Month: April 2022

Visual Metaphor Proposal

  1.   Project Title: “No Justice, No Peace”  or  “This is America”
  2.    Group Members: Emma Blosser & Gaby Juhala

III.  Concept | Storyline:

       1).  For the narrative portion of our visual metaphor we are going to combine a variety of clips from the protests themselves, news reports on the protests, trial hearings, and speeches. (possibilities linked below) 

       2). Our goal is to convey the message conveyed through the Black Lives Matter movement in America through the voiceovers of multiple speeches, news outlets, and audio clips from the protests themselves etc.

       3). The focus will be on the 2020 BLM protests following the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The video clips will be from that time period and aid in furthering the narrative catalyzed by the outburst of protests seen in 2020, demonstrating how wide-reaching they were and the deep impact they had on breaking down and rebuilding the deeply flawed justice system in America. 

       4). The style/aesthetic we are going to try and pursue could possibly be in the noir genre of editing because of the fact that it will allow the viewers to focus on the content/message of the photos and video clips themselves rather than the colors which could distract from the overall narrative.

  1. Execution Plan: 

       1). For the Visual Metaphor Project we will strictly be using our cell Phone camera and audio recorder.

       2). The main location for shooting is Portland, Oregon. Portland became known as the hub for the BLM protests in 2020. The videos used were shot from May-July 2020 with both clips from day and night time being included. Showing clips from both day and night allows for the message/narrative of just how widely recognized and impactful the movement was, it didn’t matter the day or time, people were always gathering and showing support for the movement.

       3). Due to the fact that an event like a protest is so unpredictable, the quality of the filming might not be of the highest quality but considering the limitations to filming equipment and inability to meet in person as a pair I believe the content we have does a good job of conveying the narrative we hope to demonstrate through our visual metaphor.

       4). How will you collaborate? How will you divide work? (Gantt Chart)

Task Owner Start Date Due Date Duration PCT of Task Complete
Audition audio editing Emma 04/26 04/30    
Premiere pro photo/video editing  Gaby  04/30 5/5    
Premiere pro combination of audio file and photos/ videos Gaby 04/30 5/5    
Final tweaks/

revisions

 Gaby and Emma 5/5  5/12    
           
           

Reverse Storyboard

The scene I chose to do for my reverse storyboard is the opening sequence for the movie UP. The camera angles used include an initial establishing shot of both characters from afar, setting up an idea of the scene for the viewer. It goes on to a more medium shot and transitions into a close-up as the focus is shifted to specific details on each character and then returns to a medium shot for a short period of time before going into an extreme close up as the pin is being placed onto the characters body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mzsU2O8tuU

 

Uncertainty of Documentarism

In the text Steyerll talks about the “unbroken belief” of the documentary form being challenged. He doesn’t focus on the truth of the content being produced through documentary but rather how the truth of the content is displayed. In the 8th paragraph Steyerl presents a good example of said “unbroken belief”,  he says “They are perfectly true documents of that general uncertainty…” he goes on to describe how pixels across a screen have come to be seen as expressions of time and connections between images and in turn, questionable. This section of his text does a good job of painting a picture of this idea of documents representing events and phenomena that occur in real life. Despite the documentary’s depiction of real life things, it seems to leave out specific aspects that don’t necessarily connect to said “pixel.” His prominent idea of this unbroken belief is summed up in questioning documentary as to why the main aim changes from presentation of reality to meere commentary.

Additionally, certain films and movies that are based on true stories but constructed through fiction, circle back to Steyerl’s idea of “unbroken belief” in that the “pixels” chosen to be used in connection to the film’s truth are just that, chosen. Although truth allows for these based on true story films to exist it is the embellishment of said “pixels” that follow through with the idea of a shift from presentation to commentary or in this case, fiction.

 

The significance of the authenticity and representation of the truth in the media I consume on a daily basis is immense. This media greatly influences how I see and perceive the world around me. Unfortunately, the media nowadays is greatly biased and unregulated, meaning it is increasingly difficult to know whether or not the media I am consuming is presenting or commenting on the phenomena occurring. 

I would argue that the role of a live broadcast is to establish a sense of credibility between the producers and the consumers. Although that credibility may be true in some instances it can also be a ploy to get consumers to believe the media they are consuming is 100% credible when in reality it may be altered or manufactured.

Memory Soundscape

 Concept:

The memory I chose to try and convey through my soundscape is that of my first time experiencing sleep paralysis about 4 years ago. Within this sleep paralysis a variety of things occurred, but the main experience I felt was that similar to what I imagined being suffocated or drowned feels like, I would be “drowned” or “suffocated” for a period of time and then released and then the suffocation would occur again and again like a repeating cycle and although it wasn’t actually happening to me, the emotions and sensations certainly felt real. During that experience I felt emotions of anxiety, fear, helplessness, etc. all of which I tried to convey through the combination of sounds in my project. The way in which I constructed my soundscape was arranging the sounds in the same way I experienced them in my sleep paralysis episode, luckily I made a note the day after it happened to me so I had a pretty detailed recount of the exact order of events to base my soundscape off of.

Process:

  1.  The sounds I used for this project were all recorded inside my house or at my job. The three most unique sounds recording method wise would probably be the sound that goes from people talking in the background to it sounding underwater. In order to record this sound I put my phone in a ziplock bag and dunked it in my sink which I had filled with water while it was recording. The sound of people in the background is a recording I made while at work just to serve as an obvious differentiation between being above and underwater. The other sound which was an interesting process to record was the gasp for breath in the middle of the people talking, in order to make it sound realistic I dunked my face underwater and recorded the sound as I came up for air, trying to make it as dramatic as possible.
  2. My editing process was not difficult but more so tedious in that it was a lot of trial and error trying to play around with all the various effect combinations and listening to the same clips over and over trying to figure out which effect best conveyed the emotion or experience I wanted to convey. I don’t feel like I had to compromise any part of my memory in order to fit the parameters of the project. After lots of testing out different things, I figured out that for a lot of my sound clips the reverb with different impulses worked quite well to demonstrate what I was envisioning. I also found out whilst editing that I could make anchors along the volume line of clips and adjust the volume levels in that way instead of just through fading in and out, this allowed me to be more precise in specific areas, which added an extra layer of smoothness between sounds. The one part I struggled a bit with was the meshing together of two clips in trying to make them sound like one recording although they were two separate clips. I ended up figuring out how to make them sound the most similar by using echo and making the transition between the two much longer than I had previously done for other clips and it ended up sounding quite smooth.

 

Conclusion:

How would you improve your project if you had more time? If I had more time I think I would probably just play around more with effects and other features we weren’t taught to try and see if there’s anything I could do to make it convey my memory even more accurately. I also probably would make it longer maybe 2-2:30 minutes because I felt like for my memory specifically there was a lot more moments of eerie silence than what one minute allotted.

 

At presentation day:

The main feedback I received was that the portion of my soundscape during which it seems like I am coming up and gasping for air wasn’t necessary in order to convey the sensation of being drowned, the reason I edited the recording to be that way however was so that it demonstrated exactly how it felt for me in that moment. Momentary relief only to immediately be drowned again in a viciously repeating cycle. I received a lot of positive feedback, mainly that I did a good job of really transporting the listener to my specific memory through my use of various layers and effects making things sound closer, further, closed, and open. After presenting I am pretty happy with the soundscape and other than the things I mentioned above, I don’t think I would change too much else as it seems to be conveying exactly what I hoped it would.