What I Learned In This Class (...A Hypothesis Disproved)

The rate that one can publish their thoughts and virtually connect to anyone with a computer around the world can occur in a blink of an eye depending on your internet speed - and in my case, it took two days to upload my film to blip.

The rate and reach of connectivity is truly spellbinding; and one's approach to this media, and one's relationship to it can still involve the same amount of time and attention that any art form requires.

My hypothesis for this class, was that the speed of communication of events and the seemingly reactionary art forms or messages that come out of this is corrupting the amount of energy that people invest in art and therefore virtual art and communication would weaken our standards for what is good and important, and its disintegration would go unnoticed because savoring something and even "meditating" on it was becoming a lost art form. There is no dirt or blood on the internet that we can feel.





When I read Marshall Mcluhan's cautionary book "The Medium Is The Message" (1967), I absorbed his romanticizing of western civilaizations architecture where everyone's visual experience was literally framed by its architecture. The structure of enduring European cities' piazzas, and buildings' ionic columns: where the visual plane was literally being framed like a picture in front of you. People's acquiring of visual experience through their eye to their brain's interpretation and formation of thought - was simple, structured and clean. Since then, Mcluhan purports that the visual landscape - because humankind's experiences have been abducted by technology and obliterated into spaghetti soup - where the messages in our mind's are confused and dispersed - resulting in similar thinking and experience. The message may vary in content but the experience is always the same. Civilization's messages are diluted, not held accountable and you are lost.






Although Mcluhan published his hypothesis on humankind's relationship to technology before the internet, his message haunted me as I began this semester wondering if I wanted to even engage in such a destructive lifestyle. I mean - did I want to turn my messages into purely virtually experiences? Was putting effort into learning this form ruin me as an artist? These were actual fears and reluctance I had to digital media when I began.



Now that the semester is over after being introduced to many programs and working through a variety of assignments, I learned that I enjoy the cheap, fast, and powerful medium that they offer. I now see these programs as great conspirators in creation - not destructive enemies. My favorite discovery is the flip camera that I had a chance to work with in class and the wealth of editing techniques that I experimented with in Final Cut. Collaging with found images, taking screen shots from youtube films, recording sound from youtube films, recording my friends, and building a story out of nothing is endless and the amount of effort that you put into it is a personal decision. Some people need different things in there life at different times and I found this class just when I needed it! I can't wait to continue working. Thank you - Rachel

Reflections On Making A Short Film

This project was an assignment with tight parameters.
An exercise of great restraint, focus and faith.
I spent 10 hours each week exploring the program and trying new things.
Some people like to eat soup.
I don't- but when I say it turned into soup: I don't mean it in the way I mean soup- worthless - I mean soup in the way other people mean "soup" who actually like it: a mixture of flavors all swimming together.
We grabbed still images and recorded sound from web postings, and easily shot the majority of our film in 2 hours. The editing process was fun, as each tool became a new format to show what would otherwise be a static image. For example, I took a photo of a cave and repeated it several times, zooming into the center each frame, creating the illusion of going inside the tunnel of graffiti.

I was also lucky to have a great partner. Kevin was happy to act in the film, gave great ideas, suggestions and feedback. He was patient and interested in trying new things. As we lost some of our footage, interview subject, and third group partner (who suggested to do a film about Graffiti,) we were given the challenge to create new story line and content. Being that it was a mock-umentary, and relied on “finding the story” we were very lucky to run into two graffiti artists, in the midst of creating a piece. Taking advantage of the moment and being in the right place at the right time, Queens’ “5 Points” (graffiti Mecca), we gained an essential part to our film. Additionally when we were leaving the site, some wandering graffiti appreciators agreed to be interviewed for the film and gave us great sound bites from “real people” – adding the extra heft to support the feel of a documentary.

In this experience I learned how easy it is to create something out of nothing, the surprises along the way and the limitless creativity that editing provides in creating moods and experiences. I also learned that you will be spending a lot of time with your piece, and must care about the subject and the overall end product in order to have the stamina to finish – (as seducing as Final Cut Pro is!) Ultimately it was a great experience and I am looking forward to creating new projects.

Editing! So seamless

Learning of the subtle, effortless and mysterious visual language of editing is like waking up from a long sleep for the first time. Finding out that your brain has been an accomplice in your own visual deception - creating ideas, assumptions, even conclusions in your head subconsciously is a rebirth! And a balance. One false step and the illusion is ruined.

When searching for editing inspiration and storytelling I thought to go straight to Daivd Lynch. He has certainly made a name for himself in stretching the viewers' imagination with deeply disturbing and symbolic images that create moods, and reveal characters and sometimes in the process confuse plots...but I guess that's where knowingly breaking the rules begins.



I chose to take a look at the opening scenes of Blue Velvet. It begins with establishing shots of a red tulips in front of a white picket fence, a man riding on the side of a truck waving as it drives left to right, another shot of yellow tulips in front of a different white picket fence, and cutaway to school children and a crossing guard walking right to left on an empty street, with a non-diegetic musical choice of Bobby Vinton's 1963 hit: Blue Velvet - all presenting a very wholesome, uniform, and eerily-so little neighborhood.



