This is More of A Statement

       What happens to us when we die? Is there some omnipotent creator waiting to remind me of every wrong I’ve made through my life?  Is death simply the antithesis of life?  Does our conscience live on or does it enter an everlasting sleep devoid of dreams?  These type of questions fascinate me because there is no way to know for certain and when you do die, there is no way to share your findings.  Death is such a finite concept, yet it leads to so many unanswerable questions.  My personal understanding is that death is the final octave at the end of your life’s sonnet.

       I am attempting to create an experience using stop motion animation that shows the viewer what it means to be comfortable with death and accepting one's end without a second beginning. This animated short film explores this topic and has a unique connection to creationism where the animator physically creates life on screen out of inanimate objects frame by frame.   

       A major influence on this theme was a ritual I go through every time I fly on a plane. Before the plane lands or takes off, I ask myself a series of existential questions. "Would I ready to die if the plane crashed?" "Do I still have work left to do?" "Would I be ready to complete this existence?" "Do people I care about still need me around?" I already know the answer to these questions, but it's a nice process that helps reassess my life goals and reaffirms the importance of this life.   My most firmly held belief today is that we have to enjoy/appreciate the brief time we have on this earth or risk missing out on the beautiful opportunity that is this life and all it has to offer.

this is not a statement

        One of the most important topics of human existence is the concept of death.  What happens to us when we die? Is there some omnipotent creator waiting to remind me of every wrong I’ve made through my life?  Is death simply the antithesis of life?  Does our conscience live on or does it enter an everlasting sleep devoid of dreams?  These type of questions fascinate me because there is no way to know for certain and when you do die, there is no way to share your findings.  Death is such a finite concept, yet it leads to so many unanswerable questions.  My personal understanding is that death is the final octave at the end of your life’s sonnet.
        I am, at heart, a storyteller.  The majority of my work involves the stop motion medium to tell my story.  I enjoy the rich detail and the ability to create faux realism though the use of miniature sets and puppets.  This level of realism is difficult if not impossible to achieve with other animation techniques.  This is due to the fact that every frame of a stop motion animation existed on a stage utilizing real objects, real lighting conditions, and real textures.  This interest in stop motion comes from my early fascination with Sci Fi and monster movies such as the Star Wars films.  These films heavily used stop motion animation in a time when computer animation was unheard of.  The medium of stop motion has a unique connection to creationism in the fact that the animator physically creates life on screen out of inanimate objects frame by frame.
        Much of my early life was spent internally questioning religious ideology and belief.  As I grew older, my skepticism grew to where I currently reject the notion of an afterlife or second life.  The followers of organized religion believe that they are preparing themselves for a second life that will come after they die.  They study scripture, attend church, curtail their lifestyle, speak to deceased loved ones, and spread the message in faith that they will be accepted in a second life after they die.  I feel these ideas and rituals come from a fear of the finality of death.   My most firmly held belief today is that we have to enjoy/appreciate the brief time we have on this earth.  I fear that these people may miss out on the beautiful opportunity that is this life and all it has to offer.
        A major influence on this theme was a ritual I go through every time I fly on an airplane. Before the plane lands or takes off, I ask myself a series of existential questions. "Would I ready to die if the plane crashed?" "Do I still have work left to do?" "Would I be ready to complete this existence?" "Do people I care about still need me around?" I already know the answer to these questions, but it's a nice process that helps reassess my life goals and reaffirms the importance of this life. Someday I may be ready to die, I just have too much to accomplish still and I will not get a second chance.
        I want to create an experience using stop motion animation that shows the viewer what it means to be comfortable with death and accepting one's end without a second beginning. The animated film will explore this topic in a linear/non linear story format and be 2-3 minutes in length.  I hope to make a piece that is honest yet not condescending about my views, while also being wholly unique and engaging for the viewer.

Barthes Death of the Author interpretation

-The author should be removed from writings.

-We should not  take author's personal views/ attributes into consideration while critiquing/interpreting authors work.

-The story is already there, the author just has to organize it.

-author's beliefs/background should not be part of conversation of writings.

-language, not author, that speaks.

Some writing works as its own monument, unable to be associated with its creator.  Other works stand as an expression of the ego of the author.  Saying that the writings already exist in the ether is like saying the poetry is already written in the magnets on the fridge.  I don't see the necessity of removing my personal views/background from my work and it's interpretation.  I enjoy knowing the background of Hunter S. Thompson and how his personality influences his writings and how closely it mirrored his real life.  I believe my work can stand on it's own without the viewer's knowledge of my background.  This knowledge does not hurt my work though.  In fact, I think it helps the viewer get a grander perspective of which circumstances the work was created under.

Would Barthes consider Warhol's work successful without taking his persona into consideration of his work?  What about Koons or other "personality" artists?

How would you let a viewer know that you do not want them to consider your personal views in their interpretation of your work?

Why Do I Do Art? (Sorry its late)

1. The Big View:

I am an artist because at a young age, I discovered the desire to create and it has become one of my basic necessities for survival along with food, water, shelter, etc.  As my skills improved, I experimented with creating simple flip book animations even though I had no concept of animation at the time.  Eventually I discovered stop motion animation and fell in love with the ability to make my action figures and legos come to life on film. My mom, art teachers, and friends encouraged me to develop and pursue the arts through grade school.  My talents in drawing, painting, and sculpture improved to the point in high school where I realized I would not be happy pursuing any other career field.  I was also an avid star wars fan in my teen years and learned that computer animation was a major part of the films.  Ringling became the standout school in the field of animation.  I applied for and was accepted into the computer animation department.  I soon realized the computer animation industry was a much different beast than I had anticipated.  I had to search for a period for what truly made me happy in creating art.  I remembered back to my early interest in stop motion and realized what was missing from my current experience at Ringling.  The Fine Art's department was a breath of fresh air for my creativity.  I was given to opportunity to create whatever interested me rather than create for someone else's vision of what is acceptable.   Creating art stopped feeling like work and became all you can think of day in day out.  I knew then, that this was where I needed to be.  I have been experimenting over the past two years with animation and pushing the medium in new directions such as with holograms and projections.  I'm excited where these new paths will take me.

