Artist Lecture: Ann Stroeber

As everyone else in the class, I attended the Ann Stroeber artist lecture, which I found to be very interesting. I think its great that VCU is bringing in these well-known, professional artists that we've been getting in the past. Ann Stroeber has done a lot of sound design in the movie industry including famous films at: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Dead Poet Society, lots of familiar films. I don't so much think that having big names really rates the quality of the artist or her lecture, but she did say a lot of interesting things about how the process goes about. I had no idea that all sound design was done in post-production, I thought at least the character voices were recorded at the time of film, but I guess I was wrong. Sound design seems to completely set the tone of the film and scene, so many textures and layers of sound can be added to make the imagery more believable. This I knew, but when she had given examples within The Elephant Man and Black Stallion, she gave insight to what sounds can come from where. Using the different microphones (frap and air), you can get completely different sounds and feelings. Makes me want to mess around with sound, possibly even add to some photographs of mine, see if I could successfully fit soundscapes to compliment the imagery. Having hear speak about the time and effort that goes into creating sounds for a movie really opened of my eyes to just how intensive the work is. I was glad I got to check out the lecture. Anytime you can hear from a professional artist working in the business, its always beneficial to figure out where you are, and what direction you need to go in order to get on the level as those individuals working in the field.