Sound Project with Halima Haider

Sound Project

https://soundcloud.com/steph-koutrakos/sound-project-1

Cassia's interview

A Brisk Sound Walk.

The streets of Hospital town in Kipps Bay feel cold enough to hang meat. One can easily throw caution to the wind once seduced by the gales of this night that are making the city streets dance and the noses of New Yorkers crimson. The gust of the wind is so piercing. The tumult excited by yellow taxis and 9–5ers returning home is growing faint. A halcyon mood falls upon city dwellers and brings with it an ominous sense of anticipation. Or emotional despair? Perhaps falling short of being a model student, employee, friend, mother, father, sister, brother, boyfriend, girlfriend, being? My boots clunk away as I traverse the semi–desolate sidewalks and my foggy breath lingers as I cross over from street to street. At times it feels as though I'm a subaqueous creature as the wind muffles the sounds around me, yanking me out of my comfort zone. The fluorescent lit city is doing no justice to the scattered fall foliage. Nonetheless, the shuffling of naked tree branches is much too eminent for the dismal night to disguise. I saunter up the streets as the street numbers plummet. Upon reaching the corner of East 25^th street, my footsteps begin to follow the beating of my heart and I begin to sashay. City bikers secure their blue metal vehicles at the station adjacent to me. Clunking of metals follow laughters of students who are also struck by the cold and heading home to their heated dorm rooms. A cyclist weaves into the bikers lane with his thumb planted on his bells, ring–ring–ring! I continue hauling ass until I arrive at the gate. Warmth is at arms length and with that notion sitting atop my noggin I slip my frozen hand into the pocket of my downed coat to grab hold of my Hunter ID and tap it's skin to the surface of the tap–machine. Beep–beep. Sweet, I am in at last! Boots clunking away, I enter the building of warmth that is my dorm, my home. Chatters of security staff looms over and freely I walk in the direction of my room, ensconced in echoes of my dorm–mates chatters. Into the hallway I go. 



It's a strong wind today and we drink according to the wind. — Ernest Hemingway 

Soundwalk: Midtown, Chelsea, and Greenwich Village

I started at Macy's. I wanted to see if the Christmas display was up. Unfortunately, it was not hanging. I wandered downtown, towards the Greenwich Village. I passed the many wholesale shops that sell items like wigs, jewelry, fragrances, and small trinkets. I heard languages from different places coming from within those shops. A harsh african dialogue between a married couple or the bitter-ness of a korean manager ordering around this young mexican worker, these sounds blasted from the doorways and display of these stores.

I arrived at the upper-border of Chelsea, I strived down 8th Ave. to the sounds of loud gay men stumbling in a drunken-stupor. Along with the music blasting out the last few gay bars that are still in business in Chelsea. Once the gay mecca in New York City, Chelsea is now the painful reminder of an older gay generation trying to keep up with the a new culture.

I continue walking down to the arrive in the Greenwich Village. Jazz bars are everywhere, a soft loud saxophone explodes its sounds into the streets. I hear tourist laughing, chatting with their friends, and smoking cigarettes. Inside these jazz clubs, I hear the excited loud voices of their patrons singing along to their favorite hits.

My experience in this sound walk, reminds me that New York City is a great melting pot, always changing and churning. Incorporating every aspect of the beings inside it to its goodness.

Pokemon Interview

Pokemon Interview

Interview of Alex

https://soundcloud.com/sara-qureshi-1/alextravelsandstuff

Audio Project.

Interview with Steph.

Artist Statement August 30, 2013

I first fell in love with the possibilities of film in high school when I realized that through the lens you have the ability to create your own world. I began to think outside the box creating characters out of ordinary everyday items, thinking up stores with emotions and experiences far beyond my own/. I would then draw what I thought they looked like,give them back stories, give them personalities I began to create their world. From this hobby my love for cinema and animation grew. Today I create sculptures, illustrations, drawings and paintings and films to entertain the imagination inside us all.  I want to transport my audience into a world all their own with hopes of inspiring them to look into their own creative self giving them the ability to escape the everyday stresses. I use aspects of popular culture and relatable elements so that my audience is drawn in and are able to identify with my work.

