I find it really interesting that sound is such a complex medium, after reading the Roberts-Breslin reading, it highlighted the fact that sounds are physical movements in contrast with visual stimuli that rely on light and colour to be represented. Sound is processed in a completely different area of the brain and many sounds are often disregarded by our conscious as we live our day to day lives. The field of advertising is something that has always interested me as I always wondered how they manipulated sound and video/images to persuade an audience. The mixture of bold titles and prices with convincing voice overs is how advertisers make use of both.

The reading also talks about the physical properties of sound such as sound waves and their elements. It is fascinating how you can also see a visual representation of the music and it’s properties through their crests and troughs.

The way that people reproduce sound is similar to the way our ears process sound. Sound waves travel through the ear and are then converted into electrical impulses that the brain can process. When someone wants to reproduce sound, firstly the microphone converts vibrations into an electronic signal and then the speaker converts the electronic signal back into vibrations of the air

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For Project Brief 2, we were asked to create a one minute video that represents ourselves, incorporating many forms of material. I begin my piece with my bed side light that I switch on every morning and switch off every night, I feel like it is symbolic of the beginning and end of my day. The piano music playing throughout the whole piece is what I recorded on my baby grand piano which ties in with the film footage of me playing piano as I have played piano since I was a little girl and it is such a monument in my home. Over the top of the piano, I included an edited audio clip of birds in my area that I listen to everyday and when I hear their calls, it reminds me that I am home. Following that, there is a close up of my dog Lola, who is a very important member of my family as she was my first dog. I focused on her eyes to achieve a different perspective on her. My stills include a sepia toned image of the picture frames on a dresser which include pictures of my parents, my sister, my dog and myself which represent my family history. The second still is of the sun rising in my backyard, I used a pink filter slide in front of the camera to capture the sun rays and it is something I watch every morning. The third still is an oil pastel painting I created last year which represents my arts and craft side and my fourth is a picture of some cacti at a market because I like to collect them, i changed the filter in order to brighten the cacti.   I filmed mixing several food colourings with milk in a blender to create a rainbow of patterns which is meant to represent my love of creative cooking and experimenting. I also included my footage of my record player to represent my love of music, the waves at the beach because I go there so often and an audio clip of my family eating lunch over the top of footage of a fresh food market which represents my love of eating out as well as cooking at home with fresh food.

 

After experiencing a ‘cover’ of John Cage’s 1952 performance of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of complete silence in class today, it prompted me to look into his work. I would have loved to be in that audience when he performed it just see the people’s reaction to this extended silent period. Here is an extract from Wikipedia about Cage’s release of the 4’33” piece.

“Also in 1952, Cage composed the piece that became his best-known and most controversial creation: 4′33″. The score instructs the performer not to play the instrument during the entire duration of the piece—four minutes, thirty-three seconds—and is meant to be perceived as consisting of the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed. Cage conceived “a silent piece” years earlier, but was reluctant to write it down; and indeed, the premiere (given by Tudor on August 29, 1952 at Woodstock, New York) caused an uproar in the audience.^[59] The reaction to 4′33″ was just a part of the larger picture: on the whole, it was the adoption of chance procedures that had disastrous consequences for Cage’s reputation. The press, which used to react favorably to earlier percussion and prepared piano music, ignored his new works, and many valuable friendships and connections were lost. Pierre Boulez, who used to promote Cage’s work in Europe, was opposed to Cage’s use of chance, and so were other composers who came to prominence during the 1950s, e.g. Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis.^[60]“

extract from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage#1950s:_Discovering_chance 

 

I think it is really eye opening to experience deep listening as there are so many different sounds that you tune out to on a daily basis like your breathing, whispering, coughing etc. that you become aware of. Its almost like your own personal soundtrack of your environment.

After talking about sound in today’s lectorial, we touched on the fact that due to your age, you can hear some things and others can’t. I could relate to this on a personal level as outside in my backyard, Mum has set up a possum box machine that emits an extremely high pitched noise that is meant to deter possums from eating her plants. However the problem is that I am the only one in my family that can hear it, so when the door is open to outside and I am watching TV all I can hear is this high pitched noise while my parents are completely oblivious. I have begged Mum so many times to turn it off but I am fighting an uphill battle as their ears are not attuned to the sound at all!

Todays lectorial was all about sound and how it can be used as a medium. I found it interesting that sound was called an “internal medium” as it something we are continually absorbing into our brain whether we intend to or not. We also discussed how sound is a physical medium where in fact we can sometimes feel the vibrations of the sound waves in the air, unlike visual mediums. Like when you are at a music festival and you stand close to the speakers you can feel the vibrations throughout your body. The way in which you can manipulate sound was also talked about and how by controlling even the volume of the sound, you can ‘hierarchise’ which sounds you want someone to pay attention to more than others. I have never really worked with sound that much and I am really interested in learning more about it and how it can be used as a medium to express a purpose or meaning.

In class a few weeks ago, we were required to go outside and shoot short clips in order to put them together as a Haiku in Premiere. After some technical difficulties with my old Macbook Pro which is struggling with all these new programs, I have finally been able to upload my haiku to vimeo. I had many struggles trying to figure out Premiere and I know my haiku is very average as it was my first time making a video. I find Premiere almost too complicated for me to get my head around but hopefully it will come with time. I chose to do a Haiku of some of the streets in Melbourne with the online Haiku generator. https://vimeo.com/159747536

I saw this image online and thought it had an interesting concept. It says that technology is not your butler but an extension of yourself. I think what he is trying to say is that technology is not just used to do tasks such as send emails and do banking but it is used to create (consciously and subconsciously) your online identity, even the style you type your emails in is a form of expression alongside the photos you decide to upload and the music you create and share. Technology is no longer seen as a tool, for example a hammer, but what we can do with that tool, say we dip the hammer in paint and create a dot painting.

At the start of the semester, we were asked to think about our top 10 things we would want to get out of the degree so for future reference, here are mine…

1. To create connections within the industry I want to work in
2. To know what industry I want to pursue
3. To make new friends within my course
4. To explore different forms of media
5. To be able to work collaboratively with my class mates
6. To gain skills for interviewing processes
7. To learn new skills regarding current and future technology
8. To have a go at a media volunteering opportunity
9. To develop a portfolio of work to present to future employers
10. To apply my knowledge in order to create and develop unique ideas

In this weeks workshop, we went through some previous students Self Portrait videos and I was blown away at how innovative and detailed they were. I found myself having many “why didn’t I think of that” moments while watching them but I made sure I took down some tips. I think I still have to get used to this forced creativity thing, as I am not familiar with having to be creative to a set of guidelines within a time limit. When I used to create my own videos and things at home, I would do bits here and there whenever I had a new idea, but now I have to sit down and think of ideas for my briefs. I am still undecided as to which method creates better results.

I’ve never really thought about how big a change has occurred within the production of media. Media used to be broadcasted centrally, within a tight knit production area for people to consume personally, however now, media is based on the idea of social consumption, with most of the production distributed in forms of digital and visual communication that people can “like”, “comment” or “share”. So now instead of just watching the news on the tv and chatting about it to your family, you can watch the video online, tag your friends in it and read comments from people all over the world who have watched the same video. It sparks international communication that has never occurred before and I believe it is working towards allowing a more connected and united worldly society.