Truth Seekers!

This week’s tasks was mildly simple.  This is not my first time using Windows Movie Maker, but this is the most complex movie I have ever done.  I took the time to make a narration over a slide show using Window Movie Maker (WMM).  I also put music in the background to play under the narration which added a more flavorful feel to the movie.  The music that I added was legally able to be added to my video and aired online for free.  I did my copyright research so that I wouldn’t be sued. 

The example video really helped with my creative process.  It gave me an idea of what you were looking for in the videos. 

The only thing I had trouble with was putting the video on YouTube.  At first the movie wouldn’t upload do to the fact that my video was in the wrong formatting.  I was able to reformat the video by following some online instructions that allowed me to fix the problem and convert the file to something compatible to the files that YouTube accepted. 

The fact that I learned how to convert the file in the early process I will not have a hard time doing it when the real project is due.  When I create the real project I plan on adding video clips as well as narration and slideshows to the video.  I wanted to add that to the first video, however I haven’t mastered that skill yet.  Once I become more familiar with the complexity of editing movies, I will feel more confident to add other effects and air it online.

Overall the week’s work was a success, and I look forward to working on the next 5-15 min video.

If you would like the check the video you can do so at this web address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC9K5aAMXSE&feature=youtu.be

Future and Past at War

Future and Past Are at War!

The thesis in the film RIP! A Remix Manifesto by Brett Gaylor proposes a lot of question and ideas.  His four main theses was: 1) Culture always builds on the past,  2) The past always tries to control the future, 3) Our future is becoming less free, 4) To build free societies, you must limit the control of the past.  I agree very much with what he is saying because in today’s society we attempt to try and use the past for everything, instead of using the past to help with our future we use the past to control our future.  We see this being done in many different ways, including government, religion, the criminal justice system, and so much more. 

In relationship to copyrights I agree with him to a certain extent.  It is not right that certain people chooses to Copyright material to the point that allows the material so protected it that it can’t be taken away from.  But also I think it’s just as right for people to have rights over what they created and choose to do what they want to do with their creation.  But I also feel the same as Gaylor feels, “Copyright is used so everyone can make a profit”. 

The world is made up of collaborations, remixes, and adaptations.  “There is nothing new under the sun.”- The Bible One example of this that was found in the film is the discovery of blues.  The artist who is said to be the founder of blues did not create it.  The artist discovered it from someone else, which eventually rooted back to songs sang in the cotton field during slavery.

Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. 

This movement is a movement that I feel America needs.  We need to be able to spread and share our creativity to promote the betterment of society.  With collaboration and communication, we are able to discover and create more.  Just like the old motto says, “two heads are better than one”. 

“This world is made up of collaborators.  We can change the world….”  The anecdote is simple, “Build on the past, that’s the future.” – Brett Gaylor

What is An Idea?

 

What is a good idea?  There is usually a process behind the madness.  I do not think I have a definite process behind the ideas I come up with. Ideas usually come to me and I either take off with the idea or leave it in my mind.  The impulse behind my ideas are usually my driving force; how interested I am with the ideas determines whether or not the idea will make it into the realm of reality.  I do not find myself trying to come up with ideas on a daily basis.  It is not because I am a speculator as Young probably would classify me as, but because I do not have to as much.  I find my profession to be very creative, but it is also interpretive as well.

A good idea to me would be an idea that brings about a change in one’s life that has a major beneficial impact whether it be financially, spiritually, skillful, or anything overall good.  An idea that sparks an influence that can bring someone success.

When I try to come up with an idea, like I said it is usually no set process, so I would say my process of ideation is in no way parallel to what James Webb Young shows us in the book A Technique for Producing Ideas. However, this is not a bad thing.  He explains in his book before he gets in depth warning the reader “….not all who read it accept it.”  It could be lack of experience as well. Maybe as life goes on those skills will come in handy.

I find Webb’s process to be both creative and intellectual.  The process has a lot to do with one’s own mind, making it creative, but after the thought the concrete steps behind it such as recording and birthing the thought is very intellectual. 

