"HANGUL" : THE PROCESS & THE RESULT (Sound Research Project)

Constructing my sound research project was a very enjoyable experience. Being able to incorporate a sense of culture into my final sound piece was an appropriate way to conclude my studies in the audio unit. I took advantage of the wide-open parameters of the project and sought to use the emotional and tonal strategies I had learned in class and infuse them with my greatest interest. I am very affectionate for Asian culture and the color that they give the art, food, and society of the world. Taking into account my adoration of Korean cinema and my first-hand knowledge of the struggles that many Koreans face, I chose to reflect the series of varied emotions through the medium of abstract sound.

For about 60 years now, the Korean people have suffered greatly as North and South Korea have maintained their mutual hatred for each other. The brutal war killed hundreds of thousands and broke families apart. The country of Korea was split in two as the rebels fled to the south and a tyrant took up house in the north. Today, people live in constant fear as the threat of a bombing or an invasion from the north is as real as ever. The Koreans look to the future, one which will hopefully hold times of piece, free of fear. This is very much reflected in Korean cinema, as allegories pointed towards the success of children and an impending fate are commonplace in most films. Korean films are dark, brutal, and honest, very much like the country's sad past. I sought to express the emotions of isolation, confusion, nostalgia, and darkness in my research sound piece, as they are common elements to Korean cinema.

My final product consists of several main layers, which create the following emotions and stand for the following points:

FOREGROUND -- 

1. A male voice speaking in Korean, translated from the following original monologue: 

  "I was left here, alone. Abandoned by the millions of lives that crowded me everyday. Push too hard, and the walls upholding you will crumble, but why I was spared among all of them I'll probably never know. I was left with only the shells of their lives, the echoes of their past to remind me of the way things used to be. Yet through the silence, I've come to notice the subtle life that was spared by the forces that outdid them. I can hear them whisper."

The words are significant, yet not completely clear. The voice says that he has been left alone, suddenly everyone and everything around him disappearing. But he begins to recognize new life and tries to look ahead, although it's not clear whether he imagines the voices or actually hears them. This acts as an allegory to the trauma of the past, the isolation and the suffering, but also the glimmer of hope that lies in the future. The words act as the base of the piece, and while the language will not be clear to most people, the emotions and their contrasting attributes are reflected further through the other layers.

MIDDLE-GROUND --

1. Children laughing, playing. (Tempo, tone altered slightly in SoundStudio) 

As stated before, children play a very, very important role in Asian culture, and in Korea this fact may be even more prevalent. Children represent a fresh start and the future of one's family and country, and thus remain one of the most treasured elements of life. In the piece, the laughter of children can be heard fading in and out between the syncopated dialogue and pulsation. I incorporated a slight echo to give the sound more of a sense of surrealism. While the sound adds an eerie, nostalgic tone to the piece, it also makes the simple presence of a child aware to the audience. Remaining akin to many of the elements of the piece, the laughter creates contrasting emotions of intimacy and fear.

     2.  Adult whispering, cackling (echo effect, tempo slowed)


In contrast to the children laughing, a whispering enters the picture about halfway through the piece. It's clear that it's a man speaking about something, but the specific words are not clear enough to make out. The piece ends with the cackling, and slowly fades out at the end. This voice sounds fractured and malicious, and in juxtaposition to the laughter, suggests that hope may be an illusion. It acts as a subtle embodiment of pessimism and a source of concern to the listener.


AMBIENT LAYERS --  (made in Logic Pro)

1. Dark tone, oriental chime

The first of the two supporting layers consists of a dark, pulsating tone and a five-note string-pluck played in chromatic tone, which gives it an Asian-infused sound. The simple yet integral layer drives the piece and gives it a certain sense of repetition that it both soothing and redundant. It moves at a slow tempo, which sets the pace for the rest of the piece. Again, it reflects its significance in the form of the contrasting emotions is evokes: a calm chime and an impending dark tone. 

     2.  Screeching tone, percussive beats

The second ambient layer is also the most direct, in that it expresses one very clear emotion. The layer consists of a high-pitched undertone which builds gradually in volume, snare drum beats, and the occasional xylophone riff which also carries an Asian-infused tinge. This layer primarily acts as the percussive element of the sound piece. It gives off a very particular sense of uneasiness and caution, and is not a comfortable track to listen to. Since its intention is clear, it's also the quietest track, but it still remains integral to the piece, adding a necessary cushion that gives the final product its foreboding finish.

INFLUENCE -- 
Renowned veteran Asian film composer JOE HISAISHI had a huge influence on my research sound piece. He explores many of the same relationships and effects of contrasting sound elements, especially within some of his earlier works, and they were of huge inspiration to the discourse of my piece. This track from Miyazaki's classic film Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was the primary source from which I decided to work with contrasting emotions in tone. The 80's "twang" and synth have aged well in Asian music, and the piece feels oddly nostalgic to me.

FINAL PRODUCT --

Hangul by Dan Blackson