I had a lot of fun at Museum of Moving Image with our tour guide. She showed us a couple of exhibits. The first exhibit she showed us was Music. She selected a scene from an old film, where an old man was observing a lady viewing a painting. The subject of the painting was the lady at a younger age. There were a couple of soundtrack options for us to match with the scene. We all agreed on a classical, more somber choice of music. I discovered that this specific aspect of media production is very important because matching the wrong music will set the wrong mood.
Moving on to the sound effects / Foley effects, we watched a scene from the Simpsons. One of the Simpsons was taking a test and there were a couple of the acts that required appropriate sound effects: the clock ticking, her scratching and erasing the test paper, the unicycle bouncing, the lights flickering, and the eyebrows twitching. This exercise was little harder because some of the acts had more than one choice of appropriate sound effects. The group I was in had disagreements on which sound effect was more appropriate. I discovered that this specific aspect of media production is tricky, especially with foley effects when you have to find right objects to make the sounds.
We also went to the exhibit where dialogues, music and sound effects all play into part. The tour guide first showed a scene from the Titanic when it was sinking with complete sounds. Then she played the scene with only dialogue, then only music, and finally only sound effects. We realized that the dialogue was a voice over because it didn't match the actors' lip movements. We also realized that the sound effects were mostly foley effects. The had to use a backward lion roar, shot gun sounds, elephant sounds etc. I was intrigued to watch the scene separately to see how it came to life.
I definitely experienced the correlation of what we learned from the lectures at the museum. The changes in moving image technology changed the way moving images are created, how they look and how we experience them with music, sound effects, visual effects and of course many more.
Thursday, April 16, 2015 Blog #3: Relationships Between Shots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMIfScB9aY0
I decided to focus this blog post on a three minutes action short film. I believe the editing made a huge impact on the storytelling and feel of the piece. The relationship of the sounds to the images is a solid one because it's an action film, and we would like to hear intense background music, exaggerated sounds of the weapons, footsteps, heavy breathing etc. The relationship of the images to one another is organized by different shot angles and movements. While the two characters are fighting with light sabers, the shots would interchange from a wide angle to close-up to lower angle.The shots also change from their sides through the holes of the walls or behind the two characters or zoom ins on their facial expressions. There's not many colors because the focus was more on the light sabers. Most of the shots aren't that long because they wanted the fight to maintain within three minutes so they tried to fit in as many shots and angles as possible. The order of the shots were placed in were determined by the story line. The cuts were pretty obvious because the angles would interchange very often. If the fight wasn't three minutes there would be a "right" place to cut or not cut but since it is three minutes, I wasn't bothered by the obvious cuts.
The special effects of the wounds of the character need some work because obviously they didn't look real, but I'm guessing the genre isn't horror but rather action. Overall I prefer the content over the editing because it was exciting and left some questions in mind. But with action films we should expect obvious cuts because of the rapid movements.
Friday, March 27, 2015 Audio Portrait
https://soundcloud.com/lucy-siyu-liu/audio-portrait-media-160
Synopsis of project 2: what is the audio portrait about?
Analysis of project 2:
- topic
- style
- organization of the story
- sound recording / experiment with sound elements
- use of transitions and effects
- room for improvement
- what would you change / improve?
- if nothing, why?
My topic is an audio portrait with Allison Castillo. When I interviewed her, she had a story to share with me about a concert she attended. I could tell she really had a great time because she was passionate when she spoke about it. I decided to record that whole description of the concert. She also mentioned how she met some great friends at that concert but I left it out to focus on one theme which is the ambiance and the crowd. She also introduced how she was not going to go at first until her friend convinced her. But I also cut that part off too.
The sound effects I used were the crowd cheering and guitar playing. I only used two effects for this project. I decided to incorporate them where she was talking about the performance then the crowds being rowdy. I didn't use too many transitions. I left several room tunes between places where I cut.
There is definitely room for improvement for this audio portrait. I think I could've added background music and more sound effects. I think the interview went really well with Allison. I really liked how she told the story. I felt like I could've pictured it in my head when she was talking.
The sound effects I used were the crowd cheering and guitar playing. I only used two effects for this project. I decided to incorporate them where she was talking about the performance then the crowds being rowdy. I didn't use too many transitions. I left several room tunes between places where I cut.
There is definitely room for improvement for this audio portrait. I think I could've added background music and more sound effects. I think the interview went really well with Allison. I really liked how she told the story. I felt like I could've pictured it in my head when she was talking.
During the sound recording, I controlled the sound levels because Allison has a projected voice and she speaks louder when she's really excited. Some parts were interrupted and I had to cut it out. Overall it was a great experience with an audio portrait. It's really amazing how it could tell stories without the image.
Sunday, March 15, 2015 Blog #2 What I hear
Forest Hills Gardens
As I walk into the secluded and serene neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon, I can easily distinguish the sounds. The sounds are separated into two worlds and completely opposite of each other. One side sets behind the Long Island Rail Road station and one side in front of it. As I take my stroll into the neighborhood, I hear a train past by behind me. The speed of LIRR trains on the smooth tracks produce a lighter and more appealing sound than the sound of MTA subway. The train stops for half a minute at the station then runs again on a timely schedule. I hear a lousy horn sound suddenly as it begins to exit the station. That sure broke the serenity. As I take more steps into the neighborhood, the keynotes appear as the sound of wind blowing.
