Sound Transformation – Alice in Wonderland

Posted on by
5

The goal of our sound transformation was to embody the Alice’s changes from reality to dreams in the 1951 Disney movie “Alice in Wonderland.” In the beginning of the clip we hear Alice’s calm reality, however quickly after, she falls down a rabbit hole and things transform into this hazy, confusing, dream-like state. There are some parts from the movie and sound effects in the audio clip to reflect the plot in the movie, such as Alice changing sizes, the Cheshire cat, and the Queen of Hearts. As the clip goes on, the music becomes more eerie and chaotic because of the events that Alice was facing, such as escaping from the Queen. As much as there are parts that are sequential, there are also parts that have no order. This was to signify how crazy and all over the place the Alice’s dream-like adventure was. Since the movie was very confusing and strange, we tried to incorporate that into our soundtrack with sudden bursts of music.

By: Christine Yan, Margaret Wang, Shirley Yau

Demi Lovato. “Gift of a Friend.” MP3. YouTube. 04 Sep. 2009. 25 Oct. 2013.

Avril Lavigne. “Alice.” MP3. YouTube. 29 Jan. 2010. 25 Oct. 2013.

Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack. “Little Alice.” MP3. YouTube. 02 Mar. 2010. 25 Oct. 2013.

Alice’s Curious Labyrinth. “Painting the Roses Red.” MP3. YouTube. 27 Dec. 2009. 25 Oct. 2013.

Shinedown. “Her Name is Alice.” MP3. YouTube. 02 Mar. 2010. 25 Oct. 2013.

Aly & AJ. “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah.” MP3. YouTube. 15 Feb. 2005. 25 Oct. 2013.

Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack. “Alice’s Theme.” MP3. YouTube. 02 Mar. 2010. 25 Oct. 2013.

The Jacobins. “Running Into Circles.” Lucio Westmoreland. 28 June 2013. MP3.

Motion City Sountrack. “Always Running Out of Time.” Almost Alice. Buena Vista Records. 2 March 2010. MP3

Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack. “Only a Dream.” MP3. YouTube. 02 Mar. 2010. 25 Oct. 2013.

Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack. “The Final Confrontation.” MP3. YouTube. 02 Mar. 2010. 25 Oct. 2013.

3OH3 Ft. Neon Hitch. “Follow Me Down.” MP3. YouTube. 02 Mar. 2010. 25 Oct. 2013.

Image Transformation: A Societal Hierarchy

Posted on by
3

Jeremy GIF Arts Project

The image I created reflects the theme of a societal hierarchy in The Nose.  The image indirectly comments on this same theme, the theme of some being higher in status than others in society.  First of all, the pyramid in my picture takes up the whole image from the start.  It overshadows the landscape, showing that in the background of life, there’s a social hierarchy that hangs over everything we do.  I felt that the picture was too pleasant, though, so the sky darkens and reddens, showing that this social hierarchy is a negative aspect of life.  Next, the lines in the pyramid represent how rigid (or bent) these social bounds can be.  As for the figures in the pyramid, notice each set of figures.  The row in the middle is composed of cartoon monsters, not too evil looking but not too good looking either.  Next there are the stick figures on the bottom, who are simplistic, yet innocent – the lower class.  Finally, we arrive at the scary figure on top, the monstrous face that looks down on the rest of society and sits on top of the social pyramid.

Then, the sky becomes whiter, then completely white.  Then the sides of the pyramid get blurred.  This represent what would happen if societal hierarchies became insignificant.  Then other objects begin to blur, first the figures, because something has been taken away from them because of this change, and then the pyramid, because the pyramid doesn’t matter without anymore.  The figures continue to blur and then finally, the pyramid gets erased, leaving the figures alone and blurry because a huge part of who they were has been taken away, in the it’s hard to tell if they are a monster or a stick figure because societal rankings, like looks, no longer matter.  Finally, the image moves to white, representing how the social hierarchy has been erased along with peoples’ statures in society.

The mid point of my collage:

Final Nose Collage

Sound Sculpture: A Compilation of Transformations

Posted on by
8

 

By: Hanna Yoo, Amy You, and Tina Shen

As said in the title, we made a song that holds several transformations.

The general summary of our work could be this: A man is suffering from a coma. While in his coma, he has a dream about him waking up from his state of unconsciousness and begins to watch a baseball game (absurd? We agree). While watching the game, the camera rolls in to a woman in the audience.The man immediately falls in love upon seeing her on the screen. But when he realizes that they would never be able to be together, he is grief-stricken and dies.

