the foundation for our final project. Through the study of audio and video, we believe that the combined effect of the two will be much better than using only one media format, and using techniques to change the video effect can highlight the senses, making it easier to convey emotions and perspective to the audience . So in assignment three and four, we decided to study in depth the impact of techniques on video and audience’s perspective. It is undoubtedly the most direct way is to influence cognition through vision, using different shooting angles, changing color tone and saturation are the main way to influence vision by us. In the final video, we change the color tone and color saturation of split screen, with warm colors on the left and cool colors on the right. It gives people a distinct sense of difference, and it also implies that China’s current climate is warmer and Australia’s temperature is colder. Through the close-up movements shown in the video can express the impact that bodies brings to the senses. In the use of audio, we recorded sound effects and added a guiding narration. Through the combination of video and audio, we hope to stimulate the audience’s multiple senses and make the transmission of emotions and themes more in place. Throughout twelve weeks’ study and practice, I have broken my initial understanding of “Embodiment” and more proficient in the use of media making techniques. This is really a section worthy of further exploration. I hope to use it in the future study and explore its far-reaching significance.

Ingold, T. (2005) ‘The eye of the storm: visual perception and the weather’, Visual Studies 20, 2: 97-104

 

Link

Week 9: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/05/31/week-9-pitch-presentations-exhibition-talk/

Week 10: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/05/31/week-10/

Week 11: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/05/31/week-11-perspective/

Week 12: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/05/31/week-12-the-exhibition/

Week 12: The Exhibition

The presentation form of our group final project will be a separate video, so we hope to use single page for the idea of ​​website production. In this page, final video, title, subtitle and video introduction will be placed. The title of “Chrono Cross” is set by the overall feeling of final video. We want to create a feeling of parallel space and time for the audience. Some stories are being staged in different corners of the world simultaneously, but they have certain connections or similarities, which is exactly what the subtitle “encounters in parallel time and space—distant similarities” wants to express. In addition to these contents, we will also place a picture library (all screenshots from the video), which are used to display some characteristic screens and scene to make the content of the webpage richer, thereby increasing the fun. We hope that the audience who come to watch our page can see all the presented content at a glance, avoid the cumbersome operation of jumping the page, and ensure that all details on the page can be followed. We feel that the placement of titles and subtitles first reveals the theme of the video, and secondly, it can fully arouse the curiosity of the audience, thereby prompting them to watch the video with doubt and curiosity and feel the scene displayed in the video. If you still have some questions after watching the video, you can use introduction to further understand the theme. In Wednesday’s class, we have shared the intro of our video to Charlotte’s group, although it was only a rough cut, Charlotte and her group members said that they were quickly substituted into the emotions of the video, which was very interesting and magical. In addition, they also give us some suggestions about the symmetry of the scene, which we will apply to the later editing.

Week 11: Perspective

The cameraman determines the field of view and scene that the audience can see by adjusting the angle of the lens. For the sound, its lightness, distance and even the use of left and right channels can substitute the audience into different emotions and produce a sense of image in the mind. Our group chose to shoot in the supermarket and take the items from the shelves. Because changing the camera angle can change the perspective, we took wide shot, mid-shot, close-up, and extreme close-up shots respectively. We found that using close up and extreme close-up can highlight the movement of hands touching objects, let the audience focus on the action and perspective. The use of wide shot and mid-shot is more suitable for exposing the environment and telling the audience where they are. For the sound, it is a good aid for video images, allowing viewers to feel a specific location. Using the sound clips taken by our group as an example, when we record the sound of a hand holding an object at close range, we can probably guess the action in progress even if we cannot see the screen, and the sound recorded nearby is relatively single, which is easier focus on it. The sound recorded from the distance of a mid-shot is rich in content, giving people a feeling of being open and wide. Although it is not easy to notice only one specific sound, it can receive a variety of information. So if I want to show the sound of a specific action, I have to record at close range (nearby) to avoid the noise in the surrounding environment. As same as recording video, using the length of the lens to place what you want the audience to see. If it is a display for environment, it is necessary to record the audio from the distance of a mid-shot and with a wide shot to record the video. Using different distance to record the sound makes me feel very novel. The recording of the same sound at different positions will change a lot, with your eyes closed and you may even feel that the scene is constantly changing. Both video and audio clips require multiple attempts to get close to the effect I expected. These findings are very helpful for the completion of our final project. We will try to use different shooting angles to shoot video footages. For the recording of sound effects, the distance will also be adjusted to enrich the material and strive for the best results. At the consultation meeting on Wednesday, we consulted on the stagnant group issues and work. After the consultation, the disagreement among the team members was resolved. We reassigned the part to be completed. As of today (Sunday), most of the footages have been filmed and the editing work is ready to start.

