Jason’s, Olivia’s and Emily’s Sound Transformation

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Our sound transformation captures how rapid cooking time has decreased over the past centuries. The beginning starts with a rooster call, showing how early people had to wake up in order to grow their own crops and tend to their livestock–all to prepare their own meals. The music being played reflects the peacefulness and happiness of how simple life was back then.

However, as industrialization progresses, the tempo changes to one that is more upbeat. Though industrialization is not completely bad, food starts to get commercialized and therefore, loses a lot of its nutritional value. At this time, it does not take as long to prepare and cook a meal.

Lastly, we hit he modern age where food is one of the biggest industries out there. The plate washing and crashing sounds are similar to that of a busy kitchen of a restaurant today. Moreover, the time it takes to make food is so short that we can just pop something into the microwave and call it a meal. We have also included frying sounds to show how fast food has influenced how diets today.

By: Jason Woo, Olivia Sztanga, and Emily Yeung

The xx. “VCR.” MP3. iTunes. 24 Jan. 2010. 20 Oct. 2013.

Bright Eyes. “Road to Joy.” MP3. iTunes. 25 Jan. 2005. 20 Oct. 2013.

San Cisco. “Nepal.” MP3. iTunes. 23 Nov. 2012. 20 Oct. 2013.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. “Home.” MP3. iTunes. 1 Jan. 2010. 20 Oct. 2013.

Childish Gambino. “Untouchable.” MP3. YouTube. 9 Sept. 2009. 26 Oct. 2013.

Adriel Kroneberger. “Dishes.” WAV. The FreeSound Project. 26 Oct. 2013.

Anemicrose. “Dishes” WAV. The FreeSound Project. 7 Apr. 2010. 26 Oct. 2013.

Joerichhoofd. “Breaking Plates 2.” WAV. The FreeSound Project. 28 Feb. 2013. 26 Oct. 2013.

Hadders. “Sausages Frying.” WAV. The FreeSound Project. 18 Nov. 2010. 26 Oct. 2013.

Stwrongtone. “Microwave Running.” WAV. The FreeSound Project. 23 Jan. 2013. 26 Oct. 2013.

Ashleyxxpiano. “Microwave.” WAV. The FreeSound Project. 28 Sept. 2013. 26 Oct. 2013.

 

Creative Project 2: Animated Collage – Identity

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Digital Collage

Click on image to view animated collage

My creative project focuses on the theme of identity. Throughout Gogol’s “The Nose,” the characters’ identities seem to be derived from their appearances and how the rest of society perceives them. For instance, Kovaloff identifies the nose as a highly ranked official because of his uniform. Although Kovaloff himself is a major, his identity and sense of authority diminishes upon losing his nose. He covers his missing organ with a handkerchief because he fears that his peers will apprehend him as one of lower social standing.

Completed Collage

Completed Collage – Click on image to view larger

The images in my collage are placed on ascending steps to illustrate the relationship between social rank and identity. The nose is placed on the upper-most level and is clearly classified as an official, as indicated by its reflection. Below the nose, is a handkerchief, which is representative of Kovaloff upon losing his nose. The question marks in his reflection demonstrate his loss of identity and the uncertainty of his ranking now that he is missing a vital organ. The deconstruction of my collage depicts the idea that identity does not have to be dictated by society, on the basis of appearances and social standing. The empty reflections on the mirrors show that only we have the power to determine our own identities. The erasure of all the question marks in the collage further emphasizes this concept.

 

Creative Animation: Castration Anxiety

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When I was searching for some meaning in this seemingly pointless story, I came a cross an interesting interpretation. Imagine waking up one day as a man and your penis is gone. You are just stunned. You have no idea how this could happen. But now you cannot really call yourself a man. You can no longer pick up women because let’s face it; you do not have the equipment anymore. Since you are no longer a real man, your authority and power is challenged. Is a man without a penis really a man, if he cannot do that which a man is born to do? You walk around in shame and humiliation and cannot afford to let anyone see.

