Blog 8-9-10

          Reading chapters eight through ten of Kevin Williams’ book I Want My MTV delves into perception as they further elaborate on the nature of the audio-visual relationship. The relationship is further explored through discussing the medical phenomenon known as synesthesia as well as applying it as a term involving two different sensory mediums (i.e. audio and visual) being combined to form a new perspective. In addition, the chapters explore the physical and spiritual aspects that involve music video, as chapters 9 and 10 will elaborate.

            Chapter eight discusses ‘synesthesia’ which is defined as: ““the experience of an associated sensation when another sense is stimulated.”” (Ch. 8, 13). The most common example of synesthesia is a person being able to see colors, shapes, and other hallucinations when stimulated by sound. There are people diagnosed with synesthesia in which their senses are cross wired in the brain and thus other combinations include being able to taste flavors when speaking words, hearing colors, or associating numbers to having personalities. 

            Synesthesia is not an individual phenomenon as Williams proves that everyone has some limited form of synesthesia: “

“In 1934 Hartman conducted another experiment using the Seashore test of music ability which was administered under the conditions of varying the amount of light in the room; the light was shifted from 510 watts to as complete darkness as possible. Hartman concluded that “the statistical treatment here followed shows that the mean auditory efficiency…is definitely better by about three percent in the light than in the dark.” (p. 819). In other words, according to Hartman, people hear better in well-lit rooms. While better is difficult to measure, it seems clear that vision resonates with aural experience, and conversely, aural experience resonates with visual experience.” (Ch. 8, 17).

            By rooting synesthesia as a biologically universal phenomenon rather than an individual psychological profile, we can now understand music’s relationship to the body: “Writing about music is far from stupid because music can teach us so much about the ecological and communicative relationship between the body (an organism), its environment (in our case, socio-cultural), and the Environment (or, world; see Lanigan, 1899).” (Ch. 8, 24).

            The idea that music, a technological construct, has a relationship with the body is touched on in chapter nine. Technology is seen as an extension of the body as it enhances our perception: “Technology makes manifest the latent, or, put another way, it makes our present to out awareness that which was always already present but hidden from perception.” (Ch. 9, 5). The text provides an example detailing the invention of the film camera, how it all began with a bet to see if all four of a horse’s hooves could not touch the ground if still in motion. It turned out to be true, but the fact that it revealed something that is hidden proves how technology enhances our perspective on things: “The machine is thus “incorporated into the human intentional act of perceiving the world, even as the machine enables a patently ‘impossible’ human perception, that is, one otherwise unrealizable without the machine’s incorporation.” (Ch. 9, 7).

            Chapter ten revisits the topic of aesthetics from chapters five through seven by discussing how aesthetics influence and are a byproduct of perspective. However, the main topic is logos and echos, to which they are defined respectively as: “not only denotes reason, but also the expression of reason, and the order perceived in things, word, universe, discourse, definition, formula, principle and ration.” (Ch. 10, 3). And “the mode of televisual/video address as a multimedia presentation which draws on sight and sound writing and speaking, orality and literacy, hearing and listening in its overlapping and interpenetrating presentation of images, words, sounds, music, and so on.” (Ch. 10, 6).

            Earlier in the paragraph, I said aesthetics influence and are the byproducts of perspective, what happens if several forms are intermingled?

“The Western complementary and contrary to the Apollonian is the Dionysian the twin brother or the double of identity, fixity, and objectivity. The Apollonian gives us the thing as thing, an object, with its form, contour and plasticity. The Dionysian understanding obliterates the thing’s ontological status. The Dionysian traverses an awareness of aesthetics which brings to light the superfluity of aesthetic awareness—the aisthetic.” (Ch. 10, 18).

            Williams adds Eastern philosophies to his argument:

“The Confucian Doctrine functions to stratify the social sphere, channeling “the original spontaneity of life” into a rigid social regime. It’s ethical, legal, and moral doctrine is made to govern thought and conduct, so to produce a conventional knowledge, which has been reduced to that which can be represented in words, mathematical formulae, or musical notations. With its ability to define, demarcate, and delimit, the Confucian meets the Apollonian…The study of television following its Apollonian and Confucist roots, has primarily been an analyst of content and the passing of moral judgement based on that content; it is thus we ask for better re-presentation” of things we “want” to see instead of asking it to make “present” that which it does not; its expression is overlooked for that which it is supposed to express.” (Ch. 10, 20-21).

            Williams is arguing that every culture has its own perspective, its own spin on a subject. They tend to not look at it at face value; they look at it with their own perspectives. For example, a glass of water with its contents set at mid-level. One person may look at it and say it’s half-empty, another would say it’s half-full. Every person in every culture will never take something at face value; they would just put their own spin on it.

