Tag Archives: blog post 4

What’s on TV?

alien2Diego’s Aliensssss!.wav  reminds me of the scene from the first Alien film when the crew from the Nostromo discovers the egg chamber. In that scene, a crewmember discovers a leathery egg, which slowly opens from the top like a blooming flower. The sloshing noises are reminiscent of the noises made when the camera pans closer to the internals of the egg, settling just outside of the opening. Just as there is an apparent calming in those noises, the alien inside of the egg leaps out at the astronaut.

This sound would likely be diegetic, but its usage would depend fully upon the mise en scène. What I would be planning would be more of a home scene, where two people are debating on what film they should watch after a long week at work. As one of them flips through the channels with a remote control, sounds emanate from the television that correspond to each channel. A good way of indicating this action would be to have a “white-noise” sort of sound between memorable movie sounds while one of the people announces movie titles to another.

This Alien noise would represent one of the channels, between the sounds of white noise in the clip, that would indicate some kind of sci-fi channel. Other sounds would probably be a noise like fire, for a cooking show or maybe something about camping, sounds of a rocket taking off for a “Discovery” like channel, or the sound of animals fighting for an “Animal Planet” like program. The sound of a button clicking would represent the mechanical press of the remote control.

If this were some sort of skit, I would like to anchor it in a time-period with lots of sounds and a musical choice that cements it firmly in the 80’s. The static sound would be reminiscent of the noise made by an analogue television, and the clicking would be a reminder of the thick, solid remote controls of that time period. All of the movie and show choices should be from that time as well.

 

Microwave Sound

While going through the collected sounds in the box folder, I heard the microwave, the low humming while it cooks, and the beep that signifies the food is ready. In my mind i could see the light shining on the turn table inside the microwave through the grainy glass door. I thought about what I would be taking out of there on a daily basis after i heard the beep. Could I hear the food making any sounds inside? If it was popcorn or water boiling maybe I would hear it. As my brain followed this train of thought, A scene was quickly  forming around the sounds.

Am i making breakfast, or dinner? Am  I following a recipe, or making it by memory? I thought about other sounds I would hear in the kitchen, and I thought of eggs being whisked with milk, salt and pepper. Breakfast is my favorite meal, and it seems that I was imagining making scrambled eggs with toast, and maybe a cup of tea.

I’m in my small apartment kitchen. I take melted butter out of the beeping microwave. I turn on the electric kettle with a click. I crack two eggs into a bowl that i pulled out of the cabinet. I pour milk into the bowl and grind some fresh salt and pepper. I turn on the gas stove and place a pan over the flames. I scoop in some melted butter and it begins to sizzle. I place the bread in the toaster and set it for three minutes which starts a rhythmic ticking. In the background the kettle is making a whooshing sound that increases in volume as it heats the water.  I pour the eggs into the buttered pan and it sizzles until the eggs cover the bottom of the pan. I begin to stir, hearing the scraping of the spatula on the pan. The water is done and it makes i final howl and click off. I get a cup out of the cabinet and pour the hot water. Then i hear the ripping of a tea bag and a plop into the water. The toaster dings and i scrape some softened butter over the top. I go back to the stove and scrape the eggs into my plate, pick up my tea and sit down to start eating.

I will be able to build these sounds upon one another to make a common scene in my kitchen.