TMA 273 - Press Pause Play

This beautifully shot film couldn't have come at a better time. Press Pause Play expertly explores the post industrial creative world. The film seamlessly and navigates the complexities of the democratization of media production. It does this by engaging with individuals who have not only found ways to navigate the new age of global connectivity, but have even capitalized on it. These stories are deepened when juxtaposed with industry veterans who have witnessed the crumbling of the media establishment.

The Filmmakers did an excellent job with representing the changes across the gamut of artistic mediums. Though ultimately affected in similar ways, the changes in Film, music, design, and performance arts due to technological advances and the internet are nuanced. The film represented the respective challenges of producing quality material in this creative climate fairly and adequately. An example of this was the discussion  of whether or not the masters of cinema would have made it in the modern system of self-promotion and click obsessed networks. The modern filmmaker needs to ask herself why she is attending film school. It is no longer to learn the craft. The film explains that as far as tradition is concerned, "craft is dead", meaning technology levels the playing field.

I found the film to be near perfection as far as seamless and interesting viewing is concerned. A few moments felt strangely elongated and slow moving, which didn't seem to complement the themes of rapid change. Particularly the scenes shot in Tokyo felt unnecessary and uncomplimentary. 

Ultimately this film or at least the conversation of where the artist should be placed in a culture of endless art, should be on every media conscious persons radar. Even more so for the young budding filmmaker.

TMA 273 - Alan Berliner's The Sweetest Sound

Every once in a while I find a film that explores an idea that is so universal and commonplace that I can't believe someone made a film about it. My disbelief doesn't come out of the notion that the film's premise isn't worth being a film, but rather that I can hardly believe that other filmmakers didn't come up with the idea first. I think that is a great strength of Alan Berliner's. He has a wit strong enough to carry you through films about the most personal and equally universal stories. This knack of his was excellently demonstrated in The Sweetest Sound.

The film was comprised of what could be described as vignettes. These vignettes are constructed by archival footage and interviews of Alan Berliner, the director of the film, as well as 13 other Alan Berliners. These vignettes converge on the singular idea of names. How do names give us identity and shape our personalities. They way the film is constructed mirrors in a way the manner in which all the Alan Berliners congregate for the first time, that being, 13 individuals, arriving to create one body.

The film was fascinating in the way it exposed the commonalities shared amongst the name sharers, ultimately answering questions I didn't know I had. For instance, do people named Jared inherently like the color green, is it something that comes with the name? What baggage do we give others when we name them? These are important questions that the film raised.

Perhaps the film's strongest point was the clever sound design. Shaped around the computer, the noises throughout the film added to the theme of resolving identity amidst a sea of individuals, especially individuals that happen to share your name. The sounds ushered the action along, and emphasized repetition, perhaps one of  the film's more subtle points of consideration.

Oh and of course Alan Berliner - that is the director Alan - got the www.alanberliner.com domain. Evidence of his forward thinking filmmaking.

TMA 273 - An Unreasonable Man

An Unreasonable Man is a fairly dense, intricately composed documentary. Aside from seeming rather run of the mill in its talking head nature, it manages to accomplish a number of things quite well. Perhaps the most important of these being the surprising efficiency in which the filmmakers expose an unprecedentedly successful activist career.

The use of the word ‘efficient’ might be questionable considering the documentary's two hour long run time. In spite of this, I found the film to be quite concise and fast moving, packing in impressive amounts of information. There were very few shots that lingered for more than a couple seconds, often times with talking heads finishing the sentences of the previous speaker. Initially this seemed a bit overwhelming, but it was understandably practical in the sense that it allowed for both supporters and detractors of Ralph to have screen-time and cover plenty of ground.

The filmmakers did a decent job at allowing individuals on both sides of Nader's story to express opinions. However, rarely did they let any negative claim go undefended.

Perhaps due to the rapid pace of editing and dissemination of opinions, the beginning of the film was hard for me. It was hard to discern what the film was really going to be about, besides just Nader in general. For instance it started with a series of individuals greatly opposing Ralph which set a sentiment that was a bit misleading. However, once the film made it past the scenes describing Nader as a youth, the film found its paces was engaging.

The filmmakers used music and subtle sound effects quite well. For example, I noticed the sound of a book closing anytime an excellent counter argument was made to disprove a critique of Nader. It was as though the filmmakers were saying “case closed” or “finished.” Perhaps it was a bit manipulative, but it was an indication or rather a manifestation of the filmmaker’s voice. Additionally I really enjoyed the inclusion of the celebrity interactions with Nader. The polarized moments with Michael Moore and the musicians were interesting considering their drastic loyalty shifts. Lastly, I’m a Bill Murray fan, so seeing him unexpectedly was nice and gave the film greater sense of credibility for me.

Ultimately the film made me question the ways in which I am engaging with my society as a consumer, and wether or not I am participating in democracy. This alone made the film a success for me.

The Documentary Idea

With This In Mind from Jared Jakins on Vimeo

The documentary idea has proven itself to be one of heightened awareness, at least for me, this semester has fortified the sense that documentary has far reaching abilities to perceive and expound. I have found documentary to be sharing in the most unapologetic sense, often unflinching and ever affording of a cathartic experience.

