Light Reflection #3

Windows and doorways in monochrome are particularly striking to me; the light playing through them casts shadows that are not its own. When filming our pictures of the window in the Watson building, and our shot of the set of windows in the parking garage, I found the emphasis laid in three parts: in the side closest to the viewer, in the wall or window itself, and in the outside as well. The outside, when shot with the right lighting settings, is almost in color if more clarified than some other contents of the photograph. In this way, we were successful with our shooting of photographs for this assignment.  

Light Reflection #2

I’ve also found the differences between color and monochrome lighting to be very interesting ad important. Much is lost when choosing to film in monochrome that might otherwise exist in color; and, of course, wine-sipping, turtleneck-wearing, pretentious “art” aficionados may actively endorse monochrome above color filming. But through the unsavory, pretentious mud and murk of such film approaches lies the truth that emphasis and meaning is gained in monochrome that is not otherwise there in color filming. A picture or video may seemed suspended in time, floating through a realm of inactivity and silence, whereas a color counterpart might not strike the same meaning. 

Light Reflection #1

Light and dark are a contrast so universal that we can forget to notice them entirely; this is one of the ways in which still photography, as well as video, mesmerizes us in such a relatable way. The ways in which light and shadow play across the surfaces of objects is something we are adapted to perceive for purposes of spatial reasoning and distance, but, due to the immense variety of objects on this planet, we find beauty and wonder in such phenomena as shadows stretching across multiple objects, objects far removed from one another and otherwise seen as entirely separate….

Film Photography Reflections

            While shooting with my experimental film group this past weekend, I became better acquainted with the Pentax camera as a whole. I had already used it for an almost identical project in Andre’s class, but this time I was more fluid with its settings; they were no longer morasses of numbers, but tools with which to film in a different and unique way.

            The fact that we were not restricted to one location like in Andre’s class proved one of the most valuable aspects of the project. The restraints on the types of shots (requiring 2 each of extreme close-ups, close-ups, medium shots and long shots) was a mistake in the guidelines of the project, but we were still able to produce some very interesting subjects.

            While many natural subjects might include plants and machinery, we tried to veer toward other things, such as objects and building interiors and blends between them.

            I’ve always found that lighting is given a different emphasis in monochrome filming, to a particularly dramatic and naturally eye-catching way. We decided building interiors would be interesting in this light (pun intended) due to the nature of windows and reflections involved. We therefore decided to take pictures of windows in the parking garage here on campus and Watson education building, with emphasis that might not be present in full color.

            While shooting on film cameras proved a large artistic hindrance, we were able to walk around enough to really take notice of interesting areas and subjects of interest and capture parts of them. I’ve always found that substance is far more important than empty style, and even that substance allows for the best style to flower from it. In much the same way, we decided to take our time in deciding on what picture to take, and then take it. 

Making the Soundscape

Working on the soundscape project with Kevin Smith was a good experience; it reinforced the process of creative editing for me. I had already made a soundscape in Andre’s 201 class in the Spring 2014 semester, so I was able to get off to an even better start this time around due to my prior knowledge of what was preferable to do and what wasn’t. The structure of the project was also better this time around; in Andre’s class, we recorded our sounds as a group of four, like in F302. But in Andre’s class we found out that we were supposed to make two different soundscapes, each created by one of the group’s halves, at the last minute.

             This time, we were manually assigned a partner outside of our sound recording group. Therefore, the fact that I was only working with one other person allowed for a very beneficial focus to our creative process.

            One of the most important things I was reminded of, and even improved on, was the shared creative editing process. I have years of experience as an editor with video editing software, and I’ve always found it to largely (and preferably) be a one-person job.  It’s tricky to be properly communicative about an idea you have when you’re not in front of the computer and keyboard, manually demonstrating your idea yourself. If not, you have to take the reins of the mouse and keyboard from your partner, thus risking the appearance of being a control freak, not liking what the other person is doing, etc. Such socially/artistically clashing barriers are hindrances.  

            However, Kevin was great to work with; he was agreeable and creative, and most importantly, he cared about the project about as much as I did. He had adequate editing experience, and we worked well together. In addition, he and I both agreed to take the project home and work on our own parts of the soundscape by ourselves; this proved to be a very beneficial tactic, and we simply put our sections together when we met up and modified them to be more cohesive.

