Laurie Simmons Spoof: The Music of Regret

Here is my remake of Laurie Simmons' Project, "The Music of Regret". It's just a silly video full of cut scenes, but I must say, it was pretty fun to make! In her video, Act 1 (with June and May), Laurie used dolls as the characters in the scene. I don't have a bunch of dolls laying around so I decided to go with the good old sock puppets! Then for Act 2, Laurie had Meryl Streep sing with a puppet. I decided to replace the puppet with my little wolfie plush. The programs I used were Audition CC and After Effects CC.

http://www.ubu.com/film/simmons_regret.html

Critical Questions for Reading #3

1. On page 83 there is a comparison made between art and artful in that they are "separate, though linked, terms that exist to help us differentiate between what can and cannot be considered to be art." Artful, according to this reading, is the technique(s) used for appeals used mainly in commercial advertising. "These techniques are not in themselves what we would normally call art." Art on the other hand lies in the "intentionality of the artist." Have you seen a T.V. commercial that you would have considered as art? What would viral videos be considered in this case?

2. From page 90-91, the Vasulkas are introduced. Interested in the function of video in an artistic sense, they believed the notion that "video art was to television what studio art was to early forms of drawn or painted advertising." Do you agree with this statement? Is it fair to compare video art to television and studio art to early advertising?

Finished Steampunk Animation

Final animation with added sound:

• Resonant ding in the beginning for the light
• Ringing that goes with the lens flare on the girl's goggles
• Woosh sounds at the beginning and end
• Creaking door recording for the ship in the middle
• Song: ICON "Visions of Grandeur" (cut to fit the 15 second time frame)

Critical Questions for Reading #2

1. In his essay, "The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Walter Benjamin argues that the "aura" of art has been lost with the mechanical reproduction of modern modern art. "... the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence." With this, Benjamin hints that the authenticity of an artwork that is mechanically reproduced is depreciated. Do you believe the loss of the aura has such a prominent effect in fields such as photography and film?

2. Benjamin takes some time explaining his views on mechanical reproduction by describing how it "emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual" and that "instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics." He argues that with the absence of traditional value, modern art will be based solely on the practice of politics. Do you agree with his interpretation of modern art?

Steampunk Time Travel Animation

My animation is an attempt a slow-motion type scene of the sky city from my triptych. I added a few more clouds in the foreground and lens flares on the ominous man's goggles as well as on the gun. There are many small things in it that aren't seen too easily: the raven in the bottom left flaps its wings, the gears on the top right ship turn (VERY slowly so it's extra hard to see), the scenes along the bottom edge all move in subtle ways, the paper burns up that the man is holding, a very light cloud of steam is coming from the man's pipes, the entire background moves to the right, and a few other minor things. It was a lot of work but I think it was worth the time! (Though I probably still need to cut off a second or two)

Steampunk Time Travel Triptych

Here is my digital triptych for the amazingly fun theme of Steampunk Time Travel! This trio has the same 25 pictures in different layouts. Since the montage had to be done three ways, I decided to use some elements as inspiration. The first is air. It is a scene in the sky with the airships being the biggest and most central objects. Next was earth. Here I used the buildings and landscapes of what I thought a typical steampunk city would look like. Lastly is water. This was A little more difficult to create since I only really used three images that read 'underwater.' Thankfully the filters helped bring it all together!

Critical Questions for "Basic Animation Aesthetics"

1. According to O'Reilly (page 6), style is something that comes out of a project - a "byproduct of one's ideals" rather than an ingredient that goes into it.  He explains that style is something we do unconsciously. It is something that seems "natural and obvious" to the artist rather than being something that creates an identity or causes one's work to stand out. O'Reilly denotes this 'misconception' as surface style. As he further analyzes surface style, he seems to convey negativity towards it as if he discourages its use saying; those  who use surface style are obsessed with their own industry and are set on keeping their style from being ripped off. He claims originality is not achieved by surface style, instead, it has to work "from the ground up." Yet he specifically uses aliased pixels, flat mixed with normal perspective, and animation in twos, etc...these all seem to be aesthetics that would make his work stand out. Or maybe they just appeared natural to O'Reilly. Would this be considered style, surface style, or both? With O'Reilly's vague interpretation of style, it is hard for me to understand exactly what it is. Without a clear definition, how does one connect style to originality? What is originality and how is it achieved "from the ground up?"

2. In creating believability in animation, O'Reilly examines the rules governing the sense of reality. "Reality can be anything you want it to be. " In fact, it doesn't have to be realistic at all. But it must be consistent in order to work, just as a "lie repeated often enough becomes the truth." If something in a world seems out of place, the believability disappears - it feels wrong. Have you seen a movie where something felt out of place? If you took a look at O'Reilly's short film, Please Say Something, was there anything you saw that didn't quite make sense aesthetically? When you come across this problem in your own work, how do you go about fixing it?