Throughout the various films we engaged with, we have been exposed to a wide gamut of human struggle, such as an artist’s political struggle to remain uncensored in his quest for critical inquiry of his government, the socioeconomic struggles of communities in inner city Chicago battling with pandemic violence, and even physical struggles that saturate our human experiences. The documentary ideas, as explained by Dean Duncan, of being a voice to the voiceless, of exalting the mundane and everyday, and most poignantly, transcendence through tribulation, have created a strong obligation to represent such struggles properly in my attempt to work within the medium.

As a result of these reiterations and realizations, the documentary idea for me is the opportunity for the individual to engage with oneself, with society, and in turn for society to engage with itself. All or any of this, in a manner that allows for the expansion of heart and mind.

My film With This In Mind, employs a heightened sense of awareness and melds many of the doc modes we have studied into a loose essayistic meditation on what it means to make marks on the world and to record the marks that the world makes on us and our communities. It draws respectively on the autobiographical, the reflexive, the poetic, and the essayistic mode to hopefully convey a few ideas and feelings.

Thematically the film is interested in examining three interconnected documentary ideas. First, what is my engagement with recording and documenting my surroundings, secondly how do I engage with my society as a recorder, and lastly, how does community engage with itself concerning the act of creating and recording instances of self-evidence.

The film opens by dwelling on my own personal experiences, with the hope that they can act as a vehicle for a universal concept, experience, or idea. Documentary, building on the traditions of memoir, can turn the personal into access for very diverse ideas and experiences by simply sharing the self, the autobiographical. This is the process of expansion through investigation of the particular, or in my case, a rather singular view.

The choice to include the migrant sheepherders is an attempt to present viewers with a far reaching instance of the need to be remembered.  The marked trees themselves become documents and speak for the voiceless and oppressed. The trees become both traces and recordings of a community's desire to be remembered. They are in a way both the form and the function. The film is effective only if the viewer can, even for a moment, empathize with the experience of the ‘other’. Though the opportunity the film provides is brief, the viewer can experience one of the aforementioned strengths of documentary, the potential for catharsis.

The film concludes by broadening the scope of consideration in the way we leave our marks on the world. It inspects the isolation that we may impose upon ourselves, and perhaps offers solutions to the best and most productive ways of leaving evidence of our existence in the world: that of engaging with community and interpersonal relationships. The film includes the realization that the act of recording and the act of marking, just like the documentary process of gathering and distributing actuality, is in some ways one in the same.

Multi-Modal - Doc Mode Activity 3

Minding the essayistic potential for swift mental travel, I approached this mode activity with the intent to bridge the neighborly autobiographical and essay doc modes. The result is consciously multi-modal, exploiting the loose associations of the essayistic mode, akin to the films of Chris Marker, though clearly not as liberal in movement of ideas. The film centers on reflections of the past and my own experience as a filmmaker and family chronicler, thus utilizing my own life and practices as evidence in an investigation of recording memories. The film could be argued into both modes exclusively, but with sacrifice to the fact that is satisfies the requirement of both, being easily classified as a 'personal-essay'. It is a memoir, using actual footage of the events being contemplated, the meeting place of past and present. 

The Essayistic Mode

The essayistic mode, like a stone thrown into water, starts with a point of insertion then spreads out concentrically, with splashes here and there starting new points of departure and exploration. Fox describes the essayistic mode similarly to how one might hear the form described in the writing tradition. It is the testing or proving of an idea. It begins with a curiosity and is developed across vast interconnections with varying degrees of solidity and personal relation.

The film, Something To Do With The Wall, exemplifies the testing of ideas. The film is concerned with a loose association of generally anything that is concerned with the once Check Point Charlie in Berlin. The film is not concerned with driving a point or argument, but rather simply investigates any sort of anecdotal element of the place. Many of the essayistic moments in the film come from the filmmakers making associations between the wall and themselves, family/parenting, and especially their own son. They explore ideas of 'place' in the anthropological sense, as something humanizing.

Perhaps more strongly an essayistic piece, is Chris Marker's Remembrance Of Things To Come. Marker explores a history of France through the associations between surrealist art, the first and second world wars, and the photography of Denise Bellon. Though these things are indeed connected in history, their connections become more profound through the filmmaker's loose associations. He makes assertions such as surrealist art having prophetic qualities, evident in Bellon's photography, foretelling the imminent second world war.

Marker's film employ a seemingly more flexible mode of exploring and montaging ideas as did McElwee and Levine. As a result, the Marker film's at times are fleeting and abstract, the associations and diversions being minuscule and irrelevant, or grandios and profound.

Autobiographical Mode

            Addressing perhaps one of the more frequently encountered moral or ethical dilemmas concerning the creation of documentary, the autobiographic mode attempts to navigate the problems of how to truthfully represent individuals and their experiences. It approaches this navigation by turning the camera around onto the producer, the filmmaker, bypassing the risks of representing others and their opinions as a third party. In so doing, Fox explains that the "distance between producer and subject is diminished", and the representation of the subject can be uniquely first-person.

