RETURN

My name is Joshua McClain and I want to talk to you about the process of this piece you are about to expereince. In the beginning my idea of this project was to do a large scale piece on how the world has become too consumerized and structured by the governmental powers ruling our country and our lives. Later on in the process I realized that the footage that I took was actually about the need to return to a simpler life. I should not make a piece out of beautifulk images that is meant to make a political statement. So I took the piece down a path returning to nature in a sense. I think that you will get the feeling of a journey with a beginning and an end, all the while stopping to look at the beauty in our world.

This movie was finished on December 16th, 2006 at 11:30 pm. The duration of the piece is one minute and fifty-four seconds (1:54) long.

This blog is meant to be a journey where I start with one idea. Then meld it, and shape it by the footage taken, and take a meaning from the footage itself. This is a visual and aural experience meant to emote the senses and challenge the brain. I hope that you enjoy yourself here.

New Update!!!!

Here are some new posts for my 3rd trek. I hope you can watch them and if you feel led please leave me a comment. I have gotten the bugs out of the video size and they should load real quick. Sorry about the inconvenience from the last trek.

Wooden Wall with sound

This is the same wooden wall clip only with a soundtrack. Click Image to View Movie.

Wooden Wall

This piece really stood out to me. I was walking past this wall and saw what I have captured in my mind. Then I realized its instability is what drew me into it. The lights were an added bonus. Click Image to View Movie.

Trees and sun with sound

This is the same trees and sun clip only with a soundtrack. Click Image to View Movie.

Trees with the sun on them

This was just the most beautiful array of color from the sun on the tops of the trees I had seen in a while. I just had to captureit. I will most likely use it as a pan in my final piece. Click Image to View Movie.

Swinging Branch with sound

This is the same swinging branch movie with its own soundtrack. Click Image to View Movie.

Swinging Branch

This is a movie of a bracnd that is swinging amongst many still branches. I am thinking of adding an annoying sound to this. Click Image to View Movie.

Little River, little bridge with sound

The same movie of the river and bridge only with its own soundtrack. Click Image to View Movie.

Little River, little bridge

This is a video of a little river running underneath a snow laden bridge. This will be useful to add the old, frontier life I want to play with. Very Henry David Thoreau. Click Image to View Movie.

Ribbon in the wind, with sound!

Here is the same video of the Ribbon with a soundtrack. Click on Image to View Movie.

Ribbon in the wind

For this movie I was looking at the way the ribbon was blowing in the wind and thinking of adding it to a non-moving sequence to give it some life.
Click Image to View Movie

Project 3 Video, Last Light Capturing Trek Strategies (November 26, 2006)

Setting number 1: Structure of builldings was an idea that I wanted to elaborate on more from the first trek. I made some clips of the houses and I liked them. I wanted to see more of it. Buildings looming over us would be cool.

Setting number 2: Another area of interest that I didn't have time for in the first trek was nature and pictures of that. I want to go to some remote areas and capture streams rivers and more nature. I am interested if I can be inspired to do more juxtapositioning with new and old.

Production Strategy number 1: Pictures of flat surfaces moving.

Production Strategy number 2: Pictures and sounds of nature and things occuring naturally.

Project 3 Video, Last Sound Trek Strategies (November 25, 2006)

Soundscape number 1: The previos trek I went on for sound turned out to be a louder than expected one. So this time I want to focus more on quieter scapes and more natural ones. I plan to go out very early, or late, and discover sounds. I want to get close up on natually occuring things.

Sounscape number 2: For another scape I was thinking of getting sounds that are electronically made and are heard everywhere around us. Then I want to change these sounds and make them unknown to the listener.

Latest News

Hello fellow bloggers,

Here is the most recent update to my Trek exercises I have been doing. Take a look and please feel free to leave me comments.

My Dream House

This is a more developed idea of the previous Forbidden House idea. I want to really work out an idea of this abandoned way of life in the country and this push towards urbanization. I think that we can have all the benefits of advancement in culture without fully abandoning a way of simpler living.

Watch the Video.

Elusive, Dream, Tree

This peice is a rough cut of a piece that I am working on. I am trying to sybbolize a way to return to the simplicity of life and a tree was fitting for this expereince. I think I will use it in conjuncture with my next House piece.

Watch the Video.

Save the trees!!!

This is a recording of an electric hand dryer. After my restroom break at a gas station on my trek I thought "Oh what the heck, I'll put em in here" I think I might have damaged the mics a little though. The result was really loud so I edited it down and added some resonance to give it a cool effect.

Listen...

Peace and Quiet

A peaceful and inviting sound scape. A nice change to juxtapose in a piece.

Listen...

Traffic!!!

This is meant to annoy and be an abrupt sound for the listener. I want them to feel uncomfortable and with its loudness and think do we need this chaos in our society.

Listen...

Loud Crowd

This is a recording of a large crowd of people just talking, I was thinking of having it symbolize the loudness and confusion that we layer on in our lives.

Listen...

