Adrian Andrade's soundscape http://www.adrianraves.blogspot.com/
Lena Al-Hashemi's soundscape http://lena229508.blogspot.com/
Alex Welsh's soundscape http://alexscreativityblog.blogspot.com/
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Jack Johnson or Sublime's Badfish?.... Sublime
It seems like songs are covered by everybody now-a-days. A lot of people say, “ Oh he’s covering their song, please.” A lot of people think it is very unoriginal to cover a song. Most of the time yes is very unoriginal. Before you judge a cover you have to know it’s context. Is it a young musician trying to cover a great song that one of their idols have sung? Is the song a tribute to a musical influence? Or Is it just simply the same song sung by a different band? In this case Jack Johnson is paying tribute to an huge influence on him, a enormously great band, and a deceased lead vocalist Bradley Nowell. This is one of my favorite covers, Jack Johnson's cover of Sublime's Badfish.
Sublime's lyrics were very diacative. They were known for talking about partying, girls, drugs and getting drunk. Their lyrics were never what some people may call "poetic". Sublime was a reggae/ska/punk/ alternative rock band. Sublime's song Badfish is a very reggae almost soulful song. This song is perfectly described by the music video, friends, music, the beach, a nice sunny day and a few pints of booze. What really keeps this song moving is the bass guitar and the cymbals. Bbass guitar and the cymbals push the melody forward to make this song something you can just let loose and dance too. The rhythm is very simple and constant which lulls the listener creating tension to the song. The tempo slows and an acoustic guitar breaks the song down creating release. The song kicks back with ha very echoing electric guitar solo that once again creates the tension again for another break later on in the song.
Now listen to the Jack Johnson version. Jack brings an easier melody that is more relaxing than Sublime does. The biggest difference in Jack Johnson's cover over Sublime's is that Jack's voice is a higher lighter pitch than lead singer Bradley Nowell's. Nowell's voice is very blues filled timbre and is a deeper pitch while Jack Johnson's voice has a softer more acoustic timbre. Jack Johnson also changes the lyrics at the end of his version. He adds in another Sublime song called Boss DJ but keeps the same melody and pitch but the rhythm changes. The speed of Sublime's song is faster than Jack Johnson's. Jack's version seems to let the song slowly flow together while, like I said before for the Sublime version the Melody and rhythm seemed to be led by the cymbals and bass guitar.
I personally love both versions of this song. I think Sublime's original version is better than Jack Johnson's because I like the more up beat reggae dance party song that they created. Bradley Nowell's voice is one in a million. He seemed to create the most perfect ska voice. Although, I really do like Jack Johnson's version which is is more mellow. I don't think there is anyway anyone can cover a Sublime song and make it better to listen too.
Sublime's lyrics were very diacative. They were known for talking about partying, girls, drugs and getting drunk. Their lyrics were never what some people may call "poetic". Sublime was a reggae/ska/punk/ alternative rock band. Sublime's song Badfish is a very reggae almost soulful song. This song is perfectly described by the music video, friends, music, the beach, a nice sunny day and a few pints of booze. What really keeps this song moving is the bass guitar and the cymbals. Bbass guitar and the cymbals push the melody forward to make this song something you can just let loose and dance too. The rhythm is very simple and constant which lulls the listener creating tension to the song. The tempo slows and an acoustic guitar breaks the song down creating release. The song kicks back with ha very echoing electric guitar solo that once again creates the tension again for another break later on in the song.
Now listen to the Jack Johnson version. Jack brings an easier melody that is more relaxing than Sublime does. The biggest difference in Jack Johnson's cover over Sublime's is that Jack's voice is a higher lighter pitch than lead singer Bradley Nowell's. Nowell's voice is very blues filled timbre and is a deeper pitch while Jack Johnson's voice has a softer more acoustic timbre. Jack Johnson also changes the lyrics at the end of his version. He adds in another Sublime song called Boss DJ but keeps the same melody and pitch but the rhythm changes. The speed of Sublime's song is faster than Jack Johnson's. Jack's version seems to let the song slowly flow together while, like I said before for the Sublime version the Melody and rhythm seemed to be led by the cymbals and bass guitar.
I personally love both versions of this song. I think Sublime's original version is better than Jack Johnson's because I like the more up beat reggae dance party song that they created. Bradley Nowell's voice is one in a million. He seemed to create the most perfect ska voice. Although, I really do like Jack Johnson's version which is is more mellow. I don't think there is anyway anyone can cover a Sublime song and make it better to listen too.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Telling the story of the wolf and the Howl.
This was supposed to be an audio project and it is. It has audio and video and I think if I am deducted points that is absurd! Here is my take on the Jonathan Flaum's Finding Your Howl.
Part to of this assignment was to read your favorite quote, lyrics etc..... So I chose the qoute by Martine Scorsese
"Basically, you make another movie, and another, and hopefully you feel good about every picture you make. And you say: `My name is on that. I did that. It`s OK.` But don`t get me wrong, I still get excited by it all. That, I hope, will never disappear."
Here is my explanation on camera and I better not get any points deducted once again even though it's a video it still has audio!
