David Green Assignments
Video Assignment – My First Cat, Richard.
Proposal:
I am creating a short 60-second film featuring a comedic view of my first cat, Richard, where I record instances of where his wild nature makes it seem that he is planning to kill (or eat) me. Inexperienced with cats, I will be playing on the idea of appearance vs. reality with my first cat. I have chosen to work with this for the reason that my cat is not entirely domestic, and with the combination of a cat’s strange mastermind nature, he is the perfect model for a clever film. To illustrate this, I have filmed aspects of his wild appearance, appetite, and nature in an effort to expose his secret intentions. This, of course, is a futile attempt made in order to add the humour to the film.
The film begins with a close up of my cat being gently scratched on the neck. Once the hand leaves the shot, a yellow title appears: “This is Richard, my first cat.” The viewer will immediately take the film as a cute cat video because I have provided the close up shot with one of my cat’s cutest poses. Shortly after, however, the title fades in and out into a new title: “I suspect he is plotting to kill me.” This provides a new feel to the film; an absurd assumption allows the viewer to question what will come next. The scene changes to a darker scene, where my cat is seen peeking out of a corner, watching the camera. A title is provided: “Don’t worry, he’s not shy.” Smaller text then appears below: “He’s secretly judging your worth.” It is then in the film that the film begin to introduce some of Richard’s strange characteristics. At first, the viewer sees the pads of his paws, which are easily recognizable as not cat-like for they are dark and very rough. A title appears, “Please, hear me out.” Next, the scene is changed to my cat lying down on a brown stripe patterned cow skin, where Richard is seen as undertaking camouflage. A title states, “This is no normal cat. This is a beast.” The viewer is given a first full glimpse at his coat, another strange characteristic. This is important to the idea of the film as the coat represents something of a wild cheetah and tiger mix. The next scene explains, using titles and images, the bloodline background of the cat, where the titles explain how Richard’s grandfather was a wild African Serval (a large hunting feline). It is then shown how the cat’s appetite is extremely unordinary, as it is very much times the size of a normal cat’s diet. Titles provide the viewer with words of worry for my life while Richard feasts. The following scene is introduced with a title: “This is his chain. He must know where it is at all times.” Smaller text accompanies: “This is not cute. He is gathering resources.” The viewer sees a hand dangling a little chain, and the cat eventually bursting into the room to grab at it. As the film comes to an end, shots of Richard looking innocent by watching the street and taking naps are shown with titles such as, “Don’t you see? He’s plotting even now,” and, “I’m NOT crazy! You have to believe me!” Credits appear and the film fades out.
With the combination of video and text, two perspectives allow the film to play with the idea of how a cat has a mysterious, dark presence while still retaining a high level of cuteness; soft visuals give the film a sweeter connotation of the cat and silly assumptions in the text provide a more radical view of the animal. I find this use of two perspectives to be effective in bringing out my idea; if there were to be an absence of text during the film, the viewer would not go about thinking how the cat could be evil (as portrayed by the text). This juxtaposition is what provides the humour in seeing the cat as a dark figure rather than a cute pet. As this is my first cat, I wanted to send out a humorous message to cat owners out there who have felt the same experience as me when they adopted their first cats. Also, I want my film to provide simple entertainment for any cat fan out there.
My Storyboard for the Video
My Podcasts
For this assignment, we were to make three podcasts featuring works of art we found interesting. I chose one internet stationed electronic artwork, a film, and an art installation. Here are the podcasts and the scripts:
Kutiman – The Mother of All Funk Chords
If you were to go to www.thru-you.com, you would discover a musical masterpiece called, “The mother of all funk chords” by Kutiman. This electronic artwork, a collection of video and audio from different people, is a music track that is part of a project called Kutiman Mixes YouTube, where he does just that. Each of his projects is a unique compilation of YouTube videos featuring a person performing something musical. He then takes these multiple videos and mixes them into one song. Their performances are his instruments.