This mode naturally positions the filmmaker as a central part of the film not just as creator but as a performer/social actor. The filmmaker becomes an authoritative insider to a historical reality. The filmmaker's existence is scrutinized and offers itself as a gateway for others to investigate larger social or historical questions.  This authority may come from a varying degrees of intimacy with the subject and like a memoir will be interested in doing as Emily Dickenson wrote, by “tell[ing] the whole truth, but tell[ing] it slant.”  An interesting example of this is found in Persepolis. The film’s stylized representation of historical reality presents ‘truth’ told ‘slant’ through the lens of the writer and narrator of the film. The film’s highly subjective voice is validly authoritative due to the inherent autobiographic elements. Or in other words, Marjane Satrapi is undoubtedly the authority on her own life, who has right to challenge a representation of her experiences? 

Another example of the Autobiographical mode can be found in Sadie Benning's A Place Called Lovely. The filmmaker provides specific images and stories from her own youth to express ideas and commentary on larger social issues. For instance, she acts as a sort of case study for many of the social problems she introduces, such as child bullying and homophobia. 

The Reflexive Mode - Doc Mode Activity 2

(Ben, I will email you the password to the video. It has been requested to be kept private.)

The reflexive mode of documentary offers a unique challenge to both filmmaker and audience. It allows  the filmmaker to address contrivance outright and perhaps give a more honest representation of reality. By this I mean that one who admits deceit is more honest than one who denies it or avoids the conversation entirely. The audience is then proffered with the task of discerning what is revealed illusion or simple contrivance due to the lack of illusion. In my film I chose a subject who wanted to create a film with me, one who agreed to play an active part in shaping it and agreeing to be filmed as the subject during the shaping process.

I discovered that making a film in this manner creates potential for great fidelity and simultaneous censorship, it is as Barnouw puts it, "a reckless notion". Though the filming process is rich with actuality, the editing process becomes the invisible  barrier of true and honest delivery of reality. It is therefore important, as Vertov exemplified in Man With A Movie Camera to address and present this portion of the filmmaking process. With the inclusion of this aspect of my film, the film becomes more about itself than anything else, in spite of the amount of self induced or otherwise needed censorship and revision. The result is as Barnouw states "a heightened awareness" by dissolving illusion.

In the case of this film, the subject became increasingly offended with the material being produced of us making the film. Though the film was initiated as making a film about making a film of the subject. With time the subject disliked the informal nature that the film took on as it grew increasingly reflexive. This in turn, through many revisions and layers of filming, and filming the reactions to what was filmed, created a highly sensored self-aware film. The film could no longer truly be about the subject, only the film itself. The film is far more self-aware than it would allow itself to be shown. A strange experience of reflexivity.

The Reflexive Mode

I can scarcely think about the reflexive mode without Vertov Coming to mind. Barnouw explains very clearly the impact that Dziga Vertov had on both documentarians and fiction filmmakers around the world. Perhaps most interestingly though, is the portion of the Barnouw reading that explains the creation of The Man With A Movie Camera. Vertov, who opposed contrivance, embraced it in a manner that seemed to embody the reflexivity available to filmmakers and their films. He makes clear that the audience is watching a film, but not just watching any film, the audience is watching the film that they are watching being made(great potential for confusion and complexity). They are reminded that they are an audience, seeing 'themselves' in proxy on the screen. They are shown that the film consists of still images, it is physically pieced together by an editor, and it consists of multiple times and places. This attention to creating an awareness of the film itself, to avoid entirely the 'opium for the masses' potential of film that Vertov reviled, resulted in a fascinating self reflexive documentary.

Similar to Land Without Bread, Vertov's film makes assumptions about what an audience expects from a film, particularly documentary. It uses these assumptions to direct the thoughts of the audience to their own roles in the process of filmmaking: the consumption and assimilation of the experience into their lives.

This Is Not A Film is an excellent example of the strengths of reflexive documentary. I feel the film is designed to ask the questions such as what is a film? What consists of making a film? Is footage from an afternoon spent talking about filmmaking with a friend a film? Aside from the tragic ideological struggles in the film that make a strong political commentary, the film functions as a great critique of institutional definitions of film and filmmaking. It constantly reminds us that what we are watching was not supposed to be made; it is a film. This lends great strength to the argument and viewpoint of the filmmakers. It gives the simple afternoon spent with Jafar an ironic and satirical insight, charging it with a political buzz. It is hard to pin down wether the film really was as serendipitous as it was presented, but regardless of the answer, we are well aware with each passing second, that we are witnessing a film being made.

The Participatory Mode

Embracing serendipity, this doc mode seems to treat the camera as an extension of the filmmaker. It is as though the device is some sort of strange growth, another eye perhaps, protruding from the shoulder. The filmmaker becomes a character, or a social actor, in the story. S/he becomes a 'participator'. Though this mode is quite similar in utilizing technology and shares a similar historical emergence to the observational mode, it differs greatly. The filmmaker is not a mute bystander, simply filming and assuming to be neutral, the filmmaker becomes the 'picaro'. The lovable(or not so much - Sickness Around the World), or at times simply charming, character that takes us through the story. We wander with them and experience the wake of their presence in the lives of those they engage.

