Blog 8: Reflection on Kentridge & Leaf's Animations/Interviews and Reading - - What did you discover today?

I liked that Caroline Leaf downplays the time investment associated with animation (I know I won't when I'm finished with this animation project). I thought it was funny, too, that Kentridge and Leaf have no interest in animating with computers because they prefer to get their hands dirty; I can relate to that, but I also like computers. Reading about these messy animation techniques and how immediate and improvised they are (you can't go back and change anything!) got me excited to start animating. I think I'm finally starting to grasp (three projects later...) how I can use abstract expression and "l'art pour l'art" and all that to just make something and not think too much.

Audio Picture Show Self-Evaluation

How does your final film convey the assigned sense description? Be specific in your thought process. We mainly took sounds that seemed "prickly" and put them on top of a base layer. We also combined some sounds - like different fountains bubbling - that didn't sound prickly by themselves but when combined, made a third sound that was prickly. And we panned most of the tracks to make the piece more jarring.

How could the piece be strengthened, technically and conceptually?
There were definitely three separate sections but they weren't necessarily a beginning, middle, and end. Also: we left most of the sounds "as-is" without any effects or anything.

What was the most challenging aspect of this project?
Finding prickly sounds.

How did you deal with it?
Not very effectively.

What did you discover through this project about making film?
If you rush through a project and try to "get it over with," you might not like how it turns out.

Blog 6: Sound Journals 1&2

For my sound journals I thought it would be appropriate to go to quiet places and try and pick out sounds that I would take for granted when not listening closely. So for the first one, I sat at a bench in front of Kenan yesterday morning. Once my ears adjusted, the environment seemed pretty loud. I could hear all the cars on College and beyond going by on my right, tweets and warbles from the birds in the trees, wind in the leaves, tires on asphalt, car doors slamming, quiet conversations and footsteps, humming from that weird building between King and Kenan, etc. It was relatively loud and rich with sound, despite campus being deserted. I was sort of disappointed, so I went to the library hoping to find a really quiet spot.

I went to the deepest, darkest corner of Randall, got out my notebook, and listened as hard as I could. Now, even during finals week - when every desk is occupied and people are sprawled out in the stacks, chewing on pencils, chugging iced coffee - the second floor of the library is creepily quiet, so I figured that a summer morning would be as close to total silence as I could get.

As soon as you make it up the stairs, it's like stepping into a vacuum. At first, it feels awkward to breathe because it seems so loud, but eventually you adjust and other sounds start to creep in. I could hear a clock ticking but I didn't see one anywhere. (Is there a giant wall clock upstairs that I just never noticed?) I could hear the air conditioning kicking on and off. Somebody was coughing and sniffing, and sometimes I would hear muffled laughing and talking but it was very faint. A man walked by and I heard his pants swishing. Most of the sounds I heard came from me: I was chewing gum and writing notes, so I could hear the lead scratching on my notebook and every noise I made when I shuffled in my chair.

Overall, I was disappointed because I didn't pick up any weird sounds or anything unexpected. I think next I'll visit some loud places.

Also, it made me think of this video.

Blog 5: Response to Listen Up Reading and Chion Reading - What did you discover today?

I liked reading about reduced listening because I'm interested in different textures of sound. That part of the Chion reading got me excited for the next project because it made me realize that we can capture sounds without worrying about their source: we can record whatever wild noises we want and once we're in the editing lab it doesn't matter necessarily where those sounds came from - it only matters that they sound complex, interesting, and add to the overall soundscape. I also liked that Chion talked about how we can remember people's voices without ever seeing their faces because it made me think of what it's like when I hear a band for the first time and guess what the singer looks like.

The Jim Cummings reading made me realize how hard it might be to capture ambient sounds and wildlife noises on campus without being interrupted by "human sounds". Oh well.

Blog 4: Reflection Film 1&2 - What did you discover about yourself as an artist through this process?

I don’t think that I discovered anything about myself as an artist that was surprising. I knew that sorts of projects aren’t my forte, and although I really like abstract and ambiguous short films and I can appreciate what Brakhage and others accomplish with these methods, I don’t know how to create that way. I’m used to expressing myself and telling stories through moving pictures with a more conventional approach (actors, script, three-act structure, etc.) I did have fun though, especially with the animation. 

When I was little I wanted to be a cartoonist and I made flash animations all the time in middle school. But I haven’t gotten any better at drawing and I’m too impatient to do it anymore anyway. That being said, it was fun drawing crashing waves and drowning stick figures.

Blog 3: Reflection on Magazine/Newspaper Transfers

This one was somewhat easier to wrap my head around because all the material was there and I just had to put it together. It turned out pretty ugly though: I cut up this weird drug ad and it ended up looking like regurgitated spaghetti. I also had a hard time cutting the strips into the right shape, so I ended up with less material to put on the film than I expected (and some of them disappeared or dissolved or something) and I had to cut up more magazines. The second time around, I hacked up pictures of cameras and cut the tape into really thin strips. I think that section will look better (or at the very least, less vomit-y) because there's some sort of a theme, rather than a mishmash of textures. It's hard to say whether or not anything I tried today worked without seeing it through the projector, but I have a feeling it will look like a garbled mess. It was fun though.

For the next project, I think having to stick to the elements theme is really going to help me stay on track and generate ideas quicker. I think limitations make you more creative; complete and total freedom can be paralyzing. Sometimes you need boundaries to reach and rules to bend to make your best work.

Blog 2: Reflection on Film Create/Film Destroy

Today’s project was fun and reminded me of kindergarten; I think it set the tone for this course pretty well. I tend to be inhibited and overthink everything, so it was a good experiment to get me out of my head and out of my comfort zone. For a project like this, you just have to go – you can’t hesitate. It’s like jazz or improv comedy: just start somewhere and keep saying “yes, and” and don’t stop. Sure, sometimes you hit a bum note, but once in a while you create something that would never have existed if you'd paused to think “is this stupid?” So don’t doubt yourself.

Now, all that inspirational fluff aside… I didn’t like what I came up with today. None of the images turned out to be all that interesting. I tried to go with the flow and “express myself” and so on, but mostly I just stared at the strips of film and scratched my head.

Other thoughts:

It’s hard to make something out of nothing.

Bleach is cool.

Doodling with a razor blade and carving hair and beards onto actor’s faces is fun.*

Yes, 24 frames are always only one second.

One second is very short.

*I mean photographic images of actors. Don’t mutilate actors; they’re people, too, technically.

Blog 1: Reflection on Maya Deren & Stan Brakhage readings

The readings from Maya Deren and Stan Brakhage really inspired me to go out and make weird, expressive films. The main idea I took from both of these is that often the best way to make a film is not to plan for months and stress but to just go out and do it: get your hands dirty and try anything and everything you can think of. I also found it really interesting how Brakhage put together his films through manipulating chemical processes and ripping everything apart to create something new. And as someone who knows next to nothing about actual photochemical film, just reading about how he developed all those crazy visuals is as interesting as the films themselves.