week 0
(Tuesday)
Tuesday brought our soft launch to the performance lab. We required an object that made sound but wasn't a musical instrument. As we didn't know how we were going to be using the objects, they were selected based on having significance to us personally. I selected my Irish dance heavy shoes as they are used within performance to create different sounding beats in a visually pleasing routine. Irish dance is something important to me as my family have done it for generations and I attend classes 3-4 times a week, competing at a global level.
Upon arrival it was revealed to us that we had a visiting lecturer, Nathan Tromans. He took us through his work, presenting his three main movements of his artistic career. First was inspired by William Eggleston, an American photographer from Memphis. He created media with film cameras that were more saturated, this is called "die transfer". Back when his work was released, colour photography was used more in advertisement or commercial use. Themes from his work were usually "romance of the road" and Nathan Tromans took this idea forward within his own work. His work seemed to be heavily influenced by Eggleston's narrative and point of view surrounding cars and landscapes combined. Tromans explained how it was difficult to mimic the effect of a sense of journey as the roads in England are extremely different to those in America. I really liked this body of work of both William Eggleston's and Nathan Tromans as the colour schemes are warm and bring a sense of nostalgia. This section of work reminded me of a music video for "run you out" by meatwave, where the band are stuffed into a car and are driving onwards with the singer looking behind him, through the rear window of the car, singing along to the lyrics. The Era of work and heavy emphasis on cars brought me back to an early 1990s film with Johnny Depp and Iggy Pop which was based in the 50s.
Tromans second body of work introduced soundscapes. it was based on birdcalls and how recognisable sounds can be made by using different methods. I don't have a huge interest in birds or making soundscapes such as the one Nathan was making so wasn't overly excited by this body of work but I appreciated that his knowledge and discoveries from this movement were important for us to complete the workshop challenge given to us after lunch.
Part 2 of the lecture heavily involved information about sound within film and how you might achieve different effects. Tromans briefly touched on John Cage's "sound of silence/ 4:33" which was composed of silence for the duration of the piece. This was to make the audience think as is there really such a thing as silence? From white noise and background sound it is hard to achieve pure silence. Television and film recognise this as Nathan told us many times while shooting a scene, a clip of "silence" is taken so that they can insert it into the moments, making the scene feel more full, complete and realistic. Dynamics are also really important to create light and shade and contrast within a piece. Recently I watched a YouTube video on why as a generation we prefer to watch films or TV shows with subtitles. While one reason was due to approx 126 audio signals being condensed into 1-5 channels, audio engineers also tend to take the volume level of speech down and put sound effects up to create more of a contrast between voices and explosions (as an example). Dynamics are a great way to show emotion within a piece of media.
After we had a break for lunch, it was time to get into our groups that were selected by a dice (Nathan is an avid believer that chance and spontaneity can create great outcomes by accident). I was placed in a group with Liz, Amie and Maddie. Our objects were my dance shoes, Liz's matches, Maddie's pendant and Amie's body spray. Our task was to create a soundscape with a narrative using our objects. We had the idea to focus on the elements as we all had an object that could represent each one. From that thought we decided to bring in the Lunar calendar as Chinese New Year was approaching. This lead to a routine of:
fire
horse galloping
earth
water
horse galloping
wind
We relied on dynamics to bring the narrative to life and I felt this was successful as the idea was simple yet affective and lead the audience to use inference skills to think of their own story even if it didn't completely match up to ours.
(friday)
Feedback on our semester 1 assessment was available to us in the form of 1-1 tutorials with Lara on the Friday. I was very happy with the result of our group presentation which ranged from 75% to 80%. From the feedback given, it was difficult to see what to do next/ what steps were needed to improve our outcomes so when I asked for further guidance it was difficult for Lara and Sarah to articulate how to improve however it came across that if we were to do this project or similar again, we should come back together as a group at points throughout the project to reflect and collaborate even more. while there was constant reflection throughout our 6 weeks, actually sitting down and discussing what works and what doesn't could be majorly beneficial to ensure we are on the right path.
As for feedback on my self assessment, it was more obvious on how I could've improved. I think the main focus would be completion of my bog entries. Due to the actual self assessment lacking specifics and examples to back up my points, it was down to my blog to go into further detail and explain, in depth, what was meant in my assessment. I think having those last two weeks completed would've improved my grade significantly. While I scored 68% across my self assessments, I definitely think I could have done better and for future, if I used the prompts from the self assessment throughout my blog, I feel that my work would benefit greatly.
1 note
·
View note
What is UP, my dudes?! It’s Friday again, meaning it’s time for another NEW RELEASE ROUND-UP! Which of these new releases is your personal favorite? Let me know in the comments, and suggest your own new releases for the week if they’re not listed! 💿
#The1975 #BostonManor #MeatWave #SleepingWithSirens #Varials #WeCameAsRomans
0 notes
NEW Tantus toy launched!
The Meat Wave is part of our XL toy line.
Calling all size royalty. Ride the wave.
https://tantusinc.com/products/meat-wave…
2 notes
·
View notes
PLOSIVS & Meat Wave Announce Winter Tour Dates
PLOSIVS (members of Pinback, Against Me, and Drive Like Jehu) & MEAT WAVE are hitting the road this winter. Meat Wave are touring on the six song EP they dropped last year titled ‘Volcano Park’, which is a phenomenal record.
3/18- Saint Vitus- Brooklyn, NY
3/19- Ottobar- Baltimore, MD
3/20- Underground Arts: Black Box- Philadelphia, PA
3/21- Brighton Music Hall- Allston, MA
3/23- Rumba Cafe- Columbus, OH
3/24- Magic Stick- Detroit, MI
3/25- Sleeping Village- Chicago, IL
4/05- Chop Suey- Seattle, WA
4/06- Mississippi Studios- Portland, OR
4/08- Bottom of the Hill- San Francisco, CA
4/09- Lodge Room- Los Angeles, CA
4/10- The Rebel Lounge- Phoenix, AZ
Check out the dates & pick up tickets. They’re on sale now.
0 notes