Applications

If you would like to see any of these philosophies put to the test in the field (Milwaukee, WI) get further insight about the "drifts" discussed, or see the audio/visual equipment put to work visit either my Drift one or Drift two blogs.

Drift one: Talk Shows on Mute was my first experience exploring the urban landscape where I collected audio and commented on its significance.

Drift two: Zephyr allowed me to build on my work and explorations in drift one in order to paint a more vivid picture of the urban landscape by collecting audio, images, and video.

AV

The Olympus Digital camera I used for my second drift worked surprisingly well for a bargain camera. The response time on the camera was good and it took decent photos and videos. The memory card with the camera had plenty of room for all my files. The functions on the camera were easy to use and accessible. However, the camera was pretty cheap and lacked in a few areas. It had rather limited options and a very small menu. Also, the screen was relatively tiny, but served my purposes. My two biggest complaints while shooting video: the zoom function disabled during recording video and during fifteen minutes of recording video it went through fourteen batteries. Though the camera was suitable for all of my filming, it wasn’t comparable with cameras (even still image) I have worked with in the past. The cameras I’m used to working with are built better and have a lot more functionality. If I could have chosen the perfect camera to work with, I would have kept the compact design that was important for its functionality in the field. I would have liked to see a long life rechargeable battery. It would also be nice to have a wide range of options to tweak on the camera, especially for manual adjustments. I could have benefitted from a manual zoom and focus and aperture settings. These functions would have offered me a great deal of creative license not to mention higher quality images. I would also like to continue working with digital video. Though film is a high quality medium not to be overlooked by any means, for my purposes on the drift a hard drive camera shooting higher resolution digital video would have more than sufficed.

Once back in the studio with my images and video, I chose to use my favorite editing software, Adobe Elements. I began using Adobe a little over a year ago when I was in high school and began to get serious about working with film. I took an independent study class for film and it was the software my instructor provided. I found the program rather intuitive and taught myself to use it pretty easily (with a little technical help from my instructor now and again). Since then I’ve made quite a few short films on the program and out of necessity for the projects I began to undertake as part of my class purchased a copy of my own. I made a thirty minute video for the schools registration program and also a roughly thirty minute independent short film with a few friends of mine. While undertaking these extensive projects, I began to learn more and more about the programs functions and have created clever tricks and alternatives for editing my way through certain problems and challenges. It came to the point where I could anticipate certain problems and use and build on my previous work to solve them easily. Although I’ve tried other programs like Sony Vegas Pro and appreciated the features, I didn’t like the format. I enjoy the working with footage in Adobe. The key-frame and drag and drop manipulation of effects and footage suits my “style” of editing. I am highly considering upgrading to Adobe Pro because I’m quickly exhausting the resources in elements. I have toyed with most all of the effects and need more. Until then, Elements will be my “go to guy”.

Avant-Garde Today

Scott MacDonald’s Introduction to "Avant-Garde Film" is both highly insightful and relevant to today’s television immersed and commercially conditioned culture. I found the research and analysis of the history and adaptation of Avant-Garde cinema interesting and applicable to my own experiences with cinema. I’m further compelled by the ways in which Avant Garde cinema aims to explore the possibilities of film and open my eyes to new ideas and ways at looking at the medium.

In the article MacDonald writes about how Avant Garde cinema is underappreciated and misunderstood today. He proclaims that most people are consumed by commercial media and the traditional forms of Hollywood cinema. Thus, most people aren’t readily willing to accept this more critical cinema. He explores the history of Avant Garde and defines it as challenging the norms of cinema and as commenting on society, cinema, etc. He states that Avant Garde is an alternative to traditional cinema; being that it is more concerned with the viewers' attention to shape, motion, rhythm, color, and form. Furthermore, it has been used as a means of exploration of the possibilities of film through manipulation. “Ingenious critical films can function as a backdrop against which viewers can measure their journeys across the boundaries that separate them from unfamiliar cinematic terrains, toward a larger awareness of Cinema.” Essentially, these films want the viewer to become open to different forms of filmmaking and cinema in general. He also realizes that although Avant Garde appeared during early cinema, it has become popular recently due to its cheap and effective nature of production. Thus, Avant Garde has opened the powerful realm of filmmaking to more people.

The ideas in this article are relevant to me as I study film because they force me to explore the endless possibilities of the medium. By studying Avant Garde I can become more open minded and critical of the filmmaking process. Also, as I begin producing films, it is important for me to consider the styles and ideas behind Avant Garde. By doing so, I can break away from the traditional and experiment with new forms, styles, and techniques to comment on everything from society to traditional media itself. In creating videos compiled from field video and sound recordings it is important to use the more abstract Avant Garde cinema techniques to present an idea or create discussion. I believe that the study of Avant Garde will help me create these videos the way that studying sound walking and the Derive assisted me in gathering field recordings.

