As film students, we usually focus on the visual and only
use the audio to enhance the image. This assignment was based on only using
sound to convey a process. So, we chose to use a process that we are very
familiar with as film students, watching a movie. We included the sounds of a
TV turning on, a DVD case opening, using a DVD player, the actual film sound,
popcorn and snacks. It was interesting to fabricate some of the sounds that we
weren’t able to have around, like the popcorn popping. We had to use to world
around us to find a similar sound, which was fun to discover how to use sounds
we already know in a different way.
Process
is something that, arguably, this generation has lost appreciation for. We are
in a world of instant gratification and products. Rarely, do you go into a home
and see chickens being raised so that at dinnertime we can actually eat meat.
Instead, today we have frozen dinners that take 3-5 minutes to heat up, or
restaurants where you can order food without even leaving the comfort of your
car. But there is something inherently satisfying in process. For example, I
crochet blankets and scarves, not for the product (which I actually give away
more often than not) but for the process itself.
In
class, we had viewings that demonstrated the use of not only sound, but also
process. In Mercadante’s Routines, we
see a simple, everyday task accentuated by embellishing the sounds that
accompany putting on a belt. This is something that we usually overlook in our
day-to-day lives, but it was nice to take a moment to acknowledge the process
that is involved in our daily routines. Similarly, in our audio piece we drew
attention to the tiny sounds that go along with such a mundane task.
Gary
Hecker, the foley artist from Robin Hood
(2010) and The Empire Strikes Back
(1980) also recognizes the importance of sounds in a process. In an interview
Hecker says, “It takes timing and a huge creative mind to… use, chose and
change sounds.” He goes on to say, “films are a big canvas of sound, and we
paint different colors and textures so that you have a [masterpiece] of sound.”
Then for the audiences he demonstrates the different sounds fabricated for his
films, and describes the process that it takes to complete a film. P.S. 10 points if you can guess the movie playing in the background.
These tiny
stories created a sort of problem for me because I am a long winded person, I
can just talk and talk and talk and not get tired of it because that’s how I
tend to tell stories and how I try to get my point across, I can just keep
talking and… Well, you get the point. So to try to be concise while still
getting a beginning, middle and end in I had to be creative. That’s where the
idea of using poetry came in. Poetry is all about the word choice. Specific
words is the only way it has to communicate what it needs to, so by limiting
myself to various rhyme schemes I was automatically limited to a more suitable
tiny story structure. This form helped me to express what I needed to in 30 words
or less.
As
for the topic, well that was a different story. I ran through so many different
ideas that there is no real way to keep track of them. As I was struggling to
get my stories to where they needed to be, the idea hit me. Why not write about
exactly that? So, I chose to write about various things that can’t quite get to
where they need to be.
The
first inspiration that I looked to for this idea was from the poem Ode on a
Grecian Urn, which I read in High School about a boy and a girl who can’t
touch because they are painted on a vase. My favorite line is “heard melodies
are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.” To me this poem pains the perfect
picture of things that are meant, but can’t be accomplished, and how beautiful
the things that we can’t do in life are. It really is a very beautiful poem and
can be read in its entirety here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173742
So while my
second tiny story is inspired from that poem, the rest were the result of
careful consideration and observation of what else in my world seems frustrated
by the inability to get what it needs.
The
readings provided by my TMA 112 CRV teacher were fantastic examples of short
stories that had perfect plot structure, and I took it as a personal challenge
to try to make my stories similar. Many of the tiny stories found here: https://twitter.com/VeryShortStory are able to set
an expectation and then defy it in very few words. I don’t know if any of my
tiny stories will surprise any one, but the intent is to show a frustrated
silent side to things that others may not have discovered before. I hope you
all enjoy reading them as much as I liked writing them.
This image is meant to go along with the song clip "One Word" composed and recorded by Benjamin James Hoff.
Artist Statement:
The idea of this assignment was to collaborate with the music to create an image in
space, not time. My first thought was to create a series of pictures and let
this wonderful piece of music tell a story. The reason that this came to my
mind first is because as humans we are driven to find stories. Our minds
automatically fill in the gaps and try to make sense of the information around
us. For example, when we sit down in a dark theater and the film begins, the
instinctual assumption is not that this film is the meant to be the beginning
of time, but that these characters have past experiences, that the world has
been around for quite a while and that there are social and cultural norms
already in place. All of this conjecture is based in time.
Therefore,
I chose to focus on my ability to create images in space. I then wanted to
conceptualize the main feeling from the song in a sort of mosaic. For me, the
main sensation cultivated by listening to this song was about conquering the
world, being happy and finally winning an internal or external battle. I then
used various images to show a girl punching the air as a celebration of her
success. Then, in order to work with the music I walked around my apartment and
outside with the music playing in my ear-buds. The rest of the images, to fill
in the space around the main concept, happened in conjunction with the music. I
didn’t decide what they should be when just listening to the music or
aesthetically without the music in mind; no, they happened together. So, the
rest of the photos worked with the music individually and collectively.
