Concerned Citizen

http://vimeo.com/54348321

Concerned Citizen Interview

So we might have gotten a little bit ambitious.  We knew we wanted to do something original and do it well.  Our concerned citizen: Brent Adams.  His concern: The moral decay of the entertainment industry.  Entertainment plays a huge role in all our lives.  We see images all day every day -- for the better or worse.  Brent Adams founded the animation program at BYU in order to flood the film workforce with good, moral people.

We knew we had a strong subject, however, we didn't realize that we wouldn't be able to cover our topic in the described one to three minutes.  When we originally edited our piece we ended at about seven minutes, more than double the assignment description.  Needless to say, we had to do a lot of cutting and throwing out -- which was hard because our concerned citizen gave such a great interview.  Fortunately Jason came to our rescue to make the workload at least somewhat reasonable.

Overall, our piece was a great collaborative effort.  Aubrey brought editing mastery to the table, Jason brought audio insight, and Tanner handled the cinematagraphy.  Each of these elements came together to produce a piece we can be proud of.


Aubrey Clark
Jason Richey
Tanner Wilson

Webspinna Tools

Webspinna Sources -
Skype Laughter Chain - YouTube
www.abbottandcostello.net/clips/who1st.wav
Best Of Skype Laughter Chain - YouTube
Freesound.org - "CONGA LOOP 8BARS 100BPM.wav" by sandyrb

Incredibox

inudge.net - Nudge

Social Media Adaptation - The Creature

YouTubeChannel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8VvK43f3jyvCI8EB4j_GUw?feature=CAQQwRs%3D

Artists Statement

Group: Aubrey Clark, Camlyn Giddins, Jason Richey, Justin Zarian

Our literary work was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Within that work, we found the Creature’s experience most intriguing. His journey basically compiles the learning experience of a baby, child, adolescent and finally he develops into an adult, and a tormented one at that. 

To recreate the Creature’s experience, we decided to create and gather images and audio. The story behind it all is Frankenstein creating this being from human remains as well as machinery. The images coming from one of the Creature’s eyes, which is a camera. The audio coming from Dr. Frankenstein’s recorder.  

The social media aspect went through many phases.  We first wanted to use Soundcloud and Instagram, but later realized that Youtube would be a good way to combine both audio and pictures in one.  Youtube also allowed us to incorporate the captain character from the book and create a context in which he found and shared these tapes. In the books, Captain Robert Walton was a narrator, telling these stories to his sister in letters. We found it appropriate that he help tell this story over a social media site and created a profile based on his character.

Artistically, we wanted to show the progression of the Creature’s character. The photos and audio also reflect this progression, as far as quality of the images and sound go. His speech and contemplation also improve.

One of the hardest things to do in this class is to curb creativity and focus it in order to not spend a ton of time doing things that are too big for a week long project. This was probably the worst one for that.  A few of us constantly found ourselves wanting to tell the WHOLE story of Frankenstein, but this daunting task led to frustration.  We had to set limits. Even within those limits though, there was plenty of room for spontaneity. We decided to end the entries with something open ended. We didn’t want to recreate the whole story. We thought it would allow for more thoughts and comments to end with themes like Frankenstein’s abandon, or what is a monster?, what is beauty?, why do we react the way we do to ugliness?, what’s in a name?    

We ended up separating the responsibilities, having the guys in charge of audio and the girls in charge of pictures.  While this seemed a good idea at first since we couldn’t find a time to work all together, it caused a bit of a problem as the we didn’t really communicate what each was doing.  Thus when we met up, the guys had recorded something different than what the girls had taken pictures of.  In the end it worked out, but I think if we had had the opportunity to work side by side more it would’ve been easier.  

We didn’t realize how interactive and Facebook-like Google+ is. There is so much room for the interaction, evolution, and instantaneous aspect we talked about in class. In creating our Youtube account for Robert Walton, we found several ways that his character could be more visible and involved. If we gave ourselves more time, we definitely could make it more expansive.

If we were to spend more time on this project, there is room (with all of the class adaptations really) to make a more abstract adaptation. We kept close to the book overall, but toyed around with the idea of straying. Perhaps we can create an account of a boy, in a foreign land, abandoned by his dad, etc. This is a lot like the TV show Once Upon a Time. As the show illustrates though, this can get complicated... but then again, it only gets as complicated as the ‘writers’ want it.

