Stop motion test

I was playing with sculpey clay, and made a bunch like this but I liked this one the best.

The only problem with the clay is that it gets brittle over time, especially with exposure to air. The critters I made started to fall apart as I move them- as seen here.

Solutions:

Utilize the clay's brittleness as part of idea.

Use wire to support clay and allow for greater range of movement.

Use a different kind of clay.

I like this idea though, it's fun and relatively simple to work with, and easy to control.

Observation Assignment

If you are looking at the road I am laying on my back looking up at the branches of the fourth oak tree to the left of the right corner of the chain link fence of Norman field.
I am lying. I am laying. I lay.
I am in the shade of the fourth tree and the grass is prickly. Florida grass is always uncomfortable and filled with bugs, but I am laying in the shade looking at the sky relaxing and enjoying the view. It's too cold inside the computer lab because the techy people want to keep the computers comfortable. The sounds of traffic is monotone and the consistency of people walking down the sidewalk that I can hear talking on the cell phones makes me feel part of something alive.
There is a bird in the tree hopping from branch to branch either picking at bugs or finding supports for a new nest. The leaves and branches are veins against the bright blue sky. They weave and jut in any direction they please as if their unwinding from a tight core. They stretch and twist across the sky and I mimic them on the ground with my body. I mimic nature. The moss hanging from the trees is such a tease. It looks so soft and pleasant but it is mite ridden. So its nice to look at thats it.

Meditation and Cell Phones

Out of all the benches to choose from this girl talking on her cell phone decides that the one that I am lying on, trying to meditate, looks especially inviting. Perhaps she wanted to absorb some of my peace and tranquility. It sounds like she is having a stressful conversation, maybe she she just wants to share her stress. Maybe by siting next to me it will somehow become diluted. Well it must be working. She just announced the good news that she "Sold her tickets for a SHIT LOAD of money!" I couldn't be more excited for her! Well I guess on the bright side she is giving me something to write about aside from the bricks that I just spent 10 minutes staring at. She must be talking to a sibling because she keeps talking about Mom and Dad. I think she is from South Florida. I have no basis for this assumption other than the fact that I find her presence overbearing and rude. This bench runs the entire length of the building! Why did she have to sit so close to me? I guess she just sat for the conversation because she got off the bench and the phone at the very same time. This building always feels like a maze to me, so many stairs and paths that seemingly lead to nowhere. I 'm so negative, and hungry. Snack time.

Observation assignment

All around me I see brick walls and then trees at the end of the hall. It's very peaceful and quiet except for the occasional steps of people walking near by. I feel the air softly brushing my hair and I can feel the heat coming from the light above me. I could fall asleep here. It is so peaceful and quiet...the hard floor I'm sitting on doesn't feel so hard anymore; my head is resting on a brick wall and it might as well be a pillow.

I wish I could paint what I see. I wish I could take a picture and capture this moment of peace. I could make a project; maybe film the little things and details I see.

I also see insects flying and the leaves of the trees are moving, as if they were waving at me. Now a lot of people are here. They're walking in all directions, some of them stopped to chat and they're looking at me. I hear birds. It's like there talking to each other just like the people around me are.

Now they're all gone and its back to the peaceful and quiet moment. I see colors on the brick walls. A lot of reds and blues and some yellows and greens...

I see a lot of materials around me...cement on the floor, iron on the bars of the stairs, wood in the ceiling, glass, plastic...I hear an air conditioner on somewhere...and now I hear people talking again. There's a lot of people around me talking about their classes, work...

I think this assignment has changed the way I see my current works in the way that right now I think little things are very important. Maybe I could edit my works a little bit and make them more detailed, maybe achieve the "feeling" I felt in this assignment.

field

The grass is so uneven in color and texture. It is mostly green with slight variations in tone, and also there are many browns and off whites where blades could not handle the extreme Florida heat, or have been stepped on. There are craters and bumps and tufts of grass formed by the constant crossings, games, practices that take place on this field. That seems like such a hazard, but looking at the field as a whole, it seems like a pretty safe place to be. It's surrounded by a fence. It is taller in some areas and shorter in others. It is made up of an endless amount of diamond shapes that are linked together, separating the field from the sidewalk. Interesting how the fence has openings that cannon be closed--for easy access in and out of the field. This basically defeats the purpose of a fence: to keep out, or to keep in. Without a continuous connection of the fence, anything or anyone can come in and anything or anyone can get out. The fence is pointless. But some people still treat it as a subconscious barrier between themselves and their destination, choosing it walk around it. Walking around and walking through the field--either way you lose. Either one trips, twists their ankle, or face plants into the ground due to the multiple craters all over the field; or taking the sidewalk route, one takes the risk of running into (onto) abandoned pieces of gum that use the bottom of your shoe as a new home. But which consequence is worse? Hard to tell, but the fence is there to help with the decision, because you must choose one or the other.

