Tuesday, May 13, 2014
"Midnight" by Coldplay: Relationships Between Shots
My media teacher asked us students to analyze a video of our choice and write about the construction of it's shots. Since the 'music video' is currently my favorite type of art form (in part because of my passion for music), the first piece that came into my head was the music video for Coldplay's recent single "Midnight." It's a great song, and it's accompanying video, directed by Mary Wigmore, is very striking and unique.
First of all, I would like to note that every shot in the video has at least one type of altering effect on it. It creates for an overall psychedelic atmosphere, which complements the music beautifully (the song itself could also be described as 'psychedelic').
The editing of the video is quite smooth, and could be classified as seamless. Cuts are not made on beats of the song, and thus you don't really notice when they happen. The images of the video reflect the song in a quite a few ways; most notably the ubiquitous theme of darkness throughout the video which complements the repeated line of the song "In the darkness." Also significant, is Chris Martin in the video mouthing the lines of the song.
In terms of how the images are related to each other; as mentioned before, they all have very similar effects added to them. The most extensively used is reminiscent of a film negative. In addition, many subjects reoccur throughout the video, such as lead singer Chris Martin, as well as a wolf walking through a forest. Again, all of these shots have the negative effect applied to them.
In terms of organization, as with most music videos, it is rather non existent. In this case, a seemingly random montage of images fill the gaps between Chris Martin singing. I would imagine that when you are editing such a video, key decisions, such as clip length and movement, etc would come naturally to you. You would just feel out the music. Mary Wigmore, the director of "Midnight," did a really great job. It is one of my favorite music videos of all time and I strongly recommend viewing it if you get a chance!
Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQeMxWjpr-Y
First of all, I would like to note that every shot in the video has at least one type of altering effect on it. It creates for an overall psychedelic atmosphere, which complements the music beautifully (the song itself could also be described as 'psychedelic').
The editing of the video is quite smooth, and could be classified as seamless. Cuts are not made on beats of the song, and thus you don't really notice when they happen. The images of the video reflect the song in a quite a few ways; most notably the ubiquitous theme of darkness throughout the video which complements the repeated line of the song "In the darkness." Also significant, is Chris Martin in the video mouthing the lines of the song.
In terms of how the images are related to each other; as mentioned before, they all have very similar effects added to them. The most extensively used is reminiscent of a film negative. In addition, many subjects reoccur throughout the video, such as lead singer Chris Martin, as well as a wolf walking through a forest. Again, all of these shots have the negative effect applied to them.
In terms of organization, as with most music videos, it is rather non existent. In this case, a seemingly random montage of images fill the gaps between Chris Martin singing. I would imagine that when you are editing such a video, key decisions, such as clip length and movement, etc would come naturally to you. You would just feel out the music. Mary Wigmore, the director of "Midnight," did a really great job. It is one of my favorite music videos of all time and I strongly recommend viewing it if you get a chance!
Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQeMxWjpr-Y
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
The Museum of the Moving Image
On March 26th, 2014, my Hunter College Media class went on field trip to The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. First I would just like to say that I thought the museum was world-class in every consideration, and I highly recommend it to anybody who hasn't been. Now that that is out the way…
There were a variety of moving-image works, artifacts, and exhibitions that we saw; however, the one that interested me most was the Titanic sound exhibit, which gave an in depth look at the foley art and the sound mixing done on the blockbuster movie of the same name (by director James Cameron). Our tour guide informed us that the sound mixer of the movie kindly donated to the museum all the individual sound tracks from certain scenes of the movie. There were a total of about 5 different tracks (presented in Soundtrack Pro), and each one was dedicated to a particular sound element such as dialogue, sound effects, music etc. With this, quite amazingly, we were able to play around with the sound using different combinations of the tracks via the mute tool. We even tried playing a few tracks by themselves (with nothing else).
Through this experimentation with the sound tracks, I learned quite a few intriguing things about movie sound that I wasn't aware of before. First of all, I realized that many movies (including Titanic) completely reproduce every aspect of sound in post-production. This means that no sound recorded live on set reaches the final film; everything from dialogue to footsteps are recorded in the studio after the fact. Something else I realized, is that foley artists use very strange ways of getting the sounds that they desire. Our tour guide pointed out in the Titanic tracks, sounds ranging from elephants roaring to a can being squeezed. As it turned out, these sounds were more effective than the actual sounds of the action.
I must say that after analyzing the tracks, it was difficult for me to watch the scenes over the same way (when we played them back with full sound). I started to notice the over-exaggerations and the subtle inconsistencies with certain elements such as background/ambient sound.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned at the Museum of the Moving Image was how fast technology progressed, and over such a short amount of time. After all, the first moving camera was only invented about 100 years ago. This progression in technology has made the experience of moving images that much more entertaining and realistic. For example, sound quality alone (as appreciated in the Titanic exhibit) can be the difference between a flat image and an engrossing one.
There were a variety of moving-image works, artifacts, and exhibitions that we saw; however, the one that interested me most was the Titanic sound exhibit, which gave an in depth look at the foley art and the sound mixing done on the blockbuster movie of the same name (by director James Cameron). Our tour guide informed us that the sound mixer of the movie kindly donated to the museum all the individual sound tracks from certain scenes of the movie. There were a total of about 5 different tracks (presented in Soundtrack Pro), and each one was dedicated to a particular sound element such as dialogue, sound effects, music etc. With this, quite amazingly, we were able to play around with the sound using different combinations of the tracks via the mute tool. We even tried playing a few tracks by themselves (with nothing else).