"The Absolute Film" response

 I loved how “The Absolute Film” immersed the connections between several iconic filmmakers of the experimental/avante-garde/absolute field by flowing their stories together briefly and succinctly. It was very interesting that Fischinger’s body of work was not replicated upon his moving to America, and yet that his California presence inspired John and James Whitney to set out on films of their own with more updated technological and artistic standards. These two seem like interesting historical figures, and that Harry Smith was in turn involved with them and Fischinger also shows how crucial connections are for artists: not just for success in the industry because of the networking included, but because of the collective artistic influence and shared adventure of creation! What would these filmmakers be if they’d not met one another and worked together? Who would Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac be without one another? What would The Beatles and The Beach Boys have recorded without inspiring one another? This film article touches on that exciting and crucial connection between artists working within and changing their field in their own ways.  

On 9/10/2014's presentations

            The presentations in class last week yielded some very interesting information to me; I was particularly interested in what I learned about Jonas Mekas. The fact that he was able to write even in the labor camps seemed an odd piece of history, as well as testament to his creative urges. I had never before heard of the Filmmaker’s Cinematheque, nor the Anthology Film Archives that developed from it. I visited New York City in December 2013, and had I known about the Film Archives, I would have certainly tried to visit.

            That the Anthology Film Archives were and are a haven for the viewing of experimental films was important to me; as Shannon pointed out, decades ago a person might see an enthralling experimental film in one of the rare venues showing it and never have the chance to see it again. Hans Richter’s work also caught my interest, because of his aberrant anti-war filmmaking. “Zurich Dada” is a term I had heard before, but I hadn’t seen any of it yet. The shape-changing animations included in the presentations were impressive not just for the difficulty of their assembly back then, but also because of their unity and themes. After these presentations today, a classmate such as myself could begin to realize that the experimental film world is larger than we first conceived it to be. 

Brief Reflection on Synesthesia and Cymatics

The concepts of synesthesia and cymatics are interesting to me because of their connection with the world around us. That such patterns as we see in video demonstrations can arise simply through a fixed note is really something curious. To me the studies of synesthesia and cymatics are testament to the seamless intertwining of science and art, and the ways in which they can affect one another; there is an exact frequency to a literal note, and yet different instruments playing an identical note will generate different sounds due to their varying physical makeup, and will therefore create different sensations.

              Patterns exist in the world all around us, and their silent consistency is really a source of wonder. As technology changes art, so too does art affect our understanding of science and our interpretation and value of it. Science and art are, to me, two sides of the same coin; a coin that comprises the abstractness of the human experience, a sensation coming from our own thoughts and from our own observances of things existing independently of us. Synesthesia is a great example of the way in which "artistic" concepts such as color can work their way into the fixed order of things such as numbers. Cymatics is a great example of the way in which there is a method to the chaos of our perception; that what we experience, as far as we know, has its own existence in the fabric of the cosmos. As we learn more about these things and about ourselves, our perception and sensation will only continue to expand.  

The Sound Recording Experience

The sound recording experience was different the second time around, but perhaps not different enough; like last semester, we met in the Cultural Arts Building and recorded various piano and vocal pieces, but I noticed that some of the things we were doing were very similar to what my group did last semester for our soundscape. I am certainly satisfied enough with the sounds my group produced, and Cam and Helen both brought great contributions and ideas. I just feel like I became more aware of the “typical” immediate approaches to sound recording for experimental reasons upon a second time. I think the requirement of uploading all our sound into 10-minute audio clips and providing a sound log was a beneficial decision for the most part; I knew as we were recording that most of our sounds would be listened to. I was also glad we were able to combine some sounds, as that lended itself to a slightly different way of thinking when deciding what to record.

Sound Observation 2 - Laundry Room

Sitting in a community laundry room with eyes closed, rhythm is one of the first subtle sensations. The hum of the machines here is not a typically menacing and alienating one like it might be in some dystopian story; here, it is gentle and steady to me. People coming through don’t take away from the harmony but rather add to it in their leaving; additional dryers and washing machines add to the call. The continuous nature of these sounds makes their ending all the more sudden; a washer or dryer finishing its load of clothes drops off and causes a void. The opening and closing of doors, footsteps, clothing plopping into a basket, all of them sync in rhythm.

Sound Observation 1 - Beach Bonfire

Sitting with friends around a bonfire at the beach in the night, I closed my eyes and listened. The flicker of the flames began to drown away in the relentless dull wash of the waves behind me, and even those gave way to the silence above; the stars were innumerable and radiant, and their existence was in the back of my mind, as they always are. Their silence watched us all, waiting. I brought my attention back to the world around me and first noticed the murmur of conversation from the groups of people down the beach and next to us, and those words clearly audible to me from close by. But again I felt a silence, rather than heard it; we human beings are commonly from relatively urban settings on campus, in the sense that we don’t live among plants and animals dominating the world around us. As we all gathered at the beach that night, we listened to one another and made our own sounds to fill the large empty silence of the beach in the late summer night.