VISUAL SOUNDSCAPES

The term soundscape is an English artificial word composed of the terms sound and landscape. Soundscape describes the acoustic shell that surrounds us in a certain place, the interaction of all acoustic phenomena or events that are produced in and through a room.

Canadian composer, music educator and researcher R. Murray Schafer coined the term soundscape in his book The Tuning of the World.

 The course 

In addition to the level of image design, part of this course with workshop character is the examination of the design options in the area of ​​audio editing and sound mixing. The course participants should sensitize and rediscover their listening habits. Individual acoustic perceptions are isolated from the background noise of everyday life and are thus increasingly brought into audible awareness. 

In a first phase, concepts are developed which are discussed in a one-on-one meeting. In a second phase, each participant can experiment with the recording equipment provided and record sound tracks, so-called "field recording", at locations of their choice, in urban areas or in nature.

These sound tracks are placed in a peculiar tension with the native images (recorded with a photo-video camera or a mobile phone) or counterpointed with other image sequences. The goal would be to capture the magic of a place acoustically and cinematically. 

The specific task is the development of a video film of 90 to a maximum of 120 seconds. In a post-production process, the audio tracks were to be mixed and artistically blended with the edited video recordings to create a short film. If there is no prior knowledge of the programs Adobe Premiere, Adobe Audition or other editing or audio programs, the programs Adobe Premiere or Adobe Audition will be discussed in more detail in personal meetings and technical assistance will be offered.

The prerequisite for a positive grade is the submission of a concept and the submission of a video and audio project that was explicitly developed independently for this course at the end of the semester.

After the preliminary discussion, the first conception talks will take place in a personal, one-hour meeting from October 20th.

Before the project is finally handed over, the work steps are discussed and assessed in further personal meetings. These meetings can be individually arranged with the course leader every 14 days on a Thursday between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. 

The final delivery of the film will be scheduled towards the end of the semester.