Fireside Chat

Well... That was unexpected. This Fireside Chat has been the perfect opportunity to get to know myself as an artist as well as what I've learned throughout the class. I did some things that pushed me outside my comfort zone. Conceptualizing this mess was a bit of a nightmare to be perfectly honest. To me this project was a way I could marry my two favorite pastimes: film and Broadway.

I grew up on show tunes. I probably could have sung you 7 Brides for 7 Brothers by the age of 5, accents and all. My mother works for a regional theater doing costumes, she was even in a few when I was younger. The Tony Awards are an annual event in my house. Broadway is in my blood. I wanted to incorporate it into some project at some point this semester because I feel it is a massive fountain of inspiration. The Fireside Chat's main goal was to convey something we believe in. What I believe in can be summed up in a quote by Zachary Levi who said, "I think life should be a musical. I always hate it when people watch a musical and they go, ‘Oh, it’s so unrealistic, no one just breaks into song in the middle of their day.’ Yeah, they do- if they’re me.” That struck me. I've been defending broadway musicals all my life and the biggest beef people have is that they can't jump over the fact that people are singing their feelings. Here's the thing: don't you want to do that sometimes? When you feel an emotion strong enough just saying something isn't going to cut it. You need that full orchestra playing the music and choreography to express yourself. 

And so "My Life is a Musical" was born. My entire point was to argue the side for musicals. You can't have a presentation about Broadway and not have musical numbers. It would be like asking Tim Burton to make a movie without Johnny Depp: it's boring. Because of that I knew I needed music. So I sampled some of the most applicable songs and put them together with a projection presentation. But that couldn't be enough on its own. No, no, no, not when we are dealing with the opulence that is Broadway. The only thing I could think of besides hiring out a dance crew for the night was singing.  That's when the fight with myself started. I like to sing, however in comparison with the Mormon gene pool that is so rampant at BYU I haven't felt comfortable singing in front of people for a while. I did do some training in high school when I wanted a part in Hello Dolly and realized I'd have to learn how to sing to be considered. But that was in high school, it was a long time ago and I'm not exactly in practice. Unless you count the shower head on occasion, I'm sure it hasn't been impressed for a long time though. No, for the sake if the production it looked like I would have to sing. But isn't that the point of learning? Pressuring myself into doing things outside my comfort zone. I needed this for personal growth as well as artistic merit.

I do believe that this class has been a great kick start for my creative energy. Perhaps one day I'll even revisit some of my ideas. Who knows ? Life is full of changes. Musicals will stay forever, they will never flicker and fade. Like they say in Hairspray! "You Can't Stop the Beat!" You know what? That should be my new philosophy.

Living Media

I was one of the lucky people who attended one of the many workshops Ms. Allison Dobbins presented for the department. The one I chose was called, "The Sky's the Limit" which invokes a certain kind of kumbaya, you can do anything you put your mind to, sort of mentality. What I experienced was nothing like that at all...

She began by introducing her concept through a video demonstration. It was a prototype video that displayed what she was striving for within a specific project. This project turned out to be a live dance performance in which the  dancers would appear live as well as within handheld devices that the audience members were holding. The audience could then, through the technical prowess of Dobbins' programming, toss and catch the dancers as well as bring them out onstage. Dobbins has a strange sort of whimsy about her that makes her a perfect catalyst for outlandish ideas. Who would think to have the audience participate within a dance performance? She has a deep belief in getting the audience involved and letting them have a say in how the performance goes. Contrivance is something she turns away from, searching more for that spark of magic that comes from live entertainment. At one point she mentioned she wanted each performance to allow the audience to talk about it as though it was their performance too; say "you had to be there" when talking about it to friends. She views audience members as an asset to the general experience rather than a means to an end.

The great part of this workshop for me was the amount of time she took to demonstrate how she could build some of these visuals that reacted live. Rattling off a few programs to use, she deftly pulled up one called Isadora on her computer and began inserting all sorts of variables. It was amazing to see that just using a standard issue webcam built into her Mac, she began affecting the image coming through to the projector. So many different ways to affect the image; noise, light, speed, time, all of these things could be sensed. A lot of the media projections she comes up with come from fiddling with different kinds of sensors and tweaking them in the computer. Within this field there is a lot of programming going on as well, so I felt pretty lost at some points. When I asked her about it, she said that she was lost as well in the beginning and that as long as I paid attention to the program I run that it becomes second nature pretty quickly.

Being a gaffer at BYU Broadcasting I've learned a lot about the electric side of filming and I think it could translate very well into this strange new world of media projections. It fascinates me that I can make a naturally inanimate force such as light or sound sudden have a sentience, and sense it's surroundings. In my time as a student I want to find opportunities to try this kind of thing out and see what I can come up with on my own with my own specific skill set. Allison Dobbins emphasized the importance of collaboration on these things. If there's an aspect I don't like then I shouldn't do it, instead I should find someone who does and work closely with them. In this I can build new relationships as well as learn more about the artistic process and have my own improved. There's a bright teasing goal that takes a group of people to reach through their collective knowledge and ideas.

