Combatting Depression
By: Austin Fischer, Rebecca Drabczyk, Aishwarya Bhatia
Our sound sculpture works to depict the transformation from life to death and the emotions that occur while this happens. Originally, we wanted to take the story of someone in real life who had committed suicide, like that of the Victoria Secret creator, who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge after he found out the company he recently created and sold had topped a billion dollars. In the end, we decided to create our own story. We worked to illustrate the various feelings associated with the events that ensue in the life of a fictitious woman.
The story begins with a middle-aged mother with three kids. One day, she decides to go to the park with her children. While her kids are playing, her youngest daughter hears a nearby ice cream truck and runs ahead until a rashly driven car strikes her down in the middle of the road. In an abrupt moment, the woman’s dreams are sabotaged. Her temporary happiness is substituted by an unwarranted alarmed feeling. As she begins to recollect, one by one, what she has witnessed, she faces deep bouts of panic and depression. After all, a part of her had ceased to exist. She laments her helplessness and contemplates suicide.
The woman spends a month attempting to put her life back together. However, she is unable to overcome the grief and sadness of her daughter’s death. The mother then decides to revisit the park where her daughter met her untimely demise. In an emotional rage, the mother drives off the side ramp of the Golden Gate, plummeting 750 feet below. With such a detailed scenario created, it made the task of accompanying the varying sections of the story in sound relatively easy. There becomes a clear and distinct transformation from life to death and contentment to depression that ultimately leads to a family’s demise.
Works Cited:
After Effects Template Glass Shatter. YouTube. Max After, 30 Oct. 2009. Web. 04 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8cau0oxjnw>.
Car Accident- Sound Effect. YouTube. YouTube, 5 June 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr2JdkPKJyo>.
Eminem. “Stan.” By Dido Armstrong, Paul Herman, and Marshall Mathers. Rec. Nov. 1999. The Marshall Mathers, LP. Eminem and Dido. 45 Kings and Eminem, 2001. YouTube. YouTube, 24 Dec. 2009. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN-hfMtY>.
Flatbush Zombies. Prod. Eric A. Elliot. N.d. YouTube. 24 July 2012. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEqGwwYGQAo>.
Free Children Playing Sound Effect. YouTube. YouTube, 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvlkPJkmYPg>.
Heartbeat-Sound Effect. YouTube. YouTube, 30 July 2009. Web. 04 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eFn8Cgcx8g>.
The Ice Cream Truck Song. YouTube. YouTube, 28 July 2008. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZB6WXDuM1g>.
Scary Sound – Funeral Bell Tolling. YouTube. YouTube, 26 Apr. 2011. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKTIe6piDOI>.
Floyd, Pink. “Time.” By Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright. Rec. 1972-1973. The Dark Side of the Moon. Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd, 1974. YouTube. YouTube, 08 Aug. 2012. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWTLUmUjo8A>.
Vivaldi, Antonio. “The Four Seasons.” Cond. Antonio Janigro. Perf. Jan Tomasow and Antonio Heiller. Rec. 1957. The Four Seasons- Spring- Allegro. 1957. YouTube. YouTube, 19 Mar. 2009. Web. 04 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2cIUu-sS7w>.
**Eportfolio would not let us submit the file, I forwarded the file to Dr. Wollman before 6. Sorry for the trouble.
While listening to your sound sculpture I really felt a sense of loss and detachment. I like that the music traveled through a wide depth of pitches from the super high notes of the mother screaming to the low echoes of the funeral bell. The different sound clips fluidly told your narrative to its dark end. I especially liked the small details that led one “scene” of the story to the next, like the slowing of the ice cream truck’s jingle after the woman’s scream and the distant voices around her.
When I heard this for the first time, I didn’t even bother reading your explanation before hand. I wanted to see if just listening to your group’s piece could invoke what you intended to make listeners feel. It was fantastic, as I experienced everything you described. I like the correlation between Stan and the main event of your piece. Thanks, now I’m sad.
Nice work on your sound sculpture! I was definitely able to feel the emotional changes and knew what was going on even before I read the description. Also, I liked how you guys created your own story instead of basing it off on someone famous who committed suicide. Your story of a mother losing her daughter unexpectedly is much more emotional than the Victoria Secrets creator who committed suicide due to a poor financial decision.
The audio definitely had a powerful message. It invoked a strong response emotionally. Listening to it, I could actually picture the tense moments such as the death of the daughter. I like it escalated to that point and then had a decrescendo, just like a person’s descent into depression. I like how you came up with an original idea, it takes a lot of creativity. But while I understand why the heartbeat is there, it became a little creepy to listen to. Overall you guys did a great job!
The abruptness in the beginning is realistic and resembles a tragedy in real life. People will not expect tradegies and it will be sudden, similar to the woman’s scream at the end of the happy melody. Even without reading the description, your sound sculpture has a clear transition from happy to sad.This transition is an excellent depiction of depression. Your audio matches with your story so well that an explanation for each sound is not required because it is self explanatory.
I’m not sure if this was intentional or not, but I believe you purposely mentioned the Golden Gate Bridge multiple times because it is a famous spot for suicides. If anyone is interested, there is a documentary concerning the bridge and its relation to suicide. The documentary sparked a debate concerning its release to the public because of the “Werther effect.” The Werther effect is the idea that a highly publicized suicide will spark copy cat suicides. It is interesting your group used the Golden Gate Bridge because of the bridge’s relation to suicide.
Great sound sculpture! I could really feel the emotion throughout the entirety of the piece. The transitions were fluid for the most part. However I think if you left a bit of silence right after the mother drives her car off the golden gate bridge, it would have made your piece much stronger towards the end. I also really liked how you incorporated part of an Eminem song to your piece; when I first listened to the piece I knew without reading your citations that the car crash sound was from “Stan” by Eminem.
There is no doubt that I appreciated your work in the creation of such a vivid work. I can almost picture, in my head, what happened by merely listening to the sounds and not reading your descriptions. Now there is a few problems about the piece that I would like to address. I can’t help but notice that there is a constant sound of heartbeats in the background and can’t grasp the meaning that it’s there. I also think you still have slight issues with the transition between sounds, some of which appeared or ended rather abruptly. But in general, I think you did a great job.
Great work! Like Andrew, I listened to your sound sculpture before reading your explanation. I thought it was super easy to follow and it matched your storyline perfectly. I really liked your sound and music selections because they effectively conveyed the mother’s situation. The heartbeat sound effect further highlighted her conflict between choosing to live and committing suicide. I was able to visualize the story and connect with the woman through the sounds.
I really enjoyed your sound sculpture. I was really able to understand the story through the music. I was able to picture the story in my mind almost like a movie. Even if you didn’t read the explanation, you would still be able to follow along. The music left a sense of loss and sadness which perfectly conveyed the mother’s circumstances of losing a child. The sound sculpture was very touching and I could feel the emotions.
Based on just listening, I thought the repetitive heart beat in the background was clever. Not only does it make it obvious the exact moment the woman dies, it also ties various pieces – that might otherwise have been quite disjointed – together nicely. The music choice is varied and keeps thing interesting. The scenario was very detailed, but I was still able to get the gist of it from the audio without reading the story. The only thing that could be improved a little is the abrupt ending. Maybe ending it with a flatline sound effect would’ve been better.