Exhibition Installation change

I have decided to add to my exhibition to try and show my working environment, this is mainly so the viewer can see an insight to my work which will then make my piece easier to understand, people can then view my working process via looking through my sketchbooks as well as my blog.

Exhibition instillation complete

I have now completed my initial set up of my instillation, reflecting on this I have noticed I have one wall side spare with nothing on it, for this I have decided to add a diagram of my image divided and annotated like in page 31 of my fmp sketchbook as well as display my sketchbooks to give people a sense of how the score was created using this image as I have walked into a art gallery many times and not really understood what was good about it, I just want to make sure people do not get this perception when looking at mine.

I am extremely happy with how things are shaping up and looking, as its how I had pictured it and is looking very professional .

completion

I have completed annotating my score and have now planned out my exhibition,

I came up with around 3 ideas for my exhibition and have now decided which one to use, all I need to do now is create my exhibition.

Please see pages 49-58 in my FMP sketchbook for the score and pages 59-61 for exhibition ideas

Finished score

Now I have completed the score I plan to annotate it in accordance to the annotated photos that can be found in my sketch book to make the pieces 'tie' together much more noticeably.

Once this is done I plan to work on designing my exhibition.

the end draws near

I am coming to the end of this project and I am now deciding how I should exhibit my piece I have started to score out my exhibition piece onto manuscript, I am now thinking maybe I could present both Image and then the manuscript next to it making what was audio and visual to a strictly visual piece.

Image as manuscript: Take 6

For this I decided to combine two previous pieces, one being musical instruments and the other being the natural sounds I had gathered, the reason for doing this is out of my work these two where probably my most preferred pieces and just out of shear curiosity whether they would work together. This piece is now very textures at parts where it is meant to be which I am happy with, I believe this may be the piece I use for my FMP as I feel that it shows what I am trying to do best.

please pages 48-49 in my fmp sketchbook for write up

my next plan of action is to start to plan/design my exhibition.

Image as manuscript: Take 5

Composed a piece for my final image, im not to sure how I like how this has turned out as it is not very fun to listen to but then again it wasn't designed to be nice to listen to. Im not yet sure which piece I will choose to exhibit.

Please see pages 46-47 in my FMP sketchbook for notes and an annotated diagram.

Final Image

On the 19th of may I decided on my final image (can see below) and sent it to print ready for my exhibition. I have decided to use this image as it has more quality's about it than the other. for example; this image has bits of yellow in it unlike the other which gives me more notes to use (A sharp) I also believe this piece is much stronger in composition.

I have now started composing for this piece and plan to have it completed by the 26th of may.

Image as manuscript: Take 4

I have Just completed another arrangement for an image using natural sounds, this time I used my 2nd image, I have retuned all my sound clips I record in accordance to the colour section they represent and then arranged them using what I had learnt from my previous attempt and had planned it out much more this time. I have also used more textures in the textured areas for example where it is very textured (such as the grass section, C/B) I have used Poly-rhythms (Different rhythms playing at the same time)

Please see pages 40-45 for annotations and write ups

Thrown myself in at the deep end!

I have now gathered multiple audio samples for this experimental piece, I looked at a couple of people for inspiration for my piece, one piece being made using game sounds (found below) they have gathered multiple samples of sound from the game and placed it together to create a piece of music, I had planned to do something similar but with sticking to the rules I used in my other two pieces and using sounds of the items you could see in my photograph.

After this I threw myself in at the deep end (as I believe the best way to learn something is by trying it yourself) and started to import my sounds into cubase, After choosing which segments I was going to use I started to arrange them in a rhythmical fashion, once this was done I added effects such as reverb to make sounds last longer, I then encountered my first problem I soon had to solve, I did this by searching for a tutorial on how to pitch shift clips in cubase, once this was solved everything was straight forward.

Please see write up and annotations in my sketchbook pages 37-39

Rediscovery leads to an idea!

