Sound Observation in Hoggard Hall Lobby

The heavy doors swing open, sound enters the room. Two men speak and their voices fade as they make their way down the hall. The air conditioner cuts on. A phone rings with jazzy piano keys, and a man answers as he opens the outside doors you can hear his voice. More voices spring up from around the corner. Two girls talk laughingly as they exit the building. Silence now. I can only hear the air conditioner. There is a faint buzzing noise perhaps coming from outside the building. Maybe it's traffic. More silence. Thats all I hear for about 60 seconds longer apart from my own breaths.

Bela Balazs's Theory of the Film: Sound Reading Response

Balazs presents a variety of points regarding sound in film. I agree with most of them. Balazs presents  points on the versatility and importance of sound in relation to image in different categories. I think that sound and image compliment each other with an equal balance when seeing a film. Sure one could in some cases mute a film and watch with subtitles but at that point half the experience is cut out. Speaking of silence, I think that silence is a powerful and under utilized tool in modern cinema. Silence can add so much power to the sound that arrives after it. Balazs at one point claims that sound has to be directed and arranged to become art. I disagree. I think there are many possibilities of artistic filmmaking without altering sound at all. You can do anything you want especially within the range of the Avant-Garde. For example, someone could record dogs barking at a shelter and juxtapose that with images of high school classroom and the sound could remain unedited and still be art. Asides from that point Balazs made I found the reading to be informative. It really made me think about the vitality of sound that I often forget.

Sound Observation in Port City Java

I hear Lorde playing behind the counter from a small speaker. To my right two people speak about an assignment they have due with a group who is not taking part in the effort. In front of me heavy wooden chairs drag across the hardwood floors as people attempt to rearrange the table layouts to fit to their own convenience. There are footsteps in the distance. A lot of footsteps. They start briefly and then stop. A barista asks what a customer wants. After the transaction the footsteps occur once again for a moment. Across the room a group of girls laugh. I can tell it is across the room because of the echo but the laughs are at such a high volume that they drown out everything else. Everything is drenched in the ambience of a loud refrigerator running at the bar. Once again I hear feet tapping to my right and the two people complain about other things. More chairs drag again. The footsteps occur again and the pattern of sounds reoccur with slight variation.