Assignment 1b Reflection

The most important thing I learned from Assignment 1b is that Kristin is awesome. I was a little concerned that we weren't going to have a ton of fun together, but I was sorely mistaken. Our macabre little foray into the slaughter of farm animals was mostly her idea--I merely provided her with options and manipulated cool sounds to help us meet our goal of causing the class to cringe for just a moment.

My favorite sound was the thud that we sped up, slowed down, and repeated to serve as the chop of the knife. It was really rewarding when we put that moment together and listened to it. I felt incredibly accomplished after we listened to the soundscape all together.

I really wanted to create a complex soundscape that presented various interesting sounds. I feel that sometimes soundtrack projects like this only focus on the immediate sounds leaving little to glean from the fore and middle grounds—to put into visual art terms. I would have felt unfulfilled if I presented such a soundscape for workshop. I really think Kristin and I did a great job creating a soundscape that gave the class a lot to listen to, and also gave a very visual experience without any sort of visuals.

Sound Assignment 1A

During the Assignment 1A workshop, I wrote themes for each sound library. My group’s theme was “aimless”. Of course, we had the assignment to guide us in collecting sounds, but we sort of just wandered around seeing what sounds we could collect and what sorts of things we could shake/drop/manipulate to make sounds that we thought would amuse the class.

I guess what I really learned from this assignment is to loosen up. I have a tendency to take my school work very seriously, and that often means that I forget to have fun in the field. Nate’s willingness to kick/shake things really helped me to remember that this stuff is allowed to be playful and fun.

I realize that this reflection should be more about what I learned about sound.

I think that forcing us to live without the visual will heighten my appreciation to sound. I began thinking intensely about sound during my Intro to Editing class last semester, but I didn’t feel like I really spent enough time on it—I was more immediately focued on getting aclimatized with Final Cut Pro. This part of the assignment—in addition to the second part—have really helped me think about sound and how useful it can be.