The Argument

The Argument from Chorouk Akik on Vimeo.

A Visit to the Museum of the Moving Image

Much of the exhibitions in the museum during my visit were eye-catching and interesting. The artifacts included old cameras, ridiculously large projectors, a room full of television sets in their infancy and several years of makeup and clothing used in the production of film. The nostalgia commercialized products of feature films and cult tv. And the main exhibition at the moment seemed to be the world of video games. What I most enjoyed however was the "Editing" section of the museum. The interactive exhibitions in which the art of foley is easily played with and mastered on a more basic level were a welcome hands on approach to the obviously more complex process. Matching the sounds to the video was satisfying, but the leisurely aspect of mixing them was more amusing. I was able to appreciate the power of sound in the editing process, even on such a simple interface.
Although I had already enjoyed the thrills of audio editing, I had not before taken an interest in stop-motion editing before my visit. The interactive exhibition dealing with the process was again simple but infinitely amusing and if I wasn't pressed with limited frames I would've enjoyed creating more elaborate stories. 
My favorite exhibit that was not an interactive one was the sculpture of Feral Fount by Gregory Barsamian. The brain child of the artist's dream came to life through a three-dimensional animation structure reminiscent of the more basic zoetropes of the neighboring room. I probably stood there for 5 minutes watching the structure move and trick and fascinate my eyes again and again.

Relationships Between Shots

Jeunet's Amelie - Helping A Blind Man
In this scene Amelie appears to be walking towards the camera in slow motion a neutral direction, with diagetic sounds of chirping birds in the background. The nondiagetic sounds of music and the narrator's voice are more distinct and the narrator is especially clear. Within the next few seconds the camera moves to Amelie's left allowing for her to be seen walking with her back facing the camera all still in slow motion allowing for continuity editing. A flock of pigeons fly away with the sound of their wings flapping clearly heard but still in the background to the narrator's voice. The viewer is able to assemble information regarding the setting which is a sunny beautiful day in the more scenic part of the city with trees and symmetrical buildings, paralleling the narrator's information regarding Amelie's feelings of sudden joy and love for humanity. The next shot is a medium close up of a low angle view of a man's legs on the edge of a sidewalk with what is assumed to be his cane hitting the sidewalk several times. The sidewalk as well as the stream of water running along its length underneath it, are at a z-angle creating depth in the shot. The foreground is of the sidewalk, the mid ground is where the man and cane are, in between the foreground and mid ground are several passing legs and feet and the background is a continuation of the street with parked cars and several passersby.
This shot ends at one more clanking sound of the white cane and moves on to the next shot beginning at an overhead of the street, with the camera moving down to what we assume is the blind man with the cane in the middle of the frame. Cars pass by with their sound getting louder then lower and disappearing as they leave the frame showing that there is much more street outside of what we are looking at in the frame. Passerby in the background are moving in slow motion and are blurry as our focus (and the camera's focus) is on the old blind man with a balding head of white fluffy hair moving his head side to side. The next shot comes back to a medium shot of Amelie in the middle of the frame standing in front of a butcher shop, as we zoom in on her dead focus stare. We conclude that she has spotted the old blind man and is has decided to do something. The diagetic stereotypical french instrumental music in the first shot is still with us throughout the shots, adding to the french city ambience. The next shot is back to what we understand is Amelie's focus, the back of the old blind man at the edge of the side walk. This is not left for us to ponder for long as Amelie quickly walks into the frame, now at a normal speed, towards the right side of the man, and begins talking into the man's ear. Amelie tells him to let her help him at their sudden synchronized movement down from the sidewalk and onto the street we understand that she has taken his arm guiding him.
Amelie's voice speeds up, as their walking does and so does the camera movement. She describes a widow wearing her dead husband's drum uniform and the next shot is a POV shot of that lady walking past. We understand from the POV that we are seeing the world through Amelie's eyes just as the blind man is. The next several shots are in a seeming order paired description of surroundings by Amelie with the two characters usually in the shot and an accompanying shot of the described setting. Much of the time we are either seeing the characters from the front, but sometimes from the side at a long shot (as though on the other side of the street) or from behind (as though following them) but always at the same quick speed. The background noise of the busy street seems to get louder as the blind man (that we see periodically with a face expressing what we assume to be awe at the words turing into images in his head in real time) learns more of what his surroundings look like.
The ending shot depicts Amelie letting the blind man know he is now past the news kiosk and at the metro station entrance as the camera pulls away to a long shot and perhaps a crane shot as she runs up the stairs letting us know we are now moving on to another scene and onto another part of the story, but right before the camera comes back on an overhead of the blind man who is now looking up, and suddenly there is light coursing through him as though he is now seeing the world. The light of course was added digitally with special effects after the shooting and gives the audience the sense that Amelie's actions had a larger than life effect on the blind man.
 

