Toy Story: Pizza Planet Truck

I used this scene from 0:00-1:41.

Two main topics of sound represented in Toy Story’s gas station scene are listening modes and space.

For listening modes, the scene mostly contains casual sounds. These include tires screeching, doors slamming and squeaking, footsteps, and actual voices. Casual sounds are literal interpretations of events that occur within ones environment. This makes perfect sense for Toy Story because the movie is based upon reality as humans see it. When analyzing the casual sounds that occur, most of the dialogue, footsteps, etc., are diegetic. There are two instances in which sound contained in the scene is non-diagetic. This occurs when we hear a symphony song begin to play as Buzz becomes aware of the ‘spaceship.’ The second instance, when heavy rock music begins to play as the Pizza Planet truck speeds away, could either be diagetic or non-diagetic. It is debatable because we do not physically see the driver turn on the stereo.

Space plays a large roll in this scene. There is a combination of flat and deep sound paints a picture even when you close your eyes. When Woody and Buzz are talking to one another, the sound is flat. However, when Buzz walks away from Woody, the sound becomes deep and echoes, providing an image of space between characters. Deep sound is also prevalent when we hear conversations between the pizza delivery guy and the gas station attendant in the distance. The camera controls the types of sound we hear, creating a point of perspective for the audience.

Seth Godin: "Brainwashed"

Brainwashed by Seth Godin analyzes how the creative mind fits into our ‘narrow minded’ society. Three of the seven layers of reinventing yourself which I take liking to are generosity, acknowledge the lizard, and ship. Many companies have come to be successful by being generous. Derek Silvers of CDBaby.com started his site in a bedroom. Now it is a multi-million dollar company. This is a product of artist promotion, i.e. being generous. Second is acknowledging the lizard. The lizard is the resistance that brings us to follow a set of rules. The voice of skepticism and possible humility is what stands between the artist and their art. Lastly is Ship. Especially in the era of the Internet, ideas are produced at a rapid rate unlike any other point in history. It is crucial to get things done, produce, and put content out there while others are subject to the ‘lizard.’

The layers which I summarized by Seth Godin, generosity, acknowledge the lizard, and ship, in addition to those I did not, undoubtedly relate to the blogs that each of us in MDIA 203 are creating this quarter. These exercises teach and introduce us to a few different aspects of using tools that are now available in our Internet revolution.

First, these assignments teach us generosity. Apart from the fact that we are receiving grades for each of these, I feel a level of satisfaction in putting my thoughts out for whomever to read. We receive no monetary revenue and no fame for doing so. We are simply putting our ideas out there for interpretation. This is important to learn how to deal with in perspective with the twenty-first century media realm. Often times nothing is received for your creative work. What you can receive is the pure satisfaction in pursuing your passion of art and enabling your creations to have an impact on the lives of others. Ultimately, if you are truly pursuing your love, you will act generously and receive rewards, no matter how large or small for your contributions to the arts.

Secondly, learning how to “acknowledge the lizard” and move on is perhaps the most difficult mountain to summit. In order to truly reach, and even surpass what one perceives as their creative potential, there comes a point when one needs to say to themselves, ‘screw it’ and just put it out there. These blogs allow us to put our personal spins and perspectives into the assignments. We are learning to “acknowledge the lizard” and move on. There is great joy in putting pure opinions of a particular artwork out with the possibility of receiving varying levels of criticism from anyone.

Thirdly, we are learning to be an efficient shipper. These blogs teach us, though not as frequently demanded in the professional realm, to regularly produce for consumers. We accomplish this by thoughtful weekly posts on varying topics. There is a second half of what we are learning in pertinence to shipping. Even though one may be able to produce on a regular basis (however frequent that may be) it does not matter if you are unable to deliver your shipment in a comprehensive and alluring technique. It is necessary to be somewhat concise and cut to the chase. Quite frankly, with the higher level of content available, an equal amount of trash is present for consumers to sort through. Everyone needs to learn how to use language in diverse formats pertaining to varying social media sites. Everyone needs to learn how to pick his or her most important matter and present it in conjunction with what is stated above. The difficulty is making all of this happen while “acknowledging the lizard.”

• Seth Godin's article Brainwashed is available to read at http://changethis.com/.

"Finding Your Howl" meets Neil Young

Find Your Howl by Jonathan Flaum presents a story written by a friend of his in the fifth grade. The story is of a tiger who lives in a zoo that is constantly trying to escape from the cages around him. No matter how far he jumps, he never makes it beyond another cage, and in the end, never accomplishes his goal of escaping his own ‘cage.’ I draw two points from the story. First, the tiger brings the cage and the zoo with him because it has become a part of him. Secondly, to overcome our own cage, we must overcome ourselves, and that means digging our own dark tunnel underneath the fence.

