November 2010 Archives

Wong Fu Productions started off as a group of UCSD film students making videos as a hobby. It has since grew into an independent studio that focuses on short films but has also branch out into other areas such as music video and working with other independent groups. They have since been a role model for Asian-Americans, who are usually underrepresented in the mainstream media, and has given them a voice. Many themes of the work are also universal and deals with everyday life in our society so that their messages are not just limited to Asian-American, but can be reached out globally.

Some of their works include:

When Five Fell:
This video uses objects to tell the story about unrequited love.

Orient Express:
The challenge was to make a video with only the four sentence of dialogue used in the video.

Technology Ruins Romance: The Letters
A short comedy film about how technology changes our relationships

I have reached a conclusion to what I believe I want my final project to be. I have decided to go with my original proposal and make a face out of various images. I have a basic idea of what images I want to use to make up certain portions of the face, but I don't know them all yet. I know that I want nothing on the image that I haven't placed there for a specific reason. I'm really excited to get started and hope it turns out as well as I'm imagining it will.

So I thought a bit about what I want to do for my project as far as the concept goes and I'm interested in doing something about people and our interactions with technology. I think that I want to use video and sound as my mediums but processing is a possibility if I can figure it out well enough. I want to show in some way how technology has become a part of our everyday lives and the affect that it has on us.
The finalcut tutorials and guide will definitely help since I have not used it for a video yet. If i decide to use processing, those tutorials will also help.
First, I need to develop a clear way to show my concept, then I will start getting footage, followed with the editing which will be the most important part.

My concept isn't very clear to me yet, but I have a better idea of what I would like to do. I would like to use processing, and possibly some sound art as well. I plan to create something visually stimulating with different shapes and colors, that will be interesting to watch. The processing tutorials will be helpful as I proceed. My timeline will be to first explore more tutorials and ways to create different patterns before I start creating my piece. I should start my project no later than the end of this week!

I am also interested in creating a music video. I myself, will create the song and musical instrumentals and videos.

This is a detailed guide to using final cut express that may be helpful as you refine your technique using video as creative media.

* Setup
* Capturing Video
* Interface
* Tools
* Inserting clips
* Filters and Transitions
* Sound/Music
* Adding Titles
* Compression
* Troubleshooting

I went to the walker I couple weeks ago to make up for missing the Monday night film screening session that I missed. I was able to see two important exhibits: Yves Klein and the Dou, Eiko and Koma. The first I saw was Yves Klein's work. His installations were my favorite. He had one section of coral and sponges that he painted a rich blue and purple. I had the Impressions that they were preserved growths from an alien Planet. the Next Installations were his body paintings of the female form. But what I though was profound is that Klein did not just really on paint for these works. Aside from Having nude women covered in paint stamp their form on a blank canvas, Yves also outlined their bodies with a flame retardant lacquer against the canvas. After the women stepped away from what appeared at first to be a blank canvas Yves then blasted the canvas with a flame thrower as someone else was soaking it with water. This made the canvas a beautiful brown with the female outlines preserved in the lacquer.

The next exhibit was the dance performance of Eiko and Koma. this one I was only able to stay for 10 minutes. but the room was dark as I walked in. there were two spot lights on two naked bodies on the floor in a nest of black crow feathers. The bodies hardly moved at all and they few times they did it was very sloth-like. There was water dripping from the ceiling almost rhythmically. it was a very peaceful scene but I got bored after 5 minutes. Not one of my favorites.

Heres the link to Joost's website
http://www.lumen.nu/rekveld/wp/index.php

I want to use a motor and strap lights on string and various strings or flexible beams then I want to attach it to some kind of power source with an interactive "on" switch then make a video with a first person cam of me interacting with it. I want to keep it vague for now cause the style and composition of the video is subject to change.

I may use processing as the medium for my Independent processing, and I would like to either do some sort of interesting visual presentation that is different every time, or something that is physically difficult to look at. The processing tutorials and references would be pretty useful to me when doing this.

I'm thinking of using stop-motion and video to create Music Video thing.
I chose music , which is "Life Goes On" by Dragon Ash ( They are Japanese musicians)
And I'm in process of making story for the music video..
Probably I will make it like JSA's promotion video thing. (JSA=Japan Student Association)

So I am thinking about making a music video for my independent project- i think i know exactly what i have to record to have an effect on people- my goal is to make people want to hit the replay button.

So far, I think I want to do video as my media because so far it has interested me the most, but I somehow want to incorporate multiple medias. I want this project to be different than anything else I have done so far. I want to maybe have exploration as the focus. I don't really have any solid ideas yet but I want this project to have a definite statement to it.

