Hello World

Quick Introduction

I'm Kenya. Second Year Masters' Student here at the Digital Worlds Institute.

My interests lie in 3D avatars/animation/environments in respect to projections

ABOUT THE REQUIRED TEXTS/READINGS

ALl of the texts, unless otherwise mentioned are online or will be shared with you electronically. There is no need to purchase any textbooks in this class because we are using this blog as our virtual "text" and we will be using the software manuals as our guides for understanding the technical elements of programming interactive projection designs here is the location for the GENE YOUNGBLOOD readings you will need to do when assigned http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/PDF_ExpandedCinema/book.pdf
 It is called EXPANDED CINEMA.

And here is the Article written by THOMAS WILFRED, who you will be learning about much more as the semester proceeds
http://rhythmiclight.com/articles/LightAndTheArtist.pdf

The Dante Quartet Comments

After watching the Dante Quartet, I began to realize how a 2-Dimensional image can trick the eye and start to form 3D shapes and movement. After watching the images pass by for a while, I started to see a lot of fluidity within the pieces - my subconscious didn't have enough time to fully process each image, so it tried to make one up using all of them. I also found it interesting to watch with no sound - I believe if it were set to music, it may even become a more powerful show. I'm still trying to work out the initial reference to hell - I suppose were you to be locked in a place surrounded by these images that kept flashing before you, then you would go crazy and it would ultimately feel like hell. The images are harsh to me and evoke feelings of discomfort. After a while, I started to see faces jumping out and moving shapes. It's quite interesting how this was accomplished, and how it can be applied today using modern technology.

Andrea Terrasa- Intro and "The Dante Quartet" Video Comments

Hello everyone! My name is Andrea Terrasa. I am currently a Sophmore Dance and Telecommunications double major. I am mainly a belly dancer, but modern dance trickled into my life when I discovered it at UF. I love creating works that make people think and illusions that stun the visual senses. I took this class because I believe that it will destroy the physical limits within my artistry by providing a new source of artistic outpour that is infinite. Technology and artistry combined are limitless and I am excited to expand my artistic and technological horizons through this class. 

Stan Brakhage’s “The Dante Quartet” highlights the versatility and chaotic order that can be achieved through the correct use of color and lighting. The contrasting layers of color provided and interesting depth to the piece as I often found myself attempting to figure out what was behind all of the quickly changing colors. Brakhage’s use of timing was marvelous and it kept the piece interesting and unpredictable. Words quickly popped onto the screen and disappeared instantly, adding to the progressively quickened pace of the work. In my opinion, the movement of the colors in the piece reminded me of bugs and Hell in relation to “Dante’s Inferno”. This hellish mood was also supplemented by the progressively darkening colors within the piece. 

HISTORICAL EAST AND WEST COAST 1960s

GLENN MCKAY HEADLIGHTS Glenn McKay, a painter, began performing light shows after attending one of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests at the Fillmore Auditorium in January of 1966, where Martin had provided the visuals. The Acid Tests featured bathtubs full of LSD, a light show by Tony Martin, and performances by the Grateful Dead. McKay did hundreds of shows with the Jefferson Airplane and the Dead, mostly at the Winterland Ballroom. In 1968, his group staged "An Evening with Glenn McKay's Headlights" at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The San Francisco Museum of Art held a retrospective of his work in 1999. Using slides, 16mm film, and overhead projectors, McKay and his cohort combined photographic and liquid media so that, according to McKay, "it was like painting with three or four hands." Describing the aims of his project, McKay has said, "I'm providing a new door to the consciousness of sound and color--to be so in touch with the emotion and the rhythm of the experience losing any sense of separation between the color, moving images, and the sound." In other words, McKay hopes to elicit a synaesthetic response in his beholder in which the elements of his light play, combined with sound, result in a Huxley-like movement that invigorates or transcends quotidian perception. ANDY WARHOL EXPLODING PLASTIC INEVITABLE The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by regulars of Warhol's Factory, especially Mary Woronov and Gerard Malanga. Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable is also the title of a 18-minute film by Ronald Nameth with recordings from one week of performances of the shows which were filmed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1966. In December 1966 Warhol included a one-off magazine called The Plastic Exploding Inevitable as part of the Aspen No. 3 package.[1] Performance of Exploding Plastic Inevitable in Ann Arbor The Exploding Plastic Inevitable had its beginnings in an event staged on January 13, 1966 at a dinner for the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry. This event, called "Up-Tight", included performances by the Velvet Underground and Nico, along with Malanga and Edie Sedgwick as dancers.[2] Inaugural shows were held at the Dom in New York City in April 1966, advertised in The Village Voice as follows: "The Silver Dream Factory Presents The Exploding Plastic Inevitable with Andy Warhol/The Velvet Underground/and Nico."[3] Shows were also held in The Gymnasium in New York and in various cities throughout the United States.

