Transcription Project: Week 2

Photograph taken by me - a response to the "Home Truths" photography series.

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Recording of phone alarm that I took, Fading the introductory transition.

Slicing the alarm recording and placing it into new channels, panning left and right to create disorientation - aiming to replicate the confusion when just waking up.

Bouncing the recording as a WAV - to re-import and arrange.

After Soloing each individual soundtrack I manipulate/edited each sound and bounced them as WAV format for further arrangement.

Added a Phaser effect to my "My life" Motif for my soundtrack - a great way of distinguishing from other sounds and establishing itself as the motif to the listener.

The only sound I didn't create from scratch - the fast forwarding of a VHS tape which wasn't quite what I was looking for. I had to settle.

Using volume maximiser from my Waves plugin to boost the audio of the VHS fast forward effect.

The final arrangement of my edited sounds, faded into one another after editing. The files were subsequently bounced as WAV format.

Project Evaluation:

After the previous week I was still at a crossroads when deciding how to respond to the work I saw. As everything I had seen was visual based I felt prompted to respond in a visual manner. While I was experimenting I took some photographs as a response to the "Home Truths" series that I had seen. I came across a dirty battered mattress and tattered blanket under the filth-ridden bridge in my area. I was unable to find the owner of such items but decided to take some photographs, trying to find the best angle. I believe these photos share the same uncompromising representation of the hard truth that is homelessness and wanted to capture this moment. Though I was able to respond via photography I really wanted to respond via sound, as that is what I chose for my pathway. I created a 60 second soundpiece as a response to Corinne Day's "May the circle remain unbroken" series - documentary style, intimate light hearted photos containing family and friends having fun. I aimed to replicate this in audio form and documented my day to day happenings (waking up, driving to my girlfriend's house, meeting my manager, going to the recording studio etc.) I aimed to add a comedic undertone and used a quick rhythm with my soundtrack. I used a VHS fast forward sound effect to signify transitions throughout the day. During my crit my piece recieved positive feedback from my group and also Andrew who's only criticism was that the VHS sound effect didn't sound convincing. I would also criticize that myself. Overall, I enjoyed this experience and found it beneficial to me.

Transcription Project: Week 1

One of the few photographs I could get - at the entrance of Michael Landy's "Saints Alive" exhibition.

Jessica Eaton's Archival Pigment Print, from her series entitled "Cubes for Albers and LeWitt"

Photograph from Elinor Carruci's Motherhood photography series. This photograph is very raw and uncompromising. I was inspired by the unflinching realism in this photograph. There is a cold colour palette within this photograph and the shadowing within the photograph almost spares the viewer from more unpleasant viewing.

Photo from Corinne Day's "May The Circle Remain Unbroken" series. A friend posing with chips as vampire-fangs. Very light-hearted.

Corinne Day Photo once again. - A naked friend seated, gives me the impression this is a drunken act at a house party.

Corinne Day photo : Mid-fence climbing/attempted fence climbing. Probably the latter. In cohesion with the light-hearted party theme involved within this photography series.

Corrine Day photo: This photo in particular interested me as it is presented like a drunken snapshot in the middle of the dance floor, except there is a clarity and precision that only an expert would be able to achieve when capturing their subjects.

Corinne Day Photo: I found this photo hilarious, I assume this is a family party or gathering at some form of occasion. There is a clear paradox from the "grandma's" (I assume) face looking glum and unimpressed combined with an item of celebration (the sparkler).

Corrine Day Photo: This tongue in cheek photo illustrates the aftermath of a pillow fight.

Elinor Carruci Photo: from the "Motherhood series" this photo illustrates a purity and beauty to me and epitomizes nurture, showing a mother cradling her child.

Interim Evaluation :

Within our first transcription project week we were assigned to visit various galleries across London and watch "The Selfish Giant" as our contextual research in which we were briefed to respond to what we have seen. I enjoyed some brief elements within these galleries. I found Michael Landy's exhibition interesting and marveled at his work but didn't really find anything that was relevant to me from seeing it. Elinor Carruci's "Motherhood" photos and the "Home Truths" series very much appealed to me as I could draw from the uncompromising truths of the subjects. I am an appreciator of art that doesn't sugar coat a subject or stage a subject heavily merely for the sake of looking pretty. I drew the most inspiration however from Corinne Day's "May the circle remain unbroken" series as I saw documentary styled photography of light-hearted fun with friends and family. I appreciated the intimacy of the photos and found these amusing. My response will be either in emulation of the "Home Truths" series or the "May the circle remain unbroken" series as these photographs jumped out to me. I had difficulty with this project until Chris helped me nail down some ideas as I feel this project was more tailored for students interested in the visually-based fields. I did not feel catered to within this particular project and almost feel like I am scrimping for significance.