As of now, I'm considering going back to Photoshop. I'm a little unsure of what I want to do exactly. For some reason, the image that keeps popping into my head is one of a face that takes up the entire image. The face is made up of various aspects of my life, for example, the lips are made of Arabic text and the eyes are reflecting various thoughts I have. I think my greatest difficulty will be incorporating all of my ideas fluidly into one image. I don't want it to like like a shoddy collage, I want the first thing identified to be the image of a face followed by recognition of its composition.

Christina Mcphee and Mathew Merrett are the artists i used, here are the links I used:

http://www.christinamcphee.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/christinamcphee-trese-presidio09.jpg

http://www.christinamcphee.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/honeyB_christina_mcphee2010.jpg
http://www.christinamcphee.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/hotcage_christinamcphee2010.jpg
http://www.christinamcphee.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/green_algae_oil_on_boom_port_fourchon5_christinamcphee2010.jpg

http://vimeo.com/8716011
http://vimeo.com/5920111

http://www.thephotomat.ca/#imagegalleries/decay/urban decay/1
http://www.thephotomat.ca/#imagegalleries/decay/urban decay/7
http://www.thephotomat.ca/#imagegalleries/decay/urban decay/14

http://www.thephotomat.ca/#imagegalleries/chernobyl/pripyat gallery/2
http://www.thephotomat.ca/#imagegalleries/chernobyl/pripyat gallery/18
http://www.thephotomat.ca/#imagegalleries/chernobyl/pripyat gallery/23
http://www.thephotomat.ca/#imagegalleries/chernobyl/pripyat gallery/31

Here is the link to Laurel Beckman's work.

http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/faculty/beckman/index.php

I am thinking of doing the theme of identity again except maybe a little more abstract this time. I would probably end up using video for my choice. The theme would be leaning toward fitting in a group or society so it would start out with someone or something trying to fit in or realizing that they are different from everybody else. I'm just wondering if I should include myself to make it more realistic or if I should use inanimate objects to make it more abstract. I would also like to learn more about transitions and more effects, especially zooming or blur and overlapping videos.

For my independent project I am going to choose to use stop motion animation. It was my favorite type of media that we have used so far. I am still not sure what I am going to do for it as a story. I might be drawing a story or I might try to do something outside with snow or nature.

I know exactly what I want to do for my independent project. I am going to make a short film/clip. And that's all that I have so far. :) I know that I want to make a film of some sort, probably from 3 to 5 minutes long, with overly exaggerated sound effects. With that being said, my media of choice is film and sound. What I'm going to film is unsure but one thing that's for certain is, it's going to be a mini story of some sort with a beginning, middle, and end (maybe). My goal is to make it entertaining with full of humor, or at least I hope it'll be funny for the audience. I hope at the end, I'll have ample of time to edit the piece and won't have to do any re-shoots, unlike the last time for my video project.

Processing has a large community of people using developing and teaching with this open source software

Dan Shiffman has created some introductory tutorials interesting and playful examples to get a feel for what is possible to do with Processing.

We will experiment with:

3-5 mouse pressed key pressed

5-3 rollovers

5-5 button as switch

9-10 interactive stripe

10. implementing a timer

15.2 image sprite

17.5 Rotating Text

I am not sure exactly what the final outcome will be, but like Oliver, I was extremely turned off to video due to the time that it takes from you and the extensive technical difficulties that have already arose.
That being said, I want to stick with my infatuation with humanity that I have stuck with throughout the duration of this class. However, I want to focus on something that is extremely relatable in our lives today, and to push the transparency of my personal self more to enhance my vulnerability to the class. I want to use sound art as a way to portray a struggling relationship between a couple. Really tell a story that hits close to home but to not do it in such a literal way.
SOO, my media of choice would be to use audacity to tell this story and to use voice recorders to execute my project.
Some questions I have include:

+who will be speaking, what will the relationship portray?
+what points do i want to hit lose to home with
+what emotions to i want to create within this piece
+how long will it be

At this point, the most helpful thing will be to spend time with my thoughts and really figure this out so that I come out with something that I am extremely proud of.

I have another idea in mind though! we will see.

The first piece of work from the processing exhibition that I really seemed to like was a piece called "Bees" by Julia Stanat. This piece was really simple and geometrical in a way, and I just really liked the contrast of the vibrant red and green. It begins with a black canvas with a bunch of faint wispy circles slowly moving around, red ones on the left and green on the right, and then they come together in the middle and get darker and fuller until they have met together and made this sort of half red-half green honey comb type shape. All the while the circles are still faintly moving, and it really messes with my eyes. Its hard to focus on it, but I think that's kinda cool.
The second one that really entranced me was called "Burning Liquid Sky" by Mario Klingemann. The whole piece is just a canvas of a glowing orange in multiple shades and white and black in some spots, and all over it there are little wormy squiggly things squirming about. It almost gives the appearance of when you look at the surface of a lake or swamp and you see all of those little organisms wriggling about on the surface of the water. It has sort of a nightmarish quality to me, but that is cool because I kind of like nightmares haha.
With both of these pieces made through processing, I really don't know much about how they were made, besides just by entering a bunch of crazy code into some computer program. Computer programming and code is really just something foreign to me.

