Intro Video to 21st Century Project

What I Already Knew
I knew how to overall compose a film through making personal films. What I Learned
I learned how to drag photos over to the film maker, edit the pictures once the were in the film, and how to record voice over on my computer directly.  What I Still Need to Learn in Order to Produce a Good Final Product Next Week
I still need to learn what all my computer has to offer when adding special effects and making the film look even more professional.

RIP! A Remix Manifesto

1) Culture always builds on the past.

This is very true! Anyone trying to expand an idea or searching for inspiration always finds the tools they need by looking or experiencing others work. This is essentially how culture builds on top of each other, through the expanding of others ideas or creations. Without the right to use others work, how would any culture expand and grow? With the copyright laws not only did these laws stop artists from expanding, but it stopped scientists, mathematicians, etc. 

2)The past always tries to control the future.

Yes! The past will always try to control the future when it comes to copyright laws. When under the copyright laws any work that an artist does can only go as far as that original artist takes it. This is how the past controls the future. We only grow when ideas are expanded and the copy right laws stop our growth. These laws are used so that no one takes credit for the artists work and that the only one making money is the original creator. The copyright laws will keep us in the past and stop us from fulfilling our future.

3)Our future is becoming less free.

We are a free nation and these copyright laws will slowly evolve into less and less freedom to create.  The more and more things are becoming copyrighted the more freedom is taken away from artists. Where do we go when all ideas are copyrighted? Will we ever have the chance to create a future? The different steps you must take to use copyrighted material is so great that its intangible for artist to use them. Not to mention the money it takes to use the material. With these laws its hard to see where our future is headed.

4) To build free societies, you must limit the control of the past.

To take steps forward, we must remove the control that the past has on us. To keep our future growing we must remove the restriction of not being able to use other work to inspire our work. We as a society should look more at furthering our creative abilities and knowledge rather than who is getting the proper credit.

Idea Process

         

       My process I use to come up with good ideas start with having the need or want to create something Next I would take the time to sit down and talk out many options or variations of ideas with the people who will take part in creating the idea. We would then formulate the perfect way to create the idea. Next we would sort out the materials needed and find out what other people we need to add to the group so that we are completely prepared. We then start putting a schedule together so we are all on the same page. For me, being able to see the idea get on its feet helps assure me that it is possible.

      My definition of a good idea is anything that is new and sparks my imagination. A good idea to me is also something that will push me as an artist. How I know a "good idea" when I see one, is when I feel excitement and happiness about creating the idea before we even begin! I do believe that my ideation process is similar that of James Webb because I am constantly searching for new relationships and connections between things. For example, when Chessa and I had the idea to create a tap video for our first class project we found relationships in what dances we both knew, who we might have known to help us film, and even finding the connection of what tap steps we should use in our piece. I think that Webb's process has both intelligence and creativity. My process I feel also has both intelligence and creativity as well. I believe that having one without the other, when creating an idea, would never create a good idea. Most of my ideas come from watching youtube videos. They inspire me to want to try things in my own way. If I could add anything to my ideation process I would add more research on the topic of my idea. During my process I am always doing quick google searches. Talking out my idea is always a huge part of my process. I usually do not do much physical things to come up with ideas, but I have found that ideas will hit me when I least expect them. I am a big list maker so when I have ideas come up I find myself making lists of all my thoughts. 

     When coming up with the idea for my DMA project, my process started with me and my roommate started throwing ideas around. We then took two hours to sit down and take all of those ideas and formulate what exactly would have the best outcome and what would be a great experience for us both. Our project would be categorized as a "creative" project. The reason we chose a creative project is because we were searching for something that would be a artistic and new experience. The factors that we came up with was what art form did we want to use, would it be filmed or a physical product, and if it would fit in our time range. We changed our mind many times during our two hour meeting, but each changed stayed very close in proximity so each change built on top of one another. We found that there are multiple benefits from this project. These benefits are using learning how to use materials we have never used before, learning new choreography, and experiencing our art in a new light. 

     Our project

-A film

-Using materials like (paint, glitter, material, etc)

-Allowing our bodies to respond to the music rather than using choreography

-also using choreography

-indoors and outdoors

New Media Artists

      Before viewing some of the new media artists work I had no idea there was a such thing as "new media artists". I assumed that new media art would be something that deals with technology. I thought that the art that would be created would be digitally operated or completely driven by technology. I thought that this media factor would eliminate the experience that the audience receives because media seems to take away the experience. After viewing the examples of new media artists I was completely surprised to find that it was nothing like I expected. The art produced almost seems to create more of an experience for their audiences. The new media art is also different forms of expression, which makes it very interesting and enjoyable to experience. 

      The first artist that I chose is Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Their work is so different from all other art that I have seen. They put bright colored material in places you would never think do so. When they were asked "do you know what your doing?" they say they know and for people to know they need to go and experience the art and then they will understand. I also love that their art has no deep and dark meaning that seems to be hidden within their art and they say "we do our art for ourselves and if other people like it then thats a bonus". They simply love the beauty their art creates and enjoy the physicality of the space, thats their purpose. 

     The second artist I chose is Banksy. He is a graffiti artist. I have always found graffiti fascinating, but what drawn me to his work is that the world is his canvas. I also enjoy his work because he makes bold statements and is not scared about offend his audience. Its also extremely interesting how quick he does some of his pieces because some of the places he chooses to put his art is illegal.
      If I were to compose a DIY new media project I would set up huge blank canvases all over winston and leave spray paint in all different colors. Each canvas would have a word in the center (community, love, compassion) and anyone could contribute a picture they thought defined that word. They would be left up for one day and then they would be taken down and  put together for one big showing so everyone in the community could see their neighbors art work.

