Friday, November 9, 2012

Sound Walk




I decided to blog about my neighborhood, which is hell’s kitchen and my trip to the local barber shop. The whole experience was like a piece of music in classical sonata form, which is introduction, exposition, recapitulation, and coda. It started off with an introduction of ambient sound with multiple layers of fading texture, as I exit the apartment and enter the streets. It is like a single unwavering chord played on the strings, which are staggered through out the piece. This ambient sound is like the sound of air traveling. It is the main melodic line. It is the melody of life. As I walk the streets, there are glimpse of low subtle sounds from miles away serving as harmonic accompaniments to the piece. It fades in and out like crescendos and diminuendos. It transitions like the progression of harmonic language. There are cars and foot steps permeating the overall piece like drones and harmony. The footsteps of New York citizens are like the percussions of the orchestra. The loud banging sounds of tires rolling over metal plates on the road resemble that of timpani drums being struck. The sounds of vehicles followed one and another like an endless fugue. It was voice imitation in the infinite. These different sounds of the city intermixed together creates the exposition. As I walk into the barbershop, I can hear all sorts of sound from machines and the television playing. I hear scissors and hair combs and water sprays. The sound of the heater also permeated the room. It was like multiple different accompaniments as well as melodies. There were also cars rolling by, but the volume was lowered, almost like fading, because of the door being shut. It served as more harmonic accompaniments. All the sounds of the city were like individual voices that came together in harmony. The melodies interweaves and compliments each other. It was counterpoint everywhere. It was like a baroque polyphony. The progression of such harmonic excellence made up the development of the piece. As I leave and head back towards my apartment, all the sounds return as it recapitulates. Finally when I reach my apartment, as it all ends, the sounds cadences and the door to my apartment opens and serves as a coda, before it all ends. Instead of it being me remaining still and listening to the music progress, it was like music remained still as I progressed through the music. It was like quantum entanglement. It is the symphony of life and the universe.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

BLOG POST #2: Mise-En-Scène

The scene that I chose to do was the famous hospital sequence in the movie hard boiled. It was a heroic bloodshed film, which was a sub-genre of the genre of action films. The scene opens with the protagonists looking in at the camera from behind the hospital door. We can see their heads, parts of their upper bodies, as well their weapons from this view through the glass. This shows that they are getting ready to enter into unknown territory. The fact that the camera was placed from inside, it is trying to show that they are trying to enter. The film score help establish an anxious and unpredictable mood, like our protagonist does not know what will happen. But never the less, are prepared for a fire fight. The lighting was done very dark. It has very dim key and fill lights. This was based off the influence of film noir as well as neo-noir films. Then we get a shot from their vision of the inside. This is obviously done to showcase what the characters are seeing. The camera then goes back to the inside viewing them through the door and glass. It shows them locking and loading their weapons. This shows that they are being prepared for an intense shoot out. The camera then goes to the outside and shows one of the character kicking open the door to begin the sequence. What happens next is the infamous long take that took up over two minutes and 40 seconds. The camera work was masterfully done in the long take. It was always placed where we can see the action and never any obscure angles that make us question why it is there. The camera would also go to slow motion during key moments to intensify the action, which is beautifully done to heighten the story telling. The choreography are also over the top, so it can allows specific people to be in specific locations on set and then the camera would focus specifically on them, before they are get shot. This camera focus combined with over the top choreography creates a high impact visceral action, which is both exciting and aesthetically pleasing. The intense acting and melodrama intermingled with high velocity action and choreography brings a new exciting style to film making. This work is simply a master perfecting his craft.

 

Friday, September 14, 2012

Artist Statement

Where do I begin? Well, instead of talking about me, I will talk about my views on art, what art is, how does art make me feel etc. Art has always made me feel a sense of eternity. It is like I'm always there. I never liked the concept of death. I don't like things disappearing or disintegrating. Immortality always appealed to me. Art to me is the only thing that is immortal. Art makes me feel like I'm am living in a timeless and harmonious existence with the universe. It makes me feel like I have merged with the universe. It makes me feel at one with the universe. It is art that made me feel like I understand the infinity of the cosmos. That is only how art makes me feel. Now, I will talk about what is art. Art is not the end. Art is only a means to the end. The end is beauty. Art itself is neutral. It is not beautiful nor ugly. Beauty is a concept. Different people will connect with art differently. Different people favor different kinds of art. Everyone has an idea of what good art is. But, not everyone will agree on what is good art. Art has the ability to allow the admirer to reach a new height of understanding beauty. Beauty is a concept that is quite hard to understand. It might not even be able to be understood at all, at least not logically. But you can feel it. It is an extremely strong compelling emotion that overtakes you. In everyday life, it is very hard to experience the admiration for beauty. This is where art comes in. Art is a tool used to help you experience the admiration for beauty. For, this is the purpose of art.