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 an in-depth exploration of this aspect of film music and its relationship with American culture. This project argues the musical color in film scores has become a national language. 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 from American cinema as well as from foreign cinemas. 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:
Summer
Over the summer I plan to learn the fundamentals I will use in Flash. I will also do music research in order to figure out the scope of scores and website activities I would like to use in my project.
Fall Semester
By the week of September 10-14, I will have created a site map for my website and will have decided the number and type of scores I will have to use in this project. By the week of November 26-30, I will have all the Flash skills to build my project, all of the 'blue printing' done for the website and game, the framework of the website built, all of my research done, and have collected all of the materials I will need to put everything together (pictures, music downloads, etc.).
Spring Semester
Semester two will be my building phase where I will put everything I have collected together and then polish. I plan to have my paper and project “done” by the week of March 24-28. Throughout April I will test, troubleshoot, and tweak my project. I will present my final product the week of May 7-14.
Budget:
Hard drive: $80
Domain name: $10
Web Space: $80/yr
Budget = $170
Confirmed Advisors:
Steve Anderson from IML and Bill Whittington from the Critical Studies DepartmentPresentation: It's going to accessible to everyone via the web. The only formal presentation I have scheduled is May 7-14 through IML.Production Resources: FLASH, Photoshop, Logic, and the Music Library at USC
Prior Related Work:
ITP 104x , TA for ITP 104x, ITP 280x, Piano 150a, Piano 150b, JanetMendoza.com, and IML coursework in Logic
Research Bibliography:
There are a few books my advisor and other professors have recommended to me which I plan on reading over the summer. I won’t know which books helped me with my project until the fall.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Final Thesis Proposal - Anastasia Shepherd
Anastasia Shepherd
IML Final Thesis Proposal
Title: Night Watch
Abstract:
I would like to explore the subject of imagined realities and mysterious memory fragments in disobedience of social constructs in my thesis project. An interactive web-based art piece that combines flash animation with video and traditional animation would be an optimal presentation for the piece. I would like the project to go hand in hand with a film I will be making next year. Here is the synopsis of the film:
A mother walks out on her teenage daughter, taking only a suitcase. She sticks her thumb in the air and is picked up by a car as her daughter watches. Later, the daughter, who works as a night maid in a hotel, is cleaning when she sees the same suitcase. Inside is a cassette tape, which she listens to on her walkman. It tells her to go into a specific room in the hotel. Inside is a group of people watching slides of her mother walking out on her. They turn to her. Suddenly, she has a tray of slides in her hands, and when she puts them in the projector, she is shocked to find that they show pictures of herself, leaving her job and hitchhiking. She turns on the light and the room is empty. Her headphones go back to the music she was listening to before. She walks out of the building, puts her thumb in the air, and is picked up by a car. It brings her to an abandoned lot, where her mother is sitting at a table. She goes and sits down next to her, in the same position they were in right before her mother left.
The film will only have a short segment in the hotel, but I want the interactive project to explore many other themes of the film within the hotel scenario. The guidelines will be similar to this:
You can choose to either watch or participate in what is encountered on the maid’s shift. You can choose to follow routine or stray from responsibility. There will be odd objects or disturbances: If you explore them, the world gets stranger. If you ignore them, things stay the same. The more risks you take, the more you may get in trouble. You have the ability to discover many mysteries.
For each scenario, there will be an obvious or traditional decision (link) to make and a more offbeat or strange, less noticeable decision to make. There are ways to go through the project without a large disturbance of the real, but if the viewers pay close attention and follow a stranger path, more information and more bizarre events will be revealed to them.
Description:
Genre: My project will fuse the interactive and experiential genres to make an interactive art piece that mixes the genres of documentary film, animation, gaming, and expressionistic/symbolic fine arts.
Research Methodology: My primary objective is to research films, art, games, and interactive websites that deal with the same themes that I am interested in, and to use what I have learned from that work to inform my own. Research will not be direct and cited like in a paper, but will have a more intuitive effect on the project.
Delivery Format: A Flash-based interactive website, coded and designed to match the project’s concept.
Project Goals: To encourage the growth of innate curiosity, which is often stifled.
To allow the user/player/viewer to get lost in a world built out of their own decisions.
To show that there are many levels to reality, and everyone has the choice of whether to pursue them or not.
Project Significance: I want the research I do to fit seamlessly into the creative construction of the project. Namely, I do not want this to be a nonfiction account of the creative work of others, but I want it to be a creative work in dialogue with previous creative works, which feels more appropriate to me than dry research. The project will be about the drive to explore the world and one’s own mind, which is the main theme that I have found resonant in so many previous works of art. Through interactivity, I hope to spread that message to the viewer in a more visceral way.