Looking through my first sketchbook I have discovered a piece I had created for the museums paintings taking samples I had recording them to build a sound-scape for that painting.

I have decided now to further my project and to go down the the location where I took my photographs to take samples of the stones/wood/plants/wind anything down there and then change the pitch of these samples in cubase in relation to the colour sections in the image for example the wood would be altered to sound like an A note as this is the note value of the colour within the spectrum.

Image as manuscript: Image 2

My attempt for my 2nd final image, I much prefer this piece as it is much more pleasant to listen to as the notes and instruments work better, I tried to take what I had learnt from the first images piece and apply them to this piece (assign each colour an Instrumental family).

please see sketchbook page 34-36 for annotated diagram and write up.

Image as manuscript

I have started work scoring and recording a musical piece using the Image as a manuscript, relating each colour into the musical equivalent (for example Blue = D , Green = C etc...). For this piece I related the number of tracks into musical bars and then composed bar by bar starting from the bottom and working upwards. I then took note of what colour related to what note and how much texture were in different sections of the images and then tried to add texture/lose texture in my music piece where needed.

Please see pages 32-33 in my sketchbook for write up.

final two images

Out of my many images I took I have Chosen two of my best images to pick between I have annotated them to help me when composing, they now show what each section/colours etc represent in a musical sense. What I now plan to do is create a few scores for the two pieces and then pick my best for my exhibition piece.

Colour and sound notes

I have been reading through an essay by Maura McDonnell on 'Visual' music and have taken notes, a lot was not relevant to what I was doing so I only noted down what was. I have also found other artists that have used sound and image such as louis Bertrad Castel, who created a light organ which played music and colour simultaneously, although Its not completly relevant This has helped my ideas evolve even further for my piece in terms of the relationship between music and colour as I now understand the relationships more, this will now help me to create a much more detailed score. I now plan to apply what I have learnt to my final piece.

Please see pages 25-29 in my sketchbook for notes.

test shots

I have taken a series of test shots (these can be found in my test shot book) for my final image, I now plan to search through them and decide which image I should use for my final image, once this is done I plan to annotate it with ideas for the sound piece.

Tutorial

Had a tutorial and have decided to no longer create a timelapse as it is not significant, I have decided to create sound for one image (a photograph I have taken myself) my idea is based upon using the image as manuscript for example, for every line there is a new bar of music/sound, the texture/layers/colours/depth of field all relate to music/sound therefor I have decided to link everything together.

Photography primary research

On the photography course I'm currently doing I had to take a series of test shots, here is one inspired by the work of Colin Prior. Here I tried to capture as much of the landscape as possible as well as trying to incorporate the sky into the piece, I then edited the colours to be a little more vibrant as a lot of Colin Prior's work uses bold bright colours.

Below is a photo inspired by some of fay Godwin's work. In Fay's photography she used black and white a lot as well as capturing big sky's, Here is a photo I recently took trying to keep to her style of work.

Please see Sketchbook Pages (-) for more photographs annotated with short analysis

Bibliography

I've started to put my bibliography together using the Harvard Referencing System to keep all my reference's together as they were all in separate files before.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

"Helicopter String Quartet"

This is a piece combining both naturally recorded sounds and musical instruments which I plan on my pieces to involve. although this is not audibly pleasing I still believe this piece works really well as he wanted to create a 'concert like no other'. I hope to surprise my audience with my juxtaposing sound piece.

What does water symbolize?

As I plan to use water in one of my pieces I wondered what it symbolized as I could use this to aid my juxtaposing sound piece. I started to search and found a few meanings, here are the most relevant.

Water is often used to symbolize things in literature. Since water is often a sign of life, many times water represents life. Water can also be broken up into two categories: fresh water and bad/polluted water. Fresh water can represent good health, and bad water symbolizes bad health.