For my project I have been thinking about combining video and stop motion into one piece. I'm not sure what my theme/concept will be but I want to blend video and stop motion to create a seamless flow of something. It will be important to come up with a distinct vision and go with it throughout the whole project. I also want to create an audio track for this visual.

I am still really not sure as to what I am going to do for my final project. There is a chance that I might be using video, but I was a little turned off of it for now due to all of the technical difficulties that I experienced with the last video project, even though I was happy with my final result in the end. I am leaning towards doing my final project with stop-motion, involving clay. Working with stop-motion was really appealing to me, and I really wanted to do something with clay just because of its malleability, and the possibilities for animation that it has. I hope to construe some sort of narrative through the process, but it might not be a narration in the traditional sense.

Mycelium was one of my favorites. I think the main reason I like this exhibition is because it deals with some sort of photography. I'm just perplexed on how the code was written to draw lines of white that "eat" up the lighter parts of the image and yet not cross over its own line at the same time. If its possible I would like to do some sort of photo manipulation like Mycelium for a future project.

My other favorite was the fine collection of curious sound objects. I had no idea what to expect for this one. I just saw the thumbnail with the German guy holding the speaker box with a hand crank. I thought it was sweet how he used live recordings with the objects as microphones and then interacting with them so the can regurgitate the sound in an altered way. He used a gyroscope for the bucket and some sort of device that manipulates a stylus needle from a record player.

If I were to choose a project proposal at this time, I would probably do a type of video. Keep in mind I will more than likely change my mind multiple times before I create my piece, but as of now I would like to do a type of montage. I imagine I would use people, which is something I have not yet used in my pieces, and have speaking involved. It would be interesting if I could somehow come up with a story for this piece. It would be helpful for me to explore more different kinds of digital artists' work on the internet for ideas and inspiration.

Anna Buresh

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/88886

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/88839

Describe your independent project as you imagine it at this time:

Your project proposal includes:

~ your concept
~ your media of choice
~ a visual or narrative description of your project
~ questions that you have in mind as you begin
~ what will be most helpful to you as you proceed

One work that I found interesting is a work titled "Birds!" This set of videos shows a few clips of birds that are digitally enhanced and manipulated to create an intriguing visual. In one video a group of birds fly in a swirl motion while an eclipse takes place behind them. Another video shows the same group of swirling birds with a close of a bird flying directly in front of the camera. These videos have a certain vibe and look that really appeals to me.

Another work that I found interesting was "Mycelium" which shows the a mock growth of a fungus. The video begins with a black background and slowly, white squiggle lines enter the backdrop and wind themselves into the image of a man's face. The white lines create an interesting profile by being able to shade between the whiteness and the black backdrop to annotate the man's face.

Ladies and Gents, give a hand to Yang Fudong!

Yang Fudong1.ppt
Prada: Spring

The first work that I enjoyed was my little privacy made by Niklas Roy. I thought his use of playing with society's mind was interesting. I selected this piece because I think it is interesting how it seems like many artists now are using technology in place of human interaction - it is telling of our growth of a society and were we are going for the future. The video shows how the artist created it, with a motorized zip line and a computer - but I would like to know what his inspiration was for it.

The second one I liked was the Mud Tub by Tom Gerhardt. Sticking with the idea that technology is now interactive, and can be used in place of a human, this work intrigued me in the sense that the artist connected nature and advanced technology but put them in an arena where the interaction between both was simple and accessible. The artist possibly created the work by putting sensors in the mud. It reminded me of those interactive "stepping pads" that are often put in malls to entertain young children. Stepping on it (or in this case feeling it) will move the computer animated object away from your foot or hand.

I'm excited to learn more about this!

here it is finally

I like "Bubble Chamber" because the patterns it creates eventually ends up looking moon-like even though it starts out with pretty simple colors. I have some idea of how he did this, but the details escape me. the movement of each particle is a function of time, and he used trigonometric functions to modify the path each particle took. When two particles occupy the same space they have instructions on how to change their path based on the specifics of the "collision". If the particle never does collide then at some point it spins in a circle where the radius changes as a function of time.

I also like "Just Landed" because it turns social networking in to a cool visual representation, and also software based on this same idea could have some interesting applications. It must have a list of locations that it looks for, and a corresponding list of coordinates for each location, when it finds a location it draws a line between those coordinates on a map.

I did some final editing with sound for my video.
This is the complete version.