Assessment Week & Life Drawing

Life drawing - subject posing using wooden stick as bow and arrow

Life drawing - subject using wooden stick as golf club

Life drawing - Pose from behind - black ball point pen used.

Life drawing - pose from behind, detail in the back, drawing in hb pencil.

Life drawing also in pencil. Side profile

Life drawing - frontal pose using mixed media - blue felt pen with left hand and green pencil with right hand.

Life drawing - full frontal - using pencil

Life drawing - kneeling side profile pose - biro pen used.

Life drawing - Pose from behind - using wooden stick as cane.

Life drawing - pose from behind

Weekly Evaluation:


This week our class was assessed as individuals on all of our exploratory stage work and assessment evidence we were told to provide as well as our blogs. I had a one to one assessment with Seb who passed me and gave me some very positive feedback which I am very happy about. I was also given some areas of improvement, mainly that I should use the recommended viewing/reading given to me by Ravensbourne as it will vastly enhance my work. With that said I will definitely take that on board for the rest of this course. After assessment we began our new project, studying shape and form. On Friday we did life drawing which was carried out at a frantic pace so I didn't feel like I was able to gather as much as I could've from the experience. I do concede however that I was forced to pay attention to shape and form as a result of the life drawing and have been given a new insight in this respect. Overall I am ready to start next week and actually find out what our next project entails, as I cannot make head or tail of what is happening right now.

Film Project: Part 2 of 2

Conversation from LBC radio recorded via the Voice Recorder app on my Iphone.

News excerpt also recorded from LBC news - a relevant headline to the story of our chase sequence was identified and subsequently recorded.

After trimming and editing files, I placed them onto a CD so all the sounds could play in order, enabling me to record the sound in time with the actors' reaction and to include the atmosphere of the car scene completely.

Canon 550D, used to film our chase sequence entirely.

13mm Fish Eye Lens used for the majority of the chase scene.

Steadycam (disassembled) used throughout the filming process for our chase sequence.

Song I found appropriate for the escape scene - imported into logic and trimmed to preference. The aim was to avoid saturating our sequence with non-diegetic sound.

Previous song after trimming.

News bulletin and segment of talk subject on LBC trimmed and merged together, retaining only information relevant to the plot of our chase sequence.

     

LBC radio excerpt trimmed before merging with other audio clips.

Project Evaluation:

Since last Friday's interim crit with Seb and Tom and after developing our story further mainly between myself, Valter and Moses we then decided when we would be able to start filming. By this point I was still the in the reluctant role of the actor for our sequence, and was still on the search for a decent camera to film on, as filming on iphones (as suggested) would fit the brief but would remove a massive amount of motivation and pride that I would otherwise have in my work. Able to get hold of a Cannon 550D with a 50mm lens and a 13mm fish eye lens which I borrowed from friends, along with a Steadycam to use for filming also. After much delay, we finally were able to start filming on the following Tuesday. Due to starting too late we were unable to get all of our shots and as it got dark, Moses and I decided to call it a day and continue on Wednesday. On Wednesday my friend Miles volunteered to act in our sequence instead after seeing my reluctance to do so. As a result of this the plan was changed and we started filming early from scratch once again at around midday. During the course of the day we changed our final location to a funfair rather than the park. I decided to make such a decision as our aim with this shot was to create a contrast of a sad person in a happy place, and with the Blackheath funfair only being around for a limited period of time I thought it'd make sense to seize the opportunity. As well as filming with the Steadycam and the Fish Eye lens I recorded all of the sound on my phone seperately. After filming I then needed to give the files to Hetal and with them being 4GB, it was not an easy feat. With this being Wednesday evening I uploaded the files to a site called Sharefile for Hetal to retrieve them. This process took all night and in the morning I notified Hetal of the upload being complete and forwarding a download link to him. I was then phoned later being told that the files were corrupt. Being Thursday this was a nightmare situation in terms of timing, I rushed to meet Hetal and Harry at Ravensbourne and gave them the SD card with the video and the audio files on them. Due to the timing of the situation I was not there throughout the editing process and was ensured to leave it to them by Harry. I then met Harry on Friday morning and he gave me the SD card back but told me the files were edited in wrong order and without sound. This news angered me as I labelled all files adequately (in my opinion) and as far as I knew everybody should be aware of the story by such a late stage in the project. With it being the day of the crit I was dreading showing my own work, and to make matters worse there was nobody from our group in attendance apart from myself and Harry. Feeling a lack of care and commitment, I decided to leave early, out of anger and thinking that I shouldn't be the only person committed to a group effort. I am aware this was the wrong thing to do, I just did not believe in the project enough to defend it at this point. Overall this project was not an enjoyable experience for me. I enjoyed developing the story for our sequence, but did not enjoy filming, as it is extremely difficult to film well while in a car amongst other things. I also did not enjoy the group dynamic, and feel that some individuals were non-factors throughout this whole process. I felt consistently disappointed in terms of peoples' lack of willingness to actually make this project come to fruition and feel that I took the weight of the whole thing on my shoulders, and am subsequently at peace in a sense that I really tried hard.  Many of these problems could have easily been avoided if people took tasks on and actually delivered on what they were supposed to. I will never work with this group of individuals again. When we first gave each other roles within the group I was only meant to cover the sound aspect of the project, I ended up developing the story, recording the sound and also filming (on the Wednesday) as well as establishing a new environment to shoot. Ironically, the film still ended up with no sound.

