Project files!

Link to all of my files! :)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/icwmls9m7t5cj4z/AABXuttJHb-cRnx1arWSHy0Ia?dl=0

Final

Sequence 01 1 from Megan Stevenson on Vimeo.

Exercise 2 - Documentary - "Subliminal Messages"

Better late than never. Heh

Response to Kino eye and Einstein MOntage

  

Both writers (Vertov and Einstein) were trying to explain on cuts primarily in their own literature. Cut produced during the movie brewing period is a process of connecting or linking the notion of images in a continuous form.

Soviet-ian  Vertov’s Kino eye essay article is an encounter of automata eye in response to the political manifesto. The art of film making endeavors to catch the notion of universal phenomena and limits everything and every action into a compact form. The task of gathering objects via camera and simplifying the complex form of ubiquitous juxtaposition in a simple form using the lens is a strikingly amazing subject that helps humans to pursue emotions in a short period of time. The hegemony of camera is the main purpose of the article that the writer wants to address to us (readers).

 Similarly, the art described in the second essay by Einstein is based on various types of montages. 

The quintessential idea of Einstein Montage denotes to the work of generating a motion picture with various taste of cuts such as rhythmic, tonal, metric, intellectual and overexposed. All of the cuts activates their own type of melodies during the movie performance. For instance, Rhythmic montage refers to an attachment of reel that produces rhythmic flow while perceiving cinema. The absorbing scheme during the cinema period tricks viewers eye with a magical flow and provides a lesson automatically.

Abstract Vid_ Robot

ROBOTS from Juan Ruio on Vimeo.

Eisenstein - Vertov

Methods of montage uniquely words how a montage is formed. A montage can roughly encompass all film and video that requires some kind of cutting. When this reading describes the different forms of montage Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal, and Intellectual; it can be hard to classify a scene from a video or film as just one of these types. A more real world film example that came to mind is the timing of clips. A sad part of a movie may have longer shots compared to a fight scene which some clips may be less than a second. The timing of the clip can say a lot about the piece, which can set the scene and mood. I find this extremely important when editing videos to keep the video flowing smoothly. Kino-Eye has some interesting points about the movie camera. Cameras can be forced to copy what our eyes see or it can give us a whole different perspective. The camera has the ability to distort time and can show movements and angles that can’t be experienced in real life. I think this is a very important aspect of film and video because the camera techniques and editing show us the more important part of the piece. Viewing things from a stationary point of view like a human spectator would make things very tiring very quickly. By using these techniques we can maintain the audiences interest.

Response to Kino Eye and Methods of Montage

Kino Eye:
I really enjoyed the title font and photographs, the picture of the eye within the lens is my favorite. By seeing those images I knew that the author must be eccentric and original before I started the article. I also noticed that the way the article is written makes it look like poetry. This seems like a stylistic choice to emphasize the romance and raw emotion in film. The most relevant part is when he says that the camera eye "schematizes" scenes in our life, which basically means to simplify. So in essence, the best part about film is that it shows what our eye is most interested in instead of everything our eyes can behold.

Methods of Montage
Montage is my favorite way of editing film, as you can probably see from the films I have created. I enjoy taking things that don't have anything to do with each other and smashing them together to make something comprehensible. I like how Eisenstein says "simple relationships are necessary for maximum effectiveness", because the act of montage is already really complicated but when the subject or score of the film is kept simple then everything flows together well.

Andrew Wells: Responses to Readings 4/7/2015

Regarding Eisenstein's Methods of Montage, I found the writing to be quite educational in its deconstruction of montage techniques. Mainly, the thing I found most useful in the excerpt was the building of a vocabulary with which to analyze montage for the reader. Through the absorption of these sections vague terminology and guesses are replaced by reminders to pay attention to the the metric lengths of different cuts of film and the measurable value of the visual elements within. Personally, I've never been particularly fond of montage pieces and am generally under the impression that they are rather weak in getting a particular experience across to the viewer, but through Methods of Montage I have a slightly better idea of how they can be analyzed to discern a meaning.
Of particular notes I enjoyed Eisenstein's statement of how emotionally-based visual themes can be measured with a discernible metric to gauge the value of those elements.

