Visiting Artist Lecture Chris Irick

This was a good lecture.

Unlike many other lectures that begin somewhat awkwardly on some tangent this one began at the beginning; when she (Chris) first began to get into art. It's amazing that until now I haven't really thought of the artist lectures as about the "artists" that host them. Sometimes we have an art historian or professor do a lecture and they talk about others' art. This one really emphasized that fact; this was her individual path to where she was now and this is how she did it. I liked that. On top of that her work was very good and I understand how she got to be so revered. It seems she floats between different themes she gets obsessed with. It's not particularly about "concept" but she does have an opinion about her work, and why she does it. I also like that- making art about what you like- not necessarily about something that has to challenge an ideology.

Looking at it this way, she went from this:

To this:

and this:

That's pretty boss, if you ask me. Although she didn't have any direct advice for us young artist, it's interesting to see how she progressed and how much luck and always having access to a studio and working is important. As well as making little practice art things before really huge things. Ironically, I also heard of 5sec films today, which is kinda that same idea of making something small and condensed before something big. 

Installation Concept and Execution

WHAT IS BEING SEEN:

I've gathered lots of specific stock film (Try to fit the music with his glitchy, house, electronic and I like to look at cities at night) and made a .izz project that uses the Nano Keyboard to go through different effects, toggle switches, control watchers etc, and basically played with them to make some cool video. I plan to do this for every song.

There are also line animations I made with a theme of thinking of the line as a dance. It is being activated by the sound level watcher and triggered on and off and controls the Video mix ratio. All of this goes through the luma key to get a dual sort of mixture/blending look. 

SPACE:

What really interested me about the space was the idea of using lines to flow around the space organically. What interested me a lot about the second tutorial class was the sound level affecting the effects and how I could use all those different values to do different things in Isadora. What I've came up with is a type of compromise of those two things.

PERFORMANCE:

My idea for the performance will be to use the APC40 with the current configuration of the Live Sound input (The sound affecting the visual by cutting to the lines as well as controlling the posterization etc, essentially) to create a different mood based on every song I play.(by going to different scenes or turning some effects on or off). I will use multiple bits of footage and material, With most of it connecting to the non performance interaction time.

VIEWER INTERACTION:

The viewer can interact in two ways,

1. Being in the space and raising the sound level (in combination with the music)

2. Using the Keyboard will make the viewer go between different types of lines and maybe effects.

Isadora Test and Ideas

Heres one of my first layouts for Isadora, Since then I've evolved to...

Project Idea: So, for class on tuesday, I'm somewhat at a loss as where my idea is going. So I'm gonna free-write. After getting a better handling on the space I have more of an idea of what will work but not exactly what the viewer should see. Really I wanna do something good.

We are in an ADD culture. Ads everywhere, mobile devices that we never take our ads off of, how could I possibly make something that will grab someones attention and MAKE them look? Make them look away from their phone or their laptop, etc.? Really, the crisis here is the lack of material, I don't have a lot of raw footage that could be combined to some relevant piece.

Isadora Test Found on the Internet

For Inspiration/refrence later.

This I think was with a different program called Steim, but still interesting nonetheless.




This is a pretty awesome collaboration-installation all the projections are through Isadora.



Here is another cool Isadora test found on the internet, it's about street art I believe

This seems pretty cool with the animations and all, but probably not too good for our time frame...Still.. I wonder if I could do something like this instead of the Prince thing since that's what I'm kinda interested in toying with right now.

Art of Noise Response & Serenata 1921

     As a whole, the reading gave me a little insight into a different frame of mind. Although, society as well as music and sound have changed so much since this was written to me, if Russolo could hear music today he would be baffled. His assumptions in today's modern context are very well founded to me, especially;. "Is there any, thing more ridiculous in the world than twenty men slaving to increase the plaintive meeowing of violins? This plain talk will make all music maniacs jump in their seats, which will stir up a bit the somnolent   atmosphere of concert halls. Shall we visit one of them together?" He is so right- and nowadays no one in orchestra is getting paid, and they could easily all be progressing with much more challenging and steady work if they stopped playing old things that barely anyone wants to listen to anyway.
     Not saying orchestra's need to be entirely obliterated though as where would we have such beautiful film scores without them?
     But what he's basically saying is that we society as a whole needs to break away from this constrained form of musical expression and into something new. Which we have obviously done, but almost too much now. Now there's no constraint in making music- no order or establishment, look at all the bands that don't have choruses in their songs or a specific order. Yet their music is still pretty good. Then there are other commercial acts that disregard artistic integrity as a whole and make stupid music that has no substance and is basically just the same order over and over- no change or anything. Really, the music and noise world to me are at polar opposites now.
     One thing I really like about sound and music is that as Louis Armstrong has said "There are no mistakes" just different occurrences, avenues to go down. Even if you do make a mistake it's not something that will necessarily be bad just as in Serenata 1921- it's not like we can judge if he was acutally playing music or was just warming up to me.

Some good quotes:

"For years, Beeth"oven and Wagner have deliciously shaken our hearts. Now we are fed up with
them."

"Although the characteristic of noise is to brutally bring us back to life, the
art of noises must not be limited to a mere imitative reproduction."

Jellyboy

JELLYBOY

TITLE:

THE BOY (title shot will later be changed to JELLYBOY)

ORIGINAL IDEA:

My original idea was to do a pretty straight-forward 3 part narrative, that included water and actual jellyfish as well as a main character.

SELF CRIT:

I really wish I could reshoot some things. Overall, however, I like the feel and feel like it's not as bad as I would expect. My biggest problem is overlooking the format with which the video was shot at- At some point during the first shoot it was changed to 640:480 or some other crap- and I'm really disappointed I can't get that big rectangular image, but it's alright, I'm sure it being in 4:3 SD doesn't make un-viewable. In general, I feel like continuing with this piece would be very promising- I did do some extra shots but if I knew what I did now it could be 20 times better!

