VIDEO ART

This is my video art piece entitle YARD WARS. I was exploring the idea that nothing new can be made, only imitations can be made. Also I was commenting about how in this day and age anyone with any type of camera can broadcast whatever they want all over the world, which is a fascinating concept. I was excited to incorporate what I learned about Adobe Flash into the video. My friends and I had a lot of fun making it, as you can see from the credits. We might make more in the future.

Class for the week of 12/2

This was our last week of class before finals.  We managed to explore video art a little bit more and dive into electronic music's evolution.

By far and away, Bill Viola is my favorite video artist that we have covered in class.  His vivid imagery has been the most compelling so far.  I really enjoy his juxtapositions between fire and water.  The fact that he uses a lot of slow motion allows for the viewer to fully capture and comprehend the images.  Honestly, I can't get enough special effects.  I simply love them.  I'm just utterly impressed by little things like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."  Viola's man on fire looks very natural and the effects are integrated seamlessly.  I was very much reminded of the Human Torch when I watched that video.  Likewise, his use of water reminded me of Aquaman.  Considering Viola's decision to go with just one man either on fire or bursting with water associates the subject with iconic imagery.  With this iconic imagery, its easy to see why I would associate the videos with ideallic heroes.

On thursday, we went over electronic musicians, some new and some familiar.  There was one musician who created a program that would convert his sketches into sound.  This was a very interesting and exciting concept to me. Unfortunately, the sounds that were made were absolutely horrible.  They were so bad that I had to cover my ears.  It really does make me think though; what sounds would be generated from my sketches?  Would it be pleasant music? Epic music?  Film score music?  Or would it also degenerate into mindless feedback?  I would love to find out.

As for the other musicians, I'm not a huge fan of techno.  I prefer it blended with rock and/or jazz music.  Although I was familiar with Benny Begassi's version of Satisfaction.  My girlfriend loves that song and plays it frequently.  I'm not entirely sure if anything was really taken from the Rolling Stones' version besides the word Satisfaction.  Hmmm...

Well, overall it was a good semester and I learned a lot about artists I wouldn't normally hear about, so it was pretty interesting.  It beats the hell out of normal art history classes, for sure.

PERFORMANCE ART COMMENTS

Taylor-I love seeing people break  cell phones. That was a short, but sweet performance art piece.
Adam- Air brushing is always cool, and this was new exception good job.
John- The Musical breakfast was very satirical to performance art so I thought it was cool.
Berni- Painting with cherries reminded me of Across the Universe, great movie, great piece.

Laura- Your performance art was funny and I totally agree with you that Wii controllers suck.
Ciara- You always do something very unique. kudos.
Ryan- Your piece reminded me of a neo-noir film, very cool.
Perri- I really liked your commentary, it made me think of my own life.
Stacy-Your message was poignant.
Collen- I liked your correlation between beauty and tech.
Brandon- I think you came up with a potential new game show.
Murad- very different and entertaining.
Victor- I liked how you blended tech and musical talent
Makayla- I liked how satirical your piece was, awesome job.
Matt- Your project had that song stuck in my head the whole day...cuz it was awesome!

GRID ART COMMENTS

Victor- pacman is always a good decision.
Colleen- your project reminded me of pointilism, very nice!
Taylor- Your piece was innovative and practical.
Makayla- The lamp was a very "bright" idea, lol
Ryan- Your drawing was good, don't let santiago get u down
John- a very interesting process
Perri-Your lollipop grid was awesome, I wanted to eat it.
Stacy- Once again, you had a project that I wanted to eat.
Berni- good job, very Escher-esque.
Matthew- Awesome amalgamation between guitars and grids.
Adam- The light bright piece was very sweet, great job.
Murad- Practical and pretty
Brandon- A very nice breakdown of a japanese print.

