Golan Levin's Interview

I found Golan Levin's interview to be very interesting. First of all, I thought the visual effects throughout the interview were very cool looking, and very appropriate for the topic! I found it interesting when he was talking about abstraction, and how it is the capacity to communicate beyond language. I agree with this statement. Often times an image may be hard to describe with everyday language because of how abstract it is. I thought it was interesting when Levin talked about how an image isn't either abstract or not abstract; instead, there is a continuum between abstraction and figuration. Therefore, there are many different levels that an image can be at in order to convey a certain message. Levin remarks how because of how early visual art could only consist of squares and circles, it was abstract. Nowadays there is much more of an exciting range between abstraction and figuration. Also, I thought the question about if a high priced art degree has value was a good question, for it really got me thinking. Especially in a field where by the time someone graduates the technology that they were taught no longer becomes the technology generally used, it seems reasonable to question if an art degree is vital. I think Levin's answer was very true on how it important because of how it brings people to the same place, so that they can collaborate and learn together. I also thought the question on if computers surpass human intelligence should we we sad or happy, to be fascinating. In a sense, computers already have, since they can compute information much quicker. Nevertheless, computers lack that personal understanding that humans have.

Embrace Your Vision!

The theme to my final video was "Embrace the Error". Because I have absolutely horrible vision and must always wear either my contacts or glasses, I came up with the idea of embracing your vision. Not everyone has perfect vision. Many people, like myself, rely on contacts or glasses. Instead of dwelling over having to wear glasses, people should embrace it! There are so many fun types of glasses out there to try, which is what I tried to convey in my video. For my video, I continuously put on different pairs of glasses. Because I only had two pairs of actual glasses, the rest of the glasses I used are sunglasses. Every time I put on a different pair of glasses my vision changes into a different cool visual effect. This is to exaggerate on the idea that wearing glasses can be fun and exciting! Also, every time I put on glasses the song changes. This is in order to emphasize the change between not wearing glasses and wearing glasses. Overall I had a really fun time making this video! It gave me a chance to learn more about using iMovie, and I hope to make more videos in the future!

Music Movements and Technology

One music movement that we talked about in class was Punk, which included the Sex Pistols, Ramones, and the Clash. Another group that could be added to this category is Green Day, which was one of my favorite bands growing up. This band relates to technology because many of their music videos introduce different video effects. For example, their music video to the song Boulevard of Broken Dreams is very staticky throughout it, in order to create the idea of loneliness and being deserted. Their music video to the song American Idiot has black/ white and faded effects. Many different angles are used, and they play with the lighting making it look like they are almost being struck by lighting. In their music video to the song Holiday, the background is constantly being changed even though they are staying put in place.

Another music movement that we talked about was the Nineties, which included artists such as the Cranberries. An artist similar to the Cranberries is Sheryl Crow. Ever since the songs First Cut is the Deepest and Soak Up the Sun came out, I have loved Sheryl Crow. Since then, I have gotten into some of her older songs from the nineties, including If It Makes You Happy, Everyday is a Winding Road, and All I Wanna Do. These songs all deal with technology because of how the music videos were made. Crow's music videos always play with the lighting. The music video to If It Makes You Happy will have scenes that go out of focus and are blurry and then become clear again (this music video is hilarious because of her outfits, so 90s!) Her music video to Everyday is a Winding Road not only plays with the lighting, but the whole video is done in the video effect of sepia. The music video to Steve McQueen divides the screen, so that there are multiple clips being shown at once.

Girl Power was another music movement discussed. A woman that I would add to this category is Adele because I believe she is truly inspirational. She has an astounding voice and was incredibly successful despite any people who argued how she might not fit the image. She is definitely a woman to look up to. Some of her songs include Someone Like You, Rolling in the Deep, Chasing Pavements, and Set Fire to the Wind. She relates to technology because of the visual effects in her music videos. Someone Like You is done completely in black and white. Chasing Pavements blurs out the background a lot. Set Fire to the Wind uses effects to create fire. At one point a woman is holding fire and then at another point people are burning in the fire.

We also talked about the music movement Disco. A group that I would add to this category is the Village People. One of their most famous songs that I still listen to today is YMCA. Another song of theirs is In the Navy. They were before many of the popular visual effects in videos were used, although they relate to technology by the different angles that were used in their videos and the lighting adjustments.