I focus mostly on film, sculptures and drawings because I find it the easiest mediums to manipulate in order to correctly convey my ideas. I also find that these mediums are the best way to be simple and true to form. My favorite medium to work with is film due to its  ability to show the raw intensity of the world in action. Sculptures and drawings allow you to dig in and get every unfaltering wrinkle, every eerie shadow and all the fine lines that make up a subject. These mediums call for a realist who has the ability to look past whats right in front of them and create something new.

First Project: Hunter Glow

Here is my First Project Hunter Glow
First Project Hunter Glow    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lfu0-4Su4M&feature=youtu.be

Sound Walk November 1, 2013

Sound Walk 

                 I chose to conduct my sound walk starting on 106th street of the Upper Westside of Manhattan heading south down Central Park West ending at the entrance to Central Park at 72^nd Street . It was cold and slightly windy on the day of my walk, however, the sun was shining and people were out. Upon hitting the street the first sounds I encountered were from the elementary school across the street. The rustling of backpacks first hits you as the laughter and chatter of the children slowly set the scene. The low toned zoom of cars continuously pass by quickly until they reach the corner and their breaks engage with a small screeching sound. The sound of cars, taxis and trucks is consistent the entire walk south, it can be described as the continuous ambient noise.

                I cross over Central Park West so that i'm walking south along the park wall. Around the upper streets ( 106-96th street) the sounds heard are caused by families. The scraping of baby carriages is muffled by the arguing and disciplining of the parents trying to control them. Upon passing a park located right up against the wall of the park, laughter once again fills the air. The metal chains of the swings can be heard squeaking and cracking as the stomping of feet sound like terrible drums as they run along the wooden jungle gym. The stomping becomes muffled as it travels from the jungle gym to the plastic flooring which creates a rhythm that the children are unaware of.

               Continuing south around 72^nd street the chatter of people overwhelms all other sounds. The bing of bike bells chime in coronation trying to grab the tourist attention as the enter the park. The constant sound of questions, confusion, the flapping of map, rustling of bags and recognizable sound of haggling hits my ears as I try and maneuver around the many different languages floating colorful syllables in the air. Far off in the distances a guitar can be heard sing the sounds of John Lennon's “Imagine” as softer lower sound of singing voices sing along.

              Once I finished with my sound walk I was able to see the crowed streets of New York City in a different more enjoy light.

Audio Project

https://soundcloud.com/arseniy-chuprun/cuttin-it-up

Audio Project

https://soundcloud.com/kevinverdesoto/audio-project

Audio Project

https://soundcloud.com/isabelle-fesale/final-audio-project

SARAH SARWAY AUDIO PROJECT

Life in Transit

Sound walk

What I hear,

I didn’t know what to expect when I did this assignment, and to stay for an hour in the same place it was kind of difficult for me. Well, I started walking around Chelsea; I worked around there, so I thought I could spend 30 minutes walking. I walked from Union Square to 9^th avenue and through Chelsea market. When I was in Union Square I heard definitely the city noise, cars, people talking on their phones, skaters, doors opening and closing from some stores. I didn’t hear anything out of normal until I got to 14^th street and 8^th avenue where it is full of tourist, well, it is New York I expected that. Different languages, and people like me trying to walk trough all that people. I could hear their steps, slow step compared to people walking to work.. When I walked trough Chelsea market I had a different experience. Even more tourists and talking in Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Italian and I don’t know what other languages. A lot people looking for a place to eat and in this market of course, there are a lot of places. One restaurant was offering some cheese and people asking about it. Everything was kind of normal I guess, so I walked to Chelsea piers I sat on a bench, I had the river in front of me and I could hear the river and how the water hit the wall of the pier. Some birds trying to get some fish, the bells of bicycles behind me were ringing and the tires were making friction with the ground. It was the quietest time I had I was able to hear the wind which I am not usually aware of it. 

