Song Project

Here's my song from Week 4 Lab.

'Over My Head' - Blog 3a

3A.
"Over My Head" by The Fray


"Over My Head" as covered by A Day To Remember



The song I have chosen for this blog is “Over My Head” by The Fray and the cover by A Day To Remember. The cover was done as part of a compilation called Punk Goes Pop in which punk bands have the opportunity to cover more mainstream, Top-40 music. All of the covers are very well done and offer a new spin to a familiar song which can be a welcome change especially when a lot of the pop music of today can sound very similar to many other songs. The two songs have a great deal of contrast (provided by the different styles of bands) and affinity (as can be expected in a cover) to each other that is shown through many different aspects of the song. The lyrics and the melody of the two songs is the exact same throughout the entire song. This helps the listener recognize the song in the cover. However, the speed of the two songs is drastically different as is the intensity and the pitch. The speed of the cover is quite a bit faster than the original mellow tempo of the first song. The faster tempo gives a little more energy to the song which is emphasized even more by the use of electric instruments instead of a piano being the basis of the song. The use of the electric instruments also effects the intensity of the song making it louder because of the changed instrumentation and the addition of other instruments adding to the volume. With the instrument change comes a vocal change as well. There are lower instruments added to the cover that are more prominent as well as a lower pitched lead singer and even a screaming voice in the cover that is a low drone sound. There is also a section that utilizes tension and release in the cover in which the sound of the song goes from being a hard rock screamo song to sounding more like the mellow, acoustic sounding original version. This change back to the original sound builds tension as you wait for the screamo style of the song to come back in to the song. I personally enjoy the original version of the song more. I’m not a huge fan of screamo which may be the main cause for this. At the same time, I also like the mellow feeling that The Fray gives to the song and it has a very relaxing nature to it as the instrumentation is light and the tempo is one that creates a kind of lull that you fall into while listening to it. I welcome the new take on an old song and think that A Day To Remember did a great job of taking a popular hit and making it their own while keeping the main aspects of the song the same as The Fray had originally intended them to be performed.

Soundscape File

Here is the final version of our (Sam Binnig and Alex Bolinger) soundscape for MDIA 203.

Our emotion was "Awkward Embarrassment"

How(l) to find your Howl

This is an audio blog entry that can be listened to by clicking the play button below.






The Article "Finding Your Howl" by Jonathon Flaum can be found at ChangeThis.com (link to the PDF).

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas (Blog 1B)

For class this week's class we read an article called "14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas" written by Mitch Ditkoff which can be found at ChangeThis.com (link to the PDF). 

In the article, Ditkoff presents many different ways to come up with ideas for creative people. The solutions all seem like valid ways to come up with ideas but still offers a broad enough spectrum to include many different people and the ways different people think. There are also enough different ideas to make it so that if one way doesn't work out, there is another one that you can try to see if it works out better for you. Throughout the article, many different points are given to show the pros of each method of coming up with creative ideas and at the end even gives you questions or suggestions to reflect on or enact in order to help you start becoming more effective at creative thinking.

The first method I will respond to is number two in the article. Immerse. Immersion is something that many people have done throughout time in order to be completely surrounded by a certain thing or idea. In this world of multi-tasking and everyone being “connnected” during every waking moment of their lives, being immersed or concentrated on any one specific thing seems like it might put you behind the curve because you are not focused on everything that you should be doing all at once. It may initially feel like you are getting less done at that time, but overall it will be a better outcome and you will reach that outcome quicker than you would have when distracted by other things. By immersion in any one specific topic, you have the ability to think just about that topic and when an idea comes to you, you are able to write it down immediately and build on it instead of trying to remember it at a later time. Many ideas are lost because we are so distracted by the many different things that we do in our day-to-day lives that we do not have the time to write down what we are thinking and even if we do, it is hard to come back to it in the exact same mindset we were in when we first came up with the topic. I use immersion to a certain extent when I’m working on projects of my own. The cell phone gets turned on silent, Facebook gets turned off, and my email gets ignored for a little bit. This allows me to just concentrate on what I’m doing at that specific moment and I feel like some of my better ideas have come out of these times because I have the ability do exactly what I have described above. Overall, I feel immersion is a very good way to dive deep into your thoughts and come up with ideas and then record those ideas to actually use and enact them.

The second method I will respond to is number four in the article.

Make new connections. This is an important method because each and every person you meet in your life will have something new to offer you intellectually. Even if they don’t have any new information, they may still be able to offer a new insight on an old topic or a new view on something you saw in a different way. Usually, people stick to what they know because it is easier and there is already a set path laid out for the way things are normally done. However, when time is taken to step outside the comfort zone there are many other paths that can be added on and many new things to be learned. I have been able to take this method to the next level by coming to college. All of the things that I thought I knew before have been completely reinvented and I was put in situations where it was not only necessary but almost unavoidable to meet new people, make new friends, and be able to experience all of their different points of view and thoughts. By making these new connections, each one opens you up to a completely new way of thinking and offers you insight to things that may have seemed foreign and distant up to that point.

