Sounds like a Success?

We are subjected to a variety of sounds in our everyday life. They say silence is golden but if you listen clearly you’ll hear a hum that pierces your ears. Walking around the streets of Melbourne, armed with a Zoom recorder, I was on the hunt for sounds that denote success.

Before I could book a recorder at the school, I sat down to jot down sounds that resonated success. The usual images of clanging wine glasses, fireworks, applause, shouts of Hurray! , popping of a champagne bottle struck a note in my mind.
Lighting up fireworks just to catch the audio was out of the question (also against the law); Champagne was out of my budget and hence out of my reach; we drink out of cups at home hence glasses were a far-fetched thought apart from the idea being done to death. Applause and a meagre ‘hurray’ just seemed like play school concepts.

I shut my book and decided to venture out with my Zoom recorder; positive that I’d find success on the way! As I was crossing the street, a particular sound caught my attention. The beeping sound made by the pedestrian crossing light is very prominent even amidst the traffic. The glowing of the green light accompanied by the sound that suggests ‘you can now cross’ made me make a connection to ‘success’. I had to record this particular sound a couple of times because I faced quite a few obstacles like in the first instance the wind was blowing too harshly which was in turn affecting the audibility of the sound produced by the pedestrian crossing light. In the second attempt, I stood for nearly 3 minutes with the Record button ‘ON’ hoping for the light to turn green, however the traffic swept by but the signal didn’t seem to turn green. My impatient side took over me and made me turn ‘OFF’ the Record button. The moment I committed this action the green crossing light glowed accompanied by my much wanted beeping sound. I decided to be a little more patient as I decided to go for another attempt. I also prayed that the wind stood still. Finally, after multiple attempts, I managed to capture the sound of the pedestrian crossing light.

I walked up to my house, happy with my first achievement. I am provided access into my hostel after flashing a card at the entrance. As I did this out of routine, I realized that the sound that followed after flashing my access card is another sound of success. I switched on the recorder, got my keys jingling which had the access card attached to them, flashed the card, opened the door and shut it.  In my first attempt, a large trailer with a booming engine rolled into the same street and parked right in front of my hostel which killed the whole suspense that was built by my access card. I went indoors and tried the same trick on a door with a similar security system and cracked it with ease.

While in my room, I found a coat among the mountain of clothes that were stacked on my bed. As I lifted it off the pile, a sea of coins rolled out of the pockets. I had struck gold! What better way to denote success than record a bunch of jingling coins. Apart from achieving the jingling effect, I had the ticking of the clock in my closed room which could not be avoided.

The final sound which is a sigh of relief was one of my initial thoughts. I felt I should give it a shot since out of all the other above mentioned pre thoughts, I believed this one was accomplishable. I asked my friend Rutuja to climb up a flight of stairs and heave a sigh of relief once she reached the summit. She did it once, it didn’t sound natural. She climbed up the same flight of stairs again, it didn’t sound right. I asked her to climb up two flights of stairs, while I waited at the summit, all ready to capture the sigh of relief. This time she was actually panting as she neared me. I recorded her naturally resulting sigh of relief. I let a deep breath out too signifying the successful completion of my sound recording assignment!

With this exercise I have learnt that many sounds that are produced in an outdoor environment cannot be controlled by us when it comes to capturing them since there are instances when external forces like wind, honking vehicles, buzzing drill machines, yelling humans that come in the way and give us a hard time to achieve perfectly recorded sounds. Recording sounds indoors, is a much simpler task, since atmosphere sounds are minimal but not zilch. I had a lot fun with this assignment and would love to delve deeper into the world of sound.

Picture Perfect!

 

 

 

I’ve always been amazed by the wonders that a camera produces. From picturesque landscapes to intense portraits, the magic captured by a lens is truly breathtaking. When it came down to clicking a series of 5 photographs, I thought it would be a cakewalk. I kept procrastinating the task since I was overconfident about the fact that I’d accomplish it in a matter of minutes and shouldn’t fret over it. Days passed into weeks and I still had no idea to take off with. ‘Success’ didn’t seem to let go off my back in this assignment either. ‘How does one show success through photographs?’ this question buzzed around my head until a day prior to the submission.

I woke up on a bright Sunday morning with the agenda to attend Mass. I walked out of the house, armed with my roomie’s camera with the hope of taking a few clicks. As the mass ended, I asked my friend Roy to carry on with his prayers. Call it a spiritual awakening or just a deadline jitter, I picked up my camera and went for the kill. As I clicked him kneeling down in prayer, I spotted a corner lit with candles and dragged him to the spot. The lighting seemed so mystical with the radiance of the candles setting the peaceful mood.  I still had no story in my head, but kept clicking away in excitement. As we moved out of the church, a thought came to mind. I asked Roy to stand outside the church wall and look towards the church in contemplation. A lot of us tend to think a hundred times to think about our spirituality. There is a clear boundary that divides us and sets us apart to look within ourselves. I’ve tried to convey that through one of the photographs. I walked out of the church premises satisfied, not just because I was spiritually enlightened but also because I had made a start to my story.

As we walked along the streets I kept thinking of a start and an end to my story. It’s from this point that it all began to set in. As we passed Lincoln Square, I felt it would be the perfect setting to read a book or even study. I asked Roy to pick the thickest book in his library, and got him reading it in the most frustrated manner. Voilà! My story now had a protagonist who is frustrated with his studies,hits a dead end (check out the dead tree metaphor), takes a break by walking into a church, finds solace, and is thus at peace with himself. It’s quite a success for those who are always on the move, looking for inner peace.

Though I couldn’t fiddle around much with the settings, I focused more on the composition and framing of the pictures rather than the effects. I realised I have a lot to learn in order to achieve aesthetically sound pictures. I believe I focused more on the story telling rather than the technical aspects. Though the single shot video wasn’t an easy task either when it came to conveying a story, I think it’s much more difficult to convey something through photographs since each of us have our own perceptions when it comes to deciphering as to what lies in a picture.