Response

Emma writes:
"Today the climate for learning in most colleges and schools is one of competition. Students compete for grades, withhold information from one another to "get ahead," to maintain their competitive advantage, and on many campuses there is widespread cheating. But our most consequential human problems will be resolved not through competition, but collaboration." How would you feel if U of I suddenly took away individual grades and instead replaced the grading system as a group grading system, so it would force everyone to work together and the group as a whole would get the same grade?

I think that all humans are able to collaborate peacefully and for a greater output. However, our historical collaboration has been in a tribal, military, and survival sense. When colleges were invented (to essentially create a steady stream of educated workers), the collaboration was divided into individual achievements. Even when we are in grade school, not too many group projects are instilled. In my high school, only the honors courses would do group projects (maybe because we were all an even playing field?). I think that if group projects were introduced into the U of I grading system, it should only be a portion of the overall grade because we have all been accepted into U of I b/c of our individual success.

Ede Reading Questions

1. At the beginning, the authors state:
"There may be stylistic differences from one section to the next, but the book as a whole is the product of our joint efforts and interchange of ideas"
Do you believe that the differences subtracted or added to the author's intention of "we"?

2. Do you find struggle or relief when working in a collaboration piece (aka group projects)?

3. The book The High Cost of Death, mentioned in the article, was coauthored but only one name appeared on the book cover to increase sales. What are your thoughts on this?

searching

verb: searching
starring: mr. j

Puppet Up

So as I lay awake in the middle of the night contemplating my life, TBS was airing a show called "Puppet Up Uncensored". It was....awesome. I don't think I've ever laughed that loud at 2am. It really cheered me up. :)

Puppet Up Youtube Video

Art of Foley

This website has a historical and informational perspective on the art of foley (sound effects):

Art of Foley

Hampe Prt 2

1. What ethics, if any, should be applied towards making a reality video?

2. What do you like or dislike about Hampe's advice?

3. For aspiring filmmakers, would Hampe's theories be a good starting point? Why or why not?

Response to Hampe Prt 2

Ashley writes:
Hampe writes you're supposed to edit your footage to communicate your message "honestly, directly, and forcefully - what you know about the event." Do you think its easier to manipulate your audience with editing or is it easier to be honest with what happened (even if it goes against what you wanted your original message to be)?

It would be easy to do both. Our mass media is so inclined to edit to manipulate the viewer's experience and understanding how the event happened or what he or she said. Especially with the current political race and atmosphere, editing is so predominant to play up a certain image of their ads. For example, McCain may use a portion of Obama's speech and pinpoint a certain angle (i.e. "Obama associates with Mr. X") when the whole context illustrates a different point. However, the most honesty can be illustrated through raw video, no edits. It may be overwhelming but at least it allows the viewers to pass a certain perspective, not to be *told* what to think....

Audio Project: Ch-ch-eck it Out!

Name: "No Edits"
(Time 4:07)




When this project was posed, I had a flood of ideas rush through my head. Vocalization of my internal thoughts? Play by play of a conversation that I'm watching? As I went home to start a recording, it was so hard to maintain a quiet environment. My microphone would be picking up people talking in the hall, music from next door, the construction going on outside. Granted I could easily filter out the noise with audio programs, but it struck a chord with me. When I needed silence, the background noise was amplified. I always thought my apartment was relatively quiet but when I demanded silence to the world (if that was even possible), I received just the opposite.

I even went to other locations: computer lab, study lounge, library, another apartment. With each location, it was the same thing - interruptions. I then decided that I wouldn't fight it anymore. My idea was then born. I would set it up a la This American Life but with an amplified version of my experience. It was set up where I was recording a podcast entitled Silence: Is It a Good Thing?

My project is titled No Edits. The title ties directly with the audio. I'm sure in the land of recording, massive edits are used to take out the 'flaws'. In the course of my fake recording session, numerous interruptions occur. I used my roommate and sound effects to amplify these interruptions even further. All of the interruptions have all actually happened to me: door knocking, dog barking, cell phone ringing, other person talking and the fire detector going off. I set up the audio where the music picks up during the times that wouldn't be edited out. Then as each interruption occurs, the music stops. My voice also changes in that I'm extremely agitated during the distractions and then cool and calm when continuing my recording.