Rivers

The river is a sign of ease, grace and fluidity; as expressed by its meandering form. Often times it is used to represent the calm beauty of nature. In Feng Shui (the ancient Chinese art of placement to improve qi flow), certain types of rivers are often described as auspicious and healthy.

A fast-flowing river can often be used to symbolize strength; sometimes calamity. Calamity can be represented through rushing, chaotic rivers that tend to flood.

The Ocean

The ocean is a sign of power and strength, dominating all other symbols of water--due to its immensity. All life was ocean-born and life still exists in the ocean; therefore the ocean represents life

http://symbolism.wikia.com/wiki/Water

Time lapse research

When searching the internet for tips on time lapsing I came across a few helpful tips.

http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-create-professional-looking-time-lapse-videos

1. Make sure all your equipment is in good working order and clean (especially the lens)!
2. Prepare a bag that contains all necessary equipment (camera, tripod, timer, lens cleaner, batteries etc.) and fully charge all batteries to avoid disappointments at shooting location.
3. Always use a tripod when shooting a time lapse sequence
4. Never touch the tripod during the shoot - accidental or unintentional movement of the camera will ruin your shoot.
5. If you shoot outdoors check the weather forecast.
6. Try not to shoot when it's windy. The camera will shake very little during the shoot and you will only see it once the final clip is done.
7. If you still shoot when it's windy, keep the camera as low to the ground as possible. The wind gusts won't be as strong and also the fully collapsed tripod is much sturdier than extended all the way.
8. Always shoot in manual mode! Expose your shots properly and manually set the exposure time, aperture, white balance, ISO and focus. Turn off auto-focus!
9. Try to shoot with a camera that allows regular intervals (not by hand). The more precise the frames are recorded the more natural the result will look. Therefore use a camera with a built-in intervalometer, a camcorder/video recording device or a camera that can be triggered by an external intervalometer.
10. Take your time. Time lapse requires a lot of time. Don't shoot if you're on a tight schedule, it's just frustrating.
11. Learn from your mistakes. Rome wasn't built in a day. It does take time and experience to achieve better results.

(I shall follow these tips when shooting my final videos)

Pick a place that is safe for your camera out of the way where people walk past or a bit further away from water/wind exposure. Remember, the camera has to remain still at all times of the shoot. Otherwise your time lapse won't look good

.

(I have already chosen my locations to shoot from thanks to my test shots but i may need to think about different camera placements to avoid people walking past my camera)

cloud research

So I've been looking at what clouds form in certain weather conditions I wish to capture cumulus clouds in one of my pieces as they are mainly seen in Colin Prior's work.

Cumulus clouds:

Often form in fair weather

fair weather ;

light winds (less than 10 knots)

less than 0.4 sky covered in low clouds

Symbolic meaning of clouds

Ive found a few meanings online I shall take this into consideration when creating my project as this could be a big part in my pieces.

'In the universal language of mind clouds represent the separation between the superconscious mind, which is a self contained unit, and what is below, which is the subconscious and conscious minds which work as a unit or marriage, as an ideal. Awareness of clouds in a dream for instance, will indicate the dreamer has some awareness of this separation and it's significance. Further exploration into understanding mind woud be in order.'

- wikiawnser -

Clouds hold the symbol meaning of revelation. Consider out of the mists of our deepest thoughts suddenly an epiphany comes, a bright idea comes out from nowhere - this is the basic cloud symbol meaning. Depending on the card, clouds can also symbolize confusion or clouded judgement. Primarily, clouds represent higher thought and messages from the divine.

- Tarot card -

Inspiration

Ive started to put a collage together inside my sketchbook of photographs by various photographers, so then I can compare what the similarity's are and try to show this in my work.

Please see pages 19-22 in my sketchbook for the collages

I have also started to research the optimum weather conditions for clouds to form so I can start planning which days are best to film on by keeping an eye on met office weather reports.

Experimentation more time lapse

A few more shots I have taken Inspired by Fay Godwin's photography.

