Reflection on Contemporary Compostion

Contemporary Composition has helped me understand many different methods of composition both within my field and out. UNCSA has a wide variety of compositional methods right here that does a decent job of representing the outside world in terms of diversity. It was fascinating to see all the great work we can do right here at the school. We learned that we are all composers because we are all capable of creating something, be it in writing, music, film, theater, visual arts, or any number of the other media or even combinations of them. We learned what sets apart the different arts and makes them unique, but more importantly we learned what the common threads are. Everyone has different creative processes that differ in specifics, but all seem to adhere to the basic idea of finding a concept you like and working to make it a reality. It was interesting to compose in fields other than my own, and helped me see composing from different points of view. It also helped me see how I might take these other forms of composing and incorporate them into my chosen field. Since my chosen field is film (animation, specifically), it already combines visual arts, acting,  and music regularly, but this has given new ideas and interesting new way to recombine and remix things. In fact, many of the compositions we've done are combinations of other works into something entirely new. In fact, almost any composition, even if it appears completely original, has had ideas or concepts taken from somewhere else wither deliberately or subconsciously. If this class has taught me anything it's that sometimes it's cool just to mix stuff up in a big pot and see what comes out. Sometimes it might be an inedible mess, but sometimes you can get some pretty neat stuff.

Reflection on Composing in Movement and Performance

Intoduction
Performance covers a wide range of media and has more to do with the intent of the performer and the interpretation of the audience than the media. We were originally scheduled to hear from a dancer about her perspective on movement and performance, but unfortunately she was ill. The good news is that Dean Wilcox covered a wide range of the types of performance and what performance means. He covered many unconventional methods of performance and explained the thought process behind them.

Starting Points
I knew a bit about conventional performance, ie; acting, music, dancing and other traditional performances. These are performances that most everyone would agree are in fact performances because they lie firmly in the realm of performance. I had also heard of some of the more gray areas of what constitutes performance,such as "found art", random objects presented at galleries as art. However, I didn't understand these and thought they were quite frankly ridiculous. Now I understand them a bit better, though I still think they're kind of ridiculous. I had even performed myself, presenting katas at local martial arts tournaments both in competitions and as part of a demonstration.

What I Learned
Dean Wilcox explained many different types of performance as well as the reasoning behind it. As I mentioned, I had heard of "found art" before, but i never understood the point. Wilcox explained that the art itself was not the point, but the way people were now forced to think about it. In that regard, found art succeeds, though I confess I still find it odd. Another peculiar performance movement is Dada, essentially nonsensical gibberish designed to contrast the usually rational and orderly methods of western culture. There are many other examples, but the point is that performance can cover an almost infinite spectrum defined only by intent and interpretation. This is where the debate about where life end and where performance begins comes into play. We all act differently depending on the people around us. We have different behaviors depending on if we're with our friends or our parents or our boss. The question is, does this constitute a performance? I have to say no, though there are valid arguments for the opposite. I say no because the distinction in my mind is that a performance is done for the entertainment or engagement of an audience. This is where intent and interpretation come in. If either condition is fulfilled, it is a performance. What I mean by this is that if the performer intends it to be a performance, then it may be a performance. However, if the performer does not intend for it to be a performance, it may still be considered a performance if a sizable audience interprets it as one. Overall the definition is very subjective, and it was interesting to see the different takes on it, including those done by fellow students (see mine here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_sRkJzb9oY) for our performance composition.

Things I Would Like to Learn More About
It would have been nice to learn about the more conventional side of performance as well, something we missed out on due to the illness of one of the guest speakers. Learning about the different types of unconventional performance was fascinating and eye-opening, but it would have been nice to have a basis of a typical performer and to hear the composition process for that. Especially since the unconventional is often built upon the conventional, it would have been nice to have a more solid foundation before moving on.

Conclusion
This unit was very informative and helped me to think about the concept of performance on a more intellectual level. It is also one of the more fun compositions we've done, I think in no small part due to the sheer freedom "performance" allows. It let everyone do essentially whatever they wanted with the project, which resulted in some clever and funny performances. The freedom in performance is one of the best things about it since it lets anyone express anything however they want, be it deliberately in art or casually in art.

