you’ve chosen to examine? What sort of listening practices are encouraged? Since Western culture, and Western cultural activity, is so heavily biased towards visual media and forms

Uncategorized by Geoffrey

Sound and visual media

This assignment asks you to consider how the cultural disruptions of the COVID-19 global pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns have influenced the way we HEAR visual cultural activities. Many public cultural activities we used to take for granted, such as going to the movies and the theater, watching sporting events in bars and pubs, and going to the events themselves, were severely curtailed over the past two years. This has had a direct, if not necessarily clear, impact on how we experience the sonic contexts of these activities. This short paper will critically examine, analyze and assess the acoustic context of a chosen cultural work. This could be a gallery exhibition of visual art, a popular (or not so popular) TV show, a night out at the cinema, or a public art installation. Pay particular

attention to the spatial context of where your visual experience is taking place and

consider how the sound of this space is influencing or inflecting your overall media

experience. The idea is to have you pay attention to, and critically consider, the sonic

conditions that are often rendered as secondary to the visual aspects of cultural experience.

What are the dynamics of noise, silence and music at play in the visual cultural experience

you’ve chosen to examine? What sort of listening practices are encouraged? Since Western

culture, and Western cultural activity, is so heavily biased towards visual media and forms

of engagement, the idea behind this assignment is to have you pay attention to the aspects

of aural experience that are typically forgotten, ignored or go unconsidered.

 

This assignment asks you base your reflection on a recent personal media experience, so

you are expected to write about something you have actually done during this term. By

writing about an experience you intentionally go out and have this term you will go into

that experience actually listening for things. In other words, do NOT simply reflect back on

an experience you may have had previously. Use this assignment as an opportunity to get

out into the world and experience something. Of course, be safe, physically distance, and

follow all COVID-19 protocols!

 

This assignment takes the idea of “cultural work” in a rather narrow sense, and as such is

not intended to cover “everyday” types of cultural experiences such as sitting in coffee

shops, shopping malls, or public transit.

 

 

Some key questions to keep in mind:

NOTE: this is NOT a list of questions designed for you to answer individually and

completely. Some questions might not be applicable to your own event experience

 

  1. What is the event you’re writing about? (clearly identify it)
  2. Where and when did the event take place? Why might the space your experience is

taking place sound the way it does? is there something about the specific time your

event is happening that lends to its particular aurality?

  1. Now that the lockdowns associated with COVID have generally been lifted here in

Toronto, how are you experiencing the sound of visual events? Did you do

anything similar during the COVID lockdowns? What was the aural context of that

event like under those conditions? (Earlier version: Describe and analyze the aural

context the event/work/etc. is embedded in.) This means that you are not to focus

on the sound that is actually part of the work (although this shouldn’t be

completely ignored) or event you are exploring (e.g. a movie or TV show

soundtrack, the music of the musical performance, etc.) but to pay more attention

to the sounds that surround the event (e.g. the sound of the audience, the sound

of the space itself, etc.).

  1. What would the gallery/theater/cinema/public space sound like before, during or

after a visual art exhibition/play/movie/experience?)

  1. Are there related cultural or artistic practices that your event/artwork/etc. that might

relate to or somehow inform the nature of its aurality?

  1. Are there historical practices, or shifts in historical practices, which might inform

the aurality of this experience?

  1. What are the social or cultural norms that help produce the ideas of silence, noise

or music that might be in play? How does the expected or intended experience of

your chosen subject implicitly draw upon these norms? Does it challenge them in

any way?

  1. New question: Has the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the way  you hear or experience of this event? Do you recall your pre-pandemic experiences  of similar events?

 

Using Research

 

This assignment asks you to do a critical reflection of a media experience. Hence while

your own observations will form the core of your work, you must critically contextualize

and support them with appropriate scholarly work. This is essential if you are to turn your

own opinions of what you heard into a rigorous analysis of your experience. You should

draw upon AT LEAST THREE scholarly sources for your assignment. These sources should

be applied in a way that illustrates and adds depth to the observations you’re reporting on

in your paper.

DIGITAL PROJECT OPTION

Instead of a traditional written assignment, students may choose to submit a 3 to 5min

digital media work (e.g., audio podcast, video/VLOG, media slideshow, etc.) instead. This

project must engage the substantive content requirements of the assignment in the same

way as a written report. It must have a general thesis and a sound and logical

organizational structure, and must make use of scholarly research to critically

contextualize its observations. Digital media, though, offers you a wide range of creative

ways to make your point, and that’s what this option is all about.

If you choose this option, discuss your ideas and proposed format with me  beforehand.