Edited in Sony Vegas 10.

Just an idea.

I have Been thinking about macro photography and how it can give a whole new feel to something so simple and then started to just think about really close shots, I have some ideas for a video using this technique and have start to a water feature close up In my back garden. you can find the end product below. I have decided this piece did not work and have decided to scrap the idea.

Time lapse test - location two

I visited location two on Monday and recorded a few test shots.

This shot is inspired by Colin prior photography work. I reworked the colour of the video and sped it up (x36) to give it a short time lapse feel in Sony Vegas 10 I believe this location would work really well to record a piece to show in my exhibition.

(Please see page 18 for a short evaluation on this piece)

Inspiration: Time lapse Effect Videos

Just some videos/artist that are currently inspiring me

Samuel Cockedey

what I like so much about this video is mainly the angles used for the shots as well as the locations he has chosen.

Dan James

The highlight of this video for me is how aestheticly pleasing his video looks

the above videos have been recorded using digital cameras, I prefer the end products of this videos oppose to the stop motion feel of time-lapse videos created with photographs as time lapse videos created with photos can look 'jittery'.

Time lapse

Been taking notes on how to make time lapse video's and have realised they are traditionally made using a DSLR camera, I have worked out this is a long process and I do not have the appropriate disk space on the camera/equipment to capture enough photos so I have decided not to create a traditional time lapse video but to create a Time lapse effect video using video recorders.

(please see page 17 in sketchbook for notes)

I have been looking at time lapse effect videos on the internet that people have created using video cameras. below one of a few I have looked at.

I personally much prefer this method as it feels less jumpy as it is constantly recording.

Research - Collin Prior

Colin prior is a landscape photographer I have been looking at please see pages # in my sketchbook for notes and more images.

Test shot - Primary Research

Edited - sped up and colour reworked.

I went to my first location today just to take a couple of test shots but my camera ran out of batterys as Forgot to charge them, I only ended up with around 6 minutes worth of footage before it died, but I believe this location would be great, a couple of people walked past which I feel ruins the piece but if i was to get a shot with no people walking past I believe this would be a great location for one of my exhibition pieces. - Inspired by Fay Godwin

Research - Fay Godwin

Just a few images; see page # in my FMP sketchbook for more research.

Location Scouting.

As I started in a previous post i have decided to create a series of images/videos with sounds I have created, so I have decided to start location scouting currentlyI have 2 places in mind.

This is my first location, there is a now a sculpture of a UFO up there, I plan to Gain a shot which shows this sculpture as well as the Sky and surrounding areas.

This is my second location, its a reservoir close to my house

Sound for animation experiment complete

Below you will find a piece of moving image, I have created the score for it and recorded into cubase 5 with various VSTi's, I have used notes from Christian Schuberts work to help me convey emotion, in the video towards the bottom center you will find a key and then underneath it what emotion Schubert discovered for that key.

(Please see sketchbook page 11 for write up and evaluation and page 7 in my fmp sketchbook for research)

Inspiration; sound for the animation.

I have been looking at other films to see how the music effects the emotional feel to the piece here are a few examples of what I have been looking at.

I really like this piece as I feel it really builds tension and suspense

I love how this piece switches from major to minor, I feel as though it really helps tell a story

When looking at these pieces I keep thinking how I must portray emotion and really help tell a story via the medium of music.

Sound design for animation Update

I've finished my sound effects for the animation piece as shown below next I shall compose a score just to see how much it can effect the way the audience perceive a piece.

(Please see page # for write up and pages 81,82,85,86,87,92,93,94,109 in my research sketchbook for notes and research)

Sound design = Complete

I have Just completed the sound design for the piece, tomorrow I plan to mix the design and post the video with just the sound design, I then plan on starting to score the piece which should take me around 2-3 days to complete + Mix.