As for the writings on the kino-eye...I much prefer the analytic and more plain approach to writing in Methods of Montage. While I enjoy the idea of freeing the media of filmed pieces from the traditional view of the human eye, it is difficult to truly grasp what this excerpt is about unless you already have a more intimate knowledge of montage as art compared to most. What I'll be taking away from it is the message of how film sections shot in completely different places and times can be combined into a meaningful conglomeration through the use of similar context, in either physical happenings or through means of ideals. I also approve of the revelation of the wonder of movement in everyday life, something that usually goes unseen by most.
However, I still think it reads like a radical manifesto and as such is hard to digest without having similar predilections prior to reading.

Dziga Vertov - Kino-Eye

This article by Dziga Vertov was interesting, to say the least. While he makes some fair points and insightful observations about the restriction put on the camera in cinema, the article itself is hard to follow, whether that's just stemming from it being translated or if that was just how it was written. The notion that modern cinema is limiting the camera just to what the human eye is able to observe is an interesting concept, and one that I agree with. There is a plethora of untapped potential in film, yet directors are so afraid of not being popular and making money that they aren't brave enough to explore further. One of the fundamentals of film is to film so that the camera isn't thought of and the viewer can focus on what the director wants them to see. By making the camera itself a character opens a whole new realm for creativity. As interesting and thought-provoking as this article was, the effort it took to make sense of it took away from the whole experience, in my opinion.

Abstract Exercise: Interdimensional Travel

Interdimensional Travel from Sam Burris on Vimeo.

Abstract_video

Abstract_SHree from Santosh_Thapa on Vimeo.

Exercise 3 - Abstraction - "Digital Ocean"

Green from Megan Stevenson on Vimeo.

Abstraction Chitty from Kori Smith on Vimeo.

SURFACE from Grace Kim on Vimeo.

Abstract Video: Watching for Predators

PrairieEye from Andrew Wells on Vimeo.

Assignment 2 The Journey

Sequence 01 from Kelli Manning on Vimeo.

Decided to do the "self portrait" as my daily walk i take to class every day.

PRESQUE from Grace Kim on Vimeo.

Journey into the world of looking for place to live in Austin.

Hunt 4 from Juan Ruio on Vimeo.

Assignment 2

Shree_project2 from Santosh_Thapa on Vimeo.

Portrait project edit

Portrait of a country boy turned city from michael myers on Vimeo.

I followed my dad around as he prepared to go to work. Everything is unscripted and natural so all the shots are not staged. Sorry if the sound/music comes off a little rough as there are some tweaks that need to be figured out.

A Portrait of My Dad from Sam Burris on Vimeo.

Nala the Cat from Kori Smith on Vimeo.

Portrait

Here's my results, sorry if the post is a bit late.
Mostly playing with color-related filters etc.



Portrait from Andrew Wells on Vimeo.

here's my late submission of the first video exercise/project.
word of warning: shots were taken w/ my camera phone, so the quality is uh, less than desirable.

ILLUMINATE 2 from Grace Kim on Vimeo.

Self Portrait from Megan Stevenson on Vimeo.

The Ontology of the Photographic Image Reading Response

      This passage from Andre Bazin's book was a very interesting view on the art of photography. "It is this religious use, then, that lays bare the primordial function of statuary, namely, the preservation of life by a representation of life." I enjoyed this sentence because he is comparing the mummification of bodies to photography. How a photograph can immortalize human being or a period in time by preserving that moment in a piece of paper. He also talks about how painting, at that time much more popular that photography, can also try to achieve that goal, but no matter how realistic looking the painting is it will never match up to the reality of a photograph.
      Bazin calls painting an inferior art form to photography which is interesting because many people see it the other way around. I honestly used to think that photography was not an art form until i took a photography class. There is so much planning and other things that an artist needs to know to capture a beautiful photo.

Observation of a quote from Ontology of the Photographic Image

“The photographic image is the object itself, the object freed from the conditions of time and space that govern it… Those grey or sepia shadows, phantomlike and almost undecipherable, are no longer family portraits but rather the disturbing presence of lives halted at a set moment in their duration…” I found this quote to be very interesting because I found myself thinking does the camera really capture a moment of time? I’ve pondered over the fact that a picture of my vacation was truly an accurate representation of that exact moment. In a way I think this this is true. The camera is like human eye and it captures the moment with the constraint of the frame. However, lately I have been feeling it creates an artificial memory. Our memory of that moment transforms into a simple two-dimensional image. When I look at a photo of myself at a certain location I am seeing a perspective I never saw in real life. Sometimes the camera down plays the real beauty of that time in its distortion and limitations. So much is not captured in a camera and I find that by not documenting every part of my life creates more detailed memories.

