Storyboard
Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAKsZ26SabQ
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Memory Soundscape
Memory Soundscape
Concept
At first, I want to use the sound I have recorded to create a scene of a weekend morning. But I found it is hard for me to use simple sounds to express happiness. So I decided to describe my dream. In the dream, I heard that someone’s footsteps, knocking at the door, opening the door, and coming closer and closer. I use the sound of knocking at the table to show the footsteps. In order to show the feeling of the dream, I try to it sound like it’s coming from a distance and make it even more ethereal. Then, I can just hear my heartbeat and faint noise. I use the combination of the slapping of a pillow, the slapping of a biscuit tin, and the tapping of glass to slow my heartbeat. My heartbeat went from small to loud to show my inner anxiety. The faint noise is from my hairdryer. And then I was awakened by the sound of opening the door and I am sure I am awake but I still lied on the bed. I hear the noise of dust cleaner and my mum come to pull back my covers and at last, she walked out of the room and closed the door. I chose to turn the scene from dream to reality with a clear door-opening sound. I chose not to use special effects to make them sound more realistic.
Process
I did all my recording work in my dorm room because I didn’t envision outdoor content. I chose to record the sound of opening and closing doors, the sound of banging on different things, the sound of rubbing different things, some human voices without meaning, and water sounds of varying lengths. I think these sounds are very common in daily life and they will be fit for my project.
When I first started recording, I found that I couldn’t hear the recorder with my headphones. I thought it was because the equipment was broken. But later, I found that I made a mistake with the earphone jack. When the grey plug of the double jack earphone plugs into the sound recorder, it works. I use the shotgun condenser so that I can focus on the sound in my surroundings.
When I was editing the project. I found it is really hard for me to create something with sounds without meaning. I also found it hard to switch scenes with sound. So I decided to create the real scene at first and then change to my dream and half-awake state. I chose to use a strong tapping sound for the transition. After the recitation, I know it doesn’t work and the two parts become separate. The sense of the dream is not so obvious.
So I switched the sequence of dreams and reality as suggested. Using vocal repetition to show the feeling of being half awake and half asleep. In the dream part, I chose mastering to show the ethereal feeling and increased repetition of heartbeats to make this part less jarring.
Conclusion
I will try to figure out why my recording always comes out of one of the two headphones even though I haven’t changed anything. That is also one of the problems that the professor has figured out on presentation day. The project that I resubmit sounds all right in my earphones and computer speakers now. But I am not sure that it works on sounders.
On presentation day, I received feedback from two professors and my classmates. They told me that maybe my project has two parts and they seem to be separate from each other. Changing the order may be better. And the heartbeat part is a little bit like music, it sounds nice. So I change the order of my project and use repetition of similar recordings to represent the feeling of being half awake and half asleep. I keep the heartbeat part of the precious project.
Image of Audition
the image of the first draft
the image of the project now
Memory Soundscape draft (resubmit)
I want to describe a dream of mine. In the dream, I heard that someone’s footsteps, knocking at the door, opening the door, and coming closer and closer. I can just hear my heartbeat and faint noise. And then I was awakened by the sound of opening the door and I am sure I am awake but I still lied on the bed. I hear the noise of dust cleaner and my mum come to pull back my covers and at last, she walked out of the room and closed the door.
In order to show the feeling of a dream, I try to it sound like it’s coming from a distance and make it even more ethereal. My heartbeat went from small to loud to show my inner anxiety. I chose to turn the scene from dream to reality with a clear door-opening sound. I chose not to use special effects to make them sound more realistic.
Reading assignment of The Uncertainty of Documentarism
1. Steyerl talks about how the “unbroken belief” of the documentary form is challenged. How are Steyerl’s ideas about truth and fiction represented and expressed in Abbas Kiarostami’s film? How does truth inform the fiction in Close up? How might fiction inform the truth?
Steyerl argues that “Paradoxically, documentary images are so powerful because there is no more unbroken belief in their truth.” in the article The Uncertainty of Documentarism.
He implies that the line between truth and fiction is becoming increasingly blurred. It can be shown in Abbas Kiarostami’s film. Taking Close up as an example, this film uses the method of documentary to tell a story about an unemployed painter posing as a famous director, gaining the trust of rich people, borrowing money from them to make a film, and being caught at last. Even though the film is shot in a way that makes it look like a documentary, we can’t confirm that the story is true. This allows the work to strike a delicate balance between truth and fiction. Abbas Kiarostami’s films, not just Close up show theory of Steyerl: the truth of contemporary documentary lies in their impression. They are perfectly true documents of that general uncertainty, so to speak. They reflect the precarious nature of contemporary lives as well as the uneasiness of any representation. So by telling fictional stories through the use of documentary filmmaking, truth informs the fiction in Close up.