Historical Story - "Liberty"

Artist's Statement:

We’re going to write our statement as a dialogue between the two of us about how our writing process worked out, because we think it gives a better idea of how our process went. Here goes!

Rae: So, I got on board with the project a little late. Jason had already come up with a great topic, and done a lot of research all by himself. Jason, tell us a little about where you got the idea for this story.

Jason: The idea mostly came from the connection I have to Alexander McRae, one of Joseph Smith’s bodyguards.  He was my great-great-great-grandfather and most (if not all) of the records I have ever found about him have to do with his involvement in Liberty Jail.  When we first were ironing out the idea, the plan was to focus on some of the lesser known stories from Liberty Jail, such as the guards trying to feed the prisoners human flesh, but we felt like these were too vague and not very easy to create a good narrative and script around.  So, as we studied more about Alexander, we found an account of an attempted jail break that occurred while he was in the jail.  Most of the details are directly from an account given by Alexander, and as far as I can tell, his words are the only source known of this attempted breakout.

Rae: I thought it would be fun to try to mimic a jailbreak scene that looked like criminals were escaping, with the audience unaware of who the prisoners are until the very end. Eventually, however, we decided it was best to place the audience’s sympathies with the escapees. We did try to hold on to the idea that it’s unclear who is being held in prison for most of the story.

Jason: I think we succeeded in making the story work as to keeping it hidden from the audience (at least a viewing audience) where the story is taking place and who the characters are.

Rae: We had high aspirations for this piece, but there were a number of challenging things to work through. It was really difficult to translate the idea we shared of how the scenes would go to a script.  
1. We knew where we wanted the beats in the story, for instance, but wanted to establish them without resorting to simply writing ‘beat.’
2. We had a certain look in mind for the script, but didn’t want to overwhelm the reader with descriptions.
3. Because our script involves a ridiculous number of characters for such a short sequence, we didn’t have the space to develop every character the way we would have liked.
4. It was difficult to make it clear who the main character was supposed to be. We’re hoping that it is at least implied that the audience sees the scene from Alexander’s point of view.
5.  We weren’t sure how much dialogue to put in for the main fight scene. Obviously, it would have been noisy, but explicitly stating what every character was saying would probably have run counter to our objective of keeping the scene as fast paced and sudden as possible.

Jason: The thing that was hardest about the script was trying to make it clear what was happening without going into too much detail that should be open to director interpretation.  

Rae: So, what did we learn while working on this?

Jason: The most important thing I learned was more about my ancestor.  I had only briefly skimmed his history before this project, and after doing research, I learned so much more about him as a man, as a Mormon, and as a friend of the Prophet Joseph.  I didn't even know about the prison break until I studied up on it.  This connection is very special to me, and I tried to make the story as true to his account as possible so as to honor him.  
Rae knew a lot more about script writing than I did before we started and I learned a lot from her experience.  I tend to be very wordy and descriptive, and so it was good to have someone there to rein me back when I became too verbose.  I also recognized how deceptively hard it is to translate an idea into a script.  Sometimes it was difficult to unify our ideas and keep on the same page as we both sometimes had different opinions, but it also allowed us to expand and expound the good ideas and quickly stifle the bad ones.  

Rae: As for me, it was wonderful to have someone to bounce ideas off of. Jason was great! I tend to back myself into corners left and right, but working with Jason helped me move on and sort out any problems we were running in to. It was also good to have to defend all your ideas to someone else. Even though I think I can be a little controlling, he managed to put up with it with a great attitude. He had so much good input.
Through this project, I think I learned a lot about working in a partnership. I usually just want to do everything myself, because I don’t trust other people to do things right. I learned, though, that working together can make your work twice as good. There was no way I could have written this without Jason. Especially because it was all his idea!

Genealogical Artifact

Cassette Tape of Granna Reading "Donald Duck and the Witch Next Door"

When I was about 5 years old, my grandmother Anna Richey, or “Granna” for short, sent me a book titled “Donald Duck and the Witch Next Door”.  I rarely saw my Granna more than once or twice a year as she lived so far away, and so along with the book, she sent me a cassette tape recording of her reading the book to me.  So even when she wasn’t there, she was there.  This meant the world to me as I loved my Granna and wanted to see her all the time.  The tape itself was not very special, but the label said “Granna reading to Jason” and I loved seeing my name on a cassette tape.  On the tape, Granna spoke to me as if I were right there next to her.  Granna was the world’s best story reader as far as my 5 year old mind knew.   Her voice on the cassette would change for every single character so I would know who was speaking.  She would even ding a bell when it was time to turn the page.  Maybe she couldn’t do Donald Duck’s voice the same way that it was done in the movies, but who cared?  Every time I listened to that tape, I felt like she was right there, reading to me.  I used to carry a tape player around the house with me and listen to the book in different rooms of the house.   Wherever I went, Granna was with me.

