Assignment III: The Experimental Project: Supernature with Sound and Composition [OLD PROJECT/DEAD LINK]

Link to Powerpoint: https://blackboard.uncg.edu/bbcswebdav/users/lkabraha/Presentation1.ppt

This project is certainly more experimental than adhering to a storyline, as my goal was to evoke thoughts on childhood. In Dr. Edward’s book, she mentions much about the metaphysical medium aspect of different media, how they can transfer a viewer to past times, far away places or even strange dreamscapes from someone’s imagination. We can watch the dead, either a deceased actor in an older film or a home movie of a loved one who has passed on.

My project was my attempt to capture my thoughts on childhood and try to create a sense of my own childhood. By photographing objects that hold personal sentiments for me and images that remind me of times past, I hoped to resurrect a ghost. Not a spirit of the dead, but the ghost of the little girl I once was. Many times I do not like to think about the past, and try to separate the life I live now from my younger years, but I have begun to come to terms that I cannot severe myself from the child I once was. I have changed, but I still am that little girl.

Many of the pictures are of things that I was very fond of as a child, and they continue to hold a place in my heart, such as a stuffed dog, a tea set, and that big stack of books, CDs, and videos that I have considered my favorites for many years. Other images are to evoke images of childhood that everyone can relate to, such as the antique dolls, a playground, and the swings. However, all of these images have a kind of haunted quality to them, because while they are indeed innocent, they are missing something crucial- the child. I hope those who watch this slide show will feel the sort of sadness for the loss of childhood that I tried to create. It is a time that is with us always, but can never return to.

The sounds for these were hard to choose, because I wanted to use something that was appropriately haunting, but not scary. I was moved by many of the previous photo projects which did not try to show something frightening, but rather a gentle kind of nostalgia and sense of tranquility, a kind of peaceful haunting. So the music clips I sampled are ethereal, sometimes simple orchestrations or even lullabies. I began with a more playful tone, showing basic images and soft, charming music, often in different languages. It shifted towards the middle, becoming a bit darker, somewhat creepy, both capturing the angry ghost of childhood past and also the frustration for what we cannot return to. Then it is gentler again, saying “Hush, hush, hush,” and we are at peace again, joining the childlike chant on the playground, where we can return to in our mind.

I think that how the sounds and the images were paired had a great influence on how the presentation could be viewed. I first noticed that the image of the swings was particularly spooky looking, but since I was not trying to go for horror, I paired it with a softer, but still sad, piece. The image of the antique dolls is made to be a bit unnerving when paired with the sound clip of the little girl talking, something that may not have happened otherwise. With Tori Amos’s “Not the Red Baron,” my stuffed dog Lucky is no longer cute, but a sad figure of the unobtainable past and unhappy memories. It's amazing how sound and image can correlate and have such an impact on how the other can be viewed.

Projectish [OLD PROJECT]

Hey, just uploading the pictures for my project, so this is by no means complete.














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