Project One: Crescendo & Decrescendo

    As mentioned in my introductory interview, I am inspired by the things around me and particularly the things which influence my identity in some way. I have lived in the same house my whole life, a house in the country which my great-grandfather built that sits across the road from a train track. As I lay in bed at night I hear them go by, growing louder as they approach and rattling the whole house as they come near... and then the sound and motion slowly fade. Because the trains rocked me to sleep and their rhythmic sounds were and are my lullabies, they have become a part of my idea of home and even my identiy.

    I had several ideas of how this might be incorporated into a project for this class. To begin with I researched trains, saving pictures off the internet and making sketches. Then I pursued my first idea, which involved a Flash train growing larger and passing by over/past a video of me sleeping with the sound of a train coming and going overlaid, but decided based on the limits to my knowledge of Flash and the time allotted to this project to pursue another idea I had. The key to this idea would be an audio recording of a train going by, which would only have been a small part of the Flash project.

2/7/08  Colleen – Are you still working with the paper house?  I liked that sculptural idea.  I pictured a dull light coming from it.  I just bought good speakers for the classroom today.  They are somewhat large, but perhaps they could be hidden in the pedestal or support for your house. 

reply: Yeah, sorry, I've been really busy so I keep forgetting to post on here. I am still planning to do the paper house, but I haven't gotten to the point of testing the effect of the sound yet so I don't know if I need extra speakers... but if it turns out I do, that's great that we have speakers. ^_^ It also curred to me to do something with light, but I haven't figured out the best way to put a light inside safely and in a way that won't affect it's structural integrity or, um, wobblesomeness. So I'll be brainstorming on that.