Webspinna links

http://www.tokyoplastic.com/dm.html

http://www.simonpanrucker.com/beans.swf

http://www.wechoosethemoon.org/

http://waterlife.nfb.ca/

http://www.incredibox.com/en/#/application

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7cQtNsQm6k&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLHhF3SU5ghAF6Y_YgTTzrmQ

Artist's Statement (Reflection)

The webspinna was a fun opportunity to glimpse into the personalities of my classmates, both through the performances and the act of gathering for food and sociality, departing from the classroom setting in which we are accustomed to each other's company.  

In my preparation for the performance I found myself in the unhappy situation of realizing that I didn't really know of any websites with cool audio from which to glean the elements of my 'spinna'.  I resorted to Google, typing in a search something like, "websites with cool sound."  I discovered several sound effects libraries and strange archives, but finally one link took me to a blog with about two dozen sites listed that were imaginative and fun.  From this blog I found several sites that I could use.  I quite liked the soothing "water life" background music (water sounds mixed with what sound like bells or some sort of synthesizer).  I used this music to back up the space exploration sounds of "we choose the moon."  As I began to experiment and play with the other sites, I was quite pleased with how these unrelated sounds blended so well together.  

As a last minute alteration to my presentation I introduced a video from YouTube that I watched recently and quite enjoyed of a young boy from São Paulo being interviewed by a talk show host about a nightmare he experienced after watching a horror movie.  The clip actually proved to be a good transition from the presentation before mine, so I ended up using it.  

There was an element of improvisation to my performance.  I had run through a few different arrangements of the various components at home, but I was not exactly sure how I wanted to order the final project.  I'm happy with the way it turned out, and also that it could have turned out well in a number of ways had I made other decisions.  That was part of the fun.  

I liked hearing what my classmates came up with, even with occasional technical difficulties.  I heard some fun sounds and re-mixes I had never thought existed or dreamed of hearing, and i got me excited to try to create music from common sounds.

Manipulation of Bokeh with Mattes in Motion

Artist’s Statement

I was recently shown a clip from the film “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” that included a photographic effect I had never seen before; custom bokeh.  “Bokeh” is the word used to describe the areas behind and in front of the subject that is in focus in a photo.  When points of light are out of focus, they become semi-transparent circles of light floating in space.  The result is visually pleasing and familiar.  We see it in photographs all the time.  We are accustomed to the round bokehs that result from round lenses.

In the scene from “Scott Pilgrim” there was something different about the bokehs.  I had to watch the clip a few times before I noticed it.  The bokehs were not round, but rather shaped like the letter ‘x’ in some shots and like cartoon hearts in other shots.  I tried to think of some way that this effect was possible.  I turned to Google for enlightenment.  What I found was an almost laughably simple explanation.  To create custom bokehs, you cut a hole in a piece of paper in the shape you want your bokeh to take.   Place this paper matte over the front of your camera’s lens.  It really is that simple. Here is the photo that caught my attention:

My original idea was to defy conventions of shape and create a photograph with a round frame (a departure from the traditional rectangle) utilizing a bokeh matte in the shape of a rectangle (quite opposite the usual circle or elliptical shape).  As I attempted to attach the paper matte to the lens of my camera I noticed some interesting effects produced by moving the matte back and forth in front of the lens.  I created two more mattes, one with about 50 pin-points punched in it and the other with a striped pattern across the frame.  I began to experiment with rotating these mattes in front of the lens to cause the bokeh to move.  Interestingly, the objects in focus remain where they are with no distortion.  I was playing with the effect like a child plays with a new toy.  I was having a blast!

In my finished film I used a track of music that I created years ago using a synthesizer that had a pitch-bending knob that allowed me to bend the sound in a similar way to how I distorted and bend the rays of light around and through the paper mattes in my experiment.  The music is a fitting accompaniment for the images, I think.  The film draws attention to the way light can be manipulated as it is captured.

Pride and Prejudice on Facebook (Social Media Adaption)

The following link will take you to our group's project:

http://thewallmachine.com/QLXefR.html#.UHiy_AGin34.email

Artists' Statement

The creation of our project involved a very large detour.  The idea was simple enough, adapt Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice to Facebook.  The social network is the perfect venue for such a relationship driven story.  The entire book focuses on social interaction, social status, and relationships, which is what Facebook is all about.