My Take on Mitch Ditkoff's 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas
http://changethis.com/
Link to 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas
Mitch Ditkoff wrote a book Awake At the Wheel. This book is about how everyone has ideas but people just need to learn how to channel their creativity to think of great ideas. Every idea can bring something to the table. If the idea is good at the start then it is easy to go with. If the idea is bad then you can build off of it or learn from it. One of the biggest points Mitch Ditkoff says is that just because your idea does not work doesn’t mean it is bad, It just means switch it up and try something similar but change it. I recently read an excerpt from the book entitled "14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas" that you can read at the link above. This section of his book generally outlines how to explore every idea you receive. No idea is dumb or simple. Every idea that you come across can be manipulated into something BIG. In Mitch’s first few ways to get breakthrough ideas he really focuses on thinking about things that you enjoy and branch off from those ideas. For example, in his first two main ideas “1. Follow Your Fascination” and “2. Immerse”. These ideas are simple. Don’t try and write a story about a baker in New York City if you don’t know the first thing about baking or New York! I am obsessed with filmmaking and all my ideas I generate are used directly for filmmaking. I believe that Ditkoff is right about a lot of his statements he makes. I don’t believe that Ditkoff is a creative genius constructing these 14 ideas, but all of his points are pretty on point.
The next point that really stuck out to me was “3. Tolerating Ambiguity”. This idea was that most great ideas start from a small idea and are modeled into something wonderful. If you try to think of a great idea you will not, but if you try to think of something that could actually work then slowly tweak the idea to blossom into something more elaborate.
The only point that Mitch states that I did not like was, “12. Look for Happy Accidents”. I did not like this point because if I was generating ideas and I had an accident good is not always going to come of it. Also, “happy accidents” do not happen often and if you look for them while attempting to be creative then they will happen even less often. I do understand what he means by when something bad happens try to reshape the misfortune to a positive outcome.
I really feel that Mitch Ditkoff’s "14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas" underlining theme is that think positively with every idea you have. Write down every idea you ever think of and If your thinking positively and productively you can spin every idea small or simple and turn it into something very useful.
3.What new idea of yours is bubbling on the brink of breakthrough? In what ways can you stay
with it, even if something in you is impatient for a breakthrough?
The third prompt “Tolerating Ambiguity” really made me think about an idea I have had brewing in my head lately. I had a dream a few weeks ago that I can not even remember now, but it sparked this movie idea of an awkward male college student that wears velcro shoes. I do not know if I can use this idea for a short 1-2 minutes film in my Film Techniques class where we use 8mm film, or I can develop this idea into something bigger that I can try and make in the future. At the moment my idea sounds very boring and simple, I can not remember the rest of it. I found out telling yourself to remember your dreams before you fall asleep helps you remember them, and of course writing dreams down right when you wake up helps as well. I really like the Velcro shoes idea for a movie character because it immediately separates the character from the rest of the world. Nearly everyone knows how to tie there shoes and I thought a twenty year old intelligent college student who does not tie his shoes would some how build a great story around it. I’m impatient about this because I could be very wrong. Velcro shoes? Really? It’s a very simple idea but I guess I just have to work harder on the concept.
Link to 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas
Mitch Ditkoff wrote a book Awake At the Wheel. This book is about how everyone has ideas but people just need to learn how to channel their creativity to think of great ideas. Every idea can bring something to the table. If the idea is good at the start then it is easy to go with. If the idea is bad then you can build off of it or learn from it. One of the biggest points Mitch Ditkoff says is that just because your idea does not work doesn’t mean it is bad, It just means switch it up and try something similar but change it. I recently read an excerpt from the book entitled "14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas" that you can read at the link above. This section of his book generally outlines how to explore every idea you receive. No idea is dumb or simple. Every idea that you come across can be manipulated into something BIG. In Mitch’s first few ways to get breakthrough ideas he really focuses on thinking about things that you enjoy and branch off from those ideas. For example, in his first two main ideas “1. Follow Your Fascination” and “2. Immerse”. These ideas are simple. Don’t try and write a story about a baker in New York City if you don’t know the first thing about baking or New York! I am obsessed with filmmaking and all my ideas I generate are used directly for filmmaking. I believe that Ditkoff is right about a lot of his statements he makes. I don’t believe that Ditkoff is a creative genius constructing these 14 ideas, but all of his points are pretty on point.
The next point that really stuck out to me was “3. Tolerating Ambiguity”. This idea was that most great ideas start from a small idea and are modeled into something wonderful. If you try to think of a great idea you will not, but if you try to think of something that could actually work then slowly tweak the idea to blossom into something more elaborate.
The only point that Mitch states that I did not like was, “12. Look for Happy Accidents”. I did not like this point because if I was generating ideas and I had an accident good is not always going to come of it. Also, “happy accidents” do not happen often and if you look for them while attempting to be creative then they will happen even less often. I do understand what he means by when something bad happens try to reshape the misfortune to a positive outcome.
I really feel that Mitch Ditkoff’s "14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas" underlining theme is that think positively with every idea you have. Write down every idea you ever think of and If your thinking positively and productively you can spin every idea small or simple and turn it into something very useful.
