Sound

After reading the articles today, I realized that s I grew up, more times then not, I close my ears to the sounds around me. When I was younger, I used to lay in my backyard and listen to the sounds that nature provided me. I especially enjoyed listening to a storm rolling in, with the wind blowing the leaves around in the trees, the thunder growing closer and the feeling of impending rain. that was one of my favorite things, an after I read these articles, I realized that I spend the majority of my time listening to manufactured sounds through my tv or radio. I need to get back to the way it used to be, laying In the grass, listening to nature, It’s really sad, I feel, that my life has turned into the life that it has.

Wells...Theory on Animation

After reading Wells' Notes On A Theory Of Animation, I realized that I have never given a lot of thought to all of the animated movies that I have seen. I have watched Disney animation for as long as I can remember and I don't believe that I have ever taken the time to understand and fully appreciate the work and time that it takes to make a film that is as enjoyable and entertaining as the ones that I grew up watching.

Wells’ mentioned that experimental films are just as complex and as difficult to make, but I feel like even though they are just as challenging as a narrative animation, they are a lot harder to watch. It’s difficult for me to watch an experimental film, I guess because I have grown up watching linear films and have only gotten to watch experimental in my film classes- I have a lot more experience watching linear, especially animation. (On my list of top 25 movies, 10 of them are animation). It’s hard for me to interpret anything that is not linear and I feel like I’d have to watch the experimental several times over to fully get a grasp on what the director was intending for me to feel.

There are more and more different types of experimental films, and animations films that kids in today’s time watch. I think, after watching some of the animated films in today’s cinema, while I enjoy them greatly, I still love watching my old Disney movies-especially when I’m feeling a little under-the-weather with a bowl of chicken noodle soup J.

Neurological synesthesia, synesthesia in art and cymatics

Our senses are perceived as five distinctly different elements of our human condition. It’s hard to imagine when a person of average health only uses one sense at a time. When you pick up a smell or a sound, a person automatically looks around to see where the source of the smell or sound is coming from. The same goes for touch. All five of the senses work together so that we can get a complete understanding of the world around us. This idea of synesthesia is something that, to me, seems like it tries to describe the different ways that each individual person perceives their surroundings. It’s like trying to get the same exact story from five different witnesses to a crime. They all saw the same thing happen, and each have said the same general story, but in reality, they saw something that the other person didn’t. Each person’s psyche picked up on different clues and stored those clues in their minds. It’s like if the criminal was wearing a yellow shirt; the witness will remember the yellow shirt more then what was said or what happened. This coincides with a term called cymatics that is used to describe is the study of visible sound and vibration. It is putting our senses of sight and sound together which, under normal circumstances, cannot be seen. It is AMAZING! Having the sound vibrations create art is similar to a deaf Beethoven creating a symphony with just touch. The human condition is amazing to me and the way that our bodies work to connect the dots through our senses and the way we can create art through sound is just beyond super cool. It reminds me of a BlueMan Group’s performance. They use colors and sound to create art and entertainment. They are amazingly fun to watch live and it really gives you another way to enjoy your senses.

Reaction to Norman McLaren's 'Begone Dull Care'

As a student who has watched several different experimental films for class, it came as no surprise to me that it was very hard for me to understand Norman McLaren's Begone Dull Care. At first, like most experimental films, I found the film to be a bit disorienting and dizzying. After a couple of seconds of adjustment however, I was able to see that the film was just that- film. It was a developed film strip that had been distressed by coloring, scratching, and maybe bleaching. It was accompanied with a jazz score that made the piece easier to watch. Within a couple of minutes, it felt like I was watching a choreographed dance number where there were two lead dancers and about five backup dancers. The lead dancers would move about the screen and then the backups would follow. It actually turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. With the way the film looked, the distressed strip, it reminded me of another experimental film that I saw in one of my introductory film classes. I can’t remember the name of it, but the director took some found footage of a very old western film and ran it through a projector. Because it was so old and had been damaged from exposure to the elements, the film ran with color problems, hold in the film and scratches everywhere. The way that these new damages looked to the film itself allowed for the film to create a new theme. It completely changed the original tone. It’s crazy to think that just by adding some color, or distressing the emulsion to a piece of film, you can create a work of art that is totally original.