Category Archives: JM13D
Digital essay proposal
It’s a bit late to be putting this up, but I wanted to get some feedback on my video idea first before I started on it.
“Shark finning is the cruel act of cutting off the shark’s fins while it is still alive, then the still living shark is wastefully thrown back into the ocean to die a slow and painful death.”
The main purpose of my video would be to spread awareness about the illegal shark fin trade. This practice, aside from being undeniably cruel, is pushing certain species of sharks to the point of extinction. I first became aware of this issue after seeing this [link] drawing, and it has been on my mind ever since.
Now on to the more technical stuff. Since there’s no way for me to actually go diving anytime within the next couple of weeks to film this, I settled for what I felt would be the next best option: stop-motion animation. I’d planned to start drawing small ocean-dwelling organisms being eaten by progressively bigger ones until the final one (most likely a tuna fish) would be eaten by a Great White shark. The shark then gets caught in a fishing net and is pulled upwards and out of the screen. After a short scene of just the ocean scenery, the shark (now finless) comes into view again, after having been dropped back into the waters to bleed to death. The last scene would be a short dialogue between a waiter and a customer in a restaurant in which the customer orders shark fin soup for lunch.
Any opinions on whether or not this idea would a bit too extreme? That’s really my main concern at this point, so feedback would be appreciated.
Paper Proposal
I decided to deviate from the sexual theme. It is a very interesting idea but it is something that I will have to pursue some other time. For this paper, I decided to try something a little more feasible and unique ( in my sense). The poem/song that I will be using is Morgan Heritage’s “Don’t Haffi Dread”. In this song, the reggae band Morgan Heritage talks about why you a person doesn’t need to have dreadlocks to be a Rastafarian. There is a little history behind the culture of Rastafarianism that I will expose my audience to of course. Ultimately, I want to use the song as a way to explain that it is not what a person wears or does that defines him, but as the song says “the divine conception of the heart”. Below is a link to the song
Morgan Heritage – Don\'t Haffi Dread
Lyrics : http://www.metrolyrics.com/dont-haffi-dread-lyrics-morgan-heritage.html
As for the video, I will relate this theme to New York City. Showing how people differ by interview them. However, this idea still needs further development.
Digital Essay
Well, I am pretty sure that I am going to do the song “War” by Bob Marley and the Wailers, and use the speech made by Haille Selasse I to the United Nations which the song was adapted from as my source. The video will be the song playing in the background, most likely a live version I have which goes into “No More Trouble”, with different news clippings about race relations, the function of the United Nations, then and now, global war and its effect on foreign policy, as well as some video from NYC, all edited together in a sort of collage.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/zydSc-Cp5bg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Digital Essay Plan
As you all know (or not), my poem is “the Electric Slide Boogie” by Audre Lorde. I’m basically sticking to the plan i mentioned in class, which is basically depicting myself in a slump in black and white rendering to a slow/sad theme, and then after a bit, rising up as the black and white transitions into color. While the color transition is occurring, the music will transition from slow and down beat to a faster and more upbeat theme. I’ll probably change songs to make this work. Since my main focus in this poem is its tone and mood, the signpost depiction of the content of the poem is out of the question. So to fill in the time you guys are watching me simply lying down and then getting back up (too boring and simple/ I know) I’m also planning to make words appear and fade out randomly across the screen. These words are going to be various emotions, that will basically transition from sad to happy. To be honest, I still don’t quite know how to do that yet. I’m also still unsure of exactly what music to put in. (to Ms. Kaufman: Could you give me a range of how long this video should be? i.e. min – max)
Born to do this Digital Essay Baby
heyy everyone!
Since Jenny and I were both so inspired and influenced by Malisa’s amazing post about perfection and how hard it is to accept yourself with all your perceived flaws, we decided that we would collaborate on a video and hopefully come up with something awesome. If my memory serves me right, she proposed to do something with the more painful side of the difficulties people have in flaunting who they are and the role that they play in this harsh world because of the judgment, stigma, and ridicule that they have to face. I am thinking of adding on to that with also showing some of the hope that is coming out in present times and that even when they are feeling at their lowest, there is comfort in knowing somewhere out there someone is willing accept you exactly the way you are. We haven’t quite fully mapped out what we’re going to do but I really liked the simplicity of the “emerging from the subway” video and how it told an unspoken story. I think that we’re going to have some darker images of people struggling to accept who they are and maybe show that there is some light in the world. I would also like to incorporate some music; some with darker tones but also developing into hopeful perhaps lyrical music.
