Medium Specificity

Medium Specificity Audio Clip

For this week’s assignment I chose to create a humorous piece of audio similar to Looney Toon’s “Duck Amuck”. This piece was a major inspiration because it reminded the audience about the power that the creator has in the results of a cartoon. With my piece, I wanted to show just how important the sound editors and mixers are for media production. Using funny characters and even funnier pranks by the “sound guys” I made it blatantly obvious just how much of the atmosphere and effect of a show depends on how it sounds.

The reading we studied this week showed me how we can educate our viewers through humor. When we were able to see the author literally make the arguments that went into defining the term comic within the comic, we realize just how flexible the medium of comics is at describing situations and interactions. Similarly, with my piece, in seeing the juxtaposition between the characters before and after their voices are “altered” to be higher or lower pitches, we recognize the effort that is put into making someone’s voice different. The entire purpose of the conflict within the plot is to remind us how we can sometimes ignore the people behind the sound effects and music in a way that is much more interesting than hearing dialogue about it.

A major source of inspiration for this piece came from 2 songs from one of my favorite artists, Ben Rector. Two of his newer songs, The Men Who Drive Me Places, and Making Money, specifically talk about the people behind the songs he sings within the songs. The first one talks about the dedicated people who work behind the scenes to get him to his shows, and how efforts are sometimes way more honorable than what he does, yet they get no recognition. I have always been especially touched at the love and respect he shows for the people who have helped him get as popular as he is, including us the fans.

One of the biggest effects I think that Medium Specific pieces have on their audiences is their ability to appreciate the power of media. After listening to Cage’s 4’33’’ I realized just how much power that music has, so much that when there is no music, it still creates a powerful emotional response. In my piece, the music and sound had a very melodramatic effect on the characters, but behind each joke there was a truth. From the changes in volume to the background music, each one has a very powerful effect when used wisely and independently. When put together, then it becomes humorous, but only because all the reactions that Jimmothy and Andreann have are realistic responses smashed together into a 2-minute clip.