lynette design

The porcupine and the car

It was interesting in the porcupine and the car to be reminded that human senses limit the amout of information that we have to process (there is more information in the environment than we see, smell, hear, taste etc, there are things that we have no sense to be able to measure.) When you make a visual or sound piece you are delibrately limiting the information that you want to present and that is significant to your meaning.

It talks about the 'information deluge' and deciding what not to record is important. I can identify with the realisation that it takes a long time to listen to and edit recorded sound, to find the pieces that i want to use. There comes a time when I must stop recording and decide to work with what I have, because otherwise I'm just collecting more and more that is not really useful.

I thought it was interesting to think about how western music is founded on silence but other music such as indian music is founded on a drone note that decides what harmonies can be played with it. This is interesting to think of in my sound piece, are there background constant sounds that are built up from, or is the basis silence?

It helps me to think about a process of understanding the technology, gaining technical experience, knowledge, craft and technique, because I am only just beginning experiments in sound (and animation). The task of finding the unique characteristics of the medium is important, to understand what sound or animation can do, how it is different to other mediums, how to make the best of the medium I'm using, and how to learn the technical skills that let me do this.

He talks about video as being 'surrogate sensory perception systems' that are similar and different to our own senses. He talks about the things people hear and see when other senses are deprived, like in a floatation tank or a soundproof room, showing that even though we think we are 'windows' on the world letting information through unedited - we are actually changing and involved in what gets sensed. We cannot remove ourselves from our own sensation.

He stresses that what is not said is important. What is ambiguous is interesting, and multi-faceted. The gaps in recognition allow user perception to be involved in the meaning, and involving the interest.

'The limits are more in the user than in the tools' and 'technology is far ahead of the people using it' I think this is true, and people get sidetracked by always chasing new technology, when we have barely skimmed the surface of what current technology can do. This is important in not letting myself feel overwhelmed by not knowing anything about animation or sound. I can be comforted that I can aproach and explore from angles that I can imagine and learn technology to do what I can imagine, rather than trying to learn the technology and do what I can do.

posted by nicole @ 3:17 pm