A Visit At the MOMI

This was my second time at the MOMI and it was a whole different experience having a guide explaining things I would not have realized without her, and as a communications major student, knowing a little bit about the industry and its history than before.

The first subject we talked about was the evolvement of the moving image and how it was presented to people. Besides learning about it in class, a way to demonstrate the illusion of the zoetrope was presented at the museum by an amazing exhibition article called the Feral Fount Visual that really showed how our eyes and brain being tricked to complete an image with just a simple break (flickering lights), speed, and the series of the images.

Then we learned about the importance of sound in a film, in which we experienced by recording our voice overs in a recording studio. We were saying just two sentences from The Wizard of Oz in our own voices and connotation, and immediately the character and its mood have changed from what it seemed to be in the image. After that we picked our own choices of soundtrack and foley for a famous scene, and I realized even more how sound, score, and background sound affect the mode and ambiance of a scene and a film. 

I will definitely be more aware to the score and sounds I hear when I watch films and TV shows from now on, and will try to consciously hear it and not only watch it.

What I Hear

What I Hear

Walking in my neighborhood without my headphones in my ears, or thoughts about my assignments/obligations/life stressing matters, was a nice refreshing experience;

At first, I of course noticed the SOUNDMARKS- a couple sit outside at their usual spot and talking, the church bells, a train horn from afar. The one thing I remember noticing is how I always take my headphones out whenever I hear those church bells that bring such a unique and special ambiance of history to my neighborhood that is so modern and evolving. 

Then, I listened closely to the SOUND SIGNALS which were obvious as people were talking and laughing around me, cars on the road, and then unexpectedly, car breaks as the road was wet from the rain.

However, my favorite and most conscious feeling I had during this experience was my intensive listening for KEYNOTES or background sounds. Sure, these sounds are always there so I initially thought these will be the easiest to hear. But with all the destruction of everything else we pay attention to like our music, thoughts or other things on our way, I found that they are actually the most hard to hear because they are taken for granted.. 

The first sounds I heard when tried to listen to closely were the rain and the wind in my ears. Only these two were enough for me to realize that maybe I don't have to listen to music every time I am on my way somewhere, or occupy myself with random thoughts or conversation. 
Maybe, as Shafer suggested, we need to just be.