                As I grew up and learned to read, I found that I was able to follow along with Granna as she read, but I never read it on my own.  I had other books for that.  This was my special book that could only be read by Granna.  When I pick up kiddy books I read as a child now, I am always surprised to find that they don’t have the same story as they did when I was a kid.  This is due to the fact that before I could read, I would simply pick up books and make up my own story based on the pictures.  My version of “Cat in the Hat” was much more disturbing with much fewer rhymes.  But “Donald Duck” has the correct story line.  Granna made sure of that.  For this reason, it is my favorite children’s book. 

                It is getting harder to find tape players these days but it is always worth it to me to give this tape another listen.  Recently, my Granna passed away.  I miss her more than words can tell.  The tape contains more than a book.  It contains my grandmother’s love; it contains her regret that she can’t always be with me, while also bridging the gap between us, if only briefly, allowing her to read a book to her loving grandchild.  The gap between us has widened, but this treasure brings her close to me again, just as it did in my youth.    

Artist's Response

When I first wrote about this tape, I hadn't listened to it for years.  I was writing about it's meaning to me in the past.  But when I went home and asked my parents about it, they reminded me of some of the finer details I hadn't recalled.  They told me about how I used to carry around a tape player so that I could listen to it again and again.  I must've listened to it over a hundred times.  They said I always got a kick out of hearing my name spoken aloud by my Granna.  When I listened to the tape again, I realized that it still applied.  My grandma is gone to a place I can't visit, but I can still hear her voice and hear her say "I love you".  It is a great treasure to me.

I realized after writing it like a story, that I wanted it to be more like a memoir, something that stood as a tribute to my Grandma and the treasure she left me.  I felt like writing it in this way allowed me to more fully convey my feelings about the object, rather than just telling a particular moment of using it.  I realize this is a bit off of what I was supposed to write about, but I prefer it this way.  

Process Piece - The BYU Experience

http://soundcloud.com/123sendmestuff/the-byu-experience/s-T9mau

This was one of the funnest projects I've ever worked on.  I have always loved the story telling aspect of sound.  In fact, it was that very thing that got me interested in Film.  I was in TMA 102, Intro to Film, and our teacher showed us a clip from a movie but didn't turn on the projector.  We were only able to listen to the scene.  I realized how powerful sound can be in developing a story.  My mind was creating all sorts of images just from the sounds I heard.  Afterwards, he showed us the scene including video, and I was blown away.  Sometimes I got the sounds dead right, other times I was totally wrong.  I decided I wanted to learn how to do something like that.  And this assignment sort of did that for me.  I tried to tell the process using as little dialog a possible, mostly focusing on sounds that identify BYU to me and others I spoke with.  I was very pleased with the outcome.  It flows from a beginning of the year devotional all the way through graduation.  It was a bit different from what we initially thought of when writing out our ideas for this project. I think it accomplishes what it needs to.
One thing I screwed up on was the use of a particular sound while editing.  We captured the sound of a little boy trying to sound like a cougar, but when I put it in the mix with the sounds of the bookstore, it just got confused and sounds like a mistake.  I think it adds to the cacophonic experience of being in the bookstore with a lot of people who you only catch snippits of conversation from, but I can see why someone would be confused by it.
The sounds used are a combination of sounds Tanner and I collected together, and sounds that I had recorded from past devotionals and convocations that I had access to due to my job as an audio technician for BYU.  I was grateful for this access as the vision we had in the beginning wouldn't have come to light without them.

