As typical of most of my projects, my initial idea was pretty ambitious. I started off with wanting to create a track — actual singing and adding background effects, then combining that with a video footage and animation. The story line was about living life being chased by ghosts of the past. Once I realized that all of that is quite a bit to accomplish in a week, I reconcepted and came up with the idea of Melancholy.
I shot a lot of footage in places I spend most of my time: the initial setting is Trophy Bar in Williamsburg where I have a drink on their drink board in tribute to my regular status, then the Broadway G stop that I pass through often, and finally my apartment/building. The self-created sample idea was replaced with using a song I already knew. I was initially planning to go with “Mojo Pin” by Jeff Buckley, but it didn’t invoke the sense of angst I wanted to get across. The audio clips were selected mainly from old movies (Gone With The Wind, Jezebel, All About Eve) and one more recent favorite (The Truth About Cats and Dogs). They went from sad/despairing in the beginning to ending on a hopeful note. The visuals were meant to be dark and the blurry, jerky movements to indicate a crazed state of mind.
It wasn’t a total success, but I like how it came out.
Aiwen and I are collaborating on the After Effect animation. It’s based on the lyrics of this song she brought to our group meeting and the idea that spun out of that. I drew the world’s crappiest storyboard in my notebook:
The basic idea is that a tapestry hanging on the wall in the museum depicts a moment in history where a battle destroyed a town and the animation is tied to the song lyrics. I think we have something really rich to work with and it should be really cool. Here’s to hoping that we have luck with After Effects.
I have finally gotten to a place where I can reverse my “Worst Program Ever!” label on Final Cut. During the editing process, I finally became a lot more comfortable with it. And though I’m still not a whiz (by far), finally knowing enough to sorta get by was a nice battle to win. Though I still have no idea how to insert titles on slugs. I guess I’ll figure that out some time before next semester if I’m lucky.
I felt pretty lucky to have such a great group. Everyone pitched in during the production and the editing process. I definitely felt my voice was well represented through it all (even though the resulting co-writer credit was a bit of a surprise) and everyone was easy-going and full of ideas, so that the whole long slog was fun and creatively-rewarding. And for once, I don’t even have anything I wanted to change. All success.
Special thanks to our volunteers, Tamar and Sofy, who played the students encountering “Dano.
My movie group decided last week that we were making an ITP takeoff of Being John Malkovich with our (unwitting) subject of Dan O’Sullivan. We spent some time debating if it was worth it to actually get him involved and I wrote the shooting script treatment as if he was.
We shot on Sunday and got about 95% of what we wanted to done. I’m definitely looking forward to editing and post-production. Some pics and a behind the scenes video below:
Here’s the track that Chika and I made with a combination of found sounds on her end) and mostly instrumental sections from songs that I gathered.
Made using Soundtrack Pro, definitely not the most intuitive program. There were definitely edits we wanted to make hindered by no clue to make it happen.
The assignment for class was to use stop motion techniques to create a :30 video. Bunmi and I partnered up and once she mentioned that her kid had a Transformer toy, we were off and running.
My first idea was to score it to “I Go To Work “, but ultimately we decided on “Stronger.”
This assignment was a ton of fun. Editing was the hardest part because once we cut out all the mistakes and boring stuff, we only had about 17 secs worth of stuff and basically had to double it. The moving frame transitions were completely an accident that we ended up liking. We had been trying to throw fade in/out slugs in there and Final Cut wasn’t cooperating (and we didn’t quite know how to use it, but that’s neither here nor there). We liked the way it looked and decided to keep it.
This week’s reading of Walter Benjamin brought up the question for me of once a work of art is divorced from any sort of specialization, what is the point of what you are looking at?
My weekend was spent down in DUMBO at the annual arts fest. My friend and I wandered in and out of the open studio spaces on Jay and Front Streets for hours. My brains were fried at the end and I find it notable only for all I’ve forgotten compared to the three artists I remember. There was art in excess, but it was easy to tell who the talented artists were on sight and those were the pieces that drew interest. The ones that shone through all the noise to me had bold colors, strong perspectives, and a sense of vibrancy. Also a sense of technical skill.
Benjamin mentioned that with the invention of mechanical reproduction, anyone could take a photo. Or write a page or use their video camera to make a movie. But not anyone can be a photographer, writer, or cinematographer. There is a definite division between something that was made and something that was created. He calls it the aura. The unique pull of a work created by someone who has mastered their artform. When confronted with art that had the aura of good work, my friend and I were easily able to separate that experience from all the crap that came before and after. “Wow, they were really talented,” we’d say before moving on to the next studio. Hours of sifting through art to find three talents is definitely worth it.
I decided to do a video about my ICM homework for a few reasons.
1) All the other classes I have are mostly sitting around and listening to people talk or readings….which really aren’t that interesting.
2) It’s probably the class I’m worst at out of the 4 and this video might end up being funny to watch if I get better or survive the semester.
This week’s reading was fascinating. The panic of the crowds reminded me of the Doomsday scenarios that were spread around when Y2K was a disaster specter in the late 90s. I think it’s always in human nature to panic. Panic is defined as: “a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals.”
It made me think about the supposed differences between human and animals, especially in the 3rd part when The Machine finally stopped. It is thought that crucial difference is consciousness and actually contemplating their existence. The problems arose for the people in the story when they gave up free will and curiosity in order to live complacently. It was ironic and fitting that the state of total self-interest and lack of mental exercise was called ideas.
My favorite saying that my father likes to trot out at me is: just when you think you have all the answers, they change the questions.
