16mm Film Manipulation Second Response

   I definitely had tons of fun with direct 16mm film manipulation, and in the process learned a lot. I didn’t realize there was a multitude of methods by which one can manipulate 16mm film without a camera, i.e. camera-less. Some of the methods were tedious but nonetheless the anticipation and excitement of how it would the finish product look, how it would look when projected, was like waiting to open a Christmas present.  

   The process of developing film was easier than I thought.  The only disadvantage was working nearly in complete darkness, but other than that the process was fascinating.

   If I had to do it all over again, the only part I would have changed would have been how I edited the finished product together. I believe I could have done a much better job. It also makes me reflect on how difficult it must have been for editors to piece together a movie pre-video, the thousands and thousands of feet that need to be spliced together. 

   Overall it was an excellent exercise that opened the door and stimulated the creative process. It makes us look at the possibilities of the film-medium from a multitude of different perspectives, to stretch its parameters, and to learn of the film’s creative plasticity. This some process, stretching the mediums creative boundaries, means we should take this same creative exercise to help us explore and expand the creative side of video format by whatever means possible. Don’t limit yourself nor the mediums capabilities.

R3 Reading 

Crowdsourcing

   Crowdsourcing is a concept that encompasses many practices and can be done in a multitude of fields. Its major fundamental principal is outsourcing the material to a collaborative movement, with an objective towards a creative and radical goal. The activity and the final product becomes a co-creation of the innovation of the collective. 

   It will lead to a totally new reconstruction of the initial filmic piece of art, i.e. a re-conceptualization of the narrative by way of image manipulation. It is true that certain features, characteristics and elements will likely remain static. Those that can be tampered or can be directly manipulated by the participants of crowdsourcing, should be using and taking into account such devices as the mise-en-scene, as well as the tone, as in color, rhythm and how it is finally edited to create a distinctively whole new piece of art; one that can represent both the individual participant as well as the collective.

   It will seem that some rules and principles would need to be established. The standards set should still keep the parameters wide enough open as not to hamper neither innovation nor hinder creativity; their only purpose is to essentially help establish some type or fashion of cohesion. The idea is to re-contextualize the images from the larger ideas of the collective while still creating some type of collective uniformity that can be understood and appreciated by both the viewers and by its contributors.

   The exercise should be a fascinating. It should also be a great learning experience, for example it should be a great individual lesson on breaking away from individual dogmatism, it can also help towards treating writer's or creator’s block and on the other hand it’s a lesson about working together.

Workshop for January 25, 2016

   Today’s class was enlightening, for me it opened up the possibilities of using these techniques as expressive devices in experimental films that I have in mind for future projects. These techniques continue to demonstrate how dynamic the film-medium really is. 

R2 Reading 

Listen Up: ‘Opening Our Ears to Acoustic Ecology,’ ‘Opening Our Ears to Acoustic Ecology’, Justin Boyd: ‘Sound and Time’, and ‘The Father of Acoustic Ecology’ 

   I believe the articles and their authors are trying to address a deep philosophical problem that exist today, especially because of our fast paced environment. Because of today’s socially fast pace, we tend to block out certain aspects of our natural sensory ability to connect with our environment. For instance the natural occurring sounds that are part of our environment, let it be urban or rural. We tend to block them out in lieu of either a more satisfying experience, such as listening to music on our iPod, used as a form of relaxation and or escapism from our immediate surroundings, essentially becoming disconnected from it. I believe the authors are trying to address some serious concerns, a deep and intrinsic disconnect in the relationship between man and his surroundings, especially when it comes to sound. He seems to be asking us to open our minds to the wonders of everyday life be essentially reevaluating our mindset in relationship to it.  It can be interpreted as an exercise in self-reflexivity and in self-reflection. In respect to the former we might say it is about asking why we see something as a problem or obstacle that needs to be addressed. While in the latter you can say, that by particularly focusing on how we use our ‘mental-tools,’ the way in which we look, approach and analyze. Once we realize that, we can reformat our mental-tools in such a way that they will enable us to build a clearer understanding of the sounds we hear, their particular association with our surroundings and their intrinsic value.