Center Name: UCA Canterbury
Candidate Name: Oliver Castle
Candidate Number: 1508252
Project Title: Untitled Ambience
Date: 27/04/16
Main Area of Activity: Lens Based
Section 1: Rationale
I’ve always found sound interesting in art, a lot of art I’ve
seen focuses on texture and detail but doesn’t use much sound. I believe sound
is more important naturally than any other sense in terms of how aware we are our
surroundings without our sense of sound, compared to other senses that can be
limited by our surroundings or even blocked out.
This project will explore how sound can be used with silent
image, and experiment with different object through the sounds they make. I
want this project to explore aspects of sound more than I previously would, so
I can continue exploring it in the future.
I would also like to explore the effects of individual, ordinary
sounds on the listener, particularly small and usually unnoticed sounds. I’d
like to experiment with these collected sound clips to create pieces that can
invoke a specific reaction in the listener.
Section 2: Project Concept
I will be focusing on sound and noise.
I figured when we were walking around Brighton, the things
that I noticed were all the sounds, and how they affected everything around
them. Just the sheer variety of different sounds; the sea, the wind, the
seagulls, the pets, the people themselves, the music playing and the arcades,
electronic noises, games as well as vehicles (which alone are a large part of
Brighton’s culture) like the bikes, the cars and the boats.
I could look at sound artists and sound engineers. For research
I will also be looking at silent films as well. One of the key things I’ll be
looking at is Foley work (a Foley being someone whose job it is in things like
radio play to recreate sounds as well as create new ones, the most common
example being using coconuts to create the sound of horse shoes).
As a starting point for my research I’ll be looking at
Silent Films. In seaside towns like Brighton there were machines that you can
go and see Silent Films so it connects rather well. Silent films to me are such
an interesting way to view film, sound wasn’t unimportant back then but was
certainly different. Audio and visual were separate entities entirely, unlike
now where following the advent of movies, TV shows and music videos is hard to
think of them alone.
I’ll be editing a collection of sound recordings, a
selection of which will make up a final sound based piece combining different
types of ambient audio.
Section 3: Evaluation
I will try to note down every decision that I make, in my
sketchbook.even if I don’t go through with the ideas, I will still note them
down. For the ones that I do go through with, I’ll make sure they are noted
down, the decisions up to that point and all the processes that I go through to
get to them. I’ll be sure to include my opinions as well and possibly whether
certain ideas could have gone down a different path.
Bibliography
The Man Without
Desire. (1923) directed by Adrian Brunel [film] UK: Atlas Biocraft.
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the
Christ. (1925) directed by Fred Niblo and Charles Brabin [film] United
States: Metro-Golden-Mayer.
The Artist. (2011)
directed by Michel Hazanavicius [film] France: Warner Bros, (France).
Blighty. (1927)
directed by Adrian Brunel [film] UK: Gainsborough Pictures.
Metropolis. (1927)
directed by Fritz Lang [film] Germany: UFA.
LaBelle, B. (2015) Background
Noise. New Yourk: Bloomsburry Publishing.
Licht, A. (2007) Sound
Art. New York: Rizzoli International Publications.
Lander, D. and Lexier, M. (2013) Sound by Artists. Etobicoke,
Ontario: Charivari.
LaBelle, B. (2004) Site
Specific Sound. Los Angeles, California: Errant Bodies/SELEKTON.
Kelly, C. (2011) Sound.
London: Whitechapel Gallery.
Greenlaw, L. (2011) Audio
Obscura. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Full Circle Editions.
Rogers, M. (1999) Acoustic
Shadows. Sheffield: Site Gallery.
Paterson, K. (2009) Earth
– Moon – Earth. Manchester: Cornerhouse.
Rainer, Cosima. (2009) See
This Sound. Köln: König.
Record Player
(2000) directed by Luc Peter [DVD] France: Intermezzo Films.
Sound & Music
(2004) directed by Conor Kelly [DVD] UK: Peer
Optical Sound Films
1971-2007 (2008) directed by Guy Sherwin [DVD] UK: LUX