What time is it? Observation time!

-bird eating a lizard? bug? how often do birds have to eat?

-ants on the tree

-ants in a line/group mob going in same direction- that "ants go marching 1by1" song didn't come from nowhere.

-the tree has so many deep grooves bugs living in the grooves?

-pieces of tree are fragile and can snap off of tree

-leaves covering ground, things are constantly falling off the trees, leaves, pieces of bark, bugs?

-spanish moss, though cool looking and probably soft, is better not to touch- bugs inhabiting it

-small piece of trash on the ground- a part of a twix wrapper. did the person litter? did they try to throw away the trash but it fell out? trashcan too full? did they think because it was a small piece it didn't matter?

-the different shades of bark- from reddish brown to a dark and dull brown- actual changes and not just in lighting

-what makes a tree? how do we still know it's a tree even though we may have never seen it's type? what are people's personal connection to trees? childhood, work, relaxation

-slow constant flow of people

-some leaves have weird little circle bumps on them- what are they?

-green trace on bark- growths, parasites, fungus

-person w/ neck brace on and girly clothing on- how'd she get it? how does she feel about wearing it? she okay with it? embarrassed? is it due to an accident? or violence?

-people walking all have their ipods in- because of boredom? because they don't like silence? can't live without luxury? keeps them from thinking too much? helps them think?

-distance sounds from 13th street-even though nothing around is making noise, it's still not quite- feels like silence but background noise going on

-even though man hasn't directly touched all of nature, all of nature has been indirectly effected... affected? mreh- climate change, animals being forced into concentrated areas

-homemade signs with craft letters and laminated

-have to remove yourself when you stop talking- like you don't exist anymore

-someone's phone beeps- constant reminder of technology

-birds chirping- haven't heard it in a while

-lizards scampering- size is all relative- how big is the courtyard to them? a town? city? state? how far is the farthest they'll ever go? how long to they live?

-long spider web- what happens when they fall? do they die? or are they more hardy?

-old lady with furry purse- to young people is cheesy but other older people like it- who is right? will our own tastes change like that too?

Observation

I started out sitting under an oak tree that has branches extending out about 50 feet in diameter. I am near the fence that surrounds Norman Field and I am sitting on a root at the base of the tree. It looks like there is more moss than leaves hanging from this tree. Some of the branches dip down close to the ground as they get far away from the trunk. The grass was mowed recently but it is pretty patchy and there are a lot of areas that are just dirt or leaves. The side walk and bike path is about 30 feet away and Norman Hall is a little beyond that. A large group of runners just ran along the path from Norman Hall, towards the tunnel. Now a class is coming out to the field a few yards away and they are setting up things on the ground. I don't know what they are... But just now I heard someone talk about launching something. They are launching rockets into the air and measuring how far away they land. It looks fun.

Now I'm in a different spot because there were some ants on the ground next to me. I'm on a bench near the tunnel that goes under 13th street. I'm under another large oak tree but this one doesn't have any moss. The cars passing by are louder here. I am on a bench though instead of the ground and I am a few feet from the bike path/side walk. There are a lot of bikers and 2 rode by while I wrote that last sentence.

Observation Project

Sitting under the giving tree that gives me life through giving me air, I give it carbon dioxide while it pays me back with oxygen, all though I would much rather prefer some sort of monetary gift. But I'll stick with that. It's a nice tree, deeply rooted within the ground. Its bark effervescent of its age, and the trials and tribulations its gone through. A rough texture gives it the "bad-boy" edge I tend to look for in a customary tree. Its long, extended branches give a feeling of eeriness with a dash of creepy, yet I know they can easily wrap around and comfort me on my lonesome days. Funny enough, this is juxtaposed by the cherry, red berries dangling on the edges. Oh, how I wish they would fall so I could eat them! I do not want to "cherry-pick" the berries for it is not time. I must wait.

