Celebrate Valhalla

This video is not an attempt to provoke a certain thought or idea with a cliche use of symbols but rather to invite alternate meanings or thoughts depending on personal beliefs. It is a very organized experiment, divergent in overall meaning but comparable in content.
Valhalla is a hall in Scandanavian mythology in which heroes killed in battle were believed to feast with Odin (the supreme God and creator) for eternity.

Clip Duration: 1 min. 16 sec.
Material Collected: November 13-29, 2006
Completed: December 17th, 2006
Created by: Ryan Reeve
Milwaukee, WI

Celebrate Valhalla (rough-edit)

This clip is an attempt to combine three previous videos that shared a similar feeling. I am going to try and edit this video to make it a more cohesive final piece; this could involve removing one of the segments and adjusting the flow of sound.

Clip Duration: 1 minute 19 seconds

Image/Sound Video #5: Return of the Grounded Light

Contrast and movement are the principles of this clip. The sound accompanying the clip is of a water faucet. Using audacity to change the tempo and pitch of the audio clip forms a normal sound into something much more interesting.

Image/Sound Video #4: Beachless

A sad trip to the beach. The sound for this clip was the camera lens moving in and out. It is the same throughout only with different pitch variations. The pitch and image shifts should evoke simple yet specific thoughts.

Image/Sound Video #3: Senseless Faith

Much a political/ secular video. The sounds are resonating from the inside of a trash can. Green symbolizes greed and envy. The white light moves endlessly and vicariously. To me the cut to black with the sound still playing is a very powerful and important segment of this clip.

Image/Sound Video #2: You need patience.

A simple video making reference to the virtue of patience. Quick cuts and less continuity become more apparent as the clip progresses, this is meant to give the feeling of time lapsing and patience ending.

Image/Sound Video #1: Oddly Ticking Clocks

This clip is a composition of still and moving images of a unfunctional clock. Video was cut, pasted, and repeated to create odd, contrasting movements. The sound came from two kids playing with their cell phones in a parking garage. It was achieved by placing two phones on the same line on speakerphone.

Best-of video clip #5: Emergency

The speed, focus, and movement of the camera create a distinctly urgent and accomadating feel with the video footage. I enjoy the conscious action that seems to be taking place behind the camera. This could be a good section of a narrative -like composition.

Best-of video clip #4: Lady In Red

The movement of lights and the ironic realism of this shot are its most interesting aspects. The dress comes alive in the breeze but the mannequin only stands still. I like the perspective that this shot takes as well as how it represents reality. This is another realistic shot which may combine well to form a story of some sort.

Best-of video clip #3: lights

This shot produces a feeling of uncertainty as to what the viewer is looking at and has an almost trance-like effect as well. Sometimes it looks synthetic or weightless because of the contrasting night sky. I'm not sure how this clip could be effectively edited for improvement.

Best-of video clip #2: Grounded Light

My favorite aspects of this clip are the numerous contrasts that can be found. Contrasts appear in the speed, distance, light, and motion. It might be intersting to apply obscure contrasting sounds to this clip to mimic the video.

Best-of video clip #1: Following

The rhythm and movement of the camera create a distinct feel for the situation, almost scary and troublesome. lighting and scenery in the frame add to it. The train passing by overhead is of interest to me but I'm not sure why. This video and the "Emergency" (best-of #5) share similar qualities; they could be combined.

Project 3 Video, Last Light Capturing Trek Strategies (11/27/06)

Setting/Situation #1: Night time on Lake Dr. and in the surrounding parks should provide interesting and challenging light capturing opportunities. I want to explore how the emotion behind an image is effected by the daylight or lack of daylight in the shot. Experimentation with the flash and visual settings on the camera will effect how the image appears.
Curiosoty: Light and secluded areas. How light or a lack of alters shots of this natural landscape.

Setting/Situation #2: Images and video taken from the downtown Milwaukee area. This setting should give me many opportunities to find interesting images. This will also allow for continutiy between the sounds collected in the same type of area.
Curiosity: The result of focusing on inanimte objects and leaving out the people which occupy the space I am exploring.