XEROX ART COMMENTS

Stacey-Repetition of the hand was interesting
Taylor-Very artistic and quaint, reminded me of a fairy tale
Victor- I liked how packed yours was
Adam- I feel like yours was a modernized version of an old classic
John- Lots of detail with me goes a long way, awesome
Makayla-The vines really brought the whole thing together.
Murad-Good amalgamation of yourself with the piece
Colleen- The neon colors were very eye catching
Perri- I love seeing animal designs made out of unusual objects, good.
Ryan- The light totally brought your project to the next level, it reminded me of Times Square but in art form.
Berni- A solid design
Matthew- A nice commentary of everyday life.
Laura- The dragon design was awesome
Ciara- A good composition of body parts, nice

Week of 11-18-08

On Tuesday, the whole class participated in performance art.  There was a lot of great, entertaining performances. 

Mine was reminiscent of Gilbert and George's performances.  I played "Prayer of the Refugee" by Rise Against on my Zune player while pretending to play the guitar hero rifts.  The point of my performance was that in this new technology driven age that we live in, someone can play/create music without necessarily being musically talented or know how to play a real instrument.  I tried to get into it as much as possible, though I was a little nervous.  At some points I tried to activate star power but to no avail.

On thursday, we explored video art.  I'll be honest, I'm a sucker for special effects.  So the films using green screens or video manipulation were the ones that stimulated me the most.  I can't wait to use a green screen on future projects.  The videos we watched gave me some ideas about what to do with my video art project, which I've already started on.

The only video art film that we watched that I despised was the one where the actor kept repeating the same lines over and over as the quality was reduced each time.  I understand the point that the artist was trying to make, however the video wasn't entertaining enough to justify the length of his film.  I believe entertainment should be a big part of art because if you entertain the audience while trying to explore a controversial/next-level concept, the audience will be more likely to listen.  And even if the audience didn't agree with or understand your idea, at least the artist still made an entertaining project.

Class of 11-6

Today we continued "learning" about performance art.  I won't lie, I straight up hate most performance art.  I don't consider it art.  I would much sooner call crayon scribbles from a 6 year old art, before I give the same title to performance art.

I believe I discovered where a large part of my hatred comes from. Performance art is the reason most non-artistic people have a preconceived notion that art is silly, irrelevant, confusing, boring, and/or talentless.  And those thoughts extend to the artist as well.  People may think artists are pretentious, psychotic weirdos. As an art major, that annoys greatly.  Performance art gives other art a bad name.  

I honestly believe that had I not gone to class today and slept in, I would have had a more interesting experience, mainly because my dreams are usually really awesome.  I don't know what else to say.  There was nothing educational or interesting about class today.  I wasted my time, I should have slept in.

This is a photo of my xerox project.  What I was aiming for was to capture the randomness of personality and transpose it onto the board.  I chose to use some distortion because I felt like that better represents my distorted view on things.  The Marvel logo on the name-tag suggests my higher aspirations, so the viewer learns something about me as well.

Classes from 10/23 to 11/4

I am bunching these four classes together because they all involve performance "art."  I figured I would wait until learning more about it and write a more substantial blog rather than a series of shorter blogs.

Let me start of by saying that I have a real problem with performance art.  I just don't think I have it in me to classify it as actual art.  But I will refer to the performers as artists for the sake of blog clarity. Most of the time I feel like performance artists are just doing crazy things for the purpose of being crazy.  They are just acting out like angry teenagers.  They are simply trying to disgust, bewilder, anger, and/or sadden the audience for no other reason than to just do it.  And yes I know that art should invoke an emotion from the audience, but these performance artists are going about it in immature, unsafe, and unnecessary ways.   All in all, I feel like performance artists are only being pretentious.  

Pretentious is how I sum up performance art in one word.  Its not satirical, its not entertaining, its not mind-opening.  It is merely extreme on the behalf of extremeness.  Sometimes they try to be satirical, but they are too extreme for  the audience to comprehend the satire, making the satire pointless and nonexistent.  The artists know full well it will be hard or impossible for the audience to understand their meaning, but they continue to be extreme and confusing anyway, and that-THAT is why performance art is pretentious.  