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/88771

This is my finalized video that I missed to present on last Thursday. I apologize for the absent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpoI_nHl_Pw

One example from the online Exhibition that I like is "MTV ID 2009" by Dimitre Lima. I chose this sketch because the psychedelic patterns keep me interested. When I watch I'm not really paying attention to the "MTV" graphics, just how they unfold and swirl around are so beautiful to me. The artist must have created the work by using the original MTV logo and morphing it into different pieces.

I LOVED "Body Navigation" by Ole Kristensen. I love how they used real people that danced through different images in the same space throughout the piece. Different images appeared on the ground and the dance was choreographed to follow whatever was moving under their feet. I am not entirely sure how this was created, but from some shadows that I saw from the dancers I am assuming it was done through projectors on the ceiling. It was a beautiful piece and very creative. I encourage anyone that enjoys dance to check this out!!

The first online exhibition that caught my attention was the piece called "In the Air" by Victor Vina and Nerea Calvillo. I was at first attracted to it by it's bold red color against the black backdrop. Once I read more about it, however, it became more appealing. I really enjoy how the scientific aspects of urban environments can make truly beautiful art. It gives me hope that, in the future, an understanding can be reached between the real and the surreal, the earthly and the divine, the corporeal and the ethereal.

The second piece I enjoyed the most was the piece called "Mycelium". The difficulty that is apparent in the creation of each image adds a depth of appreciation to the already stunning work. The use of words to create an actual image is a clever new take on the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words".

What is Identity?

I couldn't make it to go to Walker art center on Nov 1st because i had a class, but today i arranged the schedule to go there by myself..

And I wasnt really sure what i was supposed to watch at there, because seems like there were no films other people watched on Nov 1st.

The only films available today were short films made by "Eiko&Komo" they are dancers or something.. Films I watched today by Eiko&Komo

1:Tentacle - the music they used sounded like traditional Japanese music which use Taiko(Japanese drums) , bells, Japanese flute.. (Eiko & Komo are Japanese names so I guess they are Japanese). The object in the movie was first so close to toe camera so I couldnt tell what it was first, but later they slowly zoomed out and I realized it was naked person.. they way she moved was so slow, it reminded me of Japanese traditional dance "nou".

2: Bone Dream
again, naked persons. They are all naked in the movie ( of course you cannot see everything ) the style of the movie were almost all same.. there was a small movement, and it was so creepy.

3: Lamnet
two naked person lying on the floor, and there were water reflections of them. the beginning it was creepy but later music changed to erotic mode and the whole movie became kinda disturbing..

Not only movie but they were also doing living installation on the third floor and i went to watch and it was also like movie.. They were lying down on ground (which was set up like in the forest or something ) barely moving, naked. They represent nature or something..

I thought it is a new stuff, but doesnt mean I liked it.

Overall visiting Walker art center was interesting experience, and I want to go there again. not for naked!

This is a one minute preview of my video project. I will upload the final version soon.

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/88311

It's not completely done, but brace yourself.

The Roommate

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/88167

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/88147

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/88118

"The Journey"

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/88145

"Rumination"

For our final sketch we will be exploring to open source software Processing - available to you for free downloading.

In preparation for Tuesdays class on 11/16 download processing onto any machine that you have access to between now and Tuesday morning.

Explore some of the ways that artists and designers have used Processing in the online Exhibition.

Due Tuesday:

A. Do the Getting Started tutorial

Browse through some of the other tutorials so that you have a sense of what is possible to do with Processing/

B. Select two examples from the online Exhibition and describe:

1) why you selected each of these examples

2) what attracted you to each of them

3) how do you think the artist or designer created this work

So I feel like the transitions are a bit rough but I got my point across. I realized that even though I created something that was out of my comfort zone I would rather produce a film that is more similar to the style of my first video.

couldnt post the video yet but its on the server

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/88139

Forgot to post this before so I'll do it as if I hadn't already completed most of it, I plan to use ground turkey as the main character in my video. There will be no dialog, all the communication will be non verbal as ground turkey cannot speak, and I think a considerable portion of it will have no sound at all. The images should speak for themselves.

Here's my project. I named it "Aged Transportation"

http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/87698

I'm an entertainer at heart and I enjoy telling stories. I like to make things with the audience in mind: what will keep them tuned in, wanting seconds, on the edge of their seat, intrigued. Which is why, I am making this video project from the production perspective. There is going to be a beginning, middle, and some sort of ending that will leave the viewers with a big question mark.

At first, I wanted to shoot the production all in one take where there are no cuts or transitions; the camera continues rolling as it follows the subject(s) from point A to point B to point C and so on. But still being in the Halloween mode, I decided that I want to attempt to make a short scary movie.

With that being said, I'm on the road of making a scary production in which there are over the shoulder shots, cuts, and tricks with the lights. I enjoy watching horror films and so I hope I enjoy making one as well, hopefully I don't scare myself in the process.