The filmmaker as 'picaro' type participator was particularly evident in Michael Moore's Sicko. His persona in the film not only acted as a vehicle to tie all of the film's strands together, but caused many of the strands to come into existence. He openly acknowledges his presence in the film, employing somewhat of a screen persona.  He takes on the tone of innocent inquirer at times(mostly whilst visiting with his subjects), though it is obvious that if he wasn't aware of the discrepancies between our perception of U.S. health care and reality, the film would not have been produced. He clearly acts as a catalyst, as Nichols explains, and incites the events that the film documents. Events such as the voyage to Cuba, and the inciting thousands of people to email him with their experiences with health care. Michael Moore would indeed be considered a bit of an extreme example of a participatory documentary filmmaker, but nevertheless a very good example.

This mode appears to be well suited for the Brechtian intentions of a filmmaker. We are reminded of our role as viewers and therefor participators. We are encouraged to self-reflect. This may effect may be due in part to the unmasking of the filmmaker as a real individual with opinions and values. The filmmaker does not need to represent any sort of ideal, and becomes truly a fellow social actor amongst the crowd.

The Poetic Mode - Doc Mode Activity 1

Bill Nichols explains in his description of the poetic mode that it "has many facets, but they all emphasize the ways in which the filmmaker's voice gives fragments of the historical world a formal, aesthetic integrity peculiar to the film itself." The poetic mode does indeed have many facets such as an emphasis on rhythm, texture, the disregard of spatial and temporal realities, and the desire to explore the world with a new perspective. But perhaps of all these facets, the potential for historical reality to be used for subjective repurposing caught my interest the strongest. Though other modes use historical fragments of the world to make arguments or drive home messages, the poetic mode is uninterested in delivering a single interpretation of the historical data. It is interested in exploring new perspectives and embracing ambiguity that comes with encountering fresh information.

This short piece is designed around the idea that fragments of the historical world can be manipulated and rearranged for the purpose of expressing ideas and emotions. Similar to words in a poem, images may be used like syllables, creating rhythms and evoking the senses. My film intends to promote a charitable consideration of a wasp, the unexpected guest. Informed by Stan Brakhage's Moth Light, I present the viewer with a new perspective in which to view the world. This perspective includes my own lens, as well as that of the yellow jacket, though perhaps very mildly.  The perspective is a hybrid, one born out of fighting the impulse to kill the small intruder and to simply experience the occurrence.

Moth Light beautifully affords the viewer a completely open ended experience. Likewise, my film hopes to present a subjective interpretation of a historical reality. It focusses on movement and stillness, textures and light.

Observatory Mode

Similar to most change and experimentation in filmmaking, the birth of observational documentary came out of technological advances. By this I am mostly referring to the advent  of lighter and more portable cameras. Nichols references the innovation of inexpensive 16mm film coupled with much lighter/portable audio equipment contributing greatly to the rise of observational film. It wouldn't be too much of a risk to say that before the ability to have a micro crew of one - two people, the observational mode would simply not be successful let alone possible. I'd imagine that any sort of larger crew would greatly hinder the comfort that the social actors would need to feel in order to give any sort of  genuine performance. Additionally, the difficulty alone of physically keeping up with the movements and actions of any sort of event/ unscripted encounter with a social actor would probably have discouraged filmmakers from even experimenting in such a way.

Very fittingly, Barnouw calls the first instance of observational films a 'Free Cinema'. This title suggests and highlights the potential that the new technologies afforded the filmmakers. In Primary, the filmmakers were given an unprecedented amount of free movement, often cutting their way through crowds trailing the senators. This mobility undoubtably allowed them to shift around and document the scene as though 'flies on a wall'. I recall Ross McElwee describing how the ability to film and record audio by himself(or be 'autonomous'), led him to experiment with forms of producing films as a one man crew. This undoubtably was the genesis to his distinct voice in documentary.

Interestingly, in contemporary times, we are afforded an incredible amount of mobility and virtually untethered potential with our recording devices. They are small, light, and inexpensive. I find it interesting that the majority of our society(including film students) seems to be unsure of how to utilize these powerful tools. We seem to be stumbling our way through film history, starting with the trick gimmick films, or spectacle cinema, and moving towards more evolved(sophisticated) and thoughtful forms of media. I'm not discounting the incredible ways that the general populace is utilizing technology to produce raw footage -- often with journalistic import -- because truly we live in a period of democratized journalism. I simply have to wonder how much easier this mode of documentary has become thanks to technological innovations. Is it still evolving as it did in its earliest reciprocation to tech developments?

The Expository Mode

This mode seems to be well suited for politically charged/ agenda driven documentary films. As Nichols explains, they are framed by rhetoric, which is typical of any persuasive argument. It became apparent as we viewed this week's film selection how the 'voice-of-God' narration impacts the viewer. At least for myself, I found it very easy to trust such an omniscient presence in the film. Obviously this facet of commentary was interrogated by Land Without Bread, but seemed to hold true throughout the other films we explored. The filmmakers were conscious of the power behind the omniscient voice and exploited the trust/faith that develops with the audience. The result was a somewhat humorous and slightly disturbing experience.

In the case of The Vampire and The Love Life Of an Octopus, I found it particularly entertaining to consciously trust the narrator as he made seemingly candid and dry remarks about the films' animal subjects. The two films didn't appear to have much of a politically charged nature, but they do seem to drive a view on the animals. For instance in The Love Life Of An Octopus we are encouraged to observe and appreciate the subject in a particular way: as though the creature were a chimera. This perhaps reflected the knowledge the filmmaker had about the impact of his narrations and other sound design elements on an audience.