Never before had I heard of this kind of thing being done in a live setting, however it's a marriage of the two parts that I love about the arts: the image driven experience and the fleeting and ephemeral aspect of live performance. They don't have to be separated through the miracle of technology, they can become one in the same.

Concerned Citizen

                                                                James Price

This “Concerned Citizen” project was one that definitely tested our wits and patience. We two girls were not deterred, however, from documenting a truly wonderful individual who has been working hard to make a difference in the BYU community. Homophobia  runs rampant in much of Utah and is especially prevalent within Provo. James is one of the leaders of a Provo based group called Understanding Same Gender Attraction (USGA).  James has been striving for the last few months to help the community learn about the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender issue. We wanted to talk to James about his involvement and what it means to be an advocate for understanding in Provo. This is a young man who is openly gay, Mormon and a BYU student and is not afraid to identify with any of those groups. Because of this, he wants to help others understand what it is to be gay at BYU. He believes that understanding is the key to including these individuals who feel shunned because of their personal preferences.

             We open with James Price walking into frame in front of the Provo Library.  Dani Shay's "Superheroes" plays in the background to notify the audience that the person who is about to speak is trying to do good in the world.  Our video goes on to include footage that was taken from a past USGA meeting that James had conducted.  Shots from Dani Shay's performance were also included to illustrate how James has helped organize events to bring more awareness to the LGBT community.  We decided to show bits of the “Homosexuality in the Media” presentation where James led discussions as well.  Both of these are great examples of the community that James cares so much about. His efforts to build it up are greatly appreciated. We talked in class about the need for a connection to be made; a connection between the material and the subject. James creates a gracious support system for those people who don’t feel connected with their environment. The point of the group is not to advocate for one lifestyle or another, but to simply help others understand why they feel the way they do. It is not a place to simply find like-minded people, but to help cultivate relationships between straight and LGBT audiences. Our documentary was not meant to be inflammatory in any way; as a matter of fact we want just the opposite. Instead of fanning the proverbial Gay Flames, we wanted to help curb the burning damage. Just as James is trying to facilitate open dialogues over the issue, we wanted to bring awareness to both LGBT and Straight people each other’s feelings. 

                This week’s reading was a fascinating take on “The Right to Culture” by Arlene Goldbard in her essay, Human Rights and Culture. There is a portion about intellectual maturity vs. emotional maturity and how the only way our emotional maturity can keep up with our intellectual, in this information age, is to experience art, music, theatre, and culture to further connect us with the people around. In our documentary, we noted that the songs by Dani Shay were magnetic and James' words unifying. They brought these people in the USGA closer as they internalized the words and identified with them. The camaraderie in the room seemed to swell. That emotional connective tissue is what allows all these different groups of people to maneuver as a working body. Our documentary is only a small glimpse into James’ emotional investment with the group. He is hard working and incredibly helpful to the many members of this group, even in the face of the social backlash and homophobia surrounding him.  James continues to spread a message of love and tolerance  to all who will listen.  It’s because of people like him that we can begin to build our own culture. 

Protest Poster

Artist Statement: 

This week’s assignment allowed me to look into something that has been bothering me for a while. I identify myself as a feminist, I work in a mainly male environment, I have a lot of typically male interests, and I feel very comfortable in male company. However, when I tell people or they find out through conversations, that I am feminist they are surprised. I am not one of those hippies who burn bras and marches for women’s rights; I’m not a tom boy who will beat everyone in football. In our society lately I’ve noticed that there’s been a great disconnect from femininity. With the surge for equality among the genders, the women have tried to become more and more like the men. Femininity has suffered.

This week's viewing, "The Danger of a Single story" was a wonderful introduction into exploring the pieces of of myself that have been affected by my environment. For the author, it was an Anglo-Saxon  storyhood she was in. For me, it's something to do with female perception. There is an amazing article written by Henry Makow called “The Dying Art of Femininity” which he addresses the differences between women’s roles in the 1950s to today’s. While there are a few points I’m not quite sold on, this article is very good at discussing the difference between being a stereotypical bimbo and being too butch. His reasoning behind it is quite interesting. “Domestic violence and rape are highlighted to make women fear men, reject femininity and become masculine. The destruction of the family has always been the goal of the financial elite in order to control people.” In another article, there’s another explanation that is a little more specific. “We [females] must stop competing with men, especially in relationships, as competition is totally destructive.” That comes from an article titled “Fast track to Femininity: Why competing with men has left women out of touch with their feminine side” by Anna Pasternak who relates personal experiences about a loss of love due to imbalance. An imbalance not properly represented. In the media, feminists are portrayed in a harsh, man-eating, cold style that is not becoming of us or the creators. For example, Sandra Bullock's character in "The Proposal." So I thought I'd make my poster promote femininity in feminism.

This poster focuses on the idea of working women who are still as soft and tender as they please. I have a great respect for the women in the work force during WWII because they were doing it for both themselves and their countries. They wanted to participate in society and make a difference. Yet, when we view them, we don’t call them lesbians or butch. The image I chose is of a Naval trainee who worked in the barracks. In this image everything around her is straight lines and right angles. Yet there is hardly one straight line on her. I highlighted this with the grey dotted line following her silhouette. She brings the softness that is needed, yet is still getting her task done. I used the black and red colors to invoke the passion that surrounds this subject. The passion that I feel for it. I think the media should stop portraying feminists as hard, hyper-sexualized, career seeking, Amazons because that’s not who we are. We need companionship just as much as another, we just have beliefs of how that relationship should be built and maintained. 