Bazin's Essay response

Bazin’s essay so called “The Ontology of the Photographic Image” is a beautiful documentation of ontological praxis between ontological thinking and ontological materialism. Inside our social fabric, we are dissolved with various rituals, and photographing image is also one of a kind that humans are celebrating since eighteenth century.  Bazin is approaching with the ritual of making photographic image as a sarcophagus or an element to pour immortality in humans life.

     When human dies, we give them a name called ghosts. Since, it is hard to preserve ghost, camera is our new agent which helps us to breed those ghosts. An art of ghost preserving that allow us to flesh out the visual data of the ghosts. What sort of body structure he or she has? Is it a bulimic, anorexic, voluptuous, Obese, or slim fit? What sort of fabric they were wearing? Everything is preserved in a compact form and this is now called Photography.  These sort of thinking’s Bazin wants to suggest us through his article. 

Regarding the Bazin Reading

In regards to the excerpt from The Ontology of the Photographic Image, the most interesting subject of the reading is its comparison between film and the other media that came before it or coexists with it today. I very much enjoyed the statement that, unlike other forms of art, what is rendered by a photograph IS the very model of what was intended to be made, which is unlike any other art form. His idea that the means communication between artist and audience is, unlike in other art, based solely on what is chosen to be seen is also relevant. One of the most basic tools we have access to is collecting footage and subsequently editing it together to show to someone else. The order in which we show what we have, the way we show it, and what we leave out is the building block on which our other techniques come from. Through these we can create context, relationships between otherwise unconnected sequence, and the intentional destruction of a connected sequence of events.
It's all in the showing.

Andre Brazen

Andre Brazen delineates the purpose of painting and photography and the mechanics of their differences. The mechanics have improved in painting by ideological progression, such as discovery of perspective.  The painter sees first something with the eye.  That image is stored in mind and reproduced over time. The storage of the memory becomes more complex with a drawing and confers a unique ability to an artist.  Validity of the rendered form came into question when the reasoning behind realism was interrupted by the camera, thus came paintings with modern dimensional schemes.  The photographer also sees first with his eye, but the stored image replaces the drawing hand.  There is change of subjective artistry when comparing painting to photography.  Immediate images allow for a riddance of preconceptions about how something should be conveyed.  The artistry is altogether different because of the tools used.   

What is Cinema - theontologyofthephotographicimage

Cinema is creation, an art form that tells a story. It’s an evolution that overtook painting, and it’s a form of dramatic expression. It’s also an illusion and a discovery that satisfies “once and for all and its very essence, our obsession with realism”. For example, in photography the image is captured, yet in painting the image is created. Photography “does not create eternity, as art does, it embalms time, rescuing it simply from its proper corruption”. Photography can capture the photographers personality. “By the power of photography, the natural image of a world that we neither know nor can see, nature at last does more than imitate art: she imitates the artist”. The images in photography are real and factual.

Kori Smith (Chitty) video 1

Droplet from Kori Smith on Vimeo.

Response to week 1 readings_Chitty, K

 In both, Coming into Focus by James Broughton, and Metaphors on Vision by Stan Brakhage, we are asked to see without seeing. Broughton wants us to see without fear of what will become of our vision. I think this is the epitome of creativity and being true to our artistic self. As human beings we seek to measure up to our competition and create something as close to original as possible. What we miss out on is just being in the moment, allowing our passion to be our poetry. Similarly, Brakhage asks us to see in a different way too. He asks us to see and pretend like we don't know. It reminded me of meditation, because in order to meditate we have to clear our mind of any obstruction. In order to truly be creative and have vision we must break our fear, number one, and number two, believe in what we produce and stand wholly in a moment.

"The Ontology of the Photographic Image" by Andre Bazin

       Since ancient times, humans have been obsessed with the ideology of living after death. The article “The Ontology of the Photographic Image” by Andre Bazin, lists a few ways humans went about preserving their image after their departure from the world, including mummification and the more-popular self-portraits. In this day and age, however, an image is not considered so much as a way to preserve life, but is given more of an artistic sense, and is either composed almost entirely for aesthetic purposes only, or to accurately represent the surrounding world through realism. The only way to capture true realism, however, is through either photography for cinema, as “the fact that a human hand intervened cast a shadow of doubt over the image.”