Timeline:
Summer:
- Perfect proposal
- Plan basic design of the site
- Storyboard all scenarios
- Develop a shooting schedule in conjunction with the film’s shooting schedule
- Location scouting
- Develop conceptual relevancy
- Learn Flash, HTML, and CSS
Fall:
August 27 Classes begin.
9/10 – 9/14/07 Proposal confirmation. Meet with advisor to present re-evaluated proposal and plan (timeline) .
- Shoot video and film of scenarios.
- Meet with advisor to determine animation styles.
- Complete as much animation as possible.
- Begin template of the website.
November 26-30 Prototype/Draft Presentation
Spring:
- Design sound for scenarios
- Program the interface design of the website
- Unify the project through editing/arranging
- Final touches (titles, etc.)
March 24-28th Formal Presentation/Paper Due
May 7th – 14th Show
- Look for ways to get the project seen: festivals, galleries, etc.
Budget:
Around $200 dollars for small expenses such as DV tapes, animation materials, domain hosting, an external hard drive, and festival fees. I may also take some community college classes in scripting or Flash this summer, and the tuition for those is less than $90 a course.
Confirmed Advisors:
Dr. Kathy Smith
Chair
John C. Hench
Division of Animation and Digital Arts
(213) 821-1348
kates@usc.edu
Dr. Steve Anderson
Associate Director
Institute for Multimedia Literacy
Presentation and/or Distribution Plans/Venues:
Since it will be a website, it will be accessible to anyone. However, I’d also like to see if I could distribute it as a sister piece with the film I will be making in CTPR 310 in Fall ’07. I would like to submit it to online contests and festivals, as well. I think it would also be a great interactive piece for an art gallery.
Production Resources:
Hardware Needs: An external hard drive, my own laptop and the computers at the IML should be sufficient.
Software Needs: Flash, Final Cut, After Effects, Frame Thief, and various traditional animation media.
Prior Related Work:
I’m currently taking CTAN 448, which is an introduction to traditional animation. I also have experience in building interactive pieces from several classes where I received permission to substitute multimedia projects for papers.
Research Bibliography/Inspiration:
www.99rooms.com
www.samorost.net
The animated films of Jan Svankmajor
The films of David Lynch
Interactive puzzle games such as Myst
The Ambassador Hotel interactive project
IML Final Thesis Proposal
Title: Night Watch
Abstract:
I would like to explore the subject of imagined realities and mysterious memory fragments in disobedience of social constructs in my thesis project. An interactive web-based art piece that combines flash animation with video and traditional animation would be an optimal presentation for the piece. I would like the project to go hand in hand with a film I will be making next year. Here is the synopsis of the film:
A mother walks out on her teenage daughter, taking only a suitcase. She sticks her thumb in the air and is picked up by a car as her daughter watches. Later, the daughter, who works as a night maid in a hotel, is cleaning when she sees the same suitcase. Inside is a cassette tape, which she listens to on her walkman. It tells her to go into a specific room in the hotel. Inside is a group of people watching slides of her mother walking out on her. They turn to her. Suddenly, she has a tray of slides in her hands, and when she puts them in the projector, she is shocked to find that they show pictures of herself, leaving her job and hitchhiking. She turns on the light and the room is empty. Her headphones go back to the music she was listening to before. She walks out of the building, puts her thumb in the air, and is picked up by a car. It brings her to an abandoned lot, where her mother is sitting at a table. She goes and sits down next to her, in the same position they were in right before her mother left.
The film will only have a short segment in the hotel, but I want the interactive project to explore many other themes of the film within the hotel scenario. The guidelines will be similar to this:
You can choose to either watch or participate in what is encountered on the maid’s shift. You can choose to follow routine or stray from responsibility. There will be odd objects or disturbances: If you explore them, the world gets stranger. If you ignore them, things stay the same. The more risks you take, the more you may get in trouble. You have the ability to discover many mysteries.
For each scenario, there will be an obvious or traditional decision (link) to make and a more offbeat or strange, less noticeable decision to make. There are ways to go through the project without a large disturbance of the real, but if the viewers pay close attention and follow a stranger path, more information and more bizarre events will be revealed to them.
Description:
Genre: My project will fuse the interactive and experiential genres to make an interactive art piece that mixes the genres of documentary film, animation, gaming, and expressionistic/symbolic fine arts.
Research Methodology: My primary objective is to research films, art, games, and interactive websites that deal with the same themes that I am interested in, and to use what I have learned from that work to inform my own. Research will not be direct and cited like in a paper, but will have a more intuitive effect on the project.
Delivery Format: A Flash-based interactive website, coded and designed to match the project’s concept.
Project Goals: To encourage the growth of innate curiosity, which is often stifled.