Seeing the parallels like this made me give some credit to this interpretation. Interpretations like this, while far fetched, are not wrong because they have textual context. Also the story was written in Nineteenth Century Russia so writing it about penises will guarantee that the only person reading that story will the government official who sentences you to death. Replacing the penis with a nose would seem like a plausible theory given the circumstances.

My collage centers on manliness and how one loses it. I had a picture of the two greatest men in the history of mankind: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris. I also had a picture of trophy with a muscular man on it. Men carry their manliness like a trophy, showing off the legendary achievements they accomplished. It is obvious at this point what the cylinder represents. It gradually gets bigger as the pride a man has increases. But right after, the knife appears. It cuts the cylinder right in half, castrating the man. He is no longer a man. Everything representing masculinity just disappears.

You can see how this reflects in the story. When Kovaloff loses his nose, he is ashamed to show himself. He also cannot talk to the woman who wants to marry him. He just overall loses his strength and just becomes obsessed with finding his nose. This “nose” was all his manhood and when separated, it becomes more important and successful than him. It is like his worth as a person depended on his “nose.”

Midway point

 

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animation "The Nose"

 

The overarching theme that I drew from The Nose and which inspired my photo collage is the shallowness of wealth. It is the idea that status and wealth are drawn not from skill or experience but from frivolity. Gogol emphasizes this particularly in the scene where Kovaliov speaks with his nose. His nose, which clearly has done nothing to deserve a high social ranking or authoritative position, is a higher class official than Kovaliov himself and speaks dismissively to him. The point Gogol is trying to convey is that class distinction is based upon factors that are worthless, like family connection or pomp, rather than substantial traits.

This is the idea that I worked to convey in my photo collage. The figure that we see in the original frame, standing in the ornamental ballroom, represents the upper class. Everything around him represents possession and substance, yet as we see he contains nothing on closer inspection. His concerns are only with wealth and status, as is represented by the gold coins that make up his heart. And beneath this, beneath the money and class concerns, we see nothing. Here the man, our symbol for the ‘best’ of society, is standing in a desolate wasteland with his pockets turned out. On a deeper level, he has nothing.

Creative Project 2: Identity

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FINAL

 

The theme presented in my animation is that of identity.  Identity plays such a huge role in The Nose in that Kovalev and the nose itself are affected by it.  Kovalev, in a way, loses his identity by not having a nose.  He is a well-respected Collegiate Assessor prior to the losing of his nose.  After that, most people refuse to believe anything that he says.  He loses his respect, thus losing his identity.  In terms of the nose, it assumes many different identities.  Once separated from Kovalev, it leads its own life, away from being “Kovalev’s nose” and being of a higher rank than Kovalev himself.  All in all, identity is questioned throughout the libretto.  It forces us to ask ourselves, what is our own identity?  What determines our identity?  Do we all have an identity?

These questions are relatable to my animation in that we all question who we are.  The masks are the different faces we all have.  They flash because our identities change everyday.  Some days we may be a nose on someone’s face, the next day we may be a doctor.  We can never be sure of our own identity.  However, there are some things that never change, like our fingerprints, which is marked all over the animation.  In relation to The Nose, the nose will always be a nose, no matter what other identities it may hold.  Kovalev will always be a man, whether he loses or gains respect from others.  The figure of the man presented at the end illustrates how humanity itself changes everyday, going back to the idea of the masks being faces.

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The destruction of my collage relates to the theme of identity in that it relates to the final loss of identity.  The scribbling colors represent all the different identities, changing each day. But then, eraser marks come in, after all of the “hard work” (relating to Kovalev’s years of building up his own reputation and everything he stood for), illustrating the loss of identity.  Through my animation, I have displayed the theme of identity.  First being the question of who we are in terms of identity, then being the loss of it all.

