Blog 9

For our project my group has decided to show the cycle of life and as we get closer to death we thought the sand and the charcoal would help show the deterioration of the body. We were hoping to incorporate magazine cutouts for the human face to be able to manipulate the piece more. The process will compare the life of a butterfly to the aging of a human.  

Reflection: Kentridge & Leaf

Kentridge:

Art has been apart of me my entire life and listening to Kentridge I was reminded of the things I've been told throughout my life time. That art isn't a job. How will you support yourself? Get a job. A lot of people don't realize the money and time put in to creating a piece. You put in what you get out, that's with anything even art. Kentridge's speech spoke to me when he stated, "I am an artist." There is no way around it because you always find your back to painting, drawing, whatever it is that you do. It always comes back to you somehow.

Leaf:

Leaf talks about how it takes nerve to destroy an image to create the next. As an artist that is a difficult thing for me to do. Once I have a portion of a piece the way I want it, I try and be careful around it so I don't mess it up. I can't imagine turning one of my works into an animation and having nothing but a film to show it. I would want that physical piece of work along with it. As some artists film overhead to show how they create their work. Leaf expresses that techniques change and I couldn't agree more. Recently I've looked back over my artwork and my family and I have seen how I have grown as an artist. How my knowledge has grown with the variety of materials I can use and how I use them. The more you work on something such as technique, the better you become.

Self Evaluation

Before 201 and this class I have never had experience working with sound. Shocking considering I love editing. However, I also do love the photography aspect of everything.

1. I think our film (Salty) conveys the assignment by the use of tough and aggressive sounds. We used Maura's singing as a bed and added sounds to that.

2. I think the piece could be strengthened by adding more tracks throughout the project. I also think that if we had more knowledge on audio we could have further mixed the sounds than we did to give it a more salty taste.

3. The most challenging aspect I thought was that neither Ian or I seemed to have much experience mixing audio. This was my weakest point in 201 and I wish I could have learned more on the subject seeing as how I've recently liked working with it in Premiere.

4. I discovered that doing a film without an actual image can be interesting and can turn out different than you would think.

Hopefully once I am able to learn how to edit sound I will get the chance to do something like this again.

Sounds #3 and #4

The wind is making the grass whistle allowing the leaves to blow away. The rustle of the leaves is followed by the high-pitched barks of the dog. Bark after bark after bark. Once it calms down I’m able to hear the birds chirping and the squirrels rummaging through the birdseed. Thieves. They think they’re slick when they hop from tree to tree but I see you. I hear you. The kids next door are laughing as they chase each other around in their yard. Screaming in joy as they play in their tree house. It makes me reminisce my childhood. I miss those carefree days.

The cars rush by. Sometimes I think they don’t see this place. The water drains through the pipes leading to someplace else. The geese honk as they waddle by in their groups. Have I mentioned that they can be evil? Well they can and so can swans. The crickets start to chirp the longer I’m out here. I don’t hear the cars as much any more seeing as the sun has disappeared. A plane roars overhead as it approaches the airport. Security lights hum as they start to flicker on. Cars and doors are locking as people head inside for the night. Maybe it’s time I should head back. 

Sound #2

As a kid I would go visit my great grandmother with my mom and grandma. I remember I would sleep on the couch in the living room and since the house was right next to the highway I would hear vehicle after vehicle speeding down the road with the occasional 16-wheeler horn. To this day the neighbors don’t take care of their animals. Chickens and roosters come over into the yard and squawk. My favorite noise however was at night during the summer when the crickets came out. A constant chirping sound that drowned out the cars and the inconvenient sounds of the neighbors. It is still one of my favorite noises today.

Sound #1

I found it difficult to find a moment when it was quiet in my house. From having a dog that’s always barking and someone needing help with this or that I noticed the only time it’s ever really quiet is once they’ve all gone to bed. I guess you could say that in that sense being a night owl has it’s perks. With that I am able to hear how the vents are creaking, the constant clicking of the pest repellent, how the chain beats against the fan as the blades are rotating and the low humming of vehicles as they drive by.

Listen Up

When we watched the Ted talks on "Making sound visible through cymatics" I instantly thought of this video I saw recently on Facebook about someone with Synesthesia. It is about this girl, Melissa McCracken who is able to turn sound into beautiful paintings. Personally I am not music inclined but from an artist's perspective I found it astonishing how she can transform any kind of genre into something so beautiful. 

I also think we can all agree that the last video; "Listen" was extremely powerful. The end in particular reminded me of something that has been a part of my life for about fourteen years. Swimming. When I'm under the water you think you can't hear anything, but if you pay attention and listen you can hear so much more. The noises you hear are difficult to explain unless you experience it yourself. In all honesty it is one of my favorite feelings there is. 

I'm looking forward to this project and to see what other noises you miss in the everyday life. There is so much that goes unnoticed and I think if you take the time out of the day there is something you can always learn.