To allow the user/player/viewer to get lost in a world built out of their own decisions.
To show that there are many levels to reality, and everyone has the choice of whether to pursue them or not.
Project Significance: I want the research I do to fit seamlessly into the creative construction of the project. Namely, I do not want this to be a nonfiction account of the creative work of others, but I want it to be a creative work in dialogue with previous creative works, which feels more appropriate to me than dry research. The project will be about the drive to explore the world and one’s own mind, which is the main theme that I have found resonant in so many previous works of art. Through interactivity, I hope to spread that message to the viewer in a more visceral way.
Timeline:
Summer:
- Perfect proposal
- Plan basic design of the site
- Storyboard all scenarios
- Develop a shooting schedule in conjunction with the film’s shooting schedule
- Location scouting
- Develop conceptual relevancy
- Learn Flash, HTML, and CSS
Fall:
August 27 Classes begin.
9/10 – 9/14/07 Proposal confirmation. Meet with advisor to present re-evaluated proposal and plan (timeline) .
- Shoot video and film of scenarios.
- Meet with advisor to determine animation styles.
- Complete as much animation as possible.
- Begin template of the website.
November 26-30 Prototype/Draft Presentation
Spring:
- Design sound for scenarios
- Program the interface design of the website
- Unify the project through editing/arranging
- Final touches (titles, etc.)
March 24-28th Formal Presentation/Paper Due
May 7th – 14th Show
- Look for ways to get the project seen: festivals, galleries, etc.
Budget:
Around $200 dollars for small expenses such as DV tapes, animation materials, domain hosting, an external hard drive, and festival fees. I may also take some community college classes in scripting or Flash this summer, and the tuition for those is less than $90 a course.
Confirmed Advisors:
Dr. Kathy Smith
Chair
John C. Hench
Division of Animation and Digital Arts
(213) 821-1348
kates@usc.edu
Dr. Steve Anderson
Associate Director
Institute for Multimedia Literacy
Presentation and/or Distribution Plans/Venues:
Since it will be a website, it will be accessible to anyone. However, I’d also like to see if I could distribute it as a sister piece with the film I will be making in CTPR 310 in Fall ’07. I would like to submit it to online contests and festivals, as well. I think it would also be a great interactive piece for an art gallery.
Production Resources:
Hardware Needs: An external hard drive, my own laptop and the computers at the IML should be sufficient.
Software Needs: Flash, Final Cut, After Effects, Frame Thief, and various traditional animation media.
Prior Related Work:
I’m currently taking CTAN 448, which is an introduction to traditional animation. I also have experience in building interactive pieces from several classes where I received permission to substitute multimedia projects for papers.
Research Bibliography/Inspiration:
www.99rooms.com
www.samorost.net
The animated films of Jan Svankmajor
The films of David Lynch
Interactive puzzle games such as Myst
The Ambassador Hotel interactive project
Friday, April 20, 2007
hey this is pretty cool....you should check it out
if you read any of my proposal you know then that i'm researching similarities in sonic qualities of popular music.
http://www.musicplasma.com/
This site is right up that alley so i thought i'd share it with you all.
http://www.musicplasma.com/
This site is right up that alley so i thought i'd share it with you all.
Monday, April 16, 2007
My Thesis Proposal
(An updated version of the earlier posting)
Title: Testing the security of the United States
Synopsis: I am going to build an interactive national security threat and resource allocation and reallocation tool to try to find more effective means of protecting our country and thwarting attacks.
Abstract: I am exploring the human cost of security as it relates the tension between security and other considerations (political, ethical, financial, and technological) in order to provide for a more secure environment. This will focus on threats that are posed to the US
Methodology: I am going about this by looking at current security mechanisms that protect our travel and transport industries, air, sea, land while looking at ways to bolster support for different types of security. I am going to do this by creating an interactive tool in which users can reallocate the national security resources and then test the reallocation against simulated threats.
Media Presentation & Justification: This thesis will be an interactive tool which allows users to take the current state of security and the current budget and change different components of the security strategy be it airport security, scanning of containers being off loaded at ports or border security. The user will be able to reallocate current resources and then test them with a virtual attack. Users will be able to allocate at a high level, the entire airport infrastructure, the borders, sea ports, etc. They won't be able to boost security at LAX by 5 screeners.
This will be a Flash tool with a globe which shows threats and vulnerabilities which can then be adjusted and corrected.
It is important to use an interactive user adjustable tool for this as there is no easy way to do threat verification, validation, and modification while looking at the citizen response in a text environment.