            Chapters eight through ten of I Want My MTV discuss perception. Everyone perceives the world in his or her unique way as people with synesthesia and people brought up in different cultures do. However, there is some universality in how people perceive the world just as it’s proven one hears better in the dark. And there are ways in which are perception of the world can be altered or enhanced like how the camera ‘revealed’ what was hidden, and technology in serving as an extension of our body.

              

Blog 5-6-7

           Reading chapters five through seven of Kevin Williams book I Want My MTV, delves into the relationship of the audio and visual. MTV was a cultural zeitgeist in its heyday. An innovative channel that offered unconventional programming to the 80s generation, a channel that was groundbreaking in the medium of film, and influencing people on a macro level.

            Chapter five focuses on how music videos have become a distinct form of art thanks to MTV perfecting the medium through style. MTV’s style is traced from a variety of sources, mainly from advertising: “MTV’s style is derived from its strong textual and institutional ties to advertising. Seen as an advertising medium, Music Television presents (or advertises) images of bourgeois, patriarchal, consumer capitalism (e.g. mythical landscapes, fast cars, fetishized women).” (Ch. 5, 4). And their storytelling style is derived from the Cyberpunk genre: “[George Slusser] first notes that Cyberpunk, like MTV, rejects traditional narrative: Images have been condensed and sharpened, creating an optical surface, a matrix of images, a glitterspace. These images, both visual and literary, are, he suggests, no longer capable of connecting to form the figurative space of mythos or story.” (Ch. 5, 5). Because MTV is characterized with fast passed editing, large budgets to afford higher quality sets, and bombarding the audience with a blitzkrieg of images, forcing them to absorb as much stimuli as they can handle to form the message, the style influenced and was quickly copied by Hollywood to use for their films, specifically action scenes and movie trailers.

            For example, here’s British comedian Stephen Fry deconstructing a typical movie trailer with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

            And to show how the style influenced Hollywood, here’s a scene from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World:

            Despite MTV innovating filmmaking and contributing to culture through its visual style and aesthetics; its visuals, however, seem to have dominated the visual-audio relationship. In chapter six, Williams laments at society’s increasing dependence on images and visuals for information:

“As the shift from orality to literacy created new ways of “seeing” and organizing knowledge and understanding, so a shift from literacy to imagery would also imply radical epistemic change: Postman suggests that spoken and written statements encourage scrutiny and rational contemplation, and that they engage the subject in rational argumentation and logical debate. Postman suggests further that imagery simply appeals to consciousness. Rhetorically speaking, he continues, images are faster than arguments; judgment becomes based on look (is it appealing or not?) and not on logic (does it make sense?), on aesthetics (does it catch my eye?) and not on rational argumentation (given this, then what?).” (Ch. 6, 5).   

            Visuals have taken precedence in our, insisting on “Seeing is believing” to know truth. People, however, tend to forget that audio and sound is just as crucial in the relationship:

“The sound is there and cannot be ignored or considered as secondary, especially when television is so often listened to as background as well as watched. Also sound and music cannot be reduced to apparatus, industry or economy, even though these are important domains of critical inquiry…Indeed, MTV wants to be understood with both ears and eyes open.” (Ch. 6, 9).

            Instead, Williams opposes the idea that ‘seeing is believing’ by supporting the claim that audio is just as crucial as visual through radio: “This is why one may claim that radio drama is a more imagistic than television drama—one has to imagine what is happening. Thus, an image is an appearance of sight, so long as we remember that appearances and sight may be understood metaphorically, and not necessarily as related to the sense of vision.” (Ch. 6, 15). Thus making the argument that ‘hearing is believing’: “Sounds, unlike visuals that are clear, distinct and stable, are more like experience, memory, and feeling.” (Ch. 6, 16).

            Chapter seven converges on the two spectrums, specifying that both of them serve an equal function to create a performance, an experience to the viewer:

“However, while the sounds establish the depth of the viewing experience, the sounds and sights of the aural and visual presentation interpenetrate to create a third communicative dimension… Both intellectual receptivity (i.e. my ability to read the narrative, interpret the video, and make sense of it), and pathic receptivity (i.e., affective and emotive experience) are informed musically and visually as the visuals dance the music. I am witness to a specific aesthetic , a musical visuality.” (Ch. 7, 21).  

            MTV has honed a style that is distinct and influential by making audio a visual medium. However, sometimes there’s an imbalance and the visual dominates the relationship. If one were to achieve a balance of the two, they’d create a performance that will live forever in the viewer.