3.What new idea of yours is bubbling on the brink of breakthrough? In what ways can you stay
with it, even if something in you is impatient for a breakthrough?
The third prompt “Tolerating Ambiguity” really made me think about an idea I have had brewing in my head lately. I had a dream a few weeks ago that I can not even remember now, but it sparked this movie idea of an awkward male college student that wears velcro shoes. I do not know if I can use this idea for a short 1-2 minutes film in my Film Techniques class where we use 8mm film, or I can develop this idea into something bigger that I can try and make in the future. At the moment my idea sounds very boring and simple, I can not remember the rest of it. I found out telling yourself to remember your dreams before you fall asleep helps you remember them, and of course writing dreams down right when you wake up helps as well. I really like the Velcro shoes idea for a movie character because it immediately separates the character from the rest of the world. Nearly everyone knows how to tie there shoes and I thought a twenty year old intelligent college student who does not tie his shoes would some how build a great story around it. I’m impatient about this because I could be very wrong. Velcro shoes? Really? It’s a very simple idea but I guess I just have to work harder on the concept.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Who Influences Me?: Martin Scorsese+ Quantin Tarantino+Judd Appatow = Me
I picture everything as a movie. If one of my friends tells me a story I mentally project a shot by shot film in my head of the events. I can not control it. It’s like I have a tiny projectionist running around in my head, loading film real after film real and projecting the images in the inside of my skull, like a private theatre. I constantly get ideas that pop up in the old head of mine. I write every idea down no matter how small or stupid they seem. My life experiences, films and music are my biggest influences in my creativity. I watch movies all the time, especially from some of my favorite directors Martin Scorsese, Quantin Tarantino and Judd Appatow. Every time I watch a film by one of these directors I learn something new. I love each one of their directing styles as well. Martin Scorsese is by far the most influential director to me. I have seen nearly every Scorsese film multiple times. One of my favorite films is The Departed. The scene above is one favorite scene from the Departed. Scorsese has an amazing way of creating the best bar brawls. The text of the scene is that Leonardo DiCaprio is not drinking alcohol at the bar... but cranberry juice. Diactively implying that he is weak, DiCaprio says nothing to the man that insults him but smashes a class over his head in furry. The viewer actively has to search for subtext of this fight. Leo's character is not to be messed with or underestimated. Scorsese also has a wonderful way of making this scene very dynamic using tension and release. The scene is Leo ordering a cranberry juice and the guy next to him making an off hand comment. SMASH! The tension explodes and DiCaprio hits him with a glass and the fight is simply broken up by a tougher character Mr. French. He is stern with Leo but does not hit him, Leo calms down and Mr. French offers him a drink. Once again DiCaprio orders a cranberry juice, and Mr. French says the same comment to him as the other man did creating the tension to rise once again. This time Leo looks unhappy but understands not to mess with Mr. French thus releasing the tension.
Scorsese and Quantin Tarantino have very different styles in directing. The reason I love Quantin Tarantino so much is because he is extremely passionate. He is obsessive about filmmaking. I see myself in him because he was a small town nobody working at a movie store and he used scenes from movies that he admired to create his films. I am from Ohio and I am trying to make it in Hollywood as well. I want to borrow from films that I love, to create masterpieces of my own. I watched the behind the scenes of making Inglorious Basterds and Tarantino’s passion stands out in the first10 seconds of this clip.
I recently saw Gus Van Sant's 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy and I literally fell in love with this film. It is an independent film that was created for about $2.5 million. The opening of the film is a great way to set up the rest of the movie. I love Van Sant's directing approach. It is not like Tarantino's which is loud, and it is even more dry then Scorsese's. He is very monotone but understands exactly what he wants. In this scene the team of junkies set up an elaborate plan to steal pharmaceutical drugs. After they make the steal they drive away and Matt Dillion's wife in the movie says, "God Damnit Bob, why do you gotta get your fix in the car? Can't you wait till we get home like the rest of us?" The first thing that is said about Matt Dillion's character is diactively stating that he is so far into drug addiction he could not wait until he got home to inject their new drugs. Dillion's response is simple but actively shows he does not care about much in life besides being high.
I look up to all of these directors. I want to make movies that give people charges of emotion like they have. Whether it is a bromance like Judd Apatow, gangster film like Martin Scorsese or a witty gory western like Tarantino, I want to direct motion pictures and tell stories that are powerful just like these directors.
Friday, January 7, 2011
To be a Director...
When I was younger my brother, sister and neighbors would make silly movies with G.I. Joe's and ourselves. I always loved movies but I never really thought creating them is a real job. When I was a in high school I did not enjoy the day to day repetitive boring work of school. Sophomore year I decided to take a class called Media Technology at The Cuyahoga Valley Career Center. We used a DVX 100-A the first day of class and I instantly fell in love with creating stories through the camera. I have now wrote, produced, directed, acted and created around 15 short films. I have known what I wanted to do since I attended CVCC. I want to be a director and video production is the perfect fit for me.
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