Field Trip Blogging Assignment

For this assignment I went to the MoMa, a museum which I am very familiar with. I have been there dozens of times, and loved every visit.
This time, I was able to see Charles Ray's The Family. In case you have not seen the work, it is a collection of four sculptures, presumably a father, mother and two sons, completely naked and life-size. The eerie part, aside from the blunt nudity of the family altogether, is that they are all the same height. Even the young, child-faced kids are the same height and stature as their parents, which provoked a eery feeling.
The first time I saw this work was the The New Museum, ironically when I paid a visit for a previous museum blog assignment for Media 150.
What made this viewing different was that it was placed in a museum that I felt comfortable it. At The New Museum, I viewed this on my first visit ever, and felt like I was going through some wacky fun-house, each floor getting more bizarre than the one before it. Upon seeing The Family, I was completely numb, and less shocked than I was when viewing it at the MoMa. By seeing it here, I was able to notice the deliberate sizing of the 4 members, and how that was meant to provoke such a reaction, whereas I wasn't able to feel that when it was on view at the wackier, more daring New Museum. This truly showed me how the placement of an object (or entire exhibit) can affect the viewer's perception.

New Interview Anthony

https://soundcloud.com/fabian-caballero/anthony-interview-v-2

Fabian Interview

https://soundcloud.com/aracelis-torres-2/fabian-interview

Hasan Erdal - Blog on MOMI

               The trip to the Museum of Moving Image allowed me to see firsthand the various technologies I’d learned about of the course of my media education. In past media classes we had discussed the progression from the daguerreotype to the modern film camera, but I’d never had the chance to see what these devices looked like. The third floor of the museum was dedicated almost exclusively to the rise of film and television. We went from exhibit to exhibit seeing zoetrope to the massive live broadcast television cameras of the 1950s. This game me some perspective as I’d previously never realized just how large film equipment had been, and seeing it was shocking considering the quality of picture you can squeeze out of a cell phone camera.

                After touring the archetypes that laid the foundation for today’s modern equipment we were sent into a sound tutorial. We were shown without sound a dramatic sequence from Vertigo and then re-watched it with 4 different sound tracks played over it. We were asked to determine which sound track worked best with the inherently dramatic scene. Each of the pieces was carefully chosen, because each of the pieces had similarities, but only one was an exact match to the ebb and flow of the tension and release of the scene. During this exercise we also discussed the process of how sound is added to film. One of the more shocking things we were told was that all the scores for the film were written entirely afterwards. This may seem obvious, but nonetheless some scenes generally seem as if they were written with music in mind.

Audio Project: Photoshop Interview with Peter

https://soundcloud.com/roberto-moreno-25/photoshop-interview

Cassia's Audio Project: Made in India

Audio Project

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2wn0RHnBaXzdml6MUJRVmVLVVU/edit?usp=sharing

Should work. Its an mp3 file shared from Google Drive.

Trip to MoMI

The Museum of the Moving Image is a great place to learn about the early days of filmmaking. Not only does it provide a substantial amount of historical facts and data, it also provides great visual displays and interactive activities to engage one in the learning process. On display, one can find anything from the first television and film cameras to the first microphones and editing stations used for the filmmaking. 

In the camera section, they have all the old models of television and film cameras laid out. In this section they break don the process of how they capture images and, in the case of the television camera, how it transmits a live feed. It was cool to also see the old fashioned tripods. I stood in this section for a while watching "Nanook of the North" by Robert J. Flaherty, which was being screened by the cameras. 

The interactive displays make the museum a fun place to learn. The stop motion station is extremely addicting. One can make stop motion animation with little cut-out figures and backgrounds provided by the museum. They also allow you to email your final product to yourself. There are several stations where you can somewhat participate in the filmmaking process in areas such as, voice over recording, selecting and adding musical score, and selecting and adding sound effects to different choices of scenes from well-known films. There is also a section where you can spin and play with a zoetrope and other devices that were first used to create the illusion of motion. The best part about this section is the coil of sculptures animated by strobe lights. A series of sculptures, each one different than the last, are placed consecutively down a coil that runs from ceiling to floor. The strobe light animates the sculptures and creates a moving image of a drop of water that turns into a bomb which then melts through the a hand, turns into a paper airplane, and crashes into a pile of dishes. It is an amazing thing to see. It was made by a brooklyn based artist that dreamed up the image. 

