Video and Sound

Day 49 @ ITP: Video and Sound

Installations (from Syllabus) for reference : 

RACHEL MAYERI, PRIMATE CINEMA

Day 23 @ ITP: Video and Sound

SOUND WORK DEBRIEF

I think that overall our project went pretty well, and we worked well together and had fun, with a minimal amount of frustration and stress or disagreement. The only part that could have used more time was in the mixing I think, possibly also some compression or tweaking of the EQ on different sections, and we also definitely could have re-recorded the voiceover, and possibly recorded a few more of our own sounds (like for the "big city" in the Earth room, for example).

We did learn some tricks about editing in Audition, and about what microphones are best to use for different applications. In one meeting we tried to check out a Zoom recorder and none were available, so we learned also to do that as early as possible before the time we plan to work on a project. We would have also benefited from finding a quiet place to record the voiceover, and I am wondering where the best place would be to do that at NYU or in the Tisch building for group projects in the future. Amitabh and Kemi tried checking out a room upstairs but weren't able to— need to inquire if that was because we are not allowed or maybe they were booked... 

Edit: Also could have had a more simplified map! Maybe with no class numbers or excess info and just color blocks or something that could also double visually as a fictional space/imaginary space... 

Day 23 @ ITP: Video and Sound

Working Title: ‘The Lost Poetry of Craft’

 
 

An innocent exploration of the workings of a man and his machine shop. The beauty of the craft with not a clear idea of the process; a puzzle, and how the pieces fit together. The dance and the tension between the craftsman and the craft.

With the precision of a doctor working on his patient, and knowing that each action and observation matters, he displays the artistry of his knowledge, which transports us into a ritual that has been passed through generations. 

Under the craftsman’s command, as if by magic the machines grind, torch, drill, sand, burn, polish, and rinse in an oil bath, synchronizing in a rhythmic symphony to achieve an overall outcome that has very little tolerance for mistakes. For if there are any mistakes the dance won’t happen, and the machine will be lifeless. But, with the final turn of the key, the machine comes alive.

View Storyboard here

By Alexandra . Camilla . Michael

Day 17 @ ITP: Video and Sound

This floor has been transformed into a floor on the ITP "Mars Simulator." Recruits reside here for two years in preparation for a stay on the red planet. 

Map and directional diagram

(Elevator door opens)

Hello! Welcome to the ITP mars habitat simulator. I’m Gwen, your guide. Come with me. 

As you know you’ll be spending the next two years in this self-contained unit, training for your trip to mars. 

You’ll be here with the other recruits, testing the limits of human cohabitation, living and learning together.

Let’s take this left here...

(pause, walking, sound of cane and footsteps) 

To your left is the Earth room. We are currently testing simulations of different locations on Earth; for recruits to go when they feel homesick

First, we are prototyping a rainforest: (Sound of rain, rainforest animals) …

As well as a field in the countryside (Sound of crickets, running stream)…

And the ocean: (Ocean sounds)

We also are working on a big city: (Sound of New York City, people walking on sidewalks, cars beeping, etc.)

Next I’ll show you where we are building the dorms… Follow me. 

(pause walking)

The 3D printers will be moved soon, but they’ll remain in the habitat for repairs and maintenance.

The terrarium will be fitted here by the way, the unit will be self sustained for food and oxygen recycling. 

(pause, walking, sound of cane and footsteps)

(Sounds of construction start happening in background) 

This is where you and the other recruits will be sleeping. We are installing the oxygen tanks and testing the the cabin pressure. 

Hey mark! could you use the oxy-acetylene torch away from the cylinders? You’re going to blow the whole unit sky high!

Let’s go to the meeting room, and meet the other recruits… 

I was once a recruit, too, you know. But I had an accident onboard the ship and that’s why I’m using this cane… (Sound of explosions) (People running)

Oh no!

(Sounds of commotion fade out…) 

Day 10 @ ITP: Video and Sound

Week 1
Assignment #3: Responses

The Ecstasy of Influence - A plagiarism
By Jonathan Lethem

Source: https://harpers.org/archive/2007/02/the-ecstasy-of-influence/

Blues and jazz musicians have long been enabled by a kind of “open source” culture, in which pre-existing melodic fragments and larger musical frameworks are freely reworked. Technology has only multiplied the possibilities....

I enjoyed listening to the talk and reading this essay on remixing versus plagiarism. It made me think also about how notions and thoughts and philosophies can also be remixed, as we are always feeding off or reacting in some way to what other people have already put out there. Like in Julian Rosefeldt's "Manifesto", where he remixes numerous manifestos into monologues in a collection of short films that also reference so many other things visually also without saying them directly. In a way I guess the point of both this article and the video is that referencing is also remixing, and in that way we are always remixing.