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Audio Player

Week 10

In my words, texture exists in any object, equivalent to their unique “identification code”. In other words, it can be a sign of the object. Without contrast, I never seem to notice what is texture. After watched the media work shown in class “Why is texture so important in filmmaking?” (Aidin, 2017), I have firstly felt the comparison of texture to no texture in a shot. What surprised me most is the shot with no texture is just several shapes, geometric shapes, the whole scene is without beauty. This proves the importance of texture, it can create the mood and tone of the image in the video. In the video, light, color can be edited, but texture cannot. Even, texture can be used as the reveal of location. It makes the image in the video full of unique vitality. In the audio, what texture evokes are different from its in the video. When you describe an object, the texture will appear in my mind. Even if you have not seen or touched that object, you can generate imagination through description. But in the audio, the change and diversity of texture is unimaginable. Even if you see the picture, you can’t believe the texture of the sound of that object. In “Inner Out-Excerpts” (Nicola, 2015), I deeply realized this. The ice cubes that appeared in front of them could make these sounds by rubbing and knocking. The texture in the audio does not match the image, but it has a magical charm that attracts me to explore. After watching our groups’ exercise, the other group found the interests from the audio part. The sound effect let them to guess the location and where it from. In the assignment 4, we try to use texture to show the unique of different leaves, trees and buildings between China and Australia. I really like a quote from the reading, “I’ve come to hear sound as a movement that gives us each other, as both gift and threat, as generosity and agitation, as laughter and tears, marking listening as a highly provocative and relational sense.”(LaBelle, 2010). It inspired me and made me find that sound and movement are intimately related. Not only that, we can also feel different emotion expressions through sound. This gives me a lot Inspiration, let me show the relationship between sound, movement and space in final audio, I will also explore this idea deeply in the future media work. At the moment, we are still shooting footage continuously, the next step will start to discuss and plan to collect sound effects.

LaBelle, Brandon. (2010) ‘Introduction: Your Sound is My Sound is Your Sound’. Acoustic Territories : Sound Culture and Everyday Life, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, New York: xv-xxvi

Week 9: Pitch Presentations + Exhibition talk

Affected by the COVID-19, two members of our group are in China. Since the problem of network signal interruption persists, we chose to use voice chat in the Wechat group instead of collaborate ultra for group meetings. Since this is a group assignment, it is quite essential to learn to listen to the opinions of other members. All ideas and opinions also need to get the consent of other group members before further operation. The most test of teamwork is the ability of communication and collaboration among team members. Good and smooth communication is the first step to complete the work. And I think it is very important to actively participate in group discussions, and absenteeism is not allowed, which is also a disrespect performance for the other group members. The feedback from three lecturers gave us a lot of suggestions and inspirations for improvement. We will continue to discuss in depth how media editing technology can change the effect of video effects on the audience’s senses. Changing the color tone, saturation and using sound effects are the main means we will use to change the video effects. But we will unify the color tone of the final video according to the suggestions given by the lecturers. This will make the image more comfortable and the audience will see it at a glance. I think this advice is very helpful to us, so we decided to just adjust the color tone of the left and right sub-screens to produce color contrast, so that the audience can clearly feel the contrasting scenery of the two locations, and it will not cause confusion because of the continuous change of the color of the scene. In the new week, we will start shooting footage officially. We will focus on changing the shooting angle to ensure that we can collect more interesting footages.

MAKING EMBODIMENT_Assignment 2-Development & Reflection

Development

In the weekly exercise 4, 5 and 6, I tried to develop using techniques to approach highlighting the senses and find the theme in common from the six exercises.

In the exercise 4, I focus on showing how the different light and weather changes will bring changes to the sight. I used split screen to compare the conditions of the same place but in different weather. When the huge clouds cover the sunshine, the scene have completely different from the sunny day. The advent of night made sunshine disappear, replaced by dark, and the lights that were lit in the dark. In the video, I also show the comparison of the same scene during the day and night. During the daytime, it is illuminated by sunshine, and at night, with the illumination of car lights and street lights, the street and buildings present another scene. I find the decorative lights which are inconspicuous during the day, when they are lit, they are particularly conspicuous and become an essential part of watching the building.