Is it me or does everyone who passes/walks by the giving tree a student/student in the making? Busy, engaged students walking lackadaisically step by step. Some faster than others late to class or to a possible job interview. Some even taking transportation into their own hands, skipping along, pedaling mountain bikes up a curvacious hill, or galloping by horse. LOL. Majority jog or run though.

I see some individuals with dark shades and brightly colored frames that could possibly glow in the dark. Some with yellow shirts, black pants or jean shorts. The typical Sperry's....ugghhh...no differentiation in that. Most with book bags on their backs, purses on their shoulders, food and cellphones in their hands. Consistent all across the board, male or female, black or white, short or tall, these individuals were plugged/tuned into their own world. Vibing to all types of music, bobbing their heads from side to side like bobbing for apples at a carnival, sort of. Everyone listens to music, no matter who you are. Nobody or somebody.

Observation in a Hammock

Wrapped in a cocoon of rope, isolated from the mainstream of campus, I witness people pass on by. They're usually alone, or with another person, determined to make it to their destination; these people are oblivious to the beauty around them. These people are oblivious of this concrete oasis, characterized by the pool of light at the bottom of the stairs and the slabs of concrete sprouting up. A couple of trees displace the landscape, but are simultaneously intertwined with this environment. The trees sway with the hybrid man-made/natural breeze; it's as if they want to escape the floor.

This environment is restricting, yet seemingly expanding. The sky spews into, and out of, these concrete barriers. Two circles expose the pipes that compose this atrium, while giving the false sense of space. The pipes themselves guide the scattered students (ascending and descending) that inhabit this atrium –– pipes create an imaginary route; they become imaginary guides.

As I look up, the light bulbs on the "ceiling" form a curve, akin to a smile. The windows around me expose me, and I become vulnerable. Once the next person wants to inhabit this hammock I'm in, I'll be displaced like the people who walked by me.

Observation Project- Birds and Bugs

I'm sitting on one of those bulky concrete benches, slightly weathered with age and lightly sprinkled with debris but in no danger of going anywhere anytime soon. They designed these objects for durability; at least thats my opinion, they certainly are lacking in the way of aesthetics and comfort. Sometimes I hate them for their blatant functionality, but I always appreciate their abundance and relatively large size, they are a great fit for a few friends or many papers. For whatever reason, I always feel compelled to sit on the edge of the benches. A girl close by in a pink shirt and jeans, who is laso sitting on the edge of a concrete bench, is also writing. I assume we write different things for different reasons, but from this distance I cannot know.

The wind is still, and the shadows only quiver slightly. Bird song brings a pleasant sort of life to to the area- the ever changing chatter of a mockingbird, the harsh "caw" of a crow, the slight twittering of what must be chickadees or tufted titmice. When I look to the trees, I can glimpse them. People always take birds for granted. I see one! It IS a chickadee, with its black cap and distinctive gray, white, and black color scheme. It is a warm sight. It reminds me of my childhood, of the years in which I was obsessed with with birds and frequently went birdwatching. Chickadees are known for being curious and playful, and are fun to watch.

Aww it's so cute!

Sometimes they land on branches where I can clearly see them. They seem ludicrously small. The crow, however, swopped over and has a bold presence. It's been a while since I stopped to appreciate birds like this. It's important somehow. I lost that patience I had as a child birdwatcher as I grew older, as life grew more frantic and demands became heavier. I am so very sick of urgency.

There are many bike racks here- white, scuffed, upside down "U's" in perfect rows on slabs of concrete. They are ridiculously boring. At this hour many of them remain unused, abandoned. The bikes line up with them. The whole sight is kind of depressing, like a conveyer belt.

A squirrel chased the crow away. The animal life march on above me. It is somehow reassuring to think that we are of little consequence to them, when on the whole I know thats not really true. The natural world is so inspiring compared to the sterile rows of bikes, representing sterile rows of people in a sterile institution.

Crawling near me on the lip of the table is a trash bug- those tiny worn like critters that build humpbacks out of debris. I got it to crawl on my hand- close up the creature has fierce looking pincers, but they are much too minuscule to pose a threat. The bug seems confused by the contours of my hand, but they don't they always seem confused?

A siren- so close to the hospital you hear those multiple times in a day. Adaptation is a blessing, but it makes you less aware. I no longer consider the potentially grave implications of the piercing sound.

