Brainstorming

Police officer: How can we install better lights in suburban areas?
Lady gaga: How can i incorporate light into my outfit?
Easter bunny: How can i use light to find easter eggs?
Obama: How can light inspire change?
Abe Lincoln: What makes you think light skin is better?
Bush: how can I light up the mood as a country during the war?
drug dealer: how many colors of the light spectrum do you come across during an acid trip?

Class notes for October 29th

Vision

+What they are trying to do

+Inventory

-Expertise/ lack of/ gaps= opportunities

-Skills

-Commitment

-Money

-Chancellors award

+Stories

-Relax creative brain comes out

-Narratives

+Need

+What do they want from us?

+History

+Preparation

-any information/free imagination/sensory input

+Percolation

-incubation

-ideas come from

-day dreaming

-running

-shower

+Illumination

-distracted

+Does not include

-functional and fixedness

- self-censorship

unusual juxtaposition

+Translation

-putting in the hard work to make idea realistic

-inventory

extra credit decorated musical instrument ♫

Three Things October 22nd 2010

1. The first thing I learnt in class today was to do with the editing of sounds on Sound Studio. To be able to edit most efficiently the best way to do that is to go to insert and scroll down to insert silence. This allows you to better manipulate the sounds.
2. Another thing I learnt pertaining to Sound Studio was how to add tracks and still be able to identify the difference between left and right. After you add one track the indicators of left and right disappear. However, when looking at the tracks you can see that the odd number as always the left side or speaker
3. Finally the last thing I learn also related to Sound Studio was how to adjust pitch and tempo on certain sound fragments. Firstly you go to filter and you select the application to adjust pitch and tempo or even you can change the volume by adjusting the amplitude.

Extra Credit...It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ☀

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia "Beatbox"

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

Advertising

Attentiveness and Perceptual abilities/ Concepts and Formal Analysis;

            In the piece there is a lot of abstract sounds like grunts, shh sounds and high-pitched noises (for example wohoo). These sounds are all complied together to create a rhythm which sounds like someone almost beat boxing. This piece is interesting as there are multiple ways to actually listen to the piece. On the one hand you can pay attention to the individual sound and here their individual properties. Or, you can almost unfocused the sounds and allow yourself to pay attention to the whole rhythm and compilation of the piece. The only thing that I disliked about the piece was towards the end they used some words and I believe one of the reasons this piece is so effective is because it shows you how you are able to create a piece without words; and by simply adding words it makes the piece not as strong.

Interpretation Knowledge of Contemporary Sound:

            In this piece the singers or noisemakers are the main actors in the TV show “ Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. The noises they make in the piece are also symbolic as it relates to their character in the actual TV show. The woman figure for example, she makes grunting and sexually connotated noises, this reflects her character in the TV series as a free spirit who is sexually detached from all of her inquisitions.

Critique

            The implications of this piece are that as an advertising campaign they appeal to our musical side by using a popular formation of music, beatboxing. This is also racially ironic as African American’s, usually performs most beatboxing that takes place. This also connects to the TV series as the show is manly complied or ironic, racially stimulated and crude.

Knowledge and relevance: 

In opposition to the Lyre bird idea which possessed ideas of showing contrast in natural and industrialized environments, the best way to create a sound project relevant to this TV series would be to also show a contrast but now instead make it more on a controversial topic such as race, gender and sexuality.

Lyre Bird ☼

1. Attentiveness and Perceptual abilities:

From listening to the Lyre Bird you hear the amazing ability this bird has to imitate the sounds in its surroundings. Not only can this bird imitate over 20 different species of bird but also other sounds such as, a camera shutter closing. It was also mentioned that the Lyre bird reproduces these sounds to attract potential mates.

2. Concepts and Formal Analysis; Interpretation

 The Lyre Bird makes a variety of sounds form bird calls to a replication of man made objects in order to appear to have the most complex song. In the beginning of the YouTube video the bird sings sounds similar to the kookaburra, which posses a strong rhythm and a low-ish timbre. The second sound that I remember the most was the chain saw; it was so realistic it was hard to believe that it was actually coming from the mouth of the bird. That sound had a very low tone but had high volume and a large pitch.

3. Knowledge of Contemporary Sound:

The Lyre Bird is imitating these sounds from its environment to attempt to attract a potential mate. In the YouTube video the Lyre Bird is standing on what looks like a dirt mound, which he makes his stage to perform his sounds. The sound maker (the Lyre Bird) chooses to  “sing the most complicated song it knows” in order to attract a mate. However, this bird does not only sing songs that pertain to the animal world but also to our industrialized human world. Towards the end, the Lyre Bird makes noises of a car alarm and a chainsaw chopping down trees. This is important as it shows how this bird’s home/ habitat is being overtaken.

4. Critique

As mentioned above toward the end the bird branched out of its normal animal-like sounds and adopted the complex sounds of man invading the environment around the bird. The implications of this are that from these noises we can see how mankind is affecting these animals. By people overtaking this animal’s environment and threatening this existence they are enviably raising the potential levels of extinction simply by eliminating their homes.

5. Knowledge of how contemporary and historical time-based works influence individual, the earth and cultures and relevance:

I believe that a good design for a media project would be to follow the example of the Lyre Bird. Here a beautiful amazing creature with the ability to meticulously replicate sounds of birds and other things in its environment; and from this we can see how it is being threatened. The situation of the bird in its natural habitat, unharmed, is then contrasted by the sounds of men working on chopping down trees. This contrast is what I believe would make a good angle for a media project. An Idea that I brought up in class was the idea of how Walmart is considered a big threat to small business’s in small towns because of their cheap prices the competition is just to strong to beat. The concept that we developed in class was to potentially if a Walmart was to be build, play naturalistic music in the background, to represent a contrast, a contrast of things lost by this supermarket tyrant. As a Art teacher major the illumination of different social and economic problems that fuel many artist and art movements is important in the understanding of art. For example WW1 lead to the famous and influential German Expressionism movement that motivated many other movements. I’m definitely not comparing Walmart to something a big as WW1 however; it’s more the idea of conveying and emotion or message thought the art that is significant.