Babbling Brook

This was the stream that was next to my fence. I was thinking of adding this to that piece.

Listen...

Walking by a Fence

This was just a fence I came across on my latest trek that I found had a cool color and feel next to the stream. I am still thinking how I can fit this in. Any Ideas? Feel free to comment.

Watch the Video.

City Ordinance

This clip will most likely accompany other clips and pictures of my subjective society theory piece.

Watch the Video.

A Forbidden House 2?

This clip goes along with the first Forbidden House post. Just some more angles to work with.

Watch the Video.

A Forbidden House?

This video I was thinking of using for a piece on returning to the simpler ways of life. This caution blocker had a complimentary effect on my idea.

Watch the Video.

Traffic for thuoght

I am wondering about adding this sequence, or part of it to a larger sequence to establish the space where we are. It will go with my subjective piece.

Watch the Video.

Project 3 Video, Light Capturing Trek (November 13, 2006)

Setting number 1: The first setting that I want to get is the fronteir life and the simple qualities of nature invloved with living.

Setting number 2: The second is a little abstract, I don't want to get new and urban homes, but rather the consumer aspect and the govermental rules that we are forced to witness everyday.

Production Stretegy number 1: Pictures taken, of one house, but change the aperture every time.

Production Strategy number 2: Pictures taken where the viewer is in a subjective standpoint.

Project 3 Video, Sound Trek (November 12, 2006)

Soundscape number 1: I hope to be able to encounter a very peaceful and traffic free area to collect sound from. I want to juxtapose crazy suburban sprawl with quiet frontier life. It's a dying breed of life and we should not be so quick to accept the rules and consumerism displayed for us daily.

Soundscape number 2: I want to capture a loud and abrupt difference between the quiet and calm nature of fronteir life, with the fast and uncarring sounds of surburban sprawl.

Ten Curiosities

1. Where is the quietest place in the region?

2. Being a mostly residential area, are there any places that don’t have many people walking around in it.

3. Are there any areas where homeless people congregate?

4. Can I capture the difference between urban life and suburbia life?

5. Can county line road be the busiest road in my trek area.

6. Will I ever venture out of the nature areas of the trek zone?

7. Is there a sound difference between daytime and night time, in the exact same place.

8. Can the urbanization of the two communities, Germantown and Menomonee Falls, lead to even more interesting soundscapes.

9. How does the interstate affect the driving patterns of the residents of each community?

10. How do businesses function in the beauty of the landscape?

September 23, Spassland Park Pavilion, An Experience I've had along the way.

My recalled place

The place where I recorded sound today was underneath the Spassland Park Pavilion. Spassland Park is located in Germantown, Wisconsin. The specific place that I want to talk about is in the middle section of the pavilion, north side of it facing out. It was drizzling just outside the boundary of the pavilion, and there was a cold breeze blowing that was wet with moisture from the air. Although there were no raindrops hitting my face the wind brought enough of this moisture to me that it started to collect on my glasses. I was standing, hunched, over a garbage can that was hanging slightly outside of the cover of the pavilion. There was some garbage in the can, not even half full, but there was enough garbage in the can to create interesting sounds. The garbage ranged from soda bottles from the soda machine at the other side of the pavilion, to Macdonald’s bags. There was also some bags from my place of employment; Cousins Subs. It was strange to see this item in a garbage can since I usually see it in the hands of the customers I help. The rain left soft impressions in the garbage and the sound had a unique resonating chamber in the structure of the garbage can. The can was old and rusted and had a hole on the one side, which I believe added even more resonance to the sound. As I listened to the pitter-patter of the rain on this garbage, I became aware of a person walking in from the west side of the park. He was heading toward the parking lot and his car. He noticed me and just continued on his way, getting into his car and leaving. It struck me that he had no idea what I was doing. He didn’t know if I drunk hanging over a garbage can loosing my dinner, or homeless looking for some soggy scraps of left-overs. I suddenly became aware of myself in the space when he entered my vision. Before I had been only aware of the sound I was hearing in my headphones. This man had taken me out of my concentration and distracted me from my work, leaving me with thoughts of insecurity about being hunched over a garbage can. I’m sure that he didn’t care why I was there; maybe he did and wanted to know if Germantown had a vagrant problem. I don’t know his thoughts, I only know mine. I wanted to have a sign up around me saying “Sound Recording In Progress” just so he wouldn’t think I was homeless. I have a very good image of myself and I do not want that tainted. This may sound pious and pretentious, but we all have our reservations about ourselves and if we can realize this than we can either fix it, or learn to judge accordingly. My greatest curiosity would have to be what that man was thinking as he was walking towards his car. Was he worried about being asked for money, was he thinking how his community should crack down on the homeless, just what was he thinking?

Trek 3 Area

Google Maps View

Spassland Park is where I focused on trek 1, and the surrounding area to the southwest of Spassland is where my trek 2 time was spent. For my third trek I believe that I will try to utilize the balance of urban and natural landscapes that my trek area has to offer.