Soundscape

My soundscape this week is best illustrated by the McLuhan quote, “The ear favors no particular ‘point of view.’ We are enveloped by sound. It forms a seamless web around us” (McLuhan 119). 

After recording my soundscape using the Photo Booth application, I realized that the sound output on my computer did not work. So, while editing my soundscape, I was completely blind to what the final product would sound like. I believe this best exemplifies the McLuhan quote, as I was not constructing a specific artistic point of view that would sound favorable to the ear. There was no digression, no cognizant manipulation, as is the case with the web of sound that envelops us in our everyday lives.

I find the ending of this video wildly uncomfortable, but each repetitious action has the same duration of audio play time, so this awkwardness is just a result of editing in this non-discriminatory manner. While a manipulation to shorten the duration of the final action would be more visually and auditorily pleasing, this is not necessarily how sound is formulated in a natural auditory scape.

 https://youtu.be/SnBUnVa2724

INSIDE OUTSIDE/OUTSIDE INSIDE

 For this photo series, I employed McLuhan's theories on the cell, "the idea of human detention in a closed space as a form of human punitive corrective action" (61).  I restricted all of my photography by using the walls of my dorm room as parameters for my cell. In the event that the campus does go on full lockdown, this is exclusively where I will be contained.

I also employed McLuhan's theories of automation (e.g. the printer as a "ditto device") by editing my photos with artificial intelligence, the auto adjust feature of my iPhone. I originally edited the pictures by hand, but appreciated the additional level of nuance in allowing the AI in my device to correct them for itself. I do think some of them were edited to be low-key ugly, but that's just business baby.

In the photos, I tried to exhibit the themes of intrusion, animation, technology, vanity, and consumption. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/190322845@N04/with/50372841057/

P.S. I could not figure out how to rename the files, so I will fix the names as soon as I figure it out.

Howdy

My earliest films were shot on a pink 2009 iPod nano. My current camera, a Canon t3i Rebel was gifted to me for Christmas in 2013. In the summer of 2014, I completed a competitive digital filmmaking course at Columbia University in New York, bracketed by creative and screenwriting courses at St Andrews University and Lake Forest College. In high school, I was the president of my school's photography club and was the public relations and photography manager for the Theatre Board, as well as a student director. Additionally, I acted as the head poetry editor for my high school's award-winning, student-run literary magazine. At Lawrence, I have worn many hats from photographer to marketing manager to web editor to now a copy editor for the Lawrentian magazine, to other roles working with Alumni and Constituency Engagement, the Hurvis Film Center, Admissions, and the Center for Academic Success. I have also taken on internships with a focus on marketing, social media, and SEO.

I am majoring in Film Studies and Cognitive Science (self-designed). The first gif in this post is from a Cognitive Science inspired film, quite reminiscent of Marshall McLuhan's quote "The wheel...is an extension of the foot[...]the book is an extension of the eye...clothing, an extension of the skin...electric circuitry, an extension of the central nervous system" (McLuhan 22-24). The extended mind hypothesis asserts that the mind is not relocated to the brain, but rather extends into the physical world. This is what I contemplate through both the linguistic and visual modalities of the piece.

In my professional career, I seek to employ cognitive theories to the marketplace, perhaps using film as a medium. My works focus around American Culture--common themes include patriotism, childhood, nostalgia, repatriation, alienation, language, gender, identity, social media, cognition, and death.