Webspinna Artist Statement

This experiment was quite fun, to be perfectly honest. I had a ball taking on the challenge of "becoming" a persona and actually applying those traits to the sort of media we were using.  There was also a sort of New Frontier, uncharted territory, "to boldly go where no one has gone before" mentality that I had going into this. I didn't know exactly what I was doing, I didn't really have a reference point. Yet, it didn't matter because that's how we all were. In class we discussed the need to push ourselves outside the norms of our creative minds. I think a large number of us were ready to prepare and mix a full audio clip, upload it to the site, then sit back and relax the whole time as the sounds did all the work. While that could be fun, I liked Ben made the parameters of keeping it all streaming and making sure these would be more spontaneous. Spontaneity scares me, I'm someone who likes to know what's going on and what's coming down the pipe. Yet, as much as that was a stressor, I felt like it stretched my ideas of creativity much more. I learned a lot about how sounds interact and that sometimes, by accident, you come across a new harmony that two seemingly dissonant sounds make. It's a bit like art in that way: sometimes combining two separate concepts can make for the most thought provoking discussions.

One of the fascinating avenues we got to explore this week was the thought of art through technology. In class we watched that video about Glitch Art and we discussed the songs by Pogo (which inspired me to go and listen to quite a few of his other masterpieces, I'd recommend "Bangarang") and for reading we explored DJ Spooky. That DJ Spooky piece was clever, in my opinion. Some people may not like how there was nothing linear about it, but it reminded me of the "choose your own adventure" novels I used to love. Who says art has to be conventional? I think that's another reason Ben gave us the "All Streaming Clips" instruction; to help us learn about the artistic merits of live performance. As film majors we like to tweak, edit, and otherwise manipulate our works before they are available for public consumption, but that's not the only way to create. Creativity is creative because of the different paths you can explore with it. There's no right answer yet to the question of "Is this art?"

Webspinna Battle

The 60s versus The 80s

2001 Space Odyssy  - Start 0:22

Star Trek Sounds - Console 4, Intruder, Transport

Dr. Who*

Drums*

Exterminate

Sonic Screwdriver

Happy Birthday, Mr. President* - Start 0:55

Fun Fun Fun

Railroad Call

Mad Tea Party

Haunted Mansion - Start 0:17

Pirates of the Caribbean*

Bilbo Baggins*

Tainted Love - Start 0:44 

World Building

ARTIST STATEMENT:
There is nothing more powerful than an idea. Through ideas, wars are started and ended,
diseases are cured, art is created, and love is born. We decided to create a world in which ideas
became commodities, items to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. In doing so, we came
to consider how the world we created, and in turn, the world we live in reflect and influence our
morals and society.
It was an enjoyable experience crafting the world in which ideas were mined, bought, and
sold. What was particularly interesting was that we seemed to feed off of each other’s ideas, even
though we worked mostly separately. Each new idea or concept seemed to spark new ideas and
we were very unified in our vision of this strange world. Upon further reflection, it became clear
that this was due to our having a unifying theme or purpose in our world building. Julian Beecker
wrote in a 2009 essay that fiction follows fact. In our case, the design of our world followed fact
in that it was based on our perceived inequalities in the world and merely accentuated these.
George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984, is not merely a novel about one man’s search for sex
and fulfillment in a dystopian society. Rather, it is a stirring commentary on not only the society
in which Orwell lived, but the progress of the human race. In much a similar fashion, we came to
see how our created society was a commentary on our current society and world. There is class
inequality in the world today and although social mobility is possible, it is severely limited due
to lack of education and appropriate infrastructure. In short, the poor get poorer and the rich get
richer, although there are several exceptions. We wished to highlight this, by creating a world in
which there is no social mobility, since even ideas can only be purchased by the rich.
We attempted this feat by creating a newspaper. Through this medium we were able to
present several different ideas in what would hopefully be a fairly normal fashion. We wanted
to present the world as those living in it would see it and not as outsiders. Because of this, we
focused on ordinary stories and advertisements. Through advertisements, we showed fashion, in
particular focusing on the elaborate fashions of the upper class. One of the advertisements even
compares the fashionable upper class to the plain clothing of the lower class. The upper class
show their power and status through their extravagance. We also focused on the idea of ideas
affecting everything from propaganda to crime.
Through this assignment, we were able to not only create a world and society, but also
were able to speak through this world and get a point across that was more powerful through the
presentation.
This project has been a chance to retool the world I inhabit into something a little more grotesque and unseemly. That is the whole point of creativity, isn't it? To see the world through a different lens. Even though we live only once, we have an opportunity through art and film to live different kinds of lives. If we take all that away, we become confined to that one life we were born into and kiss aspiration goodbye. The world we live in isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but through exercises like this we can draw attention to the things that need adjustment as well as inspire gratitude for the things we have.