The Sneeze

The film The Snezze showed that from early on, film could make something interesting even if it seems mundane at the time. Also the fact that the sneeze is one of the first films shows that film was being used that way in the beginning, before their was a a movement to make everything on film seem extremely interesting. It also is an amusing example of the power of documentation in film, or its ability to keep a record. It may have seemed experimental to them but to us many years later is on interesting document from a time we never would have been able to see motion from otherwise.

Narrative Structure

If by definition a narrative is a logical series of incidents that take us from point A to concluding point B, then these films show that every segment of a narrative does not need to focus on the story or getting to the next point, they can be about whatever so long as it actually does lead to the next point. Nothing in these films needs to be relevant to the overall story except as a building block to the next step. Or these films even make the story be about gags and about stunts because according to Frampton’s formula that is what we see the most, and yet the segments still lead to one another, no matter how loosely, which still classifies them as narratives. Duck soup and the way things go offers an intervention into narrative because it shows that every part of a story can be vastly independent, but as long as the events lead to one another and then to a conclusion, they are still supporting a narrative structure. The way things go especially breaks down the essentials of narrative because it shows that a narrative does not have to have words or even living objects, just objects which are given a type of controlled life (through physics and chemistry) and a series of events as a result of one another.

Nam June Paik’s Ruin seems to be going for a similar type of intervention as Ant Farm’s Media Burn, but without the spectacle of the fiery crash it is going to have a different impact in regards to intervention. It has an aesthetic quality going for it and also all of the television screens are turned on, which more effectively conveys the feeling of a sensory overload than a quick crash witnessed from far away. The car crashing into the TV’s make people think about how much they should hate their sets; just seeing a crowd of people seemingly hating television should make one think about the threat TV can pose. But the crash could potentially distract from the point, which is to point out the issues surrounding the nature of television. The fact that Media Burn is a spectacle in itself can easily distract from the fact that it is parodying the search for the spectacle, which is a quality of TV broadcasting. Ruin however has more of an ability to simulate the experience of watching too much TV, by actually presenting too much TV(watching) before you. In that way the spectator is more likely to identify with the feeling of being physically inundated with media instead of watching the destruction of appliances, which coincidentally is something that would be thoroughly enjoyed by a typical TV audience.

Barbie Liberation Front

Barbie Liberation Front was founded in 1989 to combat the influence of toys that advanced gender based stereo types. They physically switched the voice hardware in Barbies and GI Joes so the GI Joe would say things like “Math is hard” and “I love shopping” and “Will I ever have enough clothes?” And Barbie would give battle commands and say things like vengeance is mine. Then these altered dolls were placed back on the shelves with a little note on back that told the recipients to call their local news. This type of intervention serves a couple of different purposes besides just reminding people of gender based stereotypes. It is a statement that suggests the power media has over society and also reminds us that television is not the only media we are inundated with but even the toys we buy for our children can a significant influence on their development and the way they think from a young age. It also suggests the rampant consumerism in our culture and reminds us of parents responsibilities oversee what information their children are fed and what ideas they get from the culture and media that surrounds them.

Framton's Formula

Love’s Refrain included a lot of random images that did not seem to have much connection to each other. However it could be said that they are connected through their randomness, like images you take in on a walk. It seems to portray movement around the world which can have a large degree of randomness. If you take Frampton’s suggestion that the film is about what you notice the most, than this film would be about branches. Just about any image that reoccurred was a shot looking through or focusing on the movement of branches, but it would be difficult to characterize the film as being about branches. You could say it is a film about nature, but just about any image in a film can be described as depicting the nature of something. In this way Frampton’s theory is not helpful, but if you take it to mean which idea, or theme or feeling did you notice the most to be the meaning than you might have a more accurate idea of what the film is about. If you notice randomness the most in the film, you could say it is a film about randomness, even though randomness is not depicted as an image or a sound. Thinking of the film as being about randomness is probably more helpful than saying it is about branches. This film is silent but if a film doesn’t have to be about an image that is projected it could theoretically be about a sound as well as a feeling. Also if you don’ take the sound of the performer to be literal it could have a lot to do with the sounds of the images. If it feels cluttered or bright this could be a form of loudness, so a silent film could theoretically be about loudness. The sound of the projector was not as noticeable with this film as it was with just a white screen, maybe because the images were loud enough to distract from it. So the sound of the performer does not necessarily have to be a sound, but can also be an image or a feeling conveyed by the piece.

Spiral Jetty

The images of the waders walking through the shallow waters seems to do a number of things for the film. First it gives the audience a sense of the texture and feel of the water were the monument is to be placed. Although the water is clear the lack of life such as algae or fish suggests beauty and uniqueness but also lifelessness. It establishes the environment where the monument is to be placed. It also is a deep contrast to the turbulence of the equipment moving the rocks and dirt and also allows the viewer to contrast the difference in the color and clarity of the water. It stresses the environment change, not necessarily the harm it causes but the way it has changed the landscape.

"Art Develops Character and Vise-Versa"

The intention of the video is to demonstrate that art plays a role in developing a person’s character, and that people’s characters develop art. It shows a collection of art works made by people at different stages of life and shows how the art develops and suggest the development of the artists behind the work. The images are quickly compiled on to and next to one another and juxtaposed or arranged in a certain way that suggests relationships and ideas shared between the pieces and also the development of the works. For example, the images of the horses are compared to each other and the rabbit drawing are arranged in a way that suggests a motivation behind them. And the order of the works suggests a deeper understanding of the work and the skill involved in making art. I did not use sound effects because I felt they would not supplement the viewer’s job of comparing the images. The viewer only has a few seconds to look at many of the images and even music would distract from the job of the audience and the piece. Basically my sound effect is silence and the sound of moving paper. Also any sort of narration would be redundant and also distracting. I think the project did what I intended to do, however there was one more image I intended to show that got cut short. It was a quote that was painted on a canvass boards by a young child that said, “Little strokes fell great oaks.” I thought that was coincided well with the idea of all these little projects being one small part of the development of a human being and their distinct way of looking at the world.

Joe Steigerwald