Alexis's Draft Proposal

alindquistFD346.doc

Title: The Language We Don't Talk About: Hearing Time and Place in Film Scores

Abstract: This project delves into the world of musical color specifically in relation to the creation of the sensation of a time and place in cinema. It is targeted for any film listener (even the blind). A pedagogical website will launch a multi-layered, interactive game.

Methodology: The project will be accessed via the internet through a flash site. The flash site will explain the purpose of the project, give directions for the game both through literature and audibly, and will have teaching tools in regards to musical color in film scores. The game will be accessible via the flash site and will also be created in Flash. The game is completely audio based. The user will be assigned missions, for example “Go to Scotland.” The user will hear a score; if it does not implicate Scotland, then the user may left click and a new score will play. It is as though the user is digging forward in search of Scotland. When the user finds the assigned time or destination, then they may right click and sounds will notify them of their correct or incorrect answer. There are no points and the game loops; it literally could go on forever. It is just a simple exercise to allow the user to become aware of their personal interpretation of musical color.

Significance: As a whole, this project will effectively argue that musical color has become a language across cinema and American culture. The user’s experience will leave them with a greater awareness of the power of the film score in their film experiences and its significance in American culture.

Media Presentation & Justification: This thesis will include a flash website with film clips, sound clips, visual images, and game devices to allow decision making in order to let the user to declare their own connotations when they hear score motifs. This project should be in multimedia because film scores are a language that is heard, not written. Also, this project requires the allowance of users to make decisions in a way that cannot be done in an essay.

Timeline: Over the summer I plan to learn the fundamentals I will use in Flash. First semester, I hope to create a site map for the website in September and build the framework by December. I will also sketch out the framework and programming stats for the game in the same respective time frame. I will be researching scores the entire semester and hope to have all of my research done by the end of the semester (how many scores that will be will be clearer after I do my sketches). Basically, by finals time at the end of semester one I would like to have all the Flash skills to build my project, have all of the 'blue printing' done, have all of my research done, and have collected all of the materials I will need to put everything together (pictures, music downloads, etc.).
Semester two will be my building phase where I will put everything I have collected together and then polish. I am giving myself an entire semester for this part because technology hates me and I am already preparing for some mass troubleshooting. I want what I "think" is my final project completely constructed by the end of March. Then I will have testing, feedback, and polishing for a presentation at the end of April/beginning of May.

Budget: I am "borrowing" music for academic reasons, using IML's programs, and mooching FLASH knowledge off of friends, books, and IML tutors, so this is a true poor college student's project: $0.
Worst case scenario, I will have to shell out a couple hundred dollars to have a kind programmer help me figure some tricky things out.

Advisors: Steve Anderson from IML and Bill Whittington from the Critical Studies Department

Presentation: It's going to accessible to everyone via the web.

Resources: FLASH, Photoshop, Logic, and the Music Library at USC.