Note: We were trying our best to shorten the song, but we felt that every part was necessary for the song. So unfortunately, our song is ten seconds over the maximum.

Breakdown of the Song:

We represented that the man is staying at a hospital by using the heartbeat effect and the oxygen hissing sound. The sad music is also another way we tried to show his coma state. Then, when the more upbeat music begins, it is the moment the man enters his dream. We used the sound of a bat hitting a ball, the announcer saying “Home run!”, and the sound of cheering to characterize the scene where he is watching baseball. Then, you can hear someone munching popcorn, which is the man eating popcorn and watching the game in his dream. Then suddenly, the sound of the game and popcorn munching stops, and if you hear closely there is a single set of heartbeat. Afterwards, there is silence and then the next song, which represents the moment the man sees the woman on the screen and man is falling in love. After the “hoo-ing” part comes “Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison. That is basically when the man is still in his love trance. The song is abruptly stopped by a car screeching sound which represents him coming back to reality. After the sudden change, you can hear a man saying “Not possible!”, which reinforces the idea that the romance between the man and the woman on the screen is impossible. Then there is a series of sad songs, including “All By Myself” by Eric Carmen. After the lyric “those days are gone”, the man dies which is represented with the flat noise of the heart monitor.

Works Cited

“Top 10 Memorable Sports Announcer Moments.” YouTube. YouTube, 15 Sept. 2009. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

“All By Myself.” Arista, 1988. Youtube. 29 Dec. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

2PM. “Heartbeat.” N.d. Youtube. 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Car Screech Sound. SUG Music, N.d. Youtube. 30 Sep. 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2013

Wii Sports – Long Home Run (656 Feet). MSgtSlaughter, n.d. Youtube. 6 Feb. 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

Orbison, Roy. “Pretty Woman.” Youtube. 10 Apr. 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

T-Max. “Wish Ur My Love.” N.d. Youtube. 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

Eating Popcorn – Sound Effect. N.d. Youtube. SoundFX25, 2 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

Yiruma. “Same Old Story.” N.d. Youtube. 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

July. “In Love.” N.d. Youtube. 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

DJ Vinyl Scratch Sound Fx. FreeSoundFXs, n.d. Youtube. 12 Feb. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Avenue, Boyce, and Fifth Avenue. Mirrors – Justin Timberlake (Boyce Avenue Feat. Fifth Harmony Cover) on ITunes & Spotify. Boyce Avenue, n.d. Youtube. Boyceavenue, 12 May 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

WWE Crowd Cheer Sound Effect. N.d. Youtube. TylerTy8, 2 June 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Baseball Hit Sound Effect. N.d. Youtube. Crankdatbuttcrack. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Big Bang. “Day by Day.” N.d. Youtube. YGEntertainment, 2 Oct. 2008. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Alesso, and OneRepublic. “If I Lose Myself.” N.d. Youtube. Muz111k, 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Creative Project 2 – The Nose: Secret

Posted on by
2

herpderp

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone has a secret. Major Kovalev from The Nose is no exception from this notion, regardless of his social status. Indeed, he struggles to hide his secret by covering his face with a handkerchief and hesitating to publish a “missing nose” advertisement. The whole story revolves about the major’s missing nose, otherwise seen as his “little” secret, and I derived the theme of my collage from this concept.

 

The collage first begins off with a man sitting in a corner, who is depressed and frustrated because of all the secrets he possesses. The constant variation of colors in the background immediately follows. This change in colors represents his fluctuating feelings and mood. At times he may feel reluctant to spill his secrets, but at other times, he may also feel slightly more encouraged to step out of his comfort zone. Subsequently, the ray of light emerges along with open hands of people. They represent hope and the attempts of others to help the man. The fact that they gradually appear demonstrates that the change does not happen overnight. The open window serves as a medium for a dove, the symbol of hope, to come into the scene. It gently flies in, as if it wishes to comfort the man. Then the deconstruction begins. The dove spins and falls into the space, which symbolizes for the loss of hope and optimism in the man’s world. Outside the window is a thunderstorm, which then disappears into the darkness. Even the hands fade away, ultimately leaving the man alone. The ray of light flickers and vanishes. The only thing that did not disappear from the collage is the man. However, a brick wall slowly covers him up, eternally confining him.

dcollage079 (mid-phase)(mid-phase of the collage)

 

The Rise and Fall of Major Kovalev

Posted on by
1

 

Final-Gif-austin-fischer

After reading through my mood diary, I saw that a major theme that I had picked out after reading “The Nose” was the nature of Kovalev to make himself appear bigger than he actually was.  My image of the character throughout Gogol’s story was that of a short, stout man who’s life goal was to make himself the most prominent figure in Russia.  He seemed to be so concerned with status that Kovalev was no longer Kovalev, but rather an egotistical shell of a human who needed to remain bigger than those around him so that he could continue to do things like make acquaintance with the wife of the State Councilor.