As for the title, I don't have one yet. If nothing creative comes to mind, I'll probably just title it, "The Roomate".

I left last class not exactly sure which way I would be going with my video project. Although I still do not have a concrete plan for my project, I taped some footage this weekend of the scenery looking out of a car. Hopefully in class I will bring everything together in a way that will be interesting!

My plan for this video is to tape the night life and kind of transform in into the daytime life. I don't know what I still want to include in it but I'm going to record what I can and see what I can make out of it. If that doesn't work, then I think I'm going to have to do something else. I'm not sure what exactly but I guess I'll just have to wait and see what works out for me.

I am working on a sort of conceptual piece that incorporates a looped set of videos of myself rambling on and on about some unintelligible topic. i am considering having a subtext of words that are clearly unrelated to what I am talking about, or... if i can figure out the logistics of it, a "bouncing ball" where viewers are almost encouraged to read with it, despite the fact that it is not what it being said.

as I said in the group discussion, right now I have a plan to basically just film things happening all around my neighborhood in the environment.. hopefully these things will either be found interesting, or visually pleasing or both.. I reserved a camera and tripod for the whole weekend so I will hopefully be able to get a lot of good footage.

As of now, I have almost all my material for my project. I am going to shoot a little bit more but right now I have enough to visualize what I want to do. My idea is to portray how my surroundings affect me and how I view my surroundings. I also want to show in a way my mindset as of now and how I feel my life is right now. I plan on doing this by showing footage of me experiencing sights and places that I encounter on a daily basis but showing it in a way that conveys my life and mindset. I think repetition and focusing on filming things from a different perspective as well as things that usually go unnoticed are going to be apparent in my project.

When I was filming, I decided that I wanted whatever I was filming to be seen in an unconventional way so I messed around with different ways of shooting the footage. I utilized zoom a lot as well as using close ups. I have also been playing around a lot with the footage on IMovie. I have been changing around the contrast, saturation, etc. as well as the length of the clips. I think that this is the most important part of my project rather than the actual filming. As for the title, I am not sure but Viscous Cycle comes to mind.

As of now, the concept for my video project is to convey the idea of exploration and experience. I am planning to use source video from my trip to Europe this past summer. I also want to take some more video of moving natural occurrences such as the wind blowing objects, sunlight, and cars in motion. By combing these two types of video I want to create the sense of experience and how it relates to my life today.

I think the hardest part for me is going to be editing my video in a way that transcends surface level thought and goes deeper into the concept of experience. I may need to spend extra time using final cut, as I am unfamiliar with the program.

I'm still in the process of experimenting and exploring filming around my places. I'm thinking of creating a video of my daily life and the activities on that specific day. I'm thinking of filming myself as I check through the lists I have on that day that there are so much to do, and I barely have time to study or do other things. Hopefully things turn out well as I work with it this week and weekend.

I think I am going to do something with text and sound/music. I think i am going to film my self writing inspirational quotes from some of my favorite movies. I have an idea on how im doing my transitions but its not set in stone yet.

So I tweaked my idea a little bit from when we last talked. I want to be talking to the viewer, more of a speech genre. I want it to be philosophical, thought provoking with a slight hint of poetic undertones at the end if I'm capable. So in the beginning I want it to set up the question "who am I ?" and "what defines us?" then I want to lead into my opinion on what defines us as a human being. After that, I want to describe myself in that same sense and maybe end with some music.

Thursday November 4th:
• Bryan

Tuesday November 9th:
• Akuoma

Tuesday November 16th:
• Pafoua
• Anna
• Kaonue

Thursday November 18th:
• Alex
• David
• Justin
• Estebán

Tuesday November 30th
• James
• Logan
• Mary

Thursday December 2nd:
• Oliver
• Mina

Tuesday December 7th:
• Jared
• Nick
• Lee

My project now is completely different from what I mentioned in class last time we discussed our concepts. Originally, I had wanted to make a video of me going about my daily life with no sound other than my thoughts. What has now taken over as the focus of my project is transportation. By taping the camera to the top of my helmet and then placing it on the dashboard, I have recorded my journey from class to home on both my bicycle and in my car. Due to the length of the total trip, I have had to speed up and remove various portions of the video. As for a soundtrack, this is where I'm having some difficulty. I want something that will reflect my mindset, yet blend in well with the surroundings of movement, transportation, and everything associated with it. The easy choice would be "Life is a Highway," but I refuse to take the easy way out. I have a second obstacle that will be a little more difficult to overcome. I currently have a 14 minute video. While proud of the fact that I have shaved off approximately 16 minutes, I'm still about 9 minutes too long. The rest of my time now will be spent deciding what I need to get rid of and what sounds I should put in.

I currently don't have a title, but I suppose right now I'll just call it "Journey".