Interestingly,  I found that Manufacturing Consent, though it lacked an omniscient narrator, employed the subject himself as a sort of 'voice-of-Authority' type narration, in spite of Chomsky never explicitly addressing the film's audience. Chomsky' speech, gathered from many contexts and places, was melded into a very strong driving narration in support of the subject's views.. This was a point of separation between this film and The Interrupters(another familiar example of expository film), which employed voices-of-authority that directly addressed the film's intended audience.

Another fine example of expository media that crossed my path this past week was Ken Burns' Jazz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pimw60xGmuA). It hardly needs much of an introduction as to why it would be considered expository, due to its heavily investigative/historical tone ushered along by a confident 'voice-of-God'.

Doc Beginnings

Origin stories from all subjects and places tend to become shrouded with mythology. It seems to be typical of us as humans to determine the value of thoughts and expressions long after their initial conception. So it is with documentary film. Its history is not singular and its origins are murky due to its evolution through many heads and hands. Though it could be claimed that documentary films owe in great part their heritage to the Lumiere mode of production, I must agree with Nichols' proposition that this may be undue credit. The Lumiere brothers didn't invent documentary, though they did make cinematic documents. Nichols explains that it would take leaps before filmmakers would make self-aware films that were institutionally recognized and purported as 'documentaries'. The Lumiere brothers simply made films. They were void of genre in their conception since no such thing existed at that time.

The murky evolution of certain film practices becoming established as documentary-esque was made evident when viewing Drifters and Coal Face. Both films undertake to provide a like-minded perspective of reality. Both have a similar interest in national identity and industrialization and seem to follow similar conventions in structure and form (though the advent of sound gave Coal Face the ability to narrate the 'intertitles', its narration is quite similar to the purpose of the intertitles in Drifters). Seeing the similarities between these films helped me to understand that 'documentaries' were born, in a sense, only once there were filmmakers in proximity to agree on an established idea of documentary. Before a common vocabulary had been established, it may have been purely experimentation and exploration that characterized the creation of films with 'documentary' qualities. Once proximity is established, we can see very soon after the creation of self-aware 'documentary' films such as Nanook of the North (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHbU2LdStwk) and Land Without Bread, which relied on the audience's trust to successfully tell their story. The establishment of a vocabulary set the stage for a genre to be born and the audience's assumption and acceptance of the veracity documentary. This allowed filmmakers to truly give an indexical representation of the world with their own voice, or poetic expression/experimentation. 

The Documentary Idea

Defining a subject, particularly a subject that deals with art and creation, is often very difficult. I found as we discussed the topic in class, and as I began reading in our texts, that finding a definition for 'Documentary Film' is quite slippery. It clearly has evolved, and will evolve. I feel that understanding this facet of documentary makes thinking about the genre so much more exciting. It really is an ancient form of expression, but now made accessible with extremely powerful tools. I enjoyed the way that Nichols compares documentary film to the indexical image. (Paraphrasing)It is an imprint of things made by instruments that have the capacity to reproduce with high fidelity. He mentions cameras and sound recorders. I found it helpful to start talking about documentary in that most basic of terms: simply an imprint of things, but given a unique perspective/interpretation.
Ai Wei Wei was a recording of events and organized to deliver a unique perspective and interpretation of the world. The film excellently unveils human struggles both ideologically, and physically, as we observe the lives of the film's subjects. Though the film in reality consists of physical imprints of light and sound frequencies made by instruments, it is delivered in such a way that is is so much more than just an indexical thing. It is a 'documentary'. And an effective one at that. This seems to be due in part to the way the film engages and deals with conflict. Ai Wei Wei is clearly struggling for his intellectual and arguably his physical freedom. We sympathise -- potentially empathize, with his struggle and desire his success. We can recognize his strengths and shortcomings thanks to careful and honest filmmaking. This allows for his imprint, or portrayal to be more rounded and human.

Fireside Chat

The Fireside Chat was an enjoyable experience. It may have been my favorite assignment of the semester. I initially worried that the night would drag on, however I found it to be very entertaining and revealing about my peers. Hearing their stories and experiencing their various methods of storytelling was enlightening and bond-forming. It reminded me in many ways of the Pinkhassov Portfolio in the sense of the potential for such a wide interpretation of a singular notion or idea. In the case of the text, it was a wide view of communication with deity.
I chose to share an experience I had while living in California. At the time it felt like a rather small experience, but with time and evidenced through repeated reflection, it has proven to be quite meaningful to me. It developed into ideas that eventually led into beliefs.
I think this class has been very useful in helping me understand previous experiences with storytelling. It has made me reevaluate the art that I have created in the past and consider it in new contexts. More importantly, it has influenced the way I feel a story can and should be treated.
In a way the experience reminded me of a comment made by Ross McElwee while he was visiting us. He explained that revisiting his films is a strange experience for him, almost as though they are no longer really his own, but someone else's story. When we shared our stories and beliefs, they became communal and part of a whole, no longer isolated.