(Please see pages 8-9 of my FMP sketchbook to find notes on the sounds used)

And the pitch was delivered

After delivering my pitch I had a short tutorial with my tutors discussing how my ideas could develop and flourish, I have decided to continue with my current project in developing sound design and a soundscape for the animation I am currently working on but I've decided not to use this as a final piece, this piece will give me practice and help me find the best way to organize such a project. My new idea is to create my own experimental moving image piece and create a soundscape for this, not only to convey emotion but to try and tell a story within the audio.

Relationships between Notes and Emotion.

After researching around the internet trying to find relationships between Sound and Emotion I finally came across this article on 'Christian Schubart'

http://www.biteyourownelbow.com/keychar.htm I plan to apply this information when I start to compose the score for my piece.

(Please see fmp sketchbook page 7 for notes)

Website for the Delivery of Audio and Moving Image update

I've just finished created the homepage in dream weaver all the graphics I created in photoshop apart from the header which is the actual videos font for advertisements, I have decided to host my video on Vimeo for now but I may change it and host it locally to the hard drive when Exhibiting my work this being for the soul reason if the computer I am exhibiting it on in the college does not have a internet connection the Video Will not Stream.

Website research and Inspiration

I've been looking through other film websites just to see how they present there work in a professional looking format and layout here are a few images and links to some sites I have looked at.

Harry Potter

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/dvd/

Saw

http://www.officialsaw.com/

Skyline

http://www.iamrogue.com/skyline.html

Whilst looking at these sites I noticed the similarity's, They all have somewhere you can purchase the Product, They all have the Trailer available to view as well as additional content so my website must include both content to purchase and the trailer/video to view.

Website for the Delivery of Audio and Moving Image

I have started to plan out my Website and start work on it as this is probably the bit of my project which will have the quickest turn around, so to help manage my time more efficiently I have decided to get this completed first then all I will need to do is upload my piece once its completed.

(Please see pages 4-6 in my FMP sketch book for plans)

Presentation

started work on my FMP presentation, presenting my two ideas, im fairly sure I'm going to go with the second one as there is much more work to be done and I believe is the future to digital media.

(Please see pages 103,113, 118 for research on name june paik and Mike Neelson)

Animation sound Design Update

I've started to write down all the sound effects I need whilst watching the animation without sound. every time I watch it I find something else to add, I believe I'm really starting to 'create images for the ears' once I am happy with my list I shall start trying to record and create sound effects for them. here is my list so far:

Inspiration and research

I decided to look for some information on animations directly from the sound designer for some inspiration and research, I managed to find a couple of videos on Youtube with the head sound designer speaking. here are a few I have looked at

A bugs life - Gary Rydstrom (sound designer)

Ben Burtt - (sound designer)

Watching these videos has inspired me to make my new sounds out of existing sounds, for example if I wanted a rain sound instead of going out and trying to capture the sound of rain I could merge two sounds together that when merged together would give me the sound of rain.

Quote from 'soundscapes'

When reading through soundscapes I came across a section about 'creating images for the ear' by this it was ment that sometimes in film scores/design you must add sounds which 'paint a picture' as such for the audience, this adds to there viewing experience. I intend to do such a thing within my final piece.

Animation sound scape Update

I have posted a video just to show my progress so far on my a possible FMP project I am working on, this piece is far from finished but I will continue to post videos to track my progress whilst I work on this idea. No mixing as really been done yet, and I have done some slight panning, nothing major this will all be re-worked once the design has been finished with the score.

(Animation by Joaquin Baldwin)

I have also started to keep track of all the sounds I have used from my library which I will reference properly at a later date

Working on an animation

I've started to work on a short animation by Joaquin Baldwin for this I have started to create the sound design for this, once this is complete I shall start work on the score, so far I have Used 3 sounds, One being a hair drier, one being some glass and the other an old used air horn, I have recorded all these with a dynamic microphone via a DI (Direct input).

