Project Descriptions
Audio Story Description
ABSTRACT (Logline / Elevator pitch):
I created a 2-minute audio story in which I recorded kitchen sounds, such as the ambiance before cooking begins, a gas stove starting, chopping, stirring, and ingredients boiling or sizzling, among other sounds. For the vocal element, I interviewed my father about how he learned to cook, what his favorite things to cook are, and what he likes most about cooking. Growing up, my dad always was the chef of our house. My mom cooks as well, but my dad has always had a real passion and love for it. He owns consumes a great deal of cooking and food media and is always trying to make something new, so I thought he would be a good subject to focus on for an audio story. I find cooking sounds to be quite relaxing and calming to listen to, so I thought this would be pleasant on the ears. The audio story should have a sort of comforting, homey feel to it with satisfying noises of cooking accompanying the interview. I wanted it to feel like the listener is sitting in my family’s kitchen before dinner time with their eyes closed, taking in the sounds that transpire as a meal is prepared.
TREATMENT:
I first took a 2 minute ambience recording of the kitchen without any people or cooking sounds to get the room tone. Then, I recorded the individual cooking sounds, including things like turning the stove on, the pan sizzling, knives getting sharpened, vegetables getting chopped, and water being poured. These were relatively short clips for the most part that I used in the beginning of the piece before the interview begins, and then sprinkled in throughout the rest of the piece when there are pauses in the interview questions. I planned for this piece to sound like you are listening in on someone in their natural environment; kind of like an Architectural Digest interview where someone is in their place of comfort and tells the audience about it in a casual and welcoming way.
INSPIRATIONS:
I have attached a link to a Pinterest board I made of videos that I think match the sort of sounds I was going for when creating my own audio story. Additionally, I mentioned the comfortable feeling that Architectural Digest interviews give in my previous statement, and that sort of energy is something I wanted to try to explore and channel. I also was inspired by FX’s popular show, The Bear, as my dad loves this show and has made dishes from the series before. My audio piece should have a more soothing vibe than this series, as the kitchen has a much more rambunctious feeling in that show than what I was trying to channel,, but I wanted to note that it was in my list of inspirations when creating this piece.
Video Story Description
ABSTRACT (Logline / Elevator pitch):
My concept for this video story is an observational documentary portrait of the Central Park Zoo. I think this is an interesting subject because when you think about it, it is very strange to have animals like sea lions, penguins, and lemurs living amongst the chaos and concrete environment of New York City. I filmed and edited a documentary-style showing of the space, from the beginning of the street where you enter, to the entrance of the zoo area within the park, and then observing the behaviors of the animals and how they live in an environment where they are seemingly out of place. I knew while making this that the animals’ behavior would impact the overall tone of the piece, as I do not have control over what they will be doing, however, I think that makes it an interesting subject to capture and work with.
VIDEO:
Camera: I used a SONY NX00 camera to record the visual elements.
Choreography: The video will feel as though it was filmed from an individual's perspective as they experience the space we are in.
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AUDIO:
The audio features background music of differing moods, alternating between serene, comedic, and dramatic depending on what behaviors the animals are exhibiting. The non-diegetic music should tell the story for the viewer.
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INSPIRATIONS:
Films such as Madagascar, and specifically the Penguins of Madagascar characters, inspired this concept, as I thought it would be fun to see what specific directions the narrative of the film would end up taking depending on how the animals behaved, and how I was able to spin it with the editing. It is a unique place in that the nature of animals and the unnatural environment of New York City creates a fun sort of juxtaposition.
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