soundwalk

   I started my sound walk in a diner.  There is something really comforting about the orchestral music that is created by the combination of classic diner sounds.  My neighborhood is Bushwick and this diner is located right on the corner of Flushing Avenue, a high traffic four lane street.  Bushwick is still a neighborhood occupied by a lot of factories, so the sound of trucks is a constant back-drop sound during the day, and was quite loud even when inside the diner.  It made you feel like you were on a road trip somewhere in the middle of the country at a truck stop.  All diners tend to make me feel like I am a Thelma or Louise...far from my house but very much at home.  I realized the sounds that come out of a diner never seem to change no matter how many decades past.  I always feel like there is a mutual nostalgia being experienced by all of the patrons in a diner, or maybe it’s all in my head and just me feeling such a comfort amongst strangers.  The sounds that resonate the most are the sound of cutlery hitting the plate or the inside of a coffee mug, this sound is morning music to my ears. Then the sound of the register opening and closing and all the coins clanking inside.  The sound of the metal spatula scraping the eggs off the hot plate, and of course the different conversations being kept at a respectable volume.  What was interesting about being in this diner was a new sound that I had never acknowledged or recognized before, it was the constant thumping, the sound of cell phones hitting the table, being picked up and then hitting the table again.  This sound was a slice of the new generation, however no matter how progressive a place may be or feel, a diner is and will forever be a place frozen in time.

MOMI reflection

    The MOMI was a fascinating experience.  It was interesting to learn about the use of cameras during the war, along with the birth of broadcast news.  When the first portable camera was invented for military purposes it only allowed up to 10 minutes of footage.  This mean’t cinematographers during that time, war-time specifically, had to be extremely selective, particular, and careful deciding what it was they thought worth capturing.  I found this interesting because in toady's world, considering all of our technological advances and expanding capabilities, this seems to be an extreme disadvantage.  I then realized that this restriction allows one to really harness their creativity.  When we were discussing in class the pros and cons of using film and digital cameras, it was difficult to understand why someone would prefer film. This trip allowed me to understand.  When our MOMI guide was discussing the talent cinematographers during the early years of film making had, considering the amount of restriction.  This immediately made me think of something Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t  have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long letter instead.”  Its extremely difficult when an art form is restricted, however the precision this forces one to have can really birth beauty and reflect true creativity.  I have more respect for pieces shot with a film camera then I ever did before.  

I had a lot of fun in one of the interactive exhibits.  We were in a sound-proof room and were able to record our voices over an actors in the same way they would do when dubbing lines in post-production.  It was fun to be able to actually speak into an cardioid microphone and know when we told that it was a cardioid microphone that we had to stand right in front of it, since it picks up sound only from the front not the back.  It was nice to be able to apply knowledge from lecture while being guided through the museum.  It really enhanced the experienced and opened a broader curiosity for the history of production and film in general.