World Building

(Pamphlet pg. 1)

(Pamphlet pg. 2)

When creating something we truly believe it is incredibly important to think about the intricate qualities that make up the world. There are so many nuances that make up this world. It lives in its own culture, and breeds new identity. It was an interesting perspective to see how coming together with other people can help develop and create those things. There were three different articles we decided to use to best describe the world of gradually losing sight, and gaining the ability to see ghosts. We felt that showing a billboard of an issue, a pamphlet, and a P.O.V. perspective of a person affected by this affliction would gives an interesting view on the culture and the world that surrounds these articles.

A P.O.V. immerses us directly into the world and the people that are suffering within it. I set out to document how these people would feel, and it would look like. Using an incredibly powerful flashlight and long exposure, I was able to attain the image that is present. I thought if I were to deal with this and constantly see ghosts in this fashion, it would be difficult.

As we were brainstorming as a group we wanted to focus on what a young teenager would be going through is suddenly their vision was rapidly changing and they had to deal with seeing ghosts. Just like normal puberty, many teens go through this dark abyss barely understanding the changes taking place. Surely this is what some teens seeing ghosts would feel so we decided to portray that through a billboard advertisement. In the image the background is black and white while the billboard remains in color to show how the teens don’t instantly lose sight of color. We also thought it’d be cool to include in this world a psychotherapy line to help troubled ghost-seeing teens.

What we also decided to do was touch on the literature of this world. Losing color and seeing ghosts is a transition for everyone in the world, just like puberty. So we thought, what if in this world, seeing ghosts was treated regularly, just like puberty, and what if it was an actual process from puberty as well. With that idea we decided to commission a stereotypical puberty pamphlet that kids get when they reach that age. But instead of addressing puberty itself, it addresses the change kids have from losing their sight and becoming knowledgeable of the ghost world around them. This would be an excellent example of literature because it gives insight into the culture of this society in regards to health and normality in regards to the body. Not only that, but it also shows how this phenomenon is a cultural norm that occurs regularly and is expected to happen to everyone in this society. This pamphlet is able to highlight society’s views on the issue, as well as trying to make it apparent that this transitional stage is natural and happens to everyone, just like puberty. With these examples, we feel that we are accurately able to portray this society, and how the people in this society feels and perceive the environment around them.

Webspinna Battle

What we found interesting about this week and the webspinna battle, was how open ended it really was. Going into it, we knew we needed to do a battle of sounds with a partner, and create this story, or this theme that we can show to the class. And with that theme or story, we can educate people on how we feel about a certain subject, and how they should possibly feel about it as well. From the start, we wanted to do something that involved music. We were both impressed by the mashup of The Beatles and Jay-Z. We found it interesting how someone took the theme of old meets new, and combined the two together, showing that they could work as one.

So what we wanted to do was take that concept of old meeting new, and applying it to music from this generation and the last. We wanted to combine the classics of yesterday, with the classics of today and see how they compared and contrasted against each other. So with these styles, we thought it would be fun to do a Pitch-Perfect style riff-off battle, where I was representing the New Age, and Taylor would do The Old classics. And we also thought that since lip sync battles are really popular at the moment, that it would be fun to memorize certain lyrics from our songs and lip sync along to them in front of the class. It was a lot of fun to find the songs that we were going to perform. Not only that, but we found that some of the songs applied to our subject matter, such as the lyrics from “Radioactive” where the singer says “Welcome to the New Age”.

Our decision to create a battle between the new age and old age of rock’n’roll gave us the opportunity to find differences as well as similarities between the two genres of music. In Jonathan Lethem’s article “The Ecstasy of Influence” he speaks on the technique of musicians having the opportunity and sources to recreate music from past sources, for example blues and jazz musicians. We live in a day where technology gives ample resources to remix, rewind, and replay so one can create their own version of a song or a piece of that song. For example, the remix artist, Pogo, takes classic Disney songs and literally puts his own spin on them creating a new age of Disney music.

Many things can be learned from this assignment and the approach we decided to take. Similar to what is discussed above, we were able to highlight differences between the two genres, however, what brought them together was their similarities. This can be applied with not only music, but any form of art. We can remix two vastly different mediums or techniques in order to produce a more abstract and meaningful piece. It also poses a challenge that promotes creativity built from limitations.

Textual Poaching

Ko Ngatokimatawhaurua te waka

Ko Mahia te tupuna

Ko Ngapuhi te iwi

Ko Te Uri o Hua te hapu

Ko Hikurangi te maunga

Ko Awarua te awa

Ko Taanara raua ko Tiiana oku matua 

Ko Barlow raua ko Wihongi te whanau

Ko Taylor Terewai Tiave ahau

Growing up I was at a constant personal battle trying to understand my identity. My father's side is made up of mixed Caucasian blood while my mother's is a mix of Maori, Tongan, German, and English. When I filled out forms in school, and even now as an adult as I fill out government forms or surveys, I'm always torn between marking "White" or "Pacific Islander". Why do they only give the option to fill one? Where does that leave us multiracial beings? The older I get the better I understand how to uphold and keep alive my Polynesian ancestry in not only a predominantly white society, but also a post-modern society.

For the past few years there has been a vast number of viral videos released of high schools football teams (or similar settings) performing the traditional and sacred war dance, the haka. Anciently, these chants were used to honor ancestors and to prepare warriors for battle. However, nowadays we often see it performed by boys (and sometimes even girls *knife to my heart) who have little to no understanding of its sacred purpose, other than they want to look "cool" and "fierce". In a video like this, for example, they look nothing but the opposite. I not only find it disgraceful but incredibly disrespectful. Excuse my bluntness.

Oil Portrait of Ina Te Papatahi by C.F. Goldie

That is why for this assignment I wanted to pay an honest and sincere tribute to my Maori