These two images are stills taken from the Disney Pixar movie, Monsters Inc. For the color of these two images, the hue in the first, the colors are mostly shades of browns and beiges in the buildings. There is also blue in the sky as well blue, purple, and green in the monsters. There is a small amount of oranges and yellows in the leaves on the trees, the crosswalk sign and on the right side of the image. In the second image, the hues are different. The color in this image are mostly oranges, pinks, and purples. Except for Boo’s hair which is brown. The brightness in the first image is fairly bright because it is the daytime. In the second, it is not as bright, and is pretty dim because Boo is going to sleep. The saturation of both are pretty even. Both images are pretty equally full of color.
The shadows in the first show that the sun is right above the monsters, showing that it is sometime either in the late morning or early afternoon. The shadow in the second image show that the room is dimly lit and that it is time for bed for Boo. A humorous piece of symbolism in the first picture is located in the cross walk. Instead of it reading “don’t walk” the sign reads “don’t stalk.” There is no obvious symbolism in the second image. The mood of the first image is to be bright and make the audience feel as if they are in a metropolitan area. The area is a normal, everyday place and could be located anywhere. For the second image, the mood is supposed to be neutral. Boo is simply getting ready for bed and the mood that should be portrayed is a sleepy mood.
For the project of deconstructing songs, I wanted to contrast two songs by the same band. The first song is “Vegas Skies,” and the second is “Bad,” both by the Cab.
The first song, “Vegas Skies,” is a slow, pretty love song that has good intensity in the buildup durning the choruses of the song. This song also has a slower speed than the other. The organization is extremely traditional for most pop songs. The melody is mostly being carried out in the form of a piano riff that is played throughout the song. As well as the melody of the vocals.
The second song, “Bad,” is quicker tempo wise than “Vegas Skies” is. It is much more of a dance-y song. The intensity in this song is greater than the last because it is quicker paced and there is much more going on in the song instrumentally. The instrumentation in this song is also very traditional just like the last song.
The Cab is one of my favorite bands and picking a favorite between these two songs is literally one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The first was one of the first songs I ever heard by this band. Also, at a music camp, I recorded my own version of the song which gives me a strong connection with that song. However, the second song is newer, which means that I have not heard it as much and still enjoy it every single time without getting sick of it, yet. It also is a single from this band which means that many other people connect with this song and talk to me about it all of the time. This makes me like it a lot because of others’ good reception to the song. I suppose if I absolutely had to pick a song, if it was a matter of life or death, I would go with “Vegas Skies.” This song to me just seems to encompass many feels that I have felt and I connect with it on a stronger level than I do with “Bad.”
Vegas Skies, The Cab
Listening Framework
Listening Phase 1 (Rhythm)
Tempo[slow, medium, fast]
slow
Source[where is the rhythm coming from?]
the steady notes that the piano is playing
Groove[describe how the personality of the rhythm]
melodic
Listening Phase 2 (Arrangement)
Instrumentation[which instruments drive the song?]
piano, drums, guitar, bass, tambourine
Structure/Organization[how is the song built? Order, patterns, etc.]
The video I chose, a scene from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
My script, created in Celtx, of the scene.
For the first topic of “Listening Modes” the sound in the clip that is known as “casual” means that it is literal sound. An example of this would be when Dobby was hitting his head against the dresser. For “semantic,” which is representational sounds, there were not any examples of this type of sound in this clip, but later on in the scene, when Dobby snaps his fingers and disappears, the sound that is played is an example of semantic sound.
Under the second category, the figure and ground means that the audience can tell the difference between the object and its surrounding area. This is definitely true in this clip because the characters have much emphasis on them and are moving around enough to see them clearly. For the “proximity and similarity” there were not many things that were supposed to be perceived as a group. But rather there was supposed to be a large contrast between the muggle world, and Dobby.
The third topic talks of “size, distance and perception.” The creators of this film wanted Harry’s room to appear small because of how the Dursleys’ treated him. To do this, they put large pieces of furniture around the small room. This also applies to the movement, there was not much because there was not room to do so.
In the fourth section, speed and loudness, is when Dobby talks slowly to give the impression that he is sort of like a child. Also, for subjective time, Dobby took many pauses as he spoke to make time feel different than when Harry would speak.
