Tuesday, November 10, 2009

NA | StatementForNonLinearProject

See what I did there? I made the title like I would in flash.

Bam!

End of statement.


Just kidding.



Addition of sounds such as music, voice over and sound effects adds a deeper element to the narrative. While the picture can say one thing, the music may define it on a deeper level. For example, while my movie may be about cooking eggs, if you play the song "Take Time" while watching it, it will speak to a bigger idea of taking some time to cook and egg, a break from all the bustle. The same way, voice can bring a different experience than music. While music immerses a person in the experience, a voice-over may give the audience a more objective or factual view. Sound effects can bring a more realistic feel to the movie. They add a dimension of reality that doesn't exist in a silent movie.

As far as the control I exerted over the user in this project, I think it is minimal. The user can watch the movie with all sounds, no sounds, all music, etc. I didn't cut the movie in any way with any particular sound to form an effect. The whole movie is presented. On the other hand, I did choose the particular songs and noises, and wrote the scripts for the voice-overs myself, so there is a certain amount of control exerted there.

2 comments:

AGallagher said...

Comical and engaging intro with the chicken. The first read almost comes across as Farm Life but that is quickly rectified I believe with the addition of your video and some of the sound effects, though some of them are mechanical in nature and bring me back to a processing plant or something.

Entertaining music/voice overs. The really short sounds that climb up on the far left- maybe they should have been smaller eggs? A few of the sounds are so short they're almost not worth putting up, though I appreciate being able to hear the individual sounds that make up the pattern/song. Maybe those should all be grouped together so the viewer understands the relationship better?

I know the eggs are buttons, and I like the cluster of six across the bottom because it references an egg carton, but the other 5 on the far left stack sort of strangely and ruin the idea of a carton. Maybe you could have brought back the idea of utensils as the "tools" you use to create the sound? Some sort of difference between the shapes could have helped.

Why did you chose to include only one movie? I know you wanted to limit control (obviously), but since we have pieces of your song, I want pieces of the movie to play with as well.

If you had looped the short sounds, it would have continued along one of your original ideas or building your own song from those little short parts and that would have kept me interested and engaged past watching the video once and playing all of the sounds only once. As soon as I get through everything, I'm done.

Over all very nice job, everything plays and works, as well as keeps me entertained and happy while I figure out what everything plays. Good voice over and music choices. Well done!

Anonymous said...

The timing with the movie and the first long music is really good. It hits the main loud sound when some major things happen. I think that is really good timing. and that it makes some things even better, like when it is timed with the flame turning on. The second song more reminds me of a lullaby with the music and the soft voices but the music in a way contradicts it, especially at the end when the other voice comes in. The voices are AMAZING!!! They are so funny and its brings in a whole new thing to it. They also contradict themselves which makes it better. One says don't eat them and why and the other one says just eat them. I can't stop laughing when I hear them. I also like that you can click the sounds egg again that expanded and it makes them all collapse too, and also that with opening it the egg on the right also appears but subtly and makes you think that it was there the whole time even though you knew that the chicken was there earlier.

The second sound from the bottom was a little too short to tell what it is. I keep listening to it and still can't figure it out. I know the one is suppose to sound like when you were talking about throwing the egg against a wall, did you really do that to make that sound because it almost sounds like it.

I think the one that sounds like a frying pan is good but I also mistaken it for water also, but then I realized the sink of dirty dishes and water don't make sense so I then understood it as a frying pan.

Why is it that only one egg says music and only one says voice and not the other two? and that there are no label on the sound effects? I could understand the surprise of it but its when it rolls over that it says that. The only reason I would know that they played something is to play it. I would understand a learning experience but then why do some have labels and other don't? Also, when you stop the movie it always goes to the second frame with the frying pan and not back to the stove, it made me confused on whether or not it was still playing if I tried to stop it.

I love the beginning of it. I think it could use a little pause at first because unless you are paying attention you wouldn't see it until it was too late. But I do think it adds to your piece, especially with the chicken fading away and the egg getting bigger.

Overall, I really enjoyed your piece and see just little thing that might need to be tweaked.