Blog 4

While walking to the Museum of Moving Image I was thinking about what to look for during the tour. I had visited countless times before, just not in the last couple years. Not much had changed, just a few new installations and additions to old ones. Nevertheless, the artifacts I would have glanced over were given meaning in the context of history taught in class. Simple toys like thaumatropes illustrated the optical effect that would become film. Old cameras placed technological limitations on the medium, restricting on the way they told stories. I never noticed details like these and now I'm starting to see them in all the media I consume. Clunky editing and some bad lighting in the new Spider-man movie kind of took out of the experience, but the quick turn around time on episodes of Big Brother make me appreciate the show more.
This media production class also made me enjoy my favorite films even more. Rewatching Scott Pilgrim was a blast and MOMI happened to have relics from some of my other favorites. They had a miniature prop used in Blade Runner, a film with the perfect cohesion of tone, lighting, music, and set design. The model was of a building used in establishing shots to set the mood of a techno-noir thriller. Staring at that little piece of history, I marveled at the level of craftsmanship it took from the team working on the film. Each disparate part of the crew pulled each thread together to make a film consistent in its themes and the way they are portrayed. Not too many films do that and now I can revel in art with even more enthusiasm. I left the museum feeling curious to learn as much as I could about film and media production.

Final project

A Typical Day at Hunter



By Dorian, Starring Milena

Blog Post 3

In the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, director Edgar Wright uses clever editing tricks to convey tone and add sly references to other media. The story is set in a world that operates on video game rules; enemies explode into a cloud of coins and the main character has a “pee bar” that must be emptied. Wright uses this unique setting to add diegetic sound effects that would not normally be possible. For example, the film begins with a sound effect from The Legend of Zelda that occurs when you open a treasure chest. The accompanying feeling of discovering something new is translated to the film, endearing the viewer to the and making them curious to explore more of it. The scene that best exemplifies Wright’s editing technique is early in the movie when the main character, Scott, takes his girlfriend, Knives, on a date. The day begins at an arcade where they are playing a game together. At this point in the narrative Scott feels adrift in the world, like every day he's experiencing the same events. He is bored with his girlfriend and their age difference isn’t helping. He is clearly going through the motions of the game while Knives is nearly manic in her excitement for the date. The sequence I’d like to focus on begins right at the end of the arcade scene. Unfortunately I could not find this specific sequence online, but it gave me an opportunity to pop in my blu-ray version for the first time in a while (what is physical media anyway?).

Scott and Knives have just lost their game because they were out of sync. Knives does not see the problem so she continues to talk about her inane high-school drama. As she is speaking, a shadow of a person crosses the frame from right to left. Suddenly, Knives and Scott are in a pizza parlor. The transition is seamless, it's as if we’ve lost a large period of time to the void. The same shadow crosses from left to right as the scene cuts again. Now the pair is walking to a Goodwill store. The same kind of cut occurs a few more times at a quick pace. They teleport into a music store and finally back to Scott’s house, all the while Knives never misses a beat. Her dialogue seamlessly continues despite the quick cuts and transitions. Through these clever edits, Wright is able to make the audience feel the same way Scott was; as if he is drifting through life and losing time to activities he has no passion for. However, Wright makes sure to avoid turning the scene into a pseudo-dream sequence, those come later in the film. Wright keeps the action grounded in real life by applying diegetic sound effects to each screen-wipe transition. He adds the sounds of clothes racks clinking when they go to Goodwill, or the honking and screeching of a car as they walk down the street. These effects not only draw the viewer deeper into the world being constructed, they also imply that what is being portrayed should be paid attention to. Even though the character may feel like he is in a dream, the audience understands that what he is experiencing is definitely real. This creates a comedic tension for the viewer. We can sympathize with Scott’s feelings in the moment while also recognizing that he’s wasting time and should probably end his relationship. I love this scene because of the multiple layers of meaning that the audio-visual effects create, I can get something new from it after each viewing. This is true for the entire film, especially after taking this class. I am starting to notice the little editing details of various mediums from movies to YouTube videos. In particular, I noticed a moment in which Scott confronts his previous girlfriend. They have an icy conversation in a coffee shop until she forcefully invites him to her show. She says each word as a sentence and each statement is punctuated by the sound of steam jetting out of an espresso machine. It makes a snake-like character even more sssssinister. I had never noticed this tiny detail until viewing the movie today and paying attention to the techniques I have learned in class. I can't wait to go back and rewatch all of my favorite movies with this newfound knowledge.

Audio Recording

Dorian's audio recording of Milena discussing her personal relationship to physical fitness

Soundwalk

I decided to participate in my Soundwalk one sunny day after class.  I ventured to Sheep's Meadow in Central Park and laid down on the grand lawn to sunbath and listen in on the sounds of the city.  At the start of the half-hour session, my ears tended to be attracted to the naturalistic sounds elicited by the call and response of bird calls, wind rustling leaves in the threes, and grass softening the impact of footsteps passing by.  When these sounds became overly familiar, I began to attune my senses towards the sounds of the people around me.  The meadow was as crowded as any other day with other sunbathers, parents and their children, and those engaging in physical activities.  Sometimes music would be wafting over from some other corner of the fenced in area or from the speakers on a cyclist as he rode quickly by.  On multiple occasions I heard a clatter that made me want to open my eyes, but I ignored my desire to rubberneck.  Instead, I attempted to decode the source of the sound.  I was able to figure out that someone had fallen over, maybe attempting to do a handstand.  I heard other loud thuds as if two people had collided.  It turns out there was someone doing yoga and other people playing a violent game of rugby.  Most of the sounds I experienced that day were ambient sounds that gave me an informed sense of space.  The more notable sounds were unique and bombastic, clearly implying to the listener that an important event occurred.  This exercise helped elucidate which sounds may be useful for audio editing; familiar and naturalistic sounds for the Keynotes, interesting and specific audio for the Sound Signals.

Define a Space

Dorian's Artist Statement

Binaries rule our lives.  Computer code, yes and no. White, black.  Life, death.  What we are told to do and what we want to do.  These categories have been useful tools for evolution and human social development in the past.  They have kept us ordered and safe.  Nevertheless, this planet and humanity as a whole are reaching a critical juncture in their shared history.  If there is not a radical rebellion in our processes of thought, structure of priorities, and respect for life future generations of humans are sure to face catastrophe.  I believe that the only way to cultivate these changes is by constantly questioning the binaries coded into us by human nature and social conditioning.  Why can’t both sides of a dichotomy exist at the same time as a dialectic?  What if we forgo both options and construct something more useful?  By consistently asking critical questions about yourself and your surroundings, new meaning may be found or stitched together from the remnants of old.

My meaning is constructed around a belief in the shared responsibility of man to care for one another.  A desire to make the world better combined with my interest in binaries has resulted in a passion for social justice.  I believe my best possible contribution to the world is to foster art that causes people to question and overthrow their preconceived notions of an unfamiliar subject like race, gender, or sexual orientation.  Complex television narratives are particularly adept at such a task.  Shows like The Wire or Master of None accurately portray experiences that many viewers may be ignorant of.  I wish to not only help creators inspire empathy in their audience, but to connect that meaning to critical self-reflection as well.