Fireside Chat

The Fireside chat was such an inspiring experience. It was really eye-opening to hear what our class had to share. When I read through the assignment, I thought we would end up hearing a lot of the same stuff we are used to hearing at church and in Sunday School. Being at BYU, we all have very similar beliefs for the most part. But as we listened to each of the presentations, I was excited to hear some really cool and unique ideas. My presentation about happiness was pretty simple. Plain happiness. It was interesting how there were a couple others who had similar beliefs to mine. Kelton's song about being happy as you sing a song was one of those.

When I planned out my presentation, I planned on just expressing by feelings about happiness. Where it comes from and how I believe happiness is gained and lost. The morning of the fireside chat, I woke up thinking 'tonight I am giving a presentation on happiness, so I better be happy!' I listened to the song 'Happy' a cover of Pharrell Williams by BYU Vocal Point and it definitely started the day off on a happy note. Throughout the day, I found myself looking for things to do that I knew would make me happy. I helped people with anything I could. I texted my mom just because. I did all kinds of little things. Throughout the day, as I was doing these things, the more I learned that the happiness I was experiencing was so tangible and so available for me to create for myself. I got to thinking. Why don't I do this everyday?

So my presentation changed a little bit and I decided to emphasize on that. I also realize that there are very serious and very real conditions that make it really difficult to be happy. For those people, I hope they can recover. Depression and other emotional disorders are definitely real.

The song is by Vocal Point and the writing on the board thing I did kind of reminds me of their Brave music video. I decided to use their version instead of the Pharrell Williams version because I know a lot of those guys personally and they are super happy, good guys.

Thanks to everyone for an awesome semester!

Concerened Citizen

"If our higher purpose is to develop societies securely

grounded in possibility, compassion, and connection, our

task is to collectively imagine these things. There is no

more powerful way to do that than by making art that

rehearses the future we wish to help into being."

-Arlene Goldbarg

When we sat down with James Christensen I was immediately intrigued by his artsy personality. He was creative with his words, with the style in which he conversed, and wow! His house was full of such interesting artwork! When it comes to highly influential people, I think there are two different types. First, there are those who set out to change the world, have energy and a desire to make a difference in the community by getting involved in certain jobs, volunteer positions, etc. Then there are those who are quiet yet exemplary. They are fascinating in their own way and usually very humble. I didn't get to know James Christensen as well as I would have liked, but he seems to fit into the second category.

As a renowned artist, Christensen creates pieces of art that don't follow the norm. He said in his interview "I didn't follow the New York City standard, I just painted what I liked." As a film student in a very mainstreamed and standardized culture, it's inspiring to hear an artist like James Christensen. Of course, he was influenced by northern renaissance painters, but in the end, he was able to create his own style.

It's interesting-I haven't gotten so caught up in editing a film like this one for a long time. I found myself in a completely different world, really excited about making this a quality short documentary. I wanted it to be perfect. It was something that I wanted to be proud of for years, and I think I can attribute that to the level of respect I have for James and his artistic example, which is why I decided to name it Artistic Resonance. His personality and example of spiritual and artistic maturity resonates both in his art, with his viewers, and especially with me. We hope that this film does the same for those who get to see it.

I looked around at a couple different artists with similar videos about them and this one about Audrey Louise Reynolds and her fascination with color stuck out to me. She takes colors from plants, rocks, and other natural resources, and uses them to color more artificial things such as clothes.

What I take away most from Christensen's video we made is his last comment that encourages artists to immerse themselves and find out what strums their heart strings. What a cool metaphor and what a great idea!

Game for Change - Socialism

Make a Free Flash Game

Lately we have been studying the relationship between media and society. So here's a video game. Why a video game? These texts have a very unique aspect that other mediums cannot match. In a video game, unlike any other medium, you are in control of the character. You might not be able to control obstacles or consequences, but you can move him/her around and feel much more connected to his/her goals. In fact, when the character looses, you loose. When the character wins, you win. No other medium has that power. If Ender wins the battle against the buggers, that doesn't mean you win too. If he dies, that doesn't mean you die. But in video games, your loss is your own to bear. In order to share a viewpoint on the currently arising social issue of socialism, i've created this video game.