A while ago I started reading 'Soundscape' by the school of sound, one chapter is entitled the absence of sound by Mike Figgis, towards the end of this chapter he states that someone had always told him that you cant use silence and if you wanted silence you must use 'approximated silence with room tone' which means you still have no silence but you have the room ambience only for example, chairs squeaking, lights computers humming etc. So with taking this advice I started to add 'room tone' to my piece to do this I thought the best way to do this was to add a fan humming in the background for this I used the recording of the hair drier.

(Image of cubase, Green lines represent panning a blue represent volume)

Relationships between colour and sound.

After a tutorial with my tutors I thought I would research the relationships between colours and sound I found this short documentary which really helped my understanding. Thinking how I could incorporate this into my FMP

Edwyn Collins Session

In this video I was the sound engineer, this including making sure every mic placement for the instruments where correct and everything was working and plugged in as the channel list asked (please see page #-# of my research sketchbook for plan and list)

I also played the role of a producer Mixing some of the songs.

Simon Aldred session

In this piece I was the sound engineer, again making sure all microphone placements where correct for the session and everything was working.

Sound library

I decided to start to collate all my existing sound clips into a sound library

Turns out I have Quite a few clips already.

Research - John Cage

Currently reading through some articles about John Cages work and came across this

'..first experiments involved altering standard instruments, such as putting plates and screws between a piano’s strings before playing it'

This has opened my eyes a little as when I am looking for sounds sometimes I get so lost in the digital world I fail to 'think out the box' a little, for example in a John cage piece entitled 'Cartridge music' he amplified everyday house hold objects at a live performance, if I could do this and take for example wire and a saw think of all the weird but wonderful sounds I could come up with.

Tutorial with Tutors

Today I had a tutorial with my tutors to discuss my Ideas for a FMP and to see what work I had produced for the previous unit. During this discussion we talked about what I wanted to do and what work would be needed to support these pieces. I'm feeling more confidant with perusing my work individually as I have been told I am working at a distinction level and that my sketchbook is as good as it should be.

My two ideas consist of the following:

A) an exhibition piece, highly influenced by Nam june paik.

This will include a Soundscape with 1 video installation

in a dark room, designed to make the audience feel uneasy.

B) Sound Design and score for a piece of moving image.

For this I plan to create a sound effects with natural sound clips I have gathered.

I will also store all the sound clips in a library with a spreadsheet to keep everything in order.

I will then create a Score using midi instruments as well as musical instruments.

I plan to mix this in 5.1 Surround sound if possible on either Logic or Pro-tools.

I Then plan to create a website to Host the video on with just one page hosting the video.

Research

So i decided to start reading through some books, One being 'Soundscapes' by the school of sound and 'Sound Design' by David Sonnenschein and have started to to make notes whilst reading through which I shall soon copy up into my sketch book, not only does this help me to absorb the information but helps me have it on hand when i want it instead of trawling through chapters.

So far I have read about sound energy transformation and Silence in film

(please see pages 1-3 in FMP sketchbook for notes)

My idea for my FMP is changing again, more towards my original idea of creating a score and sound design for a moving image piece, preferably animation.

The Charlatans in Profile

This is the most recent piece of work I have been involved in, For this I was a sound engineer, this including setting up microphone placements and recording the band session its self as well as fixing and problems that occurred, I didn't encounter many problems, the only problem was the vocalist wanted more vocals through the monitor mix, so I boosted them a little until he was happy. If I was to do this again the only thing I would probably do differently is probably the mic placement for the snare as it was picking up a lot of guitar but there wasn't much i could do about this and managed to rectify it during editing.

Sound Design and score for animation

I created all the sound effects and score for this short production as well as mixing and editing, in this piece you will hear many sounds, for example, washing machines, splashing in baths, blowing down a straw into water and many more I also created a score for this recorded using Midi with a selection of VST instruments.

(please see pages 72,73,81,82,85,86,87 in my research sketchbook for notes and research)