Final Project!!

One more project checked off the to do list!

Final Short Project

Here it is!

Destabalize

I think that is one of many valid functions of art.  I keep thinking about Renee Magritte. The notion that a painting is a representation of somethings else, but is also paint, canvas, and image.  We accept that painting as a pipe.  Is it?  The destabilization, like the article is (I think) talking about is clearly present here.  I do think that there are other functions of art, and that in asking a question about identity, we cannot discount the answer that art has many identities as well.  Can art make people question their essential sense of self? Absolutely.  It can also reaffirm.  Or expand.  Or confound.

The author may be too exclusive when he states that the main purpose is to destabilize subjective experience and "not to author a new theoretical position, nor to illustrate an established argument".  Those aims can also be accomplished.  The experience should not be limited.      

Response to Short Projects

The feedback that I got was that the project isn't finished yet (which it isn't).  I know that the full meaning couldn't be clear without the final scene, but people did seem to get a sense of where I was going.  The last missing scene is the word "blossoms".  In that scene the plant will grow and the letters will pop out of the flower.  I hope that more meaning can be inferred with that addition.  I have had a trickier time trying to animate the way that a plant grows- I will have to keep playing with it for Thursday when the final draft is due. 

Finished Conversation!!

Here it is! Our Masterpiece!

Conversation!

We are having some troubles merging- but here is half of our conversation project!

Final Project Plan

I want to animate a short poem four different times and have the animations playing at the same time on a split screen.  I want this to explore how visual elements change and shape the interpretation of the a poem.  The four pieces would also play individually and I would like to set them to music.  I would need to learn how to do the split screen animation.  I'm sure that there will be plenty of questions that come up as this project gets rolling. :)       

Networking

            In the latest edition of the novel “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame Smith, Smith writes an introduction.  In this introduction, Smith tells the reader that he and his long-time editor have never met in person, but have exchanged thousands of e-mails over the course of the years.  I couldn’t help but think of this while reading the article (it might not be so much death of the author, as death of the editor, but still).  In that vein, I chose to write about networking.

            This section of the piece focuses on authorship and how newer modes of connectivity blur the lines of ownership because efforts are more communal, i.e. wikipedia.  I kept wondering if that communal effort has not been present for a long time, just less questioned.  Doesn’t every book written have an editor, a proofreader, someone who picks the font, designs the cover, does the binding, and so on.  Why are these boundaries any less obvious than the question of ownership over digital texts?  Why does that even matter?

            When I thought about my animation, I had to wonder, who designed the type face?  Do they, or the designer of the software, deserve less credit than I for using the tools they put at my disposal?  For the example that we saw in class of animated poetry, who owns the authorship for those, the writer, the animator, or the designer?  I can understand the complexities behind the legal logistics of copyright, but haven’t these issues always been there, just unquestioned?  The editor knows he will not have a byline on the cover, so it’s okay, apparently.                   

            Reading the blogs in this class give me an odd sense of ownership over the author.  Martha, for example, sits near me most every class period.  She is quiet, and we rarely have a chance to speak.  Since I read her blog, I have a misplaced intimacy with her.  I know that she is a writer and elaborates on academic texts in a profound but easy to follow manner.  It is the same way with facebook.  I often see people’s status updates without speaking to them.

            I could ask Hayley, “How was your trip?” without her mentioning it to me.  I own that experience as much as she does with little to no physical interaction.  That is a disconnected kind of relationship, one that has never had to be dealt with before the advent of social media or blogs.  Do we know these people, really?      

           

Plan for the Short Animation

I had turned in a poem that I had written, intending to use that for this project, but I think that animation may end up a bit lengthier than this project calls for.  I might save that for the long project.  Here is what I am thinking now:

late into October
the tomato
plant blossoms


Though short, I think that there is a lot of expressive potential in these words and the greater meaning that can be drawn from them. 

Reseach Project Plan

I have been consistently inspired by Alastair Reid this semester and I would like to keep going with that for my research project.  I would like to explore more of the context; what was happening when he was writing?  What, or who, inspired his work?  What other work does he have?  What is he writing now?  I really appreciate how whimsical his work is.  I have been feeling stifled lately by the expectation that poetry must have some serious, profound extended metaphor.  Poetry can be profound while being fun.  Reid proves that there is wit in whimsy.
I read that Reid was still alive and I think I might write to him, see what he says.  In the course of my research, I want to read more of his work, what other scholars have said about his work, and what he has written about other people's work.
The first draft of the paper is due November 11.  I will send out a letter, or some form of communication, to Reid right away.  My plan is to read one journal article a week, depending on what I can find.  Reid has five original books of verse, he has done more translations, and I would like to have at least two of those from different points in his time-line to draw from.       

