Process

• grouping – I was assigned to be with Bilal and Emily
• storyboarding – we talked through the story together and Emily did the drawing for us
• test shooting – gathering materials and testing (we realized this looked nothing like how we pictured, lighting was very difficult to get right)
• actual shooting – looking up references so we could all be on the same page
• editing – we prioritised learning how to use premier over the actual output so each of us took a stab at editing and separated the work by minute

I like:

• that we decide to split the editing work because we could all explore our own style
• the synchronization between sound and visual in the first part

I wish:

• we had planned the editing better in terms timing  – in order to create a arc
• we had looked at the references sooner
• we had talked about what we all wanted more thoroughly i.e. what we were comfortable with and what we were not. there were areas of miscommunications during the process

Synopsis:

Option1 – Genie Blender Live Demo

Option 2 – Live social experiment with the Genie Blender.

Storyboard by Emily:

Process: storytelling, planning, sound recording, editing

We began the whole project by brainstorming on the story – with the limitation of having to get it done in 2 weeks, recording only in Tisch building, having the walk being in the building and the sound being 5 minutes maximum. We started thinking about the space and the context of it. As we zoomed out and learned more about the ITP floor, we came up with the “ITP Then: Sounds of the 21st Century” concept, trying to capture the essence and the energy on the floor. We wanted the sound piece to be for future students who will never get to experience the ITP at its original space, the 4th floor of 721 Broadway building.

We then listed all the sounds we wanted to capture and went around to record the sounds separately. We played back the sounds together and polish the narrative to fit the sounds and timing. When we were clear about the storyline, we divided the parts and edited on our own! (not common, but a great way to learn the promgram and minimize effort).

Key learnings:

• Always use the same frequency for recordings
• A lot of good sounds are available online!
• Sound effects actually work well in some cases (in our case, the robotic voice)
• Find the most quiet place to record voices, noise cancelling tool is not great

Collaboration:

Our team was very much open in brainstorming / springboarding ideas. We edited individually to experiment on different styles and compared our output to see which worked best.

What if?

I am happy with how the sound piece turned out – if anything I would want to fine tune the recording and editing to hear the nuances and provide an even more immersive experience.

Since ITP is moving to Brooklyn in 2019, our group thought we should make a soundwalk tour of the original ITP floor (4th Floor at 821 Broadway) for future ITP-ers to experience the space in an immersive way.

We started by writing a draft on the story and collecting HD sounds. We then wrote the script and recorded the narration.

SOUND COLLECTION LIST

SCRIPT

We divided the parts and edited individually to see the different techniques (using Adobe Audition) then shared them with each other for comments.

My personal edit: realistic sound, minimal layer of sound.

Others’ edits: robotic sound effect, many layers of sound, sound from other video.

The final piece: *insert*

Janet Cardiff

‘Her Long Black Hair’

An audio walk in Central Park

June 16 – September 11, 2005

The blending of space, time and perspective.

The experience of the audio walk felt like a collective one for me. I was experiencing Central Park through my perspective and Janet’s perspective simultaneously. Much like Janet, I was exploring the park with artifacts which lead me to my own story or the story I create for myself. It was an immersive experience tying together the essence of Central Park, Her Long Black Hair audio walk, and myself.

The stories and the sounds.
Note: orange text are audio from the audio walk.

Central Park: the shared experience between us

• Description of space and time – creates context, allow you to adjust your thoughts to meet her context
  Evening, dark, day, birds.
• Ambient sound – ease sympathy, experience what she is experiencing in the same space
  People saying hello, symphony, buses, birds, pond, children.

Her Long Black Hair: Janet’s own take on the lady

• Opinion of photographs – let in to personal space in her mind, get to know her through her perspective
  Her hair is annoying. 

Myself: my invitation into her experience

• Follow the stepping sound – establishing a space, a rhythm
  Heels or hard shoes on the ground
• Detailed description – feel more connected, more nuanced with experience
  The long roots of the trees, that very last bench, walk down all the steps.
• Direct command – feel active in the walk
  Now get up, walk to the end, sit for a while. 
• Whispering – let in to personal space
  Wants to change memories in her mind.
• Breathing together at the end – synchronize physically, get into the same wavelength, leave feeling neutral
  Inhale, exhale.

What did / did not work.

All the sound techniques helped with empathy. The only thing that did not work for me was the long pause which caused me to be distracted. Perhaps in addtion to the stepping sound, there could be breathing sound or other audio stimuli.

The audio walk, the combination of abient noise, narration and direct invitation, stimulated a lot of imagination, allowed me to empathize with the artist and made me feel more connected to the space.

POST-WALK NOTES, TO BE EDITED:

• empathize with person because she’s doing the same thing, trying to figure out a story
• man phones in works
• surround noise 
• mimics the real sense of walking… random thoughts come into mind
• the pace of the walk, step by step
• pointing out very specific nuances like “last bench” or the “roots of the trees”
• talking directly at you and stopping at the same time 
• makes you feel like somebody is following you. 
• stimulated by people who shout “hello hello”

• the long pauses which are left for you to think? causes distractions?

• stimulate very active imagination 
• makes you question her story, why does she feel this/that way
• makes you question her background, why does she imagine the worse of people, why is she doing this walk, what’s her relationship to the photos
• made me feel like every place has a history and the place is made up of everybody’s history there
• the ambience noise play a big part in making it seem very realistic

• effective – made me feel scared, curious, something is about to happen but doesn’t
• effective, I think those stories actually exist