The trash bug us pinching down on my skin. I can scarcely feel it. I wonder whats he's finding by doing that? I wonder what its like to be that creature. I'm taking him off off my hand now, because when he bites me it kind of creeps me out. Nature is like that- always so alluring, but so nasty! Like life it has all types of contradictions. I wish the trash bug luck. Personification is part of being human. Maybe the trash bug applies trash buggy qualities to his world, although I don't know if he's that advanced. Or she. It's a mystery. People want to unravel every mystery, but mysteries are what make life worth investigating. I hope we never know it all. I feel childish writing like this, but thats good I suppose.

Now I see an ant dashing across the table. This table is host to many lives, not just mine!

I see a downy woodpecker too- I never knew Gainesville was so rich in bird species. I need to pay more attention to the reality outside of myself.

a cursory unresolve

plaques line the walls, crooked. 4-9 names on each plaque, 10-20 plaques.

bridget mccarroll
robyn bomar
therese widemann

in a popular search engine a website beckons for a reunion, directories list locale within the last 10 years, obituaries mourn my loss.

students are on the same engine, different engines, different websites, popular, unpopular, unnoticed.

i am overwhelmed and recede back into my coffee cup, beige page, ball point pen.

bridget mccarroll..

an employee directs me to a computer catalogue

bridget mead
bridget miller
douglas mccarroll

woodgrain chairs creek, fingers press against plastic keys, but the room is otherwise silent. stares remain in 2D rectilinear constraints, the opposite of what would read as the eyes in pursuit of inquiry.

i still don't know who bridget mccarroll is.
i watch someone who is outside watching someone outside. he walks away. i walk away.

my coffee is cold.

Natalie's Amazing Time in "Nature"

I really feel like it is impossible to just sit somewhere and relax when there is so much to stress over: sculpture, work, my boss, people in my life, this stop motion project, photography project, work, money. This feels.....impossible. It makes my blood pressure rise and distracts me from things like relaxing, Or fun.
It doesn't matter if you're outside with nature or listening to music or alone in some quiet room. I am always thinking.
And God forbid I actually stop thinking about my temporary stresses; then I start thinking about larger and more profound things. I think about the significance of life, my life. I wonder what my future has in store; I hate not knowing what's going to happen. (I just interrupted my thoughts because this lead is super shiny and it smells like pot out here). I think about my relationships with other people and assess them. I can sometimes get really out there and contemplate things like the existence of god or a soul or something.
I worry a lot.
If I really start thinking about these things then Im really in for it. I'll be distracted all day from my thoughts, which continues into keeping me up at night. I don't have the time for all that stuff right now.
Although, This does help me with my projects sometimes. I like making projects super conceptual. I like making projects that are about something I think is important or that I spend time thinking about. I just don't have time for all this thinking. Art, when in art school, is super forced. It's hard to make well thought out art when its so forced.
There is some fat thing flying next to me with such a mechanical beating of its wings that it sounds like an engine. And it's annoying. And it one more thing falls out of this tree, I'm leaving this place.
There isn't much to say about my surroundings. It's hot outside, even in the shade. I can't even pretend that I'm in nature. There are these annoying girls talking and my "ambient sounds" are cars...and now a siren. This makes me think about my car. (Not that I can park in Norman or anywhere else at this friggin school, with its ridiculous parking). Now I have to repair it. Stupid old lady just drove into my car. Now my neck hurts.
It still smells like weed.
There are way too many people here who walk with their noses in the air. I hate that attitude. I feel like telling them to take that stick out of their ass. I can't handle that "I'm better than you" attitude. And so many people here have it. Ugh. Stop it, UF people. Teachers, frat boys, sorority girls, other girls (generalizing): quit it. No one likes that. You are not that cool.
This area I'm sitting in has a retarded layout. These stairs are useless. I actually have to walk upstairs, just to walk downstairs so I can go inside the building. What the hell is that? What a waste of materials and time.
I think i'm being negative today....

Human Skateboard

hehehe

strawberry swing

my inspiration for my stop motion project

more stop motion

Here's another stop motion animation made by PES. Check out their site for more of their videos: http://www.eatpes.com/index.html

A Stop Motion Within a Stop Motion :: STOPCEPTION

I feel that this video will sum up our process and final results ——— a very time-consuming and tedious process, but very rewarding results. Think about how many print-outs the man had to make...if any of you pull off something like this, STOP MAKING EVERYONE ELSE LOOK BAD!

stop-motion

Here is a music video by the band Mum. I like that they animated drawings and collages using stop motion. Enjoy!

