I initially started this class not even knowing what we would be doing. After the first few classes, I got the basic ideas better but was still really confused. I finally understood the basis of this class after talking to a few classmates. The connection of sound and image is the key and I would never have thought of this if I wasn't in the class.
The first project I did was conducted with the help of some of my cousin's friends. They barely speak any English and have never saw the Harry Potter movie. I had listen to audio tapes and then watch the movie. Most of them were amazed by how the characters actually look like and one of them thought the characters looked as they were described in the audio tapes.
It suprised me through this experience. I never would have thought of doing this analysis if I wasn't given the opportunity in the class. This pretty much shows me that without looking at images even if you were given the description of them, is very hard for someone to picture how things look like. There is always a bias creative image in your head, which is not necessarily connected/related to the reality. But when you put the sound and image together, everything sort of starts to make sense in their own way.
After the first project, I wanted to expand my horizon and further observe how sound and image connects after discovering that they connect through my first research. I wanted to find out how people would react to sound as they are approached. My project totally connected wtih my research question and it answered my question partially. In order to conclude and finalize my findings, I came up the idea to work together with other people and learn about video editing.
For the second project, I teamed up with Heather and Kaitlin to work on a video we put together. We invested our time individually to create three videos, then we met up to put them all in one final piece. It interests me how well the final piece came out although we were working on different things. I went around and asked people (some were in my family) to make a happy sound. I wanted to see what their response would be. I was very curious to see if it would just be a word, a sentence, or just a noise. A lot of them got the idea and made a sound. But what I noticed is that most people were not able to make a noise without making a facial expression or hand motion. The same thing happened to Heather and Kaitlin. We think that sound and image connects. For example, Kaitlin's friends were dacing while they were listening to the music. It would be interesting to see if they would be dacing the same way without sound.
I even went to my friend's dog and asked him to make a happy sound. I thought that would add a litter spark to the project. He obviously did not make a sound but instead, I made a sound for him. It just happened naturally and I thought that was the most weird thing ever. I don't even know why I did that. Maybe because I wanted a response from him and I didn't get one so I decided to make my own sound for him. It is definitely my perception of what his happy sound should be. It might not even be his happy sound. This helps me further believe that sound and image are almost like one solid object, they cannot be separated. Or I should say, sound and image work perfectly well together. They complements one another. It is like adding a spark to one another.
Since I cannot ask animals to make a happy sound, I wish to further research on what kind of sounds animals make when they are happy. I might be able to develop equipments to help me understand animals. I am also curious if they actually make facial expressions when they make a happy sound. If I have the money and tools to conduct a research on this, it would be fun and interesting. It will also help us understand animals better and create a better relationship with them. Maybe we will find a way to communicate with animals through image and sound one day.