I think it is hard for fiction to inform the truth because the fictional form of expression makes its own credibility is greatly reduced. Truth means reliable to some extent. But maybe using fiction to show something that is accepted as true by the public can work.
2. What is the significance of the authenticity and representation of the truth in the media that you consume on a daily basis? What is the role of a live broadcast?
From my perspective, the significance of the authenticity and representation of the truth in the media that you consume on a daily basis is authoritative news and news and the various forms in which news is delivered TV shows, news feeds on mobile phones. I think the role of a live broadcast is to reflect the truth constantly. Since it can’t be edited, it is reliable to show what is happening outside. Although the angle can be controlled artificially, it is still one of the most reliable ways to show the truth.
Categories
Memory Soundscape
Memory Soundscape
I just remembered a recent weekend morning. I wake up in the morning and because of the roar of the vacuum cleaner. I felt a little bit irritable. Soon the sound faded away I’m no longer fretful and enjoy the good time lying in bed. Later, Dad knocked at the door to call me to have breakfast. Sitting at the dining table, I enjoyed the smell of food and the leisure brought by the weekend.
I would like to use the sound of a hairdryer (easier to control the sound) to show the process by which the sound of a vacuum cleaner diminishes. At the same time, I want to add the sound of rubbing fabric to show off my irritability gradually. As this sound fades away, I want to use a blank and the gradual sound of a slow slap on the throw pillow to indicate the amount of time lying in bed. Then, I will tap on the table and the door panel to show footsteps and knocks. At last, I want to use the tapping of a glass or the sound of the wind to show the feeling of enjoyment.
Diptych Project–《Sweet Dreams and Nightmares》
Instructor: Inmi
Creator: Ran Xu
Name of project: 《Sweet Dreams and Nightmares》
Concept
In the photograph, I choose to put the doll on the quilt and use warm light to create a warm and lovely atmosphere and show the feeling of sweet dreams.
In the photo-shop picture, I changed the background to black and white, keeping only the doll and book colors. In addition, I used the top light to shift the focus to dolls and books, giving the picture a ghostly feel like a horror film. In this light, the doll’s unchanging expression and wide eyes were even more ghastly. In this way, I want to show the feeling of nightmares.
I use the same doll to let these two paired pictures relate to each other. I tried to use two different dolls to show sweet dreams and nightmares respectively. But I found that the relation between the two images will be too weak. The same doll will be better. In addition, I change the light background of the two images to let them have a different atmosphere and let the theme of sweet dreams and nightmares respond to one another.
Process
In staging and photographing part I, the doll I use is different from the one I use now. I use a doll sleeping on the bed. I try to use different kinds of light to show the feeling of sweet dreams. After I take the class, I found my concept is too simple and I don’t have the inspiration to do the photo-shop project. So I decide to choose Choose another more storied character to help me set the mood.
the first contact sheet I have made
So I decide to use the little red riding hood as my character and let her sitting on the piano and use the light to show the atmosphere of nightmares. After the class, I learned that my two images are too similar and I need to make some changes. So I think maybe the initial concept: sweet dreams and nightmares may be better than the concept of nightmares only. So I let the doll lie on the quilt to create a fairy-tale dream scene. After this, I put her and the fairy tale book on the piano and use the top light to show the nightmares. I changed the focus to focus on the doll and the book so that the picture became more diversified
the second craft photo
In creating part II image, to show the atmosphere of nightmares, I changed the background to black and white. What’s more, with the top light, both the doll and the book are partly in shadow. I adjusted the brightness and contrast of the doll and book sections to make the light contrast more obvious. At the same time, I twisted the keys to show the doll telling a story with music.
the part II image
I think the most significant step I have taken is that I change the part I image twice. I wonder how to express the feeling of sweet dreams and nightmares. I also wonder which concept will be better. At last, I found the contrast will be more appropriate for the diptych. So I used the background and warm light of the sheets from the original photo and change the character to keep the two pieces in touch.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I try to use the theory I have learned in the classes to finish this project. I will find another background to show the concept of sweet dreams if I have more time because the sheets in the background are a little monotonous
Image of Diptych
My thoughts on In Our Own Image
In the book, Ritchin said, “One could say that we were entering the ‘post-photographic age’ in the sense that the fidelity of the mechanical age was being replaced by the fluidity of the digital.” So, I think the fidelity of the mechanical age and the fluidity of the digital are two opposite concepts. In other words, the fluidity of the digital implies the ability to adjust and modify digital images, audio, and video with modern technology, which let the digital project looks different from reality.
