The Media Challenge

Haters gonna hate

Samuel Venanzi — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:12:16 +0000

My media post of the day.

Audio Class: 3 Modes of Listening Response

Samuel Venanzi — Thu, 19 May 2011 15:33:10 +0000

Our brains are fascinating audio recording devices. The human brain can perceive changes in air pressure from the roar of a moving car, the hum of an air vent, even voices as sound-waves. The human brain can observe sound in three ways; through casual listening, semantic listening or reduced listening.

Casual listening, being the most common state of listening, is used to understand the sounds in our surrounding environment, where the sound comes from and what it’s significance is. Using this mode of listening we can identify the person talking or hear a raccoon going through the neighbors garbage.

Semantic listening is relevant to interpreting information through language or understanding morris code.Semantic listening doesn’t need subtitles.

Reduced listening is like listening to instrumental music where the listener does not attempt to figure out the source of the sound or what it’s suppose to mean, but enjoys the sound qualities themselves.

Sometimes I feel that people spend too much times listening semantically in our culture. We tend to strive for the bottom line or get to the point that we often miss the subtle notes in the soundscape of our everyday lives. If we spent more time attentively listening and focusing on how things are said rather then the weight of understanding them, we might gain a better understanding of the world around us.

My New Favorite Music Video

Samuel Venanzi — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:20:31 +0000

Red Fang- Wires

I found this music video on Reddit.com as I was surfing the net this morning and it has already made my day. On the surface this video is about a band blowing their video budget on an old car to run things over with but like all good rock videos it’s soul is built on a healthy frustration at society and a hard driving beat. The video, directed by Whitey McConnaughy (Mudhoney, The Gossip, Flogging Molly), is the second video the band and director have collaborated on after the press they received from their last video, Prehistoric Dog.

Red Fang Wires is a shameless video featuring car crashes, explosions and milk, lot of milk. Based in Portland Oregon the band’s video has the raw style of a post grunge rock band, the aesthetics of a Portlandian hipster and the classic punk rock ideologies of rejecting wealth and social status for rock and roll. The dramatic shots the car smashing into and sending objects flying are nicely edited to complement the song’s progression which for some reason makes me want to join a demolition derby. Enjoy.

Summer 2011

Samuel Venanzi — Mon, 16 May 2011 13:52:54 +0000

Today starts the first summer I will be spending away from The Bury and in Philadelphia. I will have to balance my work in the Post Production room at Temple, my internship with a SyFy channel Pilot and an Audio Class. In addition I hope to start documenting the Punk scene in New Brunswick. This means I will have to master the art of time management as well as save enough money to shuttle myself back and forth between here and jersey. By documenting my summer on this blog I hope to improve my writing skills while outlining the goals I wish to complete this summer.

1) Make mad $

2) Finish that SyFy piolt

3) Rock at recording audio

4) Watch a lot of New Brunswick Concerts

5) Learn how to promote my friends bands

Well that’s enough for the time being I will post as soon as I deem it necessary.

Cheers,

Sam Venanzi

Concert: Aquarium 12/21

Samuel Venanzi — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:46:18 +0000

New Brunswick’s hard rock scene continues to be an inspiration for my photography. Students, local and touring bands all come together to produce basement shows that are guaranteed to rock your world. This Tuesday night was no exception as Captive, Neur and Crucial Dudes put on a fantastic show complete with a homemade light kid by Neur. Although the weather was cold, the basement was a hot mess and the crowd of about 50 stayed till the end. The photos I took were all without flash and a long shutter speed to collect the natural ambient lighting of the show.

Peace out,

Sammy Fresh

From to to bottom: Zack from Neur, Crucial dudes, another band (didnt get their name) and Captive

The Lost Boys of Sudan

Samuel Venanzi — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:56:01 +0000

The civil war in Sudan has lasted for over twenty years. Although this terrible genocide continues today, it is easy to ignore it due to the lack of press coverage in recent years. We stress about the economy, the war against ‘terrorism’ and paying our bills that we cannot find the time to examine this terrible conflict. The documentary The Lost Boys of Sudan follows two of thousands of refugees who made it to the United States and their continual struggle to find a Heaven on Earth. Built up with high hopes and dreams to save their distant family and friends, these refugees find it hard to make ends meet in an increasingly stressful environment. Watching the refugees gain an education, work minimum wage jobs, and try to for fill promises to friends in Sudan makes the documentary not only about the refugees but also allows the viewer to examine ourselves, our history and how our government works to help its citizens. On Friday January 13th, the Cranbury public library will have one of the Lost Boys to show and discuss the movie to a public audience. I have offered to record the session on video in order to create a video to help spread awareness of the civil war still raging in Sudan and the refugees who still suffer as they attempt to start a new life in America. This will give me a unique opportunity to interview a refugee and to spread awareness of the on going struggle. If you feel as strongly as I do about the genocide, I recommend you watch this movie and become active with some knowledge of the refugees’ struggle. Here is a clip from the documentary, although the quality is not the best, it gives a taste of how the documentary starts. Peace out.

