Notes on movies:

-Captions: a narrating device

-Flashbacks: off screen speech or interior monologue

-Voice-over narration: viewers hear someone recount of series of events from a time and space different from that simultaneously pictured

-Narrators: They can be a third person voice outside the story of events or a character/participant in the story world

 

                People might object to the use of voice-over narration because it takes away from the “cinema.”  The argument seems to be that movies have been trying to separate themselves from theater and literature and they do so by showing rather than telling.  The haters of narration think that it is the lazy way out.  That a producer or director that decides to include narration is not using their most artistic and creative abilities and is rather taking the easy way out.  I think in essence, the disapproval of narration stems from directors who are trying to turn an amusement, cinema, into an art.

                 Kozloff feels the need to defend voice-over narration because she sees how much it can add to a movie and not detract.  She says that voice-over narration is “no more or less inherently valuable or cinematic then any other element of film. And when this device is well-executed, it opens up inimitable avenues for filmmakers.”  I think she has a great point.  Narration is no different than great camera angles or intuitive lighting.  All of these elements are what make a good movie great.  Also, she explains how voice over really does add to a movie’s content especially historically.  A narrator is able to set the historical scene for the listener with the listener having to do background research just to watch their $13.00 movie.  In terms of business, the average customer does not go to the movies to see a work of art, rather they go for entertainment and escape.  They also don’t want to pay $13.00 to see a movie where they are lost because they don’t know the historical context. 

                I wouldn’t say that I am very familiar with voice-over narration.  I actually don’t really notice it and I am going to have to spend a few minutes thinking about movies……hold on…………. “Simon Burch,” “Clueless,” “Forrest Gump,” that’s all.  Kozloff’s writing did not really intersect with my familiarity except for her saying that most people don’t really think about narration.  I think that I am going to analyze “Simon Burch.”

     Well, i’m going to run with what Jentery said about this blog not being formal and I am just going to be honest.  That talk by Erik Davis was straight confusing and he did not make his case (or is it cases?) very well.  But here our my thoughts on what I think I was supposed to get from this reading:

• So, the Renaissance is what made us such visual people?  And because we are visual we are missing how important sound is in our lives? 
• Resonance is one of the reasons why sound is so important?  Resonance can change a small action like singing into a huge action that breaks glass.  It is not linear.  Sound waves can resonate and hit mountains and bounce back and go all over the place.
• Another reason why sound is so important is because of simultaneity?  I thought that this was very interesting (after I read his wording about a 12 times to comprehend what he was trying to get at) because it is so true.  When you think of something visually or linearly, you only get THAT visual feeling.  But when you hear a sound, maybe a certain song, you can relate it to a special event in which you remember the sounds and tastes and environment and feelings and you get all of this simultaneously. 
• Sound gives an “effect” that visuals can not achieve?  I think that this is sometimes true.  Sound can totally immerse you, when you close your eyes and can practically feel like you are “in” the music.  However, in my opinion, a painting or picture can do the same thing.  I suppose it depends on the type of person you are.

Now for my quote: “This is related to print technologies—and print culture—because, according to McLuhan, these technologies inculcate within us a habit of organizing the world in a linear, atomized, and sequential fashion. Central to this visual space is the axiom or assumption that “different” objects, vectors, or points are not and cannot be superimposed; instead, the world is perceived as a linear grid organized along strictly causal lines.”

-The way in which this quote is written is obviosly directed at a certain audience.  A very intelectual, college educated, amazingly smart person.  “Inculcate,” “Axiom,” “Vector”???  What is this guy thinking trying to use words like that to get a message across?  Anyways, I guess if I was actually spending my time listening to a speech on sound then I would be of the educated sort and actually use those sorts of words in my life too.  However, I suppose that those words do give him credibility, in rhetoric I believe Aristotle called it Ethos.  His word choice obviously shows that he is intelligent and probably knows what he’s talking about (or he has no idea what he is talking about so he is trying to confuse us by stringing together as many syllables as possible). 

-This quote relates to why studying sound is important in that it discusses something that is quite true but one does not readily think about.  We, as a human race, like to have things sequential and linear and that this idea has been brought to us by a culture that supports it.  The print media for example, visually/literally puts things in perfect lines and sequences and things don’t happen simultaneously.  

Now for my thoughts on Megan Nordstrom work:

• Honestly my first thought was: Is she an actual Nordstrom? And if so, did she dress fabulously when she came to class?
• Next I thought that her writing was obviously much easier to read and actually had coherent arguments.  Her arguments seemed to go with what Mr. Davis was trying to articulate, it just seems that she made a better arguement because we could actually understand them.

  The quote that I chose from Megan was one from her Seabiscuit paper.  “I believe that the narrator’s voice and background music are essential in bringing the writer’s intended mind-set to the audience.” 

-I thought that the way that this quote is written is perfectly worded and succinctly tells the audience her argument.  I also think that this quote expressly shows why sound is an important study.  Without the sound, the intended mind-set would not have been achieved, and without the audience in that particular mind-set the movie probably would have been a total flop, and then it wouldn’t have gotten  an academy award or whatever thus proving how important sound is. 

     Well, I’ve done quite a few different things for service in my life but my favorite one was doing “Backpacks for Kids.”  It was a program that provided backpacks and school supplies to all the kids in my school distict that were on the free lunch program.  It was held at the local Ford dealership in Issaquah and a whole group of my friends and I went down there one saturday morning and handed out all the goods. 

     I felt that this project was very productive and very postive.  It was eye opening to me that there were kids that I was going to school with that did not have it as good as I did.  It reminded me to not pass judgements or make assumptions about people, because you really don’t know what their life is all about.

     This service experience will help me at the Boys and Girls Club because  I will be encountering kids with different backgrounds.  Whether they are poor or disabled or whatever, I can’t just go and make assumptions.  I just want to go and do good and make a difference.  It doesn’t even have to be a big difference, it could just be that I made their day better by playing a game of bball with them or helping them with their homework. 

     I’m not really sure why he put the sounds in this particular order.  From the title, “Sounds Ordered by Frequency,” I initially thought they were ordered by maybe sound waves or something but then once I started reading the list I have rethought this.  I think they are in order of how frequently he hears these sounds. 

     Well, the sounds that are on the list like two different languages, pencil rubbing on paper and paint hitting a surface makes me think that this person might be a sort of artistic.  I would assume that they are enrolled in music, art and/or language classes.  So, maybe this person would have sounds that would be from an artsy cafe or an art museum.  I could also see this person going to a local, small theater production or to listen to a small unknown band.  But these are totally just assumptions and I am very curious to actually meet this person and see what they are actually like.