It is really common in our daily life. For example, we took a lot of pictures, but because it was cloudy and the light was bad, the pictures of the scenery and people were not as good as we expected. To solve this problem maybe we will use photoshop to let the picture looks brighter and more colorful and pictures can’t reflect reality at that time.
From my perspective, photography is capable of capturing part of the reality, not the whole.
According to Ritchin, “We were also rediscovering the initial meaning of ‘photography,’ ‘writing with light,’”. In other words, the basic element of photography is light. So, photography needs can’t create something out of thin air, which increases its capability. But because people are the “writers”, who can control the angle of the picture and even can set up the scene beforehand, photography shows the world that the photographer wanted us to see. So maybe it isn’t the whole reality. Compared with books, especially fiction books, photography is a much more reliable reflection of reality. Because writers can create anything in their book as long as the logic in the book world is smooth. But compared with videos, photography is less capable of capturing reality. Because it is much harder to let a video playing smoothly with a perfect connection between every sound and picture after editing.
Designer: Ran Xu
Title of Music: Falling
Artist Name: INTERSECTION
Concept and Design
In this assignment, I hope to show the strong rhythm brought by drums and the feeling of smooth melody after the addition of human voice in the music through the transformation of black and white letters and lines.
I represented the strong drumming and electric sound of the music by changing the position of the letter W up and down and dotted with black dots, which use the closure principle.
Then, I use wavy lines between letters to show the smoothness of the music and make the picture more integrated, which presents the continuity principle. In addition, I stretched out the I and placed them between the W to show the feel of the score. I chose a stronger font for the letter W, hoping to reflect the strong sense of the rhythm of the music.
In the middle part of the picture, I chose a soft font for the letter Z to show the chord of the climax of the song. The letter O dotted around them still hoped to show the drumbeat, and the soft font hoped to show the ethereal feeling.
In the lower part of the picture, I chose the mirror pattern of the upper part of the picture, so as to show the feeling that the song is slightly different from the beginning but roughly repeated again, which uses the principle of similarity. I mainly used the principle of figure and ground in this design assignment and use black as the background color to show my conflicting feeling of the song that is a little bit somber but still with vitality.
The principle I use
Process
When I first listen to the music, what I’m feeling is an undercurrent. So, I use the letter W to show the wave of the melody, use lines in the letter to let this part looks more continuous, and use dots to show the drums and hidden strong feelings. That’s the first part of my design. In the first draft, I used black words on a white background, but after listening to the music repeatedly, I found that the white background could not express my feelings, so I changed to a black background.
My first draft
After modifying
I also think it is the most significant step during the process. This part contains the letter W moving up and down and the lines and dots in the letter. In addition, it uses the principle of closure and similarity. I think this part can not only show the dynamic rhythm but also reflects the coherence of the song. Later in the design process, I mirrored this part. The mirror repetition looks a little bit stiff when I look at the picture now. It is a failure.
After design this part, I want to use the letter Z to show the continuality of the music and the letter I to present the music score. Then I have my design in the process, the picture below. I took this picture to have the mid- critique class.
The mid-critique influences my design decisions a lot. Because at first, I just want to save the pots to make the picture have a sense of the whole. After the mid-critique, I know it doesn’t work. So, I decided to delete the consecutive letter Z and use the elongated I as part of the letter W design rather than create a new part. I think it makes my design looks more like a unit. Then I decided to change the font of the letter Z to make the middle part which stands for accord looks softer and plays the role of connecting the picture. I also add some letters o to represent the drums and make the picture more dynamic.
My design in the process
Conclusion
If I have more time to work on the project, I will change the design of the repetition. Maybe I will use other letters or change the front to show the sense of similarity.