Conversation Project Plan

Lindsey and I are planning on making a vintage style PSA about staring.  We intend for this to be an ironic commentary on people who take small, inconsequential quirks and make them into unnecessarily large issues.  This is especially timely right now due to the upcoming elections.  Many voters throw away the chance at an informed vote and cast their ballot based on trivial, silly reasons that are made out to be important.  We want to research current voter patterns, public speaking patterns, and other behaviors that politicians have and see if there are any correlations.  We also want to look into the aesthetics of vintage PSA’s to incorporate those visual stylings.  Our two voices will be that of ‘Billy” the naïve young boy who is being taught about the graces of not staring, and his teacher.  To make the voices visually distinct, we will use different fonts, colors, and sizes.  We are paying special attention to the timing of the words on screen to make sure that viewers will catch everything presented.        

Word Project Response

I wouldn't necessarily used the word 'surprising' to describe the feedback that I got, but I thought there was some good suggestions for things that I had not thought of.  I was glad to see that people connected the idea of the cycle of the piece itself being a ring.

If I had unlimited time I would perfect the attempted 3-D animation. Even after the lesson, I had a hard time getting the exact look I saw in my head.  I eventually had to stop tinkering because I was making it worse, not better.  The gradient tool didn't reveal it's secrets to me fully, and the path of the rings stumbles.

I think I am learning lots of cool things to do in Flash.  I can't think of the things I don't know how to do until I want to do them, so for now, I am pretty satisfied with my knowledge.

I want to continue to refine my deliberateness in animation.  My choices in writing short stories and poems don't need to be as purposeful since they are easy to edit.  I would like to focus my ideas and stories before I start animating so that I don't feel trapped by one expression.       
  

Word!

Whew!

Literary Materialism what?

            I'm not an art historian.  I'm not well versed in modern art movements.  I know the terms that everyone knows; Dada, Post-Modernism, Modernism, Cubism, an so on.  I'm clearly no expert.  With that disclaimed out there, what I got from the article was attention to detail.  Artists started paying attention to how text looks, not just what it 'says'.  Ducker points out that these artists and poets thought about the aesthetics of words in a way that hadn't been thought of before.  Sure the monks drew ornate illustrations to go with their hand-copied texts, but they weren't thinking about words the way that this new generation of artists was.  There was a push towards noticing every detail of how something looked on a page, like a font where the lower case f wasn't symmetrical.  This is pretty significant.  We might take concrete poetry for granted or even say it's simplistic and lacks technical prowess, but before it had been done... It was unthinkable and so original.

            That being said, the article was stuffy.  I kept thinking about my future identity (or not) as a writer.  If this is what scholars do to artists, I don’t want it.  This mechanical vivisection of what was genuine, emotional art takes away from the raw authenticity that was originally intended.  It’s disingenuous and loses the sense of organic creation.  The article wasn’t disrespectful, it was even reverent at times, but I couldn’t help but think that the art wasn’t meant for her, or for that.  What would the original artists think of how their work was talked about?  Would the shake their heads, would it be disgust or amusement? Did they mean the depth that is assigned to them?  Is the pretension always present?        

 

Two Poems by Alistair Reid

 

            I looked at two pieces by Alistair Reid, whom I had previously claimed an interest.  I stand by that interest and explore further in the poems, “Counting” and “Mandala: Dilemma”. 

            Reid brings a certain playful seriousness to both of these pieces.  He is questioning the sounds, meanings, power and influence of words, among other things.  In “Mandala: Dilemma” he writes the words “The Pen Is Mightier Than…”  in a circle.  There are no words breaks, so it could be read as “The Penis Might Tier Than…” or “Migh Tiert Hant Hepenis” or Ant Hepe Nism Ightie Rth”.  Just written on a line the words, “The pen is mightier than” do not have the impact as they do here; written in a circle with a title that directs the reader’s interpretation.

            In “Counting”, as we discussed in class, Reid manipulated the sounds of the words that people use to count.  He builds narratives out a rag tag group of words that sound good together, but he also does so much more. 

