Concept fro Night Hawks Sound Project

For my sound project for Night Hawks I decided to create an surreal distorted echoing effect mixing the sound of traffic, people talking and activity in a restaurant.

Looking at the end result it probably would have been more appropriate to have used sounds that one would associate with the image such as a mix of radio frequency, 1940's jazz music, gun fire air raid sirens and other elements that would be fitting to reflect that time era and noir gangster environment.

What I was attempting to do was turn the idea on its head by creating a sound that was out of touch from something expected, that what we were hearing had a ghost like quality, we were hearing voices from the past.

Sound Inspiration Revolution 9

Another example of distorted sounds that have influenced me was the Beetle's sound composition Revolution 9.

An unconventional piece comprised of vocal recordings, orchestra, audio samples, and other second hand sound effects used to created a jumbled yet inventive track that thinks out side the box and will baffle and open the minds of people for ages to come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVf5Cr4M-F8

Sound Experiment Research

Nighthawks is a 1942 oil on canvas painting by Edward Hopper that portrays people sitting in a downtown diner late at night. It is Hopper's most famous work and is one of the most recognizable paintings in America. Within months of its completion, it was sold to the Art Institute of Chicago for $3,000 and has remained there ever since.

The best-known of Hopper's paintings, Nighthawks (1942), is one of his paintings of groups. It shows customers sitting at the counter of an all-night diner. The shapes and diagonals are carefully constructed. The viewpoint is cinematic—from the sidewalk, as if the viewer were approaching the restaurant. The diner's harsh electric light sets it apart from the dark night outside, enhancing the mood and subtle emotion. As in many Hopper paintings, the interaction is minimal. The restaurant depicted was inspired by one in Greenwich Village. Both Hopper and his wife posed for the figures, and Jo Hopper gave the painting its title. The inspiration for the picture may have come from Ernest Hemingway’s short story The Killers, which Hopper greatly admired, or from the more philosophical A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.  In keeping with the title of his painting, Hopper later said, “Nighthawks” has more to do with the possibility of predators in the night than with loneliness.

Hopper's biographer, Gail Levin, speculates that Hopper may have been inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's "sinister Night Café" [which was showing at a gallery in New York in January 1942. The similarity in lighting and themes makes this possible; it is certainly unlikely that Hopper would have failed to see the exhibition, and as Levin notes, the painting had twice been exhibited in the company of Hopper's own works. Beyond this, there is no evidence that The Night Café exercised an influence on Nighthawks. Although there is no evidence at all (other than the fact that Hopper admired the story.)

Hopper was an avid moviegoer and critics have noted the resemblance of his paintings to film stills. Several of his paintings suggest gangster films of the early 1930s such as Scarface and Little Caesar, a connection that can be seen in the clothes of the customers in the diner. Nighthawks and works such as Night Shadows (1921) anticipate the look of film noir whose development Hopper may have influenced.

Sound Inspiration Behold the Darkness

While researching remixed sounds for  inspiration to my sound project I came across this soundtrack titled Behold the Darkness By Medwyn Goodall.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMfoRqbS-Ko

Its a gothic and eerier piece of music that has a mix of orchestra and synthesisers. I've been inspired to implement a similar tone for my piece.

Sound Inspirations One Pig by Mathew Herbert

One of many examples of experimental sounds that I listened to was One pig by Mathew Herbert.

Which was created by mixing sounds of pig squeal, chopping of pig's meat in an abattoir, cooking process and digestion of the pork, this resulted with a disturbing yet ingenious soundtrack that'll haunt the listener.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yEPgmolNG0

Sounds for Night Hawks by Edward Hopper

For my sound project for Joe I've been given an art based image and have to recreate a remixed sound sequence to go with it. 

I have been given Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. Because the image appears to be set in a 1940 gangster noir setting I felt it would be appropriate to incorporate sounds of jazz music, speeding traffic, car chases and gun firing.

Simpson-ised rendition.

Toy story 3 sound edit