Blog #3: MOMI Trip

On my trip to the Museum of the Moving Image, there were a lot interesting things I learned about the process of making film and video. One of the first things I saw were a lot of different types of old film cameras. It was interesting to see how the old cameras compare to modern cameras all today. It really showed that the process of filmmaking has come a long way since the early 1900s. The most interesting part of the museum that I saw was the Titanic exhibition. In this exhibit, they showed the scene of the sinking ship and how the sound was recorded apart from the filming of the scene. Usually, the audio and video are recorded at the same time through single system production. In this case, a double system production was used, recording the sounds separately and then merging them with the video during editing. There were many different techniques used in order to get the right sound to match the video. One of the techniques was using a chair with bags of sand tied to it being knocked over in order to simulate the sound of a body dropping down onto the floor. It is a perfect example of how sound editors in film have to get creative at times in order to get the right audio. When the audio and video were played out of sync, neither could stand on their own and they didn't make sense. Without the right sounds the image does not have the desired effect, therefore good audio is a key component in having a successful production.

Blog Assignment #2: What I Hear

The area I chose to explore on my sound walk is my neighborhood in uptown Harlem on the west side. As a racially diverse area of the city, they are many different sounds reflective of the cultures present. The first sounds I hear when I exit my building, are children laughing and playing in the street. The weather has started to get warmer so outside, little girls are playing jump rope after school. You can hear the sounds of the rope hitting the pavement as the girls count out loud.

Another sound you can hear is salsa music blasting from a car radio. There are a lot of Latin people in the area and on days where the weather is nice they like to gather outside for some bonding. Two elderly women are sitting outside of a clothing store, enjoying the music and chatting away. There is also a group of men surrounding the car playing music, that are hanging out and laughing. As I walk more towards broadway, I can hear the sounds of cars whizzing by. Broadway is a very busy avenue and has two way traffic so there are always plenty of taxis and cars passing by. There is the sound of a bus in the distance; I can see it two streets over. I also hear a mother calling out to her young son to “stop running ahead” in Spanish. Overall, the sounds I hear on my sound walk are very reflective of the busyness and culture that are the foundation of New York City,

Audio Portrait