Through this experimentation with the sound tracks, I learned quite a few intriguing things about movie sound that I wasn't aware of before. First of all, I realized that many movies (including Titanic) completely reproduce every aspect of sound in post-production. This means that no sound recorded live on set reaches the final film; everything from dialogue to footsteps are recorded in the studio after the fact. Something else I realized, is that foley artists use very strange ways of getting the sounds that they desire. Our tour guide pointed out in the Titanic tracks, sounds ranging from elephants roaring to a can being squeezed. As it turned out, these sounds were more effective than the actual sounds of the action.
I must say that after analyzing the tracks, it was difficult for me to watch the scenes over the same way (when we played them back with full sound). I started to notice the over-exaggerations and the subtle inconsistencies with certain elements such as background/ambient sound.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned at the Museum of the Moving Image was how fast technology progressed, and over such a short amount of time. After all, the first moving camera was only invented about 100 years ago. This progression in technology has made the experience of moving images that much more entertaining and realistic. For example, sound quality alone (as appreciated in the Titanic exhibit) can be the difference between a flat image and an engrossing one.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Soundwalk - Alphabet City (East River)
For my one-hour soundwalk assignment, I wanted to choose a neighborhood that I had never been to before. I asked my friend Andy if he knew of any interesting areas nearby, and he immediately suggested Alphabet City which lies along East River on the lower East Side. I was instantly sold, almost entirely for its enticing name.
It was Monday the 24th of March at 2pm, and it was a cold sunny day in Alphabet City. The first thing I noticed about the area was how quite it was relative to the rest of Manhattan. Don't get me wrong, it still had that constant hum of city rush; however, it was just not as overbearing. This allowed for the background sounds (keynotes) to flourish. During my walk, I noticed the following keynotes: cars, wind, planes, the ocean, dishes clattering (in restaurants), doors opening and closing, footsteps, and the occasional outline of a song radiating from passing headphones.
Prevailing over these background sounds were the sound signals, a term which refers to sounds in the foreground. Sound signals heard included buses, people talking, buskers, and trains (but only when I was near either 14th street or the Williamsburgh bridge).
After taking note of all these sounds, I thought about which of them I would consider soundmarks; that is, sounds which are somewhat unique or defining to an area. The first thing that came to mind was the sound of the water. Alphabet City is so nice and quite, and so close to the river that you can hear the gentle waves cracking over each other. You can also hear the seagulls chirping in the wind. Those would definitely be the biggest sound marks, however there is one other thing I can place on the list: the buskers of Alphabet City (assuming that that stay local). During my walk, I passed this band of 4 playing all woodwind instruments on Avenue B. It was very unique.
It was Monday the 24th of March at 2pm, and it was a cold sunny day in Alphabet City. The first thing I noticed about the area was how quite it was relative to the rest of Manhattan. Don't get me wrong, it still had that constant hum of city rush; however, it was just not as overbearing. This allowed for the background sounds (keynotes) to flourish. During my walk, I noticed the following keynotes: cars, wind, planes, the ocean, dishes clattering (in restaurants), doors opening and closing, footsteps, and the occasional outline of a song radiating from passing headphones.
Prevailing over these background sounds were the sound signals, a term which refers to sounds in the foreground. Sound signals heard included buses, people talking, buskers, and trains (but only when I was near either 14th street or the Williamsburgh bridge).
After taking note of all these sounds, I thought about which of them I would consider soundmarks; that is, sounds which are somewhat unique or defining to an area. The first thing that came to mind was the sound of the water. Alphabet City is so nice and quite, and so close to the river that you can hear the gentle waves cracking over each other. You can also hear the seagulls chirping in the wind. Those would definitely be the biggest sound marks, however there is one other thing I can place on the list: the buskers of Alphabet City (assuming that that stay local). During my walk, I passed this band of 4 playing all woodwind instruments on Avenue B. It was very unique.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
Artist Statement
With my work I aim to explore human interaction and behavior with honesty and accuracy. When I view fictional narratives and digital compositions by other artists, I become frustrated when I see inconsistencies in their portrayal of the world and the variety of human emotions. Of course these inconsistencies are debatable depending on the opinion of who's viewing the pieces of art, but the ones I personally identify with will be eradicated in my work.
There are many experiences in my life which have contributed to my views of the world. For starters, I have lived in a few different countries in my life, including New Zealand and Australia (in addition to the United States). Artistic expression varies considerably in these countries along with their respective ways of life, which had a profound influence on me during my time there. Another experience in my young life- perhaps the most important- is witnessing my older sister, Cheryl, struggle with an autoimmune liver disease from the age of 15. My heart broke for her over the years as she became increasingly ill, culminating in 2010 with end stage liver failure (when she was 23). Fortunately Cheryl is doing well now as she was one of the lucky patients to undergo a liver transplant, however, through these trying times I developed a deeper understanding of human emotion, which I hope to put to use in my work.
My favorite method of expression is the short fictional narrative. Throughout my high school career, I completed a number of these films, most of which were public service announcements on the topic of teen issues (as were assigned by my film instructor). These works can be found by searching “davidj4112” on youtube. As this Media 160 class primarily involves photography and sound work, that will be the majority of my portfolio for this semester.
My style can be summed up as simple, symmetrical, and colorful. I have an obsessive and compulsive personality, which is evident in my work and my striving for aesthetic perfection and order. In this way, my work will usually be uncluttered and tend to not involve abstract elements. However, at times for aesthetic appeal and to show my personal taste, I will add a degree surrealism.
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