Appropriation.

I was perusing my classmate’s blogs to see what sort of topics they were discussing, I came across Michele’s discussion of copyright law.  She posted a video that used clips of Disney movies to discuss copyright law.  This video struck me, but not in a way that has anything to do with copyright.  It was appropriation!  Since clips of copyrighted audio or video can be used for eduactional purposes, the creator of this video used his copyrighted source material to kickstart a discussion about copyright itself.  Because the message of the video didn’t exactly agree with modern copyright law, the video was especially interesting.  The copyrighted characters were sending a message that was anti-copyright.  This piece is a great example of appropriation at it best.  It uses a myriad of sources to create an entirely new message – a message that is even more interesting in the light of the message of the sources.  Here’s the video if you didn’t already see it on Michele’s Blog.

Brent Green.

After watching Brent Green’s “Hadacol  Christmas” in class the other day, I decided to seek out more of his work.  One of my favorite elements of the film was the music.  It was very dynamic, and added to the tension and release of the film.  I was pleased when I found out that this is typical of Green’s style.  Most of his films have similar soundtracks.  I began wondering if he also wrote the music to go along with his films.

While surfing YouTube for more of his work, I found a video titled “Brent Green performs his film ‘Carlin’ live”.  I thought that maybe it would be him reading the narration over a projection of the film, and decided to check it out.  I was correct, but additionally, it showed Green and a full band performing the soundtrack to “Carlin.”  I find this very, very cool.  Being able to “perform” a flim is a concept that not many people would think of.  It really begins to cross the lines of genres and really shows off the artist as a jack of all trades.  This performance of “Carlin” mixes film, music, spoken word, and performance art all into one very exciting piece.  It opens up a whole new world (not to mention audience) for someone who is nominally a flimmaker.  He could go on “tour” with his films and play them at rock clubs.

Bleow you can find the performance of “Carlin,” as well as the original flim.

PES

After watching the animations by PES in class yesterday, I decided to examine a bit more of his work.  Overall, I find it extremely fascinating – I might even say brilliant.  Yes, brilliant is a good word, if not for the artist, at least for the work.  It’s very colorful and lively, with lots of motion and crisp sound.  It’s also imaginitive and a bit fantasy-like.  PES uses everyday objects and uses them to create entirely new objects and worlds.  There’s that theme of appropriation again.  His work also usually has some element of confusion, or tension that is resolved at the end in a surprising or funny manner.  I watched a number of his pieces of work, and I must say that my favorite (maybe not his best, but my favorite nonetheless) was a series of commercials he did for Bacardi.  I know it might sound funny to say that my favorite work is a commercial, but I’m going to stick to my guns.  Hear me out.

The tension and release of the commercials make for a great 30″ storyline, the colors are vivid, and he does a great job of being a commerical artist, and making sure that the product is not the secret that is revealed at the end (thereby not acknowledging the product but for a few seconds – sorry, I’m a Communication major).  Lastly, I really like that he created his own little world inside these ads.  You can see elements that reappear between the different spots, such as the landscape, and city, frequent use of martini glasses, and even the train tracks in the Train and Yacht clips.  Take a look at the Yacht spot below, and visit either his webiste or YouTube channel to see the rest of the spots.  And don’t be mad at me for liking commercials.

Blogs on blogs.

I was perusing my classmates’ blogs and I came accross Katie’s entry on blogging.  I’ve long had my own opinions on blogs, but had never really thought to see what other people have to say about them.  Katie’s conclusion was that blogs are, in essence, just like any other form of social media or social networking: a way for people to share ideas and connect and communicate with each other online.  While I agree with her at face value, I think it goes a bit deeper than that and I’ve got a few points on which I’d like to elaborate.  Bear with me.

There’s no denying that people communicate and connect through blogging.  However, I think there are a number of differences between blogging and things like Facebook or Twitter.  Firstly, Facebook and Twitter keep the communicator and reciever grounded in the idea that these are personal expressions.  The layouts of the site are much more standardized, and allows you to keep some distance between yourself and the message.  Additionally, someone has to be your “friend” on those sites to view what you’re saying; you can’t broadcast to the world.

Blogs, on the other hand, are infinitely customizable and accessible, meaning that you can make them look quite official.  The problem I see with this is that it allows any one person’s opinions or thoughts to be equally as valid as another’s.  Blogs are a great equalizer, for better or for worse.  At its most damaging, it can facilitate the communication of bad or even wrong information as fact.  At it’s most petty, it can lead to bloggers trying to be the first to break a story about Miley Cyrus’ new hair color.  In the world of blogging, you can make yourself important by acting important, instead of actually being important.

Call me old and cranky, but I think people should earn an audience before you hand them a megaphone.

While not entirely relevant, I thought this comic was pretty funny.

You Are Here.

The “You Are Here” reading made me realize things about maps that I had never thought of before.  Typically, maps are thought of as something that are static and difinitive.  There are a number of things we expect of a map of the United States, or anywhere else: that it be to scale, represent things that are actually there, etc.  We don’t ever think that a map is out of date immediately after it is published.  The world is an ever-changing place, and it has characteristics that you will never be able to capture in a static image.

For example, John Fulford’s map of his childhood walk to school was neither definitive nor static.  First,  it was drawn from his memory, which could be incorrect.  Second, it also shows changes that his daughters have made to indicate things that are no longer there, or new since he was a child.  In this way, the map represents two different truths, and can not be definitive.

In addition to John’s map, which you can see above, you can check out a number of other cool maps, of both the traditional and nontraditional varieties, here.

Abelton Live – Technology vs. Tradition

I found this article on a music site that I read pretty frequently for it’s (very well-written and often hilarious) music reviews.  The article focuses on a software program called Abelton Live that is taking the music world by storm.  Not only does Abelton allow people to produce their own music with a ton of sequencers and synth patches all collected in once place (which is revolutionary in itself – before, buying these tools in their analog forms costs upwards of thousands of dollars), but it allows nearly anyone to be a pretty decent sounding DJ.

In and of itself, being a DJ is a form of appropriation, which is a dominant theme in our class – but that’s fodder for an entirely different post.  The problem DJs have with Abelton is that the computer can actually sync up two entirely different songs to each other (the technical term is “beatmatching”) with little or no skill required on the part of the user.  In the past, using analog equipment (“old-fashioned” things like turntables and vinyl records), this was a highly specialized and technical skill that was a huge part of being a competent DJ.  Now, with software, the learning curve for this type of thing is nearly nonexistent.

This presents the question of if the artform is diminished because something that used to be a highly prized skill is now commonplace, or if this is exciting because now people with ideas are free to be more creative without having to learn all of the tedious, technical details.  This isn’t a question only in the DJ scene, but in all forms of art.  New, extremely powerful software, be it Abelton or Photoshop, is changing the landscape of how works are conceptualized, produced, and expressed.

Returning to the question, my answer is secret option C.  The technical wizardry of being able to be a traditional DJ is not diminished in the least.  It still requires as much mastery to be able to mix records as it ever did.  I think it might be even more impressive now that, in the context of software, we recognize how much work it is to actually be a traditional DJ.  However, I don’t think we should diminish the work of others who use this new technology to express themselves.  I’m sure they can produce work that is equally powerful, albeit different, as those who choose the other method.  I say we let art be art, no matter how it is produced.