Sin with Sebastian

Just thought this video has a lot of great effects we could all learn from. Maybe paint a baby or two gold for our projects. Just an idea.

video

SEMIOTICS OF THE KITCHEN: AN AUDITION BY MARTHA ROSLER

http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/media/video/10383

Harry Potter Teen Comedy

I'm sure most of you have probably seen this video by now, but for those of you who didn't, it's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince edited into a condensed trailer in a way to change the mood into a teenage comedy, akin to John Hughes' films and such.

I just want to point out the importance of audio setting the mood and essentially the theme of a video.

TERRIBLE

Smack My Bitch Up

what the title says.
watch 'till the end for a surprise.

Reflection on first project

Because I have no interesting videos to post this time... most of the videos I find on the internet are stupid video game flash parodies, young people trying to make funny videos, or movie trailers.

Anyway.

So... I don't think that I personally went as far as I could have on this project. From what I've seen so far, most of my peers are either in the same boat as me or found a really clever way to construct the footage (with tempo, music, good splicing... ect). I I think part of the problem is that the "found" footage was really, really difficult to work with. It was disconnected, boring, and repetitive; and very difficult to wrench a meaning out of it (beyond some sort of criticism or admiration of the school system).

Still, it was a good way to learn Final Cut, and it helped us remain disconnected from our work and not become too attached to it. I was glad to do the project, but I feel like I let myself down.

I just didn't know where to take my video; I felt "done" long before I actually was. I had that academic distance from it: I just wanted it finished at a certain point, as if it was an essay for class I had to add 500 more words to. In art, you have to develop a certain close relationship with your work: not a "precious" one, but a determined one, a drive to accomplish a little something with your art. At least I do. If I don't care about creating something that tries to impact others, my work will be weak. It might be "ok," but it won't resonate with the same kind of all important nuance that develops in art that I really "work" for.

This, for me, is the real challenge of being an art student: the struggle against the separation of "work" (school) and "play" (art). When the two unite, I am happy and productive. But I find this to be at odds with years of learning otherwise; grade school taught me to hate homework. To hate tests. To hate projects. To hate the classroom. With art, I feel maybe I can finally escape that, but art is difficult in this institutional setting that is ripe with old associations and reactions. But school provides such an excellent opportunity to learn, I can't pass it up. It's a tragic dilemma.

So that's my reflection/ramblings on this project. Next time, armed with my own footage, I will hopefully find that passion and create something i'm really proud of.

How To Murder Your Wife

I recently just checked this movie out from the library because Jack Lemmon was in it and didn't know what to expect. Despite being a black comedy and not totally serious, how do you take the sexism of the movie? Is it pardonable because it was '65 or totally inexcusable?

danse serpentine, 1900

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdSRPTRGQs&feature=player_embedded

Cindy Sherman

Doll Clothes

Jan Svankmajer

I love these stop motion animations by Jan Svankmajer. They are surreal, humorous and kind of gross. Enjoy! there are a lot more of them on youtube as well.

SBTRKT

The Wildfire video by SBTRK is one of my new favorites. It has some interesting close ups and instances where the video changes speeds which I think fit in with the music flawlessly. The imagery and the concept of the video also parallel very well.

my oh my don't make me cry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyMhvkC3A84&ob=av2n Coldplay--Every Teardrop is a Waterfall. Maybe I'm biased towards their videos because I'm such a fan of their music, but it seems they always come up with something awesome. Stop motion is used, which is always exciting.. a lot of colors, black lights, and just overall extremely enjoyable to watch. I definitely have watched it more than twice and you probably will too if you haven't already!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2nmgcVbfKE

There isnt really much to say about this video. It has effects, other than that its terrible. Lol. (major laser- pon de floor). The effects are trippy.

Die Antwoord - The Answer

So, I have showed this video to a lot of people. Some people have freaked out and found it offensive (racist? until after a long and painful explanation on my part) and some people have absolutely loved it. Whatever you do, please don't turn it off before it is finished and keep in mind that this band is making a joke of itself and the video is essentially a parody. They are from Africa and reference a lot of the social conflict over there, please don't take it out of context!

