Experimenting with iMovie

The beginning of the week proved to be "fun and games". I have always enjoyed putting together mini films whether it be for family reunions or school projects. I had a solid foundation of iMovie from the start -- knowing about transitions, titles, sound effects, etc...

Now I need to focus on my content. Where do I get footage from? Where would be the best place for narration? What is important to include? I have explored a variety of image material websites and pursued through their collections. 

Below is a quick mock-up video of the effects I learned in iMovie. I look forward to putting together my final 5-minute video.

This week we take a look at the inner-workings of copyright laws and how they affect creativity.  We watched a documentary explaining how even though copyright is a great thing for inventors, it hinders innovators.  We discuss a few key points below that were raised in the documentary:

1) Culture always builds on the past
Similar to the phrase, “History repeats itself,” history builds on itself.  If we look back on the past, we would never be able to grow as a community.  That being said, culture also needs to advance and grow based off of the past.

2) The past always tries to control the future,
While we can learn a lot from history and learn from our mistakes, the past will dictate how we live our lives in the future.

3) Our future is becoming less free,
With so many laws and restrictions, humans cannot live their lives to the fullest.  In relation to copyright, there are so many copyright laws that creativity is limited.  You cannot a clip of music, and rearrange the notes to make it into a new piece.  However, that would have been possible to do just a decade ago.

4) To build free societies, you must limit the control of the past.
Basically, to enjoy creative freedom, you must limit the reminder of history.  While it is important to remember the past, it is crucial to “let loose” and experiment with the future.

This thesis has a very tight connection to copyright.  We can be creative in our every day lives by learning from our past experiences and how things work, but we cannot let the past control our future.  If the past holds us back, we won’t be able to explore the new world and innovate and invent.

The film offered many interesting anecdotes relating to copyright.  My favorite was when someone explained that Disney infringed on copyright ideas to create some of their most well-known characters.  However, Disney has sued people for using Disney’s famous designs and drawings.  It is because of Disney that copyright laws now state that copyright is in effect for the creator’s entire life plus seventy years.  It was also explained that a company in Asia opened a theme park based on Disney’s parks.  Disney sued and now that theme park is out of business.  

This week we begin to explore the process to thinking of a brilliant idea.  While it may seem like a tedious task to read a 27-paged novella on how to come up with an idea, I found it interesting to read about a theory for the ideation process:

• Gather a bunch of raw ideas
• “Digest” the material
• BLAM! A wonderful idea!

No, it isn’t that easy, but we now have a foundation for where to start.

Let’s start with Idea-101. What is the dictionary definition of ‘Idea’? 

a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action

Great! We are on a roll.  But now the question becomes: How do we know a good idea when we see one?  See, that’s a tough one to answer.  A good idea comes once in a blue moon.  You need to think of many not-so-great ideas before hitting that jackpot idea.  However, a good idea usually has a promising central “nucleus” and maybe some details filled in.  A good idea has that core completed, and further investigation would be able to complete the whole project.

My process to come up with an idea is very similar to the book’s.  To be frank, I don’t really know if I look for new relationships and connections between things – there is a good chance that I do that subconsciously.  It seems as if the author’s process for an idea is intellectual because it seems very logical.  There is an order: 

1. Gather raw materials

     a. Specific

     b. General

2. Store general materials in scrapbook or a file

3. “Digest” your materials

     a. partial ideas come to you

              i. write them down

     b. you will get tired of thinking

              i. truck on through

     c. you make no effort anymore

              i. drop the problem and turn to what stimulates your imagination

                     1. Music, theater, movies, read, etc…

I would say my process for an idea is very similar, but it seems as if my “digestive” process moves very quickly and I get to the “you make no effort anymore” in a heartbeat. 

As a stage manager, Excel (or a spreadsheet maker of any kind) is of great importance as our “art” consists of paperwork.  For my project, I would like to jump into the world of Excel and learn about most of it’s functions.  I thought of this idea by looking at the examples of last year’s projects.  I noticed one that discussed the involvement of computer in the technical theater world and thought I might do something similar but more specific towards stage management. 

I know the basics of Excel: Shading, fonts, merging cells, etc… , but I want to learn the really cool stuff.

Here’s hoping!

Becoming a New Media Artist

Seeing the various examples of new-media artists, I started to really understand how DMA relates to our every day lives. 

Prior to exploring the examples of new-media artists, I didn’t really grasp the idea of new-media.  I only thought of it as a concept – not as an art. Now I realize that new-media is about sharing ideas and thoughts in a variety of ways; not just paintings and photographs.  Now a days, artists can use a variety of mediums to convey their thoughts.  Videos, blogs, and other forms of social media can be used to communicate thoughts and feelings.

I enjoyed learning about the Gertrude Stein Repertory Theater Company and how they use new-media in live productions.  Instead of actors, the company builds virtual puppets that move around the stage.  They incorporate moving set piece into the production to give a different vibe to the story.  Using automated new-media, the Gertrude Stein Repertory Theater plays to a promising audience that yearns for exciting productions. 

