Theatre has been a part of my life for a long time. Because
of this, I have an easy time understanding the concept of rough theatre. In rough theatre, it’s okay to see the
strings because the audience expects them.
We don’t try to simulate reality but instead honestly depict it. In Tim
O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, he makes the point that often
fiction is more effectively truthful than fact can ever be. I am personally quite invested in this idea
and I believe the idea rough theatre compliments it. Rough Theatre does not
concern itself with immersing its audience in a false reality and through
calling attention to itself through its very form it becomes more insightful
into life. This kind of theatre has no need for grand halls, giant intricate
sets, and carefully applied make up. It’s only focus is on saying what it wants
to say. This idea applies to filmmaking
just as it does to theatre. Films don’t have to be epic quests filled with
orcs, romance, and explosions. They don’t
even have to have the best writing or acting. What is important is that it has
something to say. Films have something to say whether they are shot on the
industry’s best cameras or on a camcorder found in the attic. Whether they are
shown in a multiplex or on youtube. I think the idea of rough theatre reminds
me that art doesn’t have to be perfect and I should never let fear of
imperfection dissuade me from trying.
Six by One Day More
Thursday, June 20, 2013
6x1 Top 6
I find it hard to rate my projects in 6x1. The entire
experience was great and I don’t usually like to pick favorites. However I will
attempt to list them for least favorite to most.
6. Media Fast
This is would what I would say was my least favorite of the
projects. I had fun doing all of the
projects in the class but this one felt the most like work. I had a hard time
completing the media fast itself and the resulting long take didn’t turn out as
well as I’d hoped. I feel like products
of the other projects were a lot more interesting than this one take.
5. Crowd Sourcing Frames
While I had a lot of fun at the frame factory marathon where
I had a chance to better get to know my classmates as we went insane from
drawing on frame after frame hours on end, I would rate it as my second least
favorite. It gets this rating, not
because it wasn’t a cool project but because I had a much better time doing the
other ones. I think maybe I was
overwhelmed by the number of frames so I have a handful of frames that I feel
are truly quality leaving the rest as a kind of filler. As someone with the
drawing ability of a 3rd grader I was definitely disappointed with a
lot of my frames. However, I do enjoy the concept of crowdsourcing so maybe I
could look into participating in crowd sourcing films using a different format.
4. 3D Anaglyph
I want to give this one a higher rating. I had a lot of fun with
this one. I had fun shooting it and I had a lot of fun turning the footage into
a full 3D image. In fact, learning how to make a 3D anaglyph in After Effects
was probably one my favorite thing I learned while taking 6 x1. However, this became the shortest of the
projects because of some story limitations and an attempt to keep continuity
within the editing. I also found it awkward because I felt like the final
product could have been better if we didn’t feel the need to water the footage
down in order to fit logically with everyone’s
sound design criteria.
3. Direct Film Manipulation
I really liked this project. It ranks at number three
because one and two just eek it out being better. Direct film manipulation is
one of my favorite types of experimental film and I definitely enjoyed going
through the process. I was a bit disappointed that not all of my techniques
shined through though. I am still unable to locate where I did my magazine
transfer and I realize that it probably didn’t work out and most likely blocked
out my attempt at animation as well.
However, the entire project in general ended up looking good.
2. Multi-Plane
Animation
Boy did I have a lot of fun doing this one. I really like
the look of multi-plane animation in general and I really like how ours turned
out. It could have been better if we had had longer to shoot them and maybe had
less technical difficulties but this can hardly have been avoided. I’m
considering getting panes of glass so I can do this on my own time.
1. Bolex One-Take
I don’t have much to say about his project other than I
enjoyed every second of it and I absolutely loved the final product. If I could
afford it I would totally by myself a Bolex and make short films with it. I
love the look and feel that the image has when projected on screen.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
As a filmmaker, direct film manipulation is entirely relevant.