ENJOY :>

Beyonce and Girl Power

Kind of a silly thing to point out but BK's new song, Run the World (Girls) is a slight tweaking of a Major Lazer song that's basically all about getting raunchy and has NOTHING to do with female empowerment from 2009. Then again I suppose BK really has no interest in female empowerment either.
Beyonce
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U
Major Lazer
http://vimeo.com/5936810

fav video

I really like the way this video was made. The shots and the lightning are really good and the editing is perfect because even though the video is chaotic, the shots are still in a harmonic sequence that makes the music video work. All the types of shots used are very artistic and it makes a very interesting composition.

Don't Make Me Call Child Services

http://www.wimp.com/snapfingers/

So Some of you may have already seen this video and laughed at it. But while it's a silly, low budget, child music video, does it strike anyone else as inappropriate? I mean, "Don't make me snap my fingers in a Z formation, hip rotation, BOOTY SENSATION"?! And the motions, while hilarious, also don't seem age appropriate.

Wacky Tacky Wibbly Wobbly Non-Inflatable Lad

So I found this video online and had one of those "what did I just watch" moments. Technically speaking, the editing was great: the pacing of the video was perfectly synced to the audio; the structured, diverse use of wide-shots and medium shots was great; and the length of the video was just enough to convey a message and make it somewhat memorable.

Aside from that, the content itself is rather....interesting. If I saw something like that in real life, I'd claim zombie apocalypse and freak out. Probably without the arms flailing like that guy. Or the seizure.

One of the Greatest Videos of All Time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914&ob=av3e

I just wanted to express my love for this video. I know its a music video but I think it justifies what we've been talking about in class. Given the time period, it being the 80s, this video in terms of effects, shots & editing is really advanced. I wouldn't think people would have this type of technology. Being able to make most of the video look cartoonish and drawn out. In my top 10 favorite videos.

Water, Ink, and Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq9mw8wR-1Q

I found this video a couple of months back and just rediscovered it. I think this is a wonderful combination of artwork, creativity, and video. The detail is also fantastic- the ink artist is out of control amazing and the perfect closeups done by the camera complement this. Although the video's content and music are horribly sad, I really like this clip.

An Interesting Clip

http://www.booooooom.com/2011/09/04/going-to-the-store-by-david-lewandowski/

I honestly just wanted to share this little gem; no idea if it's really an "art video. I think it was just for fun; although it may have social and political implications hidden somehwere. Apparently the creator was a lead art director for Tron:Legacy, so I think this video was created with some high class special effects.

Just wanted to know what you guys think...

I'm done with Rosler for now, just wanted to chill out with something a little less dense (but still mysterious) this time. I wonder if Rosler would find any value in something like this...

-KT

Rostler Reading

Mreh, mreh, mreh.

The Rostler reading was, as most people have already said, challenging. I guess I would agree with her points of wanting video art to be for the masses and not just secluded in the art world, but to me that just seems very unrealistic. Definitely now that experimental video is viewed strictly in an art setting, I doubt most people without an art background will ever look into it. Usually art videos give off the air of being pretentious, but I did like her video that we watched in class. Compared to the reading, the video was much more mainstream and I could see that breaking into people's lives, but her elitist way of writing was out of the question. People can relate to = being weighted and measured and their value in society being stamped on them.

Week 3 /// general plans

Tuesday:
1. THE ABOLITION OF WORK in-class reading

2. Bruce Nauman Art 21
3. final cut demo (sound, transitions, layering, double screen, keying, filters)
4. work or play with your videos

Thursday:
1. review shot topics and editing methods
2. group interpretations:

Francis Alys - El Gringo

Cory Archangel - Mario Movie or Video Ravings

Dara Birnbaum - Technology/Transformation

Gary Hill - Bathing

Paul McCarthy - WGG

Pipilotti Rist - Not the Girl Who Misses Much

extra credit:

5050 - oliver laric

Low Epic - jaakko pallasvuo

Inside Wildchatster's Apartment Pt 1 (with my voice) - Guthrie Lonergan

Short Music Videos - Guthrie Lonergan

Art Tape: Live With/ Think About - Michael Bell-Smith

3. work or play with your videos

Homework:
Work on your community footage videos.
Blog entry (no topic, but you could write about labor/work/play, Bruce Nauman, ideas spawned from your work on the project, a video that you enjoyed, an investigation of an artist on ubu.com (or elsewhere for that matter), etc.)

Grab Bag - Community Video Project Guidelines

Attention all fellow artist-citizens,

As you all know we are starting a new project today. I also wanted to give you guys a general idea of what's happening this week, and what you'll be responsible for (as our syllabus course calendar is now slightly less accurate).