On display, they also have the costumes, masks, and props that have appeared in many famous films. They have the mouth piece used Vitto Corleone in "The Godfather," the green face mold used in "The Mask," Chewbacca's head piece from "Star Wars," Bill Cosby's outfit from the Cosby Show, etc. 

It is a really amazing place to visit and learn about film. They also have screenings once in a while. It is a great place to spend the day. 

MOMI Trip

My trip to The Museum of the Moving Image was really interesting, I saw many aspects of film I had never heard or considered before. It's amazing how much goes into making a film, and how little the audience realizes.  Not only did they have exhibitions explaining certain processes but they also had huge collections of historical artifacts that were amazing to see in person. The things that interested me the most were the old film and cameras, the costumes, and all the recording equipment. Some of the historical cameras they had dated  back from the late 1800s. I saw something called a zoetrope, from the 1830s which was an "optical toy".

The sound effects demonstration was really crazy. We had gone over foley artists in lecture which really interested me, but this showed me so many other ways sound can be manipulated and produced. Multiple sounds can overlap one another and sometimes sounds are created that come from an entirely different source than what's on screen. I have so much respect for the people who can put all this together so seamlessly and make it sound like perfection!

All in all it was great to see how the Museum of the Moving Image really broke down film production bit by bit, in both present and past. Look forward to going back.  

Audio Proj

An interview with Arseniy Churpun.

Sound/Interview Project

MoMI Trip

I enjoyed the field trip to the Museum of Moving Image.  Although I missed, much of the guided tour, I learned a lot about the early beginnings of film, the technology that is used, as well as the long and complex process that goes into creating a film.

I thought it was fascinating learn about the first cameras that were used to create videos.  Although the size of the cameras didn't surprise me, the complicated process to use these cameras made me wonder if it was worth going through all of that trouble to create videos that were extremely short videos.  

My favorite part of the guided tour was the rotating stop animation display.  It was a great breakdown and explanation of how with manipulation of light and figures, you can create a stop animation sequence. After the guided tour, I looked at the interactive exhibits that were scattered throughout the museum.

I looked at three interactives that go into depth about certain aspects of a film, they were the voice over, foley artist, and stop animation.  The voice over interactive demonstrated how audio could be inserted into film and video, while the foley artist interactive demonstrated the same but with how scenes can be impacted by the choice of sounds the artist picked.  The last interactive that I looked at was the stop motion interactive, which had a camera overhead to capture the scenes that I would create over a place mat with a background, illustrating how to create a stop motion sequence.  The trip to the museum was quite informative, and I am planning to visit again in the near future.  

MoMI Trip

On my second trip to the Museum of the Moving Image, I really noticed how little changed. In the few years separating the two visits, I really have not changed much in my knowledge of film production techniques – however, I do have an increased appreciation. Not because of the trip, really – anyone with even a passing knowledge of films know how each individual element is paramount to the impact of a piece. Look at Star Wars – without the amazing score by John Williams, it falls apart. These lessons are nothing new, and are trite to go over again and again.

However, if the Museum of the Moving Image can actually still give an impact, it does so with the mere intensity of the elements of production. One exhibit that stands out in this regard has to do with sound mixing. A larger than life Mac with Final Cut Pro and a scene from Titanic looms overhead, with the ability to alter which sound is played when – the ability to mute individual sounds betrays how much goes into the things we’re not supposed to notice. Sound design and editing are at their best when they immerse the audience, and are seamless, completely sublime to the experience. The elements of sound accompany and bolster the picture – but they do not replace it. Listening and watching the sequence, however, you understand how much it affects the picture when the sound is modified or played with in a negative way. It’s an obvious lesson, yes – but one that’s often forgotten. 