While keeping in mind that this has a chance to switch gears as it is not nearly completed, I have tried to stay along the lines of using my recurring theme of a love for humanity for this video portrait. I knew I wanted to do a documentary sort of thing, so I first started with a question - "What makes you happy?" A simple question that I feel doesn't get asked enough, and is completely subjective to the person. I started with asking my roommates and my neighbors, but many more short interviews are to come. However, I am trying to decide what I want to do for an intro and conclusion, and if I want music, what kind do I use.

Technically, I have been playing with the zoom when my interviewees answer the question - trying to capture that moment when their mind produces a smile, or the moment when they look away from the camera. Simplicity is a theme for me in this as well.

Perhaps 'The Beauty of Simplicity' as a title? WOW made that up right now. :)

Conceptually, I knew I wanted to do a semi-inspirational piece that wasn't too far-reaching because I am not "fluent" in Final Cut, so trying to produce something effective, yet not too hard to execute and edit has been my struggle throughout the exploration of the 5 mediums in this class.

Logistically, the subjects of my video are all around me at all times, it is up to me who I choose to ask and what their answer would mean in my video.

I wish you all luck while we go through this learning process together :)

Post a description of your video project.

The completed video is due at the beginning of class Thursday, November 11th.

• Elaborate on your concept such that the reader can imagine the focus of your creative
project.

• Define the specifics of what is required to actualize your vision.

Be explicit as you list the technical, logistical, and conceptual details that you need to
realize in order to complete your project.

• Include your project title, or working title, if you know it at this time.

1st Set: "Eaux d'artifice" by Kenneth Anger. I really enjoyed how this piece portrayed such a tranquil and peaceful mood. The combination of the water, music and lighting made the film very pleasant to watch. Set in 1953, I am not sure if they had the opportunity of filming in color, however I enjoyed that it was black and white and think that it added to the peacefulness of the piece.

2nd Set: "Broadway by Light" by William Klein. This piece was interesting because it did not have any acting or people in it at all. I liked how Klein took very simple everyday things and created almost a story out of them without a script. It was all very candid and had a theme of day and night. It gave me a little inspiration for my own project in this class, giving a good example of how to make an interesting piece without having to use a script.

3rd Set: "T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G." by Paul Sharitz. This piece "touched" many of my emotions in quite an extreme way. It only took about 30 seconds for me to cover my eyes and stop watching because I found the images to be too disturbing. Unfortunately this didn't help much because Sharitz tapped into more than one of my senses and I couldn't tune out the words. Having listened to the piece very closely, I found that the word "destroy" somewhat morphed into the word "paralyzed" and as it repeated throughout. Although I did not enjoy this piece, it definitely left an impact.

4th Set: "Figures of Wax" by Jeremy Bentham. The last set of pieces seemed to all blend together to me, making it difficult to choose the most compelling. I chose Bentham's piece because it was the only that included English. Mannequins have always caught my attention for some reason, and I liked how they were emphasized in the piece.

Kenneth Anger, Eaux d'artifice (1953, 16mm, 13m)- I enjoyed the music in this film and the way it matched the camera shots. I also liked the use of the different fountains.

John Whitney, Lapsis (1963-1966, 16mm, 10m)- I found the film with the Indian music and kaleidoscope images to be the most intriguing. The combinations of designs and colors coupled with the music created a unique vibe that stood out from the other films.

Paul, Sharits, T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G (1968, 16mm, 12m)- While I was moderately annoyed by this film with it's repeated flashing images and recurring audio of the word "destroy," I was nonetheless intrigued by it. I was left wondering what the film maker's intention was with the film and what the word "destroy" and the flashing images were meant to convey.

Monsieur Teste, 1974-1975, color, 4 minutes, Brussels and Paris.- I enjoyed this film because of it's peculiar energy and the old dummy like character. I liked how the camera mimicked the subject by moming the camera's angle/orientation back and forth.

I found the screening to be very interesting at times, and not so much at other times. Overall, I enjoyed the diversity of the films and liked how I never knew what was coming on next. The film from the first set that I enjoyed the most was Kenneth Anger's Eaux d'artifice. I found the significance of water in the film very interesting. The way it was shot also caught my eye. In the second set, Broadway by Light by William Klein was my favorite. I liked how it really captured the atmosphere created at night by all the signs and advertisements. My favorite part was at the end when it contrasted everything by showing the area during the day without the lights. From the 3rd set, my favorite film was Frank Film by Frank and Caroline Mouris. It was a very unique film and it seemed like a very unique idea for a self portrait. The way the voices complemented each other keeps the viewer interested. The last set was hard to get through but I enjoyed Musee d'Art Moderne. The film creates a sense of anticipation that was captured really well.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movies last night... some more than others, but it was great to see such a broad overview of the history of experimental film.

