LiveVibe TV, "Opening Minds: People Who Make Video Games"

I had to the opportunity to work “Opening Minds: People Who Make Video Games.” Throughout the week, we helped to set up cameras, audio, and the switcher board to make sure the show ran smoothly. I was able to assist with audio, video, stage set-up, lighting, and synchronization of picture and sound (clapperboard) during the show. There was a nice crowd and the show was a success. One thing that I learned from this show is that you must have many different elements to keep an audience immersed. The house band and interaction kept the audience engaged. Instead of there being down time while the audience had to sit and wait for the next guest, the house band kept them entertained. Also, during the show, there were many different components exhibited.  Samuel Sewall, Next-generation game programmer and developer, displayed his game on the panel screen during his presentation. If that was not enough to excite the crowd, Diana Reichenbach and Hyuk Jang invited audience members to “Explore Ancient Egypt” and actually get a chance to test out their game.

Marko Suvajdzic, owner of Organic to Digital, spoke about his five key elements of interactive gaming: Gammification, Flow Theory, Educational Games, Data Collection, and Adaptive Learning. Gammification is using the incentives that we use in video games to help kids to learn. Kids are always willing to learn if the method of learning is fun. The flow theory is a description of how to be fully engaged in what we do. Suvajdzic proposed the question, “Video games fully immerse you, but how do we do that for learning?” There are many distractions in the world that cause kids to stray from learning in school. But, if we create more educational games where students can have fun while learning, they will be fully engaged while acquiring knowledge. Data collection is important to tracking the success of educational games and what areas can be improved. Suvajdzic stated “collecting data is useful because it stores information that teaches us how to make education more efficient and make it better.” The last concept was adaptive learning. Adaptive learning uses technology, more specifically computers, to help teach students. Suvajdzic thought this concept still had at least five years to develop before it is fully accepted and teachers begin to use technology more for educational purposes.

I was not able to take specific notes for Samuel Sewall, Diana Reichenbach and Hyuk Jang, but they spoke about some very interesting topics. It amazed me that Sewall was so young and heavily involved within his field. Similar to Suvajdzic, he spoke about trying to find a way to make education more fun through gaming. His expertise was coding and he explained some of his methods when creating a game. He stated that at times his group would create a concept and idea and finish creating a game within 24 hours. Reichenbach and Jang introduced a game created for the South Florida Science Center. This was an interactive game that used the Xbox Kinect to take students through Egypt and into the Afterlife. They explained each step from the proposal and initial concept to body recognition and creating characters.

Cremaster 3: Matthew Barney

I watched Cremaster 3 (2002). In the beginning, I had no idea what was going on. There are lots of different types of music and sound effects. Throughout the film, the music genre switches back and forth multiple times. Also, a lot of the sound effects were very dramatized. One thing that I took from Cremaster was that Barney wanted to focus on how sound accompanies visuals. In one part, there was a person spreading some material on a car. To the naked eye, someone may just think this person is detailing or preparing the car for work. But since he added eerie and high pitch squealing sound effects, it seemed like something crazy was about to happen. After a few minutes, the film got very weird and actually was a little bit scary with children carrying dead bodies and a lot of dark images.  It was kind of sad to see them destroy such nice cars. This reminded me a little bit of Fluxus artists when they destroyed musical instruments and called it a form of art.

Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle and Björk's Work

After watching parts of Matthew Barney's Cremaster cycle, I can definitely say that this work is something like no other. It was my first time being exposed to something so grand, if I can use that word. While the cycle focuses on creation, it is only obvious that Barney's work is meant for mature audiences. While some people could find his work grotesque, I find it intriguing. He uses many different metaphors and allusions throughout his cycle, mainly in sexual ways. The camera shots in this piece are also phenomenal, as is the accompanying score.


I happened to find Björk's work more fascinating, perhaps because of its use of digital projection technology. I watched a few pieces, one of them being even more different than the others, called "Cocoon." From prior knowledge, the Japanese believe that the red string represents fate, and that it connects two people together romantically.

It really is a video you have to watch to understand it yourself.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fN-eotrifA

Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle: a late night interpretation

Upon watching the first part of Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle, I found it amusing how Barney plays back and forth  between a lingerie group flashing their skirts and what appears to be the lines of the football field, alternating between side to side and top to bottom. His syncing of music is right on for both shots in that they follow a sort of burlesque dance across the stage.His use of camera movement and focal length make it almost feel like the room is breathing and alive. For the most part, we should be able to see this happening a lot in traditional cinema, however we are trained to focus on the actor rather than the room around them in these dramatic swoops of the camera.

From the way Barney is sequencing his shots, it looks like two parties are going on in the opposing blimps. The two colors of grapes are the only distinguishing characteristic between the two rooms. The play on vertical and horizontal lines is a pretty strong theme in his first part as the legs are a huge emphasis in the beginning and at this point. There is the metaphor of the women's legs being as fine as porcelain as they are leaning out the window. This relationship is established during the overhead camera view in which all the legs are horizontal, much like the supporting structure of the centerpiece of the table. The guiding lines of the legs and the centerpiece would lead you side to side to make the comparison for yourself.

