Foley Job Application for Media Studies

A Foley's (named after the Jack Foley) job in film creation is to add ambient sounds such as footsteps, door creaks and paper rustling that can not be easily picked up by a boom mic. This helps the movie feel less empty of normal sounds. With that said, here is my job application.


I am good at remembering and recalling small moments in a film.
I can write on paper, allowing me to be able to plan what I should do at what time to create the intended effect.
I can think of creative and effective ways to create matching sounds.
I have some experience editing my own sound if needed.
If I miss something important I will attempt to re-record it.

Media Studies | Ajax the Kea dog

Today at Media Studies we examined a DOC video of a man and his one-of-a-kind Kea finding dog, Ajax. 

The first thing I did after watching it was examine the sound.

Music	At the start of the video, the music sounds chill and ambient, sort of like a status quo in the the forest. When the man finds a dead Kea nest, the music has more of a sad piano sound to it. After Ajax the dog finds a Kea the music suddenly gets a much more bass-y sound and happy chords come in.
Dialogue	The dialogue has a New Zealand documentary feel to it. The man talks a lot about what happens on the job and him and his dog's daily life being Kea finders and monitors.
Sounds	Sound design is good. They have very well fitting noises such as water flowing, bush rustling and other nature sounds. They also have kept in (or got a Foley to recreate) sounds that the two workers had made on the trip around the mountains.

Aferwards, I read the instructions wrong and wrote up my first impressions of the camerawork and what I liked in general.

The camera changes scenes and moves around a lot to keep the viewers interested.

There are interesting shots such as these:

I especially enjoyed this overhead shot of the dog going over the river, as it is something the cameramen would actually require a drone for.

Also, the grading after the empty Kea hole scene was very good for what they wanted to portray, which was that the man was feeling down.

In the end, I wrote that my first impressions of the music was that it was so well done that it was near unnoticeable, like Minecraft ambience going on in the background as you play.

Cya later,

Kyle

Graffiti: Art or Vandalism?

GRAFFITI

There are many different definitions for graffiti. For example, the Oxford Dictionary defines it as

writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public

place, while the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as words or drawings, especially humorous,

rude, or political, on walls, doors, etc. in public places.

ART

There are a lot of different definitions of art as well. The Oxford Dictionary says that the

expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such

as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or

emotional power; and The Collins Dictionary says that the arts are activities such as music,

painting, literature, cinema, and dance, which people can take part in for enjoyment, or to create

works which express serious meanings or ideas of beauty.

VANDALISM

There are… you get the idea. Oxford Dictionary says vandalism is taction involving deliberate

destruction of or damage to public or private property.

PARAGRAPH

I believe graffiti is vandalism as well as art. Specified above, there are two categories that

Graffiti can fit into. I think that Graffiti fits in to both these categories. Let’s say there was some

graffiti saying “Blind people, am I right?” sprayed onto a parking lot wall. First, it is a few

humorous words on a wall at a public place, so it is graffiti. Second, it is from a creative thought

from someone’s mind in a visual form, so it is also art. Finally, it is deliberate damage to public

property, so it is also vandalism. Many pieces of graffiti art fit in like this one. That is why I

believe graffiti is vandalism and art at the same time.

Taiwan

I am in Taiwan as I write this.
Hello, my dear readers (from other random schools), and welcome to my monstrosity!
Here are some videos I have uploaded recently on my YouTube channel.

What does S stand for?

Letter to Curious New Zealander - (UPDATE)

I have changed my mind about sending my letter to John Gully through Jimmy- it's too easy, because John's his uncle! To make things more fun, I'll give it to my dad's friend Brent to make it more interesting, and to see how connected New Zealanders are. Also, I have an idea for Stan Walker's letter's first person- and that is Jonathan Goodall, who has done a lot of technical music stuff for musicians. So, time to do this!

A letter to a curious New Zealander

Our school is part of an experiment to see how connected New Zealanders are.

We have to write a letter to a Curious New Zealander of our choice. Then we have to pass the letter onto a random person with the instruction to pass it on to someone who might know the person who might know the person whom the letter is addressed. After they receive it, getting proof with a selfie, an email or something can be good proof that it got there.

I have chosen John Gully from the Everest Treks as my Curious New Zealander because I am really interested in Mount Everest, and also because my friend Jimmy keeps talking about him. I am going to first give my letter to my friend Jimmy because he is related to John Gully (which is why he keeps talking about John.

John Gully

Since there are a lot of postcards in the pile, I get to send a second person.

For the second Curious New Zealander, I have chosen Stan Walker because he is a cool recording artist, actor and TV personality. I'm going to first tweet him to see if he knows anyone that knows him (idea from Corianna), because I need to find out who knows him. Updates may come soon.

Stan Walker

Aluminium boats with marbles

Today, our goal was to build a boat that could hold the most possible marbles, using a piece of aluminium foil. We had to build two boats, and try to improve our design between our first and second boat. My team consisted of Me, Kyle, and Matthew.

Rules

• You may only use a single piece of foil to build your boat
• You may not touch or adjust your boat once it is in the water
• You must add marbles one at a time

Our plan

Type-up of plan

Make a hat boat and drop marbles in.

• Strength: floats because of air pockets.
• Strength: Sides hold the marbles in
• Weakness: It's tin foil.
• Weakness: Sides could fall apart.

What did the boat do?

Evaluate and Improve

A few common problems between all the tested boats are that a few are too small, or the marbles roll around the boat and unbalance it.

Good ideas are deep bowls, and big flat boats that displace water, especially when there are sections to keep the balance.

Our new design

This design incorporated both good evaluations to see if it they went well together.

They didn't.

Strength: Deep enough to hold a few marbles.

Strength: Has sections to make the weight spread out and balanced.

Weakness: IT HAS HOLES INSIDE IT EVERYWHERE

Weakness: Sections take a lot of the material, leaving only a little to use.