Blog Day 4

It's blog day and, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of material to show. To be quite honest, for the past month I have found myself tangled in a terrible situation like Mr. Neil Cicierega:



But in all seriousness, I wrote a journal entry explaining why production on my music video has come to a halt.

Hopefully I get back in swing of things soon.

Blog 3: Baby Steps

I haven't 'scribbled' in my log book yet. I believed I haven't reached that point. However, these are what I have down for the moment. Jotting down my thoughts and sketching concepts.

This first entry is me establishing each medium. What they mean to me, how significant they are in conveying the story or message of the song and video. 

These three pages are me listing my thoughts over the music of my friend Evan, in case I had to go to him for this project. I listed down some songs of his I liked, what kind of video I wanted to make with them. In addition, I was considering how viable each song and video could be from a productive stand point, considering the health and safety risks involved were it to be live-action. I could always return to them if my current project isn't going anywhere. 

Concept design for the Old Man in my video. I've never drawn old people before. But I think I had fun adding in all those wrinkles. And I really like the eyes. I also wanted to complement the band and song's origins by giving the Old Man a very Icelandic sweater. 

Concept art. First image of the film. An angel flying into the sun.

Concept art. An inkling for the wife. I admit that there isn't much to it. I'll sketch her out further, later.

In addition, I've been researching and gathering images on Iceland to use as resource stock to help design the video's environment. 

Pre-Production Introduction

The band I’ve chosen to for my music video project is Sigur Rós. They’re an Icelandic band that I’ve admired for awhile, and they’re one of those bands that despite most of their fans cannot understand a lick of their lyrics (seriously, several people have tried translating them, but they could never succeed because the band has a habit of writing their songs in Icelandic and a nonsense language they made up), the music is just powerful, full of emotion of every spectrum, and anyone can carve out their own meaning. The FAQ on their website says that their work is under Creative Commons, meaning that using their music for film projects is permissible as long as it’s not for commercial use or the film is being screened at a prominent and/or international film festival. If that’s the case, they have a .doc one can download, fill out, and send to management to request permission. Hopefully it will not have to come to that and I can just worry about this being a student music video project.

Sigur Rós has produced several songs I like and I have outlines and scenarios to accompany them, but I’m most interested in “Glósóli.” The story idea I have for “Glósóli” is about a melancholy, elderly man who lives in a village inhabiting an island. The denizens are able to see the spirits of the recently deceased, who always fly away to the sun (symbolizing heaven) soon after they die. The plot now involves the old man modifying his car into an airplane using scraps, with the ulterior motive of flying to the sun.

I always liked the song for its melancholy atmosphere, that at first felt aimless and full of longing, but then it crescendos into power, triumph, and heartwarming sweetness. After listening to it several times, the song reminds me of my grandfather, who has been depressed for several years ever since my grandmother died. And after reading an interpretation of the lyrics, the song always refers to finding someone.

How I want to tackle this project is through animation. My reasons are is that I do not have the resources to actualize what I want in this video. The animation, however, will have to settle for a sort-of ‘animatic’ feel due to the fact that I do not have the time, energy, software, experience, or talent to produce a quality animated feature. My plan will be this: I will first write a script and create some concept sketches to figure out the look of the film and research the setting. Then, I will try to work every Sunday after I have finished my homework and weekly or bi-weekly comic strip for the picket to sketch rough versions of the environments and then the characters on my computer using my Intuos tablet. After that, I will do clean-up and ink the rough sketches. Then color and soon, editing.

If, however, the task has proven too arduous, I will abandon this project and try another idea or song with a camera and hope it will be more efficient. If I also cannot do a song by Sigur Rós, I have a friend back home who’s a musician and has written several songs. If I cannot do something by Sigur Rós, I will ask my friend if he would be willing to collaborate.  

Music Video One

            When I started my student career here at Shepherd University not too long ago, I did not have an idea on what I was going to study as a minor. My major, however, is English concentrating on Creative Writing, my career goals centering on becoming a writer/novelist. After my first semester, I finally established myself minoring in Communications and New Media, after finding myself interested in the prospect of filmmaking or writing comic books thanks to the Graphic Novel class. Music Video seems like a nice way to introduce myself to filmmaking. It’ll allow me to practice my storytelling ability, how to understand and utilized the technology to create a visual experience with music, and potentially meet people I’d be happy to work with and improve my social skills. In addition, I’m an avid music lover, and I tend to imagine stories and scenarios along to the songs in my library. I hope that by starting small here, I can aspire to more ambitious work.