When I first heard of the process
piece, I thought perhaps this was more of a documentary and should be as
true-to-life as possible. As it was clarified it "didn't need to be a
process on this planet" I understood I had been given more creative
latitude than I previously expected. I teamed up with Elizabeth Elieson and we
both readily agreed we wanted to do something we didn't hear on a
regular basis, something futuristic. Elizabeth suggested cryogenic freezing,
and we both enjoyed the possibility. In order to assuage our concerns that
cryogenic technology might be a cliche choice, we sought to make each sound
that would be heard in the film a deliberate choice, rather than trying to
justify sounds that didn’t quite fit.
Fortunately, we had
no idea what cryogenic freezing even sounded like--since it hasn't even been
done yet (or so we think! :o ) this allowed ample artistic latitude. Each sound
we used was made on site in the apartment where we recorded it. We sought to
establish a clear room tone before the operation by paying attention to what
appliances and devices were on, and created a cast of characters--patient,
nurse, doctor, nurse in the future--who we hoped could be easily identified by
the things they said.
We also
created two separate room tones—one for the day when the cryogenic freezing
takes place, and another for the day in the distant future when she wakes up.
In a Rip Van Winkle fashion, our character is unaware any time has passed at
all, evidenced by her continuing her slow countdown as she awakes in the
future. This particular aspect was influenced by personal experiences with
anesthesia and also films like Avatar—we
didn’t feel she would notice the transition into the future.
Like the
many microprocesses that take place in the creation of sushi in Hiro Dreams of Sushi (If you haven’t
seen this yet, you do not yet know sushi.) or the slow construction of a
smokehouse in Smokehouse that form a
cohesive whole, we hoped the disparate pieces of our piece would fit together
in such a way that immersed the listener in the narrative we had created.
Reflection
is important in creating narratives of any sort. Looking back on Cryogenic Freezing, I enjoyed the sounds
we had made but wish we had manipulated and distorted the sounds we created—particularly
the sound of the actual cryogenic freezing—to move it solidly out of a college
kitchen and into a futuristic realm where our technology felt more plausible.
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