I’m always interested in what other film lovers have to offer. Sensesofcinema.com is the prefect place to find just about anything you’d like having to do with film. I spent a while looking at the top ten lists, from people around the world, and I compared them what my top ten list would be. Some listed all films I had never heard of before, and some were pretty generic. I was looking for people who had a few movies on their list that I enjoy as well, and pick out the films I haven’t seen and write them down. I now have a pretty substantial list of films that I am excited to see.
By providing top ten lists of everyday filmmakers and film lover’s sensesofcinema.com is offering up a few things. First they are showing who their audience is and what their audience likes. With that, a new viewer who comes to the site can look at that page and know generally what type of cinema this online journal has up for discussion. I’ve discovered that this journal focuses mainly on feature films ranging in date from 1930 to the present. They focus mostly on cult classics, old time favorites, foreign films and highly acclaimed independent cinema. They are also offering a perspective on cinema that isn’t that of an expert. The moviegoer can tell the other moviegoer just what to see, which makes the information feel more accessible,
I chose to read an article on Hal Ashby. I had never heard of him, but had heard of his films like “Harold and Maude” and “Being There”. I was blown away first by the story of how he came to be a director. After moving to California haphazardly, he went to an unemployment office and asked for a job at a movie studio. The rest is history. He said in an interview that he learned how to make films while in the editing room. He stated, “It's the perfect place to examine everything…everything is channeled down into that strip of film, from the writing to how it's staged, to the director and the actors. And you have the chance to run it back and forth a lot of times, and ask questions of it – Why do I like this? Why don't I like this?” Being an aspiring director, I found these words to be or great help. Ashby never wrote films, he made their story come to life. I always struggle with not being the best writer of scripts or stories, but this quote is comforting. It made me feel that if I know what I’m doing with a camera lens and can take a story and breath life into it, I am just as important in the development of the story as the writer. Ashby’s career is impressive and I am looking forward to seeing some of his films. I am also looking forward to reading about more directors.
Lastly I’d like to talk about an article entitled “Scenes from a Revolution: The Birth of the New Hollywood.” It looks at the rebuilding of Hollywood in the 1960’s. The Graduate is the film that the author, Mark Harris, credits as creating a new Hollywood. Being one of my favorite films, I am not surprised to hear this. Harris speaks about the last few films to come out of old Hollywood, and how they made an impact. The Sound of Music single-handedly saved Twentieth Century Fox from bankruptcy. Doctor Doolittle was an abysmal failure that forced studios to think about the type of films they were making. Bonnie and Clyde was also a failure at the time. The film credited as being the last film made in the old Hollywood generation was Look Who’s Coming to Dinner. It’s social message, though heavy to the old generation, seemed tired and conservative to a new generation of moviegoers. The Graduate offered taboo subject matter with hilarity and style and ushered in a new era of Hollywood cinema
Sensesofcinema.com has an unlimited supply of information on feature films and artists. It’s going to take me a long time to scour this whole site for all the information that I want.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Act/React - Field Report #2
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s “Act/React” show was an interesting glimpse into the world of interactive art. Each piece provided a different form of interaction with the viewer. Several pieces stood out in my mind above the rest.
After seeing the presentation in class, I found that the “Healing” piece by Brian Knep wasn’t going to be something I spent a lot of time with. I had seen it in the film and disappearing digital ooze didn’t sound all too exciting at the time. However, when I went to see the piece in person, my perception changed. The ooze had me hooked. I couldn’t stay away from it. I drew circles in the ooze. I ran around in the ooze. I literally lost my mind and played in the ooze for quite some time.
What I eventually came to love about that piece was its simplicity. The casual give and take of the piece made me feel like there was an artist there at all times. It was as if the artist were painting, and I was ruining their painting for a moment, but they encouraged it. This piece was the easiest to control or dictate what was going to happen, because it was so simple. One could, as many did, casually walk across the piece while walking from room to room without a second thought, while others spent time manipulating the piece and playing with it. It is very versatile in that sense.
One piece that I was very impressed and intrigued by was “To Touch” by Janet Cardiff. I waited until there was no one left in the room. The spotlight lighting on the table gave me an ominous feeling. I felt as thought I were a hero in an ancient time and I was to go to the “Talking Table” to discover my destiny; or something to that effect. I walked slowly to the table, the slow hum of music was sort of creeping me out. I began to move my had across the table and listen to what the table had to say. I took it pretty seriously, for some reason, and it was very sublime. The voices speaking to me, and the soft music made feel like I was completely alone, which felt great. In George Fifield’s essay, he states that “Through interactivity, contemporary artists mirror, distort, and confuse the audience’s experience, not of representation, but of reality itself.” This perfectly described my feelings with “To Touch”. The artist took me into a place that was not of reality. I was able to decide what I wanted to touch, but the artist led me along into a distorted reality, which was a wonderful bit of escapism for the day.