Breathe - An Interview With Soo

Soundwalk in Astoria

For my soundwalk I chose to walk around my neighborhood: Astoria. On a sunny afternoon,  I sat on the swings of an empty playground at first not hearing much but the clinking of the chain as I fidgeted on the seat. As I settled in, the clinking was less prominent as the light screech of the swing rose with every push of my legs to thrust myself higher. When I was satisfied with the height of my swinging I kept my legs up silencing the previous almost squeaky rustle of the impact of my shoes against the cushiony ground. The silence between each screech at each side of the highest swing opened up the focus on the birds chirping all around the trees. After the chirping was moved to the back of my head I could hear another sound, distinct and well-known to me. The trains at the 30th ave station always moved and stopped in a predictable way. First the fast rhythm of the thumping of the train moved at full speed then the wooden track thumps were further and further apart as it slowed down to a screeching halt. Moving closer I could hear the "pling plong" right before the almost smooth opening of the train doors, and an immediate symphony of footsteps some faster and harder than others. The faint sound of the automated voice I'd heard probably a million times by now and knew by heart "Stand clear of the closing doors please." followed by the slightly more echoey "pling plong" as the doors closed first on one half of the train then the other. The train screeched harder and louder this time to begin moving to a rhythmic thumping on the wood again slowly getting faster. As the sound of the train's thumping got lower and lower I heard the rising sound of children running and laughing and screaming and assumed it was recess time as the sound of the several swings screeched alternating back and forth with each other.

Define A Space

Define A Space from Chorouk Akik on Vimeo.

Artist Statement

I am a binge-crazed baby of the 21st century. Through that I seem to be reinforcing the little voice in my head that is screaming that I am simply infatuated with my own being. This coveted obsession with the discovery of who I am, why I am and what I'm to become started with my interest in what others are thinking and experiencing. Since I was a child I identified a small person in my head that I believed would not be able to be reached by others in the real world. And so my exhaustingly curious little person tirelessly thought about the other little people in other people's heads. I figured all problems of miscommunication and conflict could be resolved if individuals could have the small people communicate. I thought those small people were the very essence of humanity. Honest, unique and quite simple in their curiosity in everything, and therefore easily reasoned with.
Today, I still talk to my small person to learn about myself and teach others about them. Oddly enough however, this has helped me recognize conflicts and issues I never even realized were there to begin with. But I've also learned my small person responds to light hearted fun as well as more complicated humor made up of references and plays on words. This is why most of my interest in my own creative content (often having to do with communication of a specific idea in social justice issues) is heavily weighted on the written and often spoken word. Because in the end, my obsessed self, just wants to make my little person heard.
I have a keen interest in the issues of my generation; sexism, racism, ableism, LGBTQIA+ rights to name a few. I'd like to spread information about these issues to people of different backgrounds. Make it so that everything I've struggled to understand is easier to grasp for those with less tools to do so. So the other binge-crazed babies of this century can binge something of value. I'd like to do this through the medium of the moving image because it gives us an easier in depth look through different perspectives. Moreover, it can be a light-hearted platform with a far reaching message. The idea is if a picture is worth a thousand words, how much do you think a video is worth? I think it's worth a voice.