Media Bodies Wk2 – Standing and Hearing
A synopsis that describes what the piece is attempting to do
- In this audio work titled ‘Inner talk distractions’, the girl stresses about getting her university assignment in on time, she has left it to the last minute. She tries to piece together a plan to get her assignment completed on top of her long day of work.
- She is on a break in the empty staff room at her workplace, making a cup of tea as she thinks about how she will finish the assignment on time.
- When a plane flies over the building she loses her train of thought, even burning her hand on the tea cup.
- The girl’s perception of sounds and the spatial awareness are affected when the plane flies over.
Some notes about what you discovered about the relationship between sound, physical space, and movement
- Sound, in a way, should be seen as something physical. We say we can see wind, but I always question whether or not we actually can. This week’s discussions reminded me of a clip I watched a few years ago. It was a live video of a volcano erupting, and rippling out of it was the massive sound wave. You could see the sound – Volcano Eruption in Papua New Guinea
- From watching the clip in the film ‘Notes on Blindness’, it was made clear that sound is a great guide in becoming spatially aware in the space you are in.
- You are able to tell if something is hollow by knocking it and hearing the empty noise it makes.
Some notes about what worked well and what didn’t work quite so well
What worked well:
- I was able to collect authentic sounds from my kitchen that helped create the space in my audio work.
- I decided to use one sound throughout the entire audio work. This was the sound of my refrigerator. As I stood still in my kitchen, that was the most dominant sound that I could hear. I noticed in my work that this sound was not dominant and in fact it got lost. However, I do view this as a positive thing because it has shown how we take notice of different sounds and how a change of environment causes our minds to focus on other things, sounds, colours ect.
What didn’t work well:
- I think that I could have added more emotion to this piece, possibly by having a deeper storyline for the character.
- I didn’t quite hit the mark on including weather considerations, another section that could have been explored deeper.
One idea from the reading, a brief explanation of your understanding of that idea, and of how you think it could be useful or interesting in your media making work. How did you try to explore that idea in the media work you made this week? (Or how might you do so in future work?)
- “John M. Hull, in his diary on blindness, talks of sound as that which can illuminate a space.”
- I find this so fascinating. The thought of becoming blind is extremely scary and I would not wish it upon anyone, however, it is amazing how the body and mind work. I’ve always known that if you lose a sense, sight, hearing, taste ect, your other senses become heightened, but Hull’s description of what sound does for him as a blind person is incredible. Sound creates an image of the space he is in. Anyone could close their eyes and tap on items in a room to mentally visualise the space, but it will never be the same in comparison to someone who actually has no sight.
- To bring this point to my media and future work, it is so important to consider all aspects of developing content. What I mean is, if I am creating a film, I need to make sure that the sound and audio is considered equally with the visual aspect of the film. They are just as important as one another.
One technique you noticed in any of the media examples from this week, and how you felt they heightened the sense of hearing or the experience of standing for you. How did you try to make use of that technique (or another one) in the media work you made this week? (Or how might you do so in future work?)
- A technique that we discussed after listening to ‘Scott, Stethoscope’, was the audio levels, figure, ground and field.
- I noticed in the podcast that when Scott the stethoscope spoke about the feelings that he heard from a patient’s heart, music began to play in the background. That music would be known as field sound in the audio work.
- It is important in any media work that involves audio, that you consider the layers of audio in the piece.
- For example, in my audio work for this week, I made sure to include a long audio sound of the noises in my kitchen, so the buzzing of my fridge and distant air coming from an open window. These are my field sounds. Then I had my ground sounds, the water going into the kettle, the character pouring the water into a tea cup ect. Lastly, to complete the layers, we need a figure sound. The figure sound in my work came from the V/O of the character’s inner thoughts.
- When you stand and listen, you will hear things that you may never notice if you are walking or talking because your mind and concentration is elsewhere. So, in media work it is important to take care in your audio because audiences will most likely have heightened concentration in what they are viewing/listening to.
‘Scott, Stethoscope’ (2019) Everything Is Alive. [Podcast] Place of distribution: https://www.everythingisalive.com/episodes/scott-stethoscope
Write about how you found the listening exercise (where you were listening to the Texture Sounds and BBC SFX exercise bicycle recordings). Did you find it easier to try to name the objects whose sounds you were hearing, or to describe the sounds themselves? Why do you think that is?
- This is a tough question to answer. I’m really not sure which one I found easier to describe.
- Part of me found it easier to imagine the objects that made the sounds because I focused on creating a vision in my head. When I did this, I was very focused on the listening task.
- Another part of me found it easier to describe the sounds because I was able to be more accurate. In the first audio piece, everyone in the class had different guesses of what we were listening to, whereas in the second audio piece, everyone had similar answers and reactions.
- Ultimately, describing the sounds is probably easier because it reflects how the sounds make you feel and that can be more important when listening to media work.