The Knife, The Chair, & Gary Hill

The Knife & The Chair:

In both of these videos, Jack Goldstein uses ordinary objects and shines a new light on them, changing the viewer's perspective of that object, making it appear more beautiful and artful.

The Knife to me at first was a monotonous video, however when it got more towards the end that is when I actually started enjoying it after the knife had reflected multiple colors already. I was waiting for something to pop out, the knife to disappear, or something shocking to happen but it never happened so the video made me anxious to see what would happen to this knife. However, towards the end I realized nothing was going to happen. The knife was a piece of art, it was something that had been turned beautiful. It got me thinking there was more beauty to a knife than I would've thought thanks to the its' reflectiveness and the colors that were shone on it. The colors got me to think about the different uses of knives and how when they are being used to cut, eat, or just sitting on a table that wide variety of colors also reflect back and forth across it in our everyday life yet we never really stop and look at it since we see it all the time. I also feel like the red, blue, and yellow color could represent the different uses or views on knife. Like the red would represent it as a weapon, the blue would represent it being calm and cool being used in cutting and eating meals, and the yellow would represent it being as something valuable or important. No longer is the knife viewed as dangerous or a weapon, but rather as art that has beautiful reflective and colorful qualities.

The Chair also was similar to The Knife in that an ordinary object was centered without moving in the video. Instead of a knife, there was a chair placed in the middle of the screen. At first I had no idea what it was because of the lighting on it but slowly over a period of about 7 minutes feathers begin to drop onto and around the chair. The feathers are bright colors that stand out against the background and the chair making the video a lot more fascinating and brings the video to life. Throughout the video the feathers end up sticking to the chair along with around it. I was also waiting to see if anything happened like maybe the chair would fall down or a huge mass of feathers would cover it but instead the feathers just slowly floated down and around the chair. I enjoyed that though because it had a certain serene quality to it making it very relaxed and calming to watch in a way. I feel like he is trying to say something about passing of time and how it passes on slowly even when nobody is there or watching. He could also be trying to say how nature affects us and brings color into our life or perhaps how nature is comforting and relaxing.

Gary Hill's Videos:

I like the composition of the "Mediations" video and the way he explores and connects sounds and language. I really like what the vibrations of the speaker did to the sand and animated it while the voice was speaking. I felt like he really personified the speaker and succeeded in connecting voice and speaker as one. It seemed like he was trying to bury the voice, maybe like it was his conscious thoughts and didn't want to hear it anymore. His "Why Do Things Get in a Muddle?" video looks like it was made at his house with a normal video camera but what makes them different is the way he uses sound and language I feel like when Alice is playing that mini piano, she makes the atmosphere really eerie and odd, especially combined with the voices when they start talking. They also sounded sort of robotic to me but later on it made sense to me as he was gradually changing the voices, slowing them down, and also reversing them making them incomprehensible. He seems to move the camera around a lot too and I felt like it was very dreamlike but in a very creepy odd way. I felt very uneasy watching it as I began to not be able to understand them. I feel like he has a fascination with exploring language and sound and that's exactly what he did in that video. In his "Incidence of Catastrophe", yet again he explored sounds and language but this time using text as well. The flashes of text and words are kind of like a guide or narration to what's going in and sort of becomes his wall and shapes who he is. A lot of emotion can be seen in this particular video compared to other ones since he's the subject and he cares so much about language . At the end he shows how vital language is in our lives and how without it, we are nothing.

The Knife, The Chair, and the Hill

The Knife

I felt that The Knife was quite an extraordinarily boring piece to watch. It is nothing more than a knife lying on a flat surface of some kind, with lights of varying colours altering the way we perceive the knife. The colours being shone on the knife alternate between a hot red and a cold blue colour, before one final transference into yellow. As is, the knife is used as nothing more than a reflective element. The functionality of the knife as a tool used to slice has been removed, leaving it only as an object to look at. Presenting the knife as Goldstein did alters the viewer's perception of the knife from being a potentially dangerous tool into a benign piece of art.

The Chair

Similarly to The Knife, Goldstein chooses yet another mundane, everyday object as the subject as this piece. The chair is completely isolated in the piece. Throughout the passage of the piece, brightly coloured leaves fall onto and around the chair. This gives the viewer the impression that the chair goes unused for an extended period of time. The chair takes on the role of this forsaken and forgotten object. The use of the object as a place to sit and relax was forgotten.

Gary Hill

-Mediations
The connection of the audio with the actions occurring in the piece was quite interesting to watch. I felt as if Hill was trying to make the point of how an individual's voice could be lost among many and how an idea could do the same.
- Why Do Things Get in a Muddle?
This work demonstrates how the arrangement of language can can have an effect on the meaning of it, such as how "Come on petunia" can become "once upon a time."
- Incidence of Catastrophe
I feel as if the work comments on how even language can limit the expressions of a person, yet without a language, communication between two persons would be severely limited.

Knife/Chair/Hill

In both "The Knife" and "The Chair," Goldstein keeps out the sound which lets us focus in on the visual and the atmosphere of the video. Making these videos silent, makes them seem more meditative on the colors of the light in "The Knife" and of the leaves in "The Chair."
The Knife
The way the knife is laid out is rather unusual because one usually doesn't lay out a knife in a horizontal manner. Because it is horizontal, it looks less menacing, taking away its function of cutting. The colors lighting it up turn this normal item into something more important. To me, the placement reminded me of the replacement of a relic. Goldstein transforms the function of this object into something like a treasure.
The colors tend to change the atmosphere too. I feel more serene when it turns blue and pretty endangered when it turns red. The slow lighting up creates anxiety. Once full, you kind of feel relieved but at the same time you're anticipating a new function for the knife. For example, once the knife turns gold, its function suddenly becomes like money, or a jewel. Then the color goes out and you instantly remember it's just a regular knife.
The Chair
Goldstein chooses another mundane subject in this video. We all use chairs all the time from since we were a baby in baby seat to the rocking chair. This chair actually does remind me of a rocking chair because of how it just sits there. Like a rocking chair on the porch, it just sits there forever letting the leaves pile on it. Rather than falling around the chair, the leaves fall on it too, making it look used and not important like the knife.
The falling leaves seem to symbolize a passage of time. They just keep on falling forever so it feels like time goes on forever. By the end of the video, I lost sense of time because of the falling leaves sequence doesn't end. Though their movement reminds me of autumn, their odd colors (especially the blue) remind me more of confetti. The atmosphere doesn't seem very party-like though.

Gary Hill
From these three works, I could tell he really liked to experiment with the sounds and meaning from language.
In "Meditations," he experimented with language's function: connecting an image and meaning with a sound (i.e. speaker and the word "speaker.") But once he started adding the sand, the meaning becomes lost. The sand buries it. The language becomes less full of meaning and gets reduced to just the sound of a gurgling voice and bouncing sand. I think Gary Hill aimed to show how fragile language can be. If we can't hear something familiar, then the meaning is lost and language becomes useless.
In "Why do Things Get in a Muddle," Hill is still focused on the basic function of language. While language is supposed to clarify ideas, it can also complicate them because of the puns and metaphors we've developed with language. And like how "Come on Petunia" can be regrouped to be "once upon a time," changing the letters around can easily change something's meaning.
In "Incidence of Catostrophe," Hill shows how we've made language physical with books and text. Text becomes our walls, as he shows us in the end. Using himself as a subject this time, he shares how although we make language, language can shape our identity too. In the end, he babbles on as a broken human in his feces. We are useless without language.