Interview Project: Sweet Chin Music

Interviewing Jonathan Chin.

https://soundcloud.com/gutierj/sweetchinmusic

MoMI

This was my second time visiting the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. The first time I had visited the museum, I was a senior in high school and I had a very different understanding of television and film. This time visiting the museum, I went in more knowledgeable about the steps of media production in both television and film and thus had a greater appreciation for the museum. At the museum, my group and I had the opportunity to see headshots of iconic celebrities from television and film in the past, view displays of real costumes from some of cinema’s greatest films, look at displays of models used in creating set design, and learn about the role of memorabilia in television and film while seeing the different types of memorabilia that has been made. The optical toys and the opportunity to experience the optical toys, was quite interesting and helped to really demonstrate how media has truly evolved. Before interacting with the optical toys, I had never fully understood what an effective and important element lighting is in any type of media production. Unfortunately, we were unable to experience the dated editing machine and thus compare it to the advances made with editing today, such as Final Cut Pro. Although I was looking forward to this opportunity, I did enjoy the interactive experience we had as a group when picking out an appropriate score of the clip shown to us. The clip was shown with three different types of music and as a group we were asked to pick out the best score. This exercise really emphasized the music’s ability to completely alter the mood of a clip and therefore its context completely. Both visits to MoMI have been enjoyable and it is my hope to return soon to visit the Breaking Bad exhibit that is now being shown at the museum.

MOMI Trip

The field trip at the Museum of the Moving Image was very interesting and reflective.
It's very easy to take for granted the technological ability we have with these powerful, but tiny cameras like the DSLR's and iphones;

It is pretty impressive to see the older cameras and the sheer size of this equipment and how evolution of filmmaking equipment changed throughout the years was great. Keeping in this topic of nostalgia, seeing all the old arcade and console games such as Donkey Kong, Frogger, Mario and Sonic was awesome!

I also saw the booth in which you saw a clip of a film (I did "The Terminator 2" and "Jurassic Park") and had to change certain sound effects to your liking. I though it would be funny to replace the Velociraptor's roar to a kitten's meow. Very Threatening.
I also got a chance to see and play around with Zoetrope, which was pretty cool.
My favorite part of the chance to create your own stop animation short. They had a machine that was mad it simple to capture your frames. They had various props as well to give the animation more dimension.

All in all, the visit to the Museum of the Moving Image was a great trip to see the trajectory that film has been through until the present. It's one thing to read about it in a text book, but to see it in person elicits a different feeling.

Here are some pics i took:

Here is the stop-motion I did at MOMI:
"Nasty"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgm6Sqm900Q

MOMI

Going to the Museum of the Moving Image was a great experience. It was exciting to see how these artifacts were actually from the movies/shows themselves. The first thing that I found interesting were the amount of work that was put into making a face mask. The tour guide explained how it was only for a one time use and the cast would try to shoot for a long period of time to put that mask into good use. The mask would then be remade for shootings for other days. The details put into making the mask was impressive, especially how the wrinkles were suppose to be and it totally transformed someone's face completely. It's really cool to see the behind the scenes and how everything was created for TV.
Another artifact that I found interesting was the first color camera and how it was only able to capture three colors: red, yellow and green. There were so many projectors, televisions, etc. We can really see how technology has really transformed and how media has so many new technologies given to them to make something happen. The size of every film related technology were huge back in the days. Now, we use equipments that are ten times smaller and has just as many functions.

Queens boulevard at night

The steady howl of the wind blends with the endless roar of traffic. Dry autumn leaves rustle loudly. A car honks. High heels click against the sidewalk rapidly making their way down the street.

A siren goes off in the distance. It gets closer and closer, louder and louder. High pitched and shrill. The wails pierce the air drowning out most other noises until the source turns a corner and fades away.

Throaty laughter escapes from a man and his co-worker as they close up shop. The metal gate rattles and squeaks as he pulls it down. His keys jingle musically as he searches for the right one. He jams it into the lock, metal scraping against metal.

Music and chatter from a bar spills out onto the street. A symphony of different languages. English, Spanish, Russian, Bengali.

A group of drunken girls screech at the sight of a rat. Broken glass crunches underfoot. A plane thunders overhead.

Reggaeton blasts from a parked car. A girl makes her way to the car, heels scraping clumsily against the sidewalk. She sits in the front and slams the door behind her. The engine revs noisily as keys turn in the ignition.

A baby babbles in a stroller. Leaves crackle as the stroller rolls over them down the sidewalk. The mother and father murmur softly to each other, their whispers harmonizing, high and low.