Image of Project
Categories
My Pioneer Plaque
Pioneer Plaque Assignment
In the picture, there are three screens that show the imaging principle of LCD television. The screen on the right shows the basic element of LCD television imaging. They are red and green quantum dots and pure blue light sources. The middle screen shows the arrangement of three kinds of light sources. The left screen shows the pictures of flowers and houses, the result of the television imaging. There is a reason for the choice of these two objects. They respectively symbolize the natural environment and human environment of the earth, and to some extent show the connection between television and earth civilization. Two squares drawn with black lines between screens are polarizers, devices that enable the eye to receive light. On the left of the picture, there is one eye which means watching TV requires your eye. There is a man standing beside three screens. He is J.L.Baird, the inventor of television. We put him in the picture to show that the television is a human-made object.
There are two reasons we chose to use pictures that can be read in any order rather than words to show how television works. The first one is that it is difficult for aliens to understand the earth words which has explicit grammatical rules. Because according to Story of Your Life, “When it came to sentences in Heptapod B, though, things became much more confusing. The language had no written punctuation: Its syntax was indicated in the way the semagrams were combined, and there was no need to indicate the cadence of speech. There was certainly no way to slice out subject-predicate pairings neatly to make sentences. A “sentence” seemed to be whatever number of semagrams a heptapod wanted to join together; the only difference between a sentence and a paragraph, or a page, was size.” (16). It means that the alien language is a whole, very different from the orderly human language.
The other reason is that aliens have seven lidless eyes ringed the top of its body which means that it has no concept of order. This feature can be found in “Seven lidless eyes ringed the top of the heptapod’s body. It walked back to the doorway from which it entered, made a brief sputtering sound, and returned to the center of the room followed by another heptapod; at no point did it ever turn around. Eerie, but logical; with eyes on all sides, any direction might as well be ‘forward.’” (5). So, such diagrams that can be understood from left to right or right to left are appropriate for aliens to understand. In addition, aliens see everything as a whole and understand things from a global perspective. For them, the concept of cause and effect does not exist. This character can be seen in “That meant the heptapod had to know how the entire sentence would be laid out before it could write the very first stroke.”(23) and “The heptapods didn’t write a sentence one semagram at a time; they built it out of strokes irrespective of individual semagrams.”(23)
Categories
Notes of Story of your life
Story of your life
Language
I think it’s a full-fledged, general-purpose graphical language.” (14)
Phonetic
The recording sounded vaguely like that of a wet dog shaking the water out of its fur. (2)
It doesn’t sound like they’re using a larynx to make those sounds. (3)
Oral
I heard a brief fluttering sound, and saw a puckered orifice at the top of its body vibrate; it was talking. (6)
“In their spoken language, a noun has a case marker indicating whether it’s a subject or object. In their written language, however, a noun is identified as a subject or object based on the orientation of its logogram relative to that of the verb. Here, take a look.” I pointed at one of the figures. “For instance, when ‘heptapod’ is integrated with ‘hears’ this way, with these strokes parallel, it means that the heptapod is doing the hearing.” I showed him a different one. “When they’re combined this way, with the strokes perpendicular, it means that the heptapod is being heard. This morphology applies to several verbs.
with the spoken version of these verbs, they add a prefix to the verb to express ease of manner, and the prefixes for ‘see’ and ‘hear’ are different. (14)
We made steady progress decoding the grammar of the spoken language, Heptapod A. It didn’t follow the pattern of human languages, as expected, but it was comprehensible so far: free word order, even to the extent that there was no preferred order for the clauses in a conditional statement, in defiance of a human language “universal.” It also appeared that the heptapods had no objection to many levels of center-embedding of clauses, something that quickly defeated humans. (17)
It was clear that word order meant next to nothing when speaking in Heptapod A; when asked to re- peat what it had just said, a heptapod would likely not use a different word order unless we specifically asked them not to. (22) There is no word order in their spoken language
Pictographic
One heptapod spoke, and then inserted a limb into a large socket in the pedestal; a doodle of the script, vaguely cursive, popped onto the screen. (9) The way they write
Based on first impressions, their writing appeared to be logographic. (9)
Now I realized all of them actually did contain the logogram for “heptapod” some were rotated and distorted by being combined with the various verbs, so I hadn’t recognized them at first. (11) They express different meanings through the rotation and distortion of symbols
