Friday, October 31, 2003
Uncle Josh in "Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show"
In Thomas A. Edison’s short film “Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show” he portrays the character Uncle Josh as an uneducated man from the country who does not understand the concept of cinema. While watching a film on the screen he becomes excited by a lady dancing and tries to dance with her. He checks behind the screen to see where she is but he cannot find her and he becomes confused. In the next scene a train approaches the screen and he jumps out of the way in fright for he fears the train is actually driving at him. Eventually he becomes frustrated and tears down the screen, which leads to a fight between him and the man showing the movie.
This is a very comical piece of film. It is completely silent yet it manages to portray feelings, thoughts and emotions all through the actions of Uncle Josh. When the people are dancing on screen Josh dances along with them, showing happiness and excitement. His fear is easy to identify when the train approaches and his frustration with the cinema is very evident when he tears down the screen. This is what makes the film so entertaining. Josh’s emotions and actions are amusing. Considering the limitations of cinema for the time, this is a very well made film. It is hard to convey emotions without sound, and it is even harder to make people laugh. This film does both of these tasks excellently.
This is a very comical piece of film. It is completely silent yet it manages to portray feelings, thoughts and emotions all through the actions of Uncle Josh. When the people are dancing on screen Josh dances along with them, showing happiness and excitement. His fear is easy to identify when the train approaches and his frustration with the cinema is very evident when he tears down the screen. This is what makes the film so entertaining. Josh’s emotions and actions are amusing. Considering the limitations of cinema for the time, this is a very well made film. It is hard to convey emotions without sound, and it is even harder to make people laugh. This film does both of these tasks excellently.
Monday, October 20, 2003
Ansel Adams at the High
On Sunday, my roommate Derek and I went to the High Museum of Art. We decided that instead of analyzing the organization and layout of the entire museum that we would focus on one exhibit, and discover the organization and layout for one small but important part of the museum. When we entered the High Museum we rode an elevator to the top floor. The primary exhibit in the museum at this point in time is an exhibit featuring photography by Ansel Adams. After getting off the elevator we noticed a short introduction written on the wall before we entered the exhibit. It told a brief history of Ansel Adams’ life and career. As we walked around the exhibit we tried to discover how the photographs were organized. At first we looked at the dates, but they did not line up chronologically. After that idea failed we started examining the photographs in certain areas and we noticed that they were arranged by themes. On one wall there were pictures of desert scenes and then on another wall were only pictures of buildings. Other themes included canyons, domes, people, the coast, and geysers.
As we proceeded further into the exhibit, the themes started to vary. At one point we noticed another brief chunk of writing on a wall. It discussed Adams’ involvement in the environmental movement and in the Sierra Club and how both of these influenced his photography. Around this chunk of writing were pictures that he took either for the Sierra Club or as activism in the environmental organization. A later section was entitled “Documentary, Commercial, and Experimentation in Color”. In this section there were pictures that he had taken for documentaries and commercial use. He also spent a short period of his life experimenting in color photography.
The final section of the museum was called “Legacy”. In this section were photographers that were either inspired by Ansel Adams or produced similar work to his. This section was not organized by theme but by photographer. Each wall or chunk of wall had a different photographer’s work displayed. In the paragraph next to the photograph it discussed the relation between this artist and Ansel Adams. After exiting the exhibit there was a small shop set up selling photographs and other miscellaneous items that related to Ansel Adams.
As we proceeded further into the exhibit, the themes started to vary. At one point we noticed another brief chunk of writing on a wall. It discussed Adams’ involvement in the environmental movement and in the Sierra Club and how both of these influenced his photography. Around this chunk of writing were pictures that he took either for the Sierra Club or as activism in the environmental organization. A later section was entitled “Documentary, Commercial, and Experimentation in Color”. In this section there were pictures that he had taken for documentaries and commercial use. He also spent a short period of his life experimenting in color photography.
The final section of the museum was called “Legacy”. In this section were photographers that were either inspired by Ansel Adams or produced similar work to his. This section was not organized by theme but by photographer. Each wall or chunk of wall had a different photographer’s work displayed. In the paragraph next to the photograph it discussed the relation between this artist and Ansel Adams. After exiting the exhibit there was a small shop set up selling photographs and other miscellaneous items that related to Ansel Adams.
Friday, October 10, 2003
Paper Topic: Pearl Jam - "Do the Evolution" Music Video
For my paper I plan to write about the music video for Pearl Jam’s song “Do the Evolution”. It is my favorite music video. It is quite different from normal music videos. For one, it is entirely animated. Also, no member of the band appears in the video, even in animated form. Another reason I enjoy it so much is that it makes sense. A lot of music videos are completely incoherent. They seem like a bunch of random scenes or images put to music with occasional shots of the band. The Pearl Jam video follows along with the song excellently.