Two small dogs bark at one another. Sharp yapping, breathy panting. A car alarm goes off. No one stops it.

A little girl rides a scooter. The wheels rumble against the concrete then become muted as they go over patches of grass. She hums a melody.

Project 2 - Audio Interview

https://soundcloud.com/olivia-flood/audio-project-sarah-sarway

Sound Project

https://soundcloud.com/joann-fung/interview

Audio Interview Project

James Min's Audio Interview Link to the project: https://soundcloud.com/j_min/audio-interview

Soundwalk: Crown Heights

Taking a walk around the neighborhood

My clunky boots are a lot noisier than I realized. Don't drag your heels I tell myself. My first distraction; the public elementary school across the street. The kids are getting out and filing onto buses. The ambient chatter gives way to squeals and shrieks. I can focus my listening to pick out a single conversation. A mom walking her daughter home, they are discussing dinner. When a school bus door closes with a screech and the rumbling engine starts the ambient chatter is drowned out. Turning from the school I walk through I side gate into Brower Park. Rolling wheels rush by as a group of boys skateboard through the mini skate park. One falls with a thud, I turn around concerned but there's only laughter from him and his friends. My feet crunch over leaves, a sound of fall. A breeze flows through the trees and makes a slight rustle. Shuffling around the the park on a path, all these sounds once again start to meld together and create a rich background noise; a beautiful fall day in Crown Heights.

Alexandra David's Audio Project

My Audio Project, (Featuring Sarah Q) Interview

Anthony Limongi Interview

https://soundcloud.com/fabian-caballero/anthony-interview

Interview of Anthony Limongi

Audio Project - Hasan Erdal

https://soundcloud.com/hasanerdal/interview-hasan

Duncan G Artist Statement

Duncan Glaser

Artist Statement

My background as an artist is in graffiti. What began as reckless thrill seeking eventually developed into a fine tuned craft, which I still am constantly striving to improve. Though I no longer create my art in the streets, they remain in the essence and soul of my art.

            I am a student at Hunter College studying emerging media. Right now I’m focusing on a diverse group of media production subjects and techniques. By developing a wide range of skills and knowledge of the subjects I hope to find a more specific focus of direction with which to take my career and work as an artist.

            I am currently studying Web Design, Game Programming, Audio and Video Production, and Physical computing Interactive Installations.  Working with an array of programs like Photoshop, Final Cut, Processing, Unity 3D, and Max/Msp, I have just breached the surface of a vast world of options for creating digital media.

            My recent projects have been trying to tie together these two worlds of digital media with street art. It is a challenge to recreate the graffiti as more than just an art form but also as an experience. My ultimate goal is to successfully translate and communicate my graffiti background into a digital medium while maintaining as much of the spirit and experiential elements as possible.

             

Sound Walk

Central Park at midnight is a one of those times and places that has long since transcended the breadth of local lore and entered into the annals of myth. If the stories are to be believed, wandering after dark in New York's most famous strip of nature is something akin to getting lost in the woodlands of a Brother's Grimm tale. Apparently a mecca for all manner of devious folk, rapists, muggers, and worse are sure to be seen darting from tree to tree and slithering between well manicured paths, waiting only for the chance to strike... Despite, though, it's fearsome reputation what we first encountered was an awful amount of silence. Entering the park just south of the Large Reservoir near it's Northern end, we made our way towards the still black water and found the noise of the city fading. Standing on the joggers path that encircles the reservoir, the normal sustained hum of city life could barely be made out - no honking taxis, no clattering construction workers in the middle of the night, no traffic rushing past. At first, perhaps thanks to its suddenness after our trek towards the park itself, the silence seemed impenetrable. Dominant. Unallowing for experience or sense other than itself. But soon that too faded, and just as the city's mechanical whirrings and buzzings had been swallowed up by the park, so too was the park's silence swallowed by a set of much kinder sounds. Though lacking in sound signals, our post on the bank of the reservoir became host to all manner of keynotes, from the gentle slosh of the water's surface to the buzzing of insects in the trees around it. As we moved further south, we found this trend continued - the stops and starts of city noise were replaced by a much more consistent texture, a coordination of softer and duller sounds than the city would be caught dead producing. A chorus of Lo-Fi Indie Singers to the city's pack of competing battle rappers. The rustle of tree branches in the breeze hummed near continuously - soft, but ever present. In time we found that the noises of the park were much more aware of our presence - treading off the path often resulted in a scramble of padded feet on dirt, or a hastily snapping branch as the park's animal residents fled. A far cry from the city's constant audial assault, which seems almost to deny you exist at all...

