Assignment 2: Audio Portrait of a Person

Your second assignment for the semester is based on an interview with one of your classmates. First, you will pre-interview a classmate in order to define a theme for your piece. As you listen to your classmate, try to identify something unique about their story that “grabs” you. The following week, you will interview the person using questions you have written up before the interview, recording the interview with the Zoom recorder. Finally, you will create a multi-track audio piece in Premiere Pro based on the interview.

When you do your recording, record ample material, but try not to go overboard. 15 minutes worth should work. The final piece should be 3 to 4 minutes in length. Your audio portrait should mix elements including the voice of the interviewee, your voice (if you choose to include it), ambient background sound, music, and other sound effects as you see fit. When you have a finished piece you will upload it so it can be accessed through your blog site.

Remember to identify a theme that will make your piece say something special about the world, or the “human condition.” A story becomes compelling when it communicates something unique that others can relate to.

DUE: Lab 9

John Cage on Silence and Sound

Interesting and informative words by influential composer John_Cage.  Think about some concepts he discussed in this video when you go out on your soundwalks.

More on Soundwalks...

http://soundwalk.com/#/TOURS/bronxhiphop/

Blog Assignment #2

FILM/MEDIA 160 FALL 2015

Blog Assignment #2: “What I Hear” This exercise has 2 parts.

Part 1. The Soundwalk

Spend an hour doing a “Soundwalk” around a particular neighborhood in NYC.

“Soundwalk” is a term invented by R. Murray Shafer, a musician and professor at Simon Fraser University. Shafer noticed in working with his music students that most of them couldn't remember even five sounds they had heard earlier that day. He created the soundwalk, a kind of walking meditation, as an “ear cleaning exercise,” a way to increase sonic awareness.

In An Introduction to Acoustic Ecology, Kendall Wrightson writes, “In order to listen we must stop, or at least slow down – physically and psychologically. We need to try to be human beings, instead of

“human doings.” So – during your sound walk, do not answer your phone, text, browse, read or do anything but be, and listen.

The goal of this exercise is to “open your ears.” New York offers a rich sound environment. 

Close your eyes and listen.

Part 2: The Blog

What is the texture of the sound? What are the specific instruments in the city symphony? What sounds are clues to a specific neighborhood? A specific time of day? What are sounds that are unique or meaningful to you? Expected or unexpected?

Some of Shafer's terminology might be useful to you in writing about your experience on the soundwalk:

                 • Keynotes: background sounds 

                 • Sound Signals: foreground sounds intended to attract attention. 

                 • Soundmarks: sounds particularly regarded by a community or its visitors

                   (analogous to visual “landmarks”)

250 words. Due in Lab 7. Oct. 21st