Limited Art Making

  Stemming off of an exercise we did in our Digital Visual Cultures class, to understand the perspective of making art with a physical limitation, I created water color and pen drawings with only my right hand, which I taped up to only give me access to one finger (ring).
  The art that I make, to me, relates a lot to topography and the feeling of maps. I really am in love with the idea of things and places connecting, and making those connections myself, so that is what I try to make my art about. I enjoy using micron pens because of their variety of sizes, I can get a variation of lines within each other, that also do not bleed into the water color.

  So, I tried my best to create art using these same ideas that I include in my own art. There were many aspects that made it very difficult and different in comparison to using two, fully capable hands. But before the actual art making, the setting up and preparation were also much different. Only using one hand (one limited hand), things like filling up a cup, controlling the sink, opening and closing pens were more mentally taxing. You had to be very aware of how you were going to do the action, instead of just knowing what and how you were going to do it without thinking. Using my mouth for things such as opening and closing pens was really helpful, because it was like holding one end with my hand and pulling with my other. When holding the pen, it also was helpful to also hold the cap within the bend of my finger as it filled up the space more and was more secure in my hand. 

One of the most difficult parts of the actual making was that I could not hold the pen in different ways to create smaller marks using my fingers. It was more about the movement of my hand/arm rather than smaller movements. At first this was frustrating but it was interesting to discover new ways to create the same effects. I tried to not stop moving my arm and to keep making line as this kept marks looking a lot cleaner, and made for interesting places in the drawing. The end product was definitely not as refined and clean as what I usually do, but still pretty interesting to look at actually! 

When looking up close you can see how the marks made are definitely a little "messy", but I really enjoy what I made with my limitation. This definitely made me realize how much differently I would think about my art making as an artist if I truly did have this, or another physical limitation. It was interesting and frustrating to find ways to overcome what is frustrating you- especially when you're used to working in another very specific way. 

Cleaning up these materials was not that difficult, actually. The brush, being small, with a few good spins in a water cup was clean, and the water just needed to be dumped down the drain. The watercolor container was a little tricky but the only real difficult part was making sure the cap was snapped on. And the pen caps, when simply on the pen were made securely closed by banging it a little harder on a table surface. 

All in all, this was a really interesting experience and made me consider not only how lucky I am to be an artist without physical limitations such as this, but also has me thinking about the way I go about making art. 

Finalizing Videos

  After about a month of learning about videos, I finally completed 3 videos (one restricted by theme for a Videofreex exhibition in the Dorsky Museum, one as a Demo, and one Documentary short). I have posted on the blog about the Demo and Documentary, but not much about the Videofreex. I was very proud of how all the videos came out in the end, but the Videofreex was something that was really important to me. The Demo (made for a younger audience, about texture) and the Documentary short about Social Media Culture and our consumption of it can be found below.



   It was really interesting to consider how to put together both of these videos. After working on one, it gave me a lot of ideas for the next. So being able to work on more than one project was definitely really informative when learning about video editing over all.
   Okay, so, the Videofreex. The theme I chose to create my video for was Conclusions. There a lot of ways to look at something so ambiguous, but I chose to focus on the idea of a concluding life as well as a concluding thought, both of which are concepts I wanted to feel "at peace" at the end of the short 1 minute and 22 seconds.
  I wanted the story's narrative to be dictated by the letter the character in the video is writing. As the shot goes from the letter being composed, to mundane every day activities, I wanted the voice to feel as if it could be talking to anyone- an old friend or an ex lover. It does not blatantly point towards death (at least I tried to make it not) until the character leaves and drives to a cemetery. "Whether it's far away, or soon, either way, I'll see you then", the words I chose to end the video with, to me, have the meaning that you never know how short or long an individual life will go.
   I was really proud of the shots as well as the words in this video. Although it is short, I really want people to watch it and feel something, even if it is short. Putting everything together for this video was definitely easiest as I had a more concrete idea of how I wanted things to go. In comparison to the Demo and the Documentary, it was easier to decide to make a change.
  Overall, I am really proud of what I ended up making!