       Bazin’s statement of the reliability of paintings vs. photographs is valid in my opinion, as the artist is able to manipulate and alter reality as he sees fit. The photographer, however, is limited to what is actually before him, and despite the means in which he takes the photo; the photo will always bear some semblance of reality. I especially enjoyed the sentence “photography does not create eternity, as art does, it embalms time, rescuing it simply from its power corruption.” I also agree with the concept that, with the invention of photography, art is now free to regain its aesthetic beauty as it doesn’t have to strive for realism anymore. 

My Fan from Sam Burris on Vimeo.

Urban Jungle by Juan Rubio

Urban Jungle from Juan Ruio on Vimeo.

Shree_Thapa_Exercise1

Untitled Project from Santosh_Thapa on Vimeo.

Red Cross Trailer from michael myers on Vimeo.

Exercise 1 - Blurred Lines

ARTS 3381 Video Painting - Exercise 1 - Blurred Lines from Matthew Leslie on Vimeo.

Finally got approved by Vimeo. Here, without any further ado, is "Blurred Lines."

Paintball Westworld Course

Westworld course from Kelli Manning on Vimeo.

I play paintball out in Forney every saturday. I strapped a GoPro to my gun last week and these are the results.

Grenadine from Megan Stevenson on Vimeo.

Essay Response( Broughton & Brakhage)

  Both writers were deeply drown under the philosophical state. Both writers were describing the purity of consciousness via literature. We can see great discovery of visual poetry on the writer’s documentation.  It is not a non-sense, but a fact that artists have different vision than normal humans have. They can animate world with their thinking. 

 Broughton’s “Coming into focus” is underpinned with various great peoples word that relates to revolution in the forum of art. According to his article, Broughton writes that “Then, as St. Augustine advised, Love God, and do what you will.’’ These sort of sentences are providing us a knowledge that do not afraid of experiencing something different, crossing the border line or limit. 

Similarly, while doing a survey on Brakhage essay “From Metaphors on Vision,” we can easily flesh out another visual poetry. The writer is presenting a glory of vision through words. An abstract vision which is almost anti nature.  Brakhage a-one style of curating vision is incredibly thoughtful and nerve breaking. 

axw120330- Andrew J. Wells - Fridge

Took multiple angles and shots from inside my fridge.

The Paintings of "George W Bush" at Centraltrak from Michael Morris on Vimeo.

Week 1 Readings

James Broughton views on cinema are very divine and poetic.  James thinks cinema as a true form of art and the real artists are completely independent. “True poets are as anarchic as Jesus and Lao-Tzu. They love revolutions, for revolutions are symbols of freedom from the major enemies of art.”  I find his quote quite interesting because it raises the question of what is the true purpose art. Is the art intended for you or your audience? We can try to please the enemies of our art by trying cater to their interests or we can take our own path and express what our true vision is even if it no one likes it but ourselves. I don’t think there are any “enemies of art” as we each see it differently in our own eyes. There will always be people who dislike your art and sometimes you have to find a balance between what you and your audience wants to see. Art should be produced to the scope of your project. Who is it for? Is it for yourself, a general audience, family, or a cult following? These are questions we should be asking when we make art.

Stan Brakhage must have had a lot fun overthinking the concepts of vision. His poetry behind his art seems to be as equally important as his visual imagery. Most of his metaphors are beyond me but I did find it interesting how he explained perception though an infant’s eye. He explains that when we were crawling babies we were unaware of the classification of things. It is almost like we are spoiled once we see things as a voice in our head instead of the sight of our own eyes. We sometimes get detached from our world and start to ignore the field of grass from our eyes perception because to us it is just another boring “field of grass” that we have seen many times before.

 

W1 R1 - Stan Brakhage and James Broughton

Stan Brakhage, in his article titled, "Metaphors on Vision," alludes to the infant eye as being the gateway to the "loss of innocence." That one line speaks to me because I find it to be true to reality. When we are infants, if any can remember, we only interpret basic shapes and colors; which as Mr. Brakhage goes on to say that the same interpretation of reality is on the mirror-side of life near death. Being that this is the process of which the eye takes during development and degradation, Mr. Brakhage explains that in the interim all we have to imagine such a world of interpretation is to use knowledge. Not only to use knowledge, but to use the "Ultimate of Knowledge," he claims, which to him is the study of film. Through film, one can experience the entirety of reality and travel to places only seen in dreams. Filmmakers can explore areas of their own psyche that were previously locked away during maturation away from infancy, and portray that knowledge to the audience.


