Visarts-Drupal - VIS70 -- Taught by Wolfgang Hastert

Week4

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 10:11:09 -0800

Week3 hw The first article is on Evans and Agee’s documentary on the poor southern farmer had started out as an expectation to create honest journalism, however they became emotionally involved in the situation and created a personal documentary instead of a subjective documentary as they had intended. The people they were filming were nervous the whole time, they didn’t know how to react or reacted violently towards the camera crew, whom they felt were intruding on their quiet lives. It is understandable that people don’t always react well to a documentary they did not agree to, film has a way of making people feel exposed, as if the camera could show all the worst in one’s self if they are not prepared to be filmed. It’s the human desire to present itself the best way it can to strangers or possible strangers in the future who might see them forever immortalized on film. It is part of human vanity that we do not like who we really are and wish to portray someone that is anyone but ourselves.

Weekly Response: Week 5

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:31:40 -0800

The images of the attacks on September 11th were horrifying and disturbing to a whole nation of people. How could a society so great and seemingly untouchable be so blatantly and easily attacked on its own soil? Video clips of chaos and destruction appeared all over the news. American citizens and people around the globe seemed to be in a state of shock. Following the strike on America was the retaliation. War was eminent and the United States struck Afghanistan and later Iraq with its superior military power; a force that seemed so powerful that no other army could stand in its way. However, during the course of the war, the seeds of humiliation and destruction were planted for the credibility of the United State’s campaign.

veronika week 9

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 17:58:48 -0800

for some reason, i can never add on the existing post. but here is my response, i hope this is ok. This reading was interesting in the way that it makes some elements of editing ok in certain aspects. For example, in section when we were discussing zoom, I recall one group that got criticized for its use of zoom. After reading this, there was a section where zoom is said to “produce the effect of a progression from normal-lens to telephoto view” (256). I think that all in all, it really just depends on the context of a film to really know what works and what does not work in the piece as a whole.

Veronika's Section Week 9 Reading

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 19:17:19 -0800

In the excerpt “Reflexivity and Specifically Cinematic,” it explains some of the techniques that Godard plays against such as the conventional use of depth, color, movement, sound, and music. Some of these techniques we have discussed already during discussion after watching Godard’s film “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her.” In the excerpt, it explains that Godard flattens the image. There is no foreground, background, or vanishing point. The characters are put into a single spatial plane where there are fixed 90 degrees compositions and abstract framing that force us to contemplate about the image. We discussed that the actors are against plain walls. We also noticed the colors used in the film in that they are mainly primary solid colors such as yellows, blues, and reds. Color can be used to flatten the image and call attention to the artificiality of filmic colors. Next the excerpt explains that reflexive filmmakers can exploit film movements such as movements within a shot, camera movement, optically produced movement, and movement by montage. Godard minimizes movement to not lend feelings of depth of the image. Movement is created through angles and perspectives. Movement through emotional senses involves the spectator into a story and creates depth psychologically. In the excerpt, it explains the element of continuity. Editing takes various images from different clips which make things discontinuous, but montage makes these continuous and makes the fragments of reality into a narrative discourse which shows lives of fictional characters that lived through the images. It reconstructs the fictional world by internal coherence and by appearance of spatial and temporal continuity. Narratives are told through cinematic organization of time and space. The excerpt says that orthodox continuity implies a linear story, plausible causality, and psychological realism. Godard, however, attacks this idea of the orthodox continuity and conventional sequence. He makes a mockery of continuity where the story has many holes in it. I remember the part where there was a woman taking a shower and a man suddenly comes in with no dialogue being translated. I was confused by that scene and when I read this part in the excerpt, I thought of that scene. Sound is used to create depth because it penetrates the space of the audience. Reflexive filmmakers use sound to “derealize” the image. Godard does not conventionally use sound. In discussion, we discussed how he used sound in the film. There would be loud sounds like construction that went before or after complete silence. There was the narrator’s whisper. It was used to make the audience look at the film in a different way. It disoriented the senses a lot to give us much to think about. The excerpt says that to understand film, one needs to have senses that go separate ways, viewing film once for images, once for dialogue once for music, once for background noises, and once for titles. I don’t remember Godard using music in the film, but the way he uses sounds can be musical with the on and off of the soundtracks. Godard’s methods makes the viewers see the film in many different ways to make the viewer make their own analyses. The film is an image of an image of reality.