SOURCE OF IDEA/IMPORTANCE:

The source of the idea was sort of this joke/concept I had last semester about a "Jellyfish apocalypse" which stemmed from my interest in post-apocalyptic worlds and theories. I'm a big fan of zombie movies and have read "The Road" as well as seen the film as well as numerous films like it (Book of Eli, Waterworld, etc.) It interests me because I am very concerned with my own future- and I would be devastated if it were cut short or altered so dramatically. I'm positive about my future career goals and life. However! It would be interesting to live in such a world, where there is no more compliance to society or it's ways. As well as there being such a small amount of people in the world.

KEY EMOTION OR EXPERIENCE:

Desperation-Fear-Empowerment

THEME OR PREMISE OF THE PIECE:

The theme of the peice is about desperation as well as predation. The hunter vs. hunted, etc.,

PROBLEM AREAS:

The stages could of been better as well as the lighting in a lot of places. I wish I could go back and do it all again but with more time, however I think what I've done has come out pretty better than expected.  I don't know if the focusing will be a big issue that will come up during critique but if it does, I think this project is worth reshooting (As long as I can get the jelly off all the sets and/or make new floors, etc.) Geezus, I hope it doesn't start growing mold in my locker. Anyway, I think another critical issue was the moment when he eats the jelly- It didn't come off as well as I thought it would, and I know (this being the climax) that it should be super clear. 

EXHIBITION STRATEGY:

Although it is a somewhat crude stop-motion piece I think it has style and promise. Considering that...


1. MAKE A 30 SECOND PROMO TRAILER AND PUT IT ON YOUTUBE


This is pretty explanatory, pretty sure I can crank out some epic music and get it on youtube so people can see it. I think if I continue this project I may also change his facial expressions digitally, because that stuff was a pain in the neck analog.


2. CREATE A DIORAMA AND ENTER IT INTO AN EXHIBITION ALONGSIDE THE FILM


This seems like a pretty boss idea (Especially considering a lot of my sets have been preserved just in case. I remember seeing Meredith's in a Faculty show and thought it was genius- The only figuring I'd have to do is make sure it's on a pedestal that's at or near eye-level so people really get the impact. 


3. FESTIVALS
Denver Indie Fest
Colorado, U S A
Has an "experimental short film" category. 


Why I'm interested in this festival:
"DIFF allows filmmakers from around the globe to compete on a multi-cultural stage for nearly 100 awards and laurels in several different categories. DIFF caters to a vast clientele of independent film fans, distributors, artists, producers, entertainers and filmmakers." 


Animation Block Party
New York, U S A
Sounds good and competitive! Doesn't say what categories it has unfortunately.


Why I'm interested in this festival:
"Jake Friedman from Animation Magazine says "Animation Block Party stands out from other film or animation festivals in its empathy for the little guys. More films by independents and students are screened here than at your average festival."


Orgeon Independent Film Competition
Oregon, U S A
SHORT Film Submission - Student Films


Why I'm interested in this festival:
"The Oregon Independent Film Festival is a small festival run by local film lovers and an student volunteers with a passion for independent film, that has grown in reputation"

Assignment Write-up

So, did two things in between Tuesday and now- did a rough little number at home just working out my scenes and a little better but small number at school. High quality is pretty though, and very worth it. I am getting pissed at this camera though in the mini lab- I should of brung...brang? my little mini-nano-PC laptop thing to run it off, but it's a mother to bring all this stuff in and then take it all out. On another note, I'm really excited about my character and his little journey. I just hope this doesn't come off too campy and I can muster the willpower to work on this as much as possible over the break.

Gotta get me one o' them vimeo plus accounts. As well as the equip card. Yeah.

2.7.2012 Self Critique

So this weekend I had a lot of ideas and ideas for experimentations but it dawned on me that at the end of the day I needed to make something that was experimental while at the same time something I agreed with- that I liked aesthetically and stretched my creative muscles. but I wasn't as excited about it as I wanted to be, and I realized this wasn't my vision... I wouldn't say that I'm using animation and my current skills as a crutch- believe me the other 50 percent of this project I know I will be stretching my materials and technique but what I really want to do is this story. 

Experiment 2

Jellyfish PLOT

Each number symbolizes a different shot.

Beginning:

1
We hear a kettle being put on and a dial being switched, throughout the next two scenes we hear a the kettle as it slowly start to boil. We see a line-up of different interesting mugs and a hand passing them, the main character picks one.
2
We see a line-up of various teas in fancy cans. A hand is going past them deciding which to pick. They finally pick one. The kettle whistles and we see a medium shot of her looking into another room filling with steam.
3
As she walks into the room she lifts up and we transition via the steam into the next shot

Middle:

1
The steam condenses and causes the entire screen to be filled with white, it slowly dissipates to show the main character floating on a cloud, she is looking around.
2
As she looks around she sees mountains and valleys surrounding her. It slowly edges toward a beach and the ocean emerges, having no control of where the cloud goes it continues on til over the ocean.
3
The cloud has become thinner and thinner until she can now see through the bottom, she does and falls.
4
She luckily lands not in the water but on a giant jellyfish which contains hundreds more jellyfish surrounding the giant one.
5
We start to hear the faint noise of the teapot running out of water to boil.
The jellyfish swims past a city with lights in the sky.
6
The sound becomes even louder up to this climax
She notices that the lights are not lights- but flying jellyfish.

End:

1
She comes back to real life.
2
She looks down and realizes the water has boiled out of the kettle.