Monday, February 22nd 2010

Presentations

Sara- Bill Viola "The Reflecting Pool"

Uses water as a motif. Influenced by zen buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Focuses on Dualism as well.

This video was interesting but sort of tedious. I got tired of watching just a pool, but I actually found myself enjoying the sounds around outside, etc. It reminded me of being outside.

He uses symbolism. When the three drops of water drop from him in the air when he hasn't even gotten wet yet, was symbolism about how he doesn't have to physically be in the water to be "submerged" and "submersed".

Will- Spike Lee "The 25th Hour"

Likes how he tackles controversial issues (ethics, morality, racism).

I found it extremely interesting that there were so many racial and controversial slangs and terms and words towards all types of people contrasted at the end with the words fuck you written out on the mirror. I didn't like when it said "fuck you" j.c. because I am a Christian but I guess that just shows that he has achieved what he was going for. Hitting most constroversial issues.

Group/Individual Score

My group is made up of three people so we decided to go with something that has threes. Like rock paper scissors. We rock paper scissors-ed for it and I got paper! I have decided to just film a bunch of random acts that you can do with paper that will add up to three minutes!

Wednesday, February 17th 2010

Presentations

Emily Sneeden- Michel Gondry "Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor"

Uses mostly cuts as transitions

Rhythmic relationship set up

Camera panning with movement so actors don't go out of the frame

Bright lights- fantasy or magical realism

Camera is stationary and the actor moves his head closer and farther away to simulate zoom

Spacial relationships as bodies move in and out of the frame

Normally actors exit stage right and enter stage left. Gondry has them both enter and exit from the same side.

Nicole Pennington- Paul McCarthy "Psychoanalytic Theories in Family Tyranny and Cultural Soup"

Cinematic Elements- External shot superimposed onto an extreme close-up on certain objects

Two types of viewpoints

Phallic Representations

THIS VIDEO IS SO CREEPY.

Event Score Project

So I am going to be out of town for the Event Score project day and I freaked out a little when I saw that it was 60 points for participation that day. I really was disappointed that I was going to miss it so I really started to think of ways that I could be there when it hit me. I could use skype! Not only would I be able to be apart of the class that day, but it could be part of my own event score. I am SO excited to be doing something different than I normally would have and I wouldn't have gotten that opportunity unless I was going to be absent! Who knew?!

Thanks to Olga, she is going to bring her computer into class on that day so that I can be skyped into class and proceed with my event score.

I did my event score today! It was really interesting to see everything going on from skype. It was like I was actually watching it in a movie or something. I thought it was interesting how everyone was doing their own event score, but certain things caught peoples attention and everyone would look over. The things I noticed the most, were the singing and olga tearing out pages from a notebook and laying on them because they were particularly loud.

Monday, February 8th 2010

FLUXUS NOTES

- started in early 1960s

- Some Fluxus Artists: Allison Knowles, Yoko Ono, etc.

- Concept of an aesthetic object as an object ( a self-contained structure limited in space and time) is fundamental to all modern thinking about aesthetics.

-Human Experience is diverse, resulting in diverse work and therefore productive of the as yet unknown.

FLUXKIT

- offer "not the perspectively controlled and controlling visual model of veristic art...but sensory information for a radically empowered experience of art that connects the individual to a greater social or environmental context.

- The items in a fluxkit are offered to be touched and explored by the viewer of the work.

THE FLUXUS EVENT

- Originated in John Cage's 1958-1959 music composition class at the New School.

- His idea was to accept whatever sounds occurred within a specific period of time. Those sounds determined the music.

- John Cagee did 4'33" in 1952 where he sat at a Piano and did not do anything. AT ALL.

GEORGE BRECHT'S EVENT SCORE

- The demeanor of a performer in an event score performance is much like that of a painter than that of an actor on stage.

ACTION PAINTING

- In the fluxus movement as well.

LIFE MEDIA

- Spontaneous decisions, the relationship to the environment, and the physical parameters within which the work occurs.

- The Blurring of Art and Life by Allan Kaprow

EVENT SCORES

- Involved simple actions, ideas, and objects from everyday life recontextualized as performance.

- Event Scores are texts that can be seen as proposal pieces or instructions for actions.