Time Frame
Security Research Start of classes (late August – through end of September)
Flash design October – December
By December have a simple working model
By March 1, 2008 have more rules implemented
By April 1, 2008 be finished and in beta mode
Budget: $0
Additional Simulator Modules:
-Freedom vs security
-Depletion of resources vs cost of efforts
-Approval rating
-Overall ramifications of changes
-Budgets of the country as a whole and individual departments
-Fluctuating terror levels based on threats
Jack Bauer Mode (can fix anything with a 75% chance of success)
Spend on research similar to Civilization
Advisors
-Conflicting Advisors
--Military
--Other Cabinet Members
Yearly Budgeting
-Benefits of yearly budgeting and inability to change the budgets
1 week is 1 minute
So 1 year is 1 hour
Advisers
--------
Pierson now works with the Los Angeles Computer Forensics Investigation firm, Maryman & Associates.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Ana's thesis ... this sucks, but I promise it'll be better by the final. :P sorry!
Anastasia Shepherd
IML Thesis Proposal
Title: A New Way of Seeing: The Purposeful Hallucination
Abstract:
I’m interested in creating an interactive art piece that mixes the genres of documentary film, animation, gaming, and expressionistic/symbolic fine arts. I would like to explore the subject of imagined realities in disobedience of social constructs in this piece. I want to visually document situations in which people physically obey societal constructs and the norms of reality, but show through interactive options that the mind is given possibilities without the limits of reality and society. An interactive web-based art piece that combines flash animation with video and traditional animation would be an optimal presentation for this thesis.
Audience:
I would like this piece to reach a more diverse audience than a gallery-style installation video would. By putting it on a website, I hope to make it possible for anyone to look at it and get something out of it. The concept is universal, and I feel that the presentation should allow for universality, as well. The interactive format will help a great deal in accomplishing that goal. Website-based projects democratize art and interactivity allows for a fluid and nonlinear narrative thread.
Methodology:
I am making the argument that the pressures of normality and the constrictions of physical reality are escapable through dreams and fantasies and imagined scenarios. With that in mind, humans have more freedom to impact their own real lives through utilizing their “waking dreams” and learning not to fear them.
By using a creative approach that mimics the decisions to conform or not conform that everyone faces constantly, I hope to show that it is unnecessary to live in your head. To make the impossible real is a worthy goal.
I feel that life is very restricted, and that many or all of these restrictions are self-implemented and can be overcome. Connections to other human beings are feared, shared consciousness is considered impossible, exploration is considered odd, and silliness/whimsicality and imagination are considered childish. I’m personally very tired of these restrictions, and I’d like this project to reflect how things could be different. This project is about personal revolutions, and through the interactivity, I hope to show people a set of new and accessible possibilities for life and inspiration.
Media Presentation and Justification:
Optimally, the thesis will be presented as a website-based piece that includes flash animation, video, and traditional animation. Since the project requires interactivity to give the viewer choices and to let one explore the project on one’s own, it is necessary to have it in this multimedia format. A film would be too passive. The piece argues that the “imaginary” (unreal images that create new meanings in reality) must be explored by the individual. The project’s whole philosophy is built on curiosity and choice, so this medium is perfect. The paths of the project will give the audience choices that have the potential to create a world where reality and fantasy are indistinguishable from one another.
Timeline:
Summer:
- Perfect proposal
- Plan basic design of the site
- Storyboard all scenarios
- Develop conceptual relevancy
Fall:
- Shoot video of scenarios
- Meet with advisor to determine animation styles
- Complete as much animation as possible
- Begin template of the website
Spring:
- Design sound for scenarios
- Program the interface design of the website
- Unify the project through editing/arranging
- Final touches (titles, etc.)
- Look for ways to get the project seen
Budget:
Tapes, filming locations, animation materials, possibly actors, domain hosting, festival fees
Advisor:
Dr. Kathy Smith, Animation Department of the School of Cinematic Arts, (213) 821-1348 kates@usc.edu
Resources:
Flash, Final Cut, After Effects, Frame Thief, various forms of animation, etc.
IML Thesis Proposal
Title: A New Way of Seeing: The Purposeful Hallucination
Abstract:
I’m interested in creating an interactive art piece that mixes the genres of documentary film, animation, gaming, and expressionistic/symbolic fine arts. I would like to explore the subject of imagined realities in disobedience of social constructs in this piece. I want to visually document situations in which people physically obey societal constructs and the norms of reality, but show through interactive options that the mind is given possibilities without the limits of reality and society. An interactive web-based art piece that combines flash animation with video and traditional animation would be an optimal presentation for this thesis.
Audience:
I would like this piece to reach a more diverse audience than a gallery-style installation video would. By putting it on a website, I hope to make it possible for anyone to look at it and get something out of it. The concept is universal, and I feel that the presentation should allow for universality, as well. The interactive format will help a great deal in accomplishing that goal. Website-based projects democratize art and interactivity allows for a fluid and nonlinear narrative thread.