Manovich Language of New Media

1. Numerical Representation- New media no matter if the were made from scratch or by computers they are converted into what is called analog media sources. These are composed of digital code. There are two consequences when having these analog media sources, new media objects are described formally mathematically and and can be subject to algorithmic manipulation. For example, editing a photo. We can also call this converting media "digitization". Digitization has two steps sampling and quantization. A good example used to describe this discrete coding is language. "We speak in sentences: a sentence is made up of words; a word consists from morphemes, and so on". He believes that media has these levels because it originated During the Industrial Revolution. 

2. Modularity- New media has the same modular structure throughout. Even larger scale objects keep their own identity. For example when a clip is inserted in a word document it keeps its independent identity and can always be changed be the program that created it. The web as a whole is a complete module. It contains numerous web pages and the pages consisting from separate media elements.

3. Automation- Numerical coding and modular structure of media allow to automate many operations involved in new media creation.  Examples of low-level automation would be image editing, 3D graphics, word processing, and graphic layout. High-level automation requires a computer to understand the meanings embedded in the object. Computer games (AI engine) and the internet are the common automation hubs. 

4. Variability- New media objects are something that can be exist different and in potentially infinite versions. Some cases of variability principles are 1) media elements stored in a media database. 2) separating the levels of content and interface. 3) Information about users can be used by a computer program to customize the media composition. 

5. Transcoding- The is the basic "material" principles of new media. We have moved to more "deep" and far reaching codes. New media has two layers called "cultural layer" and "computer layer". Examples of the cultural layer would be the encyclopedia and a short story, story and plot, composition and point of view, comedy and tragedy. Examples of the computer layer are process and packet, sorting and matching, function and variable, computer language and a data structure. We expect over time that the computer layer will affect the cultural layer. We also see that the computer layer itself is not fixed we constantly see it changing. These two layers are constantly enhancing each other. 

Videos

      In the video Will Mankind Destroy Itself?, Michio Kaku explains that their are different types of civilizations that range from zero to three. The type zero civilization is what we have been living in we rely on oil and plants for power, but have evolved by creating nuclear weapons. The type one civilization is what Michio Kaku says we will reach in the next hundred years. This civilization is planetary control the energy of the planet by controlling natural disasters and the weather. The type two civilization is said to be where you reach immortality. The civilization is "stellar" or can consume so much energy that they can play with stars. Michio Kaku says "It's like Star Wars". The final type is type three civilization which is consider to be "galactic". Michio says that he sees two trends forming, a multi cultural, scientific society and terrorism acts against type one civilization. We are in the transition from type zero to type one. The evidence is that we do rely on oil and plants for energy, but we now have the internet, fashion, youth music, and an economy that are all planetary.

      In the video The Empathic Civilization Jeremy Rifkin says that in the past ten years the development of evolutionary biology, neuro-cognitive science, child development research, and many other fields has led us to questioning human nature, meaning of the human journey, and the institutions we have created (educational institutions, business practices, governing institutions, etc). He then explains how in the early 1990s in Parma, Italy they discovered that humans are soft wired with mirror neurons by studying a monkey trying to open a nut. You might be asking, "What are mirror Neurons?" Mirror Neurons are what allow us, through observation, to experience the same thing another person is experiencing. For example, when someone is excited, sad, angry, or when we see a spider crawl on someones arm. Michio then explains that we are soft wired for socialability, attachment, affection, companionship and that we were not soft wired to have aggression, violence, self-interest, and unitarianism. The main drive is the empathic drive. He explains that by the age of eight years old humans understand life and death and that we are completely aware of our ability to be empathetic. Do not get Empathy and Utopia are the same thing because Michio says that in a utopia there is no suffering so there is no empathy. Michio closes with the thought that could todays technology bring together such a diverse group, who were ironically came from the same two people, of 6.8 billion people to think viscerally as a family?

      Is the internet larger and more universal than we think? I do believe that it is much larger than what we think especially sense we have constant access to it 24/7. The example in Michio's video about how within 3 hours of the Haiti earthquake the inter universe knew and were reaching out because of the internet. However I do not believe that the internet will do everything that was stated in these films because of personal beliefs. I believe that the internet is something that will make or break this country. Its great to keep pushing for newer and better technology, but we have to make sure that we do not make it something our life revolves around.

The Medium is Massage

          This article opens with telling the audience that everything and everyone is changing and media is the reason for this change. We learn that our time is the time for over coming barriers, learning in ways, and seeing what is happening around the world. We then are presented with the question, "how will the media environment be programed now that we are so involved with each other?" This question leads to the thought that parents are no longer the only influences and teachers of a child. "Do we every really go home?", "What is childhood?", "Will computers take over jobs?", "Do we really see how much politics are changing?", and "Nothing goes unnoticed" are some of the things that he makes us question when he breaks down all of the areas of life that are being effected by the media. We are then sent back all the way to the formation of words and the alphabet to explain the dominate organ of sensory and social orientation. We slowly see the evolution of "printing, the ditto device", the fact that being punished and put in the corner is being changed, all the way up to our world have no time or space and becoming a "global village".

       Mcluhan's view point of media is very unique and very relevant to today's contemporary society. The reason I believe that it is relevant to today's society is because of how well educated he was in the evolution of technology and how he knew that his research did not start when the first electrical device was created, but it started from the very beginning of man. I enjoyed how he broke each aspect of our lives and explained how they are being effected. This was very eye opening and allows the audience a chance to connect and relate their lives to the article. It was also very interesting how he went way back to the beginning of the creation of words to show just how much media has changed everything. The way he added pictures and such an artistic spectacle to article was so interesting and kept me interested in the article. I also found it captivating how throughout the article he had quotes, different fonts, and snippets of articles to prove his point.