Basically what it comes down to is that I believe performance art is not art for the same reason snuff films are not art.  Horrible for the sake of horribleness is not art.  Bad for the sake of bad can be acceptable if done in a comedic fashion (like cheesy B-movies), however, performance artists usually don't do comedy.  This is mainly because they think they are doing something substantial, another hint of their pretentiousness.  But without meaning or purpose, I don't believe it is substantial and therefore not art.

Granted I know there are people out there that do consider performance art as art.  And I can kinda see why.  However, if performance art can be considered art, then where does it stop?  Why aren't SpongeBob SquarePants cartoons discussed by art critics?  Why do people give Michael Bay a hard time for making movies with just action and no substance?  Why aren't comic books displayed in the Louvre?  Its just that I think that it is unfair and almost hypocritical to consider performance art art and not something like saturday morning cartoons or comic books or crappy films.

But its not all bad.  I did enjoy Stelarc's pieces, mainly because of the sci-fi element.  I also like his work because I can see satire and entertainment in his efforts.  He could be satirizing how technology is consuming our everyday lives or asking where does science end and life begin?  Also his pieces are functional and very intricate.  His work looks very realistic, like people will one day be able to walk with robotic spider legs.  It makes him seem more like an inventor than an artist.  And thats what an inventor is-- and artist.  And while performance artists are trying to invent new art, I feel like they are mostly jut failed inventions.  And no one really cares about failed inventions because they don't work.  And since they don't work, they're not art.

And now I shall get off my soap box.

Class of 10/21

Today our discussion about DaDa artists continued. The main point of interest regarding them seems to be whether or not their work is considered art. Undoubtedly, there will be people that will be unable to think of a urinal as art. The idea of de-contextualization is just not enough for some people to accept certain art pieces.

My view is kind of moderate. I believe de-contextualization by itself is not enough, however, in conjunction with a specific idea that the artist wants to express and the ability to create a visually attracting and entertaining image or structure, then art is created. Aside from satirical/social commentary, I believe art (especially in multiple mediums) should be designed to entertain, either visually or conceptually. Granted, its impossible to please everyone, but if a slight majority is reached then so is the art.

This is one of my pics from my GridArt project. The pieces are aligned to produce the image of a W. All of my photos feature only 8 pieces in order to represent the 8 bits that comprise a byte.

Class of 10/16

We deviated from our usual studies involving technology, and instead focused on art in general.
The primary focus was the artist Man Ray from the early 20th century. We watched a documentary which explained some of the artist's philosophies and life. What I found especially notable in Man Ray's dialogue was that he was very absolute in his speech. This is notable because I think its ironic that a man who tried so hard to break away from normal conventions and show that nothing is necessarily what it seems, would speak in such a definitive, black or white way.

The professor passed around a book that showcased Man Ray's art. Its hard for me to call some of his "objects" art, despite being an artist myself. Though I know there is no one true definition for art, I believe art at the very least should be something that not everyone can do either in technique or concept. I just don't think pieces like his Lampshade have enough of a significant concept to be labeled art. However his more complicated and interesting sculptures were very nice. His photography peaked my interest more than anything. I know old-school photography was very hard and his prints were very masterful. One thing that did catch my eye was his photos from his Mr. and Mrs. Woodsman collection. These photos feature small wooden art figures in various sexual positions. I think its intriguing though a bit unfair, that those photos are considered art but if a teenager tried doing that same thing today, he would be labeled immature and not artistic. The collection reminds me of a scene in Team America where the main characters (who are puppets) engage in many of the same positions that the Woodsmans were in. I wonder if Matt Parker and Trey Stone were satirizing Man Ray or simply came up with the same idea. Either way it proves my point that someone trying to replicate Man Ray's photos in today's world would not be considered artists. i just think thats unfair.

