Synethesia

Today we learnt about the concept of synaesthesia, which by definition means, "the process of picturing sounds in the mind's eye". It is often seen as the joining of senses, for sensations in one modality (e.g hearing) produce reactions in the form of a sensation in another modality (e.g. colour) as well as it's own. These experiences are not often driven by sensory representations, but more so by symbolic ones, such as letters, numbers and words. It can also be known as, 'thought beats' or, 'seeing sounds in your head'

Andrew Goodwin is a contemporary theorist and on the subject of synesthesia in relation to music videos, he believes the most succesful sort is:

"A clip that responds to the pleasures of music, and in which that music is made visual, either in new ways or in ways that accentuate existing visual assosiations"
                  ~ Andrew Goodwin (1993)

I like his ideas; he is basically saying that when the visuals of media content complement the features of the sound, it all seems to come together and exaggerate what the visuals already in place. Also, when you are able to take in and understand the information your senses relay to you, you tend to have more interest in the content you are viewing, which in turn make the content more popular.

Steve Archer also provided many of his own ideas and opinions on the matter in the February 2004 edition of MediaMagazine. He believed that in order to judge appropriately, you need to fully be aware of the music and how it makes you feel.

HOW WE USED SYNAESTHSIA TO OUR ADVANTAGE
We did a task whereby we were asked to draw patterns, lines or markings - whatever came to mind - on paper, whilst listening to a certain music track. We basically had to draw what the music made us feel or what we felt represented that track to us the best. This would give us a better understanding of how the feel of the song affects the visuals that come naturally to us when listening to a particular type of music, which reinforces the importance of identifying and applying conventions of a certain genre. 

These are the two tracks we listened to:

Tina Moore - Never Gonna Let You Go
Being an upbeat and dance sound, our page was filled with jagged lines and short, snappy swerves which represented the repetitive, catchy beat. It was a very loud and dynamic page, filled with energetic, bouncy markings which demonstrated that the track made us feel so.

Phoria - Red
This track in comparison had a much slower pace and less energy. The marks we made were much more flowing, continuous and spherical. It is still a powerful song, but uses it's impulsion is different ways to the above song. The marks we made became more dynamic towards the end when the son increased its pace and energy, giving a sense of empowerment.

I thought I could adopt this approach within our music video, so I put my headphones in and had a go whilst listening to our chosen song, 'Love Me Again' by John Newman (UCF Remix). The result looks dynamic and filled with energy, which links to the song itself - being a dance/pop combination, it is designed to raise your heart rate and effectively motivate you to get up and dance. I think this is reflected in my own synaesthesia where there are lots of spiky lines and big shapes which represent the loud, pumping energy within the song.