Methodology:
I am making the argument that the pressures of normality and the constrictions of physical reality are escapable through dreams and fantasies and imagined scenarios. With that in mind, humans have more freedom to impact their own real lives through utilizing their “waking dreams” and learning not to fear them.
By using a creative approach that mimics the decisions to conform or not conform that everyone faces constantly, I hope to show that it is unnecessary to live in your head. To make the impossible real is a worthy goal.
I feel that life is very restricted, and that many or all of these restrictions are self-implemented and can be overcome. Connections to other human beings are feared, shared consciousness is considered impossible, exploration is considered odd, and silliness/whimsicality and imagination are considered childish. I’m personally very tired of these restrictions, and I’d like this project to reflect how things could be different. This project is about personal revolutions, and through the interactivity, I hope to show people a set of new and accessible possibilities for life and inspiration.
Media Presentation and Justification:
Optimally, the thesis will be presented as a website-based piece that includes flash animation, video, and traditional animation. Since the project requires interactivity to give the viewer choices and to let one explore the project on one’s own, it is necessary to have it in this multimedia format. A film would be too passive. The piece argues that the “imaginary” (unreal images that create new meanings in reality) must be explored by the individual. The project’s whole philosophy is built on curiosity and choice, so this medium is perfect. The paths of the project will give the audience choices that have the potential to create a world where reality and fantasy are indistinguishable from one another.
Timeline:
Summer:
- Perfect proposal
- Plan basic design of the site
- Storyboard all scenarios
- Develop conceptual relevancy
Fall:
- Shoot video of scenarios
- Meet with advisor to determine animation styles
- Complete as much animation as possible
- Begin template of the website
Spring:
- Design sound for scenarios
- Program the interface design of the website
- Unify the project through editing/arranging
- Final touches (titles, etc.)
- Look for ways to get the project seen
Budget:
Tapes, filming locations, animation materials, possibly actors, domain hosting, festival fees
Advisor:
Dr. Kathy Smith, Animation Department of the School of Cinematic Arts, (213) 821-1348 kates@usc.edu
Resources:
Flash, Final Cut, After Effects, Frame Thief, various forms of animation, etc.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Mike Allison Thesis proposal draft....oh so long winded...sorry
bare with me friends...its a dousey
Title
Physical Sound: The balance of form and content within recorded music.
Abstract
Music is a universal phenomenon, permeating most every culture throughout the world. Since the development of sound recoding, recorded music has become integral to society and popular culture. However, many take for granted the process that is actually occurring when they listen to music as well as the cognitive understanding of what they are actually hearing. A song is an abstract idea, as is all music on a practical level, though in order for one to hear a song it must travel as a pressure wave from the source, through the air, and into one's ears. Thus, the process of recording forces a piece of music into the physical form the song takes on its travel into the listener's brain, and allows it to have the same properties for every listen. When someone listens to a song, they are hearing the abstract ideas created by the artist via the physical interpretation created by the recording team. The latter half of that equation is often overlooked by the average listener just as they do not realize the ultimate impact it has on their listening experience and reception of the song. Nearly all pop songs, for example, have very similar production qualities, so much so that through analysis, one finds certain properties more prevalent than others within the most popular of songs. In fact, many parameters (both in the song writing realm and the production realm) can be measured and traced across the pop music charts, leading researchers to the conclusion that certain types of sounds, feels, and textures (all purely on a sonic level) have a conclusive and definite impact on the song's overall popularity and public reception. Therefore, once can actually measure the 'hit potential' of a recorded song by comparing it to figures in databases generated through analyzing these parameters from song to song.
Description
The purpose of my project is to generate public awareness of the important relationship between a song's musical content and its physical form. This end will be achieved through user interaction with my online software (which will draw conclusions based on a database that I create). The user must input his or her own choice of song as well as a goal for that song (be it popularity, innovativeness, or popularity within one of the analyzed genres), then the program runs the song and uses the input goal to compare the song to the right data to generate results in two forms: a physical three dimensional model of the song and a results table. The model will help the reader connect with the idea that a recorded song indeed does have a physical form, which was (supposedly) crafted carefully for that specific song. The results table will show how that song compared to the database and how likely it will accomplish the goal the reader set (as well as offering results to the other possible goals). The results are merely statistics based on the database and are open for interpretation. If the results are not desirable or just unexpected then there are several reasons that could be gleaned from the information. An obvious reason for displeasing results is that the user just didn’t know much about other genres of music or physical properties of music and therefore would be enlightened by knowing that the input song has properties more prevalent in other types of music they do not know about. Another reason could be that the balance between form and content is out of whack. Either the production value is high but the song content is not well suited for that type of production or vice versa. The program merely generates statistics based on purely sonic parameters and public opinion (in the form of billboard charts) and thus, has no bias. So, it does not offer advice or potential ways to fix a song, it merely demonstrates the relationship and balance between form and content of recorded music, with hopes of bringing the user to a better understanding of what they are actually listening to.