2. The Immediate View:

My current direction is to create a 2-3 min stop motion that deals with the topic of life after death.  This idea begun at grade school when I began to question religion and the beliefs I was taught in church.  I have done satirical pieces in the past that dealt with religion.  These past works were more about the absurdity of organized religion, where my current idea is to deal with the more serious question of life after death.  A major influence on this theme was a ritual I go through every time I fly on an airplane.  Before the plane lands or takes off, I ask myself a series of existential questions.  "Would I ready to die if the plane crashed?"  "Do I still have work left to do?" "Would I be ready to complete this existence?"  "Do people I care about still need me around?"  I already know the answer to these questions, but it's a nice process that helps reassess my life goals and reaffirms the importance of this life.  Someday I may be ready to die, I just have to much to accomplish still and I will not get a second chance.  I fear that other's do not put enough importance on how precious and short our lives on earth are.  I want viewers of my thesis to understand the beautiful opportunity that is this life and all it has to offer.  I want the viewer to experience what it means to be comfortable with the idea of death and accepting one's end without a second beginning. This topic will be explored in a linear/non linear story format.  I hope to make a piece that is honest yet not condescending about my views.

Response To Chaos, Territory, Art by Elizabeth Grosz

Elizabeth Grosz draws an interesting evolution from the biological sexual selection to the creation of art.  She argues that since we have moved beyond the primeval means of living, we have a void that "enables the production of the frivolous, the unnecessary, the pleasing, the sensory for their own sake."  I really enjoyed this part because it connected our biological origins to our intrinsic need to create and appreciate art.  She then goes on to talk about the first gesture of art, the creation of the frame, which "establishes territory from out of the chaos that is the earth."  This device separates and marks one's territory, to let one know where these sensations may be found.

1.  Where would Grosz determine the frame to be in public art, performance art, or digital art?

2.  Is there any way for art to move beyond the confines of the frame?

Expectations for Thesis 9/6/10

For my senior thesis project, I wish to create a 2-3 min long stop motion animation of a personified character of myself dealing with the concept of life after death.

This will be expressed realistically with dream-like/surreal elements added for dramatic effect. There may be satire and irony included as much of my work tends to be satirical. The medium of stop motion creates a level of realism that is difficult if not impossible to achieve with other animation techniques. This is due to the fact that every frame of a stop motion animation existed on a stage utilizing real objects, real lighting conditions, and real textures. This medium will let me play with the viewer’s perception of reality. The medium of animation has a unique connection to monotheism in the fact that the animator creates life on screen out of inanimate objects.

Much of my early life was spent questioning religious ideology and belief. As I grew older, my skepticism of a second or everlasting life grew to where I currently reject the notion. I still appreciate the mythology and culture of modern day religion, but I am disappointed how on the judgements made on others, and My most firmly held belief today is that we have to enjoy/appreciate the brief time we have on this earth. Many followers of organized religion believe that they are preparing themselves for a second life that will come after they die. The followers study scripture, attend church, curtail their lifestyle, speak to deceased loved ones, and spread the message in faith that they will be accepted into another life after they die. I fear that these people may miss out on the beautiful opportunity that is this life and all it has to offer. I want the viewer to experience what it means to be comfortable with death and accepting one's end without a second beginning. This topic will be explored in a linear/non linear story format. I hope to make a piece that is honest yet not condescending about my views.

2. What kind of research do you need to do? Where and how will you do it?

Over the summer, I began researching many different theories and beliefs about what happens when we die. I tried to stay as unbiased as possible in my research and hope to expand my exposure to more differentiated view points on life after death to pull story ideas from. I discovered that there were some interesting superficial connections made between some religious beliefs and scientific theories. I need to do more research into these topics to better understand where these beliefs come from and understand their relevancy to modern thinking.

3. What materials and/or processes will you use?

The animation I create will utilize the stop motion animation medium and include realistic props and sets that are lit and photographed with a DSLR to create a high definition final animation. Film and photo shooting techniques, such as “soft boxes,” depth of field, and green screen compositing will be utilized for the creation of the project.

4. What is the scope of your project? How many works will you make? Approximately what will the size be?

There will be one 2-3 minute long animation created for this project. If I use this animation in a show, props and sets can be used for additional works to let the viewer understand the creation of the project and learn the process of stop motion animation.



Timeline

Preproduction
End of October- finalized story
indiv crit
group crit
End of November - finalized story boards and concept art
indiv crit

Production
End of December -begin creation of props, sets, and puppets
End of January- begin filming
indiv crit

Postproduction
End of March-wrap up filming and begin editing
End of April -edit/composit/and add effects
group crit
indiv crit
Early May- Deliver final film

Agnes Martin Interview review

Agnes Martin Interview (20:00 version, 1997) from Chuck Smith on Vimeo.

I'm not sure if I agree with Martin's view on inspiration vs experiment.  In my own work, its almost a chicken or egg scenario its hard to tell which came first.  It was interesting to hear her describe music as the best art form, coming from a painter.  I do agree that music is special in its ability for the viewer to respond emotionally without being intellectual.  It was really humbling to be reminded that there is so much that really don't know; that we are still learning and need to act like it.   As a video artist/animator, it was hard to relate to some of the painting topics she was discussing.  It is amazing how far we have come since women were treated as second class artists.