Psychogeography and You

The interview with Will Self “On ‘Psychogeography’ and the Places That Choose You” is about his experiences with exploring landscapes and interacting with them on a very personal level. I found this article interesting because it builds upon my previous reading response about the concept of the Derive. While this article is based upon the fundamentals of the Derive, It engages Will Self’s personal experiences with the practice. In doing this, the interview allows me to gain insight onto how another person came across the concept, how they practice it, and how it affects them. I can then compare and contrast my similar feelings and experiences.

The interview is based upon the acclaimed British novelist and journalist Will Self and his experiences with long distance walking and the practice of Psychogeography. The term Psychogeography, was coined by Guy Debord and people who practice it today “take the view that by walking you can decouple yourself from the human geography that so defines contemporary urbanity.” In this way many hope to gain a new appreciation for the places they inhabit and truly discover/rediscover their environment instead of being “thrust hither and thither by commercial imperatives—work, consume, die—and so unable to experience the reality of their environment.” Self first became interested in this practice when he realized that he had never seen the mouth of the Thames River that flows through London, even though he had been born in the city and lived there his whole life. He argues that “People don’t know where they are anymore” and until that day neither did he. He began walking as a way to fully understand and experience the world he lives in. Since then, he has explored countless other places and has had utterly bizarre, dislocatory and quite beautiful experiences from doing so.

As a media Artist I feel that in creating art it is my goal to uncover and capture new, strange, and beautiful sights in order to intrigue and enthrall viewers/listeners. I believe that the best way of doing so is to take full advantage of the practice of Psychogeography. Many people don’t know the true beauty of the places in which they live and by walking through and closely observing the places surrounding where I live (the forgotten, overlooked, ignored, or sometimes avoided places), I can capture those sights and sounds of forgotten intrigue.

Based upon the article "Will Self: On ‘Psychogeography’ and the Places That Choose You." on WorldHum.com

The Equipment Room

Building the microphones was a highly gratifying experience. I had worked with audio equipment and soldered in the past, and had very little trouble with the process. However, before this class I would have never thought anyone could just cut the plugs off an audio wire and put on microphones. I always thought the wires were built different or that there was more to it than just cut and solder. Once out on the drift, my mics worked great in all situations; I was especially pleased with the performance of the felt wind screens (they truly were cost effective). Furthermore, the fact that my microphones were hand built allowed me a more personal experience with my recorded sounds; really made me feel as though I had created them from the ground up. On the other hand, if I were allotted unlimited amounts of time and money I would have made a few improvements. First of all the recorder would have been able to clip to my clothing. This would give me a little extra room to work with my hands. Also, my microphones would need a little extra wire for those hard to reach places. It would be incredible useful to have a detachable/rotatable “cup” on the mics in order to better isolate, shield, and direct sounds.

The Sony mini disc recorder served my purposes albeit aggravatingly. Don’t get me wrong, the sound recordings were solid, it didn’t lose any of my recordings, and it didn’t freeze or crash on me. However, the device felt rather clumsy. It was a hassle having to reset manual gain mode after every session. To add insult to injury, the device only allowed me to do so through a slow and clumsy process consisting of button combinations and unnecessarily long wait periods. I became quite familiar with the term “wait a moment” during saving, start up, and attempting to access the menu. At times the device was even unresponsive. I would have to hit record multiple times with no prevail and even unplug and plug my microphones at start up in order to get a response. Though I have not used other sound recording equipment in the past, I imagine there are better devices. In a perfect world, my recorder would maintain its setting, be lighting quick, record to a hard drive, and would have a seamless control scheme One day I will find such a device.

I edited my field recordings with Audacity. I found this software to be very straightforward and highly useful. I thought the program had a wide range of useful tools and functions, especially for freeware. I used it for the first time recently when it was recommended to me by a professor. Since this was the only audio software I’ve ever heard of, I went ahead and used it. I took advantage of the various effects and plugins to achieve just about everything from cross fades to distortions. Due to these facts, I will most likely use this program in the future.

Further Investigation

1. What more interesting city sounds lye further downtown?
2. If I wouldn't have cut my Drift short because of class, what new sound scapes would I have discovered?
3. What areas other than downtown are there to explore?
4. Are there any other public schools or playgrounds in the drift area?
5. Are there any areas other than residential or commercial to explore further south (i.e. Industrial)?
6. How would the sounds recorded at night differ from daytime sounds?
7. What new sections of town could I discover by going north or west rather than south?
8. What part of town could I go to that is most different from the environment I'm used to?
9. What part of my drift had the most people and least cars?
10. Was there a mysterious or otherwise unsettling location I could explore (within reason)?
    
11. What would Glenn Bach do?
    

Recollections

When I first went out my drift, I was a little upset because the residential environment we were in was seemingly sparse and generic in its sounds. However, I was pleasantly surprised at not only what I found in this area, but also the subsequent areas it led into. For example, after leaving the residential neighborhood I found the perfect mix of peacefulness and commotion at a sidewalk café. Another bothersome aspect of the drift occurred when I was stuck on Lincoln Memorial drive with no roads to turn off on. This walk was extremely tedious and filled with bland traffic noises. However, it eventually led to the amazingly rich downtown, where I captured one of my favorite sounds. Another unexpected surprise came in the lab. After recording sounds at a rich playground location and later reviewing those sounds, I came upon the realization of the cultural and societal importance of the playground. In particular, an interaction I captured between a mother and her son as she pushed him on a swing shed light on the unintentional roles a playground fulfills.