The song is about the evolution of man as the dominant species in the world. It is a very dark, angry, and ironic song. One line that catches the theme of the song well is “I can kill because in God I trust”. The music video shows a very fast forward version of evolution starting with a single-celled organism and ending with man. Along the process of evolving the more advanced creatures start killing the less advanced creatures. When the video reaches the stage of humans as we are now it is filled with images of war, murder, death, and destruction. The final scene of the video is that of a nuclear bomb destroying a city.
The criteria I plan to use to evaluate this video are the effectiveness of the presentation, the correlation between the song and video, the uniqueness of the video, and the powerful message that the music video sends.
(If you would like to watch the movie, you can download it here: http://www.thewonderllama.com/bands/pjvideos.shtml. You will need quicktime or another player that supports .mp4 files to play it)
The song is about the evolution of man as the dominant species in the world. It is a very dark, angry, and ironic song. One line that catches the theme of the song well is “I can kill because in God I trust”. The music video shows a very fast forward version of evolution starting with a single-celled organism and ending with man. Along the process of evolving the more advanced creatures start killing the less advanced creatures. When the video reaches the stage of humans as we are now it is filled with images of war, murder, death, and destruction. The final scene of the video is that of a nuclear bomb destroying a city.
The criteria I plan to use to evaluate this video are the effectiveness of the presentation, the correlation between the song and video, the uniqueness of the video, and the powerful message that the music video sends.
(If you would like to watch the movie, you can download it here: http://www.thewonderllama.com/bands/pjvideos.shtml. You will need quicktime or another player that supports .mp4 files to play it)
Friday, October 03, 2003
Photography as Digital Memory
I have never been very interested in photography. I guess part of the reason would be that I have never owned a camera. But even when my mom would buy me a disposable camera for vacations or camps I would come home having only taken three or four pictures. It is not that I don’t enjoy looking at photos. I love looking through old family photo albums and trying to remember the time the picture was taken. I also enjoyed looking through Miles Hochstein’s documented life (http://www.documentedlife.com/). His website is very unique. I would not be willing to share so much of my life with strangers, but he is comfortable doing so. Miles makes an interesting point about photography in the year 1999. In his second paragraph he states “actual memories? I’m afraid I don’t have any… just photos”.
But is photography a way of preserving memories? Or is it just a way of preserving one particular instance of your life? Most photographs are far from realistic. Everyone stands in front of the camera and puts on a usually fake smile and the photographer snaps the shot. When, besides in photographs, do you stand with a group of people all looking in a particular direction smiling for approximately five seconds? But a photograph can spur other memories. When I look through photo albums of my family I initially remember the taking of the picture, but after that I start to remember the time when the picture was taken. I remember what happened, who was there, how I felt. In that way photographs are an excellent way of preserving memories. Many events in my life I would not bother to remember if I didn’t have photos of the time they happened. And there are also other forms of photography that are a far more accurate representation of life. Many photographers are into taking candid shots. Candid shots show what was actually happening at the time, but they are flawed as well. A candid shot still is only taking in one particular instance of time. It is hardly capturing an entire memory.
Photography may not be the most accurate representation of a memory, but it is still important. Photographs evoke emotions. In the year 2000, Miles’ daughter was born and “The rest was trivial”. On that page of his website he has a picture of him with his baby sleeping on his arm. The emotions that picture evokes for Miles’ must be incredibly strong. Even if photography is not always genuine the emotions it provokes are, and this makes it important.
But is photography a way of preserving memories? Or is it just a way of preserving one particular instance of your life? Most photographs are far from realistic. Everyone stands in front of the camera and puts on a usually fake smile and the photographer snaps the shot. When, besides in photographs, do you stand with a group of people all looking in a particular direction smiling for approximately five seconds? But a photograph can spur other memories. When I look through photo albums of my family I initially remember the taking of the picture, but after that I start to remember the time when the picture was taken. I remember what happened, who was there, how I felt. In that way photographs are an excellent way of preserving memories. Many events in my life I would not bother to remember if I didn’t have photos of the time they happened. And there are also other forms of photography that are a far more accurate representation of life. Many photographers are into taking candid shots. Candid shots show what was actually happening at the time, but they are flawed as well. A candid shot still is only taking in one particular instance of time. It is hardly capturing an entire memory.
Photography may not be the most accurate representation of a memory, but it is still important. Photographs evoke emotions. In the year 2000, Miles’ daughter was born and “The rest was trivial”. On that page of his website he has a picture of him with his baby sleeping on his arm. The emotions that picture evokes for Miles’ must be incredibly strong. Even if photography is not always genuine the emotions it provokes are, and this makes it important.