Methodology
The software program will analyze a digital music file (extracting the information that governs the waveform) based on a number of set parameters:
Length
Tempo
Key
Frequency response
Amplitude
Time signature
Time signature changes
Key Changes
Timbre
Once the program is up and running, I will go genre by genre, running 150 to 200 of the most popular songs in that genre (taking into account periods of recoding technology development) until I have a data set from each genre in question. All the data will be compared using a weighted average algorithm, finding the common points and trends throughout the music. The result will be the model song for that genre, meaning it (stereotypically and theoretically) is the ideal song—perfectly form/content balanced—in that genre. Once I have all the models then I can generate the perfect innovative song model by using the same algorithmic process on all the models to create the ideal song that sounds nothing like any of the models—hence perfectly innovative.
The genres in question:
Pop
Alternative Rock
Indie Rock
Main Stream Hip Hop
RnB
Jazz
Smooth jazz
Progressive Rock
Singer Song Writer
Folk
Metal
Timeline
Summer:
-Research existing companies and data.
-Assemble engineering team
-Research waveform parameters
-Research genres and recording technology periods.
-Assemble the lists of songs to be used.
Fall
-Begin software development.
-Assemble library of music
-Design interface.
-Finish software and begin to generate database
-Apply for grants
-Finish database
Spring
-Purchase domain name
-Create website
-Review data gathered from website
-Conclude if this project actually worked.
-Present findings
-Turn in project
Budget
There will be a number of things that will require financial assistance for this project namely acquiring all the music. Depending on my financial status I will have to use what ever format of music I can afford. I will also need to pay (or compensate some how) the team that will develop this software. I will have to purchase and maintain a domain name and website.
Title
Physical Sound: The balance of form and content within recorded music.
Abstract
Music is a universal phenomenon, permeating most every culture throughout the world. Since the development of sound recoding, recorded music has become integral to society and popular culture. However, many take for granted the process that is actually occurring when they listen to music as well as the cognitive understanding of what they are actually hearing. A song is an abstract idea, as is all music on a practical level, though in order for one to hear a song it must travel as a pressure wave from the source, through the air, and into one's ears. Thus, the process of recording forces a piece of music into the physical form the song takes on its travel into the listener's brain, and allows it to have the same properties for every listen. When someone listens to a song, they are hearing the abstract ideas created by the artist via the physical interpretation created by the recording team. The latter half of that equation is often overlooked by the average listener just as they do not realize the ultimate impact it has on their listening experience and reception of the song. Nearly all pop songs, for example, have very similar production qualities, so much so that through analysis, one finds certain properties more prevalent than others within the most popular of songs. In fact, many parameters (both in the song writing realm and the production realm) can be measured and traced across the pop music charts, leading researchers to the conclusion that certain types of sounds, feels, and textures (all purely on a sonic level) have a conclusive and definite impact on the song's overall popularity and public reception. Therefore, once can actually measure the 'hit potential' of a recorded song by comparing it to figures in databases generated through analyzing these parameters from song to song.
Description
The purpose of my project is to generate public awareness of the important relationship between a song's musical content and its physical form. This end will be achieved through user interaction with my online software (which will draw conclusions based on a database that I create). The user must input his or her own choice of song as well as a goal for that song (be it popularity, innovativeness, or popularity within one of the analyzed genres), then the program runs the song and uses the input goal to compare the song to the right data to generate results in two forms: a physical three dimensional model of the song and a results table. The model will help the reader connect with the idea that a recorded song indeed does have a physical form, which was (supposedly) crafted carefully for that specific song. The results table will show how that song compared to the database and how likely it will accomplish the goal the reader set (as well as offering results to the other possible goals). The results are merely statistics based on the database and are open for interpretation. If the results are not desirable or just unexpected then there are several reasons that could be gleaned from the information. An obvious reason for displeasing results is that the user just didn’t know much about other genres of music or physical properties of music and therefore would be enlightened by knowing that the input song has properties more prevalent in other types of music they do not know about. Another reason could be that the balance between form and content is out of whack. Either the production value is high but the song content is not well suited for that type of production or vice versa. The program merely generates statistics based on purely sonic parameters and public opinion (in the form of billboard charts) and thus, has no bias. So, it does not offer advice or potential ways to fix a song, it merely demonstrates the relationship and balance between form and content of recorded music, with hopes of bringing the user to a better understanding of what they are actually listening to.