Gary Hill

His work clearly has an emphasis on speech, enunciation, and words in general. "Meditations" was very interesting.. the way the words were gradually muffled, and then reduced to a whisper as more sand was sprinkled on top of the speaker was a curious thing to watch. I predicted that the speech would become more rumbly and distorted as more sand was added, but instead the speech overcame the rumbly sounds and instead became clearer, but quieter. The voice gradually became buried in sand, in what seemed to be an attempt to drown it out. It made me think about trying to cover up an idea, or a thought. The voice coming from the speaker could represent one's mind or conscience, repeatedly trying to convey a concept, but unsuccessfully due to the ceaseless gradual burial in sand - or one trying to put the thought in the back of one's mind. "Incidence of Catastrophe" contained an interesting juxtaposition at the beginning of watery waves and text, showing parallels between them in their shape and form. Then the clips seem to get a little random, alternating between scenes of trees, humans, and text. I got lost and no longer saw too many clear connections. In "Why Do Things Get in a Muddle?", the voice at the beginning sounded creepy and Voldemort-like, which went perfectly with the creepy music. After showing an Alice-in-Wonderland type-scene of a room, a dialogue begins between a father and daughter as the viewer sees the top of a desk. They discuss other people "muddling" things up, in a very scripted fashion, sounding very unnatural. They discuss the meaning of the word in both denotation and connotation. Later in the video as their conversation moves on, the voices get distorted and creepy and I can't quite understand what they are saying anymore.

The Knife & Chair

The Knife

The video is so simple and still, but so beautiful at the same time. A singular knife is set in the center of the screen - positioned horizontally on a flat, blue-violet surface. Other than a few glints of white light refracting off its edges, the knife is devoid of any reflection. Everything is still. Then a red light suddenly appears - first reflected just off the edge of the knife, it then slides gradually over the entire utensil. Once the red light entirely covers the knife, it remains for a few seconds, and then disappears quickly as if it were wiped off. This process repeats again, but with a light green light, and then again with red, then blue, then yellow lights. The slow, delicate process of the light crawling up the side of the knife reminds me of the mercury of an old thermometer rising. The very slow build-up and quick release of light can be representative of so many things. Because the lights were different colors, I attributed them to different emotions. Emotions can gradually build up, very slowly, and they can dissipate very quickly - just like the lights. Specifically, I thought about anger. Many different little annoyances in life can snowball together and create a bubbling rage of anger that grows and grows until it is all-encompassing - like when the knife is entirely bathed in light - and there is nowhere else for it to go but be released; this may happen by lashing out or just letting go. In the case of the knife, I feel like the act of just "letting go" is expressed. The knife never moves, never flinches. It remains the same the entire time and is passive to the whole experience of the light build-up. But why was a knife chosen as the object to represent a human? The knife is an essential tool to human life; we use it to cut and eat. We can also use it as a weapon of defense, or a weapon of murder. The knife always has a connotation of violence and aggression to it. Even in its static state resting on the purple surface, it still has the potential to be used as an object of violence. As the light creeps up closer and closer to the top of the knife, the closer and closer the emotion gets to peaking and inspiring a reaction - one that could end in violence, or merely letting go and moving on.

The Chair

Like The Knife, The Chair sits in an area devoid of movement. The black chair blends in with its black backdrop, only distinguishable by its white highlights reflecting back at the viewer. After taking in the static scene for a little while, a yellow feather floats down from above, gracefully landing behind the chair. Soon after, a white feather drops, floating down and landing in the same delicate manner. Gradually, more feathers of different colors fall in the same fashion, landing on the seat, arms, and back of the chair as well as the floor. The feathers pile up randomly, more dense in some areas than others. This continues for the entirety of the video. Contrasting with the dark chair and backdrop, the brightly colored feathers lighten up the scene a lot. To me, they seem to represent little bits of happiness raining down on an otherwise sad situation. Individually, each feather brings just a tiny bit of color into the scene. But altogether, they really make a difference to the overall appearance. The video could be referencing a kind of "appreciate the little things" mantra. But there is definitely a sense of compilation and building up - but in a different way than in The Knife. I'm not sure why a chair was chosen to be the main subject of the video. Chairs are used for rest and usually cause a feeling of contentment when one can finally sit down. However, the chair used in this video is not cushioned or comfortable looking - it's rather basic and would not be the chair of choice when one yearns for a long, comfortable rest. The simplicity of the chair may be used to contribute to the bleak subject and backdrop in the scene - to contrast more with the "happy" feathers. Another thought is that feathers compiled together are used for comfort - such as to fill pillows and cushions, which greatly contrasts with the chair in the scene, which is stiff and uninviting.

Knife and Chair

Knife and Chair

Goldstein showcases everyday object in his videos that bring a sense of beauty and life to them. The length of his videos adds to how plain and uninteresting these objects are in everyday context and the monotony we put them through even though the have extreme importance in our life (imagine life without out chairs). These objects are victims of form over function and lack ornamentation and excitement. They are mass produced and easily replaceable so they hold almost no value. So shining the limelight on these objects and treating them as art instead of utensils pays some sort of homage to all of the other unappreciated inanimate objects in this world. But seriously though, the colorful lights in Knife create something really beautiful out of something so ordinary. The pattern of the lights also reflects this how they slowly cover the knife from one end to the other and once it is completely submerged the color quickly disappears, reflected the appreciation for the utensil I guess, or just appreciation in general, or any realization for that matter, how it takes such a long time to realize its importance, but that moment is fleeting and disappears almost instantly.

The same idea of a steady rhythm is illustrated in chair how slowly each feather is added to the frame and they slowly start to come together or define something. Again these, harsh colors against the ordinary chair creates this synergistic effect almost where some sort of transference happens and the piece become more about the chair and the space around the chair and not the falling feathers. I liked what Laura said about the feathers defining space; creating a visual and allowing us so map out the depth and form of the negative space. The feathers also help establish a sense of time because feathers fall a slow wistful rate so the audience can establish that the video is in real time as if it were actually happening in font of them adding to the simplicity of the whole project, which further emphasizes the focus on the chair.

Gary Hill

Oh Gary Hill, he does some crazy things. His Wall Piece is kind of interesting where he forms sentences from the words he says while running and jumping onto a wall. It creates an unnatural rhythm to the sentence that creates this painful awkwardness and the viewer can hear his voice changes when he actually hits the wall further emphasizing that he is running into a wall and that he will have large bruises all over his body. But the choppyness of his speech gives the impression of photographs especially with the light flashing while he’s jumping. This relates to one of the first things he says which is I live time through a succession of pictures, the rest of his speech isn’t as related because he goes on this strange rant but I like the idea that he is living his live through these brief moments like pictures and the time in between pictures or the darkness doesn’t matter, just whats captured on film. I also live the way he plays with language in Mediations where he distorts sound coming out of a speaking with sand, but in the end doesn’t eliminate it just change it into something else. Lastly I really like his piece where he straps the cameras to all of his limbs and the different perspectives take his body out of contet almost and he appears to be still while the rest of the world is moving around him.

The Knife / The Chair / Gary Hill

The Knife
I really enjoyed how Goldstein was able to physically transform the knife without touching it. First Goldstein changes the knife from a solid object into an empty container being filled. The knife takes on the stance of a horizontal thermometer. The red of mercury rising with the temperture change displayed by the background. When the knife is overwhelmed with red light Goldstein gives a few moments for meditation. At this point i sort of disassociate the knife from temperature and just appreciate the reflections of light. I'm not really sure about the blue knife but i think about the juxtapostion of the connotation of blue which is calm and cool, or possibly frozen versus a knife which is used to cut, possibly cause harm but i think it sort of looks like a butter knife (not so harmful). The green seems radioactive. My favorite part of this piece is when the knife takes on the yellow light, because it changes the value, he transforms this silver knife into gold. Goldstein gots the Midas touch. Maybe thats what its about, touch, making the veiwer afraid to touch the knife, or enticing the viewer to want the knife

The Chair
Okay so I liked the fact that this video was extremely slow because it took me damn near the whole 7 mintues to figure out the chair was covered in glue. We use a chair to sit in so obviously i expected the feathers to take their seat in the chair but when they stuck to the back and arm rests i was like wait a minute is this a chair? I think the piece is most successful when feathers go behind and infront of the chair establishing a sense of space. I would have liked to see this piece continue until the entire chair was covered. I was left a little unsatisfied. Goldstein only hinted at the form of the chair instead of completely revealing it.

