This is a movie created in 1920 that still comes into some topics of today. Dr. Jekyll attempted to create an experiment that went completely wrong and causes him to become an angry morphed side of himself. This version is a silent movie, but still gets the creepy plot across to its viewers. Also, if you ever visit NYC, you should attend the Jekyll and Hyde cafe. It has workers in costumes that come up to your table and attempt to scare you. They also have live entertainment of some of these workers or of the many props they have situated around the cafe. For example, they have old-looking portraits of either people or creatures whose eyes follow you as you walk by. And don't worry.. it is most childish than actually scary so don't be frightened to go and grab some dinner with a few friends.
I think the horror of old times is what interests me the most. A lot of what was considered terrifying to people back in the day is not so scary to us anymore... most likely due to the advancement of special effects and other aspects of the movies, but given that they did not have as much technology as us they still produce great films with great plot lines. Much of the plots that our society uses is derived from ideas before but just expressed in a more modern way.
Here is the link for the Jekyll and Hyde cafe is you are interested in checking it out: http://www.jekyllandhydeclub.com
From my previous posts about the eerie black and white series of The Twilight Zone, I want to share a post about a series on netflix that has caught my eye. In every episode, the plot is different but all episodes are surrounded by a common theme of futuristic situations. Although it is completely sci-fi, it really makes you contemplate and wonder about how the future is going to be, good or bad?.. Who knows, but the series does a good job on setting the scene.
The series is called "Black Mirror" and gives you far-fetched stories of the future. What concerns me about what they make you think about is that almost every episode is bombarded by the use of technology and digital screens. I mean, we are already always around tv screens, phone screens, computer screen, etc. so if this is the future.. how bad is it going to be then. An example of one of the episodes is a women wakes up unaware of who she is or what she does with her life. She wakes up in a completely changed environment and has to run for her life from people who are trying to kill her. While she is running from these scary people, the rest of civilization, instead of helping her, just videotapes her on their phones without any signs of concern or remorse for not helping. I won't spoil this episode but you should definitely check it out on netflix. It is the "WhiteBear" episode and is probably one of my favorites. You can find all of the episodes on netflix and I am sure there is another way to watch them for free online. Feel free to check it out!
I believe that the Wizard of Oz expresses underlying meaning, more than what most people interpret it at. Along with it being a classic movie which most people have seen numerous times, it transitions from the old black and white formatted film to a colored place that so animates the characters of the film. The transition from black and white to color can also convey the mental place where Dorothy is. When she is in black and white, she is not so contempt with her life as she lives with her aunt and uncle on a farm. It is almost as if Dorothy is missing something from her life, which almost draws her to the city of Oz. However, when Dorothy finally makes it to Oz (although she was transported in a tornado and thankfully has Toto aside her) she cannot fathom how beautiful the place she was dropped in is. It is filled with colors, which she has not seen before, with people she has not seen before, and eventually with a side of herself she hasn't seen before.
Dorothy's journey through Oz gives her the greatest friendships she would not have gained when she was in Kansas. She gains courage from the cowardly lion, more heart from the tin man, and more intelligence from the scarecrow, regardless of if these characters did not have these in the beginning of the film. She helps these characters throughout the duration of the film but in the end they help her even more. They gave her traits that she was somewhat lacking or was not given an experience in Kansas where she had toe express these positive characteristics. I think the best part of the film, "The Wizard of Oz", is that any age or type of audience can enjoy it. Although it originated as a childhood book, this story exceeds the ordinary young audience expected but can really provoke people's enjoyability while watching it. Along with this, it also has catchy songs that almost everyone can remember.
From my childhood, I was more revolved around the movie, "Return to Oz", which tells the story of Dorothy finding her way back to the Emerald City, that is completely destructed and all of the inhabitants are turned to stone. It is here where she meets even newer friends that help her along the way and eventually save her old friends form the original movie. It is definitely a creative twist to the original movie and has more advanced effects because it was created in 1985. Although Dorothy is portrayed as younger in this movie, it really gets the message across that Dorothy cannot remember being in the land of Oz, but once again feels that there is something empty in her life. There is a point in the movie where she is laying in bed and sees a shooting star. She tells her Aunt Em that she saw it and her aunt and uncle eventually think that there is something wrong with Dorothy because of her strange behavior. However, it all transitions back to the shooting star being a signal from her old friends of the lion, tin man, and scared crow. They send her this message to tell her that the land of Oz is in shambles and they are in need of her help. In this, she finds her way back to Oz for another enduring journey of finding more of herself through her relationship with the people she meets. If you are interested in watching this movie, I am going to post the full movie from youtube!
When watching a cartoon, it is not the first thing you think of as to how each movement of the cartoon is made. Well, it is not as easy as it looks, especially for the cartoon industry that emerged early in time. This can be exemplified through the youtube videos of Walt Disney Cartoons that convey the amount of effort that needs to be put into creating cartoons. Not only do the characters have to be drawn and decided as what to look like but also these characters must be redrawn for every single movement that is chosen to be shown within the cartoon. So for even just a small clip of a cartoon a couple of pages for a character must be made to efficiently show the character's actions. Imagine how hard it must be to not only draw an individual character's actions but to also show this character interacting with other characters' movements.
