Haiku Assignment

I had a lot of fun doing this project.

My Haiku

Please look at the website before reading the next section.

The home page is a snapshot of me that I edited on photoshop. I was going for a comic effect, so the website could make the viewer feel that they are going through actual pages of a comic that come to life due to spring (seen through the addition of color).
Line One shows a picture of purple flowers, a feel that flowers help signify spring.
Line Two shows a picture of some cherry blossoms. Whenever I see cherry blossoms, I smile.
Line Three shows the statue of liberty with a sunset. I thought that symbolized peace and serenity.

Hope you like it. ^_^

Haiku Website

http://fmundergrad.hunter.cuny.edu/~mitchellt/

The Video

The video can be viewed at
http://youtu.be/wTarKtGlhBY

Thank you very much.

Fabiola

My video has had a hard time compressing, but it is still downloading for upload on both Vimeo andYoutube.

John Canemaker Screeening

The screening of John Canemaker’s The Moon and The Son, as well as his other works, such as a Confession of a Stardreamer utilized an intermixing of different media mediums. I think his films were special to me because he seamlessly tied together his short films with animation, pictures and video.

John Canemaker approaches his film by the concept he is trying to deliver. He determines what looks great, where, due to the emotions and messages he wishes to evoke. I thought this was very creative, for as he said, while trying to create a film (perhaps for children or just PG), at times you don’t want to be too vulgar or explicit (a good reason for using animation instead of live action). Still, the choices of installing certain colors, the choices of which object is smaller or bigger, the selection of which piece has more airtime, the intensity shown within the voice. They all contribute to making a powerful film. While speaking about powerful imagery, live action perhaps wouldn’t have been the best choice for his featured film. I’m paraphrasing, but as he said, with animation, you are free to roam, you could express anything and are not limited to human boundaries. With animation you could push the limit to express a certain message, a limit that perhaps cannot be broached through complete live action.

John Canemaker’s choices of sound were interesting and forever changing. I think this helped in keeping the audience interested. There were times in which there was realistic sound design, for example, the clip of his family (real footage) within The Moon and The Son. Then within the same film. there are a lot of stylized sound design examples which were purposely put there to deliver a point, emotion, and/or reaction. The filmmaker also used both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. In Confessions of a Stardreamer, the actress is visible and speaking directly to us, later on we don’t see her and we still here narration (diegetic).

Overall, it was nice to learn that he did the interview and had the transcripts first before actually drawing the plans for The Moon and The Son; it was as if we were following his footsteps with our projects.

Production Notes

A film; a complex medium, when done well, looks simple.

I loved doing this project; a piece of my own. I'm happy that I was able to interview "the subject" myself, direct, and edit. It's amazing to begin a project and see it all the way through.

I've tried to make short films before and they were also a hard feat, but this time I felt more prepared and for this I am thankful. Still, I realized that even though last semester provided me with some experience, there are always some things that I need to learn and brush up on.

1. The most important thing in the world and perhaps the one taken for granted in terms of creating a film: Save all your material in one place! This is not a request, it is an imperative action that I've learned personally. For some strange reason, I didn't have enough room on my login and had to save everything onto scratch (not good). I also spread my work around on my USB and worked on another computer (not good again, but I wanted to do a good job which required extra time outside of Room 432). These methods both accidental/purposeful were setbacks, but I learned from them. Next time, if I see that my information won't save, I will invest in a larger external drive and begin my project the right way by saving it all in one place. ^_^

2. Next time, I would like more time with the camera. My partner and I have different schedules, but we still found ways to meet outside of class and send information to one another. Still, while doing this process, there are a lot of things that happen by chance/spur of the moment. A camera in hand could have captured them and make the film extra special.

3. I wish I had better organized my time around this project. I did my best to create a piece that does my partner justice, but perhaps, as an artist, I will never be completely satisfied. Like always, I would have liked more time (especially for the video). I tried coming through the break, but I also had conflicting schedules with the labs. Perhaps I should save even more money to invest in some extra software (I have, it is just a slow process). ^_^

In terms of appreciating filmmaking. I always knew that every shot, frame, scene, etc., took an enormous amount of thought and processing for beautiful symmetry. Not to be repetitive, but as always, with each project within the media department, I learn some more new things and grow even more in love with the pre-production, production, and post of every project (outside films and mine alike). Film is amazing and the way we incorporate different types of media to bring forth a message is both empowering and well, special.

I want to learn more and I will be practicing on different softwares to become a better artist.

Thank you for this assignment.

P.S. I loved making the storyboards and my log notes. They were a huge help. Next time I will go to even more detail.

Audio Profile-Final

This became my final version.

Audio Profile 2 from ADifferentCase on Vimeo.

Trial Audio

I used this one first, but then made edits.

