04.07.08
hmm, lets see... six ways to make a film without using a camera....
1) my imac with a built-in webcam/microphone
2) digital camera - still shots and/or movie mode
3) video phone
4) scanner (same principle as still shots from a digital camera, but with a totally different feel)
5) using clear leader/stock film, and inking, scratching, magazine transfers, etc...
6) after effects
so how do all these fit into the big picture? or why would you possibly choose to use any of this stuff to create a film (sans option 6, which kind of speaks for itself...) ?
well, my initial idea in class, upon learning that we couldn't use a camera, was to use my imac. my girlfriend has a macbook too, so therefore i could have two different "cameras" to use, and depending on the mystery prop, this will probably be my preferred method. although it will more than likely involve me taking my imac outside (which will be stationary, while the macbook will be able to move around) my first thought was just leaving it inside my room as it is now, and using it a sort of "hidden camera" kind of deal that kind of chronicles someones day... using a digital cameras movie mode would create the same effect, but using still shots and editing them together could create an interesting feel, depending on the kind of story you are going for. you could almost use it to "document" a trip that someone was taking, like being a sightseer downtown, and only seeing through the eye of the lens.... a video phone would work, although i do not (and hope to never) own one of those things. again, depending on your story (like that movie with colin farrell in it, "phone booth") maybe that is the only means of communication of the main character... a scanner would work much the way the still shots with the digital camera would work, and could possibly hold a story of a person who is terrible bored at work, and feeling a bit mischevious... using actual film and physically creating your film would work, but it of course creates a much more abstract style of film, used less for story, and more for overall effect.... and finally, within after effects, you could fully draw (or cut-out) whatever you wanted, animate it, and then add dialogue to create your story, much like i am going to be doing with my final project in motion graphics class. this is effective, of course, to pull of many many things that real-life filming cannot do.
essentially, the possibilities are limitless, although it is still a bit hard to step outside of the bubble and make a film without a camera....
Saturday, April 12, 2008
some people like it rough
03.31.08
i thought that the reading on The Rough Theatre was very interesting. it's an idea that is familiar to me in theory, but new to me in concrete word. this is perhaps the first time i have ever read an article concerning the necessary lack of style within theatre, and how that can create the essence of the show.
now i'm supposing that this article was mainly concerning itself with the actual theatre, that being the stage play. but this idea can of course be generalized across most any form of art. for our purposes, the film for instance, it need not be a sophisticated movie playing in some lush theatre. it can be a b-grade film projected onto a white sheet in somebody's back yard that could provoke the most interesting conversation and unique inner-dialogue. all of everything (i.e. it is all of these things) creates this kind of experience that actually becomes the rough theatre.
imagine if people were able to leave comments upon pieces of art at a museum. what would happen? if incurred meaning came from the artist and from everybody who had previously viewed that particular piece. i suppose that one of the best examples of rough theatre would be a live showing of the rocky horror picture show. people are encouraged to dress up, bring props, and actually physically interact with the actors on stage. on top of this, the story is a little bit rough in and of itself, but guaranteed to provide with nothing short of a wild experience.
i thought that the reading on The Rough Theatre was very interesting. it's an idea that is familiar to me in theory, but new to me in concrete word. this is perhaps the first time i have ever read an article concerning the necessary lack of style within theatre, and how that can create the essence of the show.
now i'm supposing that this article was mainly concerning itself with the actual theatre, that being the stage play. but this idea can of course be generalized across most any form of art. for our purposes, the film for instance, it need not be a sophisticated movie playing in some lush theatre. it can be a b-grade film projected onto a white sheet in somebody's back yard that could provoke the most interesting conversation and unique inner-dialogue. all of everything (i.e. it is all of these things) creates this kind of experience that actually becomes the rough theatre.
imagine if people were able to leave comments upon pieces of art at a museum. what would happen? if incurred meaning came from the artist and from everybody who had previously viewed that particular piece. i suppose that one of the best examples of rough theatre would be a live showing of the rocky horror picture show. people are encouraged to dress up, bring props, and actually physically interact with the actors on stage. on top of this, the story is a little bit rough in and of itself, but guaranteed to provide with nothing short of a wild experience.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
the yes men
04.03.08
this is a repost of a blog I wrote just now on myspace:
----
so I just watched this great documentary that one of my teachers introduced me to, called "The Yes Men."
----------------------------------
This is what it's about:
"The Yes Men, a movie, follows a couple of anti-corporate activist-pranksters as they impersonate World Trade Organization spokesmen on TV and at business conferences around the world.
The story follows Andy and Mike from their beginnings with GWBush.com, and on to their tasteless parody of the WTO's website. Some visitors don’t notice the site is a fake, and send speaking invitations meant for the real WTO. Mike and Andy play along with the ruse and soon find themselves attending important functions as WTO representatives.
Delighted to speak for the organization they oppose, Andy and Mike don thrift-store suits and set out to shock their unwitting audiences with darkly comic satires on global free trade. Weirdly, the experts don’t notice the joke and seem to agree with every terrible idea the two can come up with.
Exhausted by their failed attempts to shock, Mike and Andy take a whole new approach for one final lecture."
--------------
so I got on the website (theyesmen.org), and this is what I found:
1) How does a person turn into a Yes Man?
A person (male or female) becomes a Yes Man by exposing, perhaps deviously, the nastiness of powerful evildoers. If this describes what you do (the exposing, not the evildoing), and you want your story here on this website, please let us know.
More precisely, there are all kinds of ways of doing what we call "Identity Correction." Soon, we'll post a little list of some ways that we've thought of. There are plenty of ways that we haven't thought of, too.
