My Rough Theater

For me, rough theater is something produced from the soul. The article talked about how rough theater is stepping away from the constraints and cookie- cutter, perfectionist ways and just creating art from your intuition. I believe this is essential, especially in filmmaking. There are so many rules to follow and items to check off of a list that people tell you are necessary in order to make something acceptable, but the true artists, and those who really stand out from the rest aim to be more than just acceptable. And I believe that such greatness is only something that your intuition can yield. Even if other people don't like it, a person's art is something unique they have contributed to the universe.

16mm Project Response

For this assignment, I worked closely with Mckayla M. to recreate the four elements onto film. This was a lot of fun to do and I especially enjoyed the flash printing that we did in the black box. Recently, I have been becoming more and more interested in developing still film, so to have the opportunity to develop film-film in one way or another was a really cool process. One thing that was challenging about the assignment was trying to decide what order we wanted to put the film in, because we didn't want to do it incorrectly. Though once we relaxed a bit and began to trust the process more, we were able to reach a very pleasing end result.

The More, the Merrier

This week's media focused on crowdsourcing, the utilization of many minds in order to achieve a common goal. It's definitely an interesting concept, and I've had my fair share of experience with crowdfunding, which helped finance my study abroad trip to Europe. When I consider the possibility of using croudsourcing creatively, like the Cloud Filmmaking Manifesto or hitRECord, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's crowd-sourced film production company, it presents infinite possibilities for what can be created in the future. Because our thoughts and ideas vary greatly from person to person, creative crowdsourcing allows for as many different ideas to come together that would not be feasible with just one person alone. And as the first article suggested, due to the fact that the contributed work is most likely to be of higher quality since it is assigned in smaller quantities, the overall quality is better.

With hitRECord, as many as 1,000 people can work on a single project. Anyone can contribute as much or as little as possible to any ability. And the work is incredible.

(link attached for reference)

http://www.hitrecord.org/collaborations/7771

Reconnecting with the Sounds Around Us

This week, the assigned media all stressed the importance of listening to the our surroundings and heightening our aural sensitivity to the world around us. Our world has become thick with artificial sounds from our vehicles, electronics and devices, such as the computer I'm typing this post on. It was interesting how many sounds I became aware of when I took a moment to pause and listen. I could hear a dog barking in another apartment, the sounds of the cars and their music radiating from the parking lot, and the hum from the overhead lights and the refrigerator. Those were among the few that I could place at the time, and now, I have a yearning to explore more sounds that occur in nature, away from the buzzing of the concrete jungle. I look forward to a time where I can make such a trip, perhaps to the mountains, where I can observe more and increase my awareness. I also very much appreciated the story of Justin Boyd and his fascination with recording sounds and experimenting with them. It was cool to see how someone could find such a passion out of something so seemingly ordinary.

Synesthesia

I've always associated certain colors with certain moods for instance: the aggression of red, the vibrant jubilance of orange, or the calm earthiness of green, but I had never considered the association of colors to certain numbers or vice versa. Synesthesia is a very interesting neurological phenomenon, one which after reading the wiki page made me aware of my sensitivity to it. If in its basic form synesthesia is the stimulation of one cognitive pathway that leads to the involuntary stimulation in another, then it is something that I experience quite often. For example, with number form synesthesia, I keep mental calendar in my head that projects the days of the week, months and years in a way I can mentally visualize it, but within spacial relation to one another.

What I find most interesting is the fact that certain "synesthetes" have been able to utilize their synesthesia to create works of art, like the one shown below.

It's beautiful, yet challenging. It is difficult for me to comprehend how someone could be able to harness such a involuntary process to make works of art. And made me question whether or not one's perception to sensitivity is a skill that could be trained over time. 

The Sound of Silence

There is something strange that happens when we are faced with intentional silence. An image immediately comes to mind of the moments of silence through out school when the intended goal was to refrain from laughter. Yet, something unique occurs when the intention of the silence lasts for more than just a brief moment and even more interestingly when it involves the majority of activities that make up our everyday lives. With the start of the 72 hour media fast, my feelings were quickly absorbed with some sort of lingering anxiety that lasted throughout. Never had I ever wanted the slightest means of stimulation before. I longed for just a quick listen to a song, the opening credits of a Netflix series, or even just a simple text message. It was surprising, really. Driving was a new experience as instead of being greeted by the radio, I was welcomed only to the sounds of my keys jingling against one another as I drove over speed bumps. I was, however, able to focus more on my thoughts, instead of trying to fill the silence with the next distraction. It was something I greatly appreciated and brought me back to my semester abroad and the disconnect I had there. The quiet really allows one to reconnect to their surroundings and to be more sensitive to what is happening around them.

First Response: Stream of Conciousness

After watching Norman Mclaren's piece, my mind was was bursting with as many thoughts as the figures etched onto each film strip. Below is a transcription of my thought process: 

The video was a collection of colors, shapes, and patterns set to Vince Guaraldi sounding jazz music. There was rhythm, and the synching of shapes and music. Exciting piano riffs. Very cool, enjoyable and surprisingly entertaining. Use of languages, most notably French. Abstract. Prints. Dancing lines and figures. Poetic: blue, red, and orange hues. Non coherent story. Avant garde. Stains, marks and scratches. Changes in tone, but mood remains upbeat. High energy, with a lot of percussion dominating the score. Use of film strips. Editing methods must be incredibly difficult. Was it made using blank film strips? How did emulsion factor in the creation? Did it have to be developed? Use of drawings and sketches. Bouncing and popping. Striking, beautiful and talented.