In terms of being a new-media artist, I would definitely use a creative process and choose to use a representing context in a collage-format using Pixlr.  After all, stage managing is all about representing the artistic integrity of the production as a whole and fulfilling the visions of the artist staff.  The principal would be “Ubiquity”, of course, because I am everywhere all the time.  I have to be focused on many small details and multi-tasking is very important. 

I look forward to the next unit and seeing how the class progresses. 

The 5 Principals of Life

We begin an adventure with Manovich and his principals of new media.  Granted his essay was long, wordy, and difficult to read, he strongly points out the various levels of new media.  His entire study was based off the question of what is new in new media.  Manovich explains that “new media” has been around for a while, but only now do we begin to see it’s effects on society.  Manovich explains the five principals of new media:

1. Numerical Representation

Media becomes programmable with numbers

2. Modularity

Smaller, more individual parts that make a whole unit

3. Automation

When humans can be removed from the creative process of media

4. Variability

Different versions of the same object

5. Transcoding

Convert from one form of coded representation to another

Cleverly enough, these principals could be related to any thing in the world – even stage management:

1. Numerical Representation

Stage managers are responsible for maintaining the timing of performances – stop watches help make sure everything is running according to schedule

2. Modularity

Stage managers oversee the various crews (audio, lighting, costumes, etc…)  to make sure everything is complete on time.  These smaller crews make up the entire production

3. Automation

There are programs and applications that will create schedules for stage managers.  This takes conflicts, union hours, and various other factors into account to make a master schedule – this takes the human role out of the entire process

4. Variability

Overall, the performing arts is all about variety – you can have the same script, but have different directors envision it differently.

5. Transcoding

When going on tour with a show, you have to make the production fit in different venues.  You need to be able to adapt to your surroundings.

Overall, Manovich described the various principals of new media.  All of those principals can relate to the performing acts in one way or another.

Civilization Going Instinct or Just Going Crazy?

We began to venture off into the world of civilization and how society reacts to their surroundings – both fascinating topics.   Jeremy Rifkin created a creative clip explaining how humans react to the people around them and how they empathize with others.   Experiments were conducted on monkeys as well as humans to see how the brain reacts to various situations.  It turns out that both humans and monkeys empathies with other beings when they feel certain things.
Michio Kaku discussed the different levels of civilizations:
0) Living off of plants/organic compounds
1) Planetary civilization
2) Stellar: consuming a lot of energy (star trek, non-mortal, etc…)
3) Galactic
Long story short, humans cannot live passed phase #2 because it requires such a great deal of energy which cannot be produced by humans.  Kaku explains that the human race is just on the verge of entering Planetary civilization, meaning we have just enough technology to communicate to various parts of the planet instantaneously as well as begin life on other planets.

Those who inhibit it make up the universe at large.  That’s a lot of people!  It is fascinating that for thousands and thousands of years people could not communicate with each other.   As soon as the railroad and cars were invented, humans had an easier time communicating with others.  It wasn’t until the Internet came around that communication became instantaneous.  Through online mediums, we can search for information and find things quickly and easily.

In fact, the internet is so complex that we not even realize it’s fullest capacity.  The Internet is so powerful that it could do much damage to our society.  Not to play the pessimist, but the Internet might have such a strong impact on the world that it might damage society and how we interact with others.

For the time being, the Internet is a great source to find information quickly.  It is a great tool to use and has an overall powerful method of communication.  It is a universal tool used all over the place and will be used for many, many years to come.

"The Medium in the Massage"

This week we were to read “The Medium in the Massage” – and boy did your eyes need a massage after looking through the book.  Marshall McLuhan used very strong graphic images to create a mood and tone of past vs. present.  The graphic book discusses the effects of new-media. McLuhan explains that the morality of each individual is no longer shaped by “experts”, but rather by the media seen through various mediums.  Furthermore, it has been found that the current generation can no longer find information for themselves because new-media spits out random pieces of news; students no longer need to go in search of everything because everything is at their fingertips.

While most of what McLuhan discussed are true facts,  he seemed to put a negative connotation on his points.  Yes, it may be disturbing that students have a difficult time finding relevant information, but it begs me to ask the question: do we need those skills in the future?  If the current students are the ones shaping the future, maybe we won’t need the skills that the older generation expects us to have.   Because of new-media, electronics (iPads) have been introduced in the classrooms.  These electronics are greatly enhancing the educational process.  So much information is in the world and can be found remotely anywhere.  While there may be a lot of irrelevant information and it might be difficult to find scholarly sources, there are many opinions in the world from a variety of people.   In fact, this might be taking on a new role in daily life.  If students are able to find various opinions on things happening in the world (international relations, politics, etc…), it would help them form their own ideas.  Sure, it might seem like that role is being taken away by teachers and parents, but the opinions of those around us are always being taken into account – either consciously or subconsciously.

McLuhan’s book may be interesting to look through, but I think the graphics are distracting from the content in the book.  This may be a mockery of how new-media affects those who use it: when searching for a topic, random results may come up to distract you.  In any case, I would have appreciated it if there were fewer graphics in the book.  It was difficult to concentrate on anything that McLuhan was trying to emphasize.  That being said, I think McLuhan has a valid picture of how contemporary society acts in certain situations.  The text in his book is very strong and accurate.  I agree with him on his topics, but he may be a bit extreme for my liking.