Next image is of a man watering the lawn on a sunny day (facing left), a cutaway to a woman in a house in the dark (facing right), cut away to a television on the 180-degree line and facing her. Cutaway to the man watering the lawn again, struggling with the hose, a loud gurgling sound from the faucet - aggressively disrupting the mood - almost signaling danger, and the man collapses to the ground. A dog and an unattended baby discover him. Cut to an extreme close-up of the grass, and following deep into the grass into the dirt where a mass of crunching and crawling beetles overwhelm the screen in a menacing return to the earth and hideous sense of decay. Not a single word is spent; yet relationships, atmosphere, emotions of loss, impermanence and horror are all visually communicated within the first few minutes. I chose to examine a Lynch film-clip because whenever I watch anything by him, I know that he will do his damnedest to jump through the screen and shake his viewers.

Relationship to Media

My relationship to media today is one of reluctance and protection. I see a wealth of information and graphics and utility in the internet's daily menu and it feels like stepping into a hornet's nest. One thing is googled and a swarm of other hungry voices are awakened crying out to be heard, connect, or sell you something.
Information and a wealth of activity is largely free and thrives on your time.

I currently work in production at an events space and largely rely on the internet to learn about potential clients. I've recently discovered Black Frame Black Frame, a branding and production company whose clients are chiefly associated with art and fashion, and was almost surprised and shocked in their website's simplicity. Black background, white text and a single band of blue at the top of their text to add weight. It is subtle and allows the viewer to dip their toe in, gently explore and navigate the site through a simple side menu bar reading: "Art & Culture," "Fashion & Beauty," "Design & Architecture," "Production & Events," and "Black Frame." Many companies involved in branding and party planning or pop culture try so hard to sell you on their creativity by pumping loud music, flashy colors and graphics, and interactivity in their website beyond necessity. They seemingly want to force a party on to you and an "experience" as soon as you hit homepage in your google search. Black Frame's concept is simple and the website's user-experience is more akin to a zen meditation than being thrown into a club or an advertisement.

I believe that the user experience on the internet carries energy and experience from the creator (or the human) on the other side, and that the design can be many things - but intelligence and grace is something that few achieve. Facebook began as an alternative to myspace for a collegiate elite - ivy league schools, and its hard to forget its approach or snobbery. Myspace was open to many and all, and has since been known for its music content - that is people who are musicians or artists, who didn't necessarily go to Harvard or Yale. The original intent of Facebook now has an irksome legacy - implying that their site is built on following other's activity as in a constant class reunion and people can "find" each other and recconect...or mindlessly stalk. I find this - although exciting on the one hand for some - irritating. It is not in my nature to make it my business what others are doing that I do not have a relationship with or previous interest in. As for new friends, I continue to prefer to make them in person. My life is busy and allows little time to "log on" and get lost into the rabbit hole of facebook -whose energy is less like a ivy league class room and more like a vile of crack. Yes - I might "hear about a show" on facebook - but then again - I "hear about shows" from friends more often, and that requires ears.

I'm looking forward to continue to study user experience and maximize a calm in the chaos where content is experienced cleanly, and somehow leaves the visitor energized and inspired.

Reflections on the times we spent together

In this class I learned that digital media uses many of the artistic
principles and means of communication that have never shared quite a
unity and parallel to a human's mode of processing information.

Not only did I learn the joys and challenges of blogging and digital
design as enhancement of a virtual experience, but acquired new means
to express myself. I think hypertext is one of the most exciting
developments in digital media and an incredible way to communicate. When I
read something or see an art work- I am instantly curious about the
piece's sources, influences, and connection to further thought. If
computers are making us less reliant on our memories to absorb
information - hypertext is encouraging our minds beyond their physical-
social capacity so that we are more connected and informed
than we would normally be by simply relying on our immediate surroundings. I love that by reading a digital text one can actually follow the thought process of the author by following their hyptext tangents.
I can imagine David Foster Wallace - RIP- who enjoyed lengthy and
gratuitous footnotes to his fiction -using hypertext to birth a web of
spiralling thoughts from each sentence – had he have had the chance.

I enjoyed the sampling of different approaches to digital expression, and definitely felt that we scratched the surface of many interesting media; This class has definitely moved me one peg closer to realizing an interesting and artistic sense of journalism using sound clips, hypetext, photogrphy and video - as in an opportunity to create and entire DIY media center!
I look forward to continuing exploration of these new programs and html coding, while using the design and artistic lens that we were exposed to with Prof Anderson and Prof Lucas..and the awesome TA's and computer lab helpers!

Thank you everyone and enjoy the break!

Reel Dialogue: Engaging and Entertaining

On Friday the 13th last November, I attended
"Real Dialogue" : the first (of many, I hope) Hunter College Department of Film & Media and the IMA/MFA Program, documentary film screening and discussion forums.

This evening’s films shared in the topic(s) of LGBT's: current media representation ("NO MORE LIES: a portrait of a filmmaker" by Sam Feder (hunter student); familial relationships to traditionally heterosexual parents and siblings ("DON’T BRING SCOTT" by David Pavlosky (hunter student); and today's labor laws and rights in the U.S. ("OUT AT WORK" by Kelly Anderson and Tami Gold (hunter professors).