Concerned Citizen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1NkuU9QUYY

The filmmaker has a unique vantage point of community and society. This vantage point comes from the benefit of having an object, such as a camera, to obscure himself. It makes it easy to observe and learn about those around us. With a heightened or perhaps even privileged view of community, the filmmaker should, as should any artist, be engaged and concerned as a citizen of a community.

We found that many of the community members who were most active and concerned about the welfare of others, were filmmakers. Particularly we found that filmmaker Dean Duncan and collaborators have made significant contributions to the Latter Day Saint community with their series Fit for The Kingdom. Dean privileged us with an interview where we asked him more about his decision to make the series. We discovered that his motivations came out of a sincere interest for the ‘neighbor’ and the importance of using documentary film to help promote positive self-reflection.

The reading by Arlene Goldbard, entitled Human Rights and Culture, says, “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” I feel our video coupled with Dean Duncan’s voice over relates to the reading because it represents that we should be involved with our neighbors. The video also shows art and the advancement of technology from the beginning of filmmaking to the present.

Protest Poster

My poster addresses what I have found to be a very odd part of the contemporary American experience. I don't feel that I am isolated in the experience of forgetting that our country is in the middle of a war. It seems the only time I hear about it is when a politician is promising to tone it down and roll back the thousands of US Soldiers. On any news network the war seems to be largely forgotten. I find it very strange that American involvement in past wars occupies much of our history classes, yet when we are living through a war we are encouraged not to think about it.
My poster emphasizes the role of media in making the American occupation of Afghanistan a reality for Americans and the message that these media organizations are sending through their silence. It is a dangerous message to be sending, especially when one considers the risks of 'a single story' discussed by Chimanda Adichie in her Ted  Talk address.
I enjoyed the protest art of Alexandra Clotfelter, and felt that her pieces were extremely well aesthetically designed, whilst being quite functional. My experience of posting this to Facebook was mild. It received few comments, most being humorous. I was able to witness my co-workers reactions, who glanced at it, asked me if it was serious, then continued scrolling through their feeds.

Webspinna: Retrospect

The webspinna experience is a culmination of a wide spectrum of prior texts. It is serendipity mixed with perhaps a small amount of resourcefulness. It isn't an isolated moment, but is rather a pervasive experience. The resulting remixes, though focussed by interest, were distilled through many years of engaging with the internet. I found that as I began engaging with the internet, not for mere consumption or research, but as a mine with maleable material, the internet became much more of a living environment. I've always thought of the internet as being an organism of sorts. However, by using it for a live performance, it felt more of a living and moving repository, much more like a community of individuals with voices, than a library of knowledge I've usually associated with it. The communal aspect of sharing our internet remixes with our peers was revealing. It exposed our engagement with internet media, and its influence on us. The Webspinna became engaging when we as an audience were aware of the origins of the sounds and the juxtaposition of these familiar items with the obscure and unexpected. The experience promoted conversation with peers that explored our aspirations and vulnerabilities as artist and creators of media.

My particular remix was comprised with voices of artists and writers that have been large influences in my life. Additionally it featured sounds from other artists who have been influenced by people of interest to me. For instance it featured music and performances inspired by H.G. Wells, and Stanley Kubrick. There was a nuance that emerged when I juxtaposed these sounds. It was a collection of contemporary artists engaging with artists from generations past.

Webspinna

Fleet Foxes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1tbX_NJn98

DCFC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq­yP7mb8UE
Hemingway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO_qovNelA0
O. Welles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egudvdwtDIg 
Birds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CL77xgPyKM
Other Lives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWMqgeIDJs8

Medium Specificity

There are many things in our world that add credibility to the notion that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I feel that this is particularly true with Film. When treated with care, film may be the culmination of all art mediums. After reflecting on the medium-aware films of Stan Brakhage and Maya Deren, I have concluded that the following is what I consider to be the medium specifics of film: firstly the capturing of motion through recording light, and secondly, the ability to manipulate time by use of 'cutting' and editing. I created this short piece to give a nod to film's technological parent - photography, as well as the ancestor of all light recording: the camera obscura. All three of these technologies are included in my film. The camera is used to direct and focus the light inside of a camera obscura, and my digital camera records the motion. It is edited together emphasizing the ability to manipulate time. Music and sounds have been included to help further the notion that film is particularly adept in enveloping other mediums.

Textual Poaching

For decades, Ernest Hemingway has been a definitive example of the male American writer. He has become in a way a male role-model, exemplifying many traits that Americans consider to be masculine. Many of his stories explore the struggles of masculinity and self-worth, and many argue, give insight into the man's personal struggle with defining what it means to be a man and a father. His work has been very influential, particularly to male artists. It is arguable that Wes Anderson in many ways pays tribute to, as well as explores, Ernest Hemingway through his character Steve Zissou. Steve Zissou has become an iconic figure of masculinity struggling to define self-worth and manhood. His beanie has become a subcultural symbol of his character. When I think of the way that masculinity is portrayed in modern media, I am typically confronted with a womanizing action-star, or a muscle enraged fighter. Wes's approach to portraying men, though error ridden and vice afflicted, has been much closer to my experience of what it means to be a man. His character's redeeming traits are always that they eventually acknowledge their flaws and confront them. Similarly to Ernest Hemingway's characters who would confront their oppositions bravely and nobly. When crafting my textually poached image, I was inspired by the Kalman photos found in our text. I thought they were particularly effective at questioning our view of the male celebrity and femininity. My piece explores the relationship between Hemingway's legacy as an artist, and the subsequent results of his influence on the definition of masculinty, both on Anderson, as well as on me as a young male writer and filmmaker.

