sneak peak

heres just a sneak peak of the intro... just the voice, im still working on collecting sounds... its just a test run, i'll have a better recording later. i had a better one but i was having a hard time not picking up background noise. i'll definitely record this later in a recording room or just a sound proof area. i recorded this sitting under my comforter so if it sounds stiff it was because i was trying really really hard not to move. but yah this is just an example of where im going with this.

in response to the comments from the previous and other ideas

I suppose i'll just try to get together a 2-3 min clip then decide. I actually plan on making it available to the public, it wont be anymore work than preparing it for the class. im just going to have ppl sign in and maybe give me their student ID so they dont take off with my stuff.

see im really unsure about if the time of day matters. part of me wants it so that people going through wont always know if what theyre hearing is being played for them or is actually happening.

new idea...
so i was thinking and i want the participants to be able to have something tangible when they go through. so i was thinking of making a little polaroid but instead of it having a picture i wanted to use like a clear damaged plastic that will make things look black and white or maybe give it a sepia affect just to stress the idea that its memory. then as the person is guided through, whenever the voice talks about a memory, it will tell the person to hold up the polaroid to see what they're looking at in an aged photo and then they'll hear a camera taking a picture. it might be cheesy and stupid, but im gonna try it out and see how it feels in the piece... just a random idea. im just need something to really have the participant interact more.

presentation

im debating if it will matter what time of the day i present my project. i feel like a full quad will add to the affect that what is being heard is really happening, but on the other hand, an empty quad might be just as affective. since the class is so late in the day im pretty sure the campus will be fairly dead... unless its sunny.

"ok i have it!" continued....

so where was i...

top of the quad... bench... hmmm, i dont really remember where i was going with this. i dont want to give a play by play or anything, so im not really sure why i started explaining like that.

Basically I want the voice to be the thoughts of someone else in the participants head. Its going to start of with a few thoughts just about life, nothing too deep, but just thoughts to bring the participant to a stronger awareness of his or her surroundings. the campus is a beautiful place where so many things happen daily, yet after a few years of being here, most of us rush past it all trying to get to our next class. The participant will walk to the pace of the voice's foot steps to make sure he or she is where he or she is supposed to be. The thoughts will bring up incidents and events that have happened in the very spot the participant is standing. Using ambient sounds, the user will feel like the even is happening right in front of them, yet they cant see it. It will feel like a ghostly presence of people who used to roam the campus just like them. I also want to stay true to the time period of when each thing happened, so i will try to use sounds that indicate that. i am attempting to pull somewhat of a pulp fiction where everyones connected in a way, but im not trying to make it too obvious but more of an underlining thought that the participant might leave with.


writing this is a little hard. i've been trying to sit outside and use the setting for inspiration, but the weather is just retarded.

this narrative is going to require a lot more research and interviewing. but its pretty fun so far.

i hope that all makes sense

ok i have it!

ok, so im compeletly realized what i need to write about when i was walking home.

the narrative is not going to be linear, it'll be a mix of thoughts and stories and incidents that happened in whatever place i decide to guide the participant through. its going to pull back anf forth between past and present. its going to be thoughtful, reminiscent and hopefully a little funny. i have some good stories of stupid little things that have happened to people I know and i also know the history of the campus pretty well. its pretty interesting, i did a bunch of research on it awhile back just for kicks, theres a lot that has happened.

so how do i plan to do this. im going to start on that bench at the top of the quad, the one next to the art building....

i have to do something ill finish this later

new inspiration

so lily allen is my new favorite.

the song LDN has provided me with some great inspiration for my narrative. its kinda messed up but i love it. go download it.





but uh... yah

so i was thinking about why the Janet Cardiff's piece was so great in NYC. it was because no one who actually lives there would stop to for even a second to chill and think. I mean when i moved back to washington i could hardly sit still and relax. The chillness of washington drove me crazy, but i love it now. anyways i feel like people in seattle are pretty passive. this is just a generalization, i mean its not like everyone in NY is insanely honest.. but then again those who aren't would be called tourists or NYU freshman. anyways, what was i saying... o yah, um.. i think i want to aim my narrative in the direction of "the things we dont (want to) see"

trust me on this one, it will be great :P

issues

so...

i need portable CD players. if anyone has old an one that still works laying around that they wouldnt mind lending to my project please let me know.

i need a bad ass narrative. I want people to not only be engaged but i want people to really enjoy my piece. i want them to treat it like an amusement park ride and jump back into line to go through again.... uh, that will be hard

i need to somehow find an easy way of figuring out timing while recording my sounds. Im planning to just keep track of the timing of the footsteps and then work everything else around that... if anyone has any better ideas let me know.

Concept Architecture

CLICK HERE to enlarge

Proposal

THIS WHOLE THING IS KINDA A MESS OF TWO IDEAS. I WILL FIX IT SOON



Aesthetics lay on the surface of what we know. It is the first thing we come in contact with, the top layer that is only a shell for the great stuff within. However what is on the inside is hardly ever discovered. It is odd to me that culturally the outside is considered unimportant and that "you can't judge a book by it's cover" yet at the same time people try so hard to create an identity for themselves through their hair, clothing, mannerisms, everything that can be picked apart by only an objective view. Everything that is consumed comes in a nice attractive package and the ones with the best package tend to sell the best.

I want to bring this reality to the surface and examin the fact that sometimes it what lies on the surface that matters. Not to say that the outside is everything but that it is in fact something that drives us and is essentially the first impression. With this project I want to show how human it is to look first and understand later and how it is just a part of our culture.


I want to create an audio walkthrough of the UW campus that will engage the participants in a thoughtful look at their environment and themselves. The piece will help people achieve a new sense of their world and culture and how they as individuals fit into the whole.

Irony

inner beauty might be little bit of bullshit

i want to do something that will essentially engage me for the quarter...

i've been thinking about the shallow aesthically driven culture that i live in.

people will kill spiders before lady bugs when they're both still bugs.
ashlee simpsons popularity pole rose after the nose job and she still cant sing.
cute japanese trinkets that have almost no purpose sell like crazy and still.... do nothing

just a thought.

inner beauty might be bullshit... but is that a bad thing... maybe... maybe not...

random

Posted by amburrr at 3:18 PM

im a retard and have been posting in the wrong blog... soill just repaste everything...