Gary Hill
Personally I don't find language very interesting, and obviously Gary Hill does. So on some levels I have trouble connecting with his work. What i did find inspiring from Gary Hills work is the techniques he uses to break down language. When Hill was experimenting with running into the wall and then lighting himself on the jump as he said the word, i felt like the word was exaggerated and obscured all at the same time. The impact of the jump and the light framed the word, but also distracted from it. It was a sensory overload in a moment's time. Another interesting technique was his attempt to say the words in reverse. The reversal of the word crippled its meaning would that same thing apply to my work in movement? Finally in Mediations Hill began burying the sound. I was so blown away by the spiral understanding of the words. Its like it starts out clear then spirals through static back to clarity, its a physical incarnation of that idea of a thin line between extremes. Like you go so insane you reach a point of sanity.

Responses to videos

GARY HILL DOCUMENTARY-

I liked the way Hill spoke of video as not being about image but about the connectors in a circuit. It got me thinking more about the way that we see image with our eyes, not an apparatus. When we see it through technology, it becomes something else, further from image. I also liked his interest with symmetry and how he compared/contrasted it with his hands and feet in some of the pieces. His affinity for using the body is apparent, from the work where he strapped cameras to himself, to the one that observed bodies in panorama, to the one of himself lying naked on the floor. I also like his involvement of speech in most of his work as well, from speaking written language aloud to create a phonetic rhythm to having words spoken backwards. I found the Mediations piece to be especially interesting because it somewhat combined the body, language, and symmetry together. Body because he was using his hands to fill the speaker, language because of the words coming out of the speaker, and symmetry because the wordplay created a strange symmetry of words spoken and events happening in the piece.

THE KNIFE-

I found this to be excruciatingly boring. Which makes me wonder if that was the point of it? The whole time I was watching it, I couldn't help but think "is this all that's going to happen in this video?". It was kind of like watching a movie and waiting for a twist in the plot, and it never happening. When I saw the colors on the knife, instead of thinking of the connotations of each color (red-hot, blue-cold), I thought about the primary colors. And I began to think about contrast among them. I thought to myself, "well he is using the two most bold primary colors, but why? Because they are so different from one another? Is he using their oppositeness to bring different personas to the knife?" And then he made the knife turn yellow at the end, which furthered my thinking about primary colors, but didn't really answer my questions about why. I am sure this piece has a deep, meaningful thought process behind it, but I can't seem to delve deeper than the colors to find it.

THE CHAIR-

After watching this, I am now fairly certain that Goldstein has a thing for doing boring videos. Or maybe I should say simple videos that require patience. Either way, I wanted to fast forward through this one to see what happens too, without watching each feather fall slowly to the ground. I think the fact that he uses feathers further slows the piece, since feathers have such a slow falling rate compared to other, dense objects. I liked the imagery of the colorful feathers creating a confetti-like appeal, but part of me wanted it to be fast, or all of them at once. I am starting to interpret his videos as work that plays with color and tests the viewers patience.

Jack Goldstein: The Knife and The Chair

The Knife

Quite honestly, I felt that this video was extremely boring, uninteresting, and very predictable. Although, it was intriguing that the colors went from a bit duller in the beginning to more vibrant and bright towards the middle. I didn't recieve any emotional content from this piece. I felt that it lacked context. A knife is obviously associated with pain, blood, cutting, and red. It seemed too litteral that the knife would turn red. The warm and cool color switch was ok but I felt that this video just lacked context and was too surface oriented and not deep enough.

The Chair

I enjoyed this piece much better than "The Knife". The what seem to be feathers, although it is hard to make out due to the quality of the video, change the sace completely throughout the video. The piece starts off very solemn and almost foreboading in a sense, an empty chair in a room without an occupant. Then the very colorful feathers gently fall from nowhere eventually fill the space with color almost like confetti in a celebretory manner. This piece gave me a sense of completeness when finished which was much different that my first feeling upon starting the video I felt much of a void. I enjoyed the relaxed nature of the piece and the use of bright playful colors used in a contrasting subdued manner.

Gary Hill Video

This artist was very interesting in his use of video to portray the body and physical properties of the human being. The way Gary uses video in order to explore the body in some ways reminds me of the Aesthetics of Narcisism article. It reminds of of this because like in the video that is viewing the limbs of the body in some ways this could be seen as narcissistic, as well as the video that was shot behind the head. Most of his work seems to analyze the human in such a way that the beings almost become mechanical and not human at all but a mere exploration of science. I enjoyed the works of Gary Hill and felt that he had interesting viewpoints. His pieces seemed to really make me think and reanalyze myself as a human being. I enjoyed his use of camera angles and the difficulties that he conquered while strapping cameras to a moving human being. I also admire the fact that he is the subject in most of his videos, especially the one where he is nude. It must take much courage in order to be the subject of your own work.

The Aesthetics of Narcissism

It seems as if Krauss is implying that video can be nothing more than narcissistic. Typically people are often seen recording themselves to express the idea with video art, such as the man pointing at the center of the television for twenty minutes. It seems as if video is being used to show only the artist and not much else. Krauss makes the argument that video is focused solely on the people being filmed. It is understandable to see this reasoning, but video is also used to record memories and actions, not just the people involved.

The Aesthetics of Narcissism

I really appreciated how Krauss pointed out the fact that video works have to be processed and viewed through a machine. It is a point that is so obvious but something i overlooked. Initially when she pointed this out I felt like it cheapened the art form. With painting and sculpture you see the original with your eyes, with video, the machine limits you. You can't go into the television and look around.

The part of this article I enjoyed the most was when she was talking about the piece called boomerang. I really sympathized with Nancy Holt because I've had a similar experience on phone calls with bad reception. At work I answer phones so it's not like i can just hang up on them. There are times when i hear an echo of myself and i agree that my voice doesn't sound as sure when i hear the echo of it, and then it makes me question what I'm saying and then its this circular disintegration of my confidence and thoughts. I'm not sure that if Krauss's assumption of narcissism is correct. Narcissism seems negative and self obsessed, i would argue that it's self exploration or an awareness of self.

The Aesthetics of Narcissism

Although the article was long and drawn out, it provided many examples of video art in support of its main point that this type of art is "narcissistic". Outside of the art realm, the majority of a video camera's use is definitely to record people, but I'm not sure if I would call this tendency narcissistic. Sometimes people record themselves for blogs, tutorials, etc., but usually people record other people rather than themselves, and it's usually for documentation purposes. In the art world, video art does not always focus on human figures as its subjects, but a fair share of it does. And those that do always convey some type of human emotion that could not be as explicitly expressed through any other subject other than a person. When an artist creates a work relevant to humans and human emotions, what better way to present it than through another human? Any kind of complex psychological state of mind is almost only relatable to humans because no other animal, as far as we know, can think as in depth as we can. So aside from taking an abstract or metaphorical path in creating a video artwork, how else would one directly show emotion?
That might have been a bit of a tangent, but I just can't get the idea through my head that video works featuring humans are narcissistic. I can definitely see where the idea is coming from, but I do not entirely agree with it.

The Aesthetics of Narcissism

I thought that the intent behind the article was interesting, but the way that Krauss presented it didn't work for me. I didn't think it was over my head, however, it was too much information. I get that Krauss believes that video art's medium is narcissism, and she makes a good point, but it could have been stated more simply. I feel that she went on and on, giving too many examples to make her point. It was hard for me to stay connected to the article whenever she would describe pieces of video art that I had never seen; even though she described each work in detail, there was a disconnect because I couldn't relate the points she was making to anything I had physically seen, just the images she had constructed for me. With that said, I really do believe she makes some good points about video art, especially when she relates it to psychology. "Narcissism" was a little further than I would have taken it, and I think that if she had just left her main message as "psychology is the medium for video art" I would have found it much more believable. She makes some really interesting points about "medium" itself, using it to refer to a person's body and the way it reacts as being a type of medium. I feel that if she had kept things more simple and to the point she could have made her ideas come across more valid, because she has some really great argumentation in the article about how video and psychology relate, but it is lost in the jumble of her relating pieces to one another and describing them so in-depth.