Project 3 Video, Last Sound Trek Strategies (11/27/06)

Soundscape #1: My first soundscape is of the construction zone off of I-94/I-43. I hope to find high contrasting soundscapes, from the operation of heavy machinery to the quiet reverb of unoccupied cement structures in these areas. This location will also put me downtown, close to many other things of interest which I may want to explore.

Soundscape #2: I hope to find some unique sounds and qualities walking from campus through the lake area to downtown. I hope that these three locations will be unique enough to find three different soundscapes in one trek. The sounds should be distinctly different because they originate from three opposing environments. This wil also be beneficial to sound/image continuity.

Project 3 Video, Light Capturing Trek (11/14/06)

Trek Area: For my light capturing trek I selected a trek area which presented both parks and largely urban areas in a close proximity to each other. I plan to start the trek during the daylight and allow for it to continue into the night. Many different visual variations occur from dark to light and I hope to explore that concept with this trek.
Google Maps

Setting #1: A naturalistic surrounding. A large park or beach, preferably someplace with large trees or rocks; using the moonlight, sunlight, and artificial light to produce striking images. Venturing to the cemetary and Lake Park might be an idea worth exploring. I hope to capture this type of environment in both a light and dark setting, as is true with my other setting.

Setting #2: An urban environment with many man made objects and artificial light sources. To contrast this setting with the previous one. To explore how different qualities, shades, and sources of light will effect the atmosphere/emotion of video footage or still images.

Production Strategy #1: To film objects from an unusual point of view.

Production Strategy #2: To shoot numerous, slight variations of each interesting image I encounter.

Project 3 Video, Sound Trek (11/14/06)

Trek Area: I want my trek area to incorporate different types of environments. I will pass by Columbia St. Mary's, the lake, and travel on North Avenue. I am interested in extracting lots of natural reverberation and extreme contrasts in my sound recordings.
I hope to find structures that produce certain interesting sonic qualities, like a parking garage or tunnel. Hopefully there will be many places to exclude myself from wind interference while on this trek. Mainly I am endeavoring to find any sound that could be classified as weird or dissoriented; to get the listener to wonder what they are experiencing.
Google Maps

Soundscape #1: To begin with I am going to search for relatively sections areas within largely populated areas. This is meant to envoke dissonance, reverb, spacial qualities in the sounds. This is where I plan to search for tunnels, alleys, and parking garages; hopefully these places will produce the sound I am looking for.

Soundscape #2: In opposition to my first soundscape my second one will concetrate on contrast. Ideally I would like to find sounds that contrast almost violently in any area such as volume, treble, bass, rythym, etc... I don't know exactly which area would be beneficial but I assume a well populated/urban environment is my best option.

Ten Curiosities

1. Are there any abandoned buildings that I would have access to?
2. Can we record material in the art museum?
3. Would there be a difference in recordings and images if I took the same route?
4. Will the lake wind ruin my recordings?
5. Are there construction zones near by?
6. When will traffic be at a low and high rate?
7. Will images show up clearly in the night or sunlight /When is the natural lighting bright/dim?
8. Will there be many people where I go?
9. Which places produce natural reverb?
10. How much of the area is unique, public, and colorful?

Wisconsin Ave. Alleyway (10/14/06)

As I entered the alley off of an unusually quiet city street (Wisconsin Ave.) the already low noise dissipated. The buildings were so confined that they appeared to be extraordinarily tall and vast. The sky swept by behind the cemented buildings like a cartoon picture; taller buildings along the skyline stood out in between the closer ones. The wind blew but not in the alley. Clouds gave the center of the alleyway a bright haze and smooth feel. Under the buildings, but still outside, the contrast of colors changed from bright to dark and the context from natural to synthetic. Lightness being more rare provided the surroundings with opposing visual landscapes. Because of the privacy and seclusion in the alleyway I was able to work more freely and investigate any object closely. The quiet and contrasting atmospheres gave everything a subtle, interesting quality. I try to recall the details of the street on both sides of the alley but find it almost impossible. This may be because the streets run perpendicular to the alley and are the opposite of the peaceful, secluded environment of the alley. They are opposites in almost every way. How the would the niche of the alleyway adapt or change during different periods of time throughout the day?

Trek03 Area

Google Maps View