The third and final method I will respond to is number eight in the article. Take a break. Even though working and thinking about a topic is important towards coming up with new ideas for it, sometimes you can get overworked and your brain isn’t able to come up with any new things. As a result you keep thinking the same things over and over again with nothing new. This can start to cause frustration or lead to being discouraged when working. Both of those are things that will inhibit creative thoughts instead of encouraging them. I practice this in my own life by not working on any one thing too long and have taught myself to take breaks when I am stuck on something or am having trouble coming up with new ideas. This seems to work very well and it allows me to be able to walk around and relax and talk to people more and not spend days cramming information all day just to forget most of it.

As the last part of the assignment we were asked to answer one of the prompts placed at the end of one of the fourteen methods for getting ideas. The prompt I am answering is from suggestion number nine, “What is the topic of your next group brainstorm? Who will you invite? Who will facilitate? When?”

I have been thinking about recording a show of sorts with short episodes to put out on the internet based on four college student’s lives and their day to day adventures. After reading this article I started to talk with some of my roommates and friends that live around me and we all are interested in doing something like this. The topic of the brainstorm will probably be ideas for the episodes and the different things we can have our characters do. I’ll invite the core group of guys I have already talked to and even open up the group a little more to some more friends so that they could also add their creative input to the project. We are currently planning on meeting later this week on Thursday or Friday depending on how everyone’s schedules work out and will plan on running a meeting to bounce ideas back and forth to see who is thinking what and how we can manage to pull something like this off.

Influential People (Blog 1A)

There are many people and groups that I admire and have influenced the things I do in many different ways.
However, for this blog I will be picking two of the most influential and talk about them a little bit.

First is the group Twenty One Pilots. I just recently (within the last 6 months) learned about Twenty One Pilots, a band local to where I live in Columbus, Ohio. Their music can be best described as alternative and electronic and most of it is also music that makes you want to get up and dance to it. While this description may apply to a very wide variety of bands and musical artists, Twenty One Pilots still has a very unique sound that sets them apart and contrasts them from everyone else. The band consists of three guys who play a variety of instruments. Most of the instrumentation is based a piano part and is filled out with the drums and bass. This is one of the many things that already sets them apart from many other groups. A second technique that gives them a very unique sound is the use of electronic instruments such as synths and electronic drums along with their organic counterparts pianos, basses and a drum kit. Add a lead singer who isn't like any one particular singer but instead a culmination of the best parts of many singers and also a great band chemistry and you have the unique, infectious sound of Twenty One Pilots.
Their song "Air Catcher" shows some of the more melodic calmer music they do and is linked directly below.



Twenty One Pilots can be found at http://www.twentyonepilots.com/



Second, is a TV show called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. As you read this you're probably thinking about how you've never heard of this show which isn't too suprising. Studio 60 only lasted one season on air before being removed but that speaks nothing of the quality of the show. The show is written by the very talented Aaron Sorkin who is also known for writing Sports Night, The West Wing, and most recently, The Social Network. I enjoy this show for a variety of reasons. The first being the incredible use of tension throughout the show to keep the viewer engaged in the show. The use of tension repeatedly keeps the viewer wondering as a situation is set up that could fulfill a variety of outcomes both good and bad. That tension is then released to allow the viewer time to relax and digest information before it sets up for even more tension. A second technique used by Sorkin throughout the show is that of subtext and creating situations that on one level will portray one thing but may also use a great deal of irony or sarcasm to portray the real underlaying meaning of the scene. A third way that Studio 60 is engaging to a viewer is that it is constantly making one think about the different things going on and interpreting them on their own. Although there are many points that are presented in black and white to the viewer, there are many more that cause the viewer to be an active thinker instead of a didactic one. Since the show is based on the behind the scenes of a show like Saturday Night Live the characters in the show are bound to be very sarcastic as their humorous attitudes are prominent throughout most of the show.
Below is a promo that was run on NBC for the show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Below is a scene from the first episode that showcases some of the many different ways Studio 60 engages its viewers.

MDIA 203

Hi, I'm Sam Binnig and I'm a Freshman at Ohio University studying Audio Post Production in the Scripps College of Communication. Welcome to my Blog created for my MDIA 203 class this quarter at Ohio University. This blog will primarily be used to complete assignments for the class but I might keep blogging even after the quarter is over. 


I'm in the 8-10AM lab for the 203 class which has its ups and downs all at the same time. On one hand, I can get up and get it out of the way first thing in the morning and have the rest of the day to do whatever I want which is nice. On the other hand, however, it means getting up early and walking across campus in the cold weather (and snow) to come to class.


203 seems like it will be an enjoyable class and I'm sure I'll enjoy it because it will involve a lot of media creation and other creative thinking.