I was then interrupted by a couple that stormed into the room and rushed the table. The woman said to the man, “Look at this thing, it talks.” My near religious experience with the table was ruined by a very inconsiderate, and idiotic, couple, which brings me to my only real gripe with the Act/React show. People were not considerate of others when viewing the work. Regularly people barged into displays or pieces while someone was trying to experience them themselves. In Liz Phillips “Eco Evolution” on several occasions there was one person playing with the piece and a group would come in and try to mainipulate it as well. The piece would usually black out or get very dim. The person would usually exit looking a little unhappy. I was interrupted several times when trying to experience a piece. While in the “Snow Mirror” several people were barging in and walking in front of me. I hope that people were much more respectful on other days than they were when I went.
“To Touch” and “Healing” provide two very different experiences but in a similar fashion, and with similar goals in mind. “Healing is purely visual piece, which slowly covers up the impressions that the viewer makes on the piece. “To Touch” is mostly a sonic experience. The voices are dictated directly, using the table, and almost mysteriously, the voices disappear without a trace. It had direct reaction to ones touch, but was much more ambiguous and mystical than “Healing”. The tables ability to dramatize the situation dictates the way in which the viewer will feel about he actions they are getting, whereas the open un-touched space which “Healing” is placed leaves the mood of the piece up to the viewer. Both pieces provided and interesting and new experience.
When I finished with Act/React, I went to look at the sensory overload exhibit. I sat in the infinity chamber, which was an awesome experience. While I was there, I thought about John McKinnon's presentation on the progression of op art and interactive type art. I felt like i was moving through history, witnessing what came before the Act/React era of interactive art. Kudos to The Milwaukee Art Museum for providing both of these experiences. I will be back for any new exhibit they have.
After seeing the presentation in class, I found that the “Healing” piece by Brian Knep wasn’t going to be something I spent a lot of time with. I had seen it in the film and disappearing digital ooze didn’t sound all too exciting at the time. However, when I went to see the piece in person, my perception changed. The ooze had me hooked. I couldn’t stay away from it. I drew circles in the ooze. I ran around in the ooze. I literally lost my mind and played in the ooze for quite some time.
What I eventually came to love about that piece was its simplicity. The casual give and take of the piece made me feel like there was an artist there at all times. It was as if the artist were painting, and I was ruining their painting for a moment, but they encouraged it. This piece was the easiest to control or dictate what was going to happen, because it was so simple. One could, as many did, casually walk across the piece while walking from room to room without a second thought, while others spent time manipulating the piece and playing with it. It is very versatile in that sense.
One piece that I was very impressed and intrigued by was “To Touch” by Janet Cardiff. I waited until there was no one left in the room. The spotlight lighting on the table gave me an ominous feeling. I felt as thought I were a hero in an ancient time and I was to go to the “Talking Table” to discover my destiny; or something to that effect. I walked slowly to the table, the slow hum of music was sort of creeping me out. I began to move my had across the table and listen to what the table had to say. I took it pretty seriously, for some reason, and it was very sublime. The voices speaking to me, and the soft music made feel like I was completely alone, which felt great. In George Fifield’s essay, he states that “Through interactivity, contemporary artists mirror, distort, and confuse the audience’s experience, not of representation, but of reality itself.” This perfectly described my feelings with “To Touch”. The artist took me into a place that was not of reality. I was able to decide what I wanted to touch, but the artist led me along into a distorted reality, which was a wonderful bit of escapism for the day.
I was then interrupted by a couple that stormed into the room and rushed the table. The woman said to the man, “Look at this thing, it talks.” My near religious experience with the table was ruined by a very inconsiderate, and idiotic, couple, which brings me to my only real gripe with the Act/React show. People were not considerate of others when viewing the work. Regularly people barged into displays or pieces while someone was trying to experience them themselves. In Liz Phillips “Eco Evolution” on several occasions there was one person playing with the piece and a group would come in and try to mainipulate it as well. The piece would usually black out or get very dim. The person would usually exit looking a little unhappy. I was interrupted several times when trying to experience a piece. While in the “Snow Mirror” several people were barging in and walking in front of me. I hope that people were much more respectful on other days than they were when I went.
“To Touch” and “Healing” provide two very different experiences but in a similar fashion, and with similar goals in mind. “Healing is purely visual piece, which slowly covers up the impressions that the viewer makes on the piece. “To Touch” is mostly a sonic experience. The voices are dictated directly, using the table, and almost mysteriously, the voices disappear without a trace. It had direct reaction to ones touch, but was much more ambiguous and mystical than “Healing”. The tables ability to dramatize the situation dictates the way in which the viewer will feel about he actions they are getting, whereas the open un-touched space which “Healing” is placed leaves the mood of the piece up to the viewer. Both pieces provided and interesting and new experience.
