Author: Victoria Barkle

https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/the-listener-sound-vibration-nonduality-consciousness/

“We all know the expression “seeing is believing”; rarely do we hear someone say, “I heard it and so I believe it. A reason for the visual-centric focus is that the seeing faculty is more closely connected with conscious control. We can cover our eyes, but we will hear the truth anyway”

This quote really summarises the route I’ve taken with this project. ‘Seeing is believing’ is something that as a child around Christmas time you had to try your hardest in order to confirm your suspicion. However when I was a child and I heard Father Christmas AKA my dad creeping into my room with my stocking, why was it I never opening my eyes? Was is because deep down I knew he wasn’t real? Or was it because hearing was enough, hearing those sounds that lead to so much excitement that nothing more was needed? Again this is all to do with your conscious state of mind, but it really makes you wonder why.

With the film I’ve created the sound explores so much more than the visual. To watch without sound you’d see a flickering bulb. To the surface its flickering bulb thats annoying because its neither on nor off. But to listen without seeing gives you so much more. You begin to experience frustration thats out of your control, its almost consistent like an alarm, its ringing and its getting louder and it gives you a sense that somethings wrong. How is it that an image can seem so opaque yet sound can be so transparent to whats beneath or inside?

Having read this article, the way that the mind works with different parts of consciousness makes me think of my own personal memories. My idea for this project was to create sound that reminds the listener of times when physically you are not awake but when the mind is. That feeling when you’re not quite conscious yet.

“The unconscious mind is the storehouse of all memories and past experiences, both those that have been repressed through trauma and those that have simply been consciously forgotten and no longer important to us”.

I’ve based this project off a memory of when I was younger. I was involved in a fairly serious car crash and the memories I have of this event are sounds. absolutely no visuals. Was this because I was in a state of unconsciousness or because I’ve blocked the visuals out?  I remember the moments before the crash and those afterwards but the stages in-between are purely sounds. I remember feeling as if I’d just woken up and as if my alarm was ringing in my ears, as if this was an alarm bell ringing due to what had happened). I remember hearing a scream, whether this was mine or my mums, this lingered while I awoke from unconsciousness, and the last sound I remember was silence right at the end, as if everything had stopped and I wasn’t there, when really this was when I was surrounded by noise from people and ambulances.

Reading this article really made me think about whether I suppressed this memory from the beginning or whether those are the sounds I heard. I’m unclear on what really happened but those memories are clear as the day it happened.

http://themindunleashed.com/2014/03/conscious-subconscious-unconscious-mind-work.html

Having recently watched Stranger Things, I found the concept of ‘The Up Side Down’ really fascinating. With the work I’m developing, delving into how your mind functions between consciousness, Stranger Things shows similarities to how the real world and the up side down counteract.

In the sound I’m creating I want to portray the moment between consciousness, when you’re awake but not quite with it. I describe it as the lights are on but nobodies home. You’re conscious but with no sight or movement yet.

Stranger Things has a way of grasping this concept by the audio used, some reminds me of music that can related to death, the idea of seeing a white light and drifting towards it. It’s all really subtle hints that reflect a subconscious reality in a state of consciousness.

This trailer showcases the themes I’m describing through visuals and audio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWxyRG_tckY

Specifically 1.52, where he starts clicking the bell. I’ve been looking at this as the moment triggers alarm bells in Gus’s head when the pace picks up. It’s a subconscious realisation that he doesn’t have the upper hand, and in fact this is the end. This is something i’ve been playing around with using in my piece.