Manifesto

Art may be deemed as such by fulfilling the following criteria:

• Exposes and inquires into the respective contemporary society of the artist.
• Transcends age, gender, and generations.
• Is informed by and conscious of the forms and aesthetics of the past.
• Is intended to be easily accessible.

Our manifesto grew out of a mutual interest in examining and actively questioning our society. It developed as we discussed as a group our points of interest and perspectives on what is important to social discourse, both aesthetically and as commentary.

We decided to explore different mediums to create a collection of works that portray the ideas expressed in our manifesto. This mix up of different mediums is reminiscent of the mashup by DJ Food we were assigned to read. That 40 minute piece was built off the exact same thing we were focusing on in our manifesto. It discussed not only the history of a new genre, but many societal problems that came to light as the genre emerged. For example, it started out by reflecting on the technology that helped the genre take root; music files on the internet. With this change came the surge of access to music, but at the cost of the artists. Good and bad accompanied the events, but it was not really picking sides, rather calling attention to the developments in the society surrounding the artist.

   The main point of our manifesto is that true art exposes different aspects of the artist’s society. Our first thought was to use our art pieces to expose the problems we, as the “artists”, see around us. however, we realized that true art should not just complain about society but also celebrate it. Thus, we chose to base our artwork around the idea of exalting the common man in today’s economy. An example of this that comes to mind is the beloved artwork of Norman Rockwell, who did not choose the most beautiful subjects to draw. In fact, common man would be a very fitting word for most of his characters, and yet the pictures are so lively and strike joy in the viewer. This is a very simple yet effective example of "exalting" the common man. Since Norman Rockwell dealt with plenty of poverty in his time, and his artwork reflected that poverty, his work fit very well with the ideals of our manifesto.

What follows is a series of images that we feel illustrate, or even exemplify our manifesto:

Jared:

Junk Mail: A meditation on the efforts of creators/producers to reach consumers, and the effect this has on many aspects of our environment and economy. 

Aranzha:

My piece celebrates young love in the fast food society. Countless times we’ve seen montages with young couples sharing a milkshake (“Two straws, please!”), right? So, I decided to replace this symbol of romance for a hamburger because I have been tempted many times to condemn a society were the cheapest food comes from fast food restaurants without even considering that food, in any form, is a blessing. Love is everywhere, a .99 cents sandwich doesn’t make a moment any less special.

Chris:

 My piece of the collection, entitled Trade Marks, is a play on words. As you will find in the drawings, many of the well-known company symbols have been mixed and mingled. My generation has grown up in a crazy world of advertising and monopolies. The capitalistic country I have been raised in has thrived on it's system for decades and has become very advanced as a result, but constant competition for the new best product has caused an intellectual civil war. This war is not over territory but over names and ideas. Companies must fight for not only their name, but also for our attention. My piece is calling attention to that war (for good and bad) 

Hannah:

My art piece exalts the common man/woman and also exposes and inquires into my contemporary society. I used common facebook pictures of people I have talked to and used their real stories in my art as I comment on the economic struggle we are facing. I am using an aesthetic of the past, decoupage, and it is easily accessible because it is on my blog. I also tried to make if full of texture to make it tactile and real.

Compelling Art

Robert and Shana Parkeharrison

-Lucid Dream

-In The Orchard

Historical Story

In the late 1860’s, Mark Twain set out on a primitive road trip, taking wagon and train, out into the west. Part of his travels led him to Salt Lake City. During his stay, Twain found occasion to document his experiences with the Mormons. His account contains a very humorous meeting with the prophet Brigham Young. This is the basis for our “Historical Story”.

By examining the intersection of two notable historical men, we found fertile ground for an examination of character and context. This manifested itself in the opportunities afforded us as we imagined Mark Twain finding himself in an entirely new context. Simultaneously, Brigham Young was introduced to a very interesting ‘character’, perhaps one of the most interesting men of the times. We created a fictional third character to be intermediary of the two men. Much of the dialogue was inspired by Mark Twain’s own account of the story. Though we have an account from one side of the record, it is obvious that we could not take Twain’s account as factual. Memories and personal accounts are fluid and often too subjective to be considered Truth. This concept was excellently illustrated in Ethan Canin’s short piece “Vivian, Fort Barnwell”.

With this in mind, we took quite a few liberties in fabricating what the conversation might have sounded like instead of what it did sound like. While both men are often regarded as some of the greater minds of the 19th century, we felt it justified to give them some character flaws, especially issues with self esteem and temper. This allowed the conversation to elevate to a level more inappropriate than what a prophet of the Lord probably would have allowed. In order to protect our salvation, we made sure most of the aggression came from Mark Twain, leaving Brigham Young with more intellectual and passive come-backs. Sure, it is fun to have famous historical figures fight each other in our own personal arena, but Fritz brings up the most important point: It is a shame that these men did not fully appreciate the other’s genius simply because their expertise was in different areas.

