Yes Men

Yes Men was a really hilarious movie. I liked how they would construct details of a story in order to troll people who they were talking to. Their use and missuse of language that they developed to sugarcoat hideous actions like slavery, was really great and reminded me of Orwell's 1984. They made fun of the presentation form, and how silly those business conferences can be.
The only thing I didn't like about there methods is that it seemed like they weren't exactly sure about what the WTO actually did. I would have rather they said that they weren't too sure about what the WTO did, but rather just said that they believed the WTO has a certain tendency to favor things that benefit big business rather than poor people.
I think this project relates to my found footage project because the Yes Men used something like the medium of business presentations from the WTO, to further their own message.

Mystery Workshop Response

The mystery workshop was very cool. Best fort/projector that I have ever helped build. I loved the community aspect of showing our work like that. Eating snacks and pizza together watching our work. Laughing and some crying. It was cool. I noticed how it was cool that we all sort of experienced each piece simultaneously with a collective similarity. We all laughed at Corys joke, and were trying to hear the cues in Cassandra's piece and trying to follow Emmas. I think that sometimes in the classroom setting its hard to get that kind of environment because sometimes it feels like work to really appreciate someones work in stead of feeling like an adventure. Thanks fort. I really liked Gabbys a lot. The textures and techniques were really great. Barretts had some cool visuals. Sheanas was unlike anything I had seen before. Leanne beat me, I think as far as screen capturing and story telling connnect. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. Stick Isleys was extremely dumb.

Long Take

Andre had said that everyone would enjoy the long-take class, even if it was on Saturday. I was a little bit skeptical. But, as usual, Andre was right. The long take experience was pretty fun and it re-enforced a lot of what we had already learned in previous classes. We were all worried about the weather but thank goodness it was only overcast. All bark and no bite.
The actual filmmaking was fun. I really felt that everyone contributed in their own way. For having a time constraint it was pretty much low pressure too. People would throw out ideas, and contribute themselves regularly. The other group brought like a ton of props and we used as many as we could in the long take. People volunteered themselves to do whatever. I enjoyed pelting Timmy Booth with water balloons. Matt Seltzer probably had too much fun tackling me to the ground. He likes to physically hurt me. Really, it just seemed like everyone was hanging out making a film. Which is great. Especially our group. We kinda went into the filming of it with no idea. Each person kinda decided what they wanted to do, and Cory filmed it. I think it looks like an old Buster Keaton, style comedy but just a little bit off. I was satisfied with it. Although I probably would have liked another chance to do it on film.
I enjoyed each aspect of the activities. Helping the other group block theirs, blocking our own, developing our film, and the final projection and capturing.
There was some pressure when it came to actual filming and developing; not to screw it up. I think we may have overdeveloped ours a little bit but I liked how ours came out. We underexposed it when we shot it, so we attempted to push it in the developer. It was a little nervewrecking trying to nail the development in the darkroom. I am excited to see the positive print of it in Final Cut Pro.

Ideas for 48 film race

As far as the different forms of technology creating an image I cannot think of anything that has not been covered in the email. I would like to try to use a scanner/copier or something to make images for the film.

I think it might be a cool idea to scan some of the items that I waste, as kind of an artistic form of recycling. Soda cans, water bottles, spam letters, candy and fast food wrappers. Maybe I could use them to literally tell a story. Like with a hershey wrapper. I cut out the her and have that represent a girl or something. I could have logos that work together to make her body. It could be a fairy-tale type story. I could also use the trash as a journal for my day to day life. Everyday, I drink a soda. So every 5 seconds a soda can is presented on screen. I would use a copier/ scanner for this, as well as maybe magazine transfers. I could combine the two.

I think it would be a cool idea to take an audiotrack from a famous movie like Scarface or something and mix it with the created images. Maybe different audio clips that match the daily things that I watch. The news, sportscenter, the daily show. Things that I watch because of the daily routine I have created. I'd have to find something that matched the images in a cool way, of course.

