Portraits

Today Julian and I got started on our joint project. The project we were given is simple. Take portraits of STACies, cut them into four strips, and put them up on a wall somewhere (or build one) so people can interact and change them around. Actually, I take back the word simple. Trying to figure out how to do put the portraits up on the wall is the hardest part. At first we were given the idea of building a metal structure so we can print the portraits on magnetic paper. Then in a way we moved away from this idea because we are working with 29 STACies and the proportions looked dumb.  After bouncing around a few ideas (leaving me out and having 28 people, possibly leaving julian out and having 27) we still didn't like the designs we were coming up with. Then I looked at the wall in the STAC room and saw the gigantic empty picture frame, thinking wow why don't we put them in picture frames? We both agreed that was a good idea but are both stumped on how to make it interactive once again because once you put a frame on a piece of art, it becomes in a way finished.

Not entirely sure where to go from there I started scouting places to possibly have the art hang up and ideally the cafeteria creates the most traffic. I want the art to reach everyone and not just the artists, tech people and instrument players for once. Making definite decisions is becoming a hard thing to do which makes me feel like a freshman again, which sucks.

The Accidental Masterpiece

I don't really know how to express my feelings while I was reading the intro to this book. If anything I was lost in the thoughts of my own mind while seeing the words of another's.  While reading I was saying to myself "wow its amazing how much passion these people have for something as trivial as light bulbs!" Then I think to myself... well I really don't have that kind of drive and end all be all mind set while making art. Does that make me an impostor? Am I still an artist or just a creator? Every year taking this class I always end up with more questions then answers & every year I'm left to redefine myself as a person or how I identify myself. Right now I'm not really sure where I stand,  but what I noticed most I was reading is how there was a beautiful transition from talking about one artist to another. It was so fluent after I finished reading I realized it was about multiple people and not just a single artist. I think the reason my favorite part of the into was when the blind man would touch paintings just to feel the art. I feel that might be me trying to hold on to the artist in me while it's slowing fading away.

The Myth of the Week

     The film today was interesting to say the least. I myself was extremely tired and therefore towards the last ten minutes began to drift in and out of conscientiousness. While the interview was going on I couldn't help but notice how not Campbell but how the other guy would say a phrase and then say it again and again twenty different times. It made me think about high status and low status which I do tend to think about quite often. It lead me to believe that the interviewer felt less intelligent while in conversation with Campbell and was trying to make himself look smarter. It started to bother me and while the topic of the interview was inspiring I couldn't help but want to maul the interviewer for distracting me. It could've been my imagination but regardless, it was irritating.

     My favorite part of the film was when Campbell said, "Life is not about finding meaning. Life is about the experience." This is something I identify with. I live everyday looking for something different to do, a new place to go, or talking to new people. This past summer when I went on my cruise a group of kids (believe it or not) went on and on about "Why do we both see the color purple the same? How do we know your purple is not my red? Why is the sky blue?" I continuously rolled my eyes because I hate trying to find the meaning in things. I take them for what they are, why bother dwelling on things that I most likely will never know the answers to and fry my brain in the process? Experiencing events makes my day to day life full of meaning. There's no need to go and try to find it. I take the little experiences and the big ones and try to focus on the positives of what is going on in my life. I move with the moment.

10,000 hours

I've had a Youtube beauty channel on and off for three or so years. My cousin and I have recently decided because we sometimes get bored of just talking when we hang out that we should create a Youtube channel. It all started when my cousin was looking at the list of most downloaded free apps for the week and came across the iMovie trailer app. We had four hours to hang out one day and she suggested we make a film trailer. This app has all of the shots and allowed time for these shots in the presetting's of the possible trailers. Then there are a few word screens you use for necessary captions. It took us about an hour to draw up the storyline of the trailer. We had my cousins house as the set and anything that entailed. We used the iPhone 5c to record. At first we thought it would be a good idea to having the trailer be about searching for food around the house and finally finding it in the fridge. We threw this idea out after realizing there was not enough of a struggle to get to the fridge. Instead because she had regular and golden oreo's we decided to make it about that because the original goal could be to get to the golden oreo's but after struggles realize that we might have to eat the regular oreo's instead. Overall it was easier to make because the only thing we had to come-up with ourselves was the story, because everything else was provided. It made the process much easier. I am already brainstorming ideas for short films because we hang out usually once a week so we set the parameters to be 2-3 people in the film and the longest it must be is 3 minutes in length. We are also making these videos mostly to entertain ourselves but we are going to document it on Youtube to show our evolution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozti9SqM500