Reading Response to Fluxus

I found this reading to be somewhat interesting. What I got from it, was that Fluxus is basically about changes in the world and changes in the way that we see the world. I have always known that I see certain changes in the world but never actually put a term to this thought. Something I found specifically interesting was that it said Fax is transforming the way we send and receive messages. I really never put a thought to this before. Fax seems so old to me, but I guess not.

It was also interesting that it says the Elizabethan Age is just coming to a close and that a new age is starting to form. I knew this, as I know the world is constantly changing and trends form and dissipate and then this happens over again, I didn't really think about the fact that these "ages" don't really have a name until way after they form.

So basically, Fluxus has 12 main criteria, as written by Dick Higgins. They are: Globalism, Unity of Art and Life, Intermedia, Experimentalism, Research orientation, Chance, Playfulness, Simplicity, Implicativeness, Exemplativism, and Specificity. Each topic lends a certain thing to Fluxus and what it is all about or what Fluxus has done for us.

Wednesday, February 3rd 2010

Today was our first critique day in TBM.

Critiques people gave ME:

"Did you consider adding sound?"

"Why the typeface choice?"

"Add more to the effects at the end?"

They liked the focus change at the moment where they met.

Sara-Constellations

Loved the effects she added to make the pushpins appear like stars. I found it interesting that materials so simple could look like a night sky filled with stars.

Joel Ramnaraine- Sunlit Romance

I really appreciate all of the small touches he added to make his piece (i.e. the time of day so the sunlight was just right, how his actors were both wearing white, the music, what he did with the title, etc.).

Nicole Pennington- Dead Leaves

Loved that she got such a great reaction from everyone. The music really added to the piece. The last note especially was great. I really got a sense of foreshadowing from it as well as the fact that death brings life/endings bring on new beginnings, etc.

Melissa Bonnewell- Separation Anxiety

Loved the title and the face on her desktop really made it.

The part where all the different faces happened felt a little awkward and odd to me. Like it was just a flash thrown in there. I think it was hinting at the fact that not just she was attached to her computer that it happens to a lot of people in our generation, but maybe not?

Jim Kirkwood-Les Lapins

Loved that the music said roll when the bunny rolled over the carrot. The end was the best for sure. I really appreciated how long it all probably took.

Olga Brahollari- Moot

Like how she did the title after a little clip of herself dropping the cup. I had seen it a lot already since she sits next to me but I still really liked it. Loved the edges that she applied on photoshop. I know she was really struggling on what to title it but I think her title "Moot," was really successful. Liked the blue water and that she was wearing blue shoes.

Gaby Mendez- The Sacrifice

I was a little confused overall, but thought it was very creative, especially how you did the beginning and the credits. I also really enjoyed the faces on the mini wheats, especially when they are on the spoon about to be eaten.

Kristin Anderson- Buaia & Baruk

Loved the set. It really looked like water. The music was great as well. The puppets were so elaborately cut. I was very impressed by that.

William Scott-Under My Skin

I like the change in composition from a horizontal plane to a vertical one. I found it very odd, however it was still very intriguing to me. I don't know why. I almost felt like I was invading personal space but it was sort of funny.

Kate Stemper- Towel Dry

Loved that the towel took on a personality. When the towel looked into the drier, that part was very effective because I got that he was scared and then he turned around and ran away.

Emily Sneeden-Check Your Spam

I thought that the concept was VERY well thought out and very creative. It was a great play on the word spam. Out of everyones, I thought that this one had the strongest comment about "checking your spam."

Ryan Rudock- Flashed

It almost looked like the character took himself way too seriously, which I thought was funny. I didn't really understand the whole thing, but because of the title and the way he was moving so slowly, I think I got that he was supposed to be this fast superhero, yet he moved at such a slow pace? The effect of him walking with the drop shadow behind him was interesting. The past tense of Flash, which is the title, tells me that he USED TO be fast? Was that the intention?

Anthony Moltisanti-Familiar

Loved the use of effects to show how the cookie and the cookie jar were "special". It was a great use of the lens flare. The whole thing was just cute and funny. Even the way the student at the end ate the cookie.

Kelsey Olson-Film Colorer du Furbe

I love the use of subtitles. Even though it was not in English and couldn't understand most of it, I could put together some of the phrases. It was such a cute video. I don't know what made me like it so much, maybe because it is all of the childhood toys coming to life. I also like the shot of the Furby walking away with the shallow depth of field.