Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage was slightly confusing when I read it, but I will try my best to understand that context of the text. From what I can tell, Marshall McLuhan believes that the medium can do much more than just display another media. Like how television can change people’s perception like their political party or their personal preferences. Watching the news may give you information about weather or sports, but also change your view on government and people. Cooking shows may make you hungry, but also persuade you to try different foods or even cook. It is also like how political cartoons can shape a person’s perception on governments. With technology evolving and spreading, we can get information from all over the world and know exactly what is happening in different countries and cultures. The media and technology can be a great thing or can spread negativity. I already seen many people, including my parents, where they were sent fake news and believed it causing them to be superstitious. I do believe the younger audiences that er exposed to electronics have a better understanding of who to trust and what sources are reliable. However, the text also shows us artworks and makes the reader interpret what the message is. It can honestly mean anything to different people and even offend depending on the culture. As an artist, I like analysis artworks, it gives me inspiration and an idea of what was going on in the artist’s head. That is why I like visiting museums and art galleries when I get the chance.

(I feel like I was way off from the text, but I was just writing what was in my head)

The animations that I will be reviewing is Rejected, Op Hop – Hop Op, Steam Boat Willie, and George Washington.

I have watched the animation for Rejected before and someone said that it was very similar to something produced by adsfmovies and Cyanide and Happiness. The animations were very random, ridiculous, and sometimes unhinged. I believe these types of animations can create a great horror element or just a comedy.

Op Hop – Hop Op really reminds me of a audio visualizer you will see on youtube. The pictures might sync up with the audio, making the “animation” looks like it is playing the sound. It is also like the audio visualizer you might see when editing sound in a DAW software.

Steam Boat Willie is considered a classic, but I have never seen the entire thing before. I think for its time, it is really impressive not because of the sound, but how smooth the animations might feel. I do kind of wish Disney went back to 2D animations since you can exaggerate movements that is not possible or may look odd in 3D animations.

George Washington is more like a slideshow animation and kind of reminds me of comic book stories if it was a video. I do like how exaggerated the characters are portrayed. The video do prove that you can exaggerate 2D animation so much to the point that it still works and also sometimes make sense if you understand the context. The characters also reminds me of something like Rick and Morty and Regular Show if it was made by one person if they had little knowledge in body proportions and art.

The most random remix.

When picking a sound, I picked an animal that I had never heard of before. The first animal I selected was a Sandhill Crane. These birds are located in some parts of the US and Mexico and are usually heard as part of nature. I am reminded of crickets and cicadas, and that they are part of nature. You hear one of those sounds and you know it is going to be a very calm area or Summer has arrived. The birds create a beat in their throats as if something is dragging up and down on a shell. It is as if you are the door that squeaks as you open it, but the door suddenly stops in a pattern. I don’t think that is the best way to describe the sound the Sandhill Crane is making.

The Art of Noises by Luigi Russolo makes a good point about sound, and I have heard some people say similar things about modern music. There is something so unique about acoustic sounds compared to something produced by modern equipment. Music that includes instruments(guitar, drums, brass, etc), you can hear or noises produced naturally(snaps, whistle, etc.), feels more “natural” than something like EDM, where it is entirely created in DAW and other software. The instrument, Intonarumori, that Luigi Russolo created reminds me of the software we used in class. After listening to what it sounds like, the instrument tries to replicate everyday sounds we hear in an urban city. By creating different intonarumori with different sounds, they can rearrange the sounds to create something that sounds like music. This is like the activity in class with the sounds in the Mac folder with notification sound(or what I think it sounded like). In terms of music that I have listened to recently, I was reminded of zen music, where you hear nature and natural sounds. I believe it creates a calm feeling and a bit of emptiness. With different sounds like urban cars and people walking, it could create a different feel/tone compared to zen music.

For the artist I picked in the link, I chose Philip Glass. The sound provided makes me think of 8-bit music, however, it feels more organic. The first song that was provided has a melody in the background that feels like an alarm is repeating in the distance, but the main sound gives me the impression that it was played by an electronic instrument. But it is not electronic and was rearranged to feel electronic. After listening to the music, I feel like I understand what Russolo was trying to convey throughout his text. The music feels natural and acoustic. I do feel like music back in the 20th century does a great job at arranging natural sounds to create something that sounds organic. The sound recording of an interview explains how growing up can collaborate with different artists. He talks about experiences and how he sees himself creating music.

The video documentary, Rip: A Remix Manifesto, brings up an interesting point when it comes to sharing information on the internet. In the modern day, many corporations and businesses want a way to gain as much profit as possible from publishing and distributing works. Due to how much power corporations have, they can convince laws to get passed to “regulate” the internet so they can create more profit. In the video documentary, the narrator pointed out labels and publishers when it comes to distributing products. I believe artists also need labels and publishers because of marketing and getting people to actually listen/see your product. I listen to a lot of hidden gems and unknown artists and always wonder why people with amazing talent have very low view counts compared to an artist who publishes music that not a lot of people like but still gains a large profit. Labels and publishes help push out a product and cover the marketing. When I first watched the video, I first thought of covers and remixes of music and how that would work with copyright. From what I’ve seen, copyright and free use really depend on the company that published it. For example, OSTs from Nintendo cannot be redistributed because the company is very protective of their properties. Atlus, a video game studio, could care less about what music is being shared and that could be a huge factor in what makes their games popular. I think there are many factors in what makes a music/property popular and free use is a major factor. A great example is the age of TikTok where people can freely use music and could help the original producers. YouTube shorts, Reels, TikTok, and other platforms also use remixes of songs produced by different artists. I do feel the law needs to be more specific about copyright and free use and many countries are different.