Sound Journal #2

In my room as I sat quietly on my bed, I concentrated on all of the sounds of my house. The most obvious was directly above my head: the constant humming of the shaky fan. It creaked slightly but evenly as the blades whirled. The sound of the wind blowing from the fan was another constant sound. The paper of my poster on my wall crumpled a little as the wind blew. As I shifted in my bed the wood in the baseboard creaked a little as well, and the mattress shifting made a soft noise that is difficult to describe in words. My pillow made a sweeping noise as it shifted behind my back along the backboard of my bed. My hair rustled against my ear, as I was having a hard time sitting still. Above my head on the ceiling, I could hear water running through pipes with a whooosh sound, and random footsteps of short gentle thuds from upstairs. My telephone obnoxiously made the "ding dong" sound of a doorbell reminding me of a text message. The sound of my laptop running on my desk made a soft humming noise similar to that of a fan. In the kitchen, another constant and similar humming was occurring. A notebook I was holding slid across the skin on my leg making a soft and drawn out "swishing" noise. In the kitchen the refrigerator opened with a gentle "suctioning" noise.... and closed with a thud.

Silents Please!

On Thursday I attended the "silents please" screening of some silent films for my history of Avant Garde class. While waiting for the program to begin I took the time to connect with the sounds of the auditorium in the library. This is what I came up with:
There were plastic candy wrappers crumbling and soda cans popping intermittently. (There were free snacks at the event). Water bottles caps were being twisted on an off as water was dripping into people's mouths. As they held the water bottles in their hands I hear the plastic crushing beneath their fingers. There was sipping, swallowing, and various quick rhythms of chewing...some chews were more loud than others. People were fidgeting with their plastic mechanical pencils causing light "clicks." Occasional cough, soft whispers, deep sounds of mumbling were heard throughout the auditorium, and some voices vibrated and echoed against the walls. As people shifted in their seats, their clothes rustled as they adjusted and readjusted themselves. The seats squeaked ever so quietly. Faint piano music was playing cheerfully as the feature film's DVD was projected. The door opened and closed several times as more people entered the room, and I heard a woman's feet squishing in her sandals as she slowly walked step by step down the stairs on the carpeted floor. I also heard the unpleasant sound of fingernails scratching skin. Then there was a man with a French accent that stood up and introduced the film. The screening was actually not silent at all.

The concept of painting with sound

The concept that Walter Murch discusses raises some important questions regarding the senses. Most of us are very visual/hands-on learners, which is probably what lead us into film studies. Murch personifies sound describing our experience in the womb, using words that create a vivid mental concept for the reader, allowing us to feel the vibrations of sound such as a mother's voice, her breathing, and her heart. This lasted for about 4 months before we were born, surely having an immense impact on us, yet always taken for granted. Sitting quietly and listening intently with my eyes closed is something I rarely do, it is almost uncomfortable to not be able to see everything sometimes. During these sound exercises it was rewarding to not only hear, but to listen to sounds and how they can function alone. Sound is normally synchronized to match the picture in films as an aid to the cinematography. In student films (as observed in production 201) sound is one of the last things that we take into consideration. I quickly realized that recording and sound mixing was a very difficult and tedious task, and when it was not well done the images suffered. Audiences are distracted when the sound isn't realistic, the microphone wasn't skillfully placed, or the levels aren't correct. If the sounds such as music and effects are original, the film's picture will be enhanced as well. Discovering how to be better listeners will inevitably turn us into better filmmakers.

Article Responses

http://silvacine.com/classreadings/shannons/HansRichter.pdf


Many films are made in order to attract the largest audience possible, causing film-makers to remain traditional in their story telling methods so the audience won't be "lost." It has always taken a significant amount of talent to appeal to the masses, oversimplifying the full potential of film-making. Personally, I am going to be optimistic about the direction the newer generation is headed. The world is continuing to move faster, and seemingly more chaotic, as time passes. I believe that as this continues to happen, the modern art of film will evolve into a creative outlet for a younger generation that will surely be well prepared to react against any mindless nonsense we're exposed to. Just as in the last paragraph of Richter's article, I too hope that film entertainment and film art can become identical. The highlight of this article for me was the paragraph referring to film as "the orchestration of motion in visual rhythms--the plastic expression of an object in motion under varying light conditions." Awesome.

http://silvacine.com/classreadings/shannons/ScottMacDonald.pdf

The description Scott MacDonald gave of the audience member's first response to an avant garde film was definitely accurate. I must admit I have seen some experimental movies that were amazing, and others that I thought were terrible and in fact did give me a headache. I appreciate them, and the ones that I like, I tend to like a lot. If more people took the opportunity to research the history of Avant Garde, I think they could have a much better understanding and appreciation for the genre. It is amazing to think that the images on the screen can elicit such emotion and thought from audience members...MacDonald says it best in this article in regards to the Lumiere brothers. Even now, their films prove to be a "meditation" on beauty seen everyday; captured on a canvas of film and slowly unfolding to give the audience enough time to emotionally connect with the image. I would like to see more of that incorporated in film today.

Manifesto

 HII! I'm Megan. As a filmmaker, this year my goal is to thoroughly explore my imagination and let out all of the absurd ideas that come to mind. At a young age I began to express myself through writing when all else failed. In elementary school I would write plays and force my brother, sister, and cousin to participate. I guess I knew at a young age what I wanted to do with my life, but it took me a several more years to figure it out. Now I know for a fact that I want to entertain, inform, confuse, and emotionally captivate people through the art of film-making. I am thrilled to know that by doing this I can travel, meet hundreds of interesting people, and learn more about myself in the process. Writing things on paper is a wonderful experience in itself, but with cameras and technology the possibilities are taken to an entirely different dimension. The similarities and differences in these two creative outlets are incredibly interesting to me as well. As always I have much more to learn and I am eager to do so. My interests include screenwriting, directing, animation, and cinematography.... I'll even try my hand at acting if given the opportunity. I want to know a little about everything! My thought process is very ADD/experimental, which is why I feel as if I belong in FST 302: experimental film production :)