Electro-clash was another music movement we talked about. An artist that I would add to this category is Ladytron. She has many songs, including Everything You Touch, Runaway, and Seventeen. She relates to technology because of the video effects in her music videos. For example, in Runaway, there are lines that look like they are bleeding everywhere and the patterns on their clothes are moving. In addition, the music video of Everything You Touch plays with the sizes of things, making everything un-proportionate.

Performance Art!

For my performance art piece, I decided to dress up in winter clothes and walk around campus with a sled, in search of a place to go sledding! I wore a ski jacket, snow pants, gloves, and a scarf. I created a sled by covering a piece of cardboard with red paper and attaching string to it. This connects back to happiness because of how much I love sledding. I love being in Florida, but one thing that I miss about Maine are all of the winter activities. My experiences sledding have been some of my happiest childhood memories. My family used to go sledding every weekend when I was younger, during the winter. Therefore, memories of sledding remind me of all the happy memories I have with my family. All in all, I found this project to be fun. I won't lie though, walking around in a snowsuit was somewhat emberrassing. I found it interesting how most people would look at me from afar, but then purposely look the other way when I walked by them. It was almost as if they were afraid to look at me. This was not the reaction that I was expecting, so I was pretty surprised!

Xerox Machine Project!

This Xerox Project was a very interesting project to do. We had to scan different parts of our bodies and then create a collage inspired by an art movement. The art movement that I was inspired by was the Dada movement. I attempted to show modern life but with a twist. I created an outdoor scene with trees, flowers, and a sun. However, each tree, flower, or sun had either a face or mouth to it, in order to make it seem more alive. Overall I really enjoyed this project. It was fun to scan my body, and challenging yet rewarding to create the collage. 

Grid Art!

                       

In order to create my grid art, I decided to use 900 tacks. Because of the color variety of yellow, red, blue, green, and white, I thought creating Winnie the Pooh was the perfect idea! Winnie the Pooh was always my favorite character growing up, so recreating him brought back many memories of my childhood. Originally, I was attempting to recreate the image on the bottom; however, I ran into a dilemma. I did not have enough green or blue tacks to create the grass or the sky! Therefore, I had to improvise by adding in clouds and many flowers. Overall, I really enjoyed this project. Although challenging, it was not nearly as difficult as I had imagined this project to be. I am very happy with the outcome of my grid art.

Video Games!

Although I may not want to admit it, video games had a large impact on my childhood. Growing up, my brother, who is two years older than me, was absolutely obsessed in video games. Therefore, my family has had various different types of video game systems throughout my life. When I was younger, we had both the Nintendo and the Genesis in our basement. My favorite game to play on the Nintendo was Super Mario Brothers. On the Genesis, we had this fun fighting game to play, although I do not remember what is was called. In our living room, we also had the Nintendo 64. My favorite game to play on this was Mario Kart. My least favorite game to play was Super Smash Bros because I would always lose, which would frustrate me. For many years we had these three video game systems to choose from. The quality of the Nintendo 64 was much better than either the Nintendo or the Genesis, although sometimes it was still fun to play on these systems too. In addition, we had the Gameboy Color and later the Game Boy Advance. Then, in 2001, my brother bought the GameCube. The quality of the GameCube was even better than the Nintendo 64, so we started playing on that instead. I would always play the game Super Mario Sunshine on the GameCube. After the GameCube, my brother moved on to buying the Xbox, and then later the Xbox 360. This was the time period when I for the most part stopped playing video games. Before, I would always just play my brother's games. However, when my brother started playing the Xbox, he also started only playing gun shooting games, which I had little interest in. I was more interested at this time in computer games, for I was absolutely obsessed in The Sims 2. Although, I did enjoy Xbox games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band. My family also bought a Wii, which I really enjoyed. We would only have fitness games on it though, for my parents wanted us to exercise while playing on it. The last video game system that my family has gotten is the Playstation Kinect. This I enjoyed because I could play dancing games without holding any form of controller. As of right now, I believe that my family only has the Xbox 360 hooked up. When I return home I use it, but only in order to use Netflix.