Grab Bag - Community Video

You have each shot about five minutes of footage based a shot technique (close-ups, ambient sound, panning shot, etc.). You will all have access to each other's raw footage to use to create your own 3-5 minute videos. Please feel free to use as many video clips as you like, but you may not use your own footage.

This project is to allow you a moment to freely focus on learning Final Cut without the worry of planning for shooting. Explore the program. Experiment. On the other hand, this project becomes a challenge: to manipulate content/footage that you had no say in videoing to create poetry. How do you overcome these limitations to create art?

Barrage of questions: You have been given 11 visions of the world, how do you create your own? Do you see video in terms of the entirety of an action or a sequence of stills? How much editing should you do to your footage; does this in turn influence how you view your footage? Is your editing based primarily on cuts, layers, effects, play with speed; how does this conceptually change the perception of the work? Does your edit seem organized, seeking a type of rationality (aka the angel's view)? Does your edit rely on disorientation or lack of order (aka the devil's view)? Are you constructing a world anew or reaching to the one in which we already live? Is your video exposing a myth (a critical approach, see Rosler)? Are you asking us to notice something overlooked? Are you editing with a chainsaw or scalpel? Shotgun or tongue?

I want you artist-citizens to experiment, but not blindly. Notice what your experiments create. Remember the measurement brainstorming; what at first seems arbitrary can be shaped into conceptually sound art.

Barrage of phrases: sensation of time passing /// cause and effect /// compulsion and anxiety /// screen fatigue /// storytelling and narrative /// sea of perspectives /// the perfection of plastic parts snapping together /// underestimate overly sentimental /// passive viewing /// low-budget explosions /// guided meditation /// etc etc etc

Video gives you so many privileges. Feel the lack of limitations. If you don't believe me, then perform this experiment: video the sunset, import footage into final cut, turn the sunset upside-down. You have so much control; nothing would make me prouder than watching you all turn the world and it's celestial brethren on their heads.

Your 3-5 minute video needs to be an .mov file (no need for burning DVDs yet).

It will be due on Thursday Sept. 15th (that's a week and a half from today). It should be finished at the start of class, last minute exporting or tweaking means it is late.

This project is worth 10% of your final grade and will be broken down as follows:

3 points for experimentation and involvement with program - how much did you learn about how to use this technology as an art tool? did you adequately explore your options to accomplish the goals of your video?

3 points for formal and presentation issues - was your video well put together? did you make wise visual/sonic decisions? was the quality of the footage improved because of your involvement with it? is the video nicely finished or abrupt?

4 points for concept - in using this program and formal concerns, did you convey a message to your audience? even if you approached your edit intuitively, were you cognizant of the effects your choices had on the entirety of the video (and therefore the reception of your video)? did you consider the outcome of your edits? did you consider the access you gave to your audience?

Rosler's Reading Rainbow

Just like some of you, I found the Rosler reading to be pretty bizarre and dense. Those 20-odd pages were like navigating the Congo; it was slow, foreign, and ultimately aggressive with its ideals. What I've come to understand is that she has at least some passion for the potential of video art, and I've come to agree with the need of an easily accessible medium since everyone has the potential to make art --- to make a social comment.

Like Obi, I felt that Rosler unnecessarily made the reading complex by adding her critiques in a forced, aggressive manner. This in turn made the reading awkward and dense, like a hedge maze created by someone having a stroke. I felt that if Rosler had made her comments and criticism more of a poetic metaphor or parallel, the reading would've been lighter and I wouldn't feel as if I'm having her perspective and principles shoved down my throat.

The only possible redeeming factor of the reading was the facts --- the concrete content elaborating more on the history of video art, and the art world throughout the period. Still, Rosler's commentary was like having a radical feminist group gain control of Reading Rainbow to attack viewers with their own beliefs.

Ridiculous Rosler

That's exactly what the Rosler reading was. Ridiculous. I found myself steadily digressing throughout the gruesome 20 pages of reading. I did get through all of it though but it took me a while. WAY too long. Before actually delving into the reading, I told myself that I was going to read it twice to fully grasp what she was saying. That ended up not happening at all and I barely read it once. Through hours of struggling and sounding out weird names, I finally achieved my goal.

