Category Archives: posts

Back to 2021

One of the video assignments that really caught my eye was filming as if I was speaking to my sixteen year old self. This was back in 2021-22 and the reason it caught my eye was because it immediately reminded me of how much I was going through at that time. I wanted to be able to make a video to show how much I’ve grown since then. I was also challenged in my attempt to not overshare. In my mind when completing the assignment I thought back to movies that state that if you tell your past self any details about what happens in the future then that future will not occur. I thought it would be a good challenge to uphold.

If you are interested, then you can listen here!

The Bees Knees

The video essay I created was an analysis of the Black Mirror scene examining the surveillance bee that had “malfunctioned” and was involved in a death. It was interesting to examine how the editors most notably used different camera angles to shift the audience’s focus, and to also set the presence of technology. I noticed more closely the usage of close ups to convey emotions of characters by focusing of their eyes as was frequently mentioned in the videos and had a lot of fun looking more into a show past its initial context/plot. Please take a look here!

In 5, 4, 3, 2…

This week was interesting, and I think the experience of delving into audio and the program Audacity has been helpful to my skillset overall. For the 2 audio assignments, I chose to create my own sound effect and whistle a song that was stuck in my head for over 3 weeks and now it’s back (that’s not an exaggeration sadly). I did a “gum bleeding” story using strictly sound effects (thanks Jim Groom for the great descriptive comment), and also made my radio bumper which I hope wasn’t too terrible. Using audacity took a bit of getting used to but I had slightly used it during my senior year of high school for my AP Spanish classes, although we were only recording conversations and responses rather than making media. Other than spending much of my screen time using audacity, brainstorming ideas for a radio show was a nice refresher to use my brain in a different way then messing around with 15 different audios, and so was taking the time to listen to Moon Graffiti and the infamous ds106 radio. I really liked the idea of Moon Graffiti and how it conveyed a completely alternative timeline to the Moon Landing using different sounds, layering of voices, and that big loud crash.

Overall, the weeks are definitely getting smoother as my skillset with media improves, and doing the Daily Creates (the 3 this week) are also a great way to look at things you wouldn’t normally notice or perceive a certain way.

My Daily Creates:

On the Air

For the radio show, I think it would be cool to include a segment similar to that of True Crime, where one or multiple characters are involved in a scenario that would fit their archetype. It would be an interesting way to show off their personalities and also have interaction with other characters. Another idea I had for the show was just having conversation among the hosts regarding a topic, taking music or sports as an example. Music would be a great topic as it would be related to hosting a radio show and also connect music to the tech noir theme of the class as well.

Limetown Radio

I tuned into DS106 radio today on Wednesday February 5th and was impressed by all of the different moods presented through background sounds and ambient noise. The limetown episode was intriguing, and the clarity of the voices varied throughout as the background sounds changed. At some points, the ambient music conveyed they were outside while at other times the voices were more clear because they were in a car, and it shows the power of sound affecting location and was really interesting to listen to in a podcast episode.

Keep it Closed!

While creating my sound effect story, I had wanted to use Freesound to find a sound of a door closing to convey the person in my story leaving their place of residence. I initially wanted a simple sound, but found only 4 present, with none being suitable for the story I was trying to tell. I instead went for a sound that including grabbing keys which turned out well, but that thought never left my mind. Why were there no uploaded sounds of a normal door closing, an activity we do countless times every day? For the assignment Sound Effects, I was tasked with uploading a new sound to Freesound, which helped me come full circle back to the sound I initially wanted.

In hindsight I probably could have made this and used it for my story😅 but it worked out for the best regardless.

Moon Graffiti

The first thing I noticed in the recording was the contrast between the voices of the Astronaut and “home base”, as home base had multiple people in the background and was more clear to hear whereas the Astronaut sounded like communication over a walkie talkie. This was an immediate way to distinguish the two ends of communication and establish sides of each party. The crash then depicts a distinction from history creating an alternate timeline, but the sound being so loud conveys the seriousness of the event. The cut to a different voice lets the audience know the change of time and then cuts back to a more static like communication between the Astronauts. They talk about the crash and there’s many different sound effects, most notably the sound of a camera shutter taking a picture.

Overall, the sounds of this podcast created a hypothetical alternation to the Moon Landing that was hyper realistic and an insight to what could’ve been if the original astronauts crashed. The sounds and layering of voices included make it immersive for listeners and allow for a more detailed visualization of time and location of each person.

A 9-5 Story of Sound

Using many different sound effects to create a story really helped me expand my knowledge of how powerful sound can be and its impact on everyone. I chose to follow someone day at work to make a connection between us hearing millions of sounds everyday, and a typical day experienced by many. Creating a piece that may not be all sunshine and rainbows was my way of emphasizing the different uses of sound and how it can convey many different moods and tones, even without any use of words. Please listen to what I made and feel free to leave a comment on how you would rate it!