16 mm Film Manipulation

16 mm Film Manipulation Response

This project was quite the experience. First off, trying to create any sort of image by hand on 16 mm film is difficult. The square of space you have to work with is tiny, and I am not very good at drawing, so it made it even more challenging. Because of my lack in drawing abilities, I stuck to more abstract techniques to represent fire, earth, water, and air. I enjoyed painting the most. Fading the colors from red to blue, for fire and water, was fun to do, and it actually looked decent. There was also a touch of blue glitter. When I put it on the clear leader, I could not see it very well, but when it projected, it showed up subtly. This actually made it look cooler than if it were too thickly applied. I also liked how the scratching looked on-screen. My original plan was to scratch suns into the medical film stock, but it was more challenging than I thought. Instead, I scratched simple stars. They turned out looking unique while it played. I also used a sharpie to black out part of the clear leader. After doing this, I used scissors to scratch out tiny stars and planets to make it look like outer space. This part was not large and went by quickly, but it looked good on the clear leader itself. 

Although I am not good at drawing, as mentioned above, the simple animations and sketches I drew worked well on-screen. The ones that stood out most were the moving clouds. While I was drawing this using sharpie onto the 16 mm film, I was not sure it was going to look right. I did not know if I was drawing on enough of the film stock or if I was spacing each image enough for them to animate correctly. It turned out better than I thought while watching it. Animating is tedious and time consuming. I commend anyone that creates animations, especially by hand.

R3 Blog Response

The Listen Up article got me to stop and listen to the sounds happening in my environment. My window is open, so I can hear my neighbor’s air conditioning blaring. This is the most prominent sound. I could also hear my dog chewing on one of her toys and the buzzing of my computer. I never take time to dissect the sounds I hear. I am used to hearing them constantly, so it does not catch my attention.

The short film, Listen, made a great point about man-kind’s soundscape “performance.” Everyone on the planet makes up our soundscape. Between our voices and machinery, we are the performers. As in the first article, the man in the film requested the audience to stop and listen. This time my dog had stopped chewing, and my computer stopped buzzing. All I heard was the sound of the air conditioners and a loud car driving on Randall Parkway. These sounds are not natural. They are products of man-made machinery and play a part in creating our soundscape.

I found it interesting that Justin Boyd collects sounds like many people do photographs. Our sight is only one of a few ways our brain creates memories. Boyd finds sound to be more significant. Many people do not realize how important sound recordings can be, until they lose someone they love. It’s then they discover that one old voicemail, that they are grateful for the sound. They get to hear their loved-one’s voice again. Boyd recognizes this importance and keeps memories through that method. It’s very interesting and something most people wouldn’t think of.

The Father of Acoustic Ecology discusses the impacts machinery noises and other man-made sounds have on the planet. Apparently, the sounds interrupt the communication systems of many animals. The first article briefly talks about this and how some birds cannot learn their mating calls. I may just be living under a rock, but I feel like most people are not aware of this. I learned about noise pollution in elementary school, but we didn’t learn the consequences of it. People need to be aware of their noise’s impact on the environment, so we can protect species from endangerment or extinction.