Week 8: Video Project Proposal – Bonnie, Helen, Harry

Inspo: 

ColdPlay – Every Teardrop is a Waterfall Music Video

Golden Touch – Namie Amuro Music Video

David Ma Food Films:

http://davidmafilms.com/

Project Idea:

Since completing our audio projects, we thought it would be fun to use our knowledge with audio and combine it with video. So, we decided to focus on creating a music video type project where we may combine interactivity through video production like the Namie Amuro Golden Touch video as well as digital interactivity through the website that the video will be played on such as switching between different scenes in the video using buttons or even switching the different music choices. Style wise, we are thinking about creating a video that uses motion graphics and pairing it with live video like the Coldplay music video.

Execution: 

We will be using original footage that is shot by us and maybe our own audio to avoid copyright issues or avoid very popular songs. We will probably be using Adobe Premiere for editing footage and Adobe AfterEffects to create motion graphics if we include digital animations. 

Audio Project – Bonnie Chan

Link: http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~bc2328/commlab/audio_proj/

Our project is an audio and visual website with minimalistic styling that is used to express mixed emotions through immersing the user in audio and visual stimulation. We decided to use color and gradient in color to describe the mix and change between two different feelings while pairing it with remixes we do with sound effects and music to represent each emotion. Our website is mainly focused on allowing the user to explore the different sound and emotion pairings that are possible and to simply listen to the different pieces of audio. I think the color is a way to fully visually express the way the music pieces are suppose to make the user feel.

Screenshots:

 

The home page that generates random gradients

The page for the emotion Happy and Angry that creates the gradient from yellow to red

Process:
For Assets: The audio remixing for the most part was difficult to find the correct music to match the different sounds as well as being creative enough to think of the right sound effects to remix and evoke the correct pair of emotions. For the assets, me and Grace split up the different emotions and both created different remixes for each pair of emotions. I used Reaper to edit the audio while Grace used Audacity.  I drew the buttons for the emotions using Adobe Illustrator. 

For Coding:  I coded the main buttons and home page and design through JavaScript and used the help of Google in order to figure out how to create the animated gradient background that is seen in the website. We mainly worked through Javascript and used minimal amount of HTML and CSS to create the website. Grace helped with debugging and troubleshooting the code as we tried to figure out the best user experience and way to create our website. 

Problems:

I think one of the hardest things to figure out was how to create the gradient. Initially, we wanted to create a gradient waveform but had a lot of difficulty trying to incorporate the waveform code with the different audios and autoplaying. However, in the end I think that the full background gradient is actually a way to make the experience for the user even more immersive and lends to the idea of a minimalist design. I think I also struggled a lot with trying to match all the different remixes with the correct buttons and audios since there were so many options that I had to make sure that all the branches were linking to the correct audio, visual, and buttons in order to provide the correct experience and interaction. I wish I was able to create an even more complex website by allowing the user to add more than two emotions, but I had trouble adding or autoplaying two different audios simultaneously and that is why we ended up having to remix the audios separately before inputting them into the code. But, I think that the experience that we’ve created right now is also able to successfully deliver the message of using audio and visual to evoke different mixed emotions in users. 

Post Mortem:

I actually really enjoy our project and think that the audio remixes are quite nice. Although some audio remixes may not fully evoke the mixed emotions as well as some of the others but I enjoy the music that we’ve made. I think that the design and visual aspect of the website seems nice and simple. It may not be complex and full of different buttons and text as other websites but I also think that this simple design is what will allow users to focus more on the audio and to hear the minuscule sound effects that we have subtlety added into the music . I do think that if I was able to troubleshoot the problem of playing different audio together at the same time that it would provide more interactivity to the website, but I do think that our project was able to focus on the music and visuals that was the main goal and key to the audio project assignment. 

Week 6 “Kenny G Auld Lang Syne” – Bonnie Chan

Transcript:

“The first words I spoke in the original phonograph, Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.” 

