Audio Reflection

Much of what is known about the world was learn though sight and sight. Without a doubt, sound is everywhere depicting tiny changes or movement of our mundane. As I understand, sound can mean different things to different people depending on different situations. For instance, a train whistle might let an excited traveler at a station get to know that he or she is about to leave on a long trip. For someone walking near train tracks, however, the same whistle serves as a warning that an engine is coming and the people should get rid of its path. Likewise, a dog barking at night might make the owner feel safe from burglars but may simply annoy neighbors trying to sleep. So I realize sounds in a movie or video are to deliver an emotion or mood, meanwhile, serving the images and plot to make audience immerse in what they are seeing as well. Then can we think of an image in brain without any supplement of visual aids when listening to a clip of sound? I think answer  is yes, this is what a good sound can give to audience.

As for catalyst, I think of temperature change to show a physical or chemical change in my assignment. Therefore, three sounds recorded included striking matches for fire, boiling water and cooking sound in kitchen would be shown.

1. strike matches

This sound records by microphone because I wanna collect smallest sound of flames and sparks. However, the duration of process is limited thereby recording striking two matches to describe as many details as possible. Lighting match is a chemical changes through the burning of oxidizing agent and sulphur to ignite combustible.

2. boil water

Overall process of heating water is recorded, and I cut out the clip of near boiling to bubble up. Water is converted into steam if it is boiled, so we can hear overall converted  process clearly.

3. cook in the kitchen

This clip is recorded in a Chinese restaurant depicting  cooking sound. Actually, it mixed with different elements in a noisy  kitchen included chef’s voice, sound of woks and chopping and steamed sound from far. Kitchen is a noisy and hot environment filled with many signals of describing heat. 

4. pedestrian’s light

The signals of sound and vision are used respectively to remind the normal and the blind to cross the road based on frequency variation of pedestrian’s light. The variational signal of sound is a basic sort of stimulus to assist the blinds. Different times within one day have advantages and disadvantages. Generally, night is picked up as an ideal time to avoid environmental noises such as pedestrians, cars, trams.

5. noisy crowd

This is also collected in a Chinese restaurant where is full of costumers. Inside a narrowest room, lots of people were there talking, drinking and hard to hear each other due to the noise. Sometimes people’s voices can be a sort of noise to affect others’ emotion and mood as radical factor.

6. baby’s crying

I ran into this situation that baby’s mother went to the female’s room and father didn’t know how to look after his crying baby. This is a ridiculous moment, so I have the chance to capture the sound of baby’s crying. Baby’s crying is his or her reaction to the new environment after leaving mother’s womb. 

7. watch Psycho eating chips

This clip is my favorite one. Initially when I think of catalyst to be a theme, horrible movie probably can be a good idea to show something funny. Therefore, I pick up a classic sound from Psycho as background, and eating chips as foreground sound to make them together.

Chengming Zhong

 Media Objects

April 10, 2014

Photography Reflection

Photography constitutes both to art and science. We can express every object or emotion within a moment using photographs as an art medium, which is captured inside a small camera, and works along to form a fantastic photograph.

Catalyst as the theme about elements of City Jungle comes into my mind when I saw the requirement. Because when I was a kid, I saw an old action movie called Lost City Of The Jungle that was shot in 1946, tells a story about an event after atom tests show a certain element that can be used as defense against the atomic bomb. I hypothesize that the world becomes lifeless and people become more and more estranged after atom test fails. The whole world is becoming a primeval jungle but colorless, and the relationship between individuals regresses into the status of aboriginals – silence, indifference, confusion, but restless inside. The catalyst can be seen as radical factors to be applied to all photos.

1.Oppression

Light is the raw material of photography. There is no better way to express how much it is the light and prevailing atmospheric conditions that make an indifferent world on a raining day. The composition of center perspectivity is applied to this photo. A one-to-one correspondence between the points on many lines that generated from the edges of the tall buildings determined by a central point of this photo, which will produce feelings of anxiety and stress for pedestrians who pass by. Aperture is deliberately turned down that can absorb less light that makes it look gloomy and depressed. In addition, aligning the three buildings with two diagonals in 1:1 size image creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the skyscraper world. 

 2. City Jungle

When I got the theme I was wondering how to make use of architectures to express the theme of catalyst. The most accessible scenic theme for the photographers are the city’s landscapes of the immediate environment, however, I wanna use an interesting menthol to show City Jungle that is an intense and exciting new collaboration between skyscrapers and insects. After experimenting a little with different apertures and viewpoints, I found  shooting angle with the main emphasis with an extreme angle of depression or elevation can break the rules, which is easier to reflect the height of the main building  as well as focus on the two golden bees.

3.Rebel

This photo was shot in RMIT Bld.100, I really like the long and narrow stair linear walls.

In spite of the variety of compositional elements included stairs, person, arrow, handrail and lights in this photo, the main person on the stair are perfectly discernible as the figure from the ground. Because of the dim indoor light, the differentiation of each object takes place more by the virtue of their contrast than illumination. Beyond that, I also impress the depth, created by the perspective, fore- closest stairs, middle- person, background- arrow. The aperture is increased to collect the light as much as it can, show more details. The person’s head turns right, but the arrow points left. It reflects that he feels apart from the whole world or being incompatible with some defined criteria.

4. Escaper

This is a very interesting picture. I tried to rotate it that a better result comes out. This photo also has a perfect fore, middle and background. In spite of pronounced linear shape of walls and stair, the picture suggests the abnormality and feeling of depth. The impression is reinforced by the far linear walls, stairs and handrail in the two thirds of whole image at right, and by the division of picture into nearly one third by the main person. I let the image-maker lie on the ground with a running pose.The reason why I choose this method of showing is that I wanna tell that an escaper who lives in this cool world  breaks free of the earth’s gravity and casts off chains, which is a hard thing. Wiggly lines are becoming the barrier on his way.

5. Wandering

In that world, our minds become a constant deluge of thoughts dwelling in the past, worries of the future, distractions pulling us in every direction. Maybe this situation  seemed to strike a chord with many people , which is also the attitude or status I wanna express, urges us to produce ideas of escaping as catalyst. 

Long exposure is applied to this picture. Shutter speed is expanded to 0.8s that the shuffling crowds would  be blurred, meanwhile, the main person in yellow stays stable. In addition,  two vertical gold division lines are located on station board and person body, and two parallel lines are on second board and person’s head, respectively.