6 x 1: Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing has become and very familiar concept to me over the past year and a half or so. I gained a lot of experience with it while working on ...and the world stopped last semester, so I'd like to think I have sort of a head start when it comes to this. That being said, it's always nice to go back a reconsider things and rethink them. After working on ...and the world stopped and thinking of the crowdsourcing strategies we used for that film. I'd just like to say I think a crowdsourced project should definitely work on a a time-frame that's not limited very much, especially when not working with something that already has somewhat of a fan-base. It is important to narrow down the desired audience and pool of people you'd like to work with in order to develop a strategy that best-suites the desired end-product. Crowdsourcing will be an awesome concept to explore for this class because of the diverse ideas that are required by the assignments.

Acoustic Ecology and The Media Fast

Reading (and listening) about the ways sounds effect, have effected, influence and (sometimes) interfere with our lives was interesting. The "readings" for this class have all make me somewhat rethink the way I think of perceiving things (which says a lot considering I took history of avant-garde cinema last semester). I thought I have considered most of these things before because of my studies of other aspects of cinema, but these videos and readings have given me so many new ideas and made me wonder.

Thinking of the media fast in regard to the acoustic ecology readings has caused me to consider things I hadn't considered. I was paying more attention to the things I could see when I was on the media fast. For example, when in a crowded, busy environment - like the gym - I would try to zone out and absorb everything I could see all at once, without consciously identifying the individual items in my mind. So I would look at a large space with a lot of movement and just look, not focusing on any single point, and it was interesting to think of things like that. I noticed that all of society is one giant working machine, and thinking of things in big terms like that removes the individuality from the mind.

However, after considering the acoustic ecology readings, it was interesting to think back to the night I went out late and did photography in the snow/ice. It was silent. And I remember thinking "man, it's quiet out here tonight." But I didn't REALLY think about the sounds I was hearing until I did the reading. There were the drones of distant traffic and cars, but not any where near as much as usual. And that was creepy. It was almost unnerving, and come to think about it, that was one of the things that attracted me to go out that night. I realized how quiet and alone I felt. So anyway, there was a LOT to think about and reconsider this past week.

Media Fast Video

Synesthesia

The Ted Talks videos about synesthesia were very eye-opening. I am very interested in the concept of visualizing sounds, especially music. It got me thinking...what if the music we associate with happiness or sadness also make shapes that could be associated with happiness or sadness. It seems that cymatics have a constant effect on our minds (mostly subconsciously) and it is fortunate that there are people with the gift of sensing these different ways of perception. Daniel Tammet's paintings were intriguing. It is interesting to re-think the way numbers can be expressed. I can't imagine having the ability to see forms like his paintings when thinking about certain numbers. Seeing Evan Grant's video gave me what I think would be a really cool idea. I would now like to do a videos installation project with a live band where each instrument's frequencies were run through a cymatic processor and projected live on their own screens. I think that would be and completely new and unique psychedelic experience, especially to be a part of the band playing the music.