Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
puppies. omg no way
Monday, December 7, 2009
Atonement- Final Scene
In writing my (long prolonged) blog, I contemplated what was important to me in a piece of media and how sound created an affect.
CONFESSION: I am a soundtrack junkie. I download *cough purchase on iTunes* the soundtrack to a movie after I watch it. One of my favourite novels, Atonement, was turned into a film a couple years back.
I’d like to discuss the last two-three minutes of the film. (go to 3 minutes, 20 seconds...or watch the whole clip if you want a bit of background behind the segment I discuss)
The sound designer/director did a FANTASTIC job for this part of the film. Briony’s chilling voice and the use of her memory/shots did it for me. The music is beautiful-the background/ambient noises are jarring. I love it. Every part about this scene represents why I love the entire story/book/movie.
The acousmatic sounds throughout the entire segment are beautifully constructed. There are scenes in the barracks in which a civilian is playing the harmonica. As Briony continues to talk about her sister Celia, the harmonica continues to drain on. It’s beautiful and creates an affect on the audience (or perhaps just moi!). There are gun shots, voices, sounds of rushing water in the barracks as well. Of course, we never see any guns, but we know that from the sounds of the gun, there is a war above the ground.
When Briony is in the washroom and Robbie walks by, we hear noises from a news station. The viewer is never shown a radio, but we are aware that it exists and is most likely coming from a radio.
In the barracks, as the soldier bares “Cheerio” to a dead Robbie, we hear the marching of soldiers above. It’s important because you realise that while it’s upsetting that Robbie passed away, the war had to carry on, and the soldiers dealt with death in a passive way. The sound of the soldiers are louder than the noises inside of the barracks moving around. You hear the noises outside more than the actual sounds that should match the visuals (i.e. rustling, speech, etc).
It’s interesting to evaluate the sound design behind a segment, in that I recognize acousmatic sounds moreso than before. I never realised how often we make associations with noises and objects without actually visually seeing them.
The diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are also important in the final scene of Atonement.
When Briony begins to explain the truth behind the entire story, we hear sounds of a typewriter. This is an important diegetic sound of the past, (also acousmatic before we get the visuals!). The reoccurence of the typewriter sounds throughout the entire movie are jarring. However, in this part of the film [segment], the typewriter leads us into the story. It would be non-diegetic to Briony current-day, and diegetic in the memory.
Briony’s [non-diegetic] voice continues throughout the entire final scene. We are shown the truth through visuals, but never get to actually hear what Robbie or Celia say in their final moments of life as they knew it. Hearing Briony’s story while *imagining* what Celia or Robbie would be hearing is chilling. Also, it is also chilling to hear the diegetic sounds in the beginning of the scene as Briony’s non-diegetic voice is layered on top.
The most important non-diegetic element of the entire final scene, in my opinion- would be the music. The song (Dunkirk) creates a solemn atmosphere and affect in relation to the voice and visuals. If the scene were to be played without the soundtrack, it would completely change the entire scene.
The final minute of the segment is of Robbie and Celia running along the beach. The music continues to play, and then you hear sounds of seagulls, water, and laughing. They are acousmatic as well as present in that we hear the noises and associate them with the characters even though we don’t actually see the mouths of them to know they are actually laughing.
The visuals and sound go together well completely! After taking Intro to Sound Production, I have realised how important sound is in any production; especially film. I’d love to work with films such as Atonement that explore using soundtrack and speech at the same time. Michel Chion had it right when he said “If the sound cinema often has complex and fleeting movements issuing from the heart of a frame teeming with characters and other visual details, this is because the sound superimposed onto the image is capable of directing our attention to a particular visual trajectory”. This film makes me think and it only does so because of the sound attached to it. It moves me in so many ways.
If you want a copy of the film or soundtrack let me know! I love to share :D!
-Phil!
"So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for... and deserved. Which ever since I've... ever since I've always felt I prevented. But what sense of hope or satisfaction could a reader derive from an ending like that? So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or... evasion... but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness."
Also, here are some links to my favourite compositions on the soundtrack for Atonement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjNpZ_v9DBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXoFtTZTJAw
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Take me back to Griffintown, Griffintown, that's where I long to be, where my friends are good to me...for it's Griffintown for me!
First of all, I really want to express that I loved this assignment. Sometimes my friends are amazed by the coolest stuff we get to do in the department.
