Week 9 Readings

   The Bordwell reading was very strait forward and basically just gave a history of cinema, talking about what things put it in motion up until the early days of successful motion pictures.
     These readings were very interesting and I actually happen to be learning about this same thing in my Computers in Art class, where they fully buy into the myth of the audience's terror at the film of the train. The Gunning reading talks a lot about the thoughts behind early cinema and is much more thought provoking. It mentions the Lumiere's Arrival of a Train at the Station, and though he doesn't completely deconstruct the myth of the extent of people's reaction to it, ( namely running out of the theatre in terror), he does question it. He talks about the astonishment of the audience not being in fear for their lives but mainly more out of the amazement that such a display could be caught on motion picture. Gunning quotes a Montpellier journalist who says about the Lumieres' projections cause "an excitement bordering on terror." There astonishment was more due to the excitement and curiosity of the medium.
   The Gunning reading was overall good and informative, a little hard to digest at times. I liked getting to read more in depth about the thoughts of viewers and film  makers of that time, rather then just getting cut and dry facts like the Bordwell reading.

Reading Response on Bordwell & Thompson and T. Gunning

I actually preferred the Bordwell reading with the history of cinema the best. I think both articles point out that times have not changed much since the Victorian age as far as movies being the top entertainment and terror and imagination or astonishment being the favorite subject of those movies.
What I found the most interesting was the fact that Edison's assistant actually took film "out of the box" with his inventions and innovations....cutting the film to 35mm size and punching sprockets influenced the history of cinema to this day..pretty cool...except nobody remembers Dickson's name and everyone knows Edison... considering that Dickson made the best camera and projector for 70mm also keeps him in genius category especially since he no longer worked for Edison at that time...
Favorite new word!! Black Marias!  named after the police paddy wagon -ha!
 And smart people who figured out the "slack" in the film loop was the most important thing in becoming full-length movies...Bravo slackers Latham Group :)

Oh final favs!  Annie Oakley one of first Edison films and Alice Guy, first female filmmaker . And wondering how that filmmaker in Gunning's article got his train shot straight on...without mishap...or did he?

Peppers Ghost

Sound Design experiment on the silent film of Man Ray, le retour à la ra...

week 9 tom gunnn

Reading about the invention of cinema and early cinema is a topic im all to familiar with. But the science part behind it i found super interesting and have always wondered about. It really put into perspective how much thought  was put into the creation of cinema. Tomm gunnings reading reminded me alot of Carloee S. view on cinema and aesthetics. Finding what moves a audience is still a mystery to me, but both speak of cinemas primitive natural reaction to moving image. We are so comfortable with a illusion its mind blowing....
(almost as mind-blowing as a masochist Deborah  Harry)

Tom Gunning response

This read was pretty entertaining, and it really got me thinking abuts the future. It makes me wonder if in our future will mankind invent a new medium that will shock and astonish viewers as intensely as those in 1895 when they saw the first movie projection. I wonder if mankind is even capable of that kind of reaction anymore, or is there's just that can schtick us like that cause either we've seen it all, or we're simply too aware of reality? I imagine what could possibly do this is virtual reality, which is becoming more and more prominent with artist and game designers pushing that medium further. Either way, I think we need these kind reactions now a days, we need a new medium to further explore what humans can make and express.

reading response

I have been watching this series on tcm, and I think it is definitely worth checking out.


http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/650688|0/The-Story-of-Film-An-Odyssey-Mondays-Tuesdays-in-September.html

week 7

Mccalls cone series is really interesting. I was really confused about the way they were describing them so i had to watch videos to understand them more and since the whole article was essentially him describing the pieces i was confused throughout. But upon watching i was able to take in a better understanding of the pieces and their purposes.  All his peices call for the audience to participate and to become one with it. He describes each member has having their own encounter and experience with the piece which are always the pieces i like.  The thought that the artist puts into their work and how its suppose to make the audience feel is always really interesting to me. Did he decided that after he created the piece? or did he go into it knowing what kind of reaction he wanted from the audience. One thing that he brought up that was different than other artists we have talked about is how important the projector is. Usually we talk about what it is projecting or what it is being projected on but Mccall it seems hold it sacred. Mccall made me realize the projecting of light can evoke alot of  emotion  and it made me view the projector in  a whole new perspective.



http://vimeo.com/29428835

So....

I don't want to repeat everything Alex said, but I figure I should post something....

It was explained to us by our former classmate, Alice, who was working on the show that at the beginning, when you first entered the building your picture was taken, and they fingerprinted you. From their computer, they blacked out everything about you that could have been considered sexual.
They even blocked out the female guests necks. There were magazines and black tape on a table as well and it gave the guests the opportunity to censor whatever they wanted (there was not much censored when I looked at it surprisingly)

I wished we had gotten there when it had started but seeing the video in the background while we listened to the last 20 minutes of the discussion was definitely worth the drive.

