Author: acrv1g15

Navigating deafness in a hearing world | Rachel Kolb |

Rachel Kolb, a Stanford graduate,  was born profoundly deaf to both hearing parents.

In this Ted talk, Kolb talks about her on going struggles of living in a hearing world. From a early age, she was constantly told that she would never be able to do much because of her deafness. Despite the negativity around her, Rachel had a strong urge to prove her doubters wrong. “When we are children, I don’t think we inherently believe that we can’t do things. We need to hold on to this belief as we grow older”. From the age of  just 18 months, Kolb began speech therapy and nowadays, she is bilingual; using sign language as well as spoken English.

I found this video very inspiring! Rachel’s determination and willpower is something to be truly admired…

Deaf for the Day – Tim Vincent

In order to understand more about deafness and how it affects people, TV presenter Tim Vincent went Deaf for the Day to support Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. This video is extremely inspiring. As able hearing viewers, we have a chance to briefly experience what it is really like to live with deafness and the daily struggles faced. Stepping into the shoes of someone who suffers from hearing loss will hopefully make people more understanding and sympathetic towards the hard of hearing. I found this concept very interesting and so, decided to try and portray something similar to this for my 30 second film.

As Linda from this video states, “You have to be more alert with your eyes, all the time”. “Deafness can be very isolating, it affects your confidence”. 

Baby Driver: Opening Title

The latest film from Edgar Wright, Baby Driver, is a new kind of musical.

In Baby Driver, the music drives the story. The main character, Baby,  has tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and as a result,  listens to music through earphones to drown it out.

In this opening title, the song Harlam Shuffle by Earl & Bob constructs the entire scene. This choreographed sequence plays out like a music video.

Synchronisation plays an important part within this sequence. Every single action is precisely carried out in time to the beat of the song. As Baby is walking down roads to the rhythm of the beat, we also notice that the words, signs and graffiti on the walls around him sync up to the lyrics of the song.  00:26 – ‘right’ written on wall, Baby also turns right, 00:53 –  ATM machine beeping to the beat, 01:30 – When ordering coffee, Baby thinks and says ‘yeah yeah yeah’ together with the song.  We as the audience are hearing exactly what Baby is hearing.

In this movie, the images are subordinate to sound, giving sound a critical role in the film.