Methodology
The software program will analyze a digital music file (extracting the information that governs the waveform) based on a number of set parameters:
Length
Tempo
Key
Frequency response
Amplitude
Time signature
Time signature changes
Key Changes
Timbre
Once the program is up and running, I will go genre by genre, running 150 to 200 of the most popular songs in that genre (taking into account periods of recoding technology development) until I have a data set from each genre in question. All the data will be compared using a weighted average algorithm, finding the common points and trends throughout the music. The result will be the model song for that genre, meaning it (stereotypically and theoretically) is the ideal song—perfectly form/content balanced—in that genre. Once I have all the models then I can generate the perfect innovative song model by using the same algorithmic process on all the models to create the ideal song that sounds nothing like any of the models—hence perfectly innovative.
The genres in question:
Pop
Alternative Rock
Indie Rock
Main Stream Hip Hop
RnB
Jazz
Smooth jazz
Progressive Rock
Singer Song Writer
Folk
Metal
Timeline
Summer:
-Research existing companies and data.
-Assemble engineering team
-Research waveform parameters
-Research genres and recording technology periods.
-Assemble the lists of songs to be used.
Fall
-Begin software development.
-Assemble library of music
-Design interface.
-Finish software and begin to generate database
-Apply for grants
-Finish database
Spring
-Purchase domain name
-Create website
-Review data gathered from website
-Conclude if this project actually worked.
-Present findings
-Turn in project
Budget
There will be a number of things that will require financial assistance for this project namely acquiring all the music. Depending on my financial status I will have to use what ever format of music I can afford. I will also need to pay (or compensate some how) the team that will develop this software. I will have to purchase and maintain a domain name and website.
Tiffany Ikeda's Rough Draft
Title: HAPPINE$$: Flawed Perceptions of Reality
ABSTRACT:
I am studying how everyday personal and social decisions affect happiness because I want to demonstrate how economic principles can explain differences in people's self-reported levels of happiness. By doing so, I am trying to help the average person gain a better understanding of the discrepancies between perception and reality in the relationship between decisions and experiences and in turn, the user may learn simple concepts in economic theory in order to make more informed decisions that will have a positive effect on his happiness. Hence, my goal is to help the average layman learn about how to use economic analyses to make better decisions. I want my project to be both interactive and informative, and since I want this tool to be accessible to everyone, I may design my project as an online website.
I am going about making the argument that the average person does not correctly forecast or backcast his experienced happiness by developing a tool or simulation that mimics the process of making a decision. This may be accomplished by a four-fold method: 1. Have the user complete a questionnaire relating to what is to be learned or decided upon. 2. The user will make an actual decision or complete a simple task similar to those summarized in textbooks. 3. The user will complete a post-task survey. 4. A results section will use economic analysis to explain their decision. The goal is to have the user come to the realization their perception of a decision may be different from the actual outcome because the average person fails to take into consideration changes in aspirations and adaptation, as well as other social and economic forces that play a role in determining one’s happiness.
Example: One experiment used to demonstrate the peak-end theory involves a subject submerging his hands in cold water for a certain period of time. The subject is then given the option of repeating the cold water experiment again, or submerging his hands in cold water for a longer period of time, followed by submerging his hands in warm water. Most subjects would chose the latter, despite the fact that this would require them to keep their hands in cold water longer. The experiment demonstrates that what is most significant about an experience (what the subject most remembers and thus also what is most closely related to utility and happiness) is not the duration of an experience (in this case, an unpleasant one), but rather the characteristics of the end of an experience. To mimic this experiment in a multimedia experience, I could expose my user to unpleasant sounds or images, then give them a choice of repeating the sequence again, or viewing/hearing a longer sequence with a more pleasant ending.
SIGNIFICANCE:
This thesis will include an interactive media simulation of classic experiments from the field of economics and social psychology in order to show the user how the principles of economic theory relate to happiness. This may include the use of music or unfavorable sounds to mimic an unpleasant situation, or the use of a classical symphony or work of art to induce feelings of pleasure or satisfaction. Rather than simply telling the user about happiness and economics, this thesis will attempt to allow the reader to experience. Such experiences cannot be attained through traditional textbook learning and hence require multimedia.