I ventured on the sound walk with a group of members from the Sound 1 class. By the time we got to Griffintown, it was 5:30 P.M., and beginning to get dark. It sort of set the mood--eerie. Griffintown is beautiful in it’s own way.
What amazed me was that we began on the corner of a busier, more industrialized street. That old man’s little tune was creepy/interesting as it set the mood immediately. What creeped me out was how I could imagine the kids climbing that eerie building. It’s huge and I think it’s great how it’s still errected. As we walked along the right side of it towards Ann, there were holes here and there with plastic. I felt rebellious, so I ripped a hole in the plastic that was covering the holes from the inside (...pretty sure that’s illegal...)...Whatever! It was cool, we peeked inside. Colin managed to get a picture. There was construction/some type of welding going on. It was crazy because the inside is really old and run down. I can picture the brewery and the kids running around on the inside. For some reason, I kept getting images in my head that made me think of Irish films that I’ve seen. Even though I was in a historical Montreal neighborhood, I could feel the diminished culture.
When I saw the Lowney sign all I could think about was the font. In our Intermedia class we basically spent an entire class discussing fonts (mainly helvetica...). But I remember two typeface designers discussing how in contracts, construction companies often used their own typeface in creating signs. The typeface in the picture below is unusal and really pretty. I love the building itself too...I felt like it was Charlie’s chocolate factory...It was there, but intangible. In my mind, it was unfathomable that this was once a bustling area of the neighborhood. The only people I saw were hurridly passing through, or driving (mostly honking at Beccy and I because we kept taking random pictures of things...).
Once we got to the open parking lot space near the Towney Chocolate Factory, I felt goosebumps. Hearing the resident’s stories enriched the experience. I grew up in a neighborhood similar to the one being discussed...with mothers on stoops, kids running around; it was nostalgic. I felt nostalgic for the residents themselves.
It’s interesting because in class, Giuliana (most likely the only one who will read this...;)!) discussed how students don’t know where to put their eyes when listening to sound without an image. It was great because the voices and their stories totally enriched this part of the experience. It was dark out, and we could see into the apartment buildings that stand today. In one way, it was weird because I could picture the homes where they once were, yet there were new “homes” there with people living in the exact spots that the residents had spent their childhoods/adulthoods.
When the woman began talking about her mother and the teachers, it shed light on the fact that where I was standing; many many years before, many other students were in the same place, learning different things. It was a crazy thought of me being in the future. I felt like it was 1948 and I was a student looking at this place that had so many complexities in it.The lady who spoke about how she misses Griffintown breaks my heart...
Being in this neighborhood, and looking behind me out into the city scape made me think how crazy it was that 50 years ago, a resident would have seen clear skies in comparison to a line of shining lights in the darkness of the creepy Lowney building....
In hearing the resident’s stories, I imagined fathers spending paycheques at the bars and stumbling home to the stoops of where the homes once stood. As they said, it was not a happy place, nor a sad place, but a happy medium. As I grew up in a lower-class neighborhood, I could only imagine the seemingly familiar feelings that the residents shared about their life in Griffintown.
I couldn’t help but laugh when hearing the old wive’s tale...”Irish” tale about the ghost. First of all, that area is SO creepy! Phil Fortin and Colin sped ahead into a little tunnel-like area while Beccy, Aleks, and I stood behind and examined some old dumpsters in front of a creepy building off Ottawa street. The old woman talks about how she hold the tale and firmly believed that the ghost was indeed a prostitute but not a ghost...then one old man just said he flat out didn’t believe in it...I love the reference to the way how irish love storytelling- Ha Ha! It was insanely quiet in that area, and I firmly believe in spirits and ghosts, so I did get a little suspicious after seeing all the old buildings and rubble everywhere.
In standing where the church once stood, I could feel the spirits and history beneath my feet. Eerie as it was, it captivated my attention. The women reading the poem had a chilling voice and was remorseful of the church closing. It made me so very sad that such a historical and important emblem of where Griffintown’s residents had retreated to most likely every Sunday no longer existed. However, it’s roots and feelings are not forgotten. Those who visit the place will see the stones of where St. Ann’s Church once adorned the troublesome neighborhood of so many who called it home.