“The Distinguished Flying Cross upon Colonel Charles A. Lindberg.”

“Today, panicked investors ordered their brokers to sell at whatever the price in the stock market crashed.” – the Stock Market crash

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – President FDR

“Horrific place, ladies and gentlemen, the smoke and the flames now, ooh, the humanity”

“Now, with the help and support of the woman I love.”

“Urging the people to evacuate the city as Martians approach.”

“Never to go to war with one another again”

“. . .Juden. . .” – Nazis?

“This country is at war with Germany.” – World War II

“December 7, 1941, (the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor) a date which will live in infamy.”

“This is Bob Command Performance Hope telling each Nazi that’s in Russia today that,

“Crimea doesn’t pay.”

“I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” 

“President Franklin D. Roosevelt stricken late today.”

“Who’s on first.” “Yeah” “The fellow s name” “Who”  

“The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.”

“Who Is on first.” “What are you asking me for?” 

“Reports from the new Germany tell of horrors leading to the total extermination of the Jews of Europe.”

“An iron curtain has descended across the continent of Europe.’

“Jackie Robinson goes to bat for the first time in a Major League.”

“Old soldiers never die. They just fade away.”

“Lucy” “Ahhhh!” 

“It was a little cocker spaniel dog, and our little girl, Tricia, the six year old, named it Checkers ” – Richard Nixon

“Are you a member of the Communist Party?”

“Oh, a cop, eh. Woo, woo, woo.” 

“Or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” 

“A blast from the past! A blast from the past! A blast from the past!” “Baby, you re the greatest.” 

“From Sun Recording artist, Elvis Presley”

“I’d like to thank all, all the wonderful folks, and I’d like to thank you, too.” 

“Three young singers were killed today in the crash of a light plane.”

“American bandstand. And now, here he is, the star of our show, Dick Clark.”

“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” – President JFK

“They’re standing up, waiting to see if Maris is going to hit number 61.”

“Godspeed, John Glenn.” 

“Happy birthday, Mr. President.” -Marilyn Monroe

“Wondering how and why Marilyn Monroe died.”

“Something has happened in the motorcade. President Kennedy died at 1p.m. Central Standard Time” 

“Lee Harvey Oswald was shot.”

“I have a dream (Really?) that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” – Martin Luther King

“And I say segregation now, What we have foremost in common is their enemy, segregation tomorrow, the white man, and segregation forever, he’s an enemy to all of us.” 

“I have a dream” – Dr. King’s speech, from two seconds ago.

“I am about to sign into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” 

“The Beatles!”

“And today I ordered to Vietnam the Air Mobile Division. Additional forces will be needed later and they will be sent.” 

“I have very sad news for all of you. Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.”

“Senator Kennedy has been shot. Is that possible?”

“As he said many times in many parts of this nation, Some men see things as they are and say, Why? I dream things that never were and say, Why not? ” 

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” – Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon

“It’s a free concert from now on.”

“We must be in Heaven, man” 

“Four persons including two women were shot and killed in Ohio today. Hundreds of students were involved as National Guard”

“There, l’ll be a killer and a thriller and a chiller when I get the gorilla in Manila.” – Muhammed Ali

“I have concluded an agreement to end the War and bring peace with honor in Vietnam.” – President Richard Nixon

“There’s a drive into left-center field. That ball is gonna be, out of here. It’s gone. It’s 715. There’s a new home run champion of all time and it’s Henry Aaron.”

“Well, I’m not a crook” – President Richard Nixon

“Here’s Johnny” 

“I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.” 

“An absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon.” 

“My name is Jimmy Carter, and I’m running for President.” 

“Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night.”

“Elvis Presley died today at Baptist Hospital in Memphis.”

“John Lennon was brought to the Emergency Room. He was dead on arrival.”

“Today marks day number 64 in the hostage crisis in Iran.”