The sound signals appear as I step on melted puddles on the sidewalks. My boots already make clacking sounds as I land each step and hit the concrete. They landed on water and created a splashing sound. Several cars drove by smoothly. Not many residents drive around so there's close to no traffic. A lady with her baby terrier walk toward me and the dog barked a few times. Then more residents also brought their pets out. I made a few turns now and stopped by a church. I figured since it was late afternoon that I don't hear sounds from inside.
I hear several doors creak. Mind that the houses somewhat all look like medieval mansions here. Even the doors to their outdoor gardens are fascinating. A few residents came out to take strolls or going outside to run some errands. Their footsteps were quiet. I left the neighborhood and Austin Street is in front of me. Then all the sounds of cars in traffic, busy restaurants preparing for dinner, people chatting on the street appeared.
As I walk into the secluded and serene neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon, I can easily distinguish the sounds. The sounds are separated into two worlds and completely opposite of each other. One side sets behind the Long Island Rail Road station and one side in front of it. As I take my stroll into the neighborhood, I hear a train past by behind me. The speed of LIRR trains on the smooth tracks produce a lighter and more appealing sound than the sound of MTA subway. The train stops for half a minute at the station then runs again on a timely schedule. I hear a lousy horn sound suddenly as it begins to exit the station. That sure broke the serenity. As I take more steps into the neighborhood, the keynotes appear as the sound of wind blowing.
The sound signals appear as I step on melted puddles on the sidewalks. My boots already make clacking sounds as I land each step and hit the concrete. They landed on water and created a splashing sound. Several cars drove by smoothly. Not many residents drive around so there's close to no traffic. A lady with her baby terrier walk toward me and the dog barked a few times. Then more residents also brought their pets out. I made a few turns now and stopped by a church. I figured since it was late afternoon that I don't hear sounds from inside.
I hear several doors creak. Mind that the houses somewhat all look like medieval mansions here. Even the doors to their outdoor gardens are fascinating. A few residents came out to take strolls or going outside to run some errands. Their footsteps were quiet. I left the neighborhood and Austin Street is in front of me. Then all the sounds of cars in traffic, busy restaurants preparing for dinner, people chatting on the street appeared.
Friday, February 27, 2015 Define a Space
https://vimeo.com/120861239
Analysis of project 1:
- topic
- style
- organization of the story
- use of footage / experiment with forms
- use of transitions and effects
- room for improvement
- what would you change / improve?
- if nothing, why?
My topic is define a space. My partner and I found the Thomas Hunter Hall really interesting, especially the basement floor. We wanted the style to be somewhat creepy with suspense. We organized the story by me falling asleep in a classroom and waking up in a different space not knowing what happened. Then I followed a trail to a creepy ceramics room. We discovered each other in between while exploring the place. At the ending, we both woke up in a classroom again because it was all a dream.
I used most of our footage because we planned each of our frames. We didn't really experiment with different angles nor shot sizes, but instead kept them consistent. The one effect I used was in the beginning where the classroom setting transitioned to the Thomas Hunter Hall setting. I used the dissolve effect to make it look like a dream so there's that. I used the rewind effect when I was going down the stairs. I thought it made it look interesting and questionable. I also speed up some frames to keep it precise.
There is definitely room for improvement for this project. I feel like we could have experimented more with shot sizes and angles. I could have also managed to keep some shots shorter in duration. There were some frames that were not necessary. I liked what I did with the editing but I feel like it could be improved as well. I felt like if there was audio it would've been more intriguing. However, I liked the challenge of video only.
Thursday, February 5, 2015 Blog #1 Artist Statement
My artwork comes from two passions combined together. I love writing and fashion. I aspire to be a fashion journalist one day. I love to present my view of contemporary fashion through the forms of writing. Through the experiences and practices I've had with fashion writing so far, I've discovered a new interest in street style photography. I like capturing shots of people's daily outfits that inspire me as well as having my own style captured from time to time. This new discovery has brought me to create my own fashion blog and contribute better work to my internships.
I am inspired by the street styles of New York City. I've been living here for 10 years and the everyday fashion I encounter still amazes me. I also like to flip through my favorite magazines on my spare time. My inspirations push me to do what I do because there will always be something new and interesting in fashion, therefore my writing won't be repetitive and boring. I believe in both print and digital forms of fashion journalism. Whether it's magazines or blogs and websites, the visual part is huge but the writing part brings it alive.
In the future, I want to learn more skills to present my work. I know with technology advancing, there will be many platforms for fashion journalism to rise. With this class, learning filming and video editing skills will help create more vivid and motion pictures. I know that's how I want to expand my work to full bloom. I hope through my passion, learning and everyday inspirations, I am able to bring my artwork to where I want it to be.