Arts 1601 - Fall 2007

I was really not impressed with myself after finishing this project. I did not complete my initial idea. This was because I was unable to get a few of the supplies that I need and also, my boss was pretty upset with me when she saw what I was doing with her product. I came to the conclusion that I had no other option but to use whatever I had at home because it was the last day I had the video camera. I came to realize that stop motion is really a challenge if you're not pretty familiar with photography in general.

I personally had trouble with focusing, as you can see. I was using a Panasonic video camera that I checked out from the art department. I think I would have had a much greater advantage had I had my own digital camera available. Lighting was also a problem for me. I had (what I thought to be) very bright lights surrounding the sink I was doing the dishes in. On the camera however, it looked too dark so I brought in another, smaller, light to brighten the area beneath the cupboards. Seeing it on the computer however, makes me think that it probably would have been okay had I not used that extra light.

Overall, I could have definitely done a better job. Lack of time and ideas really got to me. I would really like to do a better quality stop motion video.

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Stacy Levy creates mostly public art. She works with nature and loves it, because art can change the condition of the site that she is working on, and also because she believes that since she uses landscapes, her pieces can only improve with time. She explains that displaying public art can look different based on where the viewer is standing. She addresses the fact that it's hard to do what you want without alot of money. When collaberating with nature, she thinks it is important to make prototypes in order to see how the piece works with the site. Another thing that really demonstrated her dedication was that she tries to stay at the sites that she works with for twenty-four hours to see an entire sun cycle and tries to incorporate the way shadows fall in her work. What she finds annoying is that most of the time, the people who seek her out to incorporate her work in a particular area, want just one piece stuck in a random spot. This bothers her because when her main goal is to improve the condition of a particular site, she thinks that in most cases, the piece should be throughout the entire site. A good example of one of these times, is when she was doing a piece to improve the water drainage system in a parking lot. It is near impossible to create something like that, that sits in only one place and doesn't work troughout the entire parking lot.

My personal favorite piece that Stacy Levy created is titled River Eyelash. She painted three thousand buoys and stranded them together with pink rope making forty-two strands of buoys that were four hundred by one hundred feet. This piece was displayed in Pirrsburgh, PA in Point State Park. I like this piece because what resulted was something entirely unanticipated, which was a representation of wave currants and wave action. I also really like it because I think it is fun and colorful. People can see this piece from all different angles, even from the highway. As an added reward, Levy incorporated audio to the piece, benefited by those who actually got up close to River Eyelash. Stacy Levy really helped me to further understand public art from an artist's perspective.

River Eyelash

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For my stop motion project I think I want to use pearls and jellies somehow. I work at a bubble tea shop and pearls and jellies are what we call “bubbles,� pearls are the round black balls of tapioca and jellies are colorful fruity pieces. The idea of them coming alive is very fun. They’re colorful, sticky, cut-able, etc. so I think that they would be a good material to work with. There are a number of things I could do with these inanimate objects. The jellies could be in a fight with the pearls, jellies could be afraid of the pearls, there could be some sort of dance routine, etc. I’m not set on the idea, obviously, but I do think they’re going to be a good material to work with. I would probably shoot the video at my work, The Tea Garden, because it is there that I have unlimited access to jellies and pearls (unless my boss comes in and thinks it’s a “waste of money�) This video inspires me because it is very colorful and it uses a lot of random materials:

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I learned alot while doing this project. It definitely gave me a new perspective on how much work goes into making videos, even if they're just small five minute clips. If I had more time I would have done it better. There are two clips in my video that sound like there's an airplane in the backgound. That's because I was at a place that had a lot of background noise. I'll remember that for next time. The reason I couldn't change that is because that "loud place" was the place where I work and I was really rushing to get everything done, hence being at work at shooting my video. I came to class today a half hour early to upload my video to the internet but I doubt that it will be ready in time. That is another mistake which I will remember in the future. I checked out a lighting kit but a few of the lights turned up in the scenes I shot. So next time- better camera/light placing! My friends and I all had a good time making this video and I'm pretty sure they'd be willing to help me out again if need be.
I took a pretty long time to edit my video. This is mostly because I originally came here with 15 minutes of awkward scene footage and I had to chop everything down so much. I had fun with the music and I incorporated one of my favorite intrumental bands called, Ratatat. I would definitely do this project again, and of course, do it better. As of right now, I'm excited to start the stop motion project.

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I thought that of the few videos we’ve seen in class, instructing people on how to have a certain persona were really funny. For my first video project, I think I’m going to instruct my audience on how to be awkward. I can see a bunch of different situations that could be included in this video. Some examples could include various phrases someone could say, farting on a date, jumping into conversations at the wrong time, going for the wrong handshake, etc,

I really like the idea of using multiple angles for my how-to video. I don’t think that I will personally be a character in my video because I want to be the one operating the camera. Using color effects could be interesting as well. For instance, switching back and forth between color and black and white film. The awkward silences that always seem to follow an awkward moment create the perfect transition between situations. I don’t think that I want to have any narration in my video. I think it would be much better if it were just different situations.

An example that comes to mind are a series of videos done by Liam Sullivan, whose done such videos as shoes, muffins, text message breakup, and let me borrow that top. The songs are what is supposed to be funny in these video clips, however the beginning sequence with “Kelly’s� family is what is truly funny. This is especially evident in “let me borrow that top.�

I’m most intrigued about doing a video about awkwardness because I constantly find myself talking about how awkward I am with my friends. We’re always wondering why we can’t sometimes just be normal in situations. This video could go in numerous directions. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to record and edit this video.

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I chose to record sounds while going on a walk around Lake Harriet. I decided on that location because I've always found that particular lake to be the most relaxing and enjoyable to walk around. I picked a pretty windy day to go out and record sounds so there was a lot of material I couldn't use. I also didn't expect to hear the song 'Baby Love' at the end of my excursion. I organized my sounds in the order of which I walked. That part was rather easy for me. The most challenging part was finding clips that were easy enough to hear through all the wind. I used a lot of the fade in/fade out effect. I like this effect because it makes everything flow better. I also amplified a couple parts, for example, I made the clip with the crickets louder. The process of this project was very stressful for me because I was having technical difficulties for about a day. When I figured that part out it went alright. Editing takes forever! It was a good experience but I'm glad it's over.

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Audio

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