8) Speaking of Bhopal—didn't you create false hopes in Bhopal with your latest Dow stunt?
No. For 20 years, the victims of Bhopal falsely hoped that Dow and Union Carbide would do something to ease the suffering that they'd caused: a hope that was, apparently, completely false and unreasonable. What we did on December 3 was create false certainties: those who heard our announcement didn't falsely hope, they were falsely certain that their suffering was at long last over.
(so then I think, "that's kind of weird, that's my birthday, I wonder what happened...?")
[insert about 20 more FAQ's]
30) Are you afraid of being recognized?
The world's largest industrial disaster (Bhopal) is still not recognized by many - so how would we be?
-------------------
so then I get on Wikipedia and search for it...
and here's what I found:
"The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 was an industrial disaster that was caused by the accidental release of 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) from a Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL, now known as Eveready Industries India, Limited) pesticide plant partly (50.9%) owned by Union Carbide located in the heart of the city of Bhopal, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
The BBC gives the death toll as nearly 3,000 people dead initially and at least 15,000 from related illnesses since, while Greenpeace cites 20,000 total deaths as a conservative estimate.
According to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, around 500,000 people were exposed to the leaking tables. Approximately 20,000, to this date, are believed to have died as a result; on average, roughly one person dies every day from the effects. Over 120,000 continue to suffer from the effects of the disaster, such as breathing difficulties, cancer, serious birth-defects, blindness, gynaecological complications and other related problems.
In 2007 Indian writer Indra Sinha published his novel, Animal's People, based on the Union Carbide disaster and its aftermath. A magical realist novel, it is written from the point of view of a boy who is transformed by the chemical leak, and has to walk on all fours like an animal. The novel was short-listed for the Booker Prize in the UK in 2007."
-----------
december 3, 1984. thats my birthday... I guess you learn something new everyday...
-----------
the point?
- one person (well about 5) can really do something...
- get pro-active. create the revolution.
- check out the yes men, it's totally worth it.
- and also, you might want to Wikipedia your birthday, just in case...
this is a repost of a blog I wrote just now on myspace:
----
so I just watched this great documentary that one of my teachers introduced me to, called "The Yes Men."
----------------------------------
This is what it's about:
"The Yes Men, a movie, follows a couple of anti-corporate activist-pranksters as they impersonate World Trade Organization spokesmen on TV and at business conferences around the world.
The story follows Andy and Mike from their beginnings with GWBush.com, and on to their tasteless parody of the WTO's website. Some visitors don’t notice the site is a fake, and send speaking invitations meant for the real WTO. Mike and Andy play along with the ruse and soon find themselves attending important functions as WTO representatives.
Delighted to speak for the organization they oppose, Andy and Mike don thrift-store suits and set out to shock their unwitting audiences with darkly comic satires on global free trade. Weirdly, the experts don’t notice the joke and seem to agree with every terrible idea the two can come up with.
Exhausted by their failed attempts to shock, Mike and Andy take a whole new approach for one final lecture."
--------------
so I got on the website (theyesmen.org), and this is what I found:
1) How does a person turn into a Yes Man?
A person (male or female) becomes a Yes Man by exposing, perhaps deviously, the nastiness of powerful evildoers. If this describes what you do (the exposing, not the evildoing), and you want your story here on this website, please let us know.
More precisely, there are all kinds of ways of doing what we call "Identity Correction." Soon, we'll post a little list of some ways that we've thought of. There are plenty of ways that we haven't thought of, too.
8) Speaking of Bhopal—didn't you create false hopes in Bhopal with your latest Dow stunt?
No. For 20 years, the victims of Bhopal falsely hoped that Dow and Union Carbide would do something to ease the suffering that they'd caused: a hope that was, apparently, completely false and unreasonable. What we did on December 3 was create false certainties: those who heard our announcement didn't falsely hope, they were falsely certain that their suffering was at long last over.
(so then I think, "that's kind of weird, that's my birthday, I wonder what happened...?")
[insert about 20 more FAQ's]
30) Are you afraid of being recognized?
The world's largest industrial disaster (Bhopal) is still not recognized by many - so how would we be?
-------------------
so then I get on Wikipedia and search for it...
and here's what I found:
"The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 was an industrial disaster that was caused by the accidental release of 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) from a Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL, now known as Eveready Industries India, Limited) pesticide plant partly (50.9%) owned by Union Carbide located in the heart of the city of Bhopal, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
The BBC gives the death toll as nearly 3,000 people dead initially and at least 15,000 from related illnesses since, while Greenpeace cites 20,000 total deaths as a conservative estimate.
According to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, around 500,000 people were exposed to the leaking tables. Approximately 20,000, to this date, are believed to have died as a result; on average, roughly one person dies every day from the effects. Over 120,000 continue to suffer from the effects of the disaster, such as breathing difficulties, cancer, serious birth-defects, blindness, gynaecological complications and other related problems.
In 2007 Indian writer Indra Sinha published his novel, Animal's People, based on the Union Carbide disaster and its aftermath. A magical realist novel, it is written from the point of view of a boy who is transformed by the chemical leak, and has to walk on all fours like an animal. The novel was short-listed for the Booker Prize in the UK in 2007."
-----------
december 3, 1984. thats my birthday... I guess you learn something new everyday...
-----------
the point?
- one person (well about 5) can really do something...
- get pro-active. create the revolution.
- check out the yes men, it's totally worth it.
- and also, you might want to Wikipedia your birthday, just in case...
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