Thinking about Final Project

1. What I would like to remember from conversations with classmates about the final project are some ideas that they brought up to incorporate in their own projects.  For example, I learned how to put video clips from the internet into my flash animation.  Also, I got some compliments for the idea that I had for my animation which also helped.
2. I want my piece to be important in the sense that I will show how a state of mind can transform into its own reality or be implemented in the real world, but that drugs can hinder real beneficial change in the world.  People that actively pursue their dreams can make a difference, unlike taking too many drugs and burning out.
3.  By doing this animation I am pushing past just the animation of words, and creating an actual meaning.  I am pushing the boundaries by showing that a state of mind can represent an actual state, with its own flag and currency.

"Drum" analysis

1.  What I learned from animating the sentence, "Emotions tear this drum apart", is that I could actually capture a sort of emotion from the moving words and pictures.  From having different kinds of emotions move in specific ways around the word "emotion" I was able to show how these words have characteristics of themselves.  By animating "tear" I get across the word tearing in half, and by the word "drum" flashing on the screen it encapsulates the beat of the drum.  By showing the drum tearing apart and tweening into a beating heart, I could capture what I meant without using words. 
2.     If I were to polish or modify this, I would make the words "emotions" bigger, and bring in "tear" with it so I could be more clear to the reader.
3.     If I were to start over, I would use less white space, and show a drummer passionately ripping the drums apart by pounding on them, while words spray from the drum.

Functions of the self and art

In some ways I agree with Biggs that a function of art is to confound what we make of things so we can see things in a new way we haven't considered before.  By doing this, one sees the relationship between the object and his or her self, and how this relates to other objects.  I can see this sort of art being experimental art, using different techniques to experiment with perceptions of objects.  However, this isn't something that is seen in all art.  Some art takes an object and portrays it in the same way it is actually seen, showing the skill of replication or representation.
Creativity and communication work together by defining a sense of self.  By using novelty and creativity we give ourselves uniqueness and a chance to express ourselves in a new way.  By communicating, we share these ideas with others to form even better ideas, creating a stronger sense of self.  By communicating  in a creative way through text, this can show a sense of who is speaking through the text, showing the reader what the identity of the author is without distinguishing the author from the work.

"Drum" Short Animation

Short Animation Comments

After the feedback I got, I realized that the statement I'm trying to make may confuse the reader a bit.  I need to make a clearer distinction between tear (as in crying) and tear (as in rip), and why this is important to understanding what I'm trying to say.  I will add a shape tween to the picture of the drum turning into the word, a picture of a drumhead ripping, and the last part will be a beating heart.  Another possibility is to show someone actually playing the drums passionately, but that may be a little too hard to do.  Also, more motions will get my point across, for instance words "beating" like a heart or drum.

The Many Faces of Albert Porta (Rough First Draft)

Albert Porta is known by many names, for instance, Evru and Zush, different personalities created by this psychomanual digital artist and artsciemyst.  Porta has stretched the boundaries of art by combining mysticism, digital art, and psychology to create new worlds of his own.  Albert Porta has come a long way from his first sculptures that he created in the 60's.  From moving past sculptures into the digital realm, he has created new identities for himself in the process.  A constant theme in Albert Porta's work is the claiming of personal space mentally or physically, and showing various ways to portray the human body.  What I find most interesting is that this artist gives a sort of autobiography through his art by using a variety of characters based on people in his life, as well as revealing experimental self portraits.  Also, through his creation of new worlds, such as Evrugo Mental State, we get deeper in his mind.  Albert Porta uses many interesting colors in his work, for instance green and pink, to capture a sort of neon, digitalized world with psychedelic figures.  There is a sense of darkness in his work as well.
             Evrugo Mental State is a creation of Albert Porta's that defines the space inside his mind.  He uses a new alphabet, currency, and even a flag to represent this mental state.  By using digital media and tangible props, it seems to get at a universal state which reveals a mystical establishment that awakens a personal reality to who we are.  He provides a complex and confusing map which cannot be read without understanding his alphabet which he also provides.  This map consists of a large brain in the middle, with eyes and several craters in it.  The flag is a brain with an eye in the middle.  Although these symbols don't explain much, it is up to your mind to comprehend what this state is getting at. 
            Another creation of Albert Porta's is Tecura, a digital painting device in which images and tools made by Porta can be used by the user to create he or she's own work of art.  This is interesting because it shows that Albert Porta really understands the creative potential in everyone to become their own artist, that art can be seen and developed within all people.  Albert Porta shares his art with people in an interactive way, giving them the chance to express themselves as well.
             The content and way that Albert Porta shows his work are essential in understanding who he is.  By saying he is a artsciemyst, that is, an artist scientist mystic, we can see that he is interested in science and mystical spirituality, much which is portrayed in his art.  There is no other way for Albert Porta to get across his artwork in another medium.  He has gone from paper and sculpture to digital technology, which he now resides.  His earlier works with sculpture are interesting because it shows tangible objects using standard tools which people are familiar with.  But, realizing that his artwork needed something more than this to define itself, he changed to digital creations which emphasize the mysticism and science that his work took on. 
              The content is most specifically seen as the human body, and creations done with the human body to show the interactions we have, and what makes us unique.  For instance, the umbilical cord is prominently seen in some of his works, which show a connection with birth, or a connection with what makes us whole and nourished.  In my work, I want to come up with unique ideas that symbolize a deeper meaning to them.  For instance, by trying to make my own, personal world within the animations I create, people will look at them with different viewpoints and come up with a conclusion on how I or others look at the world. 
         

www.artreview.com/profile/EVRU
http://www.evru.org/

"Between the Academy and a Hard Drive" Response

"…writing can be seen, not as an individual personalized achievement, but as a series of strands in a larger social-spatial textual fabric (the network).” (175)

This quote reveals how the network, containing various works from many people in itself, changes the way one percieves writing as a personal acheivement done by the individual.  This draws lines between what we talked about in class with networking, and how there is no specific author or linear path in this kind of writing.  Many ideas and different texts get thrown together into a conglomeration of spatial writing, making it impossible for their to be one sole writer responsible.

Glazier compares this "large social-spatial textual fabric" to jazz by saying "it points to a sometimes jazz-like cacophony that sets the stage for the outburst of material properties to illuminate the site of the text." (175)  What he might mean by this is that the tools used aren't methods to realize a project but expand the imagination to become part of the project itself.  These tools such as morphing programs or animation formats help form a new intelligence to be born. 

Plan for the Final Project

Something new that I want to try and explore in this final project is the concept of creating a sort of new world with animated text and pictures.  By this I mean that if I were to create a world called for instance, "Delirium", I would show the effects of being in a hazy, drugged out mental state through pictures, motion, and strong words that vividly portray this other world.  I could even create new words that are formed only in this mental state.  The inspiration for this would be Albert Porta who created his own world called "Evrugo Mental State".  Another inspiration would be William Burroughs.

The main reason why I want to try this is because it would challenge me to think outside the boundaries of what is thought of as animated writing, and stretch it to fit my own original version of experimental writing.  I don't exactly know what I'm going to do yet, but I have disconnected floating ideas thus far.  In doing this project, I don't want the animation itself to be too technical, but I do want to put much thought into the actual ideas that will make up the project.  I am not very good at animating text and pictures, so I may need help on some of the basic tweening involved. 

By doing this project I will learn how to think outside the boundaries of animated writing and create something more original.