Intro for Alex Pinchin and Video Comments

    Hey my name is Alex Pinchin. I am currently in the Digital Arts and Sciences degree through the College of Engineering as well as minoring in Light Design in the College of Fine Arts. However I am applying for the new Digital Worlds Institute version of the degree this Spring and will hopefully be starting this Fall as part of the first class for the degree. I grew up in Sarasota and went to a Visual and Performing Arts high school where my focus started out as acting but I soon changed to Technical Theater. The department was very small so I ended up having my hands in every aspect from lighting to sound to management and even set design. While we didn't have any kind of projection technology I started to find videos online about 3D projection on various buildings and this video done by Playstation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrgWH1KUDt4. I have seen the Box video that was shown to us during these explorations as well but it's still always cool to watch. My hope is to one day work with Disney as an Imagineer to build interactive technologies throughout the parks. I love their projection show on Cinderella's Castle as well as the "World of Color" show in California.

"Celebrate the Magic"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JynisCVbox4
"World of Color"          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhUPzPcAO1w

    Dante's Quartet was an interesting to say the least piece. I'm already familiar with Dante's Inferno which this was definitely based on. While they weren't very distinct I felt as though I could see faces and eyes throughout the Hell portion of the video. The colors were very dark throughout that portion. Once we hit Purgatory the colors got a little brighter because it is not as dark of a topic. There was images that were set as the background and you could catch different glances of it. In the beginning there was a picture on a man standing on the right side. There was a scene with a door on the left upper hand side. What seemed like maybe a library in another segment with a round door maybe in the middle. There was a volcanic eruption that took up the right hand side at one point. I know the moon's surface took up the bottom for a little bit of time when I paused it in parts. I downloaded the video and when clip by clip to try and find what other images there were hidden within it. One part of the video while not being images but rather shapes seemed like it was supposed to represent space because it was a black background with white holes spread out.

Andrea Ward - Intro and Video Comment

    My name is Andrea and I'm a freshman BFA dance major. I'm nineteen years old and I'm from Sarasota. I started dancing and choreographing when I was eight years old. I started playing guitar and writing music when I was fourteen. I started into film when I was sixteen. I took history of film and film production in my junior year of high school, and when I transferred to State College of Florida in my senior year, I took another productions course paired with a study of classic American Directors. I've had to film documentaries, short narratives, and music videos, but never have I experimented with projection design. I'm really looking forward to this class. I believe that it's going to be one of my favorites. If anyone would like to check out my film projects from my youtube page, here's a link.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQpUHJbcHYkDA7Q5ChSoKeA/videos?sort=dd&view=1&flow=grid&live_view=500

    After some research, I believe that Dante's Quartet was based on the epic poem, Divine Comedy, written by the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, in the 1300s.
    In the first scene, we witness Brakhage's interpretation of hell itself, in which we observe images that aren't really identifiable. That speaks for itself.
    In the second scene, we see 'hell split flexion'. Dante's Divine Comedy was a depiction of the soul's journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven, ultimately seeking God. Thus, 'hell split flexion' could imply the time in which one's soul transitions (or splits and bends, i.e. flexion) into purgatory. We watch as the frame shrinks and displays imagery that is more identifiable. For instance, there are a few pauses in which there is nothing but one small speck of light. Perhaps this symbolizes the action of the soul recognizing its sins and transitioning away from them into the next step toward God.
    In the third scene, we see 'purgation'. I may be crazy but I'm pretty sure that I see the shape of a figure directly in the center of the frame; could be human, could be something else. There's a pause of darkness. Then, there's definitely a woman lifting her arms up in front of us at 3:04. Also, something that I find very interesting is that at 3:25, the colors fade from us while more colors begin just one layer beneath it. It would be cool to know how Brakhage did that. Next, see the image of someone standing in a doorway, then a man's face wearing sunglasses. Around 4:45, we see two people sitting together. Eventually, we see many faces. I wonder how many faces are actually there, and if I just can't see them because of the rate at which they are shown.
    Finally, we see 'existence is song'. I'm not sure where the song comes in, but I do know that the theory behind Divine Comedy was that all sin arises from love, and that in the end, the soul reaches 'Paradiso', or Paradise. Thus, the song could be a symbol for love and spiritual enlightenment. In Dante's final scene, we start off under water looking at a coral reef. Next, we're on the moon above the craters. Then, we're at the top of a volcano where the lava is splashing.
    Overall, I love the video, but I'm not sure what Brakhage was trying to provoke. Perhaps it's his interpretation of what the conscious experiences after life; the soul's journey. Or maybe it's not that simple.