As an audio production student, the most difficult question one can ask me is what is my favorite artist or genre of music. To be honest, I will never be able to answer this question. One song that has spoken to me in the past, and more so as I have matured, is Neil Young’s masterpiece titled Old Man. As a child I heard, “Oh Leo, you resemble your father so much,” and “Oh Leo, you act just like your father,” from countless family members and friends. I had never given this much thought until roughly four years ago, and that moment sticks with me to this day.

My father and I have taken several road trips around the country, specifically to Maine, Colorado, and New Mexico. It was on one of our spring break road trips to Colorado when Old Man came on the satellite radio. At that moment, speeding through the middle of Nebraska, time slowed down for three minutes and I thought to myself, “wow Leo, you are turning out to be exactly like your dad.” I couldn’t tell if my dad was pondering the same thoughts in his own mind. Ever since that day, I have been realizing more frequently, through little quirky actions, that I am and most likely will be exactly like my father, and I am honored to do so.

If you have ever heard Neil Young talk during one of his live performances, you will take note that he is a sincere, deep, and thoughtful man. At times, he might come across as awkward or shy. In many ways, I come across the same way. His voice thrives in his lyrics and how he strums his beloved guitar. Let’s take a closer look at the lyrics of Old Man.

The opening lyric, “Old man take a look at my life, I’m a lot like you were,” sums up the greater meaning of the song to me. It is all about the realization that you are becoming like your father, the man who created you, and going through similar hardships trying to figure out your life, just as your father did (or maybe still doing). Another stanza that sticks out to me is “I’ve been first and last, look at how the time goes past. But I’m all alone at last, rolling home to you.” I have always been told that life goes by fast, primarily by elders in my life. Neil is saying that in the end, you will be alone and fall back on what you love most and what you were build upon. Life is all about ‘finding your howl’ falling back on it, in this case of the son, his father.

Apart from the emotional meaning of the song, it is one of my favorites in the classic rock genre. Neil Young’s guitar language is articulated so uniquely. It is calm, punctual, and similar to his voice, most importantly pure. When the production is taken away surrounding each of his songs and you strip it down to the man and his beloved guitar (old black), what is left is the same as before. The passion and influence heard in his productions is only to emphasize his voice and guitar work. Neil’s voice could calm the devil. Maybe that is why my ears are seduced to such an astonishing height each time I take a listen to Old Man.

Deconstructing Characters

Protagonist:

Color

The color of my character is mostly baby blue with dark blue accents, in addition to a little bit of orange. The color scheme, even though there are three colors, is complimentary because of the two shades of blue versus the orange. Baby blue being the main color, is relatively light. This makes the character calm and soothing to the eye, which corresponds well with a hero. The saturation is right in the middle, which makes it not too dark, and not too light. Baby Blue does not have much value to it.

Light

My character's hue is pretty bright, with the colors being mainly light blue, with accents of darker blue and orange. The light is very hard because my character always sticks out and their colors never blend in, or disperse into the surroundings. The intensity is always very bright. Shadows never effect my character at all. The direction of the light can change, but for the most part is vertical because they are always standing up. However, when my character runs, it forms more of a horizontal position. The distance is mostly near, but can be far when they run away offscreen.

Shape

My character is long and drawn out when running at fast speeds. When not running at fast speeds, it stands straight up and is generally taller and slim. This allows for great speed and agility, as compared to its slower nemesis.

Antagonist:

Color

My vilan character consists of an analogous color scheme. The hue consists of a combination between tan and brown. This darker color scheme provides a subliminal connotation to a vilan-type character. The character is more on the saturated side in terms of color, which again provides a darker tone backing up the vilan-type character. The value is not totally black, but in the middle between a true light brown, and an extremely dark brown.

Light

My vilan is at times in the shadow, sneaking around. At other times my vilan is out in the open in direct light. The light is generally hard because with this show, there is not much diffusion of colors. The intensity, depending on where my vilan is, is either bright or dim. The intensity is never fully lost because the vilan never 100% goes into hiding. Again, depending on where the vilan is in the scene, the light can be near or far away. For the most part, distance is not shown by shadows, but rather a shrinking the vilans image.

Shape

My vilan is generally a cylindrical shape. He/she is slim and slender as well, but not very fast. Never does the character get into a horizontal position unless being attacked by its counterpart.

Superman: The Superior Choice for a Superior Superhero

One of the first images engrained in child's minds is that of the blue, red, and yellow beast, commonly known as Superman. He was America's first comic book super hero. Superman is a likable guy who is always looking out for the common good of his society. Clark Kent (Superman) is raised from the start with a strong moral compas. He puts his real identity aside and accepts living a life of seclusion for the welfare of all. He's also jacked and kicks every single one of his enemies butts, which is a plus. What child or human being wouldn't want to represent the qualities that Superman possesses?