Corresponding
with the recent lectures in class, I focused on not just what the image says,
but on the color and especially the line. All of the photographs include
strong, distinct lines. The clouds are soft and curved, while the trees and
ball have stark beginnings and endings, but each has a line that points into
the center of the image, which is meant to bring the focus inward. Also, like
the Gorillaz, the images aren’t necessarily literally connected to the sound,
but they represent the mood. I made sure to use photography instead of any
other medium, because the feelings of joy, courage and epic success inspired by
the music feel very real, so I wanted to bring images from real life.
After
creating my humble mosaic, I was reminded of the trailer from my favorite
movie: The Social Network
This trailer includes a compilation of Facebook profile
pictures and sequences from the film, with the background music sometimes
overwhelm the dialogue. The most important part of this trailer is not what is
happening, but the mood that is invoked. This is similar to my mosaic because
each image itself has something to say, but together the most important thing
is just the experience.
Leo Tolstoy first wrote the story of Anna Karenina in 1873; since then it has
been made into 43 different adaptations including films, plays, operas, TV
shows, ballets, songs and radio broadcasts. These statistics beg the question:
why do we still care so much about a fictional Russian affair? One answer is
that Anna Karenina is not necessarily a hero, no one in this film is. Anna is
just a person breaking the rules and living in her own limited life, while
finding and fighting love. Joe Wright’s adaptation of Anna Karenina in 2012 sought to expose the theme of love, lust and
betrayal as it relates to the artificiality of life. There is no better way to
conceptualize the disingenuousness of the character’s lives than to place them
on not just a figurative, but also a literal stage. Joe Wright teeters on the
edge of either reaching the publics attention and affection by stylizing this
timeless story, or losing his audience completely in the complex setting.
The
entire film is set in and around a theater stage. The characters walk through the
set leading to bedrooms or train stations, they walk up on the catwalk and are
instantly in another country. As they venture to the boxes and seats, they find
themselves in the middle of a horse race set squarely in the heart of the small
theater. The characters themselves also move in a theatrical way, as if
everything from working to making love is a dance. The stylization made Anna Karenina more apt to express the
publicity and artificiality of the peoples’ lives, than would have been
possible otherwise. Not only does Anna feel like she is always the center of
attention, but there is literally a spot light on her face. Some of the
characters feel trapped in their lives and it is exaggerated when they never
really leave the main stage. Anna is born, raised and died in a world that was
so limited it almost feels like an illusion. The longer the audience is trapped
in her world, the more we are capable to understand how she decided that the
only way out was under a train.
The
all-encompassing stylizations, however, were not suited for everyone. The
reception of this film was about 61 percent positive, but the audience didn’t
just seem to think it was mediocre they fell on one side or the other of a very
distinct line: you either hate it, or love it. Most critics agree that the
costume design and Kiera Knightley’s performance was spectacular, but that the
rest didn’t fit into their understanding of this enduring tale. The film was
nominated for four Academy Awards, while also nominated by Houston Film
Critic’s award for “Worst Film,” and won the Alliance of Women Film Journalists
award for “Movie You Wanted To Love, But Just Couldn’t.”
Why
are some people able to connect and see the beauty in Joe Wright’s adaptation,
but others are not? As Kiera Knightley said in a behind the scenes clip “what
is the point of doing [a film] safely… in a theater you are required to use
your imagination… reality is going to be suspended, but we’re ultimately trying
to hold up a very beautiful mirror to life.” About 61 percent of the audience
understood the meaning behind the stage, and were able to suspend their
conceptions of reality for two hours and discovered a beautiful world where
movement is all ballet and life is just pretend. But the others were unable to
see out of society’s tunnel vision, which suggests that the only representation
of life must be realistic. Perhaps the mirror’s revelation was too
uncomfortable or ugly, and just as the fox desperately tries to eat the grapes
just out of his reach, then gives up and with his nose in the air says “I am
sure they are sour,” we despise things that are out of our reach. Just because
our world is restricted, does not mean that our imagination is just as limited.
In
the name of love, stylization, and passion, this film follows some historical
traditions while boldly shattering cultural traditions. Faithfully, Wright
researches, works and ultimately encompasses late 19th century
fashion with the amazing costumes, jewels and hair. The actors look like they
all stepped out of a time machine and into our world. But Anna Karenina intrepidly burst through our cultural rules for a
historical film, and neither forces the actors to speak in the correct
language, nor shoots on location (for the vast majority of the film). Actions
may not be historically correct, but the music is straight from Russia. The
camera’s angles may not coincide with today’s standard for a historical piece,
but we do understand the reality of life as a royal.
This is all to say that this film may
have broken rules and stepped on a few toes, but it was not for nothing. This Anna Karenina may take us closer to
Anna’s world than has ever been possible before. Our eyes may be seeing new
things, but our hearts follow the path of all humanity: through love, passion,
loss, desperation and ultimately insanity. The stylization of this adaptation
is not a hindrance, but a gift through which we are able to experience pure raw
emotions and struggles without the restrictions of our reality. This film
allows us to live in Anna’s reality, in 19th century Russia’s
reality, and hopefully see our own prisons for what they are: just perceptions.
