Exercise 4. Part B. Sound Essay

I chose to capture the words "shelter," "pierce," and "fracture" for my sound essay. The beginning of the piece evokes a sense of safety, and therefore shelter through the use of the baby's laughter (and later a lack of shelter with the baby's cries).A fracture two thirds of the way in is depicted with a harsh, piercing sound that eliminates the sense of shelter and makes the piece less peaceful.

Pierce/Shelter/Fracture by maeganfidelino

Exercise 4. Part A. Listening

Location: TEL, first floor hallway near the washrooms

Time: 10:11 am, 10/19/10

Sounds:

- fast, excited talking
- high-pitched voices
- low-pitched, occasionally from afar
- some high-pitched laughter
- lots of footsteps
- a little running
- dragging feel
- a couple people wearing heels
- doors open a couple times, creaks


Patterns:

- growing volume when people are getting out of class/going on break, only a couple minutes of many conversation, then quiet
- questions at end of statement, higher pitch
- male and female talking, her voices is more prominent because he speaks softly
- girl's voice changes in range, when deeper it becomes more distinct


Observations

- difficult to listen to conversations because many people were passing through, so conversations were disjointed
- many people on cell phones increased difficulty of listening for continuous conversation
- easier to concentrate on conversations when looking at the individuals

Exercise 3. Translation (The Video)

The process of creating the video was very tedious and we put a lot of effort into setting up the images so that they came together in a specific way. We measured out string and the approximate measurements of the frame we were working with. However, the dropping of the different pieces of the image was more difficult than expected. We hadn't anticipated the level of movement that occurred when a piece of the image was dropped and the order in which things came together had to change. In the end, we found the product to be visually interesting and effective as a Hockney translation.

Exercise 3. Translation (The Process)

Exercise 3. Translation (Storyboard)

Exercise 3. Translation (The Plan)

Justin and I decided to create our translation video exercise based on Hockney's photo collages because we thought it would be interesting to witness the construction of such a collage, since the video needed to have some sort of build-up. Originally, we wanted to create the images using our hands on a flat surface, but David encouraged us to explore the different possibilities - to really exercise our creativity in how the image was created.



After much brainstorming, we developed a translation approach using strings, constructing the Hockney-esque image as if it was a puzzle. The pieces would come together piece-by-piece with hanging strings attached to different pieces of the image. We intended for the falling pieces to come together very smoothly, making it a creative approach to our original idea. Hockney's original artwork is static because it is a still image, but there is a sense of movement because of the collage effect. With our translation, we added a real sense of movement.

We decided to keep the images black and white so that they would come together to develop the final product more easily. We felt that if colour was also incorporated, the image would be harder to read in the end. We also decided to move the frame so that the image is more difficult to come to throughout the 30 seconds that creates it. In this sense, an expectation is established because the audience does not know what the final product will be. The camera's movement, panning, and focusing adds to this sense of expectation.

Camera Exercises

The camera exercises done in class were a lot more difficult than expected. I worked with Justin and Annie, but we all had difficulty figuring out how the camera worked and what we were supposed to do with the exercise. None of us had very much experience with using a video camera. In order to set the camera in manual mode, we looked up its manual online, which was also hard to figure out. We think we did the camera exercises properly, but it was far more confusing than any of us anticipated.

Experiment. Transitions

"Made-Up"



I wanted to experiment with different images than those taken in class for Exercise 2, so I created another video. This time, I took images of various circular, make-up related items. Since I had already experimented with the transition effects with my first set of pictures, I feel that I was able to take pictures that were better suited to the exercise and that would create optimal results.

I'm not as happy with the results of this video as I am with my first transition video. This one seems far more literal, and therefore a little static. I think that more images added in would have in turn added more visual interest to the video.

Exercise 2. Transitions

"Walls"



Justin and I photographed rectangles around TEL in class and this is the result. I wanted to keep the images fairly consistent in terms of object (windows, doors, walls), size and positioning. Although some of the images were better than others, I'm really happy with the result. I find it to be playful and visually interesting.

If I get a chance, I would definitely like to try the exercise again with different pictures and playing with a particular theme.

Exercise 1. Light and Duration

Created by Justin and myself.

The view is of a fourth floor window in TEL with shots taken every minute of one hour. When we chose our setting, we thought that the light reflecting off the videos would be the most interesting part, but the movement of the clouds within the span of an hour quickly became the focal point for us. Another lesson learned - Vimeo takes forever to upload videos!