Bicycling Damascus

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 22:44:04 -0800

Rainer Ganahl’s “Bicycling Damascus” proved to be a prime example of video’s capabilities in the realms of perspective and documentation. The aspect of perspective is brought forth through the fact that we, the viewers, are “riding along” with Ganahl on his lengthy tour through the streets of Damascus. The actual perspective, through which we are viewing the piece, I feel, is neither truly first nor third person; this is due to the fact that this point of view through the camera lens is not focused on any particular thing. First-person perspective, or a subjective camera, tends to trace and transplant a particular character or person’s thoughts and feelings onto the audience, based on what the character/person in question is seeing before him or her. Third person perspective provides an “outside-looking-in” approach to an action or setting, but still provides a point of focus or visual absorption for the audience to follow. However, through the use of Ganahl’s “shaky”, almost impromptu, camera work (We know that what we are seeing is being held and positioned by another person) and the fact that the action on screen corresponds with his leisurely ride through the streets of Damascus, therefore providing no narrative or figurative focal point (Other than the city itself), an actual identification of perspective in the two common realms is, more-or-less, lost. Throughout this piece we are simply “on safari”. We are taking a tour of Damascus, because the camera is.

Veronika's Section Week 8 readings...>_>

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 19:32:41 -0800

What the hell. I'm not even sure if anyone is reading this anymore, but...just in case: This one is on "Kidman, Cruise, and Kubrick" The need for more “realistic” acting in modern films isn’t necessarily a product of changing acting mentality, rather it’s a byproduct of the evolution of filming technology (this may be an obvious point but let me just reiterate that it’s a more important and influencing point than actor’s preference). In the old days of filming, especially when there was no sound, actors had to act flamboyantly as still on stage. This was due to two main reasons: 1. there was (obviously) no sound, so the actors had to compensate through actions, and 2. the actors at this point had directly transitioned from the stage to the camera, thus the framing and performance of the actors were both still dependent on the old standards of stagecraft, which by extrapolation used flamboyant movements and gestures to get their points across. Even once sound was integrated, this idea would carry on, simply because it was the standard as done before. At the same time, however, people were discovering they could directly manipulate the frame, thus manipulating exactly was being shown in the shot. A good example of this is Hitchcock’s “Rear Window”. While he uses a lot of the same conventions such as flamboyantly laid out conversations and long periods of silence, emulating the style of silent movies, he experimented greatly with using many different kinds of shots. He continues this in “North by Northwest”: lots of conversationally heavy scenes and long periods of silence compounded with masterful framing of every shot, utilizing elements from both worlds. As time went on and on, mainstream film no longer was about artistic representation but rather started leaning towards realistic presentations of entertainment, which was reasonable because a lot of the film technology being developed at the time was made for the purposes of being more realistic looking. As such, the norm is now to make the performance as true to life as possible and the flamboyant style of acting remains mostly isolated on the stage. The use of flamboyant acting on camera, now, looks strange and artificial, especially for a generation that grew up on film that was designed to be portrayed with as realistic portrayals as possible. However, the use of this older style of acting can still be used well, and for good experimental effect. For example, the movie “Clue” purposefully upped the flamboyancy in their acting to the point of comedic ridiculousness (this was the first example of a movie I saw where flamboyant acting actually fit very well into the style and aesthetics of the movie). On the other hand, this type of over-the-top kind of acting has worked very well for dramatic acting as well. “Eyes Wide Shut” is an obvious example. Darren Aronofsky’s first two films, “” and “Requiem for a Dream”, has sequences where melodramatic acting worked very well. Although it wasn’t intentional, “The Matrix” made use of flamboyant acting to take the aesthetic to a different level to relate with the audience. It isn’t so much that flamboyant acting has been phased out of the mainstream, rather that “realistic” acting is being used because it more easily fits into the modern context of film.

fiction piece

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:01:28 -0800

So far the best idea our group has is about someone who has something stuck in a tree. The story will be about how the protagonist gets the item down and how it got stuck there in the first place. We will probably introduce one or two other characters who will interact with the protagonist and provoke explanations of the main character’s dilemma. We think that using flashbacks showing how he got into this situation with a voice over of him describing it to the other characters would be a good idea and interesting to watch. Some items we have discussed for the thing stuck in the tree are: a sandal or shoe, a watch, or a belt.

Cathy's Section 11/20 - film3 checkpoint

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:15:41 -0800

Group: Vivien (group lead), Jennifer, Susanne ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Where we are so far: We wrote up a script, got a couple of people in on Saturday to shoot the film and we have finished filming. All we have left to do is the editing. Unfortunately because we have about over 1 hour of footage, it’s going to be a lot of editing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Story: Originally we wanted to do a story involving an antique chair that two people were having a fight over because neither realized its original value and claim ownership to the chair. However, this story –despite its simplicity- proved to be too big of a project to take on and finish in less than 2 weeks time. It involved needing too many adult actors and too many setting that were difficult to find or fake. So in the end we went with an even simpler story about a guy, Joey, who is looking for his uncle, who is supposed to have disappeared a while ago. Joey and this two friends Mo and Kelly go along for the ride and for their own personal reason, mainly they just want to have a vacation and they humor Joey by initially helping look for his uncle. The trip basically involves the random and inane conversations of the three friends until they reach their destination and Joey begins to ask around to see if anyone had seen Joey’s uncle. In the end, it turns out that due to the lack of communication in the family, Joey’s uncle was fine and home safely a long time ago, but apparently no one decided to apprise him of the situation. So he actually flew down to San Diego for nothing...