Moon

Samuel Venanzi — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:30:57 +0000

Moon (2009) is a science fiction movie about an astronaut working on the moon for a company called Lunar which harvests fusion energy from the far side of the moon to create 70% of Earths energy. Duncan Jones (writer and also David Bowie’s son) adds a fascinating touch to the science fiction genre by adding human psychology and corporate ethics to create a science fiction story with a political message. What I like about the movie is the set design. Im not sure what a harvest station on the moon would look like but the sets in Moon are out of this world! The user friendly robot, Gerty can show a few emotions on it screen and between the almost IM looking faces it uses and Kevin Spacy’s voice, the robot becomes another character. I would love to write more about this movie but I really do feel like it should be watched, preferably twice because the story holds enough plot to overwhelm most viewers on the first watch.

Avatar: The 3D IMAX Experience

Samuel Venanzi — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:23:04 +0000

Tired of wearing those red and green cardboard cut out glasses to see in 3D? Avatar uses new 3D technology so that the glasses required by the audience are clear polarized glasses that actually fit your face (what a relief). Besides the glasses much needed upgrade, the Fusion Camera System invented and by Vince Pace (cinematographer) and James Cameron (director) was a much needed improvement to 3D video. The system uses a pair of mounted Sony HDC F950s with alignment software to produce a three dimensional image that is also pleasing to the eye. This means that you no longer get a migraine from straining your eyes and also that the field of depth is much greater and allows the circular lenses to find a convergence point that will emulate human depth perception. Although it takes a bit of getting used to and a few shots still strain the eyes, the ground breaking system takes the viewer on a fantastic ride through a fantastic new world. Speaking of a new world, the plot of this groundbreaking production mirrors the Disney classic Pocahontas. A reluctant soldier finds love on a new world and must then face the reality that his superiors are a bunch of greedy bastards who don’t care for natives. Just replace John Smith with a futuristic soldier, the British ships with space ships and the Indians with Aliens. That being said this movie kicked that wimpy Disney family classics ass by about $231 million dollars worth of production. The plot line incorporated some jaw dropping fantasy scenes including skydiving dragons, ancestral spirit trees and futuristic human technology. So heres the breakdown:

Ground Breaking 3D + Contemporary Military and Bio Ethics + Over the Top Sci Fi = Avatar

I urge you to go see Avatar for yourself and post your review under the comments section

Final Project Help

Samuel Venanzi — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:59:33 +0000

I would like to thank everyone who came by to help out with “Frat Murder”. I hope you guys had as much fun on set as Bob and I did.

Eric helped out with lighting and also did a great job acting as Dave the Douche.

Gabe and Atom came by as continuity direction and lighting

Steve helped out with lighting

I helped out Gabe and Atom with a few interviews of Temple University professors. I helped by providing lighting and the use of my camera on a day where they were unable to rent one from the equipment office, I followed Gabe and Atom as they posted up in quite a few places around campus. I always enjoy working on a projects with Gabe and Atom because they are very organized on how they preplan their b roll footage around their interviews and have a sense of humor in their projects.

I enjoyed working with everyone and I hope we can work together in the future.

Tis the Season for… Star Wars?

Samuel Venanzi — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:23:06 +0000

Everyone loves Star Wars and everyone loves the winter holidays but what few people realize is that on November 17th 1978 CBS broadcasted a Star Wars Holiday Special of preposterous proportions. Much to George Lucas’s chagrin, The 97min abomination was a disaster and only the most hardcore fans were willing to embrace its existence. The once aired Special’s plot line revolves around Chewbacca going home to see his family for the holidays with his friend Han Solo. Ridiculous animation ensues and for a good 15 minutes there is nothing but Chewbacca grunts until Luke Skywalker saves the Day by throwing in some actual dialog. Oh and just when you thought it couldnt get any better there is some fantastic original music by Jefferson Starship and even Princess Laya gets a chance to sing a few tunes! Enjoy!