Audio Profile from ADifferentCase on Vimeo.

Sound-Image and Image-Image Relationships

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kXYiU_JCYtU

Music Videos have a tough job between grabbing the artists’ audiences’ attention as well as bringing forth a new and innovative image that correlates with what
would be expressed through the song. Linkin Park’s Numb provides a great
interaction between sound and image, as well as, image and image. The editing
within the video played a central role of understanding the message that lied
within the song.
In the beginning of the video, the audience sees a teenager looking off, standing by
herself in a huge environment. As she begins to stare off into a new direction,
we see nothing but buildings and then it cuts to the band. The cut proceeds to
her being in class when Chester (the singer) says: “tired of being what you
want me to be”. The teacher is lecturing to the students and she is just
drawing in her notebook which gets interrupted by the teacher hitting a stick
on her desk. When Chester sings, “I become so numb”, the speed between her
reality and actual reality changes. The students, through editing, zoom out of
the classroom leaving her alone looking at her drawing. This happens again when
she trips on the floor and everyone zooms past her. The situation repeats one
more time when she goes home and Chester sings, “can’t you see that you’re
smothering me, holding too tightly, afraid to lose control”, the teen is
sitting down staring off to space while the mother is fixing everything in the
kitchen in hyper speed, and then the mother sits down and yells at her. She
looks alone in the video and the hyper speed shows how unconnected she is to
the world around her.
Throughout the video, the teenager is wearing black, white, and grays. She’s mixed in a world of light and color, in a world that doesn’t notice her unless they are
scolding or being repulsed by her. The shots between the teenager and the band
are equally short except for the end. At the climax where Chester sings the
phrase “I become so numb”, the teenager is full of anguish, she just thrusts
her paint brush all over the page. Chester and his band mate keep singing, “I
become so numb, tired of being what you want me to be”. This scene only shows
the band and them pouring their soul out into the music. Then the teenager runs
into the dark church that they were singing in only to find no one there.
Without the cutting into the girl’s life, the video may not have been as strong as it
was. The ending, in which the female runs to the church where the band was
playing, unites both worlds. Showing the empty space when she arrives (an extra
shot was made) increases the notion of her being alone.

Roaming Through

As I left Hunter, my ears turned on and picked up: “You’re a wonderful person, are you fond of Earth”? The woman’s voice was probably about 60-70 dB SPL. It was clear, direct, and aggressive. Living in New York or in any city in the morning to afternoon, anyone is bound to hear voices. From the side of me was a sound of a crumpling wrapper. The crumbling wrapper was actually the sound of a woman’s coat, and as she approached, she yelled: “What?! She worked in the Bronx? Don’t ask me for $35”. I would place her around 70 decibels. Occasionally, I heard people speaking in a tongue that I didn’t recognize; relatively normal. Then my favorite, well most distinctive phrase of the day: “…sir, you murdered five people”.

Perhaps shocking in regular conversation, but this was all to be expected; the city is full of people, especially people with cell phones. Talking was a given, but while walking, I heard something else.

I’m musically bias, but the city had a beat. After the Green Peace advocate made her declaration of the person’s nature and asked a question, I heard a distant honking. It was slow. *beep* ……….. *beep* ………. *beep*. As, I was walking toward 42^nd Street, the sound started to dissipate, and became more of an echo. It sounded like the sounds one hears within a sea shell, and then it disappeared…well not disappeared but just became so minute and dwindled down to a decibel that I couldn’t hear.

That one honk started the beat.

Several honks followed suit, one by one, and then, the order didn’t matter. Some were sharp, some were soft, and some seem broken, while others were as rough as a punch to the face. I heard screeching, like nails scratching a window pane, from the bus driving by. Then there was a fast pace clicking that I learned came from the wheels of a bike. I heard the echo of the plastic window from the restaurant and then large thumps. *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* *boom* Just noises of clashing and heavy loads falling; it sounded like a minor earthquake. Later I saw that the ruckus was actually construction work. Still, all these sounds collaborated into a song. The heavy bricks were the base, the people talking were the singers, the wind that would blow ever so gently and then smack me in the face were the flute and low/high pitched strings. The leaves, papers, and bags on the floor all sounded so similar, but some sounded heavier and reminded me of the scraping of sandpaper. Nonetheless, the leaves, papers, and bags were the guira. Then there were the main drums. The drums were the shoes. Each step gave off a different sound. Some were sharp like pins dropping, while others were like a snare. They would all pile up against each other. At times the beat would slow down due to the streets being less vacant and then as more people came on the block, I heard the wonderful fast pace beats of the African drums. Then someone would cough, the music would quiet down and then start again.

Every rustle, every step, every paper, and every breath; music in the air.

The city was alive.