I hope that my project comes across with comedic effect. I wanted to show the 'two sides' of audio recording, the real deal with no edits.

Jen

Response

Emma asks:
If someone gave you all the equipment and all the help to you needed to make a documentary on the Iraq War, what would be the main focus of your documentary? And how would you execute it?

Actually, I just had to write a review for work about the new HBO documentary film Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery. The filmmakers focused on the mourning families and the rituals and strength they developed in their mourning process. Section 60 is where the killed soldiers from the Iraq war are buried and is called "the saddest acre in America". The filmmakers also veered from the political influences about the war and focused more on the aftershocks of coping with a lost one that died serving the war. In one of the screenings, a mother who had lost her son stood up after the film had been shown and cried out "Welcome to our world". That's intense.

My documentary would focus on an emotional snapshot of what someone has to endure when mourning and coping with a loved one's death. Especially after sending a son, husband, lover, brother, cousin off to a war. Having someone you love gone for months, years even, and then having them return home in a coffin? How do you transition? What emotions are involved? I would want to feel their pain and know their struggle.

Questions

1. Hampe says that "interviews do not a documentary make, because they don't show the topic, they show people talking about the topic". If so, why are they so prevalent on "classic" documentaries (tv, movies, etc)?

1. Hampe brings up that the common mistake is that people often think that the camera does it all? But doesn't quality bring in more realistic experiences? or not?

1. The author also mentions "docudramas" which are basically films in a misleading category. He says that they have nothing to do with true documentaries? What do you think? Marketing ploy or some truth?

Answer to Shipka's Question

Lauren writes:
2) What expectations of sound are now arising in multimodal environments and works?

Expectations of sound are now turning to a more integrated, fully involved process. More than 'surround sound' and more than 'great combination of sound effects'. The combination of all modes create a more realistic environment. Naturalistic environment is the buzz word. To have the person fully entrenched in sound, sight, textures, etc as Shipka brings up. Though technologies will never be able to mimic nature, it will be as close as a comparison as possible and a worthy experience.

Questions about Shipka article

1. Shipka speaks of thinking about what want to compose and then to decide what media and modalities to use. Can you think of a time when you had to do a composition but thought of a better medium?

2. Shipka also says that pedagogy (the art/science of being a teacher) "might be made stronger still by attending to the use of textures, and then scents, objects, embodied performances, and so on". What do you think?

3. The article talks about sensory modes being "broken off into brackets" but should be more integrated. Your thoughts?

The Old New Media of Comics Art: Comics and Graphic Novels in the 21st Century

This showed up in my email this a.m., sounds pretty cool!

Damian Duffy, Doctoral candidate, Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, Illinois, andJohn Jennings, Associate Professor, Graphic Design, Illinois, will give a public lecture,"The Old New Media of Comics Art: Comics and Graphic Novels in the 21st Century,"on Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 4:00 PM, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana.

What is the art form found in comic books, comic strips, graphic novels and manga?
Comics scholars, curators and graphic novelists John Jennings and Damian Duffy are here to provide the answer, or at least explain the question. They will discuss the history and future of the comics medium in the contexts of new media education and museum exhibition. This presentation will be informed by their own work using graphic novels to critique racial representation in mass media, creating virtual reality comics, and curating the expansive Fall 2008 Krannert Art Museum exhibitionOut of Sequence: Underrepresented Voices in American Comics.

This presentation is held in anticipation of the 2009-2010CAS Initiative on Interpreting Technoscience: Explorations in Identity, Culture and Democracy. Rayvon Fouche has been named CAS Resident Associate for this initiative.

For further information, please visit http://www.cas.uiuc.edu/presentations.php.

All CAS lectures are free and open to the public.

Photo Essay: Youtube Link

Youtube

(Click on "watch in high quality" below the video)