Video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism

I'm sure like most of the class, I had an extremely hard time following along with this article and understanding it all. Although, what I did get from it was that Krauss was making a point to say that video art many times and in many ways seems to withhold an aesthetic of narcissism. When I think about video I can complelely understand this relationship. When you think of a video camera you immediately think of video taping people, perhaps a christmas gathering. Most often people are the subject in video. Whenever people are involved I feel as though there is always a sort of narcissism attached to the nature of the video. Whether the narcissism is pointed at the videographer or the person that the video is capturing. I feel as though after thinking about the points made in the article and the different art examples shown it is very understandable what this article is trying to say. With video I feel as though the artist may almost be pushed to do work in the aesthetic of narcissism, it's the nature of the equiptment in a way.

More Stop Motion

Pretty sweet music video from Ok Go - nice that they share their trick for a "smooth" animation - 15 frames a second.

Last Leaf

And here's a short created for Soul Pancake, Rainn Wilson's philosophical website.

What is Soul Pancake?

Rosalind Krauss; Narcissism

I found this essay to be a pretty difficult read and hard to follow along. What I got from it though was that Krauss is presenting various examples of narcism, mostly in video works and comparing them to other narcissistic styled works of art. He compares the works with the relationship between the subject, medium, object, artist and viewer. For example, he states that mirror reflections imply the "vanquishing of separateness" and it creates the illusion of erasing the difference between subject and object. Through separation, reflection, projection, and repetition of sound seen in the works of videos he presents video as a sort of narcissistic medium and the artist as self-centered, and sometimes even the audience as well when they are immersed in the video through mirrors and projection. It looks like Krauss might be trying to point out how self-absorbed our society has become and how careful we need to be because it is so easy to become narcissistic without even realizing it being in your own world.

Narcissism

This essay went way over my head, so this attempt at an analysis was a struggle and probably won't make any sense.

This essay presents an intriguing overall theme of sorts through out the entire paper: narcissism as a psychological condition vs. a physical condition and the relationship between the viewer and artists self and the work. Obviously narcissism is a psychological state however in the examples of work presented there is a separation of self and reflection that creates a projected visual of narcissism, usually with the device of a mirror. The mirror projects an exact replica of the viewer, therefore establishing a second reality that is physically detached from the original, so one is able to view or analyze oneself as an art piece almost. Here where the viewer becomes the subject, narcissism is presented because now the viewer or artist in some cases is completely absorbed in themselves, this is also present in the audio feedback loops that are slightly delayed to allow for examination. Krauss says it best when he describes the situation as self-encapsulation. My favorite example of this is mem and dor. Here, there is a constant relationship between the camera, projector, wall, and viewer. The camera is place so that in both pieces the viewer struggles to see themselves projected but is unable to because the must either be leaving the room or up against a wall for the camera to register them and project a clear picture, so the viewer is constantly struggling and and rearranging themselves to see an unattainable image of them self, an action of narcissism, that presents a physical example for the viewer to realize. The essay also discusses the difference between subject and object. Subject being the meaning or intention of the piece, what the art is about and the object being the actual visual presented. In all of the examples Krauss presents the subject and the object are one person the viewer/artist (depending on which piece) creating the study of oneself, or self encapsulation (narcissism). This essay and these pieces not only create a situation in which we must analyze our self but also present the idea of how comfortable we are in doing so and the urge as well, a reflection of the attitudes of today's society where everyone lives for themselves.

The Five Obstructions

I found Lars Von Trier's methodology of challenging Jorgen Leth as very beneficial to the creation of his projects. At first I thought it seemed harsh to put such limitations and such challenges, but after seeing the outcomes of Jorgen Leth's projects I definitely think it helped. It made him think outside the box and explore new possibilities and techniques he would've never explored in his movies. It made him look beyond his comfort zone and what he would normally think to do and His projects turned out really well and unique.

I feel like the obstruction of having complete freedom was the worst since he had been used to having such limitations and now he had endless opportunities and options that it'd be hard to think of where to begin and what to do. However, in Jorgen Leth's eyes, I feel like the cartoon one was the worst for him since he hated cartoons and had never really enjoyed a cartoon. He seemed to hate that idea the most and was worried that "it'd be a load of crap", however he was extremely successful with the cartoon project in the end.

Flexibility with rules in projects definitely affects the outcome of the projects in the end I feel like. It can completely alter the whole project and either make it successful or not. Depending on the flexibility, it can be interpreted differently. The more flexibility, the more loosely based the interpretation can be. I think flexible rules allows for more exciting and varied perspectives on projects.

Yes, the film has inspired me in various ways to approach my current project and future projects. I want to sort of place more limits and guidelines on myself so I can really explore new techniques and interpretations. I feel like this could really help me start thinking outside the box more and push my projects further. I really like how his 12 frame limitation turned out and the cartoon project turned out so I'd like to use those limits on a project somtime in the future, as well.

The Five Obstructions

I think Von Trier's placing obstructions on Leth's projects is helpful; it provided a challenge to help him think critically and evaluate his processes when creating a movie. It caused each version to have a completely different style, which in turn allows the viewer to realize how many ways a director can interpret the same subject.

I thought the "worst" obstruction was the lack of an obstruction. Even though I enjoyed the result of that version, it seemed kind of useless because with any project you are normally without an obstruction. So this wasn't much of a challenge. Although because he had been working with specific constraints before, his mindset was probably already altered. The result of the "no obstruction" movie that we saw was probably different than if that had been the first "obstruction", before any of the constrained exercises had began.

The flexibility of the rules relies in how literally one interprets them. Perhaps Von Trier should have specified that he literally wanted Leth isolated from people in the environment, without any hint of them in the footage. Von Trier expected Leth to rigidly adhere to the rules, whereas Leth ended up only loosely following them. Oftentimes, when rules are loosely followed, it allows for more diverse and personalized interpretations of the project. However, for the sake of this exercise, adhering to the rules at least a reasonable amount was the most productive way.

The film kind of made me want to use people as a subject. However, using people is difficult because they need to be able to act and do exactly what you direct them to do, and that doesn't always work out well. I think that the different angles used and the speed of the cuts between the different angles were the most influential aspects for me, and they made me think about whether those can be utilized in my project.

Five Obstructions

I thought the way that Lars Von Treir challenged Jorgen Leth was very interesting. I particularly liked the way that he did this. It seemed extremely psychological. I admire the thought and intelligence that was put into the way that Lars decided to challenge Jorgen. I believe that placing obstructions and limitations on projects is helpful because it makes you think in a way that you may not have before. As an artist it is good to be challenged and to find new ways to work around your parameters. As an artist we are always needing to find solutions, and having parameters set on projects is a good way to get into the habit of solving and finding solutions as well as let you think in a way that you may otherwise not have had the oportunity to think.
The obstruction that I think was the worst out of the five was to put the video into cartoon format. I feel as if that was handed to be I would have a lot of trouble figuring that out. It was very impressive how Jorgen solved this problem.
Flexibility with rules can completely change a project. If you decide to flex the rules than the parameters are not being followed and no problems are being solved. You may not learn as much if you decide to make your own or change the rules. The film has made me think about the project that I am currently working on in a way that I feel as though I should approach it not as I normally would but to take a completely different angle on the norm.