The first level is simple. You walk to the right. You win $1000. It's easier than eating ice cream. This level represents those in society who reap the temporal benefits from socialism without having to do much at all. These are those who don't work hard to get an education and don't spend time developing marketable skills outside of college. 

The second level is not so simple. There are obstacles. You might fall a couple times, there's a lot at stake here. You might fall and die, but you'll work at it. Learn the things you need to do in order to survive, and in the end make $1000 dollars. It will take you much longer, and require much more work. This level represents those who work to pay for themselves and those who don't work. Of course, the payments are exactly equal and exaggerated in order to prove a point.

As a missionary, having lived for 2 years in a socialist foreign country, I saw this happen with my own eyes. The poor weren't determined to get out of poverty because they had nothing to fight for. Everything was paid for. Food. A brand new home. Health care. It's all there at the doorstep just waiting for you. You can even spend the money the government gives you on more drugs if you want. I noticed that these people were handed loads of things but didn't even take care of it. The brand new houses the government built for these people were barely maintained. You can't give a lazy man a hard working man's increase, and expect the lazy man to turn into a working man.

After a couple years of socialism, high schools began to fail. Only 50% of students completed high school. Probably because they knew that they could either:

1. Work hard. Go to college. Get a solid job. Get a nice house. But then give a bunch of that money to the other half of their classmates who didn't finish school and sustain their living.

2. Drop out. Still have money. Still have health care. Still have a nice house.

Working on this video game helped me realize that both society has influenced my use of media and that the media I create can influence society.

Webspinna Battle

NACHoooOOOooooOO!!!!

When Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre get together, you better bring some toast and tots because it's going to be a good time. Especially when they summon their eagle powers, learn some sick dance moves, and yes, even wrestle in tights.

Nick Ritter and I put together a little webspinna battle, as we like to call it, in which we collected and mixed sounds from various internet sites, dressed up like our characters, and performed a scripted battle of both sounds, music, dancing, and acting. When we started searching for sounds to use in our performance, we found that we could use music to reflect character's intentions, goals, and voices. Personally, I was surprised to hear so many songs at the webspinna battle. I was sure that people would use more dialogue and movie quotes. Soundboards that quote movies and put a collection of a certain group of songs can be found for a lot of different topics, stereotypes and movies, but music is definitely the most present sound medium on the internet, so it makes sense.

The performance itself was a performance like I've never experienced. I've sang on stage, acted, danced, played sports, all in front of groups, but this was completely different! It was like I had to use my internet navigation skills (which I use way too much every single day already) to present entertainment. Just like anything else, I guess the more you practice, prepare, rehearse, and perfect your performance the more flawless it will end up.

Throughout the semester I have noticed a commonality in my own projects as well as others. When we are given an assignment, I tend to naturally lean on a comfortable medium, genre, text, or interest that correlates with my personal interests. Nacho Libre is one of my favorite movies and I quote it everyday. Neal Butler is a huge sports guy and his character was a jock. Neil was a woman. He likes girls. It's easy math guys. We have voices and when we are given the opportunity to express them through art, we seize them and awesomeness happens.

Rythym Science Webtake shares an interesting perspective:

"Future generations won't have a 'dependence' on technology. They will have technology as a core aspect of their existence - as much as the languages we speak, the air we breath and the food that we eat are all aspects of technology"

I wonder how art will be influenced. I wonder how competitions will be influenced. Will new sports be invented with the rise of technology? Will new art mediums be invented? I think it's inevitable.

The Hunger Games is definitely an extreme politically radical example, but that's a huge technology-driven competitive sport that reflects one author's idea.

Webspinna just made me think about how there can be different forms of media and entertainment and how a lot could change the more society and technology changes.