Today, when we can eat Tex-Mex with chopsticks while listening to reggae and watching a YouTube rebroadcast of the Berlin Wall’s fall — i.e., when damn near everything presents itself as familiar — it’s not a surprise that some of today’s most ambitious art is going about trying to make the familiar strange.

Images from the article "The Complete History of Art References in the Simpsons":   
http://www.complex.com/style/2012/01/the-complete-history-of-art-references-in-the-simpsons/54

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"Embrace the Remix"

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1s_PybOuY0

The part that stuck with me most from the talk was when he talks about how people were criticizing Bob Dylan for borrowing blues melodies, and that Woody Guthrie said that words are what make folk songs original, not necessarily the melodies. That made me think about various ways that you can take a basic structural element and use its form to put your own content in and create something new. He also brings up the issue of how copyright law inherently goes against the idea of remixing, and says he would prefer to think of everything as a collective property that we are all building on, and that progress happens because of all things that have happened.

Day 10 @ ITP: Video and Sound

Week 1
Assignment #2: Reactions to sound walk:
"Her Long Black Hair" by Janet Cardiff

I listened to this sound walk in two parts, the first part while riding on the subway and the rest while waiting for a ferry, on the ferry, and walking through Brooklyn Bridge Park. It ended while I was walking through the park and then I listened more attentively to the sounds around me (insects, people talking, birds, construction, the BQE) felt like I had two microphones taped on either side of my head. In a way life kind of sounded more like a sound walk after listening to this. I also enjoyed the inclusions of what felt like old and historical-seeming writings read by actors(?) I actually also did not look at the images until after listening to it, and the images definitely change it for me and give it more context.

Day 10 @ ITP: Video and Sound

Week 1
Assignment #1:

Sound Walk: "ITP Space Shuttle" (with Amitabh S. and Kemi S.)

Screen Shot 2017-09-14 at 6.43.52 PM.png
 

For this project we came up with an idea of a sound walk through the ITP space shuttle, which is still under construction. A new recruit arrives from the elevator. A veteran astronaut greets them to tour the floor. When they reach the end of the tour, there is an explosion.

Sounds for editing (freesound.org):

1. Elevator
- going up:
(still need this sound - Star Trek?)
- door opening:
(still need this sound - Star Trek?)

–or– edit sounds out of recording in building:
https://soundcloud.com/sounds-itp/sets/cane-sounds

2. Earth room
- Rainforest room:
https://soundcloud.com/sounds-itp/sets/rainforest-room-sounds
- Ocean room:
https://soundcloud.com/sounds-itp/sets/ocean-room-sounds
- Countryside room:
https://soundcloud.com/sounds-itp/sets/countryside-room-sounds
- City room:
https://soundcloud.com/sounds-itp/sets/city-room-sounds

3. Dormitory
- Construction sounds:
https://soundcloud.com/sounds-itp/sets/construction-sounds

4. Explosion:
https://soundcloud.com/sounds-itp/sets/explosions


Original recordings:

1. Cane sounds:
https://soundcloud.com/sounds-itp/sets/cane-sounds

2. Voiceover:
- Kemi to record voiceover (week 2)

Narration (rough draft):

(Elevator door opens)

Hello! Welcome to the ITP space shuttle. I’m Gwen, your guide. Come with me...
 

(pause, walking, sound of cane and footsteps)
 

This is the Earth room. We are currently test driving simulations of different locations on Earth, for recruits to go in when they are homesick for our home planet.

First, we are prototyping a rainforest: (Sound of rain, rainforest animals) …

As well as a field in the countryside (Sound of crickets, running stream)…

And the ocean: (Ocean sounds)

We also are working on a big city: (Sound of New York City, people walking on sidewalks, cars beeping, etc.)
 

Next I’ll show you where we are building the dormitories… Follow me.
 

(pause, walking, sound of cane and footsteps)
 

(Sounds of construction start happening in background)
 

This is where you and the other recruits will be sleeping. We are currently installing the oxygen tanks and testing the pressurization of the cabin.

Now we will go to the meeting room, where you will meet the other recruits…
 

(pause, walking, sound of cane and footsteps)
 

(Sounds of chatting)
 

This is where we will be holding trainings.

I was once a recruit, too, you know. All of us senior members here were. Now I am a veteran due to an accident I had onboard the ship… (Sound of explosions) (People running)

Quick! Duck! There’s been an explosion in the dormitory!
 

(Sounds of commotion fade out…)