TIMELINE:
Summer:
- Research experiments
- Make initial contacts with experts in the field of study
- Research local economics or socio-psychology conferences
- Brainstorm appropriate material and media
- Read Stumbling on Happiness by Dan Gilbert and other resources
- Identify personnel needs
- Learn to successfully and comfortably use Flash, Dreamweaver
- Identify and acquire necessary software
- Research available grants
Fall:
- Purchase domain name
- Focus on interface design
- Storyboarding/Visualizing/Flowchart
- Hire graphic design artist, if necessary
- Apply for grants, if available
- 9/10-14: Thesis Proposal Confirmation due
- Begin setting up website
- 11/26-30: Prototype/ Draft Due
Spring
- Work on finishing project
- Present near final project to advisor for review
- 3/24-28: Formal Presentation
- May: Finalize thesis presentation
BUDGET:
Domain name: $30+/ year
Graphic design artist: $200, if necessary
Books & resources: $100
Miscellaneous (ex. DV tapes, CD-ROMs): $50
The joy of finishing a thesis: Priceless
ADVISOR:
Richard A. Easterlin
Professor of Economics
easterl@usc.edu
(213) 740-6993
RESOURCES:
Christopher Hsee, University of Chicago
Stumbling on Happiness, Dan Gilbert
Flash
Dreamweaver
Social psychological experiments that highlight the difference between perceived and experienced utility
ABSTRACT:
I am studying how everyday personal and social decisions affect happiness because I want to demonstrate how economic principles can explain differences in people's self-reported levels of happiness. By doing so, I am trying to help the average person gain a better understanding of the discrepancies between perception and reality in the relationship between decisions and experiences and in turn, the user may learn simple concepts in economic theory in order to make more informed decisions that will have a positive effect on his happiness. Hence, my goal is to help the average layman learn about how to use economic analyses to make better decisions. I want my project to be both interactive and informative, and since I want this tool to be accessible to everyone, I may design my project as an online website.
I am going about making the argument that the average person does not correctly forecast or backcast his experienced happiness by developing a tool or simulation that mimics the process of making a decision. This may be accomplished by a four-fold method: 1. Have the user complete a questionnaire relating to what is to be learned or decided upon. 2. The user will make an actual decision or complete a simple task similar to those summarized in textbooks. 3. The user will complete a post-task survey. 4. A results section will use economic analysis to explain their decision. The goal is to have the user come to the realization their perception of a decision may be different from the actual outcome because the average person fails to take into consideration changes in aspirations and adaptation, as well as other social and economic forces that play a role in determining one’s happiness.
Example: One experiment used to demonstrate the peak-end theory involves a subject submerging his hands in cold water for a certain period of time. The subject is then given the option of repeating the cold water experiment again, or submerging his hands in cold water for a longer period of time, followed by submerging his hands in warm water. Most subjects would chose the latter, despite the fact that this would require them to keep their hands in cold water longer. The experiment demonstrates that what is most significant about an experience (what the subject most remembers and thus also what is most closely related to utility and happiness) is not the duration of an experience (in this case, an unpleasant one), but rather the characteristics of the end of an experience. To mimic this experiment in a multimedia experience, I could expose my user to unpleasant sounds or images, then give them a choice of repeating the sequence again, or viewing/hearing a longer sequence with a more pleasant ending.
SIGNIFICANCE:
This thesis will include an interactive media simulation of classic experiments from the field of economics and social psychology in order to show the user how the principles of economic theory relate to happiness. This may include the use of music or unfavorable sounds to mimic an unpleasant situation, or the use of a classical symphony or work of art to induce feelings of pleasure or satisfaction. Rather than simply telling the user about happiness and economics, this thesis will attempt to allow the reader to experience. Such experiences cannot be attained through traditional textbook learning and hence require multimedia.
TIMELINE:
Summer:
- Research experiments
- Make initial contacts with experts in the field of study
- Research local economics or socio-psychology conferences
- Brainstorm appropriate material and media
- Read Stumbling on Happiness by Dan Gilbert and other resources
- Identify personnel needs
- Learn to successfully and comfortably use Flash, Dreamweaver
- Identify and acquire necessary software
- Research available grants
Fall:
- Purchase domain name
- Focus on interface design
- Storyboarding/Visualizing/Flowchart
- Hire graphic design artist, if necessary
- Apply for grants, if available
- 9/10-14: Thesis Proposal Confirmation due
- Begin setting up website
- 11/26-30: Prototype/ Draft Due
Spring
- Work on finishing project
- Present near final project to advisor for review
- 3/24-28: Formal Presentation
- May: Finalize thesis presentation
BUDGET:
Domain name: $30+/ year
Graphic design artist: $200, if necessary
Books & resources: $100
Miscellaneous (ex. DV tapes, CD-ROMs): $50
The joy of finishing a thesis: Priceless
ADVISOR:
Richard A. Easterlin
Professor of Economics
easterl@usc.edu
(213) 740-6993
RESOURCES:
Christopher Hsee, University of Chicago
Stumbling on Happiness, Dan Gilbert
Flash
Dreamweaver
Social psychological experiments that highlight the difference between perceived and experienced utility
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