Exercise 5 is present as an audio. It is mainly divided into two parts. In the first part, I concealed the space I chose, present the environment sound when I was still in this space at first, and then showed some of the sounds I made during the activities, which tried to catch the audience attention and makes them guess where I am, and how to produced these sound fragments. After fully attracting the attention of the audience, in the second part, I began to gradually reveal the space and the sound source from the first part. In addition, it presents more sounds, and explains what movements and activities I have done through the kitchen.

For the exercise 6, the whole video is about exploring balance, what is balance, what made balance become imbalance and how to let it back to equilibrium. I explore balance through apple, water bottle, mobile phone, web (roll paper) and human body respectively in the final video. Finally, I found that everything has its own unique running track, state and the way of action. As long as it moves on its original orbit, it is in a balanced state. If it had to change its track or state, it would lose its balance. Just like the apple in the video, without placing its depression/cavity on a flat surface, it cannot stand steady on the desktop. If you want to regain your balance, only a “harmonious external force” can help you. This is exactly what I want to express in those clips in the final video. When the human body is pushed, it instantly loses its balance, but if there is a wall to help you, which symbolizes “a harmonious external force”, you can regain your balance immediately. Including the placement of a cylindrical bottle with its plane facing up in the video, you can keep the phone in a balanced state. This placement is also a symbol of harmonious external force.

I think the form of PDF or a website is the best way for me to form a collection around the theme which is using techniques to highlight senses.

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 6

 

Link

Exercise 1:  https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/03/08/exercise-1-post/

Exercise 2: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/03/20/exercise-2-post/

Exercise 3: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/03/19/exercise-3/

Exercise 4: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/04/08/exercise-4/

Exercise 5: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/04/08/exercise-5/

Exercise 6: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qihang-sun/2020/04/19/exercise-6/

 

Collection

http://evelyn-qihang.zohosites.com.cn/

 

Reflection

Different from assignment 1, assignment 2 is more like an in-depth development rather than a preliminary understanding and contact process. The theme of assignment 1 is to explore how to highlight the senses. In this process, I found use techniques is a good way to approach. In this assignment, I am more proficient in the use of media making techniques and found that this is a good point for me to study further in our studio. Therefore, I chose to collect 6 weekly exercises in the form of a website. Some pictures can be seen on the website that from my media work, which can present the techniques I have used, such as color contrast and different shooting angles. Six weekly exercises are showed on the website, which can let the audience see clear at a glance of all media works. They can compare and analyze that what the six-week works have in common. I believe that it’s easier for audience to understand the media works by bringing the theme to watch them. This is also a big reason why I use the form of website for collection.

There is one idea which I really agreed from the reading in 2005, “indeed in most practical circumstances these sensory modalities cooperate so closely that it is impossible to disentangle their respective contributions” (Ingold). Senses always do not exist independently, they are connected between each other. The scene you saw or remembered concluded other senses as well. This fully shows that the use of video as the form of presentation can more resonate with the audience. Audience can feel the scene in the video and listen to the sound as if they are inside. However, in the exercise 4, there is no need to use hearing and other senses to assist the vision, which can also make the audience more focused on what they saw on the screen and create an association of the scene in the mind. I chose to use audio to reflect the sense of hearing. During the process of recording, I found that if I closed my eyes and only listened to the sound of the surrounding environment, it would cause me doubts and could not sure where I was. But in the process, my thoughts were extremely concentrated, and I wanted to know the answer eagerly that what was source of the sound. This also gave me inspiration, let me foreshadowing and leave question to the audience in the first part of the audio, so that they can be more involved in the subsequent recording. The unique role of audio is to rely on curiosity to focus the audience’s attention and easily heighten the impact of hearing. The exercise 6 which only has the single ambient sound, makes the entire video have a unique charm, which can be concentrated in it without interference. It may be difficult to feel emotions through the scene and the only soundtrack, but it is more interesting.

For the exercise 4, which present as a video form, due to the impact of COVID-19, I dared not to go out many times, which caused the lack of rich material in the final video, and the video clips were relatively single. I am quite satisfied with the three comparative clips in the final video, which shows the big changes brought by different light and weather to the sight. Except the room, kitchen is the longest place I have stayed in, so I did this exploration of sound in the kitchen with my curiosity in the exercise 5, which is present as an audio form. What made me surprised a lot is that I can collect so many sounds in this space, and these sounds will only appear in the kitchen. This is also a satisfaction point for me that made the final audio has a rich sound materials. In the other hand, I am a little worried that when the audience listens to the final audio for the first time, it might be unclear for my intention of the editing of the first part. In the exercise 6, I tried to use a variety of objects to explore balance, I think I did good job on this part. Through different objects to find their common balance law, I think this is more convincing than using only one object. I am not satisfied with the lack of expression of emotions as I did not focus on expressing emotions. I really like a quote from the reading, “I’ve come to hear sound as a movement that gives us each other, as both gift and threat, as generosity and agitation, as laughter and tears, marking listening as a highly provocative and relational sense.”(LaBelle, 2010). It inspired me and made me find that sound and movement are intimately related. Not only that, we can also feel different emotion expressions through sound. This gives me a lot Inspiration, let me show the relationship between sound, movement and space in final audio, I will also explore this idea deeply in the future media work.