Reflection on Composing in Film, Video, and New-Media

Introduction
Film, video, and new media covers virtually every moving picture. They often rely on the accompaniment of sound, but this is not necessarily true. That being said, even in the age of "silent" movies there was still often a piano playing along with it. This is usually passive, but new media can include interactive media such as web sites and videogames. We focused mainly on film and video, and the differences between the two as well as the various types and genres. We also made our own film out of a mash-up of old footage to create something new.

Starting Points
I new a fair amount about film, video and new media prior to the lectures. I mostly had to rely on prior knowledge of new media since we didn't go over much of that, especially in regards to videogames. Videogames are too often disregarded as a valid artistic media, but there is become a greater and greater acceptance of videogames as art. Aside from that, film and video are fairly simple to grasp conceptually, since they are just various types of moving picture, but there is much to learn in the nuances in the differences  between different genres and even with a genre.

What I Learned
Prior to the lectures I hadn't really thought that  much about the difference between what makes something a film or a video. I realized that intent has a lot to do with the difference. Videos, such as from a surveillance camera, are not films because they aren't made or presented with any artistic intent. However, such videos can be elevated to films if they are edited or combined in such a way as to make a point, ask a question, or tell a story. This is much what we did with our "channel surf" projects (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0r_HyWZXSw) where we took old films or videos and compiled them into a single film resembling different channels being flipped through. It shows how footage can be re-purposed to take on a whole new meaning that is different from the one it originally had. We also learned more about the importance of collaboration in film. Many different departments can and should work together to make film. The example given by John LeBlanc was a collaboration between the film and design and production departments. The film was designed to inform about the kind of work D&P does by showcasing a creature costume challenge where students had to make monster costumes. After a documentary of the process, there was a short monster battle featuring the two monsters fighting in a city. So the film helped the D&P department and D&P helped with the film. We also went more in depth on the different genres of film and what we can accomplish with them.

Things I Would  Like to Learn More About
 As I said earlier, we really didn't do too much with new media, aside from a brief reading. I would have liked to have gone more into new media, since it is a broad and interesting topic. It's a somewhat vague term that encompasses some of the most intriguing work being done today, so it's a shame we didn't get to learn more about it. I feel I come away from this week with a better grasp on film and video than when I started, but the same cannot be said of new media. It also would have been nice to work with new media in some fashion so we could get a hands on experience.

Conclusion
Overall it was a fascinating look at the world of film and video and a disappointingly fleeting glimpse at the world of new media. It was fun to work with old footage and it's always interesting to see what the power of editing can do, as Julian Semilian showed us. It was good to see that not all films are narrative and not all videos are films. Though I wish we had done more with new media, what we did with film and video was interesting and informative and will hopefully help me in my future endeavors.

Reflecton on Composing in Language, Sound, and Music

Introduction
The scope of this topic is very broad, since it covers every vibration that could ever potentially wiggle your eardrums, so naturally we were only ably to focus on a few areas. We also explored how other media can affect the way we perceive sound and vice-versa. The language portion focused on the English language, since everyone in the class can speak it, even if it isn't their first language. Specifically, we looked at how inflection and emphasis can influence our interpretation of it. For sound we looked at how different sounds affect our perception of visuals and how visuals affect our perception of sounds. The music portion seemed to focus a lot on the idea of remixes; taking already made music and sounds and rearranging them into something else. There was also a considerable portion of lecture time spent on the ideas of multitasking and informed decision making as they relate to the course, but not as they related to language, music, and sound, a connection I feel would be beneficial.