In the first group of films, I most enjoyed Kenneth Anger's "Invocation of My Demon Brother". I saw this film several years ago at a retrospective of Anger's work, and actually met the director himself. His sardonic sense of humor, and that of the work he produces suits me well. Pushing the viewer's buttons by creating horrific satanic imagery, odd detached facial expressions, and a Technicolor-style palette much have been pretty shocking to viewers in the 1960's.

From the second set of films, I was struck by several of them. William Klein's "Broadway By Light" was gorgeous, and almost narrative in the way that the imagery and music synced together. It also made me miss NYC... bad! The piece by John Whitney, "Lapsis" was also pretty breathtaking. It looked digitally produced, and I felt like I had been smoking something.

The third set was probably my favorite. While I loved the aggressive animation of Breer's "69", and the multi-sensory assault of Sharits' "T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G", Frank and Caroline Mouris's "Frank Film" was pretty much genius. The humor, touching storytelling, and swirling visual images were clearly high art, but also tangible enough for non-artists to appreciate. While some of the movies seemed a bit long (Anger's "Eaux D'Artifice") or short (Brakhage's "Hell Spit Flexion"), the Mourises film was perfect.

Marcel Broodthaers's films made me react strongly. I had seen some of his films in the past, and enjoyed them more-or-less in a gallery setting where I could leave the films at will. After sitting through what felt like hours worth of hyper-cerebral conceptual films, I was struck by the fact that this is what makes people hate modern art. I can almost hear him saying "well, obviously they just don't understand" or "to REALLY understand this, you need to have read Proust". Words like insufferable and interminable came to mind, as well as a desire to shove thumbtacks into my eyeballs. Maybe I'm being too severe. I did enjoy "La Pluie" and even "Berlin Oder ein Traum mit Sahne", mostly for their visuals. The surrealist humor in the latter one was there... but did it have an effect on me? Come to think of it, here I am talking about it so vehemently the next day, so I guess it did!

Frank and Caroline Mouris, Frank Film (the guy made an autobiography)
This screening was pretty forward, I liked how there were so many segments of information all in the same persons voice, it was also pretty funny.

La Pluie (project Pour un texte)
At first it started off really pointless- so did many other films in my opinion but this one had some sort of feeling to it. When I was watching it i became very annoyed, annoyed that it kept raining and that he still proceeded to try and write a letter in the rain with his ink spilling everywhere.

The Most Compelling
Paul Sharits, T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G

I thought the film screening was very different. I thought some of it would have been more like the film we watched in class. Unfortunately I was not able to make it to the first sets cause the bus ride took longer than I anticipated. The first film I saw was by Dave Fleisher and it was Ko-Ko`s Earth Control. I just thought it was amazing how they were able to edit something like that back in 1928. The next film was T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G by Paul Sharits. In the beginning i thought it was saying destroy during the film but by the end i as hearing distort and I thought i was noticing different people through out the film. And the last film was Monsieur teste. It started out kind of boring but then kind of picked up into a comedy. And the use of music from in the beginning being slow then by the end being fast.

1) Invocation of My Demon Brother: I found this to be an expose of experimentation, chaos, and the contemporary political situation in the world. Symbols are redefined and used in ways not common to the everyday norms of society. The American flag and Nazi swastika are commonly found throughout the clip.

2) Broadway by Light: The complete and sole use of light as a medium to tell the story was quite compelling. It was ironic that the lights of the night were extinguished by light itself.

3) T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G.: To say that I enjoyed this piece even minutely would be the overstatement of the century. It was, however, compelling in the fact that it was annoying to the point of anger. The word "destroy" lost all meaning within the first minute in a half of the 12 minute redundant piece. This had to be the point of the clip.

4) La pluie (Project pour un texte): This was an intriguing piece. The fact that he was getting doused with water while trying to write with a fountain pen was very subtle. I didn't even know it was water until he was completely soaked. The fragmented chronology of the piece was also intriguing and made a statement that was outside my personal realm of understanding.

The film El Espectro Rojo was confusing at first before I realized that the whole film was in reverse. I also noticed they did a lot with editing to make objects appear out of nowhere.

A Small Hyrdomedusan Polyorchis Haplus was very calm and tranquil. The jellyfish reminded of Finding Nemo the whole time.

T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G. was 16 minutes of repetitive seizures and was annoying to sit through. The graphic images also didn't make much sense.

Berlin order ein Traum mit Sahne was interesting because it reminded me of a dream sequence. I like the way they used the boat to signal that maybe the father just woke up from his dreams

Last night was actually my first time ever being to the Walker Art Center, but I didn't stay there as long though. So here are my four films that I liked. For the first set of films we saw, I liked Jean Vigo, Taris. It was neat how he showed all of the different types of styles of swimming and also it almost seemed as if he was trying to teach how to swim.

