4/1 Understanding Media - Marshall McLuhan

As a T.A. for the sophomore seminar class I have the opportunity to work with Tom Adair. I have been working on a draft for my artist statement along side the other students in the class. Upon reading my paper, Tom suggested that I look into Marshall McLuhan, someone that we feels is very inspirational and someone that he felt would help to inform my own artist statement.

Here are some quotes I took from the writing that I felt to be particularly poignant.

"We are entering the new age of education that is programmed for discovery rather than instruction."

"Our conventional response to all media, namely that it is how they are used that counts, is the numb stance of the technological idiot."

"The effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts, but alter sense ratios or patterns of perception steadily and without any resistance. The serious artist is the only person able to encounter technology with impunity, just because he is an expert aware of the changes in sense perception."

"The effect of electric technology had at first been anxiety. Now it appears to create boredom. "

3/23 Character Value.

In my meeting with Paul we talked about using my videos as a character representation of the American psyche.

The jock
the drama queens
the doctors
the family
the cops

By using the videos in this way they could represent the cultural values that are portrayed in the television that we watch on a daily basis. Since the films are so short, the images and sound has to work in a way that expresses an idea, the moment of peak interest that encompasses the mood of the different genres depicted.

Thinking of these videos as personalities might help to shape the character of the pieces and work as a whole. If presented together they could begin to have a conversation with each other and formulate a discussion about American Culture through the eyes of the television.

3/11 thats bs

As I am pulling imagery in for my second movie a few things have crossed my mind as far as subjects go. The nighttime drama that I shot last year was not as well defined as I had hoped when I was thinking of ideas this time around for my films. There are a million night time dramas. But what in reality makes up those dramas. The girl fights. That is the most exciting part of those shows. Reality isn't as much fun without them. So this got me thinking about the rest of my imagery. What about the shows, is so important and what in them is the core, that makes them interesting.
This relationship between imagery and sounds, this is where it can be interesting. This is where I can play with the Moment. That moment of peaked interest and excitement. This is where I can begin to start a conversation.

3/4 : relevancy

As I progress further into my work and research I am really starting to question how relevant my work is. For me it is current and not dated, but I am a college student with a old standard television. Most of the work that I am doing I feel like has been done before. Frankly in the late 80's and all through the 90's. I feel connected with my work, but part of me feels like I am in the wrong decade. Television is not what it was and broadcast has become something completely different.

Large heavy TV's have now become something of a relic, something to put in your basement, or give away to the neighbor next door going off to college. TV's now are things you hang above your fireplace or at the end of your bed. They keep you company in the bathroom, and help you cook in the kitchen. These are not your 60-70 pound mammoth screens. Television has evolved into something that is almost a part of us. It is on your mantle because you look up to it. It has replaced the scenic photographs and paintings with Dancing with the Stars and House.
My parents house 2/10

2/25 AFHV

This is the movie that I have been working on lately. It is my first attempt with working with sound and I am not sure how I feel about it. I think it works as far as capturing the overall feeling of kind of an anxious frantic feeling but I'm not sold that that is what I want. These are shots of online and televised babies. From Americas funniest home videos and from Youtube-- some of the more popular clips like "serious baby" and "charlie bit me". There are also a series of different clips of babies on the toilet and in the toilet. I find it so interesting that parents want everyone on the internet and those who watch television to see their child in the bathroom. The sound is a mix of laugh tracks (which I find terrifying) and sound taken from the montaged clips from AFHV.

2/18 YOUTUBE

Cat and Tv

little girl watching tv

cat and birds

all the single babies

news and health

4kids on tv

Spongebob

2/11: the Unexcpected

I'm sure I am not unlike most people my age.
I get a cold, I take some medicine. Not a big deal.
But it is the unexpected, the truthfully unheard of until this moment that I would have never thought possible. While I was at work, I noticed that I was not blinking my left eye. Ok-maybe pink eye. Not horrible. As the day progressed I also noticed that I was half smiling, have raising my eyebrows. In fact I had no normal function of the left side of my face. This gave me cause for some concern. Student health here I come.

Prognosis- Bells Palsy, a paralyses of one side of the face. For some people this is a minor bump. For some people you give them 3 weeks and they are back to normal. For others it is permanent, and due to its effects on nerves can become life threatening. For me its dangerous. At 3 mos. my parents were told that I had strabismus most commonly known as lazy eye. 22 years, 2 surgeries and about 50 pairs of glasses later, it was pretty much under control. Now I face a sever back tracking. Since the palsy effects the muscular strength of the left side, it effect my very weak eye- which if long enough and persistent enough may take my sight. With a cold and 24 hours, everything has changed. This is something I never thought could happen to me. As much as I try to stay positive about the situation it is hard not to think about becoming a walking camera. I like most people my age just don't think about stuff like this. You don't think anything like this could happen to you.