Starting Points
I was aware of the idea of remixing prior to this unit, but I had never before gone that in-depth with remixing, because I rarely, if ever, found a remix that I enjoyed. I was also aware of the power of inflection on language. My favorite example of this is the sentence "I never said he stole my money." Depending on which word emphasis is placed, that sentence can have at least seven different meanings;
"I never said he stole my money." implies someone else said that he stole my money.
"I never said he stole my money." means I never said that and am perhaps a little insulted that you'd think I was accusing him of stealing my money.
"I never said he stole my money." means that I communicated the fact that he stole my money through other means, like implication, hints, or writing.
"I never said he stole my money." implies that I said someone else stole my money.
"I never said he stole my money." implies that I said he did something else with my money.
"I never said he stole my money." implies I said he stole someone else's money.
"I never said he stole my money." implies I said he stole something else of mine.
As a fan of both film and videogames, I am also aware of the importance of sound. One of my favorite videogames, The Last of Us uses sound design wonderfully. It uses it to set mood and tone, add realism to action, and even communicate important gameplay information to the player in a subtle manner. Other stealth games may have a visibility meter to visually display how likely you are to be seen, but The Last of Us has only a subtle echoing sound effect like the inside of a conch-shell that rises in intensity the closer you are to being seen, and a quite gong and the outcries of your foes to tell you you've been spotted. That's only one example, but I thought it was a good one.

What I Learned
I learned that I still don't like remixes as a general rule, but I have at least come to appreciate them more. While I still haven't found a remix I find all that pleasing to the ear, I will acknowledge that they do take more time an effort than simply gluing random audio clips together and actually require conscious composition. I also learned more about inflection,and how my above example can even be used to give multiple meanings to a single word, making spoken language an almost entirely different art form from written. However, one must also be conscious when writing of what the work will sound like when spoken. I also learned that there is a musicality to our every day lives, thanks to the This American Life podcast, though I still must vehemently disagree with John Cage's assertion that "everything we do is music", because often the underlying sounds of life were a discordant mess and hardly what I would call music. Not every sound is in and of itself music, otherwise what need would we have of composers? It is the composition of the sounds in a way that evokes emotion that makes it music.Even my own remix (https://soundcloud.com/scottsmoot/sets/daydream-in-hydrogen-silver) I dislike, if I am perfectly honest. Any of the works I've used would be more pleasurable to listen to on their own than in these mashups, because in combining them it robs them of their original purpose. This is fine if done with extreme care in order to say something new, but without that in mind, it becomes simply noise and replaces the old meaning with nothing. I also learned that what we see changes what we hear. Our minds constantly take input from all of our senses and try to make them into one cohesive perception of the world. So, if we see something that our visual input tells us should make a certain sound,or hear a certain sound that our mind tells us belongs to a certain image or action, we will alter our perceptions to best fit how we think it should be. Our perceptions of the world are imperfect, and yet they are the only way we can see the world. They are at once not real, and yet the only thing that can be real to us.

Things I Would Like to Learn More About
I would like to learn more about the ways multitasking can relate to language, sound, and music. I felt we spent a good portion discussing how multitasking can affect learning and recall, but we didn't really go into depth on multitasking in terms of audio. This is a shame, because there is a lot to be explored there. Firstly, there is no real multitasking, only rapidly switching between tasks, but even so I think language, sound, and music could have a large impact on what we perceive as multitasking. For instance the article I linked to in my week three journal that talks about doodling and how it is helpful to doodle during lectures in order to better recall information. This relates back to how our perceptions affect out interpretation of audio input. Doodling keeps us engaged enough so as not to daydream, yet is not so distracting as to take us away from the lecture. There was also an opportunity here to discuss the merits of something many students do far and wide; listen to music while they study and do homework. This would have been an excellent thing to look into. I don't know if this was overlooked or if we simply ran out of time during the lecture on multitasking,  but either way it's a shame we didn't tie it more directly into the unit.

Conclusion
In summation, though I still do not care for remixes, I can appreciate them more and admire the effort that goes into them. I also gained a new appreciation for how sound influences perceptions and vice-versa. It is a shame that the lecture on multitasking didn't come full-circle in a way that was relevant to the current unit, since there was potential for some interesting connections there. As a filmmaker I look forward to applying what I learned in this unit to my work both in a broad sense and in the upcoming unit on film, video, and new media.

Reflection on Composing in Design and Visual Arts

Introduction
Design and visual arts has an immensely broad scope because it covers a wide range of media beyond the obvious, and can even create a blend between them. The way we approached this was by beginning with the obvious and gradually seeing how different media may be blended. In Will Taylor's presentation we began with what most people think of when they think of visual arts: painting. Eventually we moved on to seeing how film and digital media may be incorporated into this and vice-versa. In Lindsay Bierman's presentation he discussed several factors of composing in architecture that are the same across multiple design fields, including film.