            The big questions in both of these works are; what do words mean?  What power do they have?  Why do they mean what they mean?  Can they mean anything else? Do they have to?

            I claimed that Reid was playful and I stand by that, however I think one of the main differences in the two pieces is the tone.  “Counting” starts out very playful and sounds fun, especially when read out loud.  It progresses to be more serious and probes those questions as the lists of words goes on and the subtext builds.  “Mandala” Dilemma” reads as more somber than earns its wit after more thought.

            Looking at the first lines in the three columns in “Counting” we see the words “Ounce…/ Instant…/ Archery”.  The words feel different, ounce ends lightly on the soft c.  Instant ends a bit harder but is softened by the dominant nnnnnssss sound.  Archery is a hard sounding word, made up of forceful r, ch, and ry.  The connotations of the words also evolve.  Ounce is non threatening, archery the opposite, and instant plays both sides.  As archery becomes buchery and treachery the ominous feel builds. 

            Counting can feel childish, the repetition of units that seem minute and are everyday occurrences.  What else do we count?  Truly, everything in life is counted, even life itself.  On graves we list the dates of birth and death, numbers. 

            “Mandala: Dilemma” to me, reads in the opposite manner.  Reid tells us it’s a dilemma.  Mandala is the Sanskrit word for circle.  A never ending dilemma.  The poem itself is a play on the old saying “The pen is mightier than the sword” which points to power and control.  What is Reid saying about the power of words?

            Language doesn’t end.  It is the original technology and the basis of our whole society.  Progress is quantified in literacy rates.  The power of language doesn’t end.

            The clever side of “Mandala” Dilemma” snuck up on me after staring at it for a while and appreciating the power of the question.  That Reid even thought to put this phrase to print in this manner, is playful and it is questioning.  Critics might say that it’s overly simplistic, anyone could have written that.  There’s no technical skill.  I would ask them, why didn’t anyone else do it before then? 

            The tenacity and boldness of this style of writing is what I hope to keep with me.  The courage to put forth original thought.  The creativity to work outside of the tradition and the wit to make it work.                                  

                       

Huh?

  I didn’t really get a ton out of this article- I will post more later after a closer re-reading.

V!

Semi-Final Draft of my Letter Animation!

On "Counting" by Alistair Reid

            I picked to write about the piece, “Counting” by Alistair Reid largely because I have, like so many others, been a fan of “Curiosity” and have been working quotes of his into casual conversation for years.  When the poem popped up on my screen, the first thing that I noticed was the three column format, each lined up across from the other and extending down ten lines.  Three columns, ten lines.  Counting.

            The first column from the left, when read all the way down, reads, “Ounce/ Dice/ Trice/ Quartz/ Quince/ Sago/ Serpent/ Oxygen/ Nitrogen/ Denim”  I don’t know how many of you speak German, I don’t, save for the numbers one through ten.  These lines, especially when spoken bear a striking resemblance to the sounds of the German numbers, to me at least.  I don’t speak many other languages, and I wondered of there were more similarities to the sounds and feeling of these words to the words assigned to numbers in other languages. 

            Having this similarity in mind, I went to column two; “Instant/ Distant/ Tryst, Catalyst/ Quest/ Sycamore/ Sophomore/ Oculist/ Novelist/ Dentist” and column three, “Archery/ Butchery/ Treachery/ Taproom/ Tomb/ Sermon/ Cinnamon/ Apron/ Nunnery/ Density”  After a cursory googling to find out what languages these words might be meant to resemble and coming up empty, I realized that what language didn’t matter to the meaning of the piece. 

            I got to thinking about words.  A professor, for those of you who have had him, you will know; keeps saying in a class of mine that all words are metaphors.  All languages assign a different combination of letters that forms a word that means something to the people who speak that language.  Does a dog change if it is called a perro?  Words only have the power that we give them.

            I really want to take that away with me into my work.  Reid uses different sounds and words and with the title he implies that the speaker is counting.  One to ten.  Three columns.  Counting.  Is he asking us as readers to examine why we associate words with meanings?  Maybe we should assess the power given to arbitrary groupings, words, of arbitrary shapes, letters? 

            I don’t think that a so-called traditional form would have had the impact that the three column format has with this poem.  If the intent of the author is indeed to playful question the meanings and forms of words, the non-traditional style complements those aims.  If Reid wants us to be curious (!) which I think he does, exploratory style puts the reader in that frame of mind.  We want to know what is going on in this poem.  Why is it weird? 