Our method was ambitious; we would create real Facebook accounts for the main characters and re-create the narrative following the order of events from the book.  We met together in the computer lab and each opened up three or four different web browsers on our respective computers.  When we had a list of all the most important events to cover, we began to create events, add friends, and post comments and status updates.  All of the characters were friends with Jane Austen, and we were tracking the story via her home feed.  We created the Netherfield ball event, invited guests, accepted invitations, commented afterward, etc.  Then the unthinkable happened.  Facebook began to shut us down!  Our accounts were logged out automatically and we were unable to log back in.  We received messages that we were in violation of Facebook policy by having and using multiple accounts.  So our elaborate and fun project suddenly got wiped out.  Oh, internet!

Ironically, the only somewhat important thing we have ever tried to do on Facebook is the only thing we ever were not permitted to do on Facebook.  The social network has managed to hurt us academically not only by facilitating excessive time-wasting, but now by figuratively “eating our homework!”  We invested hours of time to create the accounts (and accompanying email addresses), and actually perform the story live, only to have it all taken away in an instant.

We resorted to plan “B”, which was the website ‘thewallmachine.com’, to create a fake Facebook wall.  This was not the way we wanted to tell the story because it is much more flat and linear than we wanted our presentation to be.  Real Facebook accounts would have provided layers of profiles to explore.  Anchored by Jane Austen’s home feed, one click could link viewers to the other profiles, events, etc.  As it is, our project is a nice re-telling, but not the social media experience we had originally hoped for.

Textual Poaching - The Single Male

Artist’s statement

The idea for this project was the first to really take any clear form in my head upon reviewing the assignment description for this “textual poaching.”

I like the film, “How the West Was Won”, but not because of the writing.  I find the dialogue to be the biggest weakness of a film that is great in so many ways.  What I find particularly troubling is the way the genders are represented in many instances.  In the case of the males, there is a certain chauvinistic, male-dominant theme present in many of the characters.  The most awkward of all these men is the lonesome wagon train captain, Mr. Morgan.  Like me, he is a single man.  However, he is also an unfortunate example of how not to interact with women.  I chose to highlight his atrocious lack of tact by inserting some sound and video clips during his conversation with Miss Prescott.  I used a moment from the film as well as some clips I found online that express surprise and disgust with the advances he makes on the poor lady. 

First, I liked the fact that Miss Prescott actually whips Mr. Morgan during their first encounter.  I felt that this violent reaction was rather fitting to the encounter by the creek later on.  Men shouldn’t say things to women like Mr. Morgan says.  “Why for you, child bearing would come as easy as rolling off a log,” he says.  Why would you begin a conversation like that?  I feel like he shows little or no respect for Miss Prescott as a person and sees her more as a baby factory.  The film doesn’t do an adequate job of portraying how weird and awkward he really is.   

After I posted the video on Facebook, I got less feedback than I hoped for.  It received six "likes" and an equal number of comments.  Most of the comments were unhelpful things such as, "hilarious," "loved it," and "hahahahaaa".  The most valuable feedback came in the form of this phrase, "That's awesome!!  Especially the reworking of the whip!"  People seemed to enjoy the humor of the piece, but  I don't know how well they understood the assignment.  I addressed a slight formatting issue noted by one friend and uploaded the slightly revised version to YouTube.  That's the version linked herein.

As a single man, I empathize with the captain’s desire for companionship, but I am very much appalled by the manner in which he seeks to obtain said companionship.  This representation is an embarrassment to decent men everywhere. 

The Original Showdown at Nathan's - Historical Story

                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                               
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                                         

                                                                         

Artists' Statement

           It is one thing to revisit the past, but it is another when someone must try to recreate it for a modern audience. After a quick run through of historical events, we were able to adapt something that most likely few have ever known about. It is a true example of how one little argument could spur a national phenomenon. It is a testament to how something seemingly trivial can become history. After all, why shouldn’t Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest have its roots explored in all of their potentially ridiculous glory?

            Following that thought, we began laying down the narrative of our piece. While there exists and account of the year and winner of the first contest, most of the other details have been lost in time. This allowed us greater flexibility with the storytelling. We were able to insert characters into the story, develop a background and make the narrative progression entertaining. We felt that having such an open historical event would serve the narrative better so we could better pinpoint story beats and a climax.

            Then we moved on to dialogue. Of course we did our research on 1910’s vernacular to make things historically correct. We felt that a few of these references would be consistent with our point about the silliness of the event. The characters are more or less stereotypes, so their dialogue should be appropriately melodramatic.  The style began to gel into what Justin personally envisioned the script: like an entertaining children’s show history lesson in the vein of Bill Nye The Science Guy.

            Overall, these points and others lend themselves to our main thought: it is amazing what will go down in the history books. You may have to embellish to make it fit as a story, but the premise almost writes itself.