Journal Post #8 Seeing beyond the frame of opinion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAVt-TDXq4g&fmt=18

For this week I originally planned on critiquing a project done by an undergraduate student from the University of Northern Iowa. The video (link posted above) is titled “conscious” and represents various states of the mind using motion graphics and typography. I found the approach to his topic quite brilliant. After all the state of “consciousness” includes what we choose to think about, as well as what simply works its way into our thoughts. Sometimes our thoughts are even glimpses of pictures and pieces rather than completely formed ideas and scenes.

However, anyone can write a list of all the outstanding features of a piece of art without actually understanding the depth beyond the flashy facade. A good example regarding this particular piece was when my professor briefly showed it in class, stating that it was "horrible video". I was taken aback because the video seemed flawless to me, and hence grew the idea to write a journal post about this difference in opinion. But as I was watching the video over and over analyzing it, I began to realize that the artist's concept really wasn't as deep as it first looked. Craftsmanship was well done, but a lot more could have been done with the actual concept behind it. That’s probably why my professor was stern with the opinion that he had.

So as I was writing this post transformed from an original difference of opinions of a video to the complete redefinition of a personal struggle between awe of what I may not be able to recreate yet, and what makes a video production “good” or "bad".

Journal Post #7 Absolute Ambiguity

MUTO: an ambiguous animation painted on public walls is a masterful production hosted at blublu.org. This approximately 7 minute long film is composed of hundreds of stop-motion stills, a well-compiled audio track, and hours into days of constant labor on an overall large scale.

The bizarre story of MUTO can only be described as the very definition of ambiguity. By constantly changing in a variety of unpredictable manners the viewer’s attention is easily captivated and locked in place. Though MUTO is only a 2D wall animation, the subjects of the story randomly interact with their environment (eating papers, crawling into holes, running across the ground, pushing aside objects, etc.), providing an unbelievably eerie dimension of reality to the piece. Sound effects and a small amount of rhythm were also carefully selected and compiled. The element of silence in particular was thoughtfully incorporated. In this manner between audio and visual cues the audience is at the complete mercy of the artist’s direction the entire duration of the film.

What I find to be the most amusing though is the fact that this entire film was created in an area where public interaction appears for the most part, unavoidable. Therefore countless passerby could be (and probably were) glancing over and watching the production at hand, merely to accept the event to be “just another artist” and continue on with their lives. Unless they later gained access to the film they may never understand the true amount of work, purpose, mindfulness that was taking place so close to them. Then again, this would be just another example of how impersonal society is.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Although I have yet to watch the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, after stumbling across /this\ particular trailer I have become a great deal curious about how original the film idea for this movie was.

For someone such as myself who has only seen Forrest Gump, my initial reaction to this movie trailer was not only amusement but also a strong feeling that the producers of the Curious Case of Benjamin Button copied off of Gump’s original plot. However, I was shocked to later discover that the book Benjamin Button was based off of was produced in 1921, 65 years after the novel Forrest Gump was published.

As just another member of the audience I truly don’t know who copied off of who, or if anyone copied at all. It is quite possible that this entire cycle of confusion began with Winston Groom (writer of the book Forrest Gump). However there also could have been a problem with how the books were interpreted by the film directors that resulted in the existing “clone-like” similarities between the two films.

After a small amount of research I was even further intrigued that both Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button were tagged with exactly 13 academy award nominations each. To me though, this is just a prime example of how originality can fail entirely without the majority of the public even taking notice.

On a side note, I am not certain of how long this link will continue to work for. After the producers of Benjamin Button discovered the origin on this parody, they have been cracking down everywhere to destroy it in order to keep their ratings up. I’m hoping that “The Curious Case of Forrest Gump” will remain online, particularly because of how amusing it is; although I worry it may be terminated.