Harry Potter Sound Critique

The Harry Potter series exemplifies a unique array of sound characteristics. One scene in particular is when dementors board the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The creators utilized different listening modes. In the beginning, we see heavy rain and some wind, and we can hear those exact casual sounds. We also see the train jolt as well as hear it. An example of a semantic sound would be the sound a dementor makes when trying to suck out Harry’s soul. The noise you hear is a dark representation of what a soul-sucking creature would sound like. It almost sounds like a deep windy noise mixed with a growl.

Space is also utilized in this movie clip. Near the end of the scene Harry faints and he can hear his mother scream “Harry.” The sound fades out since he is fainting. The sound is then transformed into the train whistle and gets louder as he starts to come through. We perceive this sound as if we are Harry, hence it fading in and out. We also hear the dementor’s suck more loudly because the directionality of the sound is pointing toward Harry. During that time we are looking through Harry’s point of view, which increasing the intensity of the noise.   

Harry Potter Sound Design

Blogs ARE Important

The three layers I chose to elaborate on were acknowledging the lizard, fail, and learn. I think these layers positively affect the blog assignments we create in this Media and Creative Process class. Blog assignments are not meant to be perfectly written, boring, formal papers; blogs are informal, fun, and expressive. Acknowledging the lizard fits in perfectly with how a person views their own work. When writing my blog, I say things that other people might not agree with, things that other people will judge me for, and things right off the top of my head. Everyone could critique me for it, laugh at me, and shoot my thoughts down, but it’s MY blog, MY thoughts, and I don’t care what other people think. If I want to be a weirdo, then I will be a weirdo.

This blog easily expresses the fail layer. These assignments are meant to be something we can build off of and start thinking in new kinds of ways. So what if I write a post that doesn’t make sense or that nobody likes. I failed and I can move on. These blog posts are not going to make us famous anytime soon, but they could be fundamentally helpful in the future. The saying “knowledge is power” is becoming essential, especially if you wish to be an indispensable employee in the future.

Once you fail, you learn. This is how life works. You fall off a horse, you get back up. If I make a bad post, or get a bad grade on a post, I know what I need to improve on for the next assignment. With the constant change in our society, it is our job to educate ourselves as much as possible. That is the whole idea of being a media major, you know you are different, but what are you willing to do to get ahead of everyone else. The answer is learn. You can never learn too much information.

I think if we were to eliminate blogs, we would be eliminating part of our creativity. Blogs are a way to express our internal feelings and put our thoughts onto paper. The creative assignments are great to showcase skills with computer programs and teamwork. There is room for adding your own style to the creative assignments, but you are restricted by your computer skills, your partner(s), and the criteria used for grading. I think both the creative and blog assignments are important because it enables us students to think through different mediums, voice our opinions, and have a chance to learn. 

Brainwashed Summary

Three layers of Seth Godin’s Brainwashed that I am going to summarize are acknowledging the lizard, fail, and learn. Subconsciously everyone has the fear of being laughed at or scrutinized for creating something different and new. If we recognize this fear exists we can overcome it, this is “acknowledging the lizard.” Failing is an important part of art creation. Some artistic risks will fail, but continuing to fight the resistance of an average, boring life will be rewarding. The third layer I will mention is learn. Learning is all about experiments and experiences, which are necessary to create a new path for yourself. Learning happens every single day so you are able to continue to grow. 

Read Brainwashed

Finding MY Howl

I decided to choose a music video, John Mayer playing Free Fallin’ instead of choosing a quote or other written work. I am a very visual person and I am inspired by actions and sounds, not simply words themselves. Much like when I watch a musician play music live I am instantly feeling what they feel and finding meaning to their lyrics. Lyrics are just empty words until you put rhythm, melody, emotion, and many other things together. This song, when specifically played acoustic, has more meaning than the upbeat Tom Petty version. Both versions of the song are fantastic, but John Mayer’s version says so much more.

If you compare music videos, Tom Petty’s version is a bunch of different scenes recorded and then edited into a final product of him to make sure he looks great. John Mayer’s cover version is a live performance; there are no re-takes or restarts. They had one chance to catch him on camera. What you heard was raw and real music. Sure they had multiple cameras catching different angles of him performing so they could show close-ups on his face and full body shots, but the editing was fabulous. The editors put close-ups of John Mayer at perfect moments to catch his emotions and facial expressions. This is the kind of media that inspires me to work in this field for the rest of my life.