BLOG #3

PROJECT #3

MOMI Field Trip

Trekking it up to Astoria from our familiar Hunter College, we as a class visited the Museum of Moving Image. While there were many demos and interactive media to experiment with, the stations associated with sound were the most interesting to myself and my partner.

First, we experimented with the station concerned with "Automated Dialogue Replacement," where dialogue is recorded later on in a studio when the filming has finished. This is done when the original dialogue recorded may have experienced technical problems or had been subjected unwanted noise. We watched a scene from the 1988 film, "Coming to America," one of the best comedies in cinema history. In our sound proofed room, we were given the opportunity to replace Eddie Murphy's lines in the clip with our own vocal rendition as an example of this post-production process. Needless to say, we did not do the movie any justice.

As a second exercise, my partner and I interacted with the "Sound Effects" station within the MOMI. Sound effects are added during post-production and are often manipulated to produce a desirable effect. We watched the infamous scene of "Jurassic Park" (1993) in which the two children are hiding in the kitchen from the terrifying velociraptors. Key sound effects were cut out of the film clip and we were given four options of sound to finalize the clip with. The clip was re-rendered with our chosen sound bites to prove the importance of sound effects and timing within a movie. Of course, we re-rendered the scene with one of velociraptor's meowing instead of roaring, and ultimately believe this to be a better fit for the movie, or at least a remake.

MoMI trip

Visiting the Museum of the Moving Image was an interesting experience since it shed light on aspects of film making that are integral to its success but cannot be fully understood upon watching the film and are sometimes hidden. The sound effects demonstration was very interesting because one would think that the sounds in the film are natural and the sounds would be easy to replicate. This however is not true, in one small scene there can be multiple sounds overlapping each other and some of them may be from outrageous things that could not plausibly be in the situation but the editing is done in such a way that it becomes seamless. The scene that the instructor showed was from Titanic, which is a movie that most have watched but while all the other aspects of it were appreciated by me previously, I never thought of the sound effects aspect of the film. The sounds in the scene sometimes have nothing to do with the current situation they appear diegetic but in reality are non-diegetic. There are sounds of a lion's roar that is muted and morphed to make it seem to sound like a wave of water. The falling and breaking of a part of the ship is actually an elephant. Obviously there is not elephant or lion in the film but their sound is masked and used and it fits the scene seamlessly. Additionally, in all the action of the ship sinking the dialogue cannot be captured on the set so it is recorded and then matched which is difficult and sometimes doesn’t match properly. In an action scene sometimes matching the lip sync can be overlooked because the viewer is distracted but in general it must be done with scrutiny. These are just some of the tracks in one scene and all of them come together to convey a perceived reality, which is enjoyed by viewers but rarely discerned.

The E train

I live on Long Island and the morning commute to Hunter is technically very quiet since everyone is practically still sleeping. If some talk at even a normal tone on the subway it seems so loud and the sleepers give those people death glares (not that they actually care and continue to talk anyway). In the midst of all the quiet you mostly hear the sounds that the train makes. The thud thud thud of the breaking of the train as it is slowing down.The screeeech when the train starts to break. The smooth opening of doors and then the fast thumping of footsteps of the people rushing in. When the train gets more and more congested you hear groans, coughs, sighs and the "excuse me" of the person trying to get to work on time and the "excuseee me?" of the person who got pushed. The echo of the train whooshing in the tunnel, screech, stop when there is "train traffic ahead of us". That monotonous not too loud not too soft tone of the woman who is announcing the stops. The train is packed and people still want to get in you hear the announcer explaining that there's another train but unfortunately it gets muffled in all the shuffling of the backpacks and purses and clack of hells and the faulty speakers. The music. Sometimes you recognize the song because the music is familiar so you start to sing along in your head. Sometimes you wish you could hear more clearly the words of the singer and the particular instrument that is playing(maybe a guitar, maybe a drum?), any entertainment would be nice. Sometimes its so loud that you can't believe that the person is wearing headphones. Sometimes it's that song you hate. No performers on the morning train for sure. There are people who exclaim "Jesus!"followed by some lines from the Bible...trying to convert people on the train, I guess? When your stop comes you quickly get off, push through people and hear thud of footsteps moving, the clacks of the heels, and the tinkling of bracelets that people wear and then the ding of the doors closing behind you.