Film students often mistake experimental film as something that is unique and
completely separate from the rest of the world of filmmaking. However, the
techniques that are started in Avant Garde filmmaking, in this case painting,
inking and scratching directly on to film, often find their way into mainstream
filmmaking. For example, the film Scott Pilgrim vs The World appears to
use direct film manipulation to produce its title sequence. I could use these
film manipulation techniques in a similar technique to create opening or ending
credits or I could use them in the middle of the film as transitions. I could
also use it to help tell the story. For example, a character could be on drugs
or hallucinating and I could directly manipulate the film in order to fully realize
the character’s trip through a different state of mind. In a more philosophical sense, I think
working on this direct film manipulation project has gained me an appreciation
of just how many frames go into even one minute of film. When working with
digital, it’s hard to appreciate that the video is made up of frames. It’s interesting and often frustrating that
something you did that looks really cool on one frame will only be around for
1/24th of a second. I think
one example of this was with the rayogramming when I used a clear die to brand
a logo into the film. It turned out really well and was one of my favorite
things that I did for the rayogramming process and for all of the film
manipulation project. However, when we actually played the film this really
cool thing was reduced 1/24th of a second. Mind you I was really
excited the 1/24th of a second when I saw the “Games” of Cape Fear
Games projected on screen.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Acoustic Ecology
Today I read a few articles and watched a short film about
acoustic ecology. Usually, when we think about pollution we don’t think about
sound pollution all that much. Today I learned that it was more of a serious
problem and less of an inconvenience and that there is legislation in several
countries aimed at reducing it. Sound pollution has directly affected several
species of bird. Noise pollution is causing new generations of birds to have
trouble learning unique calls associated with their species. This has cause a
drop in these species of birds. Noise
pollution has been a problem for humans even since the time of ancient Rome
where poets often complained of carts coming into the cities early in the
morning and waking them up. The articles also talked about the drone that the humans
create. I found it funny because as I was reading about this drone I was
experiencing the drone from several sources in my apartment. On the flip side,
the articles also talked about the pure soundscape of nature and how it can
affect humans on an emotional and spiritual level. I have experienced this first hand. A while
back I was in a choral concert by the name of Missia Gaia(Earth Mass). Several
of the songs in this concert utilized recordings of nature, mainly animals in
their composition. There were songs based around whale calls and wolf howls
among other things. The composer had painstakingly transcribed the tones
present in these animal calls into the music as well so parts of the songs would
mimic the calls in the music notes that were sung. This is
just one example how natural soundscape and soundscape in general is important
in art as well as life.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Synesthesia and Cymatics
Today we’re talking about cross sensory experience. It is possible for some people to see sound or
for words and numbers to have colors and shapes automatically. This is called
synesthesia. I first heard about synesthesia in a introductory psychology class
my first semester of college. I thought it was one of the most interesting
currently known conditions. It’s pretty cool in that it isn’t necessarily a bad
thing. It doesn’t impede life in a way that we think most psychological and
physiological conditions do. In fact, much of the time it does quite the
opposite. I was watching a TED Talks by a man named Daniel Tammet, a high
functioning autistic also known as a savant. He demonstrated that his synesthesic condition
allowed him a different way of looking at things as he was able to see
different words and numbers visually.
For example, he was able to do a pretty complex math problem in his head
because the visualized the numbers as squares.
His synesthesia also highlighted alliteration for him. This condition isn’t so much of a detriment
or an oddity than a different way of looking at the world. In some ways, it makes me sad that I don’t
have synesthesia and can’t experience the world in this way. Speaking of
combining different senses, I also watched a TED talks on cymatics a process by
which sound is visualized through shapes. It’s a kind of practical,
do-it-yourself synesthesia. The applications
for both art and science are immense. It was really cool how higher pitches
make more complex patterns. Cymatics of music itself look so cool. Also, the
fact that they are using it to decode dolphin linguistics is really awesome.
This was the first time I had ever heard of cymatics but now I definitely will
be looking to learn more about it.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Feelings On the Hand Painted Film
This is what came to my mind during the reflection:
Calm train of thought. Beautiful thoughts of a city street during the day. Red and yellow autumn leaves came to mind. It was calm despite the hustle and bustle of the city. It left me felling pretty calm until the middle where it seemed like a flurry of thoughts came to push through the autumn leaves. Things became flustered. Strings came that looked like they were forming chords in the song of the city. It seemed to be orderly chaos. Perhaps musical Chaos. It felt warm and relaxing then cool but just as relaxing as before. Thoughts pop in and out before I can realize what they are. I enjoyed this man's work although I can't tell who he is because his name came up in such a short frame. It made feel like I was in a bustling city. At the same time, this imaginary city seemed empty. Music drifts through the city matching the chaos. I am in the city. I like it here.
Calm train of thought. Beautiful thoughts of a city street during the day. Red and yellow autumn leaves came to mind. It was calm despite the hustle and bustle of the city. It left me felling pretty calm until the middle where it seemed like a flurry of thoughts came to push through the autumn leaves. Things became flustered. Strings came that looked like they were forming chords in the song of the city. It seemed to be orderly chaos. Perhaps musical Chaos. It felt warm and relaxing then cool but just as relaxing as before. Thoughts pop in and out before I can realize what they are. I enjoyed this man's work although I can't tell who he is because his name came up in such a short frame. It made feel like I was in a bustling city. At the same time, this imaginary city seemed empty. Music drifts through the city matching the chaos. I am in the city. I like it here.
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