Cinema and Media Studies courses currently using the Cowling Arboretum for an outdoor classroom are: CAMS 245 The Essay Film, CAMS 265 Sound Design, CAMS 270 Nonfiction, CAMS 291 Independent Study-Sound Mapping, CAMS 320 Sound Studies Seminar, CAMS 370 Advanced Production Workshop I, CAMS 371 Advanced Production Workshop II.
Students in the Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS) program at Carleton, from the 100-level through to the Comps process, have looked for artistic inspiration in the Arboretum. Check out these two projects that have used the Arb as a visual backdrop and as the subject of research on the sound environment:
Nature Man, by Charlie Kilman ’16, is a short film “examining the difference between a man’s ideal of nature and the actual reality of his situation.” Created for CAMS 111: Digital Foundations.
Arb Sonics, a senior comprehensive project by Christopher Bauer ’13, is a “soundscape study that seeks to understand the interaction between human-generated and natural sounds in Best Woods.
Baur drew on the emerging field of Acoustic Ecology when proposing his senior comps project, a field for scientists working to understand how humans influence acoustic signatures in environments, and conversely, how sounds impact humans. He sought to document the Arb’s Soundscape and determine its “acoustic health.” Tune in to hear some of the fabulous soundtracks he recorded from the Arb’s fields and forests and learn about how we might think about preserving the acoustic health of the Arb.