FST 302 Matt K

This article was a little too broad for me to pick up much. It basically gave a few sentences to a paragraph for a bunch of experimental film makers without really delving in to what they each did and what made them unique. That said, there were a few interesting points that did stand out. I wasn't aware of the fact that some of these early experimental films used multiple projectors aligned in exact measurement to each other resulting in a single desired image. I had always assumed that these effects were achieved by cutting film strips and layering them on top of each other but I never really thought about it. This article also gave me a tiny piece of info about Harry Smith (who I've been researching for my presentation) that I hadn't seen in other sources so far.

Synesthesia is a concept I am familiar with but still can't fully comprehend. To me it sounds like it would be an added bonus to life, although I wouldn't be surprised if some people felt like it was a detriment. Personally I would love to see some of my favorite songs in visual form. The video of the young woman who painted songs that she saw was interesting but far too short. I would have been intrigued to know more about which colors and patterns match specific sounds. I'm also curious if most people with synesthesia see music universally in the same colors or if it varies from person to person. I really enjoyed the 2nd video where the group of hooded figures showed cymatics in action. The song was cool and reminded me of an old videogame from my childhood. The video itself was very professionally done and the visual components (the cymatics?) matched the music perfectly. I can only imagine how much work something like this would involve. Learning and performing the ...

I enjoyed the sound recording experience. We had a good group dynamic so it didn't really feel like work and was kind of fun. We recorded most of our sounds in the rec center, which was bursting to the seams with all sorts of different noises. Unfortunately the music being played on the loudspeakers (I remember there being a lot of Drake) ruined some of our recordings. I know some of them sounded fine when recording but then upon later listening there was Drake whining in the background, taking up at least 30% of the sound file. This exercise was good for me as far as getting some hands-on experience with recording sound. In previous classes I would usually just let someone else do it.

The most dominating noise is the blowing air of several of my neighbors AC units, which combine into a single noise. They apparently like being freezing as their units seem to be on permanently. Next I notice crickets - to my left there are several that have combined into that "cricket noise" we all know that I personally associate with summer and being out in the country. It sounds like no more than 5 or 6 though, not a large symphony. To my right I hear a single cricket who only makes his noise every few seconds. Somewhere in the distance a motorcycle or a car without a muffler buzzes down the street. Closer by a car drives down the road behind my apartment building. Water gurgles in the walls from someone's AC. A different, loud mechanical noise comes from the ground floor below me as some form of machinery turns on. Moments later I hear the same noise from the neighboring building. Then right behind me, my AC unit turns back on, drowning everything else out. Note a...

At first I only hear the AC unit, but it has several different sound layered within: the roar of the air, the whirring of the mechanical fan, and an incredibly faint ringing noise that I never noticed until now. It shuts off and several droplets of water drip down within it. Now I can only hear the humming of the fridge. Water moving somewhere inside the kitchen - either in the fridge or the plumbing. Outside, a barely noticeable thud, possibly someone walking on the opposite end of the building or a vehicle down in the parking lot. A slightly louder thud, most likely a car door shutting. One of my walls creaks slightly. The AC unit turns back on and once again drowns out everything else.

This put in to words some things that I never really though about specifically, but that totally make sense. The first page or two just felt like he was trying too hard to describe the essence of sound with descriptive language (I'm not a fan of flowery writing like "The vocation of the sound film is to redeem us from the chaos of shapeless noise by accepting it as expression, as significance, as meaning," I get what he's saying there but it's just a bit much, then again maybe this was translated?) but once he started explaining the different ways sound is perceived in film I became much more interested. One section that I found particularly interesting was when he said "no other art can reproduce silence, neither painting nor sculpture," which is very true. Since film has a visual component that is in complete control of the film makers, the silence will always have some added significance, even if the screen cuts to black (then generally the signific...