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Genealogical Artifact

Statement: When considering an object or artifact that has held a significant place in my life, an item of food comes to mind. This food is a traditional South African delicacy. It is a sausage that has caused a great deal of excitement in my family for as long as I can remember. Apart from simply exciting my family's tastebuds, it helped finance our immigration and immunization into the United States. My family handcrafts the sausage from the finest local meats and fresh ground spices. It is called Boere Worse. It means farmer's sausage, and the process of making to eating, is an incredibly sensuous experience. It stands for my family's commitment to be in the United States, as well as a reminder of where we came. It is very much a root and a branch, functioning as one. When writing my essay I was inspired by another essay written by Tony Judt entitled "Food". It is a short piece found in his memoir, The Memory Chalet. Just as Tony was aided in finding his identity through the food he ate, I feel a strong connection to my family and myself through this linked sausage. Similarly to Siri Hustvedt's description of utilizing a set of useless, unknown keys left behind by her father, I too have found that taking a bite of Boere Worse grounds me in a way that promotes clear and creative thinking. Maybe even a bit of euphoria.

:: ::

The whole house smells strongly of coriander and malt vinegar. My mouth is watering as I lay on the top bunk. I know my dad is in the kitchen cutting meat with mom’s ‘sharp’ knife, the one that we mustn’t touch because we could get hurt. He is standing beside the round table that can fold out to be bigger when we have guests. I know he is still there cutting meat and stirring it into all the vinegar because I haven’t heard the terrible machine start yet, just the small noise of my mom grinding fresh coriander for the sausage.
I start to drift to sleep when I hear the terrible noise start. A hellish racket fills the house and makes me rollover in my bed. My brother below also shifts in his sleep. The machine screeches and hums and whines as my parents feed meat into it’s top. I know that’s what they are doing because sometimes they let us help. Tonight they said it was too late since I was starting school in the morning. I try to sleep. The noise is too loud and the smell makes me too impatient.

I climb down from my bunk and creep into the kitchen to watch all the racket. My parents are both standing on the yellow linoleum floor. Beside my dad is a big black bucket filled with meat. He reaches his big hands into the bucket and pulls out piles of oatmeal and spice covered pork and beef. He puts the meat into the top of the screeching machine and then pushes it down through a hole with the wooden pusher. That is my favorite job: to push the meat in with the wooden thing.  Mom is sitting at the table guiding the grinded meat into pork casing. It looks so gross the way the meat fills the thin white tube and turns it red as it expands. I just stand there and watch them, no longer trying to hide. Soon my dad tells me to come stand on a chair at the table and help if I want. I quickly mount the chair and help my dad push meat through the top of the machine. The meat is cold and wet, and squishes if I squeeze it in my hands. It’s covered in special spices so it also feels powdery and clumpy like a sucker that falls out of your mouth and into the dirt. It smells delicious, and I start slipping a small piece of it into my mouth until I remember that the meat is raw and mom says it will make me sick.

I help for a little while but my eyes start getting blurry, so I get off the chair and head for bed. My mom quickly tells me to wash my blood covered hands before returning to my room. The blood had dried there with flakes of oatmeal and I had forgotten. She talks quietly about using soap and somehow I still hear her over the noise of the meat grinder.

My parents have been making sausage for as long as I can remember. It’s called Boerewors, you say it like boravorse, but either way I say it, none of the other kids I know have ever heard of it. It’s from South Africa like us, and my dad makes the best in the whole country. South Africans from all over come to buy from us. I start drifting to sleep even though the screeching and grinding seem to never stop.

Process Piece

Jared came up with the idea to make a fictional process, which later was approved for this project.  Initially, we were going to document the process necessary for bringing a monster to life, or some other fanciful medical procedure.  In the end, we decided to go with another of Jared’s brilliant ideas and have a robot performing a liver transplant.

We produced the sound much like an old radio show by having all the voice actors in the room at the same time, and most of the sound effects were done during the same recording.  We added very little to the master recording.   Sterling was the man being operated on, Jared was in charge of having the computer automated sound bites used for Dr. Red’s voice play at the correct times, and Jared’s wife Carly played the part of Dr. Sterling.  Even though we decided it would be too gruesome to have a women play the part of the patient, we still kept the name of the Dr.

Even though there are a few restrictions that come from having most of the sound on one long take, it also yields a more natural response and interpersonal interaction from people participating.

Some of the sounds that we added in later include cracking nuts and squeezing a wet sponge that we layered on top of the screaming part at the end.   In addition, we added clicking from a lamp switch and background conversation to introduce the listener to a televised broadcast.  Everything else, including the footsteps and the electric razor, which became our bone saw were all recorded on the same track as the dialogue.  We still did piece everything together and altered the volume levels for better clarity using Garage Band.

After doing the initial recording, we still had to double check and make sure that this went along with what was intended with the assignment.  Most people are probably documenting processes where everything goes well and according to plan.  Where there is a clear finished product.  In ours, something goes wrong, and even though there is a clear beginning, middle and end, the final outcome was not what was initially expected nor apparently intended.

https://soundcloud.com/sterling-e/dr-red