My Achilles Heel

Freshman year of high school I was obsessed with television. It was my drug of choice. I used to go on Netflix, pick a show, and watch every season until I finished the whole thing. Sometimes I would watch up to 7 episodes of 40 minutes each night. It didn't matter whether it was good acting, plot, or filming because I needed to fill up my time with something. Of course if it isn't obvious my grades dipped somewhat during this time. Now my drug of choice is reading. On average I've been reading about 6-8 books a week. The reason for this switch is because after a while I realized that one, I don't like to watch the same thing twice, and two I needed something that took up much more time. As a result during this summer I turned to reading as the alternative. I love stories about bad boys so I used my trusty friend Google to find material. Now I use this website "goodreads.com," and I just scroll down the list of books under the category of "popular bad boy good girl books." I have come to realize the difference between a good book and a bad book, is similar to a bad show.

A way I can tell if a book is bad is by first and foremost which it language uses. If there isn't sophisticated language it is usually a sign I could be reading something better. If the author gives away hints to the plot but not enough for me to figure out exactly how things are going to pan out for the characters, that's a sign I should continue reading. When the author makes the action sequences so that I cannot understand what is happening and I have to reread the section more than once it is a tell that I will not be reading the sequel.

Overall I think I am going to start writing book reviews on my blog to make a daily practice of actually writing because its taking something I already like to do and adding some work aspect to it.

Monkey Tell, Monkey Tries to Do

We're all afraid of something. Today my fear was seeming fake while reading my monologue. At first while reading it I decided instead of trying to act I would just read it as I would read something aloud for English class. It came out monotone. BIG SURPIRSE. I didn't realize my fears where preventing me from getting to the desired result. After watching Sabrina deliver the monologue a few times and analyzing what I can steal from her, I realized I needed the basics such as emotion. The monologue was also very frustrating in that it had such awkward phrasing and so many dot dot dot's. Some of these needed to go because it was so choppy as Sabrina pointed out, but the main problem was with my delivery. As soon as I started acting, my face made the monologue look terrible. I tried to keep my face under control as I talked and Sabrina said it made the piece so much better. This was one of the most difficult tasks for me because as I was talking the way my voice would change and the emotion I would portray would be connected somehow. At least if felt as if that where the case. Another thing we figured out is that in the monologue there were a series of "plot points" as we called them which were crucial in delivery. If you messed up those lines or they seemed fake, so would the rest of the script. You also have to take the viewer somewhere you can't stay in the same emotion the whole time. I want to become a better actor so I can make that little voice in my head that says "you suck" to shut up.

Unfinished Works

Over the three years I've been in STAC I've written countless scripts. I've worked on so many projects and have work to show for it. The one thing that I've come to realize about myself is majority of the time I leave my works unfinished. I write script after script but never seem to make the music video, or preform the piece. Recently with the flop of my performance piece behind the sheet I have thought about my unfinished scripts. I really want to work on the piece incorporating the advise the group gave me. I also want to ask multiple people to perform in it because it would just look that much better and much more easier to understand. I want to change the piece so that instead of it starting behind the sheet it would begin with the doctors washing their hands and putting on gloves. Then after the doctors would step in front of the sheet. With using different people it will be clear there's more than who's who for example by the height difference in shadows and different voices. I am considering adding sound effects such as a beeping sound to further push that it is an operating room. I also want to take another look at my music video script. I want to see if I can make it work. It lacked flow the first time I started it. With a fresh set of eyes I want to see if I could make it flow and make sense to the audience. I also need have a clear view of what I want it to look like rather than a hazy view. If I don't know what the end product will be how will the actors or anyone else?

In other news, I am considering the possibility of making a short film every week. I want to contribute more to my 10,000 hours and keep my creative juices flowing.