Reflections on Sound

Working with sound was something entirely new for me. Not only was it simply new, it was also very different from other mediums I have worked with. Sound is harder for me to have complete control of because it is a new concept to to me, because I'm not as adept with the software needed to create and modify the sounds, but, most importantly, because it is a harder medium to control in general--it isn't just creating sound myself, by singing, talking, etc, it is piecing together sounds/bits of sounds someone or something else created. It's finding the interesting bit in a string of sounds. There are edits/controls to change the sound, but they depend on the original recording.

Sound can be positive or negative, it can add to or subtract from a piece. Silence or the absence of sound can be just as (or more) effective than the presence of sound. Like motion, sound requires sequence and pacing, but not necessarily the same sequence or pacing as the visual narrative.

I found hard to focus on the sound and the visual together and yet not have them compete. On the other hand, it was also hard to focus on the sound and image totally separately and have them result in a good partnership, both telling the same "story."

In my piece I used both diegatic sound (sound created by a source that is in the environment of the scene--the striking of the match) and non-diegetic sound (sound created by a source not in the environment--the laughing and talking). I chose to let simpler/more easily understood sounds (diegetic sounds) go with simpler/more understandable images (action/denotative images) and visa versa. The ticking when the match comes out of the box is used as a background tempo, and also a quite break from the louder sounds that fall before and after. It is meant to have the viewer focus on the concrete action that is taking place, as opposed to the allusion sounds that happen throughout the abstract scenes, which are meant to further the idea in the viewers mind that multiple/opposite things are happening here. The match strike can also be classified as a selective sync, and it is used to isolate the moment of ignition, the climatic moment where the fire can either do good or evil. The voices and even the laughter can be characterized as a narration/voice over as the speaker(s) are never scene but just heard.

Happy Accidents in the World of Sound

Since working with sound is new to me, it's hard to separate the sound and visual completely, and work on each independently. The sound I created for my piece, was definitely created with the visual in mind every step of the way. However, the exercise of taking my visual piece and playing it with a sound piece created by someone else (intended to go with their visual) showed that great things can come out of the pairing of two unassociated works. When my visual was played along with another's sound, "happy accidents" were created--areas where the image and sound went beautifully together, either because at times the sound and visual synced perfectly, making it seem as if the sound was created for the visual, or because the sound amplified an aspect in a unique/unusual way, or even because of a strong contradiction. The sound worked really well with my visual, and the surprise in that made it even more special.


I believe that my original [and final] piece of sound better expresses the ideas of fire I wanted to convey--it's dualities--the ability to light/reveal or dark/conceal, to purify/create or destroy, the associations people have with it from happy times reading by the fire, or the smell of a birthday party when the candles are blown out, to the sound of sirens and destruction and loss. The second piece with my partner's sound also works for me--it has a completely different feel, and not the feel that i was intending, but when played along side with the original video it creates an entire other duality piece. The same video played twice with different sound expresses that duality even further.

Stop Motion with partner's sound

Laughing, Sirens, Whispering

My first digital design piece is complete. Definitely a new area for me to explore, completely unsure of what I'm doing really--but enjoying it nonetheless.

Stop motion piece exploring the dualities of fire.

Set Your Life on Fire. Seek Those Who Fan Your Flames.

Fire is an elusive element--never still, always changing; its shape fleeting and undefinable.  Fire can either aide life (heat) or destroy it, it consumes and it purifies, it can provide clarity (light) or conceal it (smoke).  Such a duality exists,  to convey it in a minimal way, seems contradictory, and proves to be difficult.