The biggest thing I question Rosler about was her choice of vocabulary and its complexity, which many people in class wondered too. C'mon now woman. You don't need to say all that just to mean this. It's like she over-analyzes and over-critiques things that frankly don't need to. Probably, I would say, about 90% of what she wrote is dense for no reason. A lot of her sentences are run-on and should be broken up because they contain too many dense ideas that create this super duper long sentence that the reader has to break down on their own. I shouldn't have to be stopping and breaking up paragraphs and sentences for my understanding. Your writing should be clear and concise enough from the start so I could easily grasp it.

What she actually talks about, on the other hand, is quite contradicting. She talks bad and down towards the elitist but sounds just like one of them in the reading. I do fully believe that she is against galleries. LOL she hates them and that is one of the few things that is actually clearly apparent in the reading. Her point basically was how video art was not considered a real art at first. It was then "museumized" and lost a lot of its respect and appeal.

Rosler reading: D-

Rosler.

Rosler, especially the reading, is a difficult subject to tackle. Yet, before I attempt to analyze 20 pages of verbose, unnecessary ranting against media, I would like to praise her. I really liked the reading regarding landlords. She gave an interesting perspective of a woman who was under the impression that the grass was greener on the other side. She explained the complexity of relations between landlords and tenants and how some can indeed be friends. I also enjoyed the two videos that were shown. Especially the Julia-esque videos involving Rosler stabbing kitchen knives directly into the audience while staring them dead in the eye. I also liked the complete and utter disgust she has for the measurements and social norms that were shown in the video where she was analyzed by the medical team. The parents speaking about their daughter's death due to eating disorders was touching as well.

Now, onto the reading. I did not like it. Dense is an understatement. Her views are quite radical and she seems to contradict herself from what I can grasp from this reading. I think she is anti-gallery and believes that video art should interrupt tv and provide alternatives. She doesn't want video to be the main form of art and thinks the art world is only for elitist but allows the population to critique the mass world. As a classmate stated, it's ironic because she seems like an elitist with this ridiculous writing.

Essentially, Rosler dislikes artist like McLuhan, Nam June Pike, and Pollack for a variety of reasons. Her jab at Pollack is due to his macho attitude, expressive paintings, and his lack of being available to everyone. Her beef with Pike was halfhearted- she liked that he interrupted tv with the magnet but didn't like how he was assimilated into the gallery world.

-Marla

Rosler's Reading Fun

Before I discuss this reading, I think it is important to mention the supreme irony of the essay that was also discussed in class: although Rosler denounces elitism in both the art and society, the highly academic and inaccessible langauge she uses (in a paper directed at art world elitists) is nothing that an ordinary person would ever want, or be able to, read.

Now that is out of the way, so let's take a look... well, sloughing through Roslers history of video was painful at best, but that's not the point of the whole thing. Rosler's point was how she felt video art managed to avoid being lost to art as a mere commodity, but that the way it was brought into art (museumization) made it lose a lot of it's "rebel" appeal. In other words, once video art had an established status quo in the art world, it was somehow "less" of a true "art."

Also... art, ART, and art art... COME ON. If your going to use different terms for "art," you need to create them. It needs to be some TYPE of art, not just a r t or art or freakin art- I prefer if if you call it "museum" art vs "fringe" art, or "kitsch" art vs "non" art.

Also, the conflict between "science and myth" or "traditional values and industrialization" is interesting, and it's worth noting how Rosler sees this as the main conflict in art up until modern times. Her pessimism about the industrial side is a bit grueling, and her feminist viewpoint seeps conspicuously into every sentence, but she is entitled to her opinion.

And I also hate Jackson Pollock and the male domination over the "high art" world, so she has my support there. Art seems like something like is much better suited to sensitive, feminine attitudes- why should harsh, masculine attitudes have such a hold over art? Both approaches deserve to be seen. I can see where Rosler's anger comes from (you can see it in her videos too- you toss that spoon girl!).

Also- even though Rosler dislikes this dominate approach- she ultimately concedes that "the issue at hand as always is who controls the means of communication and what are the forms counternanced and created." So ultimately, control is necessary in this world in order to gain recognition. It's the same concept as "the victors write the history books." Rosler is bitter about this, but also acknowledges the reality that the right artists need to fight for control, or forever be lost in obscurity.

Yet, good art that is obscure is always more "art" than good art that has become famous and garnered a high price tag.

... It's so easy to get fed up with this nonsense. Thanks for the confusing, mind bending read, Rosler.

Woahhhh...