Going to get some drinks was the best part though :) Andrew (Morehshin's husband) was very impressed(?) with my double major combination: New Media and Mathematics. He told me about some math based art programs I should look up as well as some books.

I didn't get to talk to David Stout as much since he was at the opposite end of the table from me, but just being at the bar with these amazing artists in such a laid-back environment was really mind-blowing and I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to pick their brains!

I would love to be able to do this more often!

Aurora Light Show

The light show was such a cool experience, very diverse while incorporating light and New Media. I really liked getting to see New Media in a setting outside of academics.. It was interesting to see some of these displays and know that I've used some of the programs they used to execute their installations. I watched a small band play in a performance hall with a curtain of what looked like black spheres in front of them, the spheres were close to each other yet far enough apart that you could see behind them to the band. After a few minutes the curtain lit up and a silhouetted figure of light walked across the curtain. Figures continued to walk across the curtain, going along with the slow but urban feel that the band produced. The effect was lovely yet simple, I’m curious if they might have used Isadora or something similar to create it. Along with Isadora I feel like I could pinpoint other programs like Processing and things I am currently learning to use being used to produce these successful works of art.

                The show consisted of large scale projections such as on the side of buildings like the Omni hotel and smaller displays such as the ones on walls under the The Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. A lot of the art was very interactive which I think even drew non artists in. It was really encouraging to see these pieces, to see the achievability and success of my chosen art field. 

" Censorship and Propaganda – In the US and Abroad" and an evening in Dallas with Morehshin and company

Centraltrack is a small gallery. The State fair traffic was a mess for miles all around. Right on par with our signature style, Pippins and I arrived an hour and a half late. We payed a woman who I'm pretty sure was on crystal meth $15 to park under an overpass and walked into a surprisingly intimate Q&A session between a panel of participants (all dressed in black) including Morehshin and perhaps 30 guests. We stood in the back and I watched the projected film looping on the front wall, it was a recording of Olympic events, with the athletes blocked over (poorly) by black sensor bars. I was watching it for while, thinking that Morehshin had added the censor bars to the footage herself. I was wrong, it was the publicly broadcasted Olympic footage as seen in Iran. It's funny, but also it makes you think about the degree of censorship that people are living with. Morehshin's work always makes me feel so American, that's the best way to describe it; lucky, then self-absorbed, small-minded, then oblivious. The Q&A wrapped up, there was no applause, which made me feel unsettled. I offered to help clean up, but Pippins and I mostly just stood around like idiots. Morehshin came over and hugged us, and told us to stick around. We talked with a few people in the gallery, then Morehshin, her husband, David Stout, and their two friends invited Pippins and I to go to a bar with them. We all walked together down exhibition avenue and Morehshin saw one of the flyers she had handed out on the ground and we stopped so she could take a picture of it. I told her that I got written up at work for unprofessional hair, and she smiled and said "your hair is being censored." I agreed. " If you were a man," she said," I bet they wouldn't care if your hair was messy." We all went into the bar and sat at the table farthest to the back. Nobody talked about the show, I think they were all just tired from setting it up all day. Morehshin asked me about my 16mm film project, and I told her that the camera I bought off ebay had come loaded with KodaChrome film from 1963, and that when I tried to develop it, I had ended up with a splotchy scratched mottled mess in black and white. Everyone at the table laughed and said "well, that's your project! Work with that!" Andrew, Morehshin's husband, asked me what I wanted to do for a living, and I told him that I didn't want to be an artist on my own, I wanted to work for a corporation, so I could have some guaranteed income. He told me that he expects his students to achieve more than just working a job at Pixar or wherever. Then he told Pippins and I to learn java, html, and max programming immediately, and to buy ourselves webpages and to make extracurricular projects constantly. I told him that I was considering moving in with my parents so I could afford to buy a nice mac, he said that was stupid, and that 30 years ago people were building 3d models on computers less powerful than my cell phone and that any limitations I felt I had due to a lack of technological means were all in my head. We listened to David Stout's stories, he's pretty funny. Morehshin invited Pippins and I to come sit in on one of her classes at UTD sometime, and we told her to come visit our class. That was the night out with new media. I liked what I saw of the show, and the group has given me some ideas for future projects of my own.

VideoFest 2013

May I first say that I am so happy that Videofest exists. I think it is an essential tool in the continuation of independent and underground film. When I got to the MAC on Thursday night, I was suprised how few people were around, but I saw Stout hanging around outside and that was cool. Later at the Alamo draft house, the show was a little dissapointing due to the performing artist being sick. Most of the kids I talked with after the show said that they expected more, and where underwhelmed by the Dusty Stacks of Mom performance. I feel like Videofest is not acheiving it's full potential, I want to be a part of this, and I want to help Videofest grow.