Class of oct 14th

We explored the early history of video games in class today. Its something that I value much more than opera.
Atari brought the first video game console to the public. It was also my first video game console. During my wee days as a toddler, I logged many hours playing games like Pitfall, Frogger, and Cops & Robbers. That is, until my brother got a Nintendo Entertainment System. This was the system that reinvigorated the industry. Games like Mario, Megaman, Zelda, and Donkey Kong launched the Nintendo company to the forefront of the industry. Super Mario Bros 3 was my favorite. The success of this console brought about the next generation of gaming and competition in the forms of the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. At the time I preferred the Sega Genesis, but now looking back I think the Super Nintendo withstood the test of time better.
This lead to the proceeding generation: The N64, Sega Dreamcast, and Sony Playstation. With these consoles, video games were given their first real taste of 3D graphics. The single greatest game between all three of these consoles was Goldeneye 007 for the N64. This was the game that really got me into gaming and sparked my love affair with first-person-shooters. Not only was the single-player campaign fantastic but the multiplayer was absolutely incredible. With so many features and highly addictive gameplay, the multiplayer was what kept me up late at night. It also helped that I was really good at it. I only owned three games for the N64 and this was the main one. Goldeneye was also one of the few games based off of a movie to be legitimately good. pure awesomeness.
Until...
Enter the PS2 and Xbox. These systems did 3D right. And the Xbox brought the coming of the new king of the first person shooters: HALO. Say what you will but the Halo franchise is worth over one billion dollars. The gameplay is highly addictive like Goldeneye but now you can play online with people all over the world, with better graphics, more features, and an all new storyline. Because I loved the Xbox so much, I sold my PS2. I didn't need it. Most of the Sony exclusives were slow-paced Japanese styled games that didn't really appeal to me. But this wasn't the end of the video game history...
to be continued....

Class of October 7th

The primary focus of class today was the history of computers. It was interesting to see how the work of several hobbyists changed the world as we know it.
What I found especially odd was that the documentary didn't really mention Steve Jobs having any special computer skills, only that he knew that computers were the way of the future and that investing in them was the way to go. Here's my theory: A future version of Steve Jobs accumulated enough wealth to make a time machine and traveled to the past to tell young Steve what to do in life. It sounds far fetched but considering how far computers have come in 2 decades, where will they go in the next 2 or 3? Or he sold his soul to the devil, whom I think is a PC ironically.
Originally the computer was made to calculate trajectories and spreadsheets and now look at it. The computer can be used to acquire information instantaneously, watch HD movies and music from virtually nowhere, create art, communicate with people a world away, steal people's identities, shop for things you never knew existed, etc.
Its just amazing to have such a versatile device in your hands. And now it seems these features are becoming more and more streamlined to fit into cellphones.

Flipbook

This is a pic from my flipbook animation.

Class of Oct 2nd

Like our review of the history of radio on Tuesday, we explored the history of television today. We went over the science of it, the pioneers of the format, and discussed the differences between radio and TV.
First of all, I would like to say that I felt sorry for the man that invented television because he received barely any credit and died distraught and alone. I wonder if he knew that was going to happen, would he have still created TV in the first place?
One of the examples of early TV shows that we saw was Amos N Andy. I am pretty well acquainted with this show because my dad has the entire series on VHS. Ive seen more than a dozen episodes. Its pretty funny and reminiscent of modern sitcoms. I always thought it was weird that though Amos is in the title, that character showed up very rarely in the actual show. Kingfish and Andy were the main characters. I also that it was interesting that although it takes place in the 40s/50s and stars mainly African-American actors, that it doesn't just degenerate into vulgar stereotypical antics that the racist time period was prone to do. In a way the show was kind of groundbreaking.
I visited MZTV.com and read one of their articles on linking the designs of cars during the 50s to the design and influence of TV at the time. Like the site says, it may not be obvious at first but once you think about it, it makes sense. Its similar to how some of the most modern cars today are influenced by movies that place in the future. So like TV in the early 50s, cars have also come along way. TV will soon be broadcast in a digital signal, HD is becoming the new standard, and channels number in the high hundreds with digital TV. Cars have anti lock brakes, power steering, standard air conditioning, have higher gas mileage, and hybrids are becoming more and more popular as gas prices continue to soar. So whereas TV has evolved to a digital signal, automobiles may soon have to evolve as well into more advanced hybrids or hydrogen-powered cars. Likewise, most households today have multiple TVs and cars.

