Michelle ten Cate extra credit assignment

https://michelletencatesmedia.blogspot.com/2019/10/margaret-mead-film-festival-extra.html

Soundwalk

Gabriella Vetrano

Filmp160

Soundwalk

            Walking the High Line on an especially pleasant weekday afternoon provided me with the perfect opportunity to conduct my soundwalk. I entered the High Line on West 23^rd and walked down to Gansevoort Street and the Whitey Museum of Art. Along the way, I tuned in to the sounds and sights around me, “opening my ears” to the sounds of New York City.

            I found that walking the High Line offered a balance between the hustle and bustle of the city and the calmness that comes with being above it. I could hear birds singing as they sat up in the trees, but I could also hear the cars driving underneath the tracks I was standing on. The sounds of tourists asking to snap pictures combined with the yelling of vendors promoting the sweets they sell from their carts. On quieter parts of the walk, I’d stop, close my eyes and listen to the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees or the rustling of plants as people brushed past them. I walked deeper into Chelsea and it got later in the evening the city came alive underneath my feet. I could hear the sounds of cars driving through the streets and people laughing excitedly, talking to their friends about their plans for the night or the coming weekend. I passed a rooftop bar that was playing host to a few patrons bopping along to some indie music the DJ was playing; another bar further down the line was hosting a party that was playing the top 100 pop hits from 2008. As I exited the line and headed down to the subway I left the sounds of Chelsea behind me.

Cal's Sound-Walk (Bushwick)

My Soundwalk was from the L train, at the Morgan stop in Bushwick, to the M train stop on DeKalb Street. As I step off the train the first sound is the familiar ding-ding that precedes the door closure and the whining of the train pulling off. The whirr of the trains moving down the track continues as I walk out of the station, and it's slowly replaced by wind sounds and car sounds - a woman speaks into her phone quietly as she walks down the stairs, opposite me. I’m hyper-aware that I can hear other people, and it seems as though she can tell I can hear her. By the time I am fully out of the station, it's mostly only car sounds until I get to Knickerbocker Street, where I can now hear “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5 playing out of the speakers at the vintage shop just before Flushing street, it is distorted by the cheap outdoor speakers, to sound muffled and almost wet. I follow knickerbocker into what is a more urban, less industrial area. The sounds change quickly - there are loud children and the sound of parents talking. I walk past a card game going on, the card players are quiet but jovial - there are a few laughs and short riff-sentences in what I think was either Spanish or Portuguese. I try not to linger and keep walking - there is a pizza shop which is playing loud Spanish music and lots of conversation and cooking sounds come out of its open front doors. I turn on to Dekalb street and it is almost immediately quieter, the social sounds are almost all completely replaced with car sounds, I’m now facing into the wind, and perhaps it's my focus waning, but I don’t really notice any other sound than the wind until I hear the distant sound of the subway, as I walk toward the stairs to the raised platform I see some 12-13-year-old kids smoking and listening to something poppy on one of their phones, I keep walking and swipe my card at the turnstile. After the second set of stairs, and 5 minutes more of wind, I hear the deep whirr of the train approaching and finally that familiar ding-ding.

Unstuck Extra Credit

Gabriella Vetrano
Filmp 160
Extra Credit: Unstuck: An OCD Kids Movie

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to attend a screening of Unstuck: An OCD Kids
Movie at Hunter College. The movie and the short that preceded it, Involuntary Repetition as
Everyday Life, was shown in honor of OCD Awareness week and delved into the lives of people
living with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Unstuck highlighted the lives of multiple children
living and dealing with OCD; through interviews we come to learn about the onset of their
disorder, their triggers and eventually how they came to cope. Involuntary Repetition was
presented in a vastly different format, showing the daily struggles the main character faces. Both
films shed light on the struggles people living with the disorder face and do so in a compelling
way.