There are two videos depressed me a lot from the week 6’s class. The first one seem like represent how to use the body movement to keep balance. The second one explored keep balance with physical (muscle and strength). And they use different shooting angles and the speed of movements to highlight the balance they want to express. Through the media making techniques, I can easily feel the emotions, so I try to use the same techniques to transfer the emotion. I found that shooting objects with closeups can reflect the running track of objects well. Midshots and wide shots are more suitable for shooting human body’s movements.

In fact, the meaning of balance and the ways to show balance are quite puzzled me in the exercise 6. At first, I even cannot express the definition of balance via my words, let alone shooting the video. I have no idea until I saw an idea from the reading in 2004,“An active body incorporates bits and pieces of the world around it, while its action may be shifted out of the body, excorporated.”(Mol and Law) that gives me inspiration and support to make the final video. This is undoubtedly a good point to explain that balance does not exist independently, it depends on the environment we stayed as well. From this sentence, I can also learn that if some “dissonant external force” is added, it will make object out of balance. If you want to regain your balance, only a “harmonious external force” can help you.

After practicing for six weeks, some new ideas of embodiment have produced in my mind. Three weeks ago, I thought it was really complex and I could not explain it in words. But now, I think I can gain its meaning that if you can successfully transfer the emotion and senses that you want to express to the audience, that maybe means a kind of embodiment. I do not know whether this opinion is right, but I will continue exploring it. I hope I can find the answer in the last few weeks. In the next two assignment, I want to present more ideas that are different with I thought before, or break and leave some of my inherent thinking in order to find and present different aspects of senses. In addition, I will learn more media making skills or techniques from my group members.

 

Ingold, T. (2005) ‘The eye of the storm: visual perception and the weather’, Visual Studies 20, 2: 97-104

LaBelle, Brandon. (2010) ‘Introduction: Your Sound is My Sound is Your Sound’. Acoustic Territories : Sound Culture and Everyday Life, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, New York: xv-xxvi

Mol, A. and Law, J. (2004) ‘Embodied Action, Enacted Bodies: the Example of Hypoglycaemia’, Body & Society. Sage PublicationsLondon, 10(2–3), pp. 43–62.

Week 6 weekly exercise – balance

The whole video is about exploring balance, what is balance, what made balance become imbalance and how to let it back to equilibrium. I explore balance through apple, water bottle, mobile phone, web (roll paper) and human body respectively in the final video. Finally, I found that everything has its own unique running track, state and the way of action. As long as it moves on its original orbit, it is in a balanced state. If it had to change its track or state, it would lose its balance. Just like the apple in the video, without placing its depression/cavity on a flat surface, it cannot stand steady on the desktop. Of course, when something loses its balance, it needs some external force to bring him back to a balanced state. So after the apple is cut off one side, it can stand on the table steady again. In fact, the meaning of balance and the ways to show balance are quite puzzled me. At first, I even cannot express the definition of balance via my words, let alone shooting the video. I have no idea until I saw an idea from the reading in 2004,“An active body incorporates bits and pieces of the world around it, while its action may be shifted out of the body, excorporated.”(Mol and Law) that gives me inspiration and support to make the final video. This is undoubtedly a good point to explain that balance does not exist independently, it depends on the environment we stayed as well. From this sentence, I can also learn that if some “dissonant external force” is added, it will make object out of balance. If you want to regain your balance, only a “harmonious external force” can help you. This is exactly what I want to express in those clips in the final video. When the human body is pushed, it instantly loses its balance, but if there is a wall to help you, which symbolizes “a harmonious external force”, you can regain your balance immediately. Including the placement of a cylindrical bottle with its plane facing up in the video, you can keep the phone in a balanced state. This placement is also a symbol of harmonious external force. I tried to use a variety of objects to explore balance, I think I did good job on this part. Through different objects to find their common balance law, I think this is more convincing than using only one object. I am not satisfied with the lack of expression of emotions as I did not focus on expressing emotions. I found that shooting objects with closeups can reflect the running track of objects well. Midshots and wide shots are more suitable for shooting human body’s movements. The single ambient sound makes the entire video have a unique charm, which can be concentrated in it without interference. It may be difficult to feel emotions through the scene and the only soundtrack, but it is more interesting. The first video we saw in class seem like represent how to use the body movement to keep balance. The second one explored keep balance with physical (muscle and strength). And they use different shooting angles and the speed of movements to highlight the balance they want to express.