Class of 9/30

Today in class, we studied the evolution of wired telegraphs to wireless broadcasting. Its amazing to see how far we've come in 100 years. People from a century ago would have been stupefied by my cell phone which sends & takes pictures, takes & sends videos, sends text messages, plays music, has a calendar, has a calculator, tells time, has an alarm clock, has a unit converter, has a stop watch, and last but not least allows me to communicate with people many many miles away from me. All that without an IPhone. An IPhone probably would have given people heart attacks 100 years ago.
Broadcasting gave rise to the radio. While I loved Orson Welles' War of the Worlds show and the drama that it caused, I hate the ending to that story. Its far too simple and easy of a way to solve the problem. It would be like if Jason Vorhees suddenly died of a heart attack just before he kills the main character. Or if Joker just turned himself into Batman after having a change of heart.
I visited OTR.com and found an old clip from the Jack Benny show. My dad has a cassette collection of the Jack Benny show, so I've heard it before and it enjoyed it very much as a kid. This particular segment featured Mel Blanc doing his patented train depot announcer gag where he uses comedic pausing in between syllables. Its pretty funny in an old school kind of way. I like it because it shows a rare example of Blanc's fantastic acting when he's not a cartoon character. Those were the good ole days.

Class of Sept 25th

In class today, we looked at each others flipbooks and watched more excerpts from movies.

Most of the flipbooks were pretty creative and fun to flip through.  I especially liked Matt's which he made by filming his house with a video camcorder, then capturing each frame, and then printing each out.  It was the most fluid of all the flipbooks and it reminded me of one that came in a box of cereal.

The first film we viewed was Videodrome.  It reminded me of an episode of Cowboy Bebop, where a boy's consciousness gets trapped in the internet, and he manipulates people with artificial videos.  There is a similar concept of the ambiguity of whats real in videos.

We then watched three films based off the great works of Philip K. Dick: Total Recall, BladeRunner, and Minority Report.  Personally I like Minority Report the best because I like the plot the most.  All of them feature a motif that shows that nothing is what it seems.  This pops up a lot in Dick's novels.  Personally my favorite Philip K. Dick-based movie is A Scanner Darkly.  It featured amazing and beautiful rotoscoping technology.  The viewer never knows exactly what is real or what is a hallucination.  Very Interesting.

The last film we watched was Avalon and it examined how videogames are changing the way we view reality.  It was directed by the man who made Ghost In the Shell, which is one of my favorite animes.  I thought it was especially interesting when they said that people in the fictional world make a living from playing the game.  People in real life do that with games like World of Warcraft and Diablo.  I think its amazing that games have become like sports and that their virtual reality can be just as pertinent as normal reality.

Class of Sept 23

Today in class we watched a variety of classic films. Some I've seen, some I haven't, and some I would like to see later.
Alfred Hitchcock's BIRDS is a timeless classic. It draws the viewer in with a rich immersing feel. Hitchcock was the master of horror for his era, and this film shows why. He takes an ordinary thing like birds and transforms them into a horrific force of nature rivaling Mike Myers or Jason.
2001: A Space Odyssey is another acclaimed movie. Rather than a just a meaningless sci-fi film, it examines what the future may bring and how the human psyche has evolved. Have we gotten more or less savage? Are machines able to reason as well as humans and if so how long before they are controlling us? I wish to watch this film in its entirety when i have time, if only for its astounding production quality.
A Clockwork Orange is another fantastic film. The diction, plot, and acting are all topnotch. I can definitely see its influences in other movies, such as the Joker in the Dark Knight. Its reference of Singing in the Rain is great way to show the lasting effects of previous generations.
I'm not really a fan of Polyester and I have bad memories of Rocky Horror Picture Show so those didn't really inspire me. But I'm curious as to what movies we will watch next.