2/4: snow day

With the amount of snow that we have received this winter so far, there seems to be an abundance of spare time. Time to catch up on homework. Time to clean the kitchen. Time to brush up on some over due reading. Time to sleep, and sleep some more. The snow also brings with it the opportunity to be a kid again. To play in the snow, and build snowmen and angels. I was surprised that most of my friends did not send there days doing these things. If anything, the snow was much colder and wetter then once remembered. Minutes outside felt like hours.
Unfortunately I did not have to pleasure to stay and play. The weekend for me means work, rain or snow. This time of year is especially busy for those of us that work in the chocolate business. On Saturday I left my house at 11pm. All of my roommates were watching TV. At 8 I got off, when I got back I discovered that all of my roommates were exactly where I had left them. Not only did they not move, they watched 2 whole seasons back to back of one show. It seemed even more unbelievable that my male roommate stayed and watched it the whole time. It was much more of a girl show.
So what was the reason for this. How is it that they all looked so miserable and still sat and watched the whole thing. Was there something that told them to continue to keep going, like spending all that time would have been for there benefit. And to be quite honest, I was happy. Happy not for the loss of their day, but for the reinforcement for my work. It was inspiration.

1/28 Inspriational Thought.

It wasn't until this year, my final year at VCU that I realized how truly important it was to be able to write and communicate your thoughts onto paper, in a conversation, or in a speech was. to be honest language has not always been my strongest subject. Talking is one thing. Casual personable conversation comes very easy to me. Even being able to participate in a critique and talk about other peoples work seemed to be a breeze. But this year I began to feel how weak I was when it came to writing, and being able to collect my thoughts into a condensed seemingly educated paper I was stuck. Even writing emails that where professional was a concern. This blog, it was crippling, and frankly it effected my grade. Anxiety is not something I am used to. In fact it is a bit of a stranger, I consider myself a confident person. For me it wasn't about finding the time, or forgetting to post, it was the idea that I had to WRITE.

So I took it upon myself this winter semester to take a class that required writing and this semester I am taking two writing intensive courses. It has occured to me that it might just be about getting the experience and confidence and practice to kick the anxiety. I have started keeping a regular journal and have started to work on my artist statement regularly once a week.

For me its about taking control.

11/12 Idea: Composite

To be honest, Im not so sure what i think about this image. it is a composite of about 7 images. Each of the moment of he murder, or of the finding of the body. The composition is not doing much for me. It does not make me think of death nor does it have a particularly strong distinct feeling. To me it come a bit across like a jumbled mess.
Maybe that says something. Maybe this is the kink in my hypothesis. The answer to the question.
--------Are these moments so contrived and manipulated that they all look the same--------
If the answer where in this image it would be no. besides being dark, it does not have an overarching color pallet. So where does this leave me.

lost.... Well kind of. This is just more incentive for me to shoot more. and more. playing with both the blur and the image.

11/5 Idea: Decisive Moment

the murder

Henri Cartier-Bresson is considered the father of modern photojournalism and a master of candid photography. In 1952 he published a book, The Decisive Moment. In it he stated "There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment". In 1957 he was quoted in the Washington post saying "There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever."

Right now in my work, This moment is key. In reality I am shooting moment that will happen again and again, replayed and edited for repeated views. But there is something about these moments that are internally ingrained within each other, new episode or not, the same moments happend again and again. varied only slightly.

Idea 10/29: Choices

As I move along with my work after mid-critique I have a lot to think about. Not only do I have a billion ideas running through my head at one time but i have a billion options. This work has so many places to go. At this point in the game I feel like my options for works are limitless. There is so much to mess up and at the same time so much to choose from. Working out ideas is like gridding out the NYC subway, one line after another.

One thing that really hit a chord though was the idea of the decisive moment within all these genres. There is a point that all of these shows have in common. example:

Crime Scene- CSI ( miami,nyc), Bones, Law and Order (all spin offs)

-the murder: the body, the crime that propels the show into being. this is the moment that these shows depend on. This is what they need to have a show.

By using and collecting these "moments in time" I do not need to depend on my camera to blur the image for a color pallet, instead I can use it for its pure purpose. By compiling the images onto each other hopefully i can come up with a single mood, a distinct moment in time.

It was also suggesting that I look at the Nealson Ratings. Looking at what is viewed when/what is viewed the most. Mapping out all this information is quickly becoming a task all its own.

10/22 Idea blog: Taking Notes.

