Preparing for your Audio Portrait Interview for Project #2

Preparation for Interviewing:

• Know what you hope to get and develop questions to draw out what you need.
• Write down questions (but don’t look at them while the person is talking to you)
• Start with less challenging questions
• Try and get a beginning, middle and end
• Personal experience, the story of what happened, is often more resonant than opinions (though they can be important too)

More tips for Preparing Questions:

• Be prepared - know your subject
• Ask questions that require a good answer: No yes/no questions
• Open, not Leading, Questions.

Example of Great Questions (from StoryCorps):
https://storycorps.org/great-questions/

Great Questions for Anyone (not an exhaustive list):

• Who has been the most important person in your life? Can you tell me about him or her?
• What was the happiest moment of your life? The saddest?
• Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?
• Who has been the kindest to you in your life?
• What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?
• What is your earliest memory?
• What is your favorite memory of me?
• Are there any funny stories your family tells about you that come to mind?
• Are there any funny stories or memories or characters from your life that you want to tell me about?
• What are you proudest of?
• When in life have you felt most alone?
• If you could hold on to one memory from your life forever, what would that be?
• How has your life been different than what you’d imagined?
• How would you like to be remembered?
• Do you have any regrets?
• What does your future hold?
• What are your hopes for what the future holds for me? For my children?
• If this was to be our very last conversation, is there anything you’d want to say to me
• For your great great grandchildren listening to this years from now: is there any wisdom you’d want to pass on to them? What would you want them to know?
• Is there anything that you’ve never told me but want to tell me now?
• Is there something about me that you’ve always wanted to know but have never asked?

Project #2: Audio Portrait of a Person

Assignment 2: Audio Portrait of a Person

Your second assignment for the semester is based on an interview with one of your classmates. First, you will pre-interview a classmate in order to define a theme for your piece. As you listen to your classmate, try to identify something unique about their story that “grabs” you. The following week, you will interview the person using questions you have written up before the interview, recording the interview with the Zoom recorder. Finally, you will create a multi-track audio piece in Premiere Pro based on the interview. 
When you do your recording, record ample material, but try not to go overboard. 15 minutes worth should work. The final piece should be 3 to 4 minutes in length. Your audio portrait should mix elements including the voice of the interviewee, your voice (if you choose to include it), ambient background sound, music, and other sound effects as you see fit. When you have a finished piece you will upload it so it can be accessed through your blog site. 

Remember to identify a theme that will make your piece say something special about the world, or the “human condition.” A story becomes compelling when it communicates something unique that others can relate to. 

Blog #2 Assignment: “What I Hear”

Blog #2 “What I Hear”

This exercise has 2 parts.

Part 1. The Soundwalk 

Spend an hour doing a “Soundwalk” around a particular neighborhood in NYC.

“Soundwalk” is a term invented by R. Murray Shafer, a musician and professor at Simon Fraser University. Shafer noticed in working with his music students that most of them couldn't remember even five sounds they had heard earlier that day. He created the soundwalk, a kind of walking meditation, as an “ear cleaning exercise,” a way to increase sonic awareness.

In An Introduction to Acoustic Ecology, Kendall Wrightson writes, “In order to listen we must stop, or at least slow down – physically and psychologically. We need to try to be human beings, instead of “human doings.” So – during your sound walk, do not answer your phone, text, browse, read or do anything but be, and listen.

The goal of this exercise is to “open your ears.” New York offers a rich sound environment. Close your eyes and listen.

Part 2: The Blog 

What is the texture of the sound? What are the specific instruments in the city symphony? What sounds are clues to a specific neighborhood? A specific time of day? What are sounds that are unique or meaningful to you? Expected or unexpected?

Some of Shafer's terminology might be useful to you in writing about your experience on the soundwalk:
• Keynotes: background sounds
• Sound Signals: foreground sounds intended to attract attention.
• Soundmarks: sounds particularly regarded by a community or its visitors (analogous to visual “landmarks”)

250 words. Due in Lab 7

Define a Place Examples

Define a Place Examples (past work from students):

https://vimeo.com/141664837

https://vimeo.com/141466911

https://vimeo.com/141466981

https://vimeo.com/141450316

PROJECT #1: DEFINE A PLACE

***THIS IS A GROUP PROJECT. You must both agree on the location and the concept. Each person can design their own shots or you can agree together on each shot. Everyone must handle the camera and shoot.

In this exercise students are required to “define a space or location” through visually controlled and expressive shooting.

Begin by choosing a location either on campus or close by.

Before shooting anything, observe the space for a while. What is happening there? What details exist that can tell a story about the space (signs, activities, objects, etc.)?

Now, make a mental “shopping list” of shots. Think about what camera position, shot size and composition will work best for each shot. Try not to move the camera unless your move has a clear beginning and end. Remember that a still frame with movement going on in the frame can be more powerful than a moving shot.

Each team member will conceive of and shoot 10 shots and then all the shots will be pooled for editing.

Think carefully about what you wish to convey. It could be an emotional tone you feel in the location (claustrophobia, fear, energy); or it could be that you are interested in the quality of light in the space; or perhaps what intrigues you is what goes on there; or maybe you like the architectural details, or the colors; you could also contrast interior with exterior, light and dark, movement and stillness ... it’s up to you! You don’t need to make a huge statement, but you must find some specific angle on the space and reveal that visually.

Also consider how your shots might eventually come together in the editing. Do you want your images to lead us into the space from the outside? Or do you want to create a question as to where we are before you reveal the larger space? There are many different ways to approach this.

Each team will then edit their short film using the team’s material. Although the material should be silent (no natural sound) footage can be cut to an appropriate music track.

Shot Scavenger Hunt Camera Exercise for Lab on Feb. 22nd

In your groups, go out (not too far!) and shoot the following:

1. Find a location and pick 3 shots that look “good” or interesting to you. Decide what should be in focus. Film each shot for 10 seconds. Try to stay steady.

2. Find a subject that you can film with three focal lengths to change the angle of view (you will have a wide shot, a medium shot, and a close up). Hint: Once you set your focus for a specific object in the frame, you should not have to change it.

3. A shot where there is movement in the frame but the camera doesn’t move.

4. Film your partner walking (you should be on the widest focal length of your lens). They should walk slowly. Walk alongside them, keeping the distance between you consistent so they remain in focus. Be careful not to bump into anything!

5. Try and create a frame that has a shallow depth of field (hint: use the long end of the lens). Change focus (rack focus) while you are recording.

SOME TIPS:

• Plan your shots before pushing the record button. AVOID recording while figuring out what you want to shoot next, also known as “visual hiccups.”
• Do your best to make sure that any camera movement is intentional - don’t walk around with the camera searching for a shot.
• To steady your camera shots, use your body to brace your arms, bend your knees, use a nearby wall or pillar to steady your shot.

Media 160 Lecture Slides

See this Folder for all Lecture Slides