Janice Fong

Creative Animation: Kovalev and Disorder

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Nose2

The theme I am presenting in my animation is disorder, and the overall effects it has on a person’s life. For instance, we saw that Kovalev’s existence was in a chaotic state after he lost his nose. Initially, he considered himself very handsome, and had a high stature in society. Meanwhile, after losing this importance feature, he felt ashamed to go out in public or to meet with his mistress. I took this idea of beauty being tainted and began to work on my animation. For instance, I started with an image of the Eiffel Tower, which for me is the epitome of beauty. Meanwhile, on to this background, I started to overlay different things in life like animals, hearts and flowers. In this manner, I brought in the theme of disorder and things being out of place. Surely, an image of the Eiffel Tower is not the same when it is covered by hedgehogs, dogs, owls, cats, washed-out flowers, and hearts. Although the picture is still pretty, it does not show the full, commanding beauty of the Eiffel Tower, Similarly, Kovalev is not the same handsome, powerful man without his nose. On the same token, we found Kovalev’s nose wandering around the city, which was also quite weird and disorderly. For this reason, I took animals, like owls, cats and hedgehogs, and put them in a picture where one doesn’t expect them to be. It once again capitalizes on the idea of disorder.

Collage- Midway Point

Collage- Midway Point

After this first set of images depicted things being out of place, like they are in Kovalev’s life after he loses his nose, I was finished with my collage and I had reached my half-way point. I then took the image I had created of tainted beauty, and drew purple lines on it to depict shattering, which goes to show how Kovalev thought everything was falling apart in his life, since he lost his nose. Meanwhile, I then added a sudden, rotating black hole to depict how unexpectedly Kovalev’s nose was found. I then show Kovalev growing in size, for now that he has this important feature of his face back, he is once again on his high-horse. Thus, I played off of the idea of disorder, and the effect it can have on someone’s life, by tainting beauty and leading to confusion. Meanwhile, a sudden turn of events can bring everything back to normal. I also satirize Kovalev’s big head and high opinion of himself by making him much larger than anyone else at the train station in Russia, in the last section of my animation.

In my computer graphic, I also show the importance of position in society during this time. Clearly, to Kovalev, being stripped of his nose was a big deal for many reasons. He held a good job and needed to uphold his reputation. Mainly, I hope to make clear through my animation the overall theme of disorder in The Nose, as well as the effects it can have on someone’s life. For Kovalev, when things go wrong, he feels like his life is shattering, but, when things go right again, he is haughty and elated.

Creative Project #2: Displaying Humiliation

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My animation:

(Click on the image below or the link above to open up the animation.)

nosecollage1000

My idea for this project was centered on how a person physically and mentally responds to humiliation. For the background, I chose a theater stage to represent how embarrassment makes us feel on display. For the main character, I choose a cartoon whose appearance looks haughty and superior. I thought that the juxtaposition of a 3D photo and a 2D drawing would highlight how uncomfortable and disconnected a person feels in a humiliating situation. From there, I erased his nose and made it grow larger next to him. In consequence, I also made his cheeks grow redder and redder as evidence of his physical embarrassment. Mentally, my character also begins to feel less confident. I represented this internal change by altering his size in my collage. His gradual shrinking in parallel with his reddening cheeks visually explores how humiliation can affect a person. Later on, I framed the collage with people pointing at my disproportionately small character. I chose to make the red cheeks and the red audience the only two sources of color for most of my project because they both externally presented what makes us embarrassed. My subtraction of the collage eliminated the spectators and gave the man his nose and pride back. At the very end, the colors of the theater reemerge and the man appears normal again. Of course, this is only until the animation loops again and he continues the process once more.

I think my animation speaks to a sequence of events that we all have experienced. The importance though is to learn to be more humble and open-minded each time after embarrassment. My character does not learn this. Thus, he experiences the same downfall after each humiliation as he did the time before that. My collage is the snapshot of one moment in that process –the moment a person feels the most overwhelmed with embarrassment. During this assignment I felt a connection toward William Kentridge and how he directed his production of Shostakovich’s “The Nose.” I imagine that his process in deciding what elements to add and how to represent certain themes, though on a greater scale, paralleled my own thought process.

My collage:

(Click on the image below to make it bigger.)

collage060