I have come to the conclusion that I have been shooting the wrong thing. Spencer Finch had the right idea.By turning the monitors around he was about to use the white wall as a canvas for the colors of his sunset. I am not going to get the colors I want by shooting directly at the screen. I should be taking the blurred footage and directing it at a wall to try and get the colors I want. Shooting the wall.

But here are the questions I need to ask.
1. Do I need to show the TV to let people understand the work better?
2. Does this need to be video in order to allow the pacing and color interact?
3. If question two is a yes, is also question 1 a yes or can the dancing of the colors, the flashing, can they speak for themselves.
4. Can this work function as stills?

I'm starting to this that I am beginning to answer these questions on my own. If my ultimate goal is to somehow illustrate the idea or transmission and its effects, I do not think this work is able to function without movement, or light. I'm starting to get the feeling like this work is going to work as projections in order to manipulate emotions.

Idea Blog: 10/14- COLOR

sitcom:comedy

mystery

crime scene

late night:talk

romance

These are images that I have been working on. I took away the focus to bring out the overall color hue. Shooting the screen is hard because if you shoot too long the color is taken away and all you get is white, shoot to short and even if your lens is blurred, your shot is in perfect focus. Right now its about the balance. I need to find a way to shoot so that the colors blend into one color.

I have been talking and thinking a lot about color and its involvement in my work, and well not doing a very good job at working it all out. This is the point where I continue to talk about the work that I'm trying to make. But that's just it. The word. Trying. Making and trying to make are two different things and to tell the the truth, I'm tired.
The number one thing on my mind has been artificial light and color and how through transmission meaning can be interpreted. I feel that the pacing and color within TV sets to the tones feel and ultimately manipulate your mood.

"Cops" 10/5

So in light of recent events I've decided to Blog about things that are kinda going on in my life.

Last night while I was home alone, someone busted in my back door and tried to get into the house. In my panic. I called all 3 of my roommates, and my best guy friend all multiple times in a row with no answer. I also called 911, although I did reach them eventually it took me 2 calls before I got through.

I feel like this situation has a lot to do with my current topic in general. Pretty much everyone has a camera, computer, and phone. Yet how connected are we. It all kinda came to a head for me last night.

It was strange to me that in the process of taking names, numbers and arresting the doorbuster, the cops took out there phones and were taking photos. Laughing. This was obviously the highlight of their night. I decided to help them out. I took, out my camera and took pictures to for them. When I thought things couldn't get any weirder, one of the cops asked me to put it on Facebook and add him. I'm glad they caught the guy, but I'm concerned about how light they were taking it. These aren't the cops I'm used to watching on TV. Really how as all these social networks changed us?This event only strengthened my need to explore the elements of transmission, surveillance why it is that we need all these things to feel informed...

It was a relief that we caught the guy that broke in, i mean, he was dumb enough to pass out on our back porch after he tired himself out kicking in our door. He was also dumb enough to try and run away, and mouth off. He'll be in jail for the week, and I'll see him in court later this year.

Let's try this again. 9/14

When I first tired to post this it got and error and it was deleted so here it goes again.

When reading my feedback a question was posed as to "what" I was trying to say with the work I've shot lately. Or even just in general. And to tell you the truth right now I am done with thinking about that. I feel as though it is crippling. I can't produce work, or even produce blogs when I think that way. I feel so behind in just gathering my thoughts for this body of work. Where am I going, what am I doing. Why is it that I can sit and read, and when its time for me to write about what it is I've been thinking about I freeze. Total blank.

Paul said something to me that was really inpirational, or at the very least it help to lift some of the anxiety that I have been feeling. The truth is i don't need to know what it is that I'm trying to say, I don't need to focus so acutely on a subject. Part of the reason I feel i was so stuck is that I was so anxious about producing intelligent work that I have officially psyched myself out. So in order to remedy the cycle that I have put myself in I've decided to stop thinking. Well only figuratively. But I think part of my problem is that I was thinking in circles. Coming up with ideas and instantly shooting them down. Doing research then disregarding it.

So in tern I am determined this weekend/week to pick up the pace and well, redeem myself.

So Ideas:
Part of why I started this whole project in the being was to explore my person fixation with the Television and computers. I find that when I am watching TV I tend to get tunnel vision and selective hearing. This zombie like instinct seems so strange to me since I really don't like TV a whole lot and did not even grow up with cable. I've noticed similar behaviors in my roommates too. In particular Tyler, he can sit and play video games for hours. and the only times he gets up is for the bathroom ro to have a cigarette. So I want to shoot him. See how is posture changes (if it does) and his movements and interaction with the work.