5 Obstructions

I think it is a helpful exercise even though Leth had a difficult time but in the end, the challenge of the obstructions probably gave him new perspectives or techniques he could expand on in the future. At first, placing obstructions in general seems to limit a project and its potential but as shown, the artist can find a way out creatively like how Leth uses the screen as the distance Von Trier mentioned. Instead of physically distancing himself, Leth uses the screen as a metaphor to show distance and the setting at the same time. Obstructions can help build an artist.
Flexibility with rules can result in a lot of different interpretations. In the movie, Leth and Von Trier interpreted the screen differently where one thought it successful and the other did not. But since the "rules" are flexible, this adds on to how obstructions helps build an artist by forcing them to think out of the box. Sometimes the box is really open like when Von Trier erases all rules for obstruction 4. That much flexibility can be an obstruction as well because the artist is overwhelmed by all the possibilities so much that they can't focus them into one project. I feel like this "open" obstruction helped Leth form into a more independent artist.

I thought the last one was the worst but that is because it seemed more like a personal message from Von Trier to Leth rather than a real obstruction of "The Perfect Man." As a film by itself, it works well but when tied with the other four, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

The film was definitely inspiring in how Leth used his limits as tools, almost making them disappear as limiters. It makes me think of "rules" and limits as necessary components instead of just annoying requirements.

Five Obstructions

Von Trier's methods were effective because of his in depth knowledge of Jorgen Leth. He studied the techniques Leth excelled at and searched for the ones he avoided. I think this was to help Leth prove his abilities to his self. I think it was successful because sometimes I have ideas bigger then the means i have, so i toss them out, but maybe if I forced myself to come at the ideas from different directions i could have something just as successful using the things i do have. Goodness that sounds so cheesy, this movie is basically like a self help book, "believe in yourself and you can do anything" kind of stuff. I feel like Jorgen Leth saw that movie Yes Man with Jim Carrey and though "I can do that, I can say yes to everything."

The obstruction where VT forces JL to either redo the Bombay sequence or have total freedom was the most difficult. This is me being sort of hypocritical when I say having to reexamine something is way too hard, because I know earlier I said you should reexamine your ideas and blah blah blah but still after you have a final product, remaking it almost exactly the same minus the backdrop would have been so dissatisfying. On the same token, total freedom...where to start. Thats I how I felt with project 2, overwhelmed with choices.

The flexibility of the rules made each new obstruction more focused, and more inflexible. It serves as a process of refinement to reach VT's final statement that JL is totally awesome and capable of anything.

Of course this movie is inspiring, I already compared it to a self help book. As far as the way it is informing my next project, I'm not sure, I'm not sure where my next project is going, but I think it gives me the confidence to know that my next project is going to go somewhere.

obstructions

Obstructions not only create a challenge but also make the project more interesting. If Jorgen were to just recreate “the perfect man” (I think that’s what it was called) then it would seem unoriginal and boring. However, the instructions not only create a challenge for Jorgen in the developing process but also give the film a different meaning because of the different imagery and connotations. However, the integrity and underlying meaning of the original film is still maintained.

After, having to adapt the film to fit the previous obstructions, having no obstructions seemed to be extremely difficult. There are so many possibilities it is hard to be creative. An obstruction allows the creator to interpret something, which creates a base for their concept on origin. Without specific obstructions projects can seem far fetched and shallow almost.

I feel when obstructions are given, the creativity of the project comes from the artist’s interpretation. For a viewer, it is interesting to see the project from someone else’s perspectives and see how far the rules can be challenged. If obstructions were completely black and white, with no gray area (or room for interpretation) the outcome wouldn’t be surprising or interesting. If multiple filmmakers had the same obstructions that were extremely specific and left no leeway all of their projects would be very similar. However, if the limitations were some what vague all of the projects would be completely different, So, in reference to the movie, Trier didn’t expect Jogen to interpret “creating an unseen hell” to be a transparent partition in the middle of the streets of Bombay. Or in reference to our class, everyone had different interpretations of the sound projects that had several unrecognizable origins.

This film has inspired me to question the guidelines of each project and not allow the obstructions to get in the way but instead push the project further by forcing me to think out of the box. So more specifically, don’t just create a project around the obstructions but incorporate the obstructions into the movie.

The Five Obstructions

I think that Lars Von Trier's methodology for challenging Jorgen Leth was kind of like "tough love". He give Jorgen these obstacles that seemed impossible and were completely frustrating to carry out, but in the end Jorgen produced some really great work. So I think that it was a helpful exercise because it made Jorgen go outside of his comfort zone, but it was also restraining to a certain extent as well, since he had to go within the parameters of what Von Trier wanted.

I thought that the worst obstruction out of the five was the one where Von Trier created it but Leth had to narrate it as if it was his own perspective and take credit for it.

I think that the flexibility of the rules (even though Von Trier wasn't very tolerant of the Bombay piece) added to Leth's work. I thought that the transparent screen was a beautiful way to interpret the disconnect that Lars was asking for without taking the viewer completely out of context. The rules challenged Jorgen, but didn't necessarily hinder his creativity, which I appreciated.

The film definitely inspired me and got me thinking about how to take obstructions, twist them, and use them to my advantage.

Site for converting video files to mp3's

http://2conv.com/

The Art of Noise

Ironically as I was reading this article, I could hear man-made noise and also what Russolo considered as "silence" in nature. I could hear a motorized grass cutting machine outside blaring through the sky but whenever it wasn't on, I could hear various birds chirping in nature. Normally I wouldn't think much of this except that the machine sounds pretty loud and probably waking up some people; however this article shed a new light upon sounds and noises for me so I found these noises to be pretty exciting and they actually helped further prove some of Russolo's points. The grass cutting machine had a variety of tones when doing different thing- it mumbled, growled at times, higher pitches when cutting grass, and overpowered and drowned out any other preexisting nature sounds. It made me think that Russolo did have a point in considering nature as silence other than what he stated in the article because man-made noises can also silence nature sounds since man-made noises can be controlled and made louder to drown out sounds.

This article showed a very innovative way of thinking about sounds and how they have progressed through the ages. I had always thought of noises as always existing but Russolo points out successfully that new sounds are always being created and as time goes on, new noises will culminate to form new sounds. Either from new machines, inventions, or maybe even new computer software. He makes it sound like silence no longer exists in our world due to all the machines we have nowadays everywhere we go. If you think about it, we even carry around with us everywhere little machines that make noises - our phones. Russolu encourages Futurists to improve on music and make better and bigger sounds through the addition and combining of noises.

The Art of Noise

I think that Russolo's view on noise and silence is rather confusing. I get confused when Russolo argues that the world was silent until the invention of the machine, but then goes further to exclude hurricanes and other major natural disasters. It's like he disregards natural sound such as wind and water until they reach a point of massive impact. Russolo focuses on the different levels of sound and the reach of noise but maybe he never considered the different levels of silence. Is silence just a state of mind? a peace that we find in ourselves or is it a man made room that stops sound waves. I think Russolo makes a good point that music is stuck on these instruments. In elementary school music class I always learned about persussion strings wind wood ect. and outside of that real the idea of music wasn't really discussed. Everything had to be organized into one of these categories and each one had a similar sound. Does noise have to be classified as music to be an artform though? I feel like music is becoming more accepting or these sounds or noise but i still feel its on the outer realm. To make music we think of instruments, I think electronic music has started to incorporate more "noise" sounds since the computer has become the instrument of choice. I feel like we have been forced to think of music in a linear sense, in the way we write and read it, but i feel like furturists are able to make compositions of sound that defy this linear sensibility creating something more complicated and more gratifying.

The art of noise

Russolo differentiates between noise and silence by saying that noise is something that is man-made, whereas silence is everything that is not- such as nature. Noise arose from the invention of machines, with their unnatural attributes, it was a result of the machinery, rather than the original intention. Sound was something man was conscious of- a string stretched to make a sound, rather than a string stretched and then sound being an afterthought. Sound was mysterious and rare, while noise was just an outcome of another thing. Russolo's explanation makes me believe that he thinks "silence" is something only achieved by the ancient and the natural. I personally don't think that silence exists on Earth. With atmosphere, there is sound, and even the most minute sound can be heard amidst what one may think to be silence. Even if a person were to be completely still, the pulsing of their heart is making a small sound. In an open field without civilization, the small whirr of a breeze can be heard. Even in nature, there can never be complete silence. There can only be attempts at it. Russolo sees current music as boring, with music competing against each other with the same instruments and methods of altering sound-noise. He thinks that the art of noise must not limit itself to imitative reproduction, and says in order to avoid this that musicians must manipulate fantastic juxtapositions of varied tones and rhythms, combining them according to our imagination.