Stan Brakhage goes on to claim that our society is driven by fear; whether that be primal fears, or fears we impose upon ourselves. For example, one may fear their own extinction however also fears to take the plunge into immortalizing themselves through family. He makes a claim that we as a society fear many things and artists can relieve that fear through film. They can "create a new language," which can translate those fears into pleasurable feelings. Overall I agree with Brakhage for as an artist myself, I see it in my soul to bring my imagination to life through photography and other mediums. I can relate heavily to what his main arguments were on a personal level.


The James Broughton article, however in my opinion, was utter bullshit. He loosely attributes inspiration and imagination to being connected to divine intervention from God. I say that it is indicative of religious propaganda. I'm not expressing this feeling because of some ulterior motive, because I am personally very spiritual. I feel, however, that Broughton is crippling his readers into not thinking for themselves. Also, the claim that audiences have no valid opinions, is bullshit. That segment just read to me as the author being pretentious and an art-snob. I say that you do not need an art degree to have an opinion on art. Everyone can experience art.

Broughton and Brakhage

Both artists have a passion for film. They revel in their pursuits as proprietors of a divine calling.  They encourage the viewer to find their passions by emphasizing in very different prose the active pursuit of seeing in a new way with a camera.
James Broughton uses metaphors to guide new filmmakers into a deep appreciation for the art in the chapter "coming into focus" from his book Seeing the Light.  He draws parallels between poets and prophets who have shaped the meaning of transcendent vision and an artist with a camera. The capacity to see or not to see in a revolutionary way is why he and other artists pursue voyaging imagination.  Broughton gives the reader a sort of pocket guide of various philosophies that film artists may choose to live by, in order to become a re-birthed viewer/artist.

Brakhage shares a similar view about the nature of film in his article, "metaphors on vision". Brakhage is a sort of anarchic poet because of his use of metaphors that defy a typical understanding of film making. With this, he attempts to justify his opinion that film making is the most current, novel medium to discover resonant material.  He is seemingly the epitome of what Broughton was defining as an artist who is actively separating himself from creative drainers such as producers and academics. Brakhage, as well as Broughton, are comparable to Picasso who proclaimed, "it takes a long time to become young".  Similarly, Brakhage says "one can never go back, not even in imagination". Within their creative pursuits behind the camera eye, they are regaining that childlike quality that makes them unique in the ability to see. 

"Coming into Focus" / "metaphors on vision"

          According to the article “Coming into Focus” by James Broughton, for many filmmakers the creation of films is not just the making of a moving picture – it is also poetry. Broughton is one such filmmaker, who views what he does and creates as “poetry and love and religion and my duty to the Lords of Creation.” To him, cinema has the ability to elicit a change on the viewer’s soul, his included.

          While his writing is lyrical and heartfelt, I find that the way he goes about attempting to express himself is unclear and scattered, and sometimes veers off the topic of cinema he’s supposed to be writing about. I do, however, agree with his ideology that, with there being so many aspects of our lives that we have no control over, the things we enjoy give us the ability to endure the moments in between.

          The article “metaphors on vision” by Stan Brakhage, challenges the entire concept of the societal influence on what we, as humans, see. He questions how we would perceive the world had we not been told how to define what we are seeing, and just how much of life we are missing by casually labeling things as we are taught to, then brushing them off. With this we lose our ability to question, to think, and to imagine, thereby missing out on much life has to offer.

          Brakhage’s writing brings attention to concepts I have never thought of, lending credit to his theory that as we are told how to perceive things, we lose the ability to see them as they truly are. His article is thought-provoking and profound, as he explains that some artists have retained and nurtured their ability to see the world as it actually is, and how some translate it into cinematic masterpieces. 

Welcome to Video Painting at UTD!

Welcome to ARTS 3381 Video Painting. This will be the course blog where you will post your responses to readings and discussions. Whenever a reading is assigned, you will make a substantial post (a couple paragraphs detailing your thoughts and responses) the following week as a new post on this blog. Please include photos, links, and short video clips that illustrate your feelings about the readings. Looking forward to our semester together!