One thing I appreciated while attending the showing was the pairing of the films together.
They present two different sides of the same story in a way that allows people who haven’t
experienced the disorder firsthand to understand while Involuntary Repetition fully immerses the
viewer in the experience of the character. The film is shot in first-person and we experience every
compulsion the character is experienceing, being forced to perform every ritual for what feels like an eternity. It truly captures the feeling of anxiety that arises as the minutes tick on and the compulsions are still being completed (while I know this was unintentional, I feel having to rewatch the first few minutes heightened the experience). Unstuck relies on interviews to tell each child’s story, allowing for them to explain themselves what their compulsions are and how the address each one every day.
The interviews are personal and intimate, allowing the viewer to connect with each child and
their struggles. I’m grateful the showing ended with a panel that included the filmmakers, a
psychologist and two people living with OCD (including one of the children from Unstuck). The
movies and the panel opened the conversation for people living with the disorder in attendance
and people interested in learning more. I think this speaks to the effect good filmmaking can
have when it’s directed towards a cause; Unstuck helps us understand the disorder and
destigmatize it.

Soundwalk

         Midday at Washington Square Park: The weather is fair enough to draw a crowd. On a bench beside me, two students, I presume, chatter - “I’ve already solidified the friendship,” one boy expounds to another. He sounds frustrated. “I just can’t escape it.” The conversation drones on as soft jazz from a makeshift trio closer to the arch underscores the scene. There is patter from pets - dogs shuffling by with their owners, conversations cross-pollinating as they pass me. Phone calls. Farther, the attendant sounds of New York as a whole - traffic, vague construction work. Horns and drills. 

“I don’t always hate interacting with her,” this boy continues. “Sometimes she’s really fun.” His friend has a laptop, and types infrequently, breaking to impart advice. “What do you think you’ll do?”

Then applause from a scant few spectators for the jazz trio. A song finished, and another begins. 

“I’m not sure.”

An older woman then passes by and gasps as a rat darts across the pathway.

The boy with the predicament sighs. There is silence for a few moments, and the background amplifies - the jazz song becomes more clear, the noise of New York jarringly cuts through.

“Anyways, let’s go.”

The boys get up and walk away.

Soundwalk

Soundwalk

Soundwalk Michelle ten Cate

https://michelletencatesmedia.blogspot.com/2019/10/soundwalk-michelle.html

Sound Walk Project

I decided to undertake my sound walk while walking my dog around my neighborhood of Kew Gardens/Jamaica in Queens. The weather happened to be very tame, without much sound of blowing wind. It was early afternoon so, since the morning rush had ended, I would hear a car approach and drive away every so often. The jingling of my dogs collar was a constant sound throughout the walk, something that I had not really noticed in the past because of the music being played too loud as usual into my ears. However, it soon became like background noise, and I hardly noticed it after a while. At a certain point I heard the barking of a couple of dogs in the distance. It didn't sound like they were getting along. A man walked by who was in the middle of a phone call, talking way too loud at that. I had heard some rustling in the trees, most likely coming from some squirrels. Eventually, I noticed that I was not thinking about much of anything. I was simply taking in and enjoying the sounds of the environment around me. I was noticing how I was breathing, and correcting it, almost as if I was doing some sort of meditation. This sound walk was almost like an exercise in mindfulness, and I think I will challenge myself to do it consistently.           

Blog #2

Part 1:

New York City has always been known for its fast pace life style and buzz. There is always something happening somewhere. The sounds that I heard during my commute from home to school are:

1.    The construction workers talking during their break

2.    The sound of cars passing

3.    The sound of the bus door opening and closing

4.    The sound of the operating male letting people know what the next stop is

5.    The sound of the buses engine

6.    People’s voice while talking on their phone

7.    The sound of some ones ringtone

8.    The sound the MTA machine makes when you swipe your card

9.    The sound of the train doors opening and closing

10.                  The sound of the siren on a police car

11.                  The sound of people’s foot steps while entering the train

12.                  The sound of a plastic bag

13.                  The sound of a leaf blower

14.                  The sound of people yelling

15.                  The sound of a dog barking

Part 2:

Some of the sounds that I could tell were sound signals were the siren of the police car and the operating male speaking on the bus. These sounds are played all day, at any time. Also the sounds from people’s steps are something that one always hears. There aren’t any clues that are specific to my neighborhood; it is quiet for the most part. One of the sounds that are meaningful to me is the sound a fan makes. The reason why it is meaningful is because that particular sound would help distract my mind from someone else’s snoring and would allow me to sleep longer and in some peace.