For the dialogue within the picture, it must be paralleled with the characters' movements and their interactions with each other. So the entire motion picture must technically be completed planned and organized before the movements of the characters are drawn. "Several trial and error" must be done before the finishing piece is revised and ready to be initiated. It is also not just the sketch artists and script writers that are included in this but also composers who will be handling the music and sound effects along with editors who improve and modify the draft piece that was first written. The time that these talented people put into for the entertainment of other people is astonishing. I, myself, know I could not handle drawing the same character over and over for every movement made and then somehow incorporate other characters' drawn movements into the same setting.
I looked into more youtube videos of the development of Walt Disney Cartoons, especially more modern ones, and they were truly just as interesting and entertaining to watch compared to the black and white dictation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". If you're interested, I am posting the video of the development of "Beauty and the Beast", one of the most well-know of Walt Disney's creations!
Jordan Matter created the "Dancers Among Us" photography theme of using ballet dancers in different everyday settings. In taking pictures of these dancers, Matter had to organize the precise timing that the dancer would be at the position he desired to capture. Thinking of this... it seems pretty hard to as my friends and I have sometimes tried to take jumping in the air pictures. But to capture such a graceful moment of ballet within everyday settings is beyond the time based aspect of it. In simple terms, Matter utilized his series of photos to express the beauty in our daily lives that is most of the time overlooked. To express the beauty and happiness in life, Matter used these ballet dancers in graceful and sometimes humorous positions to get his message across to viewers. I found the dancer in the shower doing the pose in mid-air to be a bit humorous as he was.. completely naked (haha)..
I think the utmost importance that I took from Matter's piece of artwork was the obvious reason of my fondness for his approach in getting his message across. It was such an unique and individualized way to exhibit the meaning of life he so clearly cherishes. However, there is an outlook on media that seriously needs to be addressed. Matter's photos were viral on different sites with zero credit to him or his artwork. I do not even think these websites labeled the title of the series of pictures. So even if people were amazed by his artwork, there was no source that could bring the viewer to Matter's official page. Matter's is a photographer/artist that wants his artwork to be made public and hopefully touch people's hearts with the meaning he wanted to convey. After further aggravation with these websites and numerous fans calling them out, the websites finally gave credit to Matter for his beautiful series of photos.
This is something to take into consideration when perceiving the social media/internet side of displaying artwork. It can be a monumental success for some artists as Matters said it was for him, but then again it can also deteriorate the value put on the piece because it has no brilliant individual standing behind it. I believe that crediting artwork can make a viewer more intrigued by it because if its titling the piece and giving credit to the artist then it must really be something extraordinary to look at. With this being said, the art world is being extremely opened to the internet and social media, but it is important to recognize it can really devalue art pieces if there is no source of the beautiful work done.
Reading the article about photography timing was quite amazing. From being able to see a timeline of photos dating back from 1826 was so intriguing at the numerous efforts to minimize the timing to take a picture. I mean, look at the first picture the article shows that the man took of his backyard.. You cannot even make out what you're looking at. But then, the next picture is an enormously made progression into advancing techniques of taking pictures. One of the pictures I am familiar with is the picture a man took using a stereoscopic camera and taking a series of pictures, in which a horse is racing on the track. The man did this to gain knowledge as to if a horse ever has all four hooves off the ground and it was a remarkable discovery of his use of cameras back in 1878, reducing the camera time to 40 thousandths of a second. Today, it is now so easy for people to just take a picture so quickly and not even think of the technology behind because we as humans sure did have to take some time to advance the timing of it.
Here is another article you can enjoy that shows some of the first photos ever taken. Enjoy :)
As technology advances, people's direct communication with one another advances as well. But even beyond this, it is people's cultures put into a pool of expression that technology is really progressing. The ability to express whatever one is feeling through the internet is what opens the door for limitless possibilities of new styles, techniques, modernizations, and inspirations that are flooding into the world. I believe this infinite circle of ideas is what consistently animates the world of art. Each step of advancement in technology gives numerous opportunities for artists to utilize their ideas in different ways. Simply, the more tools available the more creative an artist can get. It is important for artists to stay in the look with new technological advancements, regardless of if they feel the need to us technology within their artwork. To just scroll through updates of upcoming pieces of artwork, in my opinion, can make a great deal of impact on how open their mind is to imagination.
However, regardless of professional artists, amateur artists who are trying to get into the business or even people who just want to publicize their art work have the utmost opportunity on the internet. The internet is the way of complete expression to the world even though there is no actual contact. It is significant, however, for artists utilizing technology for their art work to remember what makes something a piece of art. There has to be passion, emotion, visual stimulation. I believe using technology can blind some people of how effective it is to step back from technology for a second and realize the best way to interact with one's emotions is to be by oneself. Working on a computer, for instance, will not get in touch with your feelings but even more so be influenced by other people's feelings. As an artist, I find that I work best when I am working with myself, my hands, my music, my preferable environment. It is technology that can blind some people of this and that is where I agree in this article that technology can actually hinder an artists' ability rather than enhance it. I, personally, work better without technology when it comes to creating art. Being able to dig deep into my thoughts and experiment with ideas that I am not aware will turn out successful is the most efficient way to creating passionate art.
So to make a comment on the quote' "Today, in our connected world, almost everyone creates. Almost everyone participates"... I feel as if using technology for the world of art can be a great thing until it makes someone lose their sense of self and sense of passion. Once passion is lost, the motive for art is worthless.