  I have always been undecided with what I wanted to do with my life. I am a quick learner, but what good is that going to do if I can’t find a profession I can enjoy. I have always had a special interest in music, movies, and TV. My parents, however, thought sitting in front of the TV or computer was lazy and wouldn’t work out as a professional career, so I shoved that idea to the side and tried to find something else. I started out as a pre-pharmacy major and I hated every second of it. I was too creative to be stuck behind a counter all day, no matter how great the salary may be. My parents understood that they needed to let me make my own decisions now, so I switched to Communications. I still felt like something was missing and I had no clue what I was going to do with that degree. I met with an old friend from home, who happens to work in the Scripps College of Communications, and she asked me “If you could do one job in the world for the rest of your life…what would it be.” I told her I wanted to make music videos or commercials. She responded “I help you get there.”

Since that day, I have been a Video Production major. I am trying to get involved with as many projects as I can to figure out what part of production I would like to be part of. I am learning new information and techniques daily. I am actually interested in all my courses and enjoy going to class. I feel like I can’t learn enough! This profession was calling to me, and I just had to find my way to it. You really can’t make it through college if you hate your major. I hope I can work with music videos because I think every song has a message and evokes different emotions. I want to be able to make people feel a certain way when they see my videos. Music is the only inspiration I need.  I think I found my howl.

Finding your Howl Summary

The first story Jonathan Flaum talks about in Finding Your Howl is about red wolves. Previously held in captivity due to near extinction, the wolves were released into the wild after repopulation. In order to survive in the wild and find a leader, one wolf goes off to hunt from the rest of the red wolves. He comes across a deer and a raven guiding him to follow his heart. The wolf has a vision of finding his howl. Once he finds his howl, by following his heart, the other wolves find theirs and come together as a pack. His howl is what makes him stand out and become a leader.  

Deconstructing Character Antagonist

Whether you see ketchup and mustard or just red and yellow, these are the colors you see on my second character. Red primarily makes up his outfit with incorporations of yellow. The red is complimentary to the green in character one’s outfit. This is important to understand the characters are opposites of each other; character one is good and character two is evil. The color red generally denotes the devil, anger, or aggression. Character two is definitely an angry character and would love nothing more than to capture character one. Character two also wears a red hat with a large feather attached to it. 

This lighting represents character two because of the sense of mystery. He is often associated with darkness because evil resides in the dark. When this character comes onscreen it is usually sunset or nighttime. Since it is dark and he is on a pirate ship he uses lanterns as his light. Lantern’s only let off a tiny amount of light which hides most of a person’s features making them seem more threatening. Although the darkness may make this character seem threatening, he never succeeds his evil deeds in the dark. Character two may look scary, but he has fears of his own. 

Character two’s shape makes him look like a lamp shade. He wears a long colonial coat that flares out into a triangle shape. He maintains this triangle shape whenever he is sword fighting because of the wide stance you take when fencing. The shape of a triangle could mean masculinity. Character two has control over a whole crew of people and holds a position of high status. Since his coat is triangular shaped and clean cut he tries to over compensate for his loses by looking well put together. His hook in place of his hand usually slows him down and makes him lose fights. 

Captian Hook! 

Deconstructing Character Protagonist

A tree relates to my character because of the colors he wears. His outfit consists of different shades of green and accents of brown. The bottom of his shirt and the sleeves are jagged to resemble leaves.  His shoes are brown and look like tree roots. Trees usually create a sense of safety because they are grounded and strong. They are also organic indicating purity and simplicity. These colors can also be a form of camouflage on the island he lives on. Shades of green and brown will help him blend in with plants and trees to hide from his enemies. 

This spotlight represents my character because it resembles the moon. My character spends a lot of time flying in the moonlight because he visits people during the night. Even when he is in a house the moonlight is still shining on him, almost making him a godly figure.  The lighting usually brightens whenever my character comes on screen, suggesting he is “the good guy.” Although he is always in the spotlight, it is hard for his enemies to keep an eye on him and capture him. His shadow detaches from him at one point suggesting there is no dark or evil part to this character.

My character takes the same shape as a bird when he flies. He generally holds out his arms when he flies, but he doesn’t flap his arms. He likes to be enthusiastic and show others how to soar to his homeland. He tells others to think happy thoughts to give them the power to fly. When this doesn’t work, sprinkling fairy dust on his friends seems to do the trick. Only one other person on his home island can fly; this ability is especially helpful when he needs to fight evil or travel long distances. This is the power that sets him apart from regular people. 

Peter Pan!