Final Project

Let's be friends from Paula Busnovetsky on Vimeo.

Post 4: Sound-Image and Image-image Relationships (Eternal Sunshine)

For this post I chose one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, directed by Michel Gondry. In an otherwise image and edit heavy movie, I decided to choose one of the more simple scenes that still exemplifies masterful editing. The scene begins with a continuous shot of Joel (Jim Carrey) following Clementine (Kate Winslet) through the bookstore. She's supposed to be working, but he's trying to have a conversation with her. As the scene moves forward it switches between that and a voyeuristic between the books point of view, which makes you feel like a hidden onlooker to this relationship. Of course, this is all taking place in Joel's mind, as the memory of Clementine is being erased. This positioning of the viewer makes it feel like you're secretly on this psychological journey with him. You're peeking through the books, watching him desperately try to hold on to a memory of someone he loves. At some points, when Joel is talking to Clementine, they choose to keep her out of focus, perhaps alluding to her immanent erasure. My favorite part of this scene is at the end where Clementine tells Joel to try his best to remember her, cuts to the between the books POV, then she disapears. You notice as soon as she is gone, something else is missing. All though it is slight, and may take a few playbacks to see, the all ready plain background of books becomes more dull as any hint of color from the spines or covers has been completely muted. The scene starts with the hope that Joel might be able to hold on to Clementine, but leaves you with a bleak reality. Clementine was the color in his otherwise dull life, as soon as she is gone so is the rest of the worlds hue. Even the most subtle editing can tell an important story. 

Audio project

Museum of the Moving Image Assignment

During our tour of the Museum of the Moving Image, our guide spent the most time showing us an audio demo. There were two TV screens set up, allowing you to choose from a few classic movie clips. After you chose the scene (he chose  Hitchcock's "Vertigo") it gave you several choices for score. Providing the audience had never seen the movie, we were supposed to guess which one sounded better, and had the most continuity with the scene in question. He played each of them twice; some of them were too dramatic, others too subtle. We finally narrowed it down to two, which seemed like they could both fit. The scene was supposed to be suspenseful; the character was coming to some sort of realization during the course of it. Ultimately we narrowed it down to the correct one, because every time the camera would zoom in on something  you could hear a subtle "ping" to denote that it was important. The demo helped to illustrate how important audio is to moving image, and how choosing it is probably a very careful, tedious process. If the score or soundtrack is off, the whole mood of the scene, or entire movie can be ruined. The score can alter the entire experience of the film for the audience, both positively and negatively. This demo showed me that even the most subtle differences in sound can effect the work as a whole.

Sound Walk

When you think of New York City, my neighborhood is definitely not the first one that comes to mind. I live in the forgotten suburbs of Staten Island, in between a deserted beach and a major road that goes through the entirety of the borough. I decided to take advantage of this unique sonic landscape, and chose my street for the observation. I walked down the block, to the dirt path entrance of the beach, but opted to not go in so I get a variety of sounds. Two constant, ambient sounds were the ocean and the cars zooming by on the street. Whether it was the waves gently crashing on the shore or the car engines droning, both of these sounds were continually present. Ever so often you here a dog barking from a nearby backyard, a horn honking from Hylan Boulevard, and a once a siren rushing by. As I walked around, I heard gates opening, screeching against the concrete, leaves and pebbles crunching under my shoes, and occasionally cars that deviated from the main road and passed a few feet away from me as I walk on the street because of the lack of sidewalk. A family walking their dog passed, the dog panting and his collar jingling. In the distance, I surprisingly enough heard the sound of an ice cream truck jingle (yes, in October.) I most enjoyed the contrast the the sounds of the beach to the busy street parallel to it. I've lived here most of my life and it's something that I'm used to and take for granted. For two very different landscapes, they work well together and are almost soothing.

Pool Party from Paula Busnovetsky on Vimeo.

Assignment 1 Artist Statement

                          

   Pool Party

  When my partner and I decided to use the school pool as a filming location neither of us anticipated it to be full of small humans splashing about. Upon realizing there was a swim class full of children instructors, and parents, I became hesitant to begin filming. It felt voyeuristic to stand in the middle of an indoor pool, camera in hand. Not only that, but because the assignment was to define a space my original vision was to focus on empty space and inanimate objects. After I got over the intimidation and looks of confusion from parents, I started filming and it felt pretty natural. The raucousness of all the children animated the shots and brought them to life. I did try to focus on some still shots, and use techniques like depth of field when filming things like the diving boards; but when a child inevitably jumped off one it was a welcomed interaction that made the shot more interesting, and dynamic.We tried our best to get a variety of shots, from close ups to wides, and pans so you can get a true sense of how busy and active it was. We also tried to focus on more barren spaces, like empty corner with equipment lying around as well as unfilled bleacher seats. As far as editing goes, this will be my first time working with moving images. I hope to be able to make something with decent flow and continuity that will make the space come to life, and portray the true child like wonderment of going to swim class on a saturday.