Pan's Labyrinth

Image depticting the danger of 'Pale Man' and his tendency to eat children.

Ofelia under the tree in search of the Toad, as instructed by the Faun

Ofelia still further fixated by her book, regardless of her surroundings.

Pale man in pursuit of Ofelia, after already eating two of her fairy assistants. He horrifyingly extends his hands to enable his eyes to see his target.

Ofelia approaching the entrance of the Faun's labyrinth, implied by the emblem at the center of the arch.

Ofelia fixated with her book, often ostracized within the film's beginning for this reason.

The Pale man seated at his banquet, which is his  trap for any visitors.

Ofelia with the Faun (left) giving her tasks to fulfil before the next full moon.

Pale man in an inactive state, as Ofelia enters the room. His eyes can be seen on the plate.

Ofelia approaching the tree where the toad resides.

Pan's Labyrinth Review:

Guillermo Del Toro's perfect marriage of limitless fantasy and brutal realism was a successful combination in Pan's Labyrinth. The film starts with a young girl Ofelia of 10 years old and her pregnant mother Carmen being chaperoned to reunite with her new husband Vidal, a black-hearted captain of the Spanish army in fascist Spain during the 1940's. Within the first few minutes it is easy for the audience to establish that Vidal is not the most humane of characters, showing his clear disdain for Ofelia, his character shortly emphasized and solidified by bashing the faces in of 2 farmers protesting their innocence after being suspected for rebels. This scene is brutal and graphic, and prompts the audience to empathize with the two poor men, and immediately gives Vidal villain status within the movie.
As the film deepens we are introduced to the Faun, this fantasy being, with a deep powerful voice coaxing Ofelia into fulfilling tasks before the next full moon as to maintain her purity. She was sent to feed a toad special stones in order to gain a key, feed a mandrake that was a mirror of her mothers health, when Vidal detected the Mandrake under the bed it was subsequently thrown into a fire, with her mother consequently worsening in condition and dying during the child birth of Ofelia's baby brother. With Ofelia's mother gone it was only her and Vidal, with only a semblance of care from Mercedes, a maid in the house with rebel ties, later detected by Vidal. Ofelia was also instructed to retrieve a dagger from Pale Man's sanctuary. Pale man was a particularly disgusting being, with gaunt yellow skin, a thin body and an eyeless face, with the palm of his hands being the home to his eyeballs. The Pale man is sat at a table dormant, with an attractive looking banquet of food and fruit surrounding him. Having already been forewarned not to take anything from the banquet, Ofelia took two grapes anyway, awakening Pale Man who then devours two of her fairy assistants, in a narrow escape, Ofelia survives and is given a final test, which is to take her baby brother to the labyrinth and to shed a drop of his blood in order to open the entrance to the underworld. Ofelia flatly refuses. While there is a great deal going on in the fantasy world, in the real world there are political rumblings, and a bitter war ongoing between Vidal's men and the rebels. After encounters with them Vidal goes in for the kill, mercilessly disposing of people, even his doctor for sympathizing with the rebels. Vidal's ruthlessness proved to be his own undoing, after Ofelia steals her brother after drugging him, he pursues her, retrieves the baby and then shoots Ofelia. By this point Vidal's number is already up due to the rebels tactically moving in on his compound and Mercedes emerges with her rebel brother and a larger mob of rebels. Mercedes then takes the baby from Vidal, and Vidal is murdered before being told that his son would know nothing of his existence. As Ofelia lays bleeding to death the audience is brought to the underworld, where she is reunited with her rightful parents, the King and Queen of the underworld as it is revealed the task of drawing blood from her baby brother was actually a test of her own purity. As she lay dying, Mercedes cradles her and delivers a spine-chilling lullaby. The plots and sub-plots of fantasy tied in with the brutal uncompromising realism creates a winning balance, with the cinematography beautiful even in its brutality. Magical sounds used enforce the whimsical effects of the fantasy world, this is one of the best films I have ever watched. I am now prompted to watch a previous Del Toro work, "The Devil's Backbone".