The next set of films, A Small Hydromedusan Polyorchis Haplus by Charles and Ray Eames was really neat. The way the jellyfish moved and how you can see every part of its body was amazing since you never get to see something like that everyday. Another one off of the second set of films that I really liked was the Lapsis by John Whitney. The music for reminded me of the Indian movies I used to watch back then and with the background that changed colors was really neat. Its almost like you're in a trance.

For the last set of films that I saw, I liked Frank and Caroline Mouris with their Frank Film. It was really a attention getter for me because of all the images it used and how one voice would be listing the images and the other voice, he was talking about his life. It was also neat to see how many different images he gathered that were the same thing.

Overall, I have to say some of these films were kind of disturbing and creepy for me like the Invocation of My Demon Brother and the T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G one. I just didn't like them.

Write a two sentence comment on one film from each of the four sets of films being screened this evening.

Select the film in each of the four sets that you found to be most compelling.

Include a particular example from the film - a camera angle, special effects, staging, use of color, sound track, etc. - that illustrates your responses.

I really enjoyed watching (almost)all of the films last night. The last set by Marcel Broodthaers was a little long and slow for my liking, but that's ok. The first film that I really liked was coincidentally the first film of the screening. El Espectro Rojo was sweet to me because I have seen so many little old time films like that, but nothing of that style. nothing sub human or satanic which is what this was. Also I liked how it seemed to be about some sort of devil or demon in hell, but it was done like a magicians performance. The second film that really stuck out to me was Lapsis by John Whitney. This film was a serious mind trip and no wonder, because it was from the 60s (along with many of these I suppose) but it fit right in to its era. The thing that I found really perplexing about this film was how on earth Whitney was able to create it, because it was clearly some sort of computer program, but it seemed way way more advanced than the computer programs of that time (maybe they had some top secret military technology in on the project...). While watching the 3rd set, I was pretty positive that I wouldn't be thinking about the Sharits film, "T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G." because I found it really brutal and discomforting, but then after watching the set I realized that this brutality and disturbing discomfort was what made it stick out, and I believe that was probably intentional by Sharits on account of its relevance in time to the Vietnam War. Now as I mentioned earlier, the last set by Marcel was a little bit arduous for me to sit through, perhaps because it was the longest set and it was at the end. But with this said, the one that I found most interesting was "Monsieur Teste". The entire film consisted of this creepy wax doll of an older balding man, with a very weird and unsettled look on his face. He was constantly shaking his head as if reading, and it seemed as though there was some sort of a communication or dance between the camera and this doll. He would shake his head at the camera, then the camera would shake "its head" back at the doll, and then they would shake in unison. I don't really know what the film said to me or what the message was if any, but maybe that is just o.k. It was simple and somewhat beautiful in a creepy-unsettled-balding-man-doll sort of way...

During the visit at the Walker Art Center, I saw many fascinating arts and videos that I never imagined of.

The four videos that I liked during the Film Screening at the Walker Art Center were:

1. El Espectro Rojo
-I liked the humor in this video where the Skeleton Magician tries to work his magic, but is constantly interrupted by another magician. I like how they prepared and used a lot of materials including setting materials along with actual people.

2. Lapsis
-I liked how the video is created with colorful art structured into a circular vortex of design. This video makes me think of a mysterious portal. The audio music seems to be Ancient Egyptian style.

3. 69
-In this video, it reminded me of how I did my animation. Seems like its almost the same technique used to create photos from frames added with colors.

4. T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G
-I thought this video was colorful and repetitive. It seems like the message was kind of to pressure the mind of someone to do something they don't want to do or are thinking of doing. There were a couple of video filters that were used.

3 hours later...

From the first set of films I really liked Jean Vigo's 'Taris'. I really enjoyed this piece because it displayed swimming in such a beautiful way. The water was glittering, there were times when it looked like the character was moving but the water wasn't.The humor at the end was a nice twist as well.

From the second set of films I really enjoyed Broadway by Light, but my favorite was the film of the jellyfish - A Small Hydromedusan Polyorchis Haplus by Charles and Ray Eames. Brian informed me that these artists are a married couple who make furniture, as well as their investment in film. The pinkish glow of the water and the beautiful portrayal of the jellyfish was captivating to me.

The third set of films -as hard as it was to get through TOUCHING (NOT a fan) I ended up being intrigued by the last one in the set, Bruce Conner's Breakaway. The dancer being exposed in only black and white and the speed that Bruce used was really interesting. It was almost hypnotic, but really beautiful at the same time.

And the final hour was long, and very silent, but the halfway film caught my interest. Berlin oder ein Traum mit Sahne - the piece with the girl and the man in Europe. The flight humor was a good addition; the music was great as well. How the film was directed, I kept wanting to know more about the old man and the girl.

OVERALL it was a really interesting night! I was exposed to many different kinds of film and I was intrigued by the fact that most of them are at least 20 years old!