The art of noise

When I think of sound or noise I for some reason assume that it has been around it has been around  forever in various forms. However, this article shed light on the fact that music is very much paralleled with the progress of society. Sound didn't actually come around until the invention of machine and the first instruments were viewed with great awe and amazement, music was highly respected and sacred. At one point, music was reserved for only respected religious figures. But now sound and noise are taken for granted because our lives are so heavily drenched and saturated in it  every day. Sound is everywhere, therefore, it becomes boring. The effects and powerful impact a sound can have are diluted to the point that music is almost non existent. Our society is so acclimated to our instant gratification mindset that anything that isn't new, inventive, or avant-garde doesn't even register on our radar. Creator and artists are constantly fighting the battle to keep up with societies demands and thus are "continually enlarging the field of sound" which seems easy since the possibilities with music are infinite. At the same time the possibilities seem so restricting because infinite is a hard concept to wrap the mind around especially when there are only 4 fundamental types of instruments and 6 classifications of fundamental sound. So approaching the task of creating different, new, harsh sound is almost attempted in vain  for everything seems as if it has been done before, which is a phrase several of my art teachers have told me before, very disheartening to say the least having the preconception that nothing you do will ever be original or completely yours and therefore under-celebrated much like music. This is turning into a rant rather than a reflection so to the point, this article was an eye-opener to how under appreciated music has become as well as musicians and artists in general. With the current state of society, it is a great feat to be innovative especially with the lack of encouragement and praise. Artists have the hardest time attracting attention and keeping it and this will only get harder with the future. 

Art of Noise

Throughout the article, Russolo seems to describe about how one can turn noise into sound or music. He first differentiates sound and noise by describing noise as coming from machines, peoples' voices, rumbles and roars etc. Noise is usually from something man-made and part of our usual lifestyles. It is natuarally random but by selecting and dominating certain noises, we can turn it into something that has rhythym like sound. Sound is music, something "distinct and independent of life" which is opposite to how noises are from life.
Because life is filled with noise, silence is almost impossible now. Russolo constitutes silence as something from "ancient life" before the "invention of machine." What I take from this is that silence is when we hear but do not listen and manipulate the noises and sounds in our minds into something symbolic or emotional. When noise came along, we automatically manipulate the noises to objects (howls to dogs/ coughs to people etc.)
Russolo sees the current state of music as only focusing on sounds despite the abundance of noises and their possiblilties. Sounds are overused and he wants to break from the familiar. He believes the Futurists can improve music by combining noises and sounds into a new "noise-sound."

The Art of Noise

Russolo differentiates between noise and silence by stating that all nature is just silence. Earthquakes, tornados, rain, and thunderstorms are all regarded as silent. All man made sound would be considered noise by Russolo. Anything machine oriented or mechanically produced was thought of as noise. Sound on the otherhand was distinct and independent of life. Music was considered to be sound. By reading Russolo's definition of silence, all nature was silent in the ancient past. Anything untouched by man but made by nature was considered silent. What I believe he was trying to get at was if there was no man to make noise then everything was silent even natures weather because there was no man to hear it. Therefore I believe that according to Russolo in today's world there would be no silence.

Russolo sees the state of current music as complicated, harsh, and strange. Futurists can improve on music by enlarging and enriching the field of sounds. Moving away from pure sound and creating noise-sound futurists will be able to improve on the state of music. The adding and substitution of noises for sounds is key according to Russolo.

Pleasures of Light

This made me think of a few people's first video project:

The Pleasures of Light at the Ludwig Museum

The Art of Noises

This is kind of off topic in relation to the purpose of us reading this article, but Russolo's writing style gives me weird vibes about his personality. I keep imagining him being a conceited snob and kiss-up to "Pratella the futurist genius", which made reading the article a strange and slightly comical experience for me, and causing me to be distrustful of the validity of what he says in it.

At the beginning of the article, he's personifying and exaggerating the origin and history of sound, which made sense and was a pretty good description about the auditory aspects of life back in those days. Some distortion is there, but the general ideas seem accurate. Then, he begins to talk about how music (specifically classical music) has gotten boring and stupid. This is where it starts to get a little crazy.

"Meanwhile a repugnant mixture is concocted from monotonous sensations and the idiotic
religious emotion of listeners buddhistically drunk with repeating for the nth time their more or
less snobbish or second-hand ecstasy.
Away! Let us break out since we cannot much longer restrain our desire to create finally a new
musical reality, with a generous distribution of resonant slaps in the face, discarding violins,
pianos, double-basses and plainitive organs. Let us break out!"

His evangelical approach of discussing futurism is kind of annoying, although I have to agree that the idea is innovative and clearly relating to Project 4. When he begins to the list the kinds of sounds that futurists would use to create "music", it reminds me of something a teacher told us in high school. We were discussing the difference between abstract and concrete (figurative) visual artwork, and how the same two categories exist in sound as well. She said that abstract sound is every musical instrument note or noise that we hear in music, and if abstract noise didn't exist, we would all be listening to only natural sounds, like the sounds of waterfalls, wind, etc., pretty much the same examples that Russolo gave as the medium for futurist orchestras. So now I have categorized that futurists use "natural" sounds (also including industrial sounds that are seemingly natural to humans today because they are so commonplace) and regular musicians use "abstract" sounds.

Scott McCloud

This comic article was extremely enlightening and a fun read. I was able to easily follow his concepts and he made it fun to look through and read. He successfully captured my attention and my interest with the use of his examples through comics and his variety of techniques. I like how he went into great detail in his examples, explaining how the time, action, motion, sound, and box contributed to that scene in the panel. I also liked how he talked about the first example into such depth and would bring it back up to prove a point later on in the comic. From now on, I definitely want to learn everything in this comic style manner rather than just plain text in textbooks or online. There is so much more to comics than I would have ever known. I find it so interesting that time and motion are such complicated and intricate aspects in creating comics but comics can easily display it otherwise to audiences in the final product making stories flow seamlessly throughout time and space and throughout the pages.

Scott Mcloud article

After I finished this, I looked back and was actually really pleased with how much thought was provoked by a reading assignment that was comprised of more image than text. I had not really considered the fact that comics strips had been around for so long, nor had I put much thought into the idea of time and motion in comic form. I can see how comics could really lay a great foundation for things such as animations, especially the story-boarding process that leads up to it. I think that this article has definitely helped me get into the right mind frame for our stop-motion project, seeing as it is a project which is also developed on a frame-by-frame basis.

comic within a comic

This article made some really interesting points about comic strips such as how several different moments or events can occur within a single picture especially with his comic within a comic approach yet at the same time comics lack transitions between frames and are missing huge chunks of information explaining how characters get from point a to point b or how much time has elapsed but for some reason we subconsciously fill that gap. However, what seems like a complicated process of jumping from frame to frame actually isn't that difficult to understand because its based on real life experiences such as long pauses. Also, the importance of the frame was fascinating, how a single square can define time and space as well as separate the future from the past because all three (past, present, and future) are visible at the same time, which doesn't occur in other mediums such as film. Lastly, I thought the idea of separating motion from sensation was interesting for a lack of better word. How the simple movement lines were based off of futurist and dadaist artists. I never knew how much thought went into creating a comic, the space between and size of the frames, layout, types of word bubbles, etc. This makes storyboarding seem a lot cooler than it actually is.

Scott McCloud

The use of the comic strip to aid in defining the examples worked great. With many of the examples, I feel as if I would not have followed what it was saying without the visual aspect with it. I also felt that the reading helped explain how to "fix" the distortion of time from point A and point B. This will help me better convey a span of time when I need to do so.