Elements that I think will help me create better ideas would be the act of writing it down, thinking about new ways to improve the idea and as I stated before, experience.  Because my process of creating ideas is strictly creative as of now.

For my Independent project I think it’s more on the creative side.  Creating something that does are does not already exist but is coming strictly from my imagination and thoughts and creativity.  I chose creativity because it is the best way, I feel, to describe my individuality. In my opinion, social and practical are things that do not seem as intimate.

I look forward to creating a speech that talks about many controversial topics. My key point in the speech is not to trigger a debate or provoke strife but simply to examine and define the controversy and the reason as to why the topics are controversial.  The idea is just an idea as of now and is bound to change.  The process is still as Young describes, “just above the surface of the mind.”  However the project will be beneficial in many ways.  The speech will provoke questions that perhaps people with intransigent minds felt about the particular subject, and it will allow them to see the subject from a different view.

A Glance At Eye-Catching Art

                The artwork of Christo and Jeanne-Claude as well as Banksy are very unique.  It’s amazing how the simple wrapping of a building or street graffiti can produce such remarkable pieces.  I think the purity in Chris and Jean’s artwork is what makes it so captivating.  Too many artist, it seems, attempt to put so many messages behind their art.  But both Christo and Jeanne-Claude made it known that there is no deeper unhidden messages behind what they do.  It’s art for the sake of art.  The size of their artwork is another eye catcher.  To create an orange gate throughout City Park in New York must’ve took a lot of time and dedication.  Or to wrap up the Reichstag building in Berlin for art sake is something that has never been heard of. 

                The art of Banksy is very freeing.  It is so freeing it allows the viewer to escape from whatever is holding them down as well.  When I went on Banksy’s website: http://www.banksy.co.uk/, I came across a recording.  The picture was shown was very breathe

taking

 

Art is art no matter what shape or form it is in.  For the next month Banksy will be attempting to host an entire show on the streets of New York.  “The street is in play”, he proclaims.  This is my motto as well in life.  Art shouldn’t be limited to a place of appropriateness.  I do believe in respecting people’s private property.  But property that belongs to no one is free for the expression of art in my belief.

New media is a lot different from old media in some aspects.  It seems like the newer media becomes the less human it is.  For example: Palindrome a dance company who switched their name to Palindrome Intermedia Performance Group in 2002 and is rooted in an unbelievably technologically advanced company of performers. Performers of Palindrome are equipped with electrode sensors that detect heart rhythms, brain wave patterns, muscle contractions, and the contact of flesh to flesh with other performers in the group. A computer records the data that is received during movement and then it uses this information to formulate specific digital media outlets such as music or video projections.  It’s interesting to see this I agree, however when will the line be drawn for what computers can and can’t do in art?  Performing art is an art form that is pure and natural to humans.  To see a computer respond or influence a dance piece are not natural impulses.  I’m not saying that it is wrong, I’m just seeing things from different points of views, including my own.  Art is art no matter where the inspiration or influence comes from though. 

One DIY that is considerable interesting to me is the thought of spiritual theater.  Imagine a theater rooted from a spirituality of choosing and manifested through those impulses.   For example, if I used Christianity I would use the Bible as a main source of text and create theatrical pieces based on bible stories.  I would use what a group called Tectonics use ‘moments’, (moments is a theatrical unit of time that has a beginning, middle, and end) to create each piece.  I know this might sound crazy but it could work I am most certain. 

What is New Media?

Manovich attempts to explain to the reader on what New Media is. It’s amazing how Manovich’s approach on the principles of new media ties in together.  They all are coherent when it comes to how they influence what is known to be new media.  Manovich’s explains to us that it is not new media we speak of, but simply human interaction with computers.  We as humans are losing our originality because of computers.