Starting Points
At the beginning I already knew that visual arts stretched across multiple forms of media including but not limited to paint, drawing, sculpting, film, and animation. As a prospective filmmaker I appreciate all the various forms of  visual storytelling, even the stationary ones. I knew something of abstract paintings, but didn't fully understand the purpose behind many of them except perhaps that they were interesting to look at.

What I Learned
I learned a little more about the purpose behind the more abstract works, though I must confess some of what Will Taylor said looked like mere scribbles at first glance still looked like mere scribbles on the third or fourth glance as well. That being said, in some of the abstract works even if they seemed amateurish at first, I could see where real effort an talent had come into play. Though it at first seemed haphazard there was definite composition and purpose to the images on the page.  Through Lindsay Bierman's lecture I learned that architects themselves think about buildings in the same terms as filmmakers have to. Namely that one of the biggest factors in design is taking into account how people move through space.

I also learned through our readings that context is important for any composition. For example an architect must take into account what surrounds the building he or she is designing and if a musician were to compose a piece to be played in that building they would have to take into account the acoustics of the venue.  This can be applied directly to my field of animation because where you expect your film to be show can affect the level of detail or number of frames necessary. Playing a 60fps video on a screen that maxes at 30fps is just wasted frames.

The images project was interesting though I confess I don't exactly love my diptych or my double exposure pieces.The boundary blend, however, I though had an interesting duality to the light and dark of the two different hallways and creates an intriguing contrast while also being seamlessly merged.

Hallways Diptych

Hallways Double Exposure

Hallways Boundary Blend

 Things I Would Like to Learn More About
The new media images intrigued me and it's interesting to see the possibilities that digital media opens up. Even more intriguing were the examples of videos shown by Will Taylor. This is a new form of film-making that is more akin to traditional visual arts than narrative film-making, at least in terms of purpose. Creating a visually appealing set of images meant to played on a loop rather than a film with a beginning, middle, and end  is a fascinating concept and I may look into doing something similar on my own.

Conclusion
Visual Arts encompasses many forms of media and it's a shame that we couldn't go into more detail on it because it's easily the most interesting to me personally as I tend to like working with visual media. Even if I incorporate sounds (and I often do as they can drastically change a piece), I generally focus mainly on the visual aspects. I am looking forward to when we get into discussing film specifically.

Reflection on Composing in Context

Introduction

Composing in Context has an almost infinite scope, because there are different means of composition for each context. "Context" in this case generally refers to a field of study, but it can be applied just as easily to other concepts like society and daily life.Since the scope is so large, trying to include every context in which we compose is impossible in the given time span, so we covered certain universal composition methods, such as the creative process, and saw how they applied to a small sampling of contexts. In the case of the guest speakers, these contexts were linguistic composition and lighting composition. The guest speakers discussed their own personal composition techniques as it applied to their individual contexts and we were able to draw conclusions about composing as a whole.

Starting Points

Even before taking this class I realized that composition, though I did not necessarily call it that, was necessary for the creation of all forms of art.I knew that how we composed our artistic works changes the messages they send.

What I Learned

I had not before realized that the scope of composition could include not only art, but also whatever we put together. Even something as simple as how we dress in the morning is a composition in and of itself. I also didn't realize just how versatile the creative process is. I previously thought that it was highly specified to any given context, but now I see that the creative process can be applied to any creative composition in any context, with only a few context-dependent changes.

Things I Would Like to Learn More About

I am looking forward to learning more about composing in my chosen field of study, film. Especially so since one of the guest speakers for film is the wonderful Julian Semilian, who is always a joy to listen to. I also look forward to seeing what I can gain from other fields, visual arts especially since I would like to go into animation, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to film above all else.

Conclusion

In terms of composition, context is only a technicality that tells you what specific skills you need. It is really your mastery of the creative process that determines how you compose both in your artistic works and in your daily life. While contexts provide a medium for you to compose with, all compositions regardless of context are born of the universal creative process.