As a last note, in the same episode of the “Born this Way” Glee they also sang a mash up of “Unpretty” by TLC and “I Feel Pretty” by West Side Story comparing the two sides of how people feel about themselves and that they can bring themselves down. Sometimes you are your biggest critic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DBEdshgTUY
Specifics of Final Project/Paper 3 & Digital Essay
I’ve scrapped my old idea in my previous post and after going through many old volumes of Chinese Poetry, I have finally found one a poem that is semi-compatible with the modern times (read: something that I could reasonably write a 5-7 page paper on).
The Poem is called “A Song of Chariots” by Du Fu. This poem is ostensibly about the plight of the poor/non-gentry during times of war. I believe I could tie the poem to the current perspectives with the thesis. Du Fu’s A Song of Chariots” is a poem that presents a unique viewpoint (for its time) that rings true throughout history as it describes the disproportionate burden the poor suffer during times of war – a view that is not shared by many of his contemporaries as he often writes from the perspective of the “lower classes”. That would be my “thesis” and of course, it will be subject to edits in the future.
For my Digital Essay, I have chosen a 2:30 minute piece here to be the background music for the video.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/9deywC7sY6c" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
The piece is called “Asia” and its from the Senkou no Night Raid Anime OST (aka. NightRaid 1931). This theme has a very Chinese feel to it as it blends the Chinese Fiddle (erhu), piano and percussion very well. My plan is transition my own drawings of past and present along with the music. The old, when the erhu is playing, and the new when the piano is dominant.
Video wise, I don’t really think I could “animate” the whole thing. But I could do a very interesting “storybook” like style. Where there will be a main background image (more than one I would think) and there will be a smaller images overlaying it as time goes on. I am not sure if I will still have dialogue boxes as I really can’t draw faces really well. Anyways, I got my inspiration from the h-game Quartett.
Paper 3 Proposal
Hello to whomever is reading this right now. I am working with Sol on this project, but he and I will work on different poems. Sol will work on “The Lady of Shalott” by Lord Tennyson, and I will work on one of Fernando Pessoa’s poems under the heteronym Albert Caeiro (Poem 5 June 1922). Although our poems are very different in both time period and style, we share a common theme that touches on our subjective perception of the world and how it is shaped by the lenses (media, or any other outlet we use to gain knowledge) we use to view said world.
For our digital project, we will try to make a compilation of images in different lightings and with different focuses to try and show different perspectives of a same concept.
PROPOSAL
A very common New Year’s Resolution among many Americans is getting fit and in shape.Hence on the first week of January each week, many Americans gain gym memberships.Mark Doty’s poem “at the gym” examines human obsession with the physical appearance of the body and their quest to gain the “perfect” body is the poem i intend to use.
My digital essay will include a combination of slideshows a skit to get this point across.
Contact Lenses video proposal
Given the time to think, I have finally decided that I will be using Audre Lorde’s poem, Contact Lenses because it struck a chord in me. It reminds me that sometimes you lie to yourself and shield your eyes from the truth because it makes it easier to go on. You may think that it’s the best way to face the cruelties in life but its not. So when you take off those contact lenses, it may hurt a lot for a while because you were so used to shelter, but in the long run, seeing the truth is better than living in a lie. And besides, “eyes are the windows to your soul”
As for the video, I was thinking of just a filming a couple of scenes with little to no audio/narration and faint music playing behind. The scenes will be cut and blurry and will have quick “flashback” type scenes in between.
Essay # 3
I think that i will write on this poem, it is nice and sweet, simple and easy with a very strong meaning that i think i can easily write 5-7 pages on. Its a cute poem as well and has very strong feelings.
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21601
I think that i will most likely speak about how love is the most important thing in the world, it is so important that it is worth more than positions of power, fame or fortune and refer back to the poem as my proof. Something like “Love is such a powerful feeling, it is all expansive and it is never ending, this is what Charles Bernstein was trying to say. If you truly love someone than you would never let them go, even if you had all of the diamonds in the world, which would equal billions of dollars and a lot of shiny things in your pocket, giving you everything you could ever dream of, expect the only important thing, a person to love and be loved in return. ” That is just something i wrote in 5 seconds, so if you have any input or think of a better way to state the poem, hit me with it.
The digital essay, i think i will have the poems lines appear at the top and i have many different pictures appearing quickly across the screen, such as diamonds and pearls and then a man constantly coming in and saying no. I’m not sure to be hones,t not yet anyway, if you have any ideas hit me with it.
