Film manipulation: Second Response

After working on this project I simply don't understand how the film makers (that we watched in class the first day) achieved their animations and motion. The difficult part about this assignment is that there are so many frames all so small that it is hard to draw in detail on every single one. Mason and I intended to show the birth and death of the world from start to finish. We partially achieved this, but I do not think the viewer would extract that information and understand it. Instead of drawing in very fine detail we started the film off with our black strips we made in the dark room, then transitioned to a blue paint, sharpie, and oil texture showing drops of water filling up the frame then flooding it represent water, then a green oil and paint texture representing land, then a tree formation animation, then clips from Trapper John to show human formation on which I scratched fire to show the destruction of humans, and finally the magazine transfer to show the aftermath of the earth. Now typing this on my computer this idea seems pretty out there. Either way, I was stoked to work on this and even more stoked to see the final product. Its really something special when you use film and cannot access it until many days after. Not that we needed to let our film develop but it was the same sort of feeling. Not seeing what you are shooting or creating builds up so much hype for footage as opposed to instant satisfaction you get out of digital cameras- which is not much. It is still good today to have a balance of digital and film to cover all aspects of the art. Who knows, if some students hit it big they may be shooting feature films on film stock instead of digital because they learned the art of film in this class. AND we havent even done our bolex projects which I am even more stoked for!

Technology- positives and negatives

This week's reading was nothing short of amazing. Collaboration is a beautiful thing. To be able to communicate in different spaces and time about the same topic creating a unique and united product is incredible, and would not be possible without the technological advancements that have happened today. Personally, I do not agree with the way technology has transformed our society, on a social level. Like in the preview for Connected, this woman found herself needing to check her phone in the presence of a friend she had just traveled across the US to see. Where have the good days gone? Why can't we simply have fun with our friends without feeling the need to be connected to those who arent with you at that present moment in time? Because it is there. Because we have become used to the thought that at any moment we could open our phone to a surprise: a new snapchat, a new email, a new and cool instagram post that could be the next hot topic of debate or radness. It seems as if there is nothing else to do at this point but embrace the technology and use it in the best ways we can. Clearly, this has been accomplished with Wikipedia. This incredible invention has allowed for the like minded to post articles, correct them, and create an informational article while growing from each others knowledge. And beyond this. these articles help millions of people each day to grow in their own knowledge about a certain country, person, disease, etc. These are things that are worth knowing. The most amazing part to me is how they are able to monitor the false corrections made to wiki pages with the thousand volunteers they have. People are so excited about sharing knowledge that they will actually put in hours of free work to create a more factual online resource. What is just as incredible as wikipedia is the ability to collaborate online with others around the world and tell stories through these collaborations. As in "Connected" this woman sampled/used footage from others online. She was able to splice completely random clips together with added dialog and sound to create an enormously powerful message that speaks to millions of people. Like I said earlier, I do not like how technology has changed us socially. However, I believe there is a time and place for technology. Instead of using technology in front of others when you could be having a conversation with them, share your ideas and collaborate with them in person just as we do online. Humans are built to share ideas and tell stories. Knowing when to use technology and in the right ways allows the ultimate collaboration and a more socially happy life. Technology should be dead in the physical presence of others, but powerful when trying to connect to others.

Sounds

This set of readings is quite interesting because it made me realize that I never think of sound. I let sound happen, but do not pay attention to the miracle of sound and how beautiful it can be. In "Listen" this man brought up an interesting point. He claims that today, there is too much sound which is a problem. I would tend to agree with this statement. Although I never really experienced what it was like before recordings, I took a look at my life and realized that sound has progressively taken over. Before ipods, the artificial sounds I heard were TV, radio, and CDs. I appreciated these sounds very much and was forced to listen to songs I did not always like with CDs and the radio. This actually made me appreciate the songs I liked even more. Now, with access to every movie, TV show, and song we could ever imagine, it has become increasingly harder to love the media we once loved. This means all of the sounds associated with this media do not resonate as strongly in our brains and might not bring back the same powerful nostalgic memories. In addition, we can repeat songs over and over again as many times we want. Our sounds do not "commit suicide" like they used to, decreasing their quality. This is certainly a problem, maybe a problem different than Schafer suggests, but this is what I got out of it. In terms of nature, I believe this increase in sound has also affected our ability to appreciate the simpler, natural sounds of life. Another thing I found very interesting was that Harley has copyrighted their motor sound. I wonder if I could tell the difference between a Harley and a suzuki? If maybe over time my ears have become to tuned to Harleys because their sound is different. Another thing I found fascinating was the Japanese's sacred soundscapes. First of all, a soundscape is nothing I have ever even thought about as a term. I understand the sounds that happen in a certain environment and I might flock towards certain soundscapes, however I never consciously thought about controlling these environments and creating soundscape. It is so nice to see that the Japanese actually keep sacred the sound sounds they find most pleasing. I think this brings people back to the roots of sound before it was drowned out by artificial noise. Sound is awesome!