World Building

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5ruPBem1Vg

I find it fascinating how intertwined our culture is with our media. Like we discussed last week, culture can influence media, and media can influence culture. What makes this all so fascinating to me is that as an art major, I can, in some tiny way or maybe even in a very widespread way influence culture. How cool is that?!

Julian Bleecker said in Design Fiction, "Design fictions help tell stories that provoke and raise questions, like props that help focus the imagination and speculate about possible near future worlds - whether profound change or simple, even mundane social practices."

This assignment was enlightening because these design fictions came close to home on this assignment, and we had a lot of fun with it. LIke Julian said "When something is designed, it suggests that there is some thoughtful exploration going on." When Mike announced his pitch for the alternate world of digitally recorded smells, the first thing that I couldn't help but think of was what if somebody posted a fart on my Facebook wall. Well there that little idea was, just a little thoughtful exploration, but when we got together and started with an empty canvas, it turned into a design.

The slideshow, announcer style we ended up with came from the Apple Keynote presentations. I always get excited about those, and so I thought turning it into something similar to that would be helpful to share that excitement in our fiction design. Unfortunately, shooting on a stage and finding a projector wasn’t feasible in our time constraints, but that’s how I imagined it. I am very pleased with our final product though. There are some really creative things going on. It’s cool to see how it would affect different things like advertising, social media, legislature, etc.

Textual Poaching

The Last Supper is an iconic piece of art that marked a generation and a people. It’s really interesting to me to see pictures of our modern day disciples all together on the stand at general conference in suits and ties and compare it to the rags and sandals that the primitive apostles used to wear. When I thought about what defined me, my religious beliefs was definitely the first thought to come to mind. My religious belief’s shape me more than anything else does. Another huge part of the way I live my life is through technology, and specifically Apple products.

We have had Sunday school and primary lessons for years that have asked “what would you bring on an island if you could only bring 3 things. And of course there is always a massive expectation to say “my scriptures, my patriarchal blessing, my temple recommend, etc.” Would saying “I would bring my iPhone” be a materialistic or worldly answer? I don’t think so at all! The scriptures are on my iPhone. My journal is on my iPhone. I can connect with my family, give coordinates, take pictures, look up survival skills, the list is endless. Something I love about modern day LDS leadership is that we are seizing every opportunity to utilize technology and media to further the purposes of the gospel. That’s why the disciples are using tablets at the table of the last supper.

Along with my love for technology, I also have opinions about different things within that category. If you look closely, Judas Iscariot has a Microsoft Surface at his spot at the table. Why Judas? And why a Surface? Judas betrayed Jesus and is therefore known for the rest of forever as the worst apostle. He couldn’t fulfill his purpose. He didn’t work out the way we all hoped. He was cast out, and ended up hanging himself. The surface, in my opinion, is the worst tablet out there. They have had absolutely no success in comparison to Apple’s iPad, which is a very reliable and functional device. That mirrors the rest of the apostle’s reliability and dedication to the Lord. (in the most non-sac religious way possible.)

There are hundreds of parodies on The Last Supper, this one was one of my favorites. As a kid, I loved doing Legos and The Lego Movie just rekindled those memories. This piece was probably the result of a similar experience as mine. The artist found 2 things they loved and combined them into something that meant something unique to him/her.

We might wonder how Da Vinci would feel about all these parodies. Would he be outraged? Would we be able to convince him that his art was worth kind of ruining for our own artistic motives to be expressed? Jenkin’s How Texts Become Real explores a similar idea while talking about a toy that was used and ‘vandalized.’ “Seen from the perspective of the toymaker, who has an interest in preserving the stuffed animal just as it was made, the loose joints and missing eyes represent vandalism, the signs of misuse and rough treatment, yet for the boy, there are traces of fondly remembered experiences…in short, of it’s loving use.”

Medium Specificity

Art expresses emotions, thoughts, ideas, and principles through many different mediums. However, art itself is an idea or a discipline that can be displayed. Yes. Art can express or educate us about art. For example. Many films are created including instructions on how to make films. Many books teach how to write. But there’s something deeper than just art showing the tools within it’s medium. Each medium contains unique elements that can be toyed with in order to open our eyes to the significance of those elements. This project highlights one of the most powerful mediums we enjoy today. Film.