The Mother of All Funk Chords is the first of the 7 mixes in the website’s play list. This playlist is conveniently placed on a website that is designed to be a corrupted YouTube page. The video takes place on the space where the video would normally be placed on the original YouTube page.
I think the piece is about connection, the joining of races, music, and the times. The remix contains so many different instruments, musicians of many different colours and origins, and performances that are sparse on the time zones. Kutiman brings people together into one mesmerizing experience. You will love this work.
As mentioned before, the project features 7 different mixes, each with their own unique taste. The Mother of All Funk Chords fits in really well as the first. While each other mix jumps into the music, The Mother of all Funk Chords begins with a slow…introduction, where signs of mixing are presented, but only shortly before the pace accelerates, and the viewers are baffled by the astonishing tune.
When I took a look at what other people were saying about ThruYou, I discovered that it was Kutiman’s way of reaching out to people, to share his experience of beautiful music. Once he discovered the many different genres of music, he became obsessed, searching for more. When he experimented with the different artists he found, fusing them together, his ideas were born.
In my research, the project was described as a skilled mash-up of music from around the globe. The many sample videos were placed to make it seem like they were all playing together.
It is because all of Kutiman’s works are remixes that The Mother of all Funk Chords has no problem fitting into the project. Like all his other works, it is a skilled mash-up, which on its own, feels like a living breathing music performance.
If I compare my research to my initial interpretation of the concept, there is much overlap. I understood that Kutiman was using other musicians as his instruments, joining them together. My research interpreted the project as the musicians coming together to play together, playing as one without them even knowing about it.
And physically, it makes sense. Throughout the video, multiple samples were played together on the composition, each clip having its own space on the screen. The samples were fused together so well that the separate artists looked and sounded like they were meant to play together, while in reality most of them didn’t even know about each other. This fits well with the concept.
If I were to make a remix of this style, I would work to make the song exciting but steady paced. As Kutiman, I would search for many different artists that I think work together not in genre, but in rhythm. Also, I would devote most of the remix to making it seem like the different artists are interacting, such as what Kutiman did with the beginning of The Mother of all Funk Chords, where two of the artists seemed to be talking to each other with the help of simple video editing.
David Cronenberg – Camera
In honour of the 25th anniversary of the Toronto international film festival, David Cronenberg, a filmmaker, creates Camera. This film, featuring both video and audio, can be found around the web. I used YouTube to watch it, but the video was first seen in 2000. The concept behind the film, as I saw it, is of age, change, and evolution. Cronenberg uses children as a symbol of change, and an aged man as an elder figure, the idea of what is to be changed with time. Using close up shots and dramatic angles, Cronenberg creates a very dramatic mood.
When I first saw this film, I was far from comprehensive. At first, Camera seemed to be a very mundane film, telling a story of an elderly figure watching over some curious children playing with a camera they had found. However, as the film developed, I came to understand the seriousness of the concept. The video is about showing how new generations of people bring an end to the old. This idea is portrayed through children playing with a camera. Even if they are children, they seem to figure out the camera easily, and use it to capture the elder. In the final scene, this causes his “death”, proving how the new age has begun.
While Camera was part of a small collection of films called the Short6, the film stands out on its own. However, a theme of the mundane does appear throughout each film.
After reading up on the film, I discovered that Camera is a film about a self-aware addict: one who hates the camera, but lives and breathes for it. The elder is one that cannot stand the camera in his home (because it is like a disease), but is willing to die for it anyway. He is an actor, and that is what he is meant to do. The concept of the Camera is a man that has submitted into addiction, felt and indulged, but paid the price. He did catch a disease by acting all his life, and died for the camera. David Cronenberg used the juxtaposition of the opening and closing scenes to show us how the actor lives in and out of the films.
It is also mentioned that the Camera is David Cronenberg’s most warm and humane work, making it a stand alone even throughout his previous projects.