In addition to the lines, there is a voyeuristic sort of theme going on in the piece. The women start out as scantily clad and willing to show off what is underneath their skirts. On the blimp however, the dress style of the women appear to be quite prudish, almost like catholic school nuns. There is a lot of peeking at them from under the table, staring at their feet and crossed legs. It almost illustrates the subtle way men look at women when they aren't aware of it.

Barney seems to start a new sequence with the woman under the table. Due to the way she is dressed and the broken music box sort of background ambiance, it feels like we are staring at a broken doll that is laid to rest. I feel like the grapes illustrate a sort of male stimulation in which the movement  conveys a stirring in the loins. The way Barney cuts from the prudish woman to the one under the bed shows, at least to me, that she is harboring some kind of sexual desire that she is keeping under the covers. They constantly stare out the window for the  fear that someone is judging their outer appearance.It looks to me like the football field is masculinity portrayed as a monolith and the women are put on a pedestal way up in the blimps.

Avant-garde artist with digital technology

After viewing multiple Bjork and Matthew Barney's artworks I found that avant-garde artists normally could follow the steps of digital technology. Because when they need to achieve their weird effects, digital technology is a  good resource for them to rely on. Unique colour, sharp-cut theme, reshaped objects and unrestricted style, audience view them as avant-garde is largely determined by that they're unfamiliar with artists' magic technology. Of course, this not equals to that people who knows technology could creative them as well.

One of Bjork's was impressed on my heart which called Hyper ballad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26sP2WsA5cY
Bjork is lying on a digital projection screen with her eyes closed, then another Bjork projects on the former one, with her eyes opened and singing crazily. Multiple overlapped digital layers intwine with each other rhythmically, which draws a split situation for our viewers.
This is also could be interpreted as an excellent digital projection's application in art, I really like it.


Matthew Barney's works I think are a little bit bloody and irascible just as what he said.

However, I have not to deny that his work sparks his endless intelligence and his thistly but valuable emotion. 

Synaesthetic Synthesis: Simultaneous Perception of Harmonic Opposites

Youngblood has pointed out that cinema is newly defined by every person that creates a film. However that argument loses ground when we, as human beings, are only limited to define what we have access to; in other words, a pool of knowledge and resources available to the human race. In this way, the relationships defined may be new and never before observed.They aren't completely new, but rather a new derivative of what we currently have available to us. The only way something truly new is defined comes with the way of advancements in humanity and technology that would give us deeper insights into our understandings of nature and therefore a new element in the pool from which we can draw new and grander observations.

Super Video Converter

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

You can convert to any format of audio or video with it.

Blade Runner screening

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a screening of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Professors Diana and James presented their take on the many themes existing in the movie and how this movie affected their career in some way or another. It was entertaining to say the least. It's been a while since I have last seen Blade Runner; when I initially watched it, I was with friends and I'll admit, we didn't pay much attention to the movie. I noticed multiples of themes in this movie, which contributes to its fame of being one of the most famous science fiction movies to date. Like most movies featuring a dystopian setting, topics arise along the lines of a deteriorating earth (pollution, lack of resources), unethical political systems, and the most important in this movie being genetic manipulation and cloning. You'll notice there are many extreme close-ups of human eye balls. In the movie, there is a test called the Voight-Kampff test that determines wether a being is human or replicant. As such, many characters' eyes are focused on screen in a way to let the audience know that his or her existence as a human or replicant is in question.

Thoughts on Blade Runner

There are many movies produced by current filmmakers about human's future, but I believe that I finished my first real science fiction film until I have seen the movie called Blade Runner.

Actually, I couldn't understand every conversation when I watched, but I could still receive those cold-blooded,hopeless and lonely emotions in the film. Endless darkness and dirtiness in the street while temporary artificial light and  delicacy in the room, which develops a great contrast to our audience. 

Whether from macro environment setup or micro details design, this film is successful. I notice a detail related to character's eyeballs in the film. On the one hand, replicant's creator wore a pair of thick glasses, whose eyes are deformed beneath those glasses and finally, as a punishment, his eyes to be pierced by his replicant. Replicant Roy and his lover, their white part in  eyes even more than their eyeballs. Further, the expensive owl which only has two empty eye holes and ridiculous eyeballs experiments for replicants' discrimination. On the other hand,  Rachael, as a replicant who is implanted memory without knowing her real status,  possesses two big, beautiful and storytelling eyes. In addition, When Roy at the end of his life, his sorrowful tears from his eyes in the rain. 

There are multiple versions of the end, whether Deckard is replicant or not. I would like to share some of my personal thoughts at here. Firstly, I have read a book written by Haruki Murakami, unicorn in his book is a typical symbol of freedom and goodliness, so I think Deckard's dream also tells us he is looking for his happiness and his love.  Secondly,abnormal Roy saves Deckard at the last second and he is full of sadness to express his last memory and feeling,  helping audience jump out of action thriller to realize that even a replicant also could have two paradoxical mental sides, so as a human, which is the best way for us to cope with our replicant's problem? Whether it is possible that replicants to be more human while human to be more inhuman?  Thirdly, memory is a magic thing. Because of memory, Roy hope he possess his real life; Because of memory, Rachael couldn't receive the truth of herself; Because of memory, Deckard finally finds out his own answer. Even though a person cannot forget everything in his life is torturous, we still need to remember what memories we got from our past experience, and to remember the feelings when we retrieve our memories, our memories prove our existence and our existence is our condition for everything.

