Final Cut

This is the final product. I noticed in watching videos from last semesters students that there were a lot of fast cuts and things were generally fast paced. I decided to slow my video down and have my audio and visual clips represent a more calming atmosphere. Flowers and plants give off a naturally calming feeling, but there were also surprisingly calming visuals found in not so ordinary places. I hope you enjoy.


Click to play ----------> HERE

Rough Clip - Video #3 w/ Sound

This is a rough clip with audio that will be part of my final project.


Click to play ---------> HERE

Rough Clip - Video #2

This is my second clip of roughly edited material for my final project without audio.


Click to play -----------> HERE

Rough Clip - Video #1

This is a rough edit of a portion of my end product without sound.


Click to play ----------> HERE

Drift Strategery Round Two

I will generate still and moving imagery that is of an everyday quality, but capture it in a way that can be used to make a calming end product. I will capture mostly plants and nature. This nature will be within my own neighborhood not within any parks. I may take other pictures and videos but for the most part, I will stick to these guidelines.

Ten Questions

1. What message do you want to convey in this film?
2. Do you want your first thoughts to match your final product, or be very different?
3. What time of day will you record both sound and visuals?
4. Will you stick near your neighborhood or go to another one to drift?
5. What do you hope to discover on these drifts?
6. How fast will you walk on your drift?
7. What factors (time, area, ect.) will affect your drift in a negative and positive way?
8. Will you take more photos or more videos?
9. Will you try to revisit parts of Drift 1?
10. Will this drift provide you with any insight to your surroundings? How?

Key Moment

My single favorite moment from Drift One was near Cathedral Square Park. I remember standing on the corner of the street and I could hear a church bell and a truck’s beeping sound when it goes in reverse. I listened to the sounds for a while, which seemed not coincide very well at first. Gradually, the bell and the beeping synced up for a moment, and then fell back into synchronization. I thought that it was a really odd, yet common moment, yet I enjoyed it a lot. I realized that by thinking of these common things in a different light, I was able to derive so much more meaning from their occurrence. I thought of these two things playing music together. They seemed to want to be on the same beat, but they couldn’t. As a percussionist, rhythms are always noticeable to my so when two different rhythms are playing, I notice big time. The matching of rhythms, just for a moment, was the most memorable part of my drift.

Surprises

One surprise I encountered during my drift was discovering a jet plane sound that I didn’t know I had recorded. I was happy to hear it because I had recorded another plane and I then planned to use them both in my Drift One project.

Another surprise was that the recording of the woman at the bus stop, which at first seemed like it could be an ethical issue, turned out to be much less of an issue than I had thought. I am relived in a way, because I really liked the recording, but didn’t know whether it was appropriate to use it.

I also found it surprising that to really capture a space, or attempt to capture sound in a space, it takes a lot of time and patience. I thought that I would go on an incredibly long walk in 4 hours, but I ended up not going nearly as far as I thought. Being caught up in the recording made me slow down my usually fast pace and focus on the details and wait for sounds to happen.

Investigative Mailbox

I was recording a mailbox, and smacking it and moving the hinges, and I felt very investigative. I felt like I really wanted to know what the mailbox would give me in terms of sound. I just kept hitting the thing, and moving the hinges, and moving the microphones. I was fascinated by the sounds it was making. It was only until a woman walked up to the ATM next to me that I realized that I looked like a complete idiot and should probably move on. Even after I left, I felt very good recording those sounds.

Walking along Mason Street, towards the end of my drift, I felt like I’d stumbled upon some very good sounds. I felt I had been very lucky. The sounds I picked up were unique, and I liked them a lot. I knew I could do something with them. At that point I had sort of given up on recording anymore. I was already moving on to the reflecting part. It felt good to know that I had enough good material to sift through.

Difficulties and Annoyances

Mornings are a particularly aggravating time for me, so choosing to go on my walk at 8:00 in the morning was not the best idea I had come up with in a while. I can’t immediately jump start my day, so it took me a good hour or so to really be awake enough to fully experience or comprehend the work I was doing. It’s too bad, because mornings are a gorgeous time to be outside.

I was particularly annoyed at a certain section of my walk. I was near Van Bueren avenue and I could constantly hear, loud thumping and rattling. I tried to escape it and it took 3 blocks to finally get out of range of it. It really screwed up a lot of my audio for that portion of the walk. I ended up not using any sounds from that part of the walk, and I only recorded a few sounds because of the sound. I still wonder what it was.

Map Map Map

View Larger Map

This map represents where I went on my several walks. I wanted to stay in my neighborhood to get to know it a little more. I was also hoping to capture some of the more tranquil qualities of my neighborhood that are normally lost on me. I consider my neighborhood to be pretty fast paced and hectic most of the time so I went in search of more calming things amidst the constant flow of city life.

For a full view of the map, click ---------> HERE