In comparison, what I thought of the Camera was completely different from what I have found in my research. While I thought of the concept of the camera as change, I never once thought about how important the camera is to the actor. I feel that this was because of my demographic; as a new media artist, I am at the age of making a change to the present’s technology, making me feel like one of the children in the film.
However, I understand where this concept comes from because it is well shown in the film. Using dramatic angles and close-ups of the elder’s anxious, aged face, we can see his hate for the camera, but also his strange obsession. When the camera begins recording however, the actor submits, and immediately, the colour and mood of the film becomes happy. This use of colour and angle very well explains the troubled actor and his “addiction”.
If I was presented with the chance to produce this film, I would try to focus more into the addiction aspect of the concept. I think that it would be more effective to do so because it would help steer the viewer into the correct understanding (unlike myself). I would do this by making the elder express more emotion towards the camera, presenting a need for it, but also a fear of it. I think this would prove the better in the overall feel as it would stronger bring out the idea, but also provide a better understanding of how the addiction is satisfied once the warm scene begins (stronger juxtaposition).
Overall, while this film was a great experience, it also provided me with a great concept to learn. Indeed, David Cronenberg’s, Camera, is a very successful film.
Shary Boyle – Scarecrow
In this age of art, new ideas are always welcome. And what a strange new compilation of ideas comes from a certain exhibition of Canada’s AGO. The artist behind it all is Shary Boyle, and I am going to present one of her works in particular, Scarecrow. Scarecrow is a physical installation piece located in a lightly lit room of the AGO’s first floor. At first sight, the concept came to me as the act of sexual intercourse between a woman…and a scarecrow, which honestly looked like rape to me, judging from the expression of the female figure.
In my opinion, I think it is very unclear as to what this piece is about. In my first interpretation of Scarecrow, I saw it as the scarecrow raping the woman. The woman’s mysterious make, a mosaic of small tiles, has a very ghastly face, suggesting something joyless. However, the scarecrow has the same dopey smile that is very common throughout all scarecrows. To me, it seemed that the scarecrow was emotionally unchanging in this act, proving it passionless. However, the meaning I still very mysterious to me.
Shary’s exhibition was amongst some of the strangest I have ever seen, where each piece has its own mysterious meaning. However, the overall mood remained the same, tying each piece together. A combination of a dark subject and ominous lighting proved to be the common form of presentation.
The fact that Shary is a very new and upcoming artist makes research on her work very hard to find. After putting together fragments of opinions and interviews of Shary, I came to discover that her works are combinations of certain themes and personal experiences. Shary bases her ideas on events that have come to shape her view on life. Shary plays between the line of the grotesque and the exquisite, which is what can be seen in Scarecrow. I think that it is safe to assume that all of the works in her exhibition follow this artistic style, as they all seemed so bizarre to me.
To be quite honest, I am not sure if what I think of Scarecrow is the same as what Shary intended the meaning to be. I am not a personal friend of Shary, so I probably wouldn’t know what personal experience inspired Shary to create the installation piece. However, I do know that I could be far off because, as Shary said herself during one of the interviews that I found, you can see love between the scarecrow and the tile woman. I guess, in a sense, this could be the case because of the scarecrow’s dopey smile. At least he looks like he’s enjoying himself?
If I were to make this installation piece, I would probably make the work quite similar, but instead, playing on my idea of this scene as rape. Perhaps I see this as a stronger message, being quite tragic, disturbing, but powerful nonetheless. I would use the same material to simulate the setting of the installation (the hay that was placed in a pile on the floor). The main difference I would make to the installation would be the face of the scarecrow. I would make it angry, and well, scary instead of the dopey face that is presented. However, I would still keep the other materials Shary used like the porcelain, clothing, and the rest.
Shary’s work is strange, very strange, but it is still appealing in its own way, taking advantage of our curiosity. For that reason, I really enjoyed her work.