One of the most peaceful instances on my Drift was when I ended up on the rocky shore of Lake Michigan. It was incredibly serene sitting out on the rocks with only the sounds of the waves echoing in my headphones. Another instance was sitting on the playground and watching the children running around laughing and carefree; it brought me back to those happy times. As the preceding text may have shown, the playground was in fact my favorite experience. Sitting on the playground and looking at the children and their parents running about the grounds I was able to not only appreciate the family function of the grounds, but also reminisce on my own experiences with family and playgrounds.

Derive

I’ve selected Debord, Guy. "Theory of the Derive." I found many of the concepts covered in this article highly fascinating. I’ve always been an extremely curious and spontaneous; this article discusses the exploration of environments and the highly spontaneous and undetermined movements through which to do so. In this way, I was able to relate my own fascination with exploring the “new” and “unknown” through the theory and practices of the Derive.
The main points of this article stress that most people experience the environment in which they live in a very confined and limited way; we travel on a predetermined path from point A to B and repeat these paths daily. The Derive on the other hand wants people to break free from their inhibitions and routines in order to experience their environments in an entirely different way. The Derive invites people to immerse themselves in many different environments by simply wondering through them with no intended purpose or path. The idea is that one will find themselves entering various realms and uncovering hidden treasures they might have otherwise overlooked. Although the Derive stresses stripping yourself of preconceptions, desires, and borders, it is almost impossible for one to occur in its pure form. People are generally consciously or unconsciously led by their own subjectivity. Practices such as the “possible rendezvous” brings a participant into a new environment stripped of the obligations of an ordinary rendezvous. Thus, the participant is forced into a new environment non subjectively and is left to deeply observe his surroundings.
The practices of the Derive relate to concepts of sound walks and Drifts. By immersing myself in new environments, I am able to collect new and exciting sound material. Also, the ideas in this article emphasize the appreciation of deep observation of an environment. By applying these concepts to my work in the field, I’m able to appreciate seemingly insignificant sounds I might otherwise have overlooked. In freeing myself from the everyday routine, I am able to collect entirely unique material.

Taking a Walk With Sound

A sound walk is more than just attentive listening, it's about looking at the world around you in a new light; about making hearing instead of sight your primary source of perception. When observing your surroundings in this way, you may find items ordinarily overlooked.

Listed below are few notable findings from this sound walk:

I was able to find a relatively peaceful location in Downer woods where i could fully listen to my surroundings.
As far as movement is concerned, it is impossible to move without making any noise at some level. Theoretically all objects are in constant motion of some level of another and it is impossible to move without producing sound anywhere except in a perfect vacuum.
I started by first plugging my ears with my eyes open, then later unplugging them and closing my eyes in order to get a full appreciation for every sound. I found i was able to create a more vivid and rich environment by listening to the sounds then I could by simply observing without any sound. I was also to able to pinpoint very soft sounds I wouldn't have noticed.
The sounds I heard were as follows:

Sitting

• Tires squealing on the pavement
• sticks crackling
• insects buzzing around me
• birds chirping intermittently
• jets screaming overhead
• cars whir by softly
• car engines roaring in the distance
• leaves rustling about me
• piano notes piercing the nearby air
• percussive thuds in the distance
• pulsing weed-wacker engine
• car horn blaring
• inhale and exhale
• stomach grumbling

Walking

• Feet clapping against the ground
• gravel crumbling beneath feet
• twigs snapping
• pebbles skipping across wood
• fabric rubbing against itself
• leaves brushing against people
• balls bouncing against pavement
• shoes sqeeking
• rattling of chain link fence
• yelps of people
• snap of door mechanism
• turnstile cranking
• whir and clink of fan
• elevator's electronic chime
  

I was able to place most sounds either by orienting them or logically placing them at known landmarks (I.E. sqeeking shoes at tennis and basketball courts), however there were a few sounds I couldn't place. In this case I would either guess or include them in a general white noise category.
I was lucky enough to hear a generous mix of mechanical, natural, and human noises.
As much of a burden white noise is, i always find it incredibly fascinating to pick sounds out and follow them; I was able to do plenty of this on today's walk.
The closest sounds i heard were the ones i was producing, these sounds are probably the most overlooked. The most distant sound was surprisingly the loudest; the jet engine.
The most prevalent wind effect I was able to hear, were the leaves rustling in the wind.
At certain times during the walking section I was able to intervene in the urban landscape by knocking on a chain link fence or kicking pebbles along the path.
After my initial experience with sound walking, I feel that I;m beginning to look at sounds as a primary source of observing an environment and not just a secondary additional sense.
I can use this new found importance of sound in my media endeavors by paying closer attention to the importance of subtleties and adding dramatic sounds to my work.