I designed my college based on these ideas.  I wanted to portray Kovalev as a shell of a human being who, through questing to echo the biggest status, lost a piece of himself and fell down to the bottom.  No matter how hard he tried, how big he attempted to make himself, Kovalev still could not be the best.  Eventually the addition of the great and powerful Oz indicates how false his reality is.  While Kovalev takes center screen and grows, Oz looms in the background as a reminder that Kovalev is portraying himself as something more than he actually is.  I added the pyramid over the Russian town to show that, for Kovalev, it was all about one’s position in the hierarchy.  He begins as a smaller character at the bottom, and attempts to rise to the top, where Oz looms over the triangle.  However, once he accomplishes what he sets out to do and makes it to the top, where his illusion is located, he enjoys only a moment of satisfaction before he loses his nose and falls to the bottom, only to repeat this continuous journey.  This repeats until Kovalev finally assumes his position at the top as the triangle flips and the character wakes up to find that his nose is in fact intact on his face for no obvious reason.

My Mid-Image:

medimage

** Zoe:  I changed what we talked about.  Thanks again, Austin.

Creative Project 2: Social Ladder

Posted on by
1

My animation (click to play):

FinalCollageDonald3

Or click here

The main focus of my animation is the idea of a social ladder in Kovaloff’s society along with the confusion and absurdity conveyed in Gogol’s story “The Nose.” My animation starts off with a fictitious ladder that gets narrower and narrower as you go up. Also, the difference between the steps increases as you go up. This symbolizes how there are more people at the bottom of the social ladder than at the top and how people of higher social status become “unapproachable” to the people at the bottom. Also, the cartoon depiction of Kovaloff and his nose in my animation emphasizes how the story is so fictional despite its hidden message towards a realistic societal issue.

At the beginning of the story, Kovaloff’s ranking as a  state-councillor is decent and he is obsessed with it. Therefore, Kovaloff is pictured as a young man in business attire in my collage. However, when Kovaloff suddenly loses his nose, his appearance is destroyed and therefore, he feels like he has tumbled down the social ladder towards the bottom. Meanwhile, the fictitious nose with its own set of eyes, arms, and legs, seem to be of a higher social status than he was. Because of this, Kovaloff had trouble approaching the nose and once he gathered up the courage to do so, the nose dismissed him because of his lower ranking. Afterward, Kovaloff ventures on his fruitless search of the nose. Despite his lost nose, he was often thinking about his lady friends in his mind rather than focus on finding the nose. After a fit of despair, he writes a letter to Madam Podtochina, accusing her of stealing his nose and dismissing her as his friend.

Towards the end of the story, I get more and more confused as the nose starts walking around the city and attracting large crowds, and then one morning, it magically returns back to Kovaloff’s face in the correct spot. Therefore, I put up a lot of “question mark” signs in my animation to show how confusing and silly the ending was. Although Kovaloff receives his nose back and his life is back to normal, the idea of a social ladder is still there. It merely becomes less noticeable to both Kovaloff and the audience because the initial problem was resolved. Therefore, rather than destroying the ladder, the ladder was blurred out of our minds as people such as Kovaloff returned their focus to their work and courtship rather than in seeing the walking nose. Gogol does not provide any sort of resolution to the overbearingness and rigidness of social status, and therefore, the social ladder remains in the exact same state at the end of the story. Also, Kovaloff was a static character who was unaffected by his experience so he remains the same as well.

And here is my collage:

Collage011

Creative Project #2: Confusion

Posted on by
3

TheNoseGif

 

While reading Gogol’s “The Nose,” I couldn’t help but feel the same amount of incredulity and disbelief while reading Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis.” Not only does it apply the same amount of weirdness and abstract thoughts, they also both have a single major disturbing event that symbolizes something. While I took the story to mean that society uses a mask to cover up and represent social status, much of the story’s effect was lost on me.

I took the background of a city street, and added Kovaloff’s nose falling from his face. On the opposite side, I put a picture of his nose in an uniform and hat, almost mirroring him exactly. However, my mood for this piece begins to show when the WAT meme starts appearing on the screen. In the end, the WAT meme overwhelms everything about this story. Although different themes such as identity loss, social status and submission can be taken from Gogol’s story, my mindset of confusion and overall disbelief blinded my analysis of the overall work.