Class of September 18th

Today in class, we focused our studies on several classic films such as Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Singing In the Rain, etc. We also briefly discussed the art Damien Hirst.
Damien Hirst recently had an auction where he made millions and millions of dollars. I immediatley recognized his art from the Jennifer Lopez movie "TheCell." Rather than saturate the art market with traditional paintings, Hirst creates scupltures that defy the norm. His piece, that is essentially a human skull covered in diamonds, is quite elegant, simple in design but screams volumes. Some of his other pieces feature various animals being perfectly preserved in tanks. Out of these, I prefer the shark. It appears like a frozen moment in time of a shark about to eat its prey. Normally we would have to rely on paintings or photos for such visuals, but here Hirst physically captures the image and brings it to us first hand. Most of his other animal pieces are nice but I'd probably look at them for their scientific value rather than their aesthetic value, at least initially. But all in all, I would rather study his art than someone like Goya's.
I very much enjoyed watching excerpts from the classic films. I never watched Singing In the Rain before but I really liked what I saw, so I'll have to find time to watch the whole thing. I always loved Casablanca. It has such a classy noir ambience to it that I find captivating. On the other hand, I hate Gone with Wind. Its boring, features characters that I just cant sympathize for, and is way too long. Eraserhead was pretty freaky. I'm not sure if I'll ever watch the whole thing but I researched it a little on Wikipedia.
The way things are progressing, I can't wait to see what other films we'll watch.

class of 9/16

Today in class we continued our exploration of early film. We watched excerpts from several high profile silent films; including the Golden Beetle, Nosferatu, Trip to the Moon, etc.
The Golden Beetle was made in 1907 and it was very interesting to me to see the style of special effects of that era. Throughout the entire film, the camera was stationary and the only color came from hand-painting the individual frames (which I'm sure was a tedious endeavor). Most of the effects came from stop-camera editing. Simple but exciting for that time. Its amazing to see how far the film industry has come in 100 years. In 2007, Transformers was released. The special effects in that movie would have seemed like witchcraft to 1907. In TF, cars completely shapeshift and transform into futuristic alien robots, with the camera following the intricate process the entire time. If weren't for the audience already knowing its CGI, they might think its real. 100 years makes a big difference.
Winsor Mccay's self made animationwas also pretty breathtaking for its time. He pioneered the art for making 2D images come to life. Its something that I enjoy doing and hopefully will make a career out of, so its nice to see the origins.
We also viewed a scene from Phantom of the Opera. It featured certain objects colored via the same hand painted means. I believe this was done to add a special eery and extravagant effect to the Phantom. The coloring makes the Phantom more unique and mysterious.
The powerful scenes in the Joan of Arc movie and the Battleship Potyomkin makes revisiting these classics very much worth it.

class of september 11th

In today's class we viewed two documentaries; one about the history of photography and the early days of the first motion pictures.
It amazes me that someone was able to invent photography almost two hundred years ago. I had a photography course at UT my freshman year, so I realize the complicated process it takes to go from taking a snapshot to getting a physical print in your hands. Its long, arduous, and full of trial and error; and that's just to get the print finished not including getting the image to a suitable standard. There are so many fragile steps that if they are not followed precisely, the photographer will achieve nothing. Digital photography is infinitely better. The photographer will instantly see how his snapshot appears on the screen, then he can manipulate whatever he wants via Photoshop (allowing for the ability to improve nature and to better captivate the eye), and finally to make a print, the photographer just simply needs to use a printer. Easy, efficient, and the way of the future.
Advancements in photography led to the invention of the moving picture. Originally these films were silent and very short. By today's standards, they are a little creepy. Displaying black and white individuals moving silently at unnatural speeds (almost like ghosts) is what some modern horror movies try to emulate.
At the time, the silent films were shown in theaters occasionally accompanied by a live piano player to add music. I believe they did this for several reasons. For one thing, the technology used to record sound along with the visuals was still experimental and it was hard to synchronize both elements. Secondly, showing soundless moving images in theaters would no doubt have gotten boring quickly. So the theater managers sought to hold the audiences' attention by livening things up with some popular upbeat music. Finally, some viewers were initially made uncomfortable from seeing the new technology as they probably thought it looked unnatural. So music was brought in to help alleviate their fears and remind them that this was entertainment and nothing to be scared of.
I can't wait until our examination of films progresses to the modern day.