Griffintown is interesting, and I find it sad that it wasn't preserved more so than it is. It’s fantastic that you can walk through the area and see remnants of what was a home to 8,000 people of dominantly Irish descent. The construction going on is a little depressing. I think that there should be some type of committee to work on preserving the area bit more and possible turning into a memorial dedicated to the immigrants and residents that once resided in Griffintown. I’m going to bring my Mom around this area when she visits, mostly because it’s interesting for me, as a person from a different part of Canada, to see first hand such a historical place.
God bless the Irish! :)! Can we do Chinatown next? Please!!!
-phil
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
soundwalk...downtown MTL style!
My first and foremost thoughts about my soundwalk was simply the fact that downtown Montreal is one of the most interesting places I’ve ever been to...aside the fact that people are everywhere--and I mean everywhere.
I walk downtown every single day, regardless of my class schedule. As I live at the corner of St. Mathieu and St. Catherine, I am wedged in the “hub” of the fast lane of the student life in a metropolitan city.
Titling the project “Arcade” was simple once I finally decided which sounds I wanted to include in my project. It was prorbably most apparent due to the fact that I walk past the arcade every day and get a kick out of how many old men are playing the video games. It’s full of pings, dings, and stereotypical sounds you would expect to hear at a Chuckie Cheese’s. The sound didn’t really catch my attention until I walked past it with headphones and edirol on. It was nostalgic and reminded me of my childhood, when I used to beg my parents for quarters (we didn’t have “loonies” or “toonies”). I decided to focus my entire narrative around the ambient noise of standing at the car meter in front of the arcade. You can hear the traffic on St. Catherine and the noises from the arcade intertwined. It was difficult as people often walk by chatting, people in the arcade yelling. It took patience and a number of recordings to find one that was feasible to use for this particular project.
From that point on, I decided that I wanted to construct a project that sounded like a “trip” to an arcade. As Hildegard Westerkamp mentions in her article, Soundwalking (The closer we observe our environmental formations and conditions, the more acoustic possibilities we may discover in them), you truly do find the right place to focus on your sounds. While I had some errands to do, and an assignment for another class due roughly at the same time, I decided to kill two projects with one metro ticket, and hopped on the Green Line at Guy-Concordia en route to Berri-UQAM.
Subway sounds are so harsh, loud, and unforgiving. My levels had to be turned down significantly lower than the other sounds I recorded. However, upon my first recording, my levels were at maximum. When I listened to my recording on the way to the Berri UQAM station, I realised that when I returned back to Guy-Concordia, I needed to lower the levels. When listening to the raw sound, the track could almost be mistaken for a race track.
Once I got to Berri-UQAM, I completed my Intermedia assignment at a Photobooth. The coins made a great sound, so I decided to record them (after dropping many, as you can hear). I looked crazy walking around with a microphone and doing ridiculous things in the photobooth, but it was fun and the sound was essentially very clear and at the right level. I decided to pop up “above ground” to snag some more recordings during my sound walk...which became a ride.
In the tunnel going up the stairs, several students, businessmen/women, and other people were rushing to catch the next metro, or possibly a bus to somewhere outside of or within Montreal. Within the crowds of people, women’s dress shoes and heels stuck out the most in the bustle. I decided to “stalk” a woman because her heels made a really loud clack (perfect for footsteps-which I needed!). She smiled and laughed a bit at first, but was indefinitely creeped out. Oops!
I walked back down to the metro back towards Honour-Beaugrande. On the way back down, I heard a man playing the saxophone. I was frustrated because there was a great deal of static and background noise and I wanted the specific sound of the man’s music. Within the same recording, I recorded the music with the external microphone, and without the external microphone. Both sounded terrible when I played them back!
At the McGill station, I decided to get off and walk home. I passed a water fountain and had the same issue as recording the saxophone. Regardless, the water fountain wasn’t interesting and was dull!
Passing a dozen phone booths, I decided to step in and call my own cell phone. I wasn’t really sure what I was going for, and I definitely staged this sound (re: e-mail to prof giuliana). I didn’t even plan to use the sound! But I did get stuck inside the phone booth, which was pretty funny! Luckily, a nice woman helped me escape. Thank God she didn’t think I was homeless!
A group of kids in front of McGill’s campus were smoking (cigarettes...joint?) and taking a stick back and forth against the metal gates. They seemed friendly enough, so I asked them if they minded repeating the movement while I recorded it. It was great and I loved how crisp it sounded. It reminded me of when I was a little boy walking home from school and I’d pick up sticks or branches and run them along the fence in my old neighborhood.
