Sound Project Final

Radio Response

          This is a response to the Radiolab Podcast titled Quicksaaand! This podcast discusses how the fear of quicksand has significantly decreased since the 1960's. In the 1960's quicksand was used as a serious threat, in serious movies. Movies like Lawrence of Arabia uses it, and Woman in the Dunes used quicksand. Because of this a lot of people were afraid of quicksand. It is interesting to listen to how this fear has dissipated along with it's dissipation in the media. At one point they discuss the fact that it does not fit the right metaphor for how we as a nation are feeling.
          This podcast uses a lot of sounds for examples. They use sound excerpts for MLK, Lawrence of Arabia, My Little Pony, and more. They are using sound for examples. It's like showing found footage, only in audio form. The different voices don't necessarily create a different dynamic. It's a little exciting when they introduce the writers of Lost, because I like the show Lost, but the dynamic is consistent throughout the episode.

Narrative Response

           

           Let's talk about the pilot episode of Freaks and Geeks. In this episode the title character who we follow through all 18 episodes (because this show was wrongfully cancelled after one season) Lindsay Weir is faced with new and different challenges in high school. Though she is certainly not new to the high school, after the death of a grandparent she herself has changed from what we understand she used to be; she was once a mathlete, and is now considered a "freak." This show deals a lot with stereotypes, and though some play into what we would expect, and others do not, most everything is accurate, and realistic. Lindsay is not a stereotypical girl. Though there are still feminine qualities present, she constantly wears an army jacket, she doesn't appear insignificant (which girls sometimes do) she is very smart, independent, and rebellious. She does not dress "sexy" in any way, she just dresses like Lindsay. She almost plays a heroine role in some cases, like when she stops the kid in the beginning from bullying her little brother, and when she asks Eli (who is mentally disabled) to the dance to (again) stop him from being bullied. This show successfully reveals every layer of some of the stereotypes we think we know and understand, including the feminine perspective. Some stereotypes remain a mystery, but that's a result of perspective.

Documentary Response

         

         For the documentary response I chose to watch the full length documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated. This is a film that explores the rating system in Hollywood, how films are rated, what experiences past filmmakers have had with movie ratings, and how the MPAA decides what is what, and who they really are as a corporation.
         This is a participatory style documentary, which means that the people on the screen look like they are at the same level of power as the viewer. As Kirby Dick goes through this process of getting to the bottom of the rating system, we feel as if we are coming along with him, and it's the same idea as the when he hires the private investigator. Shots such as the ones where we feel like we are in the car with him are good examples of why we feel like we are on the same level as us. He also shows you images, and proves his point so well, that we not only feel like we are on this journey with him, but we also sympathize with his argument.

This project is composed of excerpts from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The reason it is structured, and sounds the way it sounds to play with the idea that we all zone in and out of different things in regards to key words, volume, emphasis, tone, ect. What words stick out to you and why? I know what words are important to me, but are they the same words that you hear?

https://soundcloud.com/eliana-lustig/sound-project-final

V A Serious Survivalist's Guide to Survival from Eliana Lustig on Vimeo.

Blueper Meets Freddie- Super Final from Eliana Lustig on Vimeo.

Clip #1.mp4.mp4 2 from Eliana Lustig on Vimeo.

Clip #1.mp4.mp4 from Eliana Lustig on Vimeo.

Surveillance Project

What I do within 10 ft. of my phone over 24 hours on 9/21/13:

• Wake up
• Drive to grocery to buy breakfast
• Stop at bank
• Eat breakfast
• Watch the morning nature shows
• Do reading for class
• Watch the West Wing
• Clean room
• Go to grocery for Mom for dinner
• Watch the West Wing
• Go to sleep.

I noticed that (even though I didn't note it in my list of things that I do over 24 hours) I have a tendency to use the same glass all the time. It's a "Jelly Jar" glass, which just means that it used to be used for Welch's jelly, and I won it at the NYS Fair this year. I love the glass because it has Bugs Bunny on it and it just kind of makes me happy every time I pick it up. So on 9/22/13 I took a picture of every time I used that glass throughout the day. I tend to use it a lot =)

Diptych Project

Response to Snowden and Peeping Tom Articles

           The Snowden article was very interesting. The fact that this whole journey has been documented, and that these people are willing to alter their lives in such a dramatic way to get this information out there, and what the consequences of releasing this information are makes a huge statement in and of its self. It means that they think that this is that important. Censorship in a lot of ways. is a seriously corrupt part of government. I believe that censorship is important to a certain extent, because if people see documents out of context, or if military documents are released that could foil a plan for a necessary operation we could be putting the country at risk. However, the government should not be withholding information from us that we should know about. And I think that if they are withholding important information that we should be aware of, that information should be leaked. I know that the information that Snowden released is about NSA surveillance, but we don't know exactly what the information is. In any case I say bravo Snowden. If you feel that strongly that we should be aware of this information, and that it should be presented to us in a proper manner, and not shown to us out of context, then it must be pretty damn important and for a damn good reason.
           The Peeping Tom presents a very serious issue for any and all photographers. This photographer took pictures of a family through their apartment window without them knowing, and then put the pieces on display, and sold them for $10,000 a piece. Generally when you take a picture of someone in their home through their window, it's considered an invasion of privacy and it is illegal. However the court through this case out because this family was living in a glass walled apartment without any curtains. The court ruled that if they were living in a glass house then they forfeit their expectancy of privacy. I think that that might be true to some extent. However, though I have never lived in a glass apartment myself, I would think that if the apartment across the way was designed similarly that there would be an unwritten code of respect that you don't go taking pictures of the people across the way. But if you break that code, all you can really get are angry neighbors, the court still cant do anything. If I had been one of the people in those pictures I would probably not have cared about his taking the pictures, but the fact that he made money on them would have annoyed me. And I would have sued for 15% of his profit.

The Medium is the Massage Response

               When I started reading this book, it felt very out of context because I started on page 60. It was interesting, but it felt very fragmented. A section that really interested me was the one about commercials, and how movies have come to be more like commercials to manipulate the psyche to feel one way or another. But as the book states if you have not been preconditioned to a lot of the techniques used in commercials you would not be affected by it, and you might even find it annoying.
                I found a couple of bits in this section interesting. First the part about the commercials states that television commercials were considered a "bastard form." I found that bit interesting because it might have been considered a bastard form then, but nowadays it is a pretty good business to be working in if you are a filmmaker. It's a good place to be, because you can make a lot of money making commercials. Though commercials are still annoying, they keep allow a lot of filmmakers to make a good living.
               The other bit that I found interesting was the New York Times front page title "Power Failure Snarls Northeast." Just this title shows how reliant almost all of America is on electricity (with the exception of the Amish.) Maybe the Amish have the right idea: to not become too reliant on electric utilities because if they ever stopped working most of society probably would not know how to function. This article states that 800,000 people are caught in subways, cars have stopped, and the city is dark. Electronics are such an important part to our everyday lives, and especially to people who work in film and photography. Even if we are using say a Bolex camera, chances are, if we are indoors, we are lighting the scene with electric lights. Most everything we do in our work, and in most other jobs rely on electricity.

In-Class Assignment 8/29/13

I said that this person has the same amount of power as me because she is physically at the same level as me. I  was stand on the same path and at the same level as her.

I said that this person has more power than me because he is physically at a higher level. I was at the bottom of the steps of Carnegie Library, and he was more toward the top.

I said this person has less power than me because he is physically at a lower level than me. I was at the top of the steps of Carnegie Library, and he was at the bottom.

Selfie!