class of 9/9/08

Today in class, we continued exploring vaudeville's evolution to broadway and then to musicals.
Vaudeville was the voice of the city, the most popular form of stage entertainment for the average citizen. I can't help but be reminded of the vaudeville characters on family guy. They usually show up to crack a few jokes that would have been funny in the early 20th century and then leave as quickly as they entered, albeit with old-timey piano music following them. It sticks out to me because its a rare example of vaudeville showing up in modern pop culture in this new post 2000 millennium.
Broadway was a mix of high brow and low brow art. Prohibition had forced the privileged masses to mingle with gangsters and Broadway was greatly influenced by this. Siegfield and his follies were responsible for many very popular shows. The most interesting part of the act for me were sketches that featured actors positioning themselves to match a famous painting. That intrigues me because paintings were made to represent and imitate real life, and now that they have acquired enough acclaim, real life begins to imitate paintings.
Finally musicals became the modern live opera. Music, dancing, singing, drama, comedy, and story had come together into a seamless form of entertainment. West side Story sticks out because it portrayed contemporary life and it featured dancing as an extension of the acting (dance moves became fight scenes).
All of these forms of entertainment have sex appeal in common. The truth is that sex sells and that was as true a century ago as it is today.

Class of Sept 4

Today in class, we continued our examination of opera.
We watched exerts from various famous productions including the works of Mozart and Wagner. These just added to the notion that opera is the first from of multimedia entertainment. These films seemed to have more acting and more of a storyline, bringing them closer to the look and feel of modern movies.
What really peaked my interest was when the professor provided several examples of linking opera to current pop culture. "What's Opera, Doc?" is a Bugs Bunny short that places the iconic rabbit and Elmer Fudd into a parody of Wagner's work. Here, we see the sheer talent of both Chuck Jones (director) and Mel Blanc (actor). This has been noted by some as their greatest collaboration together and one of the best animated films of all time. I found it particulary interesting because I remember the cartoon from my childhood and now that I'm older and going into the animation field, I can appreciate all the hard work that went into it.
Things are starting to move more swimmingly as we see how opera evolves into vaudeville and broadway productions. I find broadway more entertaining than opera, so I'm excited to see where this goes as we eventually make our way to modern times.

Class of Sept 2

Today was the first real day of class and we're beginning the semester by studying opera.
The idea behind it is that the opera is the initial example of a form of multimedia entertainment. This is something I never would have thought of, but after watching a video opera movies in class, I can see why. Technology was used to create elaborate scenery pieces, costumes, and special effects. Music was also integrated so that opera was differentiated from a standard play. So many forms of entertainment all merged together for the first time; art, the theater, and music.
The films we viewed were mainly used to demonstrate the hard work that went into these productions both off and on the stage. All this effort was made possible by the the gold and money that was flowing into Europe from America. This wealth helped usher in the baroque era, which featured a lot of gaudy and highly decorative ornaments. What I'm primarily interested in is following the evolution of this form of multimedia entertainment to the modern forms.

My first blog

Salutations,
My name is Shawn Rubin and I'd like to start off by offering my deepest condolences to Professor Echeverry. We all wish him well in these hard times.
I'm 21 and a digital arts major at the University of Tampa. I enjoy graphic literature, video games, music, exercise, and, of course, drawing. I expect this class to be pretty fun and interesting. The professor is good, the subject matter is entertaining, and I feel I will learn a lot. So I can't wait til class starts.
-Shawn