Audio Assignment
Audio Assignment 1 – The Great Sarcifice
Here is my Audio Assignment for David Green’s class! 🙂
Lots of thanks to Jerlyne for assisting me, I probably wouldn’t of made it so great if i was also making the female voice.
Here is the Proposal:
Audio Assignment 1 – The Great Sacrifice
Proposal written by Vitali Zatroutine
I will be creating an audio presentation featuring an argument between two lovers, with minor sound effects to simulate an alley-based atmosphere. The audio is centred around a moral dilemma, the emotional struggle experienced before having to sacrifice something cherished, which, in this case, is to give away a newborn child. I have chosen to focus on the moral implications of such a decision, where I will heavily address the emotional roller-coaster of the mother, who cannot allow herself to go through with the decision but is forced to do so anyway. The audio demonstrates this struggle with cries, outbursts, and indecisive whimpers from Veralyne, the mother, as she agonizes over her decision to abandon her child in hopes of giving the baby a better way of living.
The audio begins as footsteps enter a secluded area, where echo provides the spatial sense of an alley. The footsteps are interrupted as glass and metal are hit and sent bouncing on the ground. Two characters, male and female, are introduced as the first grunts in pain, and the other reaches out in concern. The male is instructed to sit and rest, and he does through a motion that sets more cans to tip and fall. In the first few exchanges, the listener is introduced to these two characters as companions whom have fallen to poverty, along with a sickness that has stricken the male (who is named Charles). Charles, not heeding his partner’s words to stop, continues to point out how the two are in a bad financial situation with no way to help themselves and the apparent sickness. Following the name of the female voice, Veralyne, the audio introduces a new point of attention: their baby. Veralyne’s following statement reveals her helplessness and lightly hints at her delicate condition. A few more exchanges introduce a problem at hand, one that needs to be resolved at that moment, but one that Veralyne seems to have an emotional struggle with. Charles points out how the couple is unable to take care of the baby (who is assumed to be a girl), for they can barely take care of themselves. As the tension builds, Charles seizes to stop and give Veralyne room to breathe, who at the time, is struggling with her own words. It is now explicit to the listener that the problem is extremely urgent, as Charles pushes Veralyne further. Consequently, Veralyne snaps, exposing her delicate emotions toward the topic, crying that she has thought hard of the matter. Silence ensues, and Charles apologizes for causing the outburst. At this point, it is less implicit that the couple (Charles, at least) plans to give the child away for a better life. Veralyne speaks of the complications of this decision, further developing the moral struggle the couple is facing. The two characters provide a contrast of opinions; Charles providing good reasons for why an orphanage is better suited for the child, but Veralyne countering with how it would be wrong to leave the child with no parents. While the listener is absorbed in the dilemma, a new complication ensues: Veralyne’s heavy breathing and outbursts signal Charles that she is about to go into labour. It is revealed that the baby is not yet born, but is about to be. The listener is left with a cliff-hanger as Charles trails off screaming for an ambulance. The audio ends.
The Great Sacrifice uses a strong fluctuation of emotions to fuel a voice that allows the audio to emanate a strong feeling of uneasiness, so strong that we feel the need to comfort the difficult situation. This sacrifice is indeed a moral dilemma, a delicate struggle that sends us spiralling, having to decide between what we want, and what is wanted of us: to love but give a life of suffering, or to give opportunities but to never see your visions grow. The Great Sacrifice is meant to be captivating, entrenching the listener between the two voices. To listen so closely is to be part of the argument, to be exposed to the emotion. For every person, the experience is different as each of us has our own level of morality, our own values. We make sacrifices daily, of different proportions and for different reasons, but to experience such a great sacrifice works as a way to remind us that our sacrifices can be close to nothing. It is for this reason that we should appreciate our petty problems, as they are mostly small compared to a problem with such magnitude as the one in this audio, a great pain that is far from fiction.
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