Exploring Quartz Composer

• left is original, right is after a few random alterations
• added crystalize effect to the background that is attached to the patch time node
• added a blue effect to the dragon's body
• reduced the number of iterations for the body
• original video can be found here: http://vimeo.com/5697326

Global Closed Circuit: The Earth as Software

While I agree with Youngblood's assertion that television is the software of the Earth. I find the statement to be a bit dated now and find that the internet is the upgrade to this software. It has become much easier to track the social and psychological conditions of people, and therefore the environment, through social media and blogs. Thanks to the end user agreements, it is also possible to track the locations of specific social trends and such with the use of servers. The internet has essentially given us a higher resolution model of the human race which can almost be broken down to the separate individual. I say almost as there are still those without a social media profile or still refuse to use the internet.

The Technosphere: Man/Machine Symbiosis p. 180-207

I read “The Technosphere: Man/Machine Symbiosis” in the Gene Youngblood text. This chapter spoke on the man’s right to be unique and the relationship between man and machine. Some key items mentioned in the text were the evolution of leisure and how computers are used in society. There is an ongoing debate on whether computers make leisure a problem or if our culture is one that demands leisure. I believe that it matters on which way you are using computers. Although some may argue that playing video games all day is still productive because they are therapeutic, improve motor skills, improve vision, etc., I would argue that this form of computing makes leisure a problem. Playing games and aimlessly surfing the Internet all day only becomes a problem when it takes over one’s life and keeps a person from benefitting society. Another interesting point of view that Youngblood had was that computers change the meaning of life. He stated that we must learn how to live all over again and intelligent machines are beginning to dominate man. I agree to some extent. Society as a whole is becoming lazy when it comes to using our brains. We live in a country today where it is very easy to just “Google” an answer to a question rather than find a book or person to track down information. Why would you scramble through several books for hours in a library when you can easily search for an answer in a matter of seconds online? There are certain benefits to both. While searching on the Internet may be faster, you will be able to learn more in depth about a topic by doing research in the Library.

NO CLASS TODAY

Hello

There is no class today
You may use this time to start to develop your idea for your final project.


PP

Cybernetic Cinema pp.184-206

In this chapter, Youngblood gives examples of using computers to make films in the past. One of the examples indicates the mechanical analogue plotters draws pilot for computer-animated film by William Fetter of Boeing company. There are three key terms in this part which are online, off-line, and real time. It is said that no computer has the power to generate real-time images at that time so that computer art has to be made off-line. Meanwhile, Youngblood predicts that location shooting will be completely simulated with computers in the future. 

Wave-Front Reconstruction: Lensless Photography

            In 1947, Dennis Gabor discovered the art of capturing and reconstructing wave fronts of light at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London.  By reading the light waves in both intensity and frequency, Dr. Gabor was able to record them by imprinting interference patterns of light on a photosensitive surface.  The key is to key the light waves “cohesive” over distances to remain “in phase”.  He discovered that in order to reconstruct a 3D image, he would need very cohesive light.  His idea was to have light whose waves traveled at one frequency.  This did not exist in 1947.

            In 1960, Dr. Theodore Maiman invented the laser, an acronym standing for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.  This laser generated a beam of light that was totally coherent since it was all one wavelength.  Later, in 1965, Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks used the laser in a modification of Gabor’s original holographic technique to produce the first completely successful three-dimensional image.  They used a prism to create two beams from one laser.  To reconstruct the image, a second laser is directed at the hologram from the same position. 

            My first memory of seeing a hologram was at the Haunted House at Disney World in 1973.  I think it was a hologram.  It was 3D inside a glass globe.  Now I’m not sure if it was.  Does anyone know if it was/is a hologram?

reading from p150-p206

In these pages Youngblood mainly discussed Jordan Belson's art and then the next chapter about the relationship between the science and art. I watched some of Belson's work on the website, he was an avant-garde artist who focused on the dynamic movement of form and color in cinematic area.
Through Youngblood's description of his concentration, I thought this artist must produce endlessly critical thoughts and emotions in his life, his artwork possessed a power of transmitting the procedure of forming feelings, making a connection between internality and externality.  Combined with the Youngblood's idea in the following context, I started to think about this question: whether everyone have endlessly abstract thoughts and feelings need to be expressed, if they do,  how they find their own technology to represent them?  part of them? whole of them? or re-determined and re-shaped by the the actual outcome of the artwork? So the computer and the technology brought the revolution into cinematic field, but the thinking in expanded cinema is how the notion of film changed and made, based on the envision of the future technology and extant practice in the present time.
For individual,  we normally design something and then the thing reflected our experience and personality automatically, technology could define how exactly it be, but I just couldn't stop myself imagining a form like telepathy which could not be limited by any of technology but still convey our human's feeling artistically, although it's unwise to divide them separately in this highly-technological world.