I AM ZELDA AND YOU ARE TOO
Love, Avery and Josh
Our Process Piece
takes the form of juxtaposition between two "populations" playing
different versions of the same video game. The first is a newer edition of
Zelda, and the players are two males; in this segment, the boys are rowdy and
smack-talk each other. In the second half of the piece, a lone girl plays an
old Nintendo 64 version of Zelda and is relatively quiet and wordless
throughout the gameplay. The juxtaposition of these two variations on similar
processes reveals differences and gaps between male versus female, groups
versus solidarity, and new versus old.
This project was similar to “The
Smokehouse” video by Smith Journal that we watched for class. For example, in the video, the audio played a
far more important role than the visual. In the beginning of the video, we hear the chainsaw before we actually
see it on film. In our audio, you can
distinctly hear the difference between the two parts. The video game sounds clue the listener in to
what is happening. The boys were much
more vocal during their gaming, whereas the girl was much more calm. In “The Smokehouse,” there are times when
either the sound effects or the dialogue are the most important audio. When the guys are playing video games in our
audio, it’s their dialogue that tells us what they are doing or how the game is
going. When the girl is playing, it’s
mostly the video game sounds that inform us of the nature of the process. Our audio samples are also similar to the “Routine”
videos. Obviously, our project relies
completely on audio. The “Routine”
videos would not be as exciting if they didn’t have any audio. If you watch a video of someone playing a
video game, it’s bound to not be as exciting or entertaining if there is no
audio. The game talk and sound effects
add so much and tell their own story.
In terms of outside media, the project is reminiscent of the website and movement, "Listen To A Movie" (listentoamovie.com), which is a free beta site that is marketed "for the cubicle workers of the world." Essentially, you can be doing whatever—working, running, riding a bus, doing homework—in a space where you can be connected to the internet but don't have the capacity or time to actually view a movie, only put the audio of the movie on as background noise. It's a film experience for multi-taskers.
The Process Piece assignment is similar to Listen To A Movie based on the fact that both projects center around subjects or events that were meant to be heard and viewed, and once you take away the visual element you get a completely new kind of media and art. Without an image to accompany a sound—especially a sound process—it's easy for a listener to make different interpretation based on their stunted knowledge of the subject at hand. Our piece is about video games being played—a process that one hundred percent depends on the ability to see what's happening on the screen—and the unmistakeable sounds of gameplay and human interaction doesn't need to be illustrated with pixelated cartoon characters.
The Process Piece assignment is similar to Listen To A Movie based on the fact that both projects center around subjects or events that were meant to be heard and viewed, and once you take away the visual element you get a completely new kind of media and art. Without an image to accompany a sound—especially a sound process—it's easy for a listener to make different interpretation based on their stunted knowledge of the subject at hand. Our piece is about video games being played—a process that one hundred percent depends on the ability to see what's happening on the screen—and the unmistakeable sounds of gameplay and human interaction doesn't need to be illustrated with pixelated cartoon characters.
