Sound Bite Sample Project

sound bite sample "song"

John Cage

 

Analysis of John Cage Documentary

I was first introduced to the work of John Cage in my Digital Media 245 class with Jeanne Jo. We discussed what appears to be his most renowned work, “4'33”. 4'33 is a piece that was originally shown to an audience in which John Cage presented silence for precisely four minutes and thirty three seconds. It didn't matter what happened during that time frame, it was the purpose of the piece. This particular piece was meant to be a subjective experience and a reflection of ones self during a time of silence.

In the documentary, a woman asked Cage if he'd be disappointed if someone purposely interrupted his presentation of 4'33 in which his response was basically “no.” Some of the participants heard noises, such as coughs and maybe even laughter. Others surely zoned out and heard nothing but the voices and sounds that occupy their own heads. The conversation of 4'33 was it's mechanism for greatness. Cage forced his listeners to do just that – listen. He wanted his observers to find the beauty in any sound and get past the mind's tenancy to think unconventional sounds aren't pretty.

From all the work I saw in his documentary, 4'33 remains my favorite. It was a philosophical work and I believe it was his true genius. Although, he had an amazing appreciation and optimism toward strange sounds I never found myself nodding my head to his “music.” In the documentary Cage said he's never responded to melody and I believe that to be my disconnect from his work. Math is incredibly important in music. All humans sense math and without it there is no melody, no pace and, for me, no connection. John Cage certainly appreciates sound but he never produced anything that made me feel anything.

Perhaps his purpose was inspiration. 4'33 premiered in 1952, just before a massive revolution in music. One can only help but wonder how much of an impact he had on the unconventional music that arose just a decade after his most renowned work.

Final Assignment: PMV

"PMV" stands for "Picture Music Video". What it is is exactly what the name says: a series of hand drawn pictures that correspond with a song. It's kind of like a slideshow, but more relevant to the music and actually telling a story.

The song I used is a translated song by a singer on Youtube: I Like You, I Love You by Rockleetist. She has a variety of songs in her YouTube Channel and she allows people to use them as long as we give her credit. The characters I used in this PMV are not mine, but are from my favorite show, Soul Eater. I refer to myself as Digitalscratch in the video because that is the name I use around the internet and I intend on showing this to my friends. 

The songs was originally about 4 minutes long, and while I intended to reach that time, I was unable to due to only two days given to work on the project, and the fact my hand started to hurt. Thus I had to chop the song in order to make it shorter, and I had to rush in coloring and drawing the last few pictures. Originally there was a story to this PMV, but because I was in a rush I couldn't include the scenes that I originally planned so a lot of things seem random. Honestly, if I knew it was going to be this much of a hassle I would have asked about the final a week ago so I can get started then. 

I also ended up pulling a literal all-nighter to get this video done. As I am typing this, I have went this far for more than 24 hours without sleeping. Good training for future careers. 

Even though I know I could have done better, I am still proud that I was able to make this- with the song the only thing not owned by me. I see this as a great step toward making more of these. I at least now know how to mange my time with these kind of projects.

Final Project

Final Project

A Bouncing Hell-Ball

int circleX=50;
int circleY=100;
int speed=1;
int x=0;
int y=1;

void setup (){
  size(300,300);
}




void draw(){


 
  background(200,43,0);
 
  x=x+speed;
  if ((x>width)||(x<0)){
    speed = speed *-1;}

stroke(204, 102, 0);
fill(204, 102, 0);
smooth();
ellipse(x, 150,55,55);
circleX = circleX + 1;
circleY = circleY + 1;


y=circleX+y;
y=circleY+y;

  if((x>width)||(x<0)){
   circleX = circleX*-1;
circleY=circleY*-1; 

}
 


}

In Class Processing Assignment

/*Rieev Princer
Bouncing Ball
Digital Art: 245
July 9, 2012
*/

int x = 0;
int y = 1;
int speed = 1;
int circleX = 10;
int circleY = 10;

void setup (){
size(200,200);
smooth ();}

void draw (){
background (111,181,255);

x = x + speed;

if ((x > width)||(x < 0)) {
 speed = speed * -1;
}

stroke (2,101,203);
fill (26, 130, 237);
ellipse (x,100,circleX,circleY);
circleX = circleX + 1;
circleY = circleY + 1;

y = y + circleY;
y = y +circleX;

if ((x > width)||(x < 0)) {
 circleY = circleY * -1;
 circleX = circleX * -1;}
}