Ben Haskin's CRV Blog: October 2015

This was such an interesting and fun assignment. We’ve talked about these limitations on our art in class from that Ted talk, and the limitations on this assignment actually made it really fun and cool. Since we had to get our sounds only from the internet, we ended up putting more thought into it that we might have otherwise. Instead of just getting some cowboy boots and recording footsteps, we had to actually find a recording of footsteps that we liked (which turned out to be surprisingly hard). Instead of editing things together, we had to find websites that would turn our youtube links into links that started the video exactly on time.

It was cool also to have to think about telling a story with sound. We could have done things that were more ambiguous and showed the audience with our “acting” what was going on, but we wanted it to be really clear what was happening just from the sounds. Interestingly enough, if you think about it, a lot of sound design is just plagiarizing sounds, kind of like what we were doing. The difference is that some sounds are copyrighted, in which case you have to get permission and then give credit. In the readings for this week, however, it talked about how if we didn’t have plagiarism, we would be missing out on a lot of really amazing art. It mentions West Side Story and The Wasteland, and says, “If these are examples of plagiarism, then we want more plagiarism.”

The performative element was also really interesting. There’s a big difference between editing sound all together to create something smooth and perfect, and opening it up in internet windows that you’re not even sure will load in time. There’s an edge to it; it’s more exciting. You never know if at any moment the internet will crash and your performance will be ruined. It also made it more interesting to watch other people’s because, like glitch art does, it brought the flaws out instead of hiding them, and glorified the flawed-ness and the humanity of it. It was fun to see people pop out of the art unexpectedly when something would go wrong and the acting persona was broken as the actor suddenly realized “Oh crap! I clicked the wrong one!” It made the performance more interesting, and in a way, more human.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Textual Poaching

Full Size Picture

Artist's Statement:

For my textual poaching assignment, I wanted to find something pretty old, so I was looking through paintings. I stumbled upon Sower with Setting Sun by Vincent Van Gogh, which I’d never seen before, and immediately got an idea. The sower in his field reminded me of back when we first moved into the home I spent most my life in in Lakeville, MN. When we were first there, we had the only house in the neighborhood, surrounded by fields. It was very peaceful and rural looking, very like this painting. However, over time our neighborhood developed into a packed suburb, and the town itself grew, becoming a booming commercial center instead of a small farm town south of St. Paul. To illustrate this change, I put the power plant (representing pollution, etc.) and a commercial entity, Walmart, along with a suburban home, then finished it off with a nice road tearing straight through the beautiful field. I initially planned to make these pasted items look painted-in and a part of the canvas, but it was beyond my technical mastery; I think the final product turned out well regardless.

When talking about Star Trek and its legacy in our reading this week, Jenkins stated: “Intense interaction eventually leads many fans toward the creation of new texts, the writing of original stories.” I think that this can be true with other mediums, such as oil painting. While studying and thus mentally “interacting” with this Van Gogh work on such a personal level, I was drawn to create a new piece of work, however unpolished and poached it may be. Looking at this thing created by another man, I felt both inspired and obligated to do something with it beyond just think about it. In our discussion in class last Tuesday and Thursday, I definitely felt as if this was one of the paths we were setting ourselves upon – the road from an old creation to a new creation. This is something that is taught a lot in the film program, even in non-fiction production, as you have the discretion to take the stories happening in the world around you and tailor it to a message you wish to share or bring to light.

I think many people would argue against this concept from a practical standpoint, and I think rightfully so. Many people shy away from the idea of “ripping off” the work of others, not seeing how analogous it is with simply being inspired by them. When done incorrectly, it can certainly be harmful, such as literal plagiarism. However, when properly cited and/or referenced, a work you have “poached” becomes a small part of a new whole, such as a class paper or this assignment. It is not that I disrespect or wish to discredit Van Gogh. Contrarily, I believe I heavily credit his ability to speak to the soul by demonstrating how his work drove me to create “new texts” and give new meaning to a beautiful work of art.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Historical Piece

*Final Version PDF*

(My partner was Nadia.)

History has the ability to tell powerful stories. These type of stories can become personal and very dear to the heart depending on who tells the story. We decided to do our Historical Piece on a family living in communist Russian in the late 1940s. This story carried a dark gloomy feel because Russia during this time was withheld from expressionism and freedom of speech. Our story took place in the heart of Russia: Moscow. Moscow was the home to many of the political problems that existed in the U.S.S.R. We felt this was the ideal place for our characters to change, suffer, and fail.

Propaganda was a big influence for us as we created our story. We wanted to have historical accuracy and we knew by including Russian propaganda, we would be able to accomplish this. Using Russian propaganda was eye opening because we as Americans have only really seen American propaganda from the cold war. We used the poster “Us vs Them” which suggested Russia was great and powerful and that America was weak and undesirable. (http://io9.com/the-most-sensational-and-lurid-soviet-propaganda-poster-1464264698) The poster itself presented false beauty of communist Russia. We felt this was appropriate because it completely contradicted what the family felt in our story. At the end, the family wants to go to America, which is completely contrary to what the traditional Russians thought at the time.

In the reading “The Veil”, Marjane Satrapi discusses how unfair certain revolutions and governments can be. In the first strip of this comic, viewers can see how Satrapi is unhappy once the government ways are enforced upon her. Her giant smile transformed into a frown. We liked this idea of political power to create personal imprisonment and this was heavily placed into our story. The veil in this short comic was symbolic to the lack of freedom. The government in our story also represented the lack of freedom.

This story was very personal because it was based off of one of our relative’s lives (The family member is our second historical source). There was more power to it because it was told directly to one of us. Just like the video “My Grandmother Ironed the Kings Shirts,” there was a stronger emotion attached. The story had its’ own character and own problems that could only be relevant to that particular story. Being able to connect to an ancestor’s culture and life brought more passion and emotion to this story. It is different hearing a story from someone who actually lived through these historical times. Historians do a good job telling facts but those who actually lived through it tell great stories.

Overall, historical pieces are empowering and have the ability to tell amazing stories. Stories can be told in numerous ways but those that stick to their cultural roots can be the most powerful.