Each filmmaker stayed after the screenings to answer questions about their films and to participate in an open discussion on some of the issues brought up by the provocative selection of social activist's films. The evening’s moderator opened the Q&A with a question for the audience: "Where do you place yourself being a part of the progression of change? (+ in terms of some of these issues).

I thought much about this question when viewing David’s film “Don’t Bring Scott” as he attempted to capture an ongoing confrontation with his conservative Midwestern parents and his three brothers of varying generations on his relationship with his partner Scott and whether or not Scott was welcome at family gatherings.
What seemed to be initially a tearful maybe even an indulgent personal journey for David, who invited us into a home video (many hand held shots – what has become a reality T.V. visual aesthetic), ended up building in emotion and intimacy with his family and the audience, effectively revealing very honest and varied opinions on David’s “lifestyle” in a hugely compelling way.

His family represented a microcosm of the current American social climate – fear, tolerance, acceptance, and indifference. By David's patience and silence during these interviews with his family these incredible point of views were explored and proved that it is important to ask why one holds certain values and if they are important when they hurt and others.

It raised the question for me as an audience member and a filmmaker “Why do we care?” and why does David care? Why not live and let live?
Again, the moderator's question to the audience was where we saw ourselves in relation to activism and again I wondered – what makes someone push themselves in a path to instigate change and push others to change with them? David’s film was a very successful portrait and journey from “Don’t Bring Scott” to family gatherings to Scott taking family portraits with all the Pavlovskys at Christmas time, and this change was possible because he dared to ask hard questions and listen for the answers. Once explored, these harsh barriers once firmly erected, fell down everywhere and the film triumphantly ended with Scott meeting David's family and being included in the holiday portrait.

The moderator's question coupled with the miraculous change in David's film, prompted me to ask the question of David: "What drew you to social and personal activism, especially in your own home?"

To listen to David’s response click here.

In short, David needed to complete a project for his documentary film class, but it was his longing "to have a life" that made him push through the restrictions of who he was formerly able to be with his family in contrast to who he was independent from them with his lover.
He said that change doesn't come quickly - that it takes time and patience.

And so, I will patiently await the next scheduled “Real Dialogue” screening and forum as each film was not only entertaining, educational and provocative, but a great way to inspire fellow filmmakers and artists attending Hunter – and beyond.

Design I Like: “How good design can effectively camouflage bad music”

I remember when Lady Gaga came out with “Just Dance,” (barely a year ago); It sounded like many other female vocalists on radio Disney that come and go – I couldn’t put my finger on who it was, but the music was predictable and uninteresting - so I dropped it. The music video looked like it was shot in Urban Outfitters, so I again, didn't take much notice.

Since a year has passed, and queens across the city are calling her "legendary" as if she could be Grace Jones without batting an eye, I am intrigued by the visual impact and the engineering of her presence as an entertainer when a plethora of lingerie is paired with music that is lyrically safe and simple, if not offensive in its arbitrary nonsense.


Release date: April 2008
Initial impact


Released Date: January 2004


Release date: September 2009

I can say that while she catches up to European/Alexander Mcqueen/Balmain and Bjork pop culture and imagry - what has been hot and growing visually for the past 5 or so years, she is using it to brand herself and design herself as a performer. These images are getting old for me but just becoming in style to the next pop icon.

The use of sexual and American cultural music video visual cues to intrigue and brand are most apparent in Beyonce's new video featuring Lady Gaga: “Video Phone.” The lyrics are on crutches, pathetically saying “You say you like my bag and the color of my nails/You can see that I got it goin' on.” - pretty typical of a boring love affair with capitalism.



While she robotically dances to her melody lacking “Video Phone” song, the cold moves and scowls Beyonce serves, separates the viewer from potential connection or intimacy and makes what could be sexual (her breasts and crotch pumping) into something flat, bossy, and mildly pornographic. Her outfits are amazing - the colors fantastic - but the overall impact empty - even bewildering.

Again, I don’t like this design as much as I am drawn to it as a visual taste maker dominating the pop music scene - POP ie: the loudest voice, role model, and music industry influence (of the moment) - threatening every day the extinction of substantive musical artists.

Beyonce’s “Video Phone” lyrics go on to say "Tape me on your video phone/I can handle you”; The next visual step, after Beyonce has flattened herself to a video vixen on a dude’s cell phone, is to turn around and dominate him with guns. The majority of the video is of Beyonce with guns, giving a violent visual image paired with her body's sexuality - designed to make viewers turned on and violent, a great psychological space if you are meeting a shorty in the club or going off to war.













The over all effect is disturbing. I think these girls like to disturb and alienate and dominate after they have had to roll around and flex their signature pop looks and lingerie stylings for their male(?) fans.

As design in architecture, art, fashion and music [videos] continues to evolve, visual influence on what consumers will support is especially powerful as seen in the building of Lady Gaga’s marketed image and her continued success. Beyonce and Lady Gaga’s music is less about the song’s experience – if it gives you chills or tells a story when you listen – and more of a thing to listen to with your eyes.