Revised Artist Statement
The emotions we reveal to outsiders is very different from what we experience on a day to day basis. We are all vulnerable creatures who have a need to portray that we are superior to our fears. We have an innate nature to never show our faults because society dictates that being vulnerable is synonymous with being weak. As a result of this, our individuality is lost and we are deemed “dull and boring.”
There are moments where we are able to let go of all these false appearances and behaviors to the point where we can experience life as it is. These stress-free moments among the chaos are what we should take advantage of as much as possible. We live our lives in such a rush that we do not take time out to enjoy what is going on without thinking about what’s next.
I use photography to capture these carefree memories because it can capture a priceless moment and I incorporate animation to give a hint of playful fantasy among the boring reality. In my work I want to show that no matter how uneventful or stressful our daily lives are, there are blissful moments where we can experience happiness despite the negativity that surrounds us.
The aspects of animation gives an essence of magic to the “dull” viewer who is overwhelmed with responsibilities. I would like my work to give them a moment of bliss to take their minds off their obligations and bring them to smile.
Blog Post 11
For my final project I’d like to incorporate sound art techniques and animation to create an original art piece using both Audacity and Photoshop. I want stay true to my artist statement by combining both elements of the real world with the imaginary. By using animation techniques I can manipulate images of the real world to showcase actions that are not realistic. This action combined with a background of corresponding sounds would bring these effects to life.
Project 3
Blog Post 10
I personally enjoy listening to mashups and remixes because it is a unique way of listening and enjoying all the parts of songs that I like. I usually find a video of a mashup on YouTube and play it when I’m driving or trying to relax because it is easier to have those bits and pieces of music together into one streaming video than having to look up separate songs every time one finishes.
I appreciate the beats and undertones of various rhythms in these videos and songs because they bring forward new feelings and conveys new emotions for the full version of the song whose fragments were used. I do not consider myself a musician or knowledgeable enough to tell what goes on in a song but I appreciate the aesthetics of music. Remixes of old songs are interesting to me because I enjoy listening to the new beats and runs of the song. I’ll listen to something as long as it sounds good.
I thought it was interesting that RiP: A Remix Manifesto brought up the idea of copyright infringement when discussing the production of a mashup or remix. I always thought that violating a copyright agreement meant you had to use the product as a whole. Making mashups and remixes do not seem to violate my view of what it means to steal someone’s work because you are essentially creating a whole new product with unique underlying music that is different than the original piece.
Haven’t we reached the point where these “violations” are so cumbersome that it would become nonexistent? If I made a song and over 1,000 people were to use bits and pieces of it into their own individual mashup, I would just forget about the violations because it would be too much hassle to go through and charge each person for every bit and piece of my song that they used.
In the video it is said that those who are the original producers are part of the past and that they want to limit the control of their work. The original creators do not want others to republish what they have done because they feel that these new users are taking credit for something they never actually made. In some ways I agree with that statement because the creators of the mashups and remixes have transformed something that was in a sense “old” into something “new” and innovative. I understand the need to be protective over your work; however, deconstructing a song to make it into something new is completely different that using the original song as is. And sometimes depending on how well the tracks were manipulated, these new audio files end up sounding much better than the original in my opinion.
Personally I would be honored to have someone bring forth my music into the new generations because it shows that what I originally created was good enough to be long lasting in the world’s audience. I think that people should continue to create mashups without having to worry about legal actions being taken against them.
Haiku
Blog Post 9
http://www.ubu.com/sound/electronic_panorama.html
The Electronic Panorama seemed the most interesting to me because it seemed to convey the most emotions, from a serious atmosphere to one that is more carefree and optimistic. At times it seems to imply a sense of urgency with can be linked to a tense situation where one feels overwhelmed from stress. This sense of urgency makes me think that this particular sound could be used in a horror movie for when the victim is aimlessly walking around with the killer watching them from a distance. On the other extreme, other times the sounds seem silly as if a child was just playing around to make noises at random. These parts remind me of my nephew sitting in the kitchen hitting on the pots and pans surrounding him in effort to be heard by whoever happened to be willing to listen.
I enjoy the idea that Luigi Russolo portrays because he describes a need for change. These new sounds are not restricted by any traditional means of composition and that is what makes them unique. The music Russolo composes is not defined by preexisting instruments. His compositions allow the audience to relate to the music he preforms because they can always relate a specific sound from the performance to one that they hear during their daily lives. For example, the sound of a train or bell can be related to the sounds heard when walking along the streets in a person’s local neighborhood. The fact that these sounds can be relatable gives the audience a reason for a connection. The type of sound played or the level of intensity can trigger an emotion or event that person had experienced. Because they can trigger a response towards the piece, the performance is all the more worthwhile for the audience member.
Blog Post 8
McKenzie Wark’s description of a hacker relates the idea that they are able to “create the possibilities of new things entering the world.” Hackers create new and innovative things in many areas such as art, science, technology by apply abstraction to specific information. To some extent this description fits to what I had perceived a hacker to be, someone who was able to manipulate a preexisting feature to meet their desires. Although I thought a hacker to be someone who would only gain access to computer programs for manipulation, Wark says that a hacker can also affect culture, art, and science. One can use the term hacker to identify themselves with simply changing something old and innovating it to become something new and beautiful; it’s not all just about illegally gaining access to a program to make it do something you want or to see what information it holds.
I agree with Wark when he says that “to produce is to repeat; to hack, to differentiate.” His description of what it means to be a hacker releases its negative meanings and allows the reader to see a hacker as an artist. Although the work is preexisting in some cases, the hacker has the talents and imagination to breathe new life to create something so unique and pure that audience would have forgotten the original tracks of the work itself. By breathing new life into the work, Wark says that hackers “free” the information previously held by restricting properties. This reflects back to my perception of a hacker being someone to gain access to a restricted entity. He says that information inherently wants to be free and as a result, hackers are becoming worthy because they allow for that release. They are seen as producers rather than the owners of the works.
Project 2 / Blog Post 7
Blog Post 6
In Cameraless Animation it is said that “the comic strip creates a vocabulary for the animated short.” Using a comic strip allows the images to be organized in a way similar to that of a flipbook where it allows for the still images to come to life. I have always enjoyed watching animations and cartoons, especially by Disney. While growing up because I was fascinated to learn how the drawings on paper came to life as real moving characters on screen. I remember how eager I was when Disney would show the behind the scenes of how the created their animations. I would try to mimic the way they drew the characters because I was in awe of the imagination behind the works. As I got older I was interested in the programming behind the works.
Seeing just how the animators were able to manipulate still images through software to basically create a really long flip book which could tell a story by taking each image and putting them together frame by frame. This technique is mainly seen in cartoons but there are other manipulations which allow for 3-D animations. Taking shadows and adding multiple frames to create depth brings to life these basic drawings to create three-dimensional figures. Even using physical models and adding digital frames have also allowed for 2-D creations to “come alive.”
I think that we are able to create many characters and portray different emotions through animation which we would not otherwise be able to through movies with real life characters. How else would we have been able to experience the adventures of a talking sponge or even our famous superheroes that we have read about in comics? Animation clearly allows us to let our imagination come to life so that we can experience what was thought about in our minds.