Thick Description

The Way Things Were

A memory.  A shining moment of joy from days long gone.  Dimmed by time, yet illuminated in the wake of a re-visitation to the weed filled valley, site of a dozen Saturdays with Dad.  The memory fills my mind with the clarity and distance of a moment seen through a telescope.  Telescopes, Dad says, are a window to the universe... and rockets are the door.  The yellow-gray weeds sway in the breeze like a giant wheat field.  Tiny kernels burst from the tips, peppering the ground as we rush past, seeking a bald spot from which to launch.  There it is, slightly raised, a brown, dry mound of earth, the perfect springboard to the stars.  We open our bags, and pull out four black legs.  Dad proceeds to set up the launchpad while I gently remove our most recent creation.  Long and red, with bright yellow fins, I hold it in both hands, careful not to drop it.  The edges are a little rough... Dad let me glue the fins on myself, consequently leaving large gobs of clear paste jutting out around the sides.  But once it's airborne, no one will notice.  A smile creeps up my face.  This is a special launch.  I caught a centipede on our basement steps just hours ago, and is now stowed in the midsection of my rocket, a couple of cotton balls stuffed around it to keep it safe.  The casing there is clear, so the centipede will be able to see out.  Lucky little astronaut.

Today - I stand in the middle of a bright cul-de-sac.  White houses surround me, gleaming and bright in the midday sun.  What once was a flowing sea of brown and gold, is now a desert of asphalt, concrete and plastic.  Where my launchpad once was sits a tall white basketball standard.  Trees spring up all over the place, each shining a different shade of green in the bright sun, yet even these seem artificial.  They are too perfect, each painstakingly placed to provide the proper atmosphere.  Nearby is a sign, "Blind Child Area" in big bold black letters against florescent yellow.  I try to see the field from my childhood rocket launches, but everywhere I turn there is another grouted wall, a manicured lawn, a leaky hose spigot.   I am blinded by the years, and the change.

 The launchpad is finished.  Dad calls me over, and I run, nearly tripping over my over long jeans and dropping my precious treasure.  The launchpad stands ready, a long silver pole jutting up out of the earth, a reverse lightning rod... not to bring down power from above, but to ascend.  The pole slides easily through the two holes along the side of the rocket.  We run out a safe distance and Dad hands me the controls.  The countdown begins.  "5."

I suppose the place has its charms.  The sun plays on the buildings in a friendly way.  This is no slum; it is perfect for raising kids, I think, as a few run out into their yard to push around their mulitcolored trucks.  But as I walk around the sidewalk again, I can't help but think that I will never be able to launch another rocket from this spot again.

"2... 1... Blastoff!"  The button is pressed, the rocket takes to the sky in a burst of flame and a rush of air.  It's gotta be a mile up now!  Dad says it's no more than a few hundred feet but I know better.  I can't even see it anymore in the gray overcast sky.  Where'd it go?  I stand here, nervously twisting my body and head all around to try to catch a glimpse of the falling capsule.  There it is!  But wait... something is wrong.  The parachute hasn't deployed!  It's falling too fast.  If it crashes... what of our hard work?  What of that poor centipede?   The nose tips and the rocket continues to dive straight down towards the embankment of the valley.  Don't break, don't break, don't break.... THUD!  The run to my fallen treasure feels like rushing to the deathbed of a loved one.  There isn't much you can do to fix it, but you feel as if haste will somehow make it better.  I reach the spot and wade through the sagebrush, praying.  A glint of red through the dusty brown bushes.  Here it is!  It seems to have survived the fall, but not without casualties.  Two red fins lay helpless on the ground.  I reach down and lift the capsule, looking into the clear plastic to see if my centipede survived.  It isn't moving.  I pull the top off and remove the cotton balls.  Somehow the centipede seems fused the to cotton, perhaps melted there.  Poor little guy.  But wait.  He's stirring.  I place him on the ground and he pulls free of his binding.  A foot or two are left behind but he scurries away, happy as can be!  And why shouldn't he be?  What a trip!  I pick up the pieces of my rocket.  In a younger time, I'd have been angry that my rocket broke, but I'm a seasoned pro by now!  All it needs is a little glue and it'll be ready for the next launch in no time.  My smile widens as I look at Dad, who returns it.  Hand in hand, we wade back through the brush, back through the sea of weeds... back through time...

As I drive away from the valley of a thousand homes, I wish for times gone by.  Progress marches on, leaving my childhood Cape Canaveral unrecognizable.  My memories will never be shared by the children in that cul-de-sac, but I can only imagine what adventures they will have in their own backyards.  After all, there is probably a tiny centipede, descendant of my little astronaut, who is waiting for his adventure too.