"Cell Scope" Stop Motion

I guess scale isn't everything.

This is the most awesome advertisement ever!

This is Stop motion, time lapse and animation...translation, really F-ing cool! check check check it out! http://vimeo.com/14955089

Scott McCloud

Alright so this was waaaaayyy better than the last article! Can we make it a requirement for all reading material to be in comic book form? K thanks. On a more serious note, i love all the different ways to show motion, I think some of these effects will be easier to achieve by using that layering effect in final cut pro. Like maybe taking shots of a blurry background and then layering a still image on top of that. Also the different points of view that they started first in japan, it reminds me of mario cart or those racing games where you have the different views. This could be a strong transition from 3rd person to 1st person in the next project.

Scott McCloud

The way McCloud presented his analysis through a comic strip was both fun and helpful since it shows actual examples of what he talks about. I like how he went in depth on comic aspects that people usually don't pay attention as much like the lines and use of frame length. Pointing out how these elements are used and what effects they create opened up some new things. How the eye perceives time and how comics show time lengths was an interesting thing to read about.
I could use those techniques especially when doing story boarding or pacing any time based media project in general. Overall it was a very helpful and clear comic.

Strawberry Swing

Hey, guys!
If you haven't seen Coldplay's Strawberry Swing MV, you definitely should: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYtk1Z0UUuE
Some awesome perspectives! My favorite part is the handstand.
The behind-the-scenes interview is interesting too: http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=448

Scott McCloud

I found this article very interesting. I had no idea that comics used time nor had any idea that by doing some simple lines and spacing that time would be created in an image. I feel as though this article will help me with the spacing and time used in my stop-motion piece. Knowing about space and line in reference to time is going to be very helpful. I also like how the whole article was written as a comic, it made it much more fun to read. The way that they showed the different drawings and examples of movement with the person running was very helpful. I like to know that things can be done in more than just one way. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and learning that a comic is a time based media.

Origami stop-motion

Click me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Et7UQh1tg

The Innovators

I found Bazin's view on the cinema & photography very interesting & enlightening. Never had I thought about the cinema in such detail he had so I enjoyed viewing it in a new light as an art form to reveal life. What he "looked for was kind of spiritual disposition towards reality".
I admire the way he was so faithfully loyal to his cinema motives & beliefs while mixing it with his religion. The author even said he was viewed as a soul like a monk or saint having true widsom and faith. He was very against montage which I found be very odd & random but his reasoning was actually somewhat logical and made sense since it truly isn't realistic nor would we ever see something like that in real life with a flash of images. I like how he predicted having a films studies class in college, that has proved to be true & here we are now reading about him in a college class. I love his idea of the "mummy complex" because I use photography as a means to capture moments in my memories & to be able to reminisce on those times. Lots of realistic movies can still be seen today in our latest movies; however at the same time, many fantasy surreal movies are being made & are more popular than ever before. Cinema has come a long way & has definitely become more realistic over the years with our surround sound, HD, 3D, and special effects, but they've been so successful in creating such reality in the fantasy worlds & surreal movies that people flock to them since it they are something we would never experience otherwise & the movie successfully takes us to a whole new world. I had never heard of Andre Bazin before reading this article but he seems to be a vital part of cinema and its' progression of becoming a reality. He truly had an earnest belief in realistic vocation of film, even after people mocked him & protested against his ideas too.

The Innovators

Bazin's view of photography/motion picture versus paintings was the most interesting part of the article for me. Bazin describes photography/motion picture's relationship with reality as a special obligation . I felt that Bazin said this with an heir of arrogance that expressed film's superiority in relating to reality. In my photography class we learned about how at first photography was used to imitate painting, smearing vasoline over the lenses to make photos look painterly. I think there is value in the manipulation and composition of film that can deny reality. I think there are elements in painting that document emotional aspects of reality better than film. Also, I don't like the way Bazin classifies film first as documentation of our reality, and then as art. Its like he second handedly just decided to put it in that category. Personally i think it's possible for the art to develop as the documentation occurs through an intentionality of shooting.

Divining the Real

I really enjoyed Bazin's view on cinema and his way of seeing it as stopping time in an image. His faith in religion tied into his view as shown in his observation that there are, "Those directors who put their faith in the image and those who put their faith in reality."
His idea that cinema and photography are trying to be as close to reality as possible can be seen to this day. So many movies use high technology to produce the best realistic effects and films. But sometimes I feel they can go overboard with the effects and the result is a pretty movie with a horrible script. While Bazin's prediction that cinema's 'art of reality' would be at its "final level" in 2000 may have come true, I personally think it came true only visually. However, he also said that, "If cinema ever could succeed in becoming the exact double of reality, it would also fail." Cinema is never supposed to be perfect but through cinema's search for a perfect reality, it becomes a "mission is to reveal life."
That mission is similar to what we do as an artist and I can suddenly relate to Bazin and his ideas.

The Innovators 1950-1960: Divining the real

I found this article to be very interesting, mostly because I liked reading about the way Bazin mistrusted and questioned everything. I definitely enjoyed the way he challenged photography, claiming that "it is first of all a sensory datum and only later perhaps a work of art". I also enjoyed the idea of cinema never succeeding at becoming an exact double of reality. His criticism of montage made me almost laugh at the ridiculousness when he said it supported propagandist messages, but at the same made me stop to think that there may be some truth behind that statement, especially when you think of the way film tries to render the real. I also thought that it was interesting that Bazin predicted cinema in 2000 would be free of the artificial, since some of the most popular movies and shows on tv are done with computers, such as Transformers. Nonetheless, I can understand why his opinions were attacked by some intellectuals and revered by others. I definitely respect his faith in his own opinion, however, and I liked the way his ideas challenged my way of thinking.

The Innovators 1950-1960: Diving The Real

Bazin definitely put forth some interesting ideas about photography and cinema. I found his "mummy complex" (an innate human need to halt the ceaseless flow of time by embalming it in an image) to be such a beautiful truth, an eloquent take on the "capturing a moment" colloquialism.
I appreciate his view that the photograph is a product of mechanical reproduction, and as a result it is first and foremost a document rather than a work of art. The comparison of this to the hand-crafted work of a painting has always been a concept I've dealt with since high school, because I was always more of a hand-crafting kind of artist. It was comforting to see the idea expressed elsewhere. But rather than making the photograph have less depth in content than a painting, Bazin's idea gives the photograph another dimension - an inescapable connection with reality.
Bazin's prediction that cinema would merge with reality was deemed "wrong" by the author of the article, but in some ways he was correct. Although the film industry produces many escapist films, such as cheesy rom coms and dramas with ridiculous plotlines and unrealistic endings, the sheer technology advances over time have been able to make the experience of watching a movie incredibly realistic; with HD quality images and the sudden explosion of 3D, movies are becoming practically interactive. The advancement in CGI technology allows for mythical creatures to come alive and entire cities to deteriorate; and although from a logical standpoint those things seem impossible, when you're completely engaged in a movie.. its suddenly believable. In addition, many independent films today border on documentary style and are intensely analogous to real life, for example, "Rachel Getting Married".

Andre Brazin

The article presented some interesting thought I would like to possibly explore, such as how film/photography can preserve a person from the endless flow of time. The subject can never actually go back or relive that specific moment, they can only move forward, yet that moment can be replayed for eternity. So, essentially that person can revisit their past from an outsider perspective and witness themselves captured forever in that moment.
Also, the idea that film can never be entirely real, it must "surrender a measure of reality." How the viewer of the end product will never actually witness the real thing, the entire package, how reality is essentially lost once its lived the first time, much like the dinosaur sponges that never go back to their original size after they are used. This actually contradicts the first idea how viewing your past self will never entirely be true.
Lastly, I found it extremely interesting that Brazin predicted that by 2000, humans would have almost prefected "the art of reality", while fantasy films such as avatar, toy story 3, lord of the rings and inception are among the highest grossing films ever.

i also really enjoyed the line "life spilling over the border of the frame"

The Innovators 1950-1960: Diving The Real

I found this article very interesting. It is very interesting to think of someone using the real as an artform. It seems crazy that today cinema has gone so far from the real and from Bazin's thoughts of what cinema should be. When reading this article I could not help to think of reality t.v. and how it is supposed to be "real" but is it? This article really made me re-think some things such as what is "real"? I feel as though Bazin really had something going for him when talking about what was real and how cinema should be real-life with a little help. I thoroughly enjoyed the part in the article that spoke about the camera and film and how a photograph is organic and seems to be a part of nature rather than mechanical. I found this to be a great article that really got me thinking.