The ambient sounds are generally a product of the noisy streets in downtown Montreal area. The traffic ambient sound clips are from different streets (i.e. Crescent, Rene Levesque, St. Catherine.)
The Firetruck and Ambulance noises interested me because, as I mentioned during the first Sound Class, EVERYONE turns their head for the sound of a siren. We wonder where it’s coming from, what it’s rushing to. I held out my edirol as the trucks passed by!
To tie everything together, when I got home, I realised how squeaky and loud my door is. Every time I am on the phone with my mom, or a relative, they ask if it’s a baby, intrigued by the squeak!
My sound walk was more of a sound...night. I enjoyed walking around and paying closer attention to the surroundings of where I live, versus isolating myself within my earphones and iPod as I walk. In reading "The Soundscape on Radio" by Hildegard Westerkamp, she explains how that she tries to convey a story or image that she is seeing, live from her soundwalk. I found this to be great advice in conveying the message of my own soundwalk. However, I compared the sounds to that if they were to be on the radio. What would people see? Would they recognize the noises and be able to visualize my ideas? All I can say is that I am eager to share my own sounds with the class and to receive feedback from my peers!
Until next time!
Philly
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Five INTERESTING/IMPORTANT Sounds
Five most interesting, and/or important sounds in my daily routine:
Firstly, I would like to think beyond my alarm clock, by all means. However, as I am living in a student residence, my own alarm clock has not become “important” to me. But nonetheless, my NEIGHBOR’S alarm clock, bless their heart, has become more of an annoyance than an engaging sound. Every day at 7 A.M., the alarm comes alive. The alarm is a song from my un-named neighbors list. The only reason I appreciate the alarm, to some extent, is that I’ve been hearing some really great music every morning. I find myself running to my laptop to type in the lyrics on Google.ca.
Is that creepy?
I certainly hope not.
Regardless, the song replays three or four times until my lazy neighbor turns it off. Most of the days that it wakes me up early, I consider pounding on their door in vexation. “WAKE UP!, for Pete’s sake”! The sounds have become part of my daily routine...not by will of course.
(This was yesterday’s song! I couldn’t figure out the lyrics, so I asked him when we bumped into the hall this morning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1FHIP4mLxQ)
I have become a “Crackberry” addict! The sound of my phone vibrating is very important to me. Since I am no longer living in my hometown, I rely on my newly purchased Blackberry to keep me connected with family members and friends all over Canada and the U.S. When my phone vibrates, I know that I have received a new e-mail, text message, BBM, or notification from Facebook or twitter. It will itch away, and continue to vibrate until I peep at what is waiting for me on my screen. The sense of urgency from that little red light that flashes drives me crazy!
I use my camera every day. I have a Canon SLR XSi. My camera is my pride and joy because I enjoy capturing the way I see things and sharing them with other people. I love the noise that my camera makes when I take a picture. I love the sound of the beep when I use auto focus. Photography is one of my favourite mediums of media and the sound of my camera flashing, or the click when a photo is taken, is a significant sound in my daily routine.
Similar sound ----> (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TfxYwo0zW8)
One sound that I suppose I hardly ever noticed was my keyboard. I’ve been sitting here for a long time to think of another sound that was important to me. I know it may seem like a cop out, but the typing sound on a keyboard is a very, very, very familiar and reoccurring sound throughout my entire day.
I wake up, check my e-mail, news sites, Facebook, twitter, etc. I go to class, type my notes, go home, write my essay, write this blog.
*Click click click click click click*
It’s sort of sad that I can type four times faster than I can hand write. I can probably type as fast as I can talk. Sometimes the sounds we hardly notice are the sounds that are most important in our lives...
The last and most important sound I hear every day, wherever I go, is probably most endearing one to me. It is benign to my happiness, and reminds me of the bare necessities to survival. My growling stomach!
When my stomach growls, I know I’m hungry.
I’m a very busy person. Busy in the sense that I am always doing something to occupy myself. I was never the type of child to whine about being bored.
When my stomach growls, a world of opportunities burst. What will I eat today? I love food, and there are plenty of studies that show endorphins are released when you eat. Yum!
Until next time,
Philly :)!
