Blog Assignment 4 (cont'd)

The song “Turn the Page” was originally written by Bob Seger but was also remade by Metallica. The two songs have similar qualities such as the lyrics, tempo and tone in some parts, but also have many differences such as instrumentation, height, groove, and emotional architecture.

The tempo of both songs is roughly around moderato/medium range. It’s a very regular rhythm throughout the song. Also, the lyrics are exactly identical. We see a recurring theme (motif) in both songs that the guitar plays in the beginning of the Metallica version and the Sax plays in the Seger version. The notes start low then quickly swing high pitch and gradually become lower. This motif is heard in the beginning, parts of the middle, and the end of both songs. This becomes the melody in between the choruses.

As for the differences, the largest is intensity. The overall intensity of the Metallica version is much more to compensate for the 30 years of time passed between the two. Rock was much less intense back then than it is now, therefore, Metallica’s version is much more loud. Also the range of frequency/pitch is much great in the Metallica edition. The opening high notes are played on a saxophone in Bob Segers band and an electric guitar in Metallica. Metallica’s edition was much higher pitched. The overall groove or mood to these songs is different such that we have a rock solid rhythmic feel to Metallica and a jazzy, less intense feel in Bob Seger giving his song a more laid back feel. The timbre of the two songs is not far off from one another. The Seger version is definitely quieter with less distortion than Metallica but also has some complexity in the beginning with the fingerpicked guitar. The two timbres are somewhat similar despite the distortion from the electric guitars.

My choice of favorite song goes to Metallica simply because its more modern. The style of music is up to date, the intensity is much higher, and the vocals are better in a more distorted and loud manner. While both of these songs are very skillful and well put together, my favorite is Metallica’s version of “Turn the Page”. 

Blog Assignment 4

Turn the Page - Metallica

Turn the Page - Bob Seger

Week Three Blog (Cont'd)

This scene incorporates many aspects of sound that go along with the special effects of this and many action movies. Most of the sounds such as helicopters and grenades exploding are semantic in the sense that they aren’t actually blowing up.  Another example of a semantic sound is heard when Four Leaf hits the ground. Instead of a soft thud, it’s replaced by a loud timpani hit. There is also a fair amount of non-diegetic sound that is the music playing in the background. The characters can’t hear it but to the viewer it adds a lot more suspense and emotionality. One of the properties of the Gestalt Principle, illusion, is heard when Four Leaf is getting shot and all we hear is the helicopter and music playing. Here the audience only needs to understand that he is getting shot. The bullets noise coming from him and every other sound would be over-kill in this situation. In this same situation we see Figure and Ground taking place. Here the camera is only focused on Four Leaf while there is still other action in the background. It almost hurts our eyes to try and see what’s behind Four Leaf but the point of this Figure and Ground is to only focus on what’s important. This is a very intense scene and the sound and focus adds to that intensity.  

Week Three Blog

Week Two Blog

http://changethis.com/manifesto/51.01.YourHowl/pdf/51.01.YourHowl.pdf

Finding Your Howl

This article titled Finding your Howl by Jonathon Flaum gets really deep with one of his stories about a Red Wolf. This wolf is rare and was raised in captivity. The rest of the story is about finding the right way out of this prison he was born into and learning to howl like normal wolf. The wolf runs off and takes advice from a crow and a deer. He trusts his natural instinct to eat the deer and run as fast as he can (the bird being a metaphor for flight). He abolishes the old way of being fed everyday at a certain time, and trusts his inner self to eat and eventually howls like a normal wolf. The moral of the story is to fight through your problems. If you’re stuck in a cage you can’t just break out of the cage but you have to fight through it and learn how to live without out it. Because until this point the cage was not only a prison but also his home. The wolf gave up his artificial life and found his own way to live like a natural wolf.

Flaum, Jonathon. "Finding Your Howl." Changethis.com. 8 Oct. 2008. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.  <http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/51.01.YourHowl>.

My Favorite Quote

Abraham Lincoln once said "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." This speaks to me in a very deep and creative way. I heard this quote from my sister about a week before my parents were deciding on what television to get. When I found out they were about to go shopping for one I roused up a quick sales pitch for getting a 52-inch set, rather than anything smaller. My opening statement was the above quote from Abraham Lincoln. Being 14 at the time, I thought I was being very creative. I went on to say that this quote has so much meaning to it because, superficially, the better TV you have means the more fun you’ll have in life. Therefore, having more fun in life you wouldn’t need to worry as much about growing old and stockpiling all your money for the possibility of losing health insurance. Having a full and successful life is the only thing that’s important, therefore a large TV should be bought along with a loud stereo system.

This quote has more of an effect to me now than it did before. The way I look at it, the older you get in life the wiser you are. Abe Lincoln was an older wise man giving advice from what he learned throughout his years. We should pay very close attention to what he says because we aren’t as wise as he was at the time. The creative side to this meaning is that the “life in your years” part can mean anything. Some people think money is important so that’s what defines their life. Others think family and friends are what define their life. Even if to you “life” is defined by your cat’s Tinkerbelle and snowflake then as long as you have those that’s all that’s important. The amount of time you live has nothing to do happiness, as long as you lived a happy life, with what you define “life” as, then that’s all that is important.

Because of this quote I have had a completely different outlook on life for a while now. If I were to die tomorrow I wouldn’t want people to think I died too young. I would want them to think I had a great life. Childhood is one of the easiest times in life, high school is interesting and very fun, and college is a blast. But the older you get you not only gain new good aspects of life, but bad ones as well. So this quote is a way of looking at only the good things in life because if you’ve had a great life, that’s all that matters in the end.

Lincoln, Abraham. "Quote - And in the End, It's Not the Years in Your Life That Count. It's the Life in Your Years... on Quotations Book." Welcome to Quotations Book - The Home of Famous Quotes. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. <http://quotationsbook.com/quote/23744/>.

Week One Blog Assignment

The above picture illustrates the split-complementary color scheme for our character. The red and green symbolize both greed and blood, or blood money. Our character is a hero; yet he’s involved with the mafia, therefore these two colors symbolize the opposite attractions of good and evil portrayed in his character. The purple not only goes well with the other two colors but shows the dull and hazy sense Pavlo gets from the dilemmas he faces daily. Pavlo gets a dull outlook on life, represented by the low saturation of purple, while trying to decide whether or not to support his family through the mafia or quit and live a normal life. 

This picture shows the two possible paths that Pavlo can take. One is the good side, staying in school and getting a different job. And the other is the dark side shown by the right half of the picture. In Pavlo’s life, that would be staying in the mafia to support his family, which is the easy way out. The lighting on our character shows shadows under his head on his green shirt indicating a looming darkness in the good part of his world. The overall mood of the character is positive but slightly dampened because he needs to do somewhat bad things in order for his family to survive. 

Pavlo can be described in a very rectangular way. His natural look is rectangular which shows in a way that he’s always looking for his pot of gold, or, a happier Pavlo. He’s growing physically and mentally, likes change, and is unpredictable. A doorway represents him well because he has a choice to make with a better, happier side behind it. He just has to choose to go through it without knowing the possible outcomes beforehand. 

Scorpion Video

Scorpion

I chose scorpion from the video game Mortal Kombat to be my character because he is pretty damn cool and has a lot of tricks to take down his enemy.