He proposes five principles.  The five principles are: Numerical Representation- this refers to the fact that computers operate in response to numeral codes that helps complete the basic functions of it, Modularity- the fact that all new media has the same modular structure throughout, Automation- the computer user modifies or create from scratch a media object using templates or simple algorithms, Variability- instead of identical copies, a new media object uses a compilation of many different versions of something, and the computer puts it together, and finally, Transcoding- convert (language or information) from one form of coded representation to another.

Examples of these principles are as followed: numerical representation, me being in a film, how films are continuous movements of pictures.  Modularity would be more of editing the film.  Automation would be the editing part of the film, where you make cuts or add music.  When we look at different variables we see that we add all of these things and the computer joins it all together.  Finally transcoding is the process by which we can convert the movie to a DVD.

Are these principles true as far as how new media is viewed?  Does the principles gives us a rough generalization of what new media is?  I say yes we see those points that he brought out are self-evident in our environment and our culture.  This is not necessarily a bad thing but we must not leave behind our own originality.

Potential Earth With the Help of the Internet

 

Jeremy Rifkin: The Empathic Civilization and Michio Kaku: Will Mankind Destroy Itself?, are both mind changing videos.  They provoked a lot of questions from the viewer. 

The main point in Rifkin video was to show how internet plays a major part in humanity.  He uses the term “empathy” to explain a lot of how the connect to each other.  The concepts are concepts that provokes an impulse that causes your head to tilt to the side like that of a dog when you do something abnormal.  He explains how humans attempt to be a part of each other and that’s the main goal.

Kaku’s video interest me the most.  The big question was “Will Mankind Destroy itself?”  This is a question that hunts me on a regular basis.  He attempts to explain how the internet is a great way to avoid world destruction.  His theory is the reason why we’ve never discovered intelligent life form in outer space is because those intelligent life forms perhaps destroyed themselves with world wars and so on.  He thinks that in about a hundred years our world will reach a “type one civilization.”  He explains different civilizations with us as of now being type zero because we receive our energy from the earth. 

The internet is becoming a source that links all of us together.  It helps so much with the growth and development of civilization as we know it.  It is much larger than what we see it as now. I don’t think we’re able to articulate the ability of the internet yet!  Once we are able to I think we’ll be on a verge of something new, if we don’t destroy ourselves first or during the process. 

“The Medium is the Massage”

Marshall McLurhan’s book of “The Medium is the Massage” is a wonderful view of what media would eventually form into.  The book attempts to show the reader how the media is changing and how some people have to just face the facts pretty much.  He takes the reader far back in time explaining how the phonetic alphabet started and what it did for us, communication wise, but how it limited us creatively.  He brought something to the readers’ mind that was very interesting.  He said that the phonetic alphabet only helps us to understand visually in a world that isn’t just visual.  This book is a collection of interfaced concepts and ideas that he uses to provoke the reader to think outside of the box.

I must say McLurhan was a very brave person for what he did.  This book I must admit was a little before his time.  He saw something that obviously everyone didn’t see in the nineteenth century.  Although it is more evident now that the media is changing the way we think and the way we live, we still have those who oppose the media.

I agree with most of the concepts that McLurhan showed. There is one I must disagree with though.  He said something about how in this society the parents aren’t the prime role models but we are influenced a lot by outside forces.  It is true we are influenced by outside forces, the people who have access to that type of mass communication.  However, I think that our parents are still the ones who we learn the most from, while in their house.  Look at people who aren’t able to receive that type of technical advancement, who are those people being influenced by? 

McLurhan seems to take up for the youth during his time.  Because he knew that depriving youth of technology in fear of the advancement of technology would be inevitable. 

As Marshall said it is the environment that we create that is our medium. We change daily and that is inevitable.

“Change is inevitable. The only human institution that rejects change is the cemetery.” –Anonymous

The media helps with that change in positive ways.  It pulls away those traditional boundaries and allow humans to express themselves freely.  Although time has changed, his view of the media is still relevant, it is still issues that we face; media is still progressing as we speak because “the medium is the massage.”