“I, Diana Frances take thee Philip Charles Arthur George” – Diana, Princess of Wales

“To my wedded husband.”

“To my wedded husband.” 

“A disease striking primarily in the gay community called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.” – people during this time slandered the gay community with the misinformation about AIDs

“The liftoff of the 25th Space Shuttle Mission, and it has cleared the tower. Rock and roll, Challenger.” 

“We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, as they prepared for their journey and waved Goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.” 

“I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the Presidency.”

“Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” 

“Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall.”

“I don’t think it was wrong.” 

“We did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages.” 

“I think it was a neat idea.” 

“Everyone on Sesame Street is always talking about love. Yuck”

“Hundreds of Berliners from East and West, standing atop the Wall, with chisels and hammers.” 

“The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated.”

“Read my lips.” 

“We, the jury, in the above-entitled action, find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder, a felony, upon Nicole Brown Simpson, a human being.”

“Princess Diana died of injuries suffered in a car accident”

“I’m Ellen and I’m gay.” – Ellen Degeneres

“Yeah, baby.”

“There it is, 62, folks, and we have a new home run champion, Mark Mcguire.”

“Welcome, you ‘ve got mail.”

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” – President Bill Clinton

“This vast right-wing conspiracy conspiring against my husband.” – Hillary Rodham Clinton

“Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat” 

“Indeed, I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinski that was not appropriate. (Again!) In fact, it was wrong. I need to go back to work for the American people.” – President Bill Clinton

“The young killers of Columbine High School do not stand for the spirit of America. We can rise up and we can say ‘No more.’” 

“Let the word go forth from this time and place, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.” – President JFK  

Thoughts:

I think the remix is a great mix of modern and retro in order to create the right atmosphere. To overlaps voice recordings, that seem to be targeted at social or cultural issues with jazz music is to convey a specific feeling very intelligently through sound and visuals.  I think its a great way for audiences to easily understand and accept the thoughts and ideas the artist is trying to convey through this remix. 

Week 6 “Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist” – Bonnie Chan

After reading the interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist, I learned about the importance of cooperation and free spirit in creating art. There should be no limits to a project as well as to creating art as that will hinder an artist’s ability to create a project that will express the message they desire. To think of sharing and creating work with others as a way for work to grow is crucial to understanding how to pool together knowledge. To mix together energy, vibration and unique color of each artist to create a new work. However, its not just using the addition of artists to create a better project but also to utilize the interaction and results of the users or audience to add or subtract something new and grow into something more. Another thought I had was the importance of inspiration and finding material for ideas through nature and simply life. Rather than going out to seek for specific things in creating designs, it is more important to see what is already around you and to utilize those unique materials in order to enhance or create something special or greater.  Other than that is the idea of perfection, and the limitations that are included in being a perfectionist. To keep acceptance and open mindedness in order to open up to imagination and create the best of projects possible. I think through this reading I was able to open my eyes to what kind of perspective or attitude I should have when creating or working on project.

Week 6 Christine Sun Kim Ted Talk – Bonnie Chan

When watching Christine Sun Kim’s Ted talk, it opened up new knowledge and perspectives for me regarding audio and visuals. As someone who has taken hearing for granted her whole life, I never thought of incorporating sound as a medium as well as using a mix of sound, visuals, and touch.  Her method of visualizing audio through etiquette as well as human interaction requires very detailed observation to master. It inspired me to think about human behavior and its relationship to sound, such as our reactions and actions when we hear a specific sound like when the door slams. To take those visuals and flip over to translate into sound is something that I would not have fathomed. But its inspired me to utilize our human behaviors to express sound. To think of the specific sounds that initiate certain actions inspires me to create something that would visually express this relationship. Another aspect of the TED Talk that intrigued me was this idea of drawing or visualizing the different physical movements of ASL. Its one thing to visualize sound through movements, but then to also depict it in a different medium is innovative and interesting.