99% of the things we see in film today are not real. They are created either by acting or by post production technology. This video is a obviously fake example of how film can be manipulating. It’s purpose is to open the eyes of it’s viewers. I don’t think people thing when they see Harry Potter using spells that magic is real, or that there are huge robots being built after seeing Pacific Rim, but there are a lot of little details in films that can go unnoticed.

The first shot in this video is of a friend of mine throwing a football to himself. Now, obviously in real life, you could never be in two places at once. On film, it’s simple. You can just use layers. In an editing program, you can take another moving image and place it on top of a similar moving image filmed at a different time and make it look like it’s happening at the same time! Can you imagine if your eyes were capable of doing that? What a cool tool!

Also included in the film are shots of sounds that do not correspond with what we see on film. For example, Richard plays scales on the piano starting on the left side moving right on the piano. Pianos are built so that the further right on the keyboard you play, the higher the note, but in this video, the notes get lower as he progresses towards the right. Again, not only can film be visually deceiving, but it can also play with your ears. This segment is the most deceiving because even a experienced piano player might not notice the difference. The rest of the shots are pretty obvious in their ill-matched audio. This gives contrast to the other more convincing shots in order to better express this phenomenon.

While shooting and editing this piece, I thought a lot about The Parent Trap (1998). Editing and shooting two takes then slicing them together, ending up with two shots of the same person in one frame is not easy! I appreciate the post production in that film much more.

From now on, I hope I can be more appreciate of art in not only its overlying presentation, but also as a mastered discipline in it’s own medium. Touching on the topic of unintelligence in art, Edward F. Rothschild said, “The usual difficulty with the observer of modern art is that he does not inquire patiently and sincerely concerning the ‘meaning’ of a work of art which strikes him.” Being educated and thinking deeper within the constraints as well as the far reaching opportunities within each medium has created a new sense of reverence for art.

History

The adaptation of a historical event into a screenplay is both fascinating and enjoyable. This particular story is especially fascinating to me because not only is Martha my great great great great grandmother, but it took place over a hundred years ago just a couple miles from where I live now. For me, this story about Martha and her Native American encounter is incredible, and what makes it incredible is that it’s not a fictitious story carefully pieced together to make profit. Instead, it’s a real event that happened in a real place.

The New Orleans comics “After the Deluge” by Josh Neufeld was very well done, and aside from the stunning writing and illustrations, the story is so close to home! That hurricane was only a couple years ago.  The story would be captivating to anyone who remembered watching the news that day or anyone who had friends of family in the area during that time. Because of the insane levels of hardships that those people faced, that story will be told in classrooms for hundreds of years.

When I think about events like hurricane Katrina or Martha’s history, I am so grateful for the art of writing and storytelling. Without these mediums we would never be able to enjoy and learn from those stories. As we wrote the screenplay, we enjoyed looking back into time and almost jumping into their lives. It is an intense story, so we decided to listen to soundtrack of Legends of the Fall by James Homer. The music helped set a mood for putting the story together, but even with some great music to inspire and a short paragraph of the Indian story, there were many unanswered questions.

What did the environment look like? What was Brigham Young like? How strict were parents back then? Could a mom leave her daughter alone in a house? How violent were the Native Americans? These were all questions that we were able to look to history to understand. Martha Mariah Mayer’s personal journal was a great source of information, as well as LDS Church History.

From LDS Church History we were able to understand Brigham Young’s character much better. By reading his words we were able to get an idea of the way he talked. Martha’s journal includes hundreds of stories. Each one of the stories we read helped us understand her character and build her character into the screenplay.

The LDS series of Bible videos is a great example of a project based entirely on history. The details of set design, writing, characters, are all influenced and based on historical documents. The filmmaker’s careful consideration of these elements help strengthen the validity of the themes presented in each film.

Click HERE for screenplay PDF.