Face it. Curiosity

will not cause us to die--

only lack of it will.

Never to want to see

the other side of the hill

or that improbable country

where living is an idyll

(although a probable hell)

would kill us all.

Only the curious have, if they live, a tale

worth telling at all.

-A. Reid              

Thoughts on the Class's Animations

I had been really excited about my little dancing V and I was completely blown away by the things that other people had accomplished.  My sad little V only dances, I have some serious letter envy.
I was really struck by the cursive f that flies.  I love the combination of blue letter and yellow wings and I think that the way the word fly grows out of the letter at the end was magical.  I hadn't been thinking beyond manipulating Flash when doing mine and I am impressed by the subtlety and forethought in such a short animation.  There was a delicacy about the way the f moved, a grace in the curvature that I think really conveyed a flying creature.    

How My Piece Works

I was wanted my V to be vivacious!  She dances across the frame, bold and bright in pink.  She twirls and skips.  The V then folds into itself before opening back up and exploding with a rainbow of changing colors.  As I thought about Vivacious; full of animation and spirit, lively; I wanted the V to be full of life and brightness.   

I chose to have the V expand and explode to show the connection between vivacious and violent.

To V or not to V, that is the Question.

The letter V may have had it's earliest forms as a sign in the Egyptian hieroglyphs as a sign that represented a supporting pole or branch.  In the Semitic languages it originated in the letter waw, along with F, U, W and Y.  The Greeks originated Upsilon from waw.  In the early Cyrillic alphabet V is called Izhitsa, which has been used in place of the Greek Upsilon.  V, U, and Y seem to be very closely related and in the middle ages V and U were used for the same sound but placed in different places in the word; for example, vpon and haue to represent upon and have.  V is not commonly used in English and is worth four Scrabble points.  The Roman numeral V represents five.

I have been thinking a lot about V words and what they mean in comparison to the letter and the shape and connotations of that letter.  Violent, vigilant, violet, vagina, vendetta, vivacious, vivisection.  I have to imagine that the letter that starts the Latin Vita, life, is by no coincidence the beginning of the word that all life springs from.  This begs the question, did the letter inspire the words that follow it or have the words given meaning to the letter?  In other words, what came first, the V or the Vagina?  Even the shape of the letter can represent meanings of words.  A violent V is a slash on the page, two harsh, strong lines.  A vaginal V opens for life and love.  A vivisection V is sliced by the symmetry. 

It's such a powerful, decisive letter; it came, saw and conquered.             
 

Plan for Letter Animation

The scene opens with a tree.  The tree softly sways in the implied breeze.  Suddenly, the tree is alive with birds that are the letter V.  The birds seems to be borne of the tree itself.  The flock circles overhead and then, with no warning, descends on the mother tree in a swift and abrupt attack.  The birds peck at the tree and when they reach the tree's delicate inner parts, it explodes. 

The First Flash Animation I Have Ever Made!

And man, am I proud of it.

V

 I love the letter V.  I love the way that V gets thrust from your mouth, pulling on your bottom lip.  I love the strong, angular lines and the symmetry.  I love that V doesn't lose it's identity in the lowercase form, a v is always a V, so sure of itself.  V is an army march, V is a burlesque show, V is a surgeon's best tool.

I picture the violent V as a flock, flying overhead and then attacking from the air.  The vivacious V shimmies and struts her stuff, filling the stage or screen. 

I have to end with my own little V-

Vivien! 

Vivi, V, Vivalicious, Vivisaurous Rex, Vivarus, Vivius Maximus, the love of my life and bane of my existence (for those of you with kids, you know).   She is stubborn, confident, sweet, full of life, spirited, and a force to be reckoned with.  To me, she is the embodiment of the letter she was named after.  

Introduction to me as a writer

I'm not a writer.  I fancied myself a poet at 19, but quickly came to the realization that, despite the requisite angst and a love of hats of all kind,  I just wasn't that good.  I do, however, give excellent feedback and have (I think) a good ear for talent in others. 

After several years of exploring and dancing and experimentation of several varieties, I have found my calling in Education.  We all know the adage, if you can't do- teach!  I want to nurture and inspire young writings, tend them carefully and hopefully read about the character version of myself in more than one first novel.  At the very least, I could be a presence in the dedications; "To my beloved Teacher, I would not be the writer I am today without her."