Notes

After reading Notes Towards a Theory of Animation, I feel that I have a grasp of what makes experimental and orthodox animation different. The piece specifically brings forward the aspects of animation design that separate the two. It was nice to see it layed out for me. I used to could say, This was experimental and this was typical narration but now I think I can back it up. I liked how the author really went into detail about the beginnings of animation, and their development into narratives. I think that orthodox narration is a less artistic endeavor. The idea is that the audience is expecting a series of scenes that make a story, or a scene that consists of jokes. Experimental animation really enables the filmmaker to put his or her own personality into the style and content. I agree with Welles about the two distinct uses of music.
I will also add, that perhaps experimental offers a more precise and true application of music because in orthodox animation music is most often used to establish or progress the narrative. With the experimental style, an artist can attempt to replicate the rhythm, moods, and tones of the piece of music through animation. This piece really made me want to watch Duck Amuck again.
Experimental animation is very liberating, but at the same time potentially frightening. The potential avenues you can take are endless, which is intimidating to someone who is mostly familiar with orthodox cell animation. With the traditional animation, "What is needed" is always what benefits the narrative. Not so with experimental. Its more of like Lets put it all on the table.
I am extremely excited to get started on our 3 plane animation project. Corey and I went out searching for awesome things to animate with. I think we will be able to make something really cool, out of a surfer beach theme. This actually is perfect because with the warm weather everyone is in that kinda beach mood.

Cameraless filmmaking thus far.

I guess I am starting to comprehend how long and tedious the process can be. Especially if you are trying to find a pattern or to structure the piece that you are working on. The one film we watched that was set to the jazz music must have taken ages, and also, required so much creativity to visualize the music on film. Its such a daunting task, but its not all bad. Actually, its pretty fun to work with your hands. Manipulating the film, through scratching, inking, magazine transfers, just gives you so many options and potential avenues to create your desired effect, that you can really go with any choice and feel that you have made the right one. The art does demand some foresight, especially when you are attempting to layer.

I really enjoyed our brief screening of the magazine transfers that we did. I was, of course, unsatisfied that we had to split it up due to the jamming of the projector. I was impressed with how everyones transfers were different, but somehow they all flowed together. I think if you put some music on that, it would really work as a short film. I noticed my pieces too. I had a golden watch in all of my strips, and a green and pink design behind it.

Today I begin working with the Rayograms, and I am looking forward to that certainly. Though I really want to try contact printing a la Roger Beebees tb tx. I love everything about this film. The sounds, the images, the contrast of black and white, the varying of visual information, and the dual screens. I need to learn the basics of photoshop though, I think that was the program he desinged it on. I've shown that film to some of my non 6x1 friends hoping that they will love it. I may try to do some this week if I can get a hold of a non school printer. I think contact printing would be awesome for special montage sequences or title sequences in narrative films.

Week one

I only kind of liked “Passage”. Intellectually I think I got it, but it didn’t really affect me. It was cool, but I didn’t connect with it emotionally.

The film must have taken forever to make. I imagine this isn’t the filmmaker’s first attempt at camera-less filmmaking, so I am sure they are adept and efficient in the technique, but pulling from what I know about the process, it had to have taken forever. A film like this could only be made, under the condition of dedication and persistence. The film relies on the interdependent relationship between the sounds, music, and shapes scratched onto the film. This relationship is explored through out the entirety of the film. What sounds will go with which patterns? Also, I really thought the filmmaker did a good job varying the colors, shapes, and sounds.

I liked the different aspects of the film; the shapes, the colors, the sounds, the music, and the overall design and structure. The title Passage was forcing me to interpret the shapes as a portal like construction that the filmmaker thrust the audience into. The film was of course about abstract shapes, and its relation to the music, and the senses, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was a journey too. This effect is created from the geometric patterns starting small, and then expanding as the film moves along, as well as the natural sounds inserted into the score, that gave me the sense that I was doing daily activities.

The music used for the film was a perfect marriage with the films playful art style and seemed to match the rhythm of the images. I don’t know which came first, the film or the music, and I don’t care really. I also want to add, that the “popping” at the beginning, like random neuron firing, really set the mood and were just cool.

I would be interested in watching it again, some other works by the filmmaker, and some other experiment with synesthia to see how this work specifically fits into that context.

I am taking this course because I have heard great things about it, and for the most part enjoyed the History of Avant Garde course, of which 6x1 has some overlap. Plus, experimental film is an individual and democratic form of art, which anyone with an imagination can participate in. So, I can create something that could compete with the heavyweights of the form, and not max out a few credit cards.