Ch.1 Activity

For the activity i rewatched the movie "Garden State" to solely focus on the camera techniques. Before watching it i recalled a scene where the main character is sitting on a couch watching everything that's going on, and the camera does an extreme close-up of his eyes following the movement around him. There are many close-ups throughout the movie, including the beginning scene of the main character lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, and various times when characters take turns speaking to each other.

There are also several scenes that incorporate dramatic angles, such as the scene that takes place when the main characters are running around trying to avoid a fiery arrow, viewed from a bird's eye view.Another memorable scene is when the main characters and a secondary character are standing at the edge of an "infinite abyss". The three of them begin to yell in unison, and the camera zooms out a great deal very quickly.

The transitions throughout the movie are consistently regular cuts. Also, during conversations the screen directions is always consistent - following the 180 degree rule. In general, it was really interesting to pay attention to the individual compositions of the various shots, and to take special notice of the thought that must have gone into each and every one.

Ch 1 Activity, Transitions

Transitions occur throughout every movie to move from one scene into another. A transition is meant to interrupt the flow of the movie as little as possible and continue the pace of what is occurring. Fades tend to allow a scene to be drawn out, where as cuts end a scene and transition into the next as quickly as possible.


Throughout much of the movie "Shaun of the Dead", director Edgar Wright creates quick transitions between scenes through a series of very short cuts of minor actions a character may do. For example, as a transition to show the characters moving from the inside of Shaun's house to the neighborhood outside, many cuts are made to Shaun brushing his teeth, putting the toothbrush down, and washing his hands. Each cut lasts only a second, but continues the pace of the movie from one scene to the next.

Chapter 1 Exercise

The movie I decided to re-watch was Inception. Even when I watched it the first time I thought it had such great cinematography with their amazing special effects, but after the second time I realized what great camera shots they had with just using the basic techniques in the movie. They used montage quite often throughout the movie (flashing back to various of the same scenes in Cobb's memory that he wanted to change; sometimes with just music & sometimes with the memory's sounds). A few examples include what looked like they used a dolly (while following the characters around Ariadne's first dream city), panning (to show the dream worlds when they arrived), and extreme close-ups (to show the character's emotionless faces while they were put on the machines during the dream & also right when they awoke from the dreams). This movie definitely has great camera work worth watching.

Chapter 1 Excercise

I decided to re watch a movie I've seen probably a million times...and a million times again with commentary. (500) Days of Summer has some great example of montages. This can be seen in the very first part of the movie when you see a side by side montage of Tom and Summer growing up. It also incorporates music from Regina Spektor (awesome soundtrack) which is typical of montage. They also use montage to show how Tom feels about Summer, when he loves everything about her, when he hates those same things. These flashback montages have great examples of various closeup styles.

Ch. 1 activity

The activity I chose to do was visit an art gallery. I actually visited two galleries today while roaming around campus taking photography, and found myself in the "Sideshow" exhibit in the University Gallery and I also visited the Architecture gallery. They were both very different types of exhibits but they both acted as springboards for ideas in my TBM projects. For example, the Sideshow exhibit had these really huge banners extending all the way to the ceiling, and the way that they took up a whole wall but were still well-lit by the gallery space made me really think about lighting and setting up shots. The architecture gallery was great at showing different angles, points-of-view, and framing techniques through the different images of buildings they showcased.

Ch1 Response, Watch for Close ups

A director can dramatize a shot by making it a close-up or extreme close-up. In extreme close-ups, the focus is entirely on the subject. This can sometimes be used in comedies when the actor produces an odd face or it can make the focused object more important than usual. Once close up, the shot becomes much more hilarious or serious than it would be in a shot that's farther away.

Sometimes shots can be very close at first. Then the same subject would be shot farther to show something in the background that compliments the mood from the first close up.

Here's an example from "Hot Fuzz" where we see character Angel's face vs. Everyone-Else.

A shot of the object or a place from afar is usually the establishing shot. In the picture, the boring symmetrical and similar looking audience makes the front characters' faces all the more obvious and humorous. This shot has not only established the setting of a theater but also dramatizes the mood.

In relation to my brainstorming

I found this online (and it made me laugh because it somewhat hones in on my whole "people watching" idea that I am playing with)... Just thought I would share it :)

Chapter 1 Activity

It was interesting to watch a movie that I have seen over and over again, solely looking for the basic techniques of the camera. I was interested to see how the director used the emotional content in order to direct the moves of the camera and utilize the differen techniques. It is interesting that while watching a movie you normally do not notice these planned effects of the camera man.

Ch 7 Reading Response

The passage helped break down the critiquing process into individual aspects rather than just having the audience of a piece say the negatives and positives. More can be said of a piece than whats good or bad to further aid the artist in developing and growing. The reading helped me think about what I can do as an artist during the creation of a project to grow on my own, as well as listen to what others have to say about my piece. Overall the reading helped to restate the fact that critiques of a piece are meant to be a positive experience to learn and grow from. It is possible to comment about the weak parts of a piece without insulting the artist.

Chapter 7 Reading Response

I agree that this chapter was a great refresher and brought up alot of ideas i hadn't really thought about previously. Usually in critiques I am asked to focus on the positives and negatives. This creates a separation of the elements of a work instead of finding ways to better integrate the entire piece. Instead of positives and negatives, or possibly as a growth from these surface judgments I hope to help provide questions and solutions to aid the artist in editing. I think another great point is knowing the problem your trying to solve. So often i just jump into things not really knowing what direction i should be going in or where I'll end up.

Reading response

Developing Critical Thinking

This excerpt really helped reiterate the entire process of analyzing and developing artwork. Although I have used these skills in other classes, having them documented in text gave me a chance to really organize my thoughts on the subject. Also the questions in the text really got me thinking about how to apply them to my already existing work and how I can use them when beginning new work. I actually thought that the questions were so helpful I wrote them down to use in my critique for another class this week.

Ch 7 Response

This reading helps us look at things we as students often overlook like following only the teacher's answer rather than exploring different solutions to the problem. The content is familiar and is a good review on how to focus on the goal of a project.
It also improves the effectiveness of a critique that can easily be boring and/or ineffective. The small details like how to point out problems of a piece without being insulting is very helpful. I especially liked the part on how to find the improvements for a piece using the labyrinth project example. Sometimes finding improvements for a project is difficult for me.

Reading Response

I found this reading selection to be a good "refresher" read, and I think it will prove helpful especially during our critique process our the artist presentations as well. I really liked that the descriptive critique was highlighted as a main critique style as well, showing that not all critiques have to feel like a "war zone", since I know we have all witnessed critiques that seemed more like personal attacks than helpful suggestions (Or maybe that is just me and a bad experience?). Regardless, it was nice that it showed how to make critique a less threatening process and a more helpful one. I also appreciated the way that they broke down everything with multiple pictures, since images always help me to better understand and connect with reading material like this.

Ch. 7 Reading Response

This chapter was a good reminder of how critiques should take place. As well as a reminder of the different types of critiques possible. Overall I believe this was a good chapter to read in order to further and understand the working process and to better understand the reasonings for critiques.

Welcome

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to our class blog. I decided to use this format because it's less of a hassle for me as far as upkeep goes. Please post your reading response assignments and any other information that you find interesting or useful (links to artists/artwork, video tutorials, etc.)

Best,

Josh