Going into this module assignment I knew I wanted to combine my knowledge and skills within sound work with my interest in mixed media to create a piece of work that is drastically different in regards to my previous works involving sound and music. I feel since starting my second year I have really involved myself in this module, majorly enjoying learning an entirely new medium that has changed my perception on my own practice. Throughout the last year I have felt quite lost within my work, questioning whether or not this approach to sonic art is even right for me, this has been due to not really being able to define my practice, which I still can’t really do. However, since being able to refine my skills within this module, learning a new form of sonic work that not only involves technical work on the computer, but also practical work with my hands, I feel much more confident in my own abilities and my choice to study this course. Although I am unsure where I want to go with this in the future, I currently feel very inspired in working with Pd and circuitry, and as of now thats what is important to me, -feeling inspired in the moment and enthusiastic to progress in my learning.
When it came to choosing the elective for this assignment, I first felt gravitated toward ‘Sound for Screen’ mainly due to my familiarity within the practice. Coming from a film background, I have worked on sound for film before, both foley and scoring, and although I really do enjoy this kind of work, I felt I wasn’t really going to gain a lot of new information through choosing it for my project. I also felt discouraged from this project on account of the fact I would be creating a soundtrack to an existing film that was not my own work. This put me off as I feel it is important now, that the work I am creating for university is work I am also making for myself, original works that I can add to my portfolio. Although I would come away from the project with a soundtrack that is entirely mine, it is made in conjunction with the film and therefore I feel can’t really be taken as a separate piece and still have the same effect. Whereas, not only is the work I will be creating for this project (having chosen Expanded Studio Practice) going to be an original piece, it is also something new and a way or creating I have never experimented with before, because of this I feel much more motivated to create a high quality piece of work. This module also allows for more freedom within my practice, meaning I am able to intertwine my different interests in film, illustration and sound, making for what I feel will be an interesting piece of work.
My Idea.
Entering the planning process for this project, I had a vague idea of what I wanted to make, acknowledging I wanted to produce a physical piece of work that involved both the Pd sound work and some kind of structural artwork. However, I also felt pulled toward working around film too, due to my general passion for film. I couldn’t quite make a final decision and found myself fluttering back and forth between the two concepts, then I had the nice idea of combining the two. Creating a physical piece of work that somehow can be made into a short film work, whether that be animation, real world or something entirely different. After a few different ideas I decided on creating a zoetrope, an old form of animation using a rotating cylinder with sequential illustrations on the interior, along side an exterior compiled of slits that when looked through, the spinning images become one smooth flowing moving scene. I felt this matched the criteria I had set myself for this project and I immediately had a interesting concept for integrating my Pd sound work into the zoetrope.
( ↓ Planning in sketchbook. )
As mentioned in the pages above my idea for incorporating the Pd and circuitry work involves seeing the zoetrope structure as a lampshade like object, placing a light bulb (most likely an LED) into the middle of the cylinders. The reason for this is, I will then place LDRs around the base structure of the zoetrope, surrounding the lightbulb which will be connected into the Bela board running into Pd where I will have some kind of soundscape being produced. I am planning to code the LED to flash at a certain pace to match the rotation speed of the zoetrope, this flashing will then trigger the LDRs to create this fluttering effect which will modulate the original soundscape. I am currently unsure on how I want the zoetrope to rotate, I ideally, would like the Bela to power a motor which moves the cylinders round at an even, steady pace, however I need to research into whether that will be possible in the time frame I have until the hand in.
In regards to the drawings inside the zoetrope that are going to make up the animation, these will all be original designs and illustrations. I, at first, thought about drawing some kind of human character that’s movement was breathing deeply in and out, which I would then create some inorganic sounds to accompany this very organic motion. However I changed my mind as I feel this would be quite an intricate design that, first of all would take a while for me to draw out and second of all, might have been difficult for the eye to see detail at the speed at which it moves, therefore I would be spending time on these intricacies that wouldn’t even be visible. Instead I thought about what I could draw that not only has meaning to me, but also links to components being used internally, I began thinking specifically about the light aspect and this concept of the lampshade. From this the shadow puppet idea formed, a nostalgic, simple yet rather pretty image. I finalised the animal as the wolf, an animal I have always had an odd association with, wolves being my biggest fear as a child. I thought this added a nice personal aspect to the project.
I felt very inspired by a piece of work that Milo had made and shown us, a Mexican garden in which he created this entire ‘natural’ soundscape using Pure data, made up of this ecosystem of Mexico’s natural landscape. I really liked this concept of creating these unnatural, natural sounds (which are so accurate to the noises they’re imitating) by using code made on a computer, something as far away from the original sound source as you can get really. I felt inspired by this idea of organic vs inorganic forms and felt I wanted to incorporate this into my project somehow. Thus this idea of depicting a form of animal that is really made from human manipulation, and accompanying it with a kind of organic but manipulated sound that is running through a computer to add this inorganic feeling.
The biggest obstacle, that I feel will be the hardest to figure out, is the base of the structure; How big does it need to be? How to make it a cyclical track? How do I make it motorised? What materials should I build it out of? etc. These are all questions I need to research in order to answer, and this will be the part of the project that I will need to most support with. In order to help understand how to create this base I am going to talk to multiple different people at university, including the creative technology lab, the wood-shop as well as my tutors as I also need to figure out how include a speaker to play out the sounds I am making for it. Although this could become quite a complicated aspect of the project, I don’t feel intimidated by it, in fact I feel very excited to actually utilise the workspaces and professional help that LCC offers as I am yet to really explore these opportunities.
Why a zoetrope? – My specific attraction to zoetropes is due to the fact that both a physical piece of work, as well as an animation is produced from just one object. I have a wide approach to my art, involving multiple different practices that are able to interact with one another in a coherent way. I have a particular interest in animation, although having an extremely basic level of knowledge about animation, I have created multiple works involving stop motion (see below) which has in turn led to my continued interest in animation.
‘Oh! Sweet Innocence.’ – 2024 – A short mixed media film I made depicting how the experiences of childhood impact your individual evolution of character.