Mol, A. and Law, J. (2004) ‘Embodied Action, Enacted Bodies: the Example of Hypoglycaemia’, Body & Society. Sage PublicationsLondon, 10(2–3), pp. 43–62.

Week 5 weekly exercise – hearing

 

Before officially recording the audio, I pre-recorded the sound when I was standing still in the kitchen and doing activities in the kitchen. Before this, I never found out that the kitchen was a very quiet place until I started the activity, different sounds from kitchen became lively, and these sounds were made by me or generated by touching the machine. With these findings, I produced some ideas to make final audio. Audio is mainly divided into two parts. In the first part, I concealed the space I chose, present the environment sound when I was still in this space at first, and then showed some of the sounds I made during the activities, which tried to catch the audience attention and makes them guess where I am, and how to produced these sound fragments. After fully attracting the attention of the audience, in the second part, I began to gradually reveal the space and the sound source from the first part. In addition, it presents more sounds, and explains what movements and activities I have done through the kitchen. Except the room, kitchen is the longest place I have stayed in, so I did this exploration of sound in the kitchen with my curiosity. What made me surprised a lot is that I can collect so many sounds in this space, and these sounds will only appear in the kitchen. This is also a satisfaction point for me that made the final audio has a rich sound materials. In the other hand, I am a little worried that when the audience listens to the final audio for the first time, it might be unclear for my intention of the editing of the first part. I really like a quote from the reading, “I’ve come to hear sound as a movement that gives us each other, as both gift and threat, as generosity and agitation, as laughter and tears, marking listening as a highly provocative and relational sense.”(LaBelle, 2010). It inspired me and made me find that sound and movement are intimately related. Not only that, we can also feel different emotion expressions through sound. This gives me a lot Inspiration, let me show the relationship between sound, movement and space in final audio, I will also explore this idea deeply in the future media work. I have listened the audio from BBC SFX recordings, which described as “Operating Theatre atmosphere, during abdominal surgery”. There are different kinds of sounds inside, such as some sound from the machine, sound of tool collision, talking, walking and so on. If only listen to the audio, it ’s difficult to make sure the accurate space, maybe an industry or a surgery room. So it ’s easier for me to describe the sounds themselves than try to name the objects.

LaBelle, Brandon. (2010) ‘Introduction: Your Sound is My Sound is Your Sound’. Acoustic Territories : Sound Culture and Everyday Life, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, New York: xv-xxvi

Week 4 weekly exercise – sight

There is one idea which I really agreed from the reading, “indeed in most practical circumstances these sensory modalities cooperate so closely that it is impossible to disentangle their respective contributions” (Ingold, 2005). Senses always do not exist independently, they are connected between each other. The scene you saw or remembered concluded other senses as well. However, in this week’s exercise, there is no need to use hearing and other senses to assist the vision, which can also make the audience more focused on what they saw on the screen. In this piece, I focus on showing how the different light and weather changes will bring changes to the sight. Obviously, the sunshine gives everything a brilliant color during the day. Then the question is coming, if there is a cloudy day that without sunshine, what will happen to the scene in front of your eyes? I used split screen to compare the conditions of the same place but in different weather. When the huge clouds cover the sunshine, the scene have completely different from the sunny day. The advent of night made sunshine disappear, replaced by dark, and the lights that were lit in the dark. In the video, I also show the comparison of the same scene during the day and night. During the daytime, it is illuminated by sunshine, and at night, with the illumination of car lights and street lights, the street and buildings present another scene. I find the decorative lights which are inconspicuous during the day, when they are lit, they are particularly conspicuous and become an essential part of watching the building. Due to the impact of COVID-19, I dared not to go out many times, which caused the lack of rich material in the final video, and the video clips were relatively single. I am quite satisfied with the three comparative clips in the final video, which shows the big changes brought by different light and weather to the sight. According to the feedback for assignment 1, it’s easy to see I try to used technique to highlight the senses, like the different shooting angles, background music and color.

Ingold, T. (2005) ‘The eye of the storm: visual perception and the weather’, Visual Studies 20, 2: 97-104