“Their script isn’t word-divided; a sentence is written by joining the logograms for the constituent words. They join the logograms by rotating and modifying them. (11)
It didn’t appear to be writing at all; it looked more like a bunch of intricate graphic designs. The logograms weren’t arranged in rows, or a spiral, or any linear fashion. Instead, Flapper or Raspberry would write a sentence by sticking together as many logograms as needed into a giant conglomeration. (12)
This form of writing was reminiscent of primitive sign systems, which required a reader to know a message’s context in order to understand it. (12) character
a semasiographic writing system
That modulation is applicable to lots of verbs. The logogram for ‘see’ can be modulated in the same way to form ‘see clearly,’ and so can the logogram for ‘read’ and others. And changing the curve of those strokes has no parallel in their speech. (14)
It appeared that a semagram corresponded roughly to a written word in human languages: it was meaningful on its own, and in combination with other semagrams could form endless statements. We couldn’t define it precisely, but then no one had ever satisfactorily defined “word” for human languages either. When it came to sentences in Heptapod B, though, things became much more confusing. The language had no written punctuation: Its syntax was indicated in the way the semagrams were combined, and there was no need to indicate the cadence of speech. There was certainly no way to slice out subject-predicate pairings neatly to make sentences. A “sentence” seemed to be whatever number of semagrams a heptapod wanted to join together; the only difference between a sentence and a paragraph, or a page, was size. (16) form
When a Heptapod B sentence grew fairly sizable, its visual impact was remarkable. If I wasn’t trying to decipher it, the writing looked like fanciful praying mantids drawn in a cursive style, all clinging to each other to form an Escheresque lattice, each slightly different in its stance. And the biggest sentences had an effect similar to that of psychedelic posters: sometimes eye-watering, sometimes hypnotic. (16) effect
Much more interesting were the newly discovered morphological and grammatical processes in Heptapod B that were uniquely two-dimensional. Depending on a semagram’s declension, inflections could be indicated by varying a certain stroke’s curvature, or its thickness, or its manner of undulation; or by varying the relative sizes of two radicals, or their relative distance to another radical, or their orientations; or various other means. These were non-segmental graphemes; they couldn’t be isolated from the rest of a semagram. And despite how such traits behaved in human writing, these had nothing to do with calligraphic style; their meanings were defined according to a consistent and unambiguous grammar. (17)
That meant the heptapod had to know how the entire sentence would be laid out before it could write the very first stroke. (23) the premise of writing
The heptapods didn’t write a sentence one semagram at a time; they built it out of strokes irrespective of individual semagrams. (23)
Communication style
One of the heptapods pointed to itself with one limb, the four-terminal digits pressed together. (6). gesture
The heptapod was confirming my utterances as correct, which implied compatibility between heptapod and human patterns of discourse. (6)
It looked like they had analogs of nouns and verbs. (10)
Perhaps their verbs could be written as affixes to a noun. (11)
Raspberry left the room and returned with some kind of giant nut or gourd and a gelatinous ellipsoid. Raspberry pointed at the gourd while Flapper said a word and displayed a logogram. Then Raspberry brought the gourd down between its legs, a crunching sound resulted, and the gourd reemerged minus a bite; there were corn-like kernels beneath the shell. Flapper talked and displayed a large logogram on their screen. (11) Use gesture, sound, and word
For the heptapods, all language was performative. Instead of using language to inform, they used language to actualize. Sure, heptapods already knew what would be said in any conversation; but in order for their knowledge to be true, the conversation would have to take place. (34) Meaning of language
Physical structure
It looked like a barrel suspended at the intersection of seven limbs. It was radially symmetric, and any of its limbs could serve as an arm or a leg. The one in front of me was walking around on four legs, three non-adjacent arms curled up at its sides. Gary called them “heptapods.” (5)
Its limbs had no distinct joints; anatomists guessed they might be supported by vertebral columns. Whatever their underlying structure, the heptapod’s limbs conspired to move it in a disconcertingly fluid manner. Its “torso” rode atop the rippling limbs as smoothly as a hovercra. (5)
I could see the texture of its gray skin, like corduroy ridges arranged in whorls and loops (5)
I heard a brief fluttering sound, and saw a puckered orifice at the top of its body vibrate; it was talking. (6)
It turned out that they had an orifice on the underside of their body, lined with articulated bony ridges: probably used for eating, while the one at the top was for respiration and speech. There were no other conspicuous orifices; perhaps their mouth was their anus too. (10)
For the heptapods, writing and speech may play such different cultural or cognitive roles that using separate languages makes more sense than using different forms of the same one.” (14) meaning