October 15th Class Notes

DPI

72 dpi usual if you are to upload online

350 dpi is good quality

I-Disk- publicly accessible storage

Sounds shape our experiences

Technical skills sound

Record and archive

Environmental sound space

            Clarity-clearness

            Amplitue-voulme

            Character-distortion

            Reverberation

            Foreground

            Mid-ground

            Background

            *Ambience

            Foreground

Three Things October 15th 2010

1.     When holding a microphone to record someone’s mouth it is best to hold it 90 degrees above someone’s head to avoid getting air and spit into the microphone and making the microphone’s sounds, sound loud, slurred and unclear. If holding the microphone above the head is not an option, the second best option is below the mouth.

2.      In Sound there are three main components, mid-ground, foreground and background sounds. When analyzing sound you can realize that background has most, mid-ground has in between and foreground has least amount of sound. Also sounds will be louder and quieter depending on you closeness to the object creating the sound. If you stand further away there is more of a chance for the waves to bounce off other objects in the room. However, if you are standing right next to the object you can directly record or hear the wave sounds.

3.      Another thing I learnt was the technique in using the M- Audio recorder. To use the recorder when taking down a sound the rectangles on the “L” & “R” lines must meet the triangle which moves with the buttons below to create a good sound quality.

After the Performance !!

If there was one thing you got out of the experience designing or performing piece, what was it?

One thing I learned from this experience was that when performing your planned piece, you cannot focus too strongly on following the proposal you laid out before. During the performance there were many aspects of my piece which I adapted in order to make the piece work better. An example of this was when reviewing the first pictures that were taken during the first of the five mini-performances, although you were able to see our actions and faces, you were unable to see the reactions and interested onlookers and passersby. Another part of my performance that was decided on the day of the performance was that the camera was not only going to maintain a single distance from the performers, but be a variety of different distances away. Close-ups and long shots were used to show details as well as the overall performance. The final thing that I took in from this performance was that it is always good to have an additional person on your team (not including performers, photographers and managers) that can compensate for the unexpected happenings that can take place in your performance. For me, it would have been good to have a person who was there just in case the trash blew away, as it was a very windy day. Allowing the trash to blow away would have defeated the object of my performance, but interrupting my performance to pick it up would ruin the atmosphere connected with the piece.

If you could eliminate or change one in the process, what would it be, and how would this change the process?

            If I were to recreate this performance again, I would not go to as many locations and I would focus on attracting people’s attention to just one area. Another addition I would make to my performance would be to have a large, digital timer displayed. This would allow better synchronizing of the performers when throwing and picking up the trash, and would add significance to the overall theme of how time goes by, and this still seems to be an issue on campus. In addition to remaining in one spot, I would move the camera around the performers on a tripod (to steady the camera) to get different perspectives of the performers and the people observing them.

Press Release ⚠

 

♺ Refuse Repeat ♺

For Immediate Release           

For information and photos contact:

Amanda Eedle,

aleedle@syr.edu

Tasked with inspiring students to notice the amount of littering present on our University campus, my fellow performers and I will be participating in an action which involves the repetitive throwing and picking up of trash found on the Syracuse University campus. This performance will be located in the Quad and will consist of specific scheduled timings and places in order to better portray the message.

Friday October 8th, 9:30am-12:30pm.

http://www.meedle1.blogspot.com

Syracuse, NY October 8, 2010

Four averagely dressed students each carrying black trash bags filled with garbage found on the Syracuse University campus will be performing in five different locations on the Quad, for five minutes at a time. This performance is to show the repetitive nature of littering that occurs in the University grounds. The performance will consist of throwing the trash from the bags onto the Quad and then picking all of the trash up again, in silence and without emotion. With the performers all being anonymous but appearing like an average student, this allows a connection to be made with the observing audience, and allow their own personal realization of their part in the littering of our campus. The Division of Student Affairs, Syracuse University, supports this performance.

Professor associated with project:

Anne Beffel

Photographs !! ⚉

 Beginning Location

  Secondary Location dumping out trash

   Secondary Location collecting the garbage

   Third Location The moments of silence before the performance

 Fourth Location Picking up trash

 Fifth Location over the shoulder view with an observing bystander

 

The End

Assignment #2: Documentation Blueprint

My Performance art Piece “Refuse Repeat” I will be using a DSLR Cannon Camera on a tri-pod set on Shutter mode. To document my performance I wish to take a continuous set of pictures and then place all of the frames together to form a small video, similar to a flipbook (like the picture below).  

The performance cycle

Photo by Anna Hider

For my final piece due to scheduling conflicts with Anna Hider I will be using Ana Karina (Penelope) Vasquez, photography major who will be documenting my project using the shutter format. I want to do a shutter format because when it forms together the final product will have a feeling of a continuous motion which plays along with concept that this littering happens every weekend.

            In the pictures, all of them will be and overall view picture (like the ones shown above). All of the participants will remain emotionless, as the focus will be more on the actions of dropping and picking back up the rubbish than facial emotions. 

Mock Performance Photo's by Anna Hider

Picking up trash for performance piece

Example of the trash not disposed of properly 

Performance space: The Quad

Picking up trash for performance piece

Larger overall view of performance piece