Blog Assignment 2: What I Hear

For my soundwalk assignment, the environment I picked to concentrate my sonic perception on was Astoria Park. I wanted to have a different blog where most of what I talked about wouldn’t be the typical street noises and loud chatter that is common on New York City streets. Astoria Park is a quiet place under a bridge which makes this massive park feel like a small fragment of something bigger. I looked around and see some children play. I can hear their laughter. There is also the sound of some of the local residents jogging along to their music to stay fit. There is also an audible amount of small birds and other park critters like squirrels that resonates within the park. It has been windy recently, so I can hear the strong gusts of winds pass thru my ears. The winds make the tree branches move around which is the loudest noise in the park. The leaves rustling therefore set most of the ambience of this park. I wasn’t very close to the bridge, so any car or traffic noises were faint or nonexistent. I was a little close to the water and the waves made from the windy day would have a soft crash against the shore. Some kids were throwing rocks at the water, and the sinking rocks would create a rich splash. I wondered how deep the water at Astoria Park was. I’m glad I went on this soundwalk. Not only was it therapeutic, I liked a lot of things about it, like the neighborhood.

Museum of the Moving Image

The Museum of the Moving Image has many exhibitions of collections and historical or cultural film materials that I have never witness before in my life. These collections include historic film and  cameras, projectors, television sets, sound recording equipment, costumes, set design, sketches and toys, models, magazines. There is a wall filled with galleries, pictures of celebrities such as young Charlie Chaplin and Cary Grant. 

There are many things to look at and also many things to learn about. For example, there are historical cameras that dates back from late 1800s to present day. There's even a zoetrope, one of the first Victorian optical toy in 1834, which is a drum and look through the slots at the image moving while it spins. This image starts to motion as it moves in a fast rate through flickering lights.  Films are motion pictures, in other words, they are succession of images moving in a fast rate inside the projector and light passing through the film then on to screen. 

 In the museum we found exhibits and demonstrations relating to how movie works. The intermittent mechanism is a device whereby film is constantly in motion, regularly advance and then held in place for a brief second with a  rotating shutter which causes the light to flicker during the fast succession of images of the film inside the camera or the projector. The flickering light in concert with successive images creates the illusion in our eyes and brain, that the pictures itself are moving on screen.

The Soundwalk - "Subway"

Almost every day in every week, I take upon the subway train to go to school at Hunter College, but I never stop and carefully listen to the sounds that surrounds me. Soon, I decided to meditate, a ear listening exercise, a way to increase my awareness of sound, which encircles me,  my own personal aural realm, the environment that is consists of music, timbres, tone, loudness, and frequencies. Every morning, noon, and night, I hear different sounds every time. And, every time I take the train, I hear multiple noises. Noises of people, train, music, conversations, and doors. 

I close my eyes and listen. I suddenly hear more things than I usually often do. I hear the sound of train screeching along the railroads, a sound that I'm familiar with, but never realized how the loud the screeching noise can be. I hear the noise of rhythmic beat of the train, like a heart, beating away along the tracks. I hear the noise of baby crying as the mother consoles her own child, telling the baby to shush quietly. I hear people conversation, talking about things that is none my concerns, but I hear their voices in which one is deeper than the other with a much higher voice. Each train stop, I can also hear the sliding doors, opening and closing. I hear can the footsteps of people walking in and out the train. The distance between where I'm standing and the headphones that are on someone's ears, I hear music that seems far away but also nearby.