PETER'S AWESOME SECTIONS 10/19 video art marathon response

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:05:11 -0800

You are to post a 350-500 word response to ONE of the short video works we saw last discussion section. The screening list is below -- those with stars were not shown due to time limits.

ONCE AGAIN I am looking for clear, concise, academic writing, not "Yoko Ono is dumb" or "this isn't art" or "anybody could do this"

In class Mon, we will finish the screenings and discuss the Rosler article you posted on last week.

Peter

Peter Greenaway - A Walk Through H, 1978, 41:00 [first 15 min or so]
Fischli + Weiss - The Way Things Go (Der lauf der dinge), 1987, 30:00 [first 15 min or so]
Babette Mangolte - Site (Original Cast 1964 Robert Morris, Carolee Schneeman) from "Four Pieces by Morris", 1993

Rosler and "Video: Shedding The Utopian Moment"

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 22:37:16 -0800

In Martha Rosler’s essay, “Video: Shedding the Utopian Moment”, a deep history and analysis is provided as to the flexible, reflective, and sometimes-polarizing nature of, not just video art, but art in general and, especially, the aspect of mediums that emphasize and divulge in capturing the essence of its current societies. Rosler starts from the beginning, outlining the rise of science and technology and its effects, both external and internal, on society as a whole, and how those effects were reflected and further expressed through the art movements of their time. Through the advent of new technologies, ranging from tools of convenience and progress to tools of consumer enjoyment, art, with its ever fluctuating nature, grew to express a simultaneous acceptance and rejection of current technological and societal advents. These varying art movements throughout the century would prove to provide an unending cycle of counterculture critique, followed by mainstream acceptance and regurgitation. The irony of this cycle was the fact that due to art’s flexing nature in regards to its level of reflectivity and inevitable acceptance and/or absorption, and considering the heavily progressive nature of the society shaping technology and science that art was trying to prove a counter point to, the aspect of art that would work to be purely a counter point became meek.

Princess Engelbrecht "Video: Shedding the Utopian Moment"

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 22:07:45 -0800

Martha Rosler discusses the history of modern art and how it coincides with the technological advancements of our society. She states the different perspectives on video art and what is expected of it. And how video has allowed art to reach beyond the middle class. Video art was first used by the upper/middle class to spread their ideology throughout the country and beyond their class to the workers. As television and video became more attainable, so did the art of video. However the masses did not view t.v. as an art form but more as a vehichle of communication and information. So the aspect of art in media was lost.

Veronika Week 7 response

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:30:29 -0800

dont know whether or not if this is the correct format, or if there is already another one, but here it is anyways. Nicholas Rombes says that “Today, the real has become the new avant-garde” (200). This idea of avant-garde realism refers to the fact that now reality itself has become an experimental art form that filmmakers today are taking advantage of. Reality is something that everyone is exposed to and experiences; therefore, the audience that is experiencing this experimental reality can empathize and truly relate to it. However, another aspect of cinema is to set the audience in an experience that is outside the norm of their everyday lives.

Cathy's sections - A05+A06- responses WEEK 7

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 15:34:22 -0800

Remember, if you are in Cathy's section: today you are posting not about the readings, but about your film ideas. You may post treatments/proposals, (partial) scripts, ideas, interests, etc. Thank you, Cathy

sheddin the utopian moment

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 10:23:39 -0800

The essay written by Martha Rosler provides an insight into the history of Art from the last Century. The influence technology has had on Art has been coherently clarified and, I feel these days, this aspect is one of the most fundamental elements to be considered if we really want to understand contemporary art practices. Art has always been connected to the time and the social reality in which it has been created. As such it behaves like a mirror; able to reflect a wide range of human emotions, thoughts and dreams as well as providing a means of expression for feelings of pleasure, anger, uncertainty, liberty and slavery.

Peter's Sections Week 7 Announcement/Assignment

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 16:22:26 -0800

Peter's Sections Week 7
Response Due: 10pm Sunday, Nov 12

Firstly if you were not in lab section today EMAIL ME IMMEDIATELY. The final assignment is structured out of the exercise done in lab and the parameters were given in lab. If you were not here you need to meet with your group this week to gauge whether or not you will be doing the piece they sketched out. Your treatment for this project is due one week from today on 11/15. If you need an example of a treatment, see the Wim Wenders piece in the reader - "An attempted description of an indescribable film"

Now on to the assignment.