When I finished with Act/React, I went to look at the sensory overload exhibit. I sat in the infinity chamber, which was an awesome experience. While I was there, I thought about John McKinnon's presentation on the progression of op art and interactive type art. I felt like i was moving through history, witnessing what came before the Act/React era of interactive art. Kudos to The Milwaukee Art Museum for providing both of these experiences. I will be back for any new exhibit they have.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Field Report #2 - Art Journal
I have chosen Senses of Cinema for my Art Journal.
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/
I chose this journal because of the "great directors" section, as well as the number of articles for each year of cinema. It will be fun to gradually go back in time and discover more about cinema I am unfamiliar with, as well as look up directors I have yet to hear about, especially for 60's and 70's cinema.
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/
I chose this journal because of the "great directors" section, as well as the number of articles for each year of cinema. It will be fun to gradually go back in time and discover more about cinema I am unfamiliar with, as well as look up directors I have yet to hear about, especially for 60's and 70's cinema.
Field Report #1 - Waiting For Godot in New Orleans & Baghdad in No Particular Order
Paul Chan’s Waiting for Godot in New Orleans and Baghdad in No Particular Order are both uncommon media pieces, but they are very different. Waiting for Godot and Baghdad both have community-oriented themes in them, but the mediums in which Chan shows the communities differ.
In Baghdad Chan follows pre-U.S. occupation Iraqi’s around their daily lives. The footage that he shot was then edited with no commentary by himself or anyone who wasn’t directly filmed while in Baghdad. Many of the scenes are long shots of groups singing, praying, and dancing together. There is also footage of a pro-Saddam rally, and other portraits of more ordinary life in Baghdad.
Waiting for Godot was a play put on by Chan and several organizers from New Orleans’s Ninth Ward and the Classical Theater of Harlem. They put on Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in the middle of an intersection in the hurricane ravaged Ninth Ward, as well as at an abandoned house in Gentilly.
Baghdad in No Particular Order does just what its name implies; it shows pre-occupation Iraq in no particular order, allowing the viewer to watch without having a narrative or storyline to follow. It’s an interesting film in that when one thinks of a documentary, the thought of a storyline or a persuasive voice doesn’t ring as loud and clear as with a fictional film. Yet when Chan shows his film without a real guided message, a clearer and larger picture of Baghdad and it’s people appears. Chan allows the community in which he showcases be filmed and shown as they are.
Waiting for Godot in New Orleans is different in that it was a fictional story, but setting in a very real place, with such heartbreak and devastation carried along with it, makes it’s fiction questionable. The purpose of putting on the play in the destroyed neighborhood was to lift the community up and present something real to them where they live. To bring something to the people of New Orleans, when they’ve had so much taken away, could make even the most fictional of theater come to real and present life.
Both the film and the play were, in the end, about reality. Baghdad in No Particular Order showcased the real lives of Iraqi’s without as little bias as possible. To allow the viewer to see a true documentary, it felt as thought the viewer could learn more that way instead of being fed a message. Waiting for Godot in New Orleans was reality based in its community atmosphere and coming together for a real cause. Paul Chan does an excellent job of showcasing the real.
In Baghdad Chan follows pre-U.S. occupation Iraqi’s around their daily lives. The footage that he shot was then edited with no commentary by himself or anyone who wasn’t directly filmed while in Baghdad. Many of the scenes are long shots of groups singing, praying, and dancing together. There is also footage of a pro-Saddam rally, and other portraits of more ordinary life in Baghdad.
Waiting for Godot was a play put on by Chan and several organizers from New Orleans’s Ninth Ward and the Classical Theater of Harlem. They put on Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in the middle of an intersection in the hurricane ravaged Ninth Ward, as well as at an abandoned house in Gentilly.
Baghdad in No Particular Order does just what its name implies; it shows pre-occupation Iraq in no particular order, allowing the viewer to watch without having a narrative or storyline to follow. It’s an interesting film in that when one thinks of a documentary, the thought of a storyline or a persuasive voice doesn’t ring as loud and clear as with a fictional film. Yet when Chan shows his film without a real guided message, a clearer and larger picture of Baghdad and it’s people appears. Chan allows the community in which he showcases be filmed and shown as they are.
Waiting for Godot in New Orleans is different in that it was a fictional story, but setting in a very real place, with such heartbreak and devastation carried along with it, makes it’s fiction questionable. The purpose of putting on the play in the destroyed neighborhood was to lift the community up and present something real to them where they live. To bring something to the people of New Orleans, when they’ve had so much taken away, could make even the most fictional of theater come to real and present life.
Both the film and the play were, in the end, about reality. Baghdad in No Particular Order showcased the real lives of Iraqi’s without as little bias as possible. To allow the viewer to see a true documentary, it felt as thought the viewer could learn more that way instead of being fed a message. Waiting for Godot in New Orleans was reality based in its community atmosphere and coming together for a real cause. Paul Chan does an excellent job of showcasing the real.
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