Creating a Documentary

    Relating back to my post about Storyboarding, since then I've been able to get my footage together, put together certain clips, as well as inserted some audio (in terms of music, and audio that exists in the popular video about social media that I also mentioned in a previous post). A lot of the narrative that I tried to create is about how we are constantly consumed in Social Media, and that what we choose to constantly be looking at is mostly information that is irrelevant, and things that just take up space in our minds. By the end of the video I want the feeling that the viewer takes away from it to be that Social Media is not a negative, but the way we use it is. I think Social Media platforms are really great ways to connect, and put yourself out there. To share interesting information, about yourself, the world, etc. Rather, I think people use them in a way more about how they can make themselves seem cool, or pretty, instead of how an idea or image can make someone think about a topic, or a part of life in a different way. So often people post about what they are doing, what they made for dinner, or duck faced selfie. I think there is a much better way to use the platforms than how we actually go about using them.
   This video, that I couldn't figure out how to download onto my own computer(why I couldn't include it in my documentary), quickly lists many ways that we can use Social Media in a way that will give us more insight and wisdom on the world around us in an interesting way. I got very happy when I saw this existed because it's the message I want to get across. That it isn't bad, but we can use it in a more beneficial way.
  In my actual documentary, I end with the whole day of the subject going backwards, going back to where she wakes up. She then wakes up again and starts her day in a different way, showing how we do not need to be immersed in our phones and our media all the time. I then end with text slides saying "Click." "Think." "Consume." "Don't allow it to consume you.".
  I still need to put my own audio in of my voice over, and also have around 3 other people read my script that I've prepared. This is so it feels that it is a group of people talking about this to the viewer instead of just one. All in all I'm happy with how this is coming out thus far and am excited to have a finished product.

Thinking about Demos

    Demos are one of the essential parts to successful learning. Exemplifying a skill, how to do something, creating understanding and inspiration. Especially with young learners, a good demo really goes a long way when asking them to create a work of art.
    When thinking about creating a video demonstration, I can't help but think about how to create something that young learners (Who I'm learning about/observing now in my Art Education Curriculum and Instruction class). Those small people who think in a really different way than us. I decided to make my demonstration focused on the concept of texture. How different objects, that we might not always relate to art making (sponges, sandpaper, bubble wrap, mesh) can help us think about using materials in a new, different way. How different textures made by these objects reflect on things we notice in every day life (examples: soft grass, tough tree bark, etc.). However, preparing for a demonstration such as this definitely takes more planning than one would think. Although it's a simple idea, there are a lot of things you need to think about being in the position of the teacher, giving your students the necessary resources to understand and be successful. So far, I've made samples of the different textures to be introduced in the video demonstration. I also plan on taking detailed shots of them to be seen and understood from a closer point of view. In terms of making a video, these areas of the demonstration will be explained with voiceovers of what I want to be learned and understood.
   We discussed the importance of different points of view in a video demonstration to make it a concept that is much easier understood compared to a video of a person preforming a task. There is more to learning than watching someone create, do, or say something, and doing that same thing back. I think that this is also an aspect of teaching that not many people fully understand. For example, this video doesn't really have any real parts of it that make it easy to understand. There are no explanations, or different perspectives. The whole thing is just hands sculpting clay into a face- and although it is something very wonderful to watch, it is not really a good learning resource. When watching something with the intent of learning about something else, there should be many aspects of it that reach through to the viewer/learner and make this apparent and easy.
    

Storyboarding

  Creating a storyboard... something that seems and sounds pretty easy. However, it was something that caused me something a lot of trouble. Although, like expressed in my last post, I had a pretty good idea of what I want my Documentary short to be about, I didn't really know where to go from there. Looking at websites and tips for creating a story arc, how to make things captivating, etc, etc.
   However, it became easier when I wrote out the words that I want to be the audio over my video. Collecting facts and looking at different videos, and articles about Media Culture, I complied the ones I found the most interesting and the ones that took me aback the most. The facts that show us how much we are separating ourselves because of all of this information we create for our own distractions and satisfaction.
  The thing is- I think there are so many amazing parts of media- ESPECIALLY social media. How easy it is to connect to others everywhere, how quickly we are linked to news happening around the world, how easy it is to share something you found captivating, an educated opinion, etc. However, these reasons are not the main reasons why people use or care about social media. Truly, people like it because of the power it gives them to represent themselves. This makes a lot of the posts about what someone had for lunch, the outfit they wore or how tired they are at the end of the day. Information that we take the time to look at, but at the end of the day, it is irrelevant and empty to our own individual lives. Even if in the moment we enjoyed it, at the end of the day, do we remember it? Will we remember it tomorrow? Next week? 5 years? The answer: probably not. However, how much time a day do we spend scrolling through and absorbing this information? And the answer to that: too much time.
  SO, anyway, back to the storyboard. I took this information and wrote about it in a factual but reflective way. Relaying the information while giving it some personal opinions. This helped me compile the images and scenes I want to create individually as well as get from already existing sources. In the end, creating this:
 

   A very rough draft, but it really helped me understand how I want my video to feel and look. Creating it also helped me better understand the overall process. It made me feel a lot less anxious about the whole process, since I've never really made my own video before (in a creative sense). So after much research, planning and thinking, I feel pretty ready to get started.

Problems in Media Culture

   When thinking about the term "Media Culture", what do we think of? If we break up the term into the two words, it becomes a big blobby mass of information.
   Media can be social media, television, pop culture, cell phones, news, newspapers, etc. There are so many types of media that it is undoubtedly apart of our every day lives. Facebook, Twitter, your daily Newspaper, your favorite TV show. All forms of media. 
  Culture, according to a quick google search, is "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively." The particular way that a group of people live life. This is Culture. 
   So, Media Culture. How Media creates a way of life we are all familiar with. The way we interact with Media, and how it all plays into each other. How after your TV show airs you check twitter to see who said what about it. Or every thursday someone posts a picture of themselves as a little kid for a #TBT. These are things that are not only apart of our society, but what it is made up of. How we get and receive information. How we document our every move, and use Media as a diary for things we're doing, thinking, saying. Or seeing other people doing the same thing. Although this is something that connects us- is it a healthy way to think? Interact? How much is too much? 
   This is the idea that I want my Documentary short to be focused on. There are videos that exist already focusing on that same idea, why social media and media is separating us rather than bringing us together. Being called an "anti-social network". 



  These videos urge people to stop living life through a screen, which is something that I want to do. Although I don't think Media is all bad, and can see a positive, I want to focus on how so many people use it past the amount they should. Basing their self worth off of how many likes a post has, or spending every moment scrolling through information their brain doesn't even process. Using these things as ways of life instead of small ways to connect us. They are the main points, the most important aspects of life, which is what I feel is the real problem. We get stuck on them. They consume us, instead of us consuming them for small moments of time.

Thinking about the Art of Film

    Creating a Documentary is something that sometimes seems purely focused on the information being conveyed to an audience. When thinking about Documentaries, however, the most important point that Michael Moore makes in his 13 rules for creating documentary films, was that when creating a documentary it is important to remember why you're making a film in the first place. It's important to remember how you're presenting information, and not only on the information being presented. 

  Getting someone interested is just as important as having something interesting to say. When thinking about making my own film, it's a good reminder of what the real goal of a film should be. What will be interesting, what will be the things that draw people in? And how can I do that thinking as an artist who wants to teach people about a specific thing? When approaching issues in a more cinematic way it makes it more beautiful and interesting to learn about. 

   When looking at short films and documentaries, I was able to watch a short film that caught my attention because of the story, but also the way the artist presented it. "Twisted" a short film on http://www.shortoftheweek.com/ was a film that only needed one character to say everything it needed to. The viewer, put in the position of the main characters friends, says no words but listens and is spoken at by the main character telling a story about walking into his home to find his mother and dog, dead. In the end, we find out this story captivated a girl, and although fake, motivated the character to want to kill his mother. 

  A successful element in this film was surprise, as well as the position you're in as the viewer. When making a documentary, I'm definitely going to try to include some of these same captivating elements that made this film entertaining to watch. Although a film and not a Documentary, watching it really gave me a lot of ideas about the art and medium of film itself.