Self Portrait

For my self portrait I want to fouces allot on sound. I think that advanced sound design is overlooked in most experimental films. I want to really try and get to the core principals of experimental film with rhythm and color. I am not 100% sure about what my final project will look like at this point but I think i want to combine some of my video footage from my trip to Europe this summer and some still photos too. I may also include some animation as well. I am in Andre's modes of animation class and i am learning allot of new film making techniques that I want to try and experiment with. But conceptually right now i am thinking that i am going to use a electronic beat heavy in rhythm and edit visually it in a fashion that matches that beat. Frames will be comprised of up of different photos, videos, and possible animations. I want to use the differences in dark and light by inter cutting the footage with spaces of black or white, or maybe even color. I want to make it full of energy and entertaining to experience.

Image sequence

So today Brian and I started to piece together the photos into a sequence. While Brian colored the photos in iphoto to boost exposer and give it different color hues, i was starting to put together come of the photos we had stylized that monday on a timeline. We knew we wanted the view of the pictures to zoom in and out but today was the first time I really was able to make it work. i was able to fade photos over others and zoom in to extremes and then spin them. I made these animations without sound because we could not locate the source clip that we recorded in final cut that monday, but i didn't need it. Brian rerecorded it but when we put it to the animations it did not match up well. we decided to work on it again next monday and i would teach him the animation techniques and we will make several transitions using the pictures, and then pick the best. The style we are going for is something out of this universe and zoom into pictures so far that they become like atoms and specs of color. I'm very excited to see what the final product is going to look like!

Light Obvserevations

The first picture i took was pf the edges of a building an a metal staircase downtown Wilmington. the sky was in a white overcast but provided a contrast of texture compared to the brick. even though the sky was overcast i still needed to use the high slide. I took the shot from a low angle so i could point up at the sky and the edges of the buildings.The extra light was very helpful for this shot because it provided me with the ability to change my F stop to different settings for more flexibility with light exposer in my shots

During our experimental role of film i took a picture of a fluorescent light on the grass. I wanted to take a picture of something with intense lighting. it was difficult measuring light at night in the dark because the contrast in light is so different from the subject and the environment. the other pictures that i shot were in the day and not matter what i knew that light was reaching the camera even if i didn't make the right measurements. I put the shutter speed on B so i could have more control of how much light came into frame.hopefully it worked out ok, but i have learned that night shots are very tricky to shoot with film.

What Did You Learn??

I learned that there is a lot more to recording sound that what is perceived in just watching movies. Recording live sound is a very sensitive process that calls for close monitoring. You have to be able to understand how to set the levels on the recording device and then be able to listen to the subject and hone in on the sound. You must be carful not to record outside sounds that can disrupt the subject that you are trying to record. I also learned that there are sounds all around us that we ignore, like cars passing or crickets chirping at night. I learned that when you listen closely to the sounds you can paint a picture in your mind without ever seeing the actual item. It was a very fun assignment and i can't wait to see where the next step takes us in the sound experiment.

Sound Recordings

When we were recording the 25 sound effects It seemed like I was hearing these sounds for the first time. Every sound was more focused then it would normally sound to ear. With the headphones I was able to hear the ring of the pennies i dropped and the echo it left behind. I was also able to hear the loud clap of a normal light switch or the lasting fizz of a soda. It was also interesting experimenting with the levels when recording because the slightest adjustment can alter the way it sounds.

When we were recording out ambient noise is when I truly discovered the power of sound recording. The first ambient sound I recorded was of what my backyard sounded like at 4:00am. I sat outside for 5 minutes just listening to the crickets chirp and the hum of my house. Then next one I recorded was of cars passing by at the corner stop sign between Warwick and Trask Coliseum. With the headphone on i could hear the zoom sounds as the cars turned and passed me. It was an interesting sound that gets overlooked all time.

The 10 voice recordings were also very interesting because the shotgun mic was really able to hone in on the dialogue or sound effects made by people. The first conversation was that of 3 girls talking about what they are doing Friday night.And with the microphone i was able to pan to each one of them as they talked. We then went into Lumina theater and I recorded a conversation of a student and a professor about what she did this past summer. Then we recorded the laugh of our friend Nikki as she told a story about how she fit into a dryer to scare her boyfriend. All the conversations are we recorded are going to be very interesting to mix with in post production. After that we met up with a friend of ours named David and he was going to help us record a few voice noises for us. all of his sounds were random and a bit unusual, but what we were looking for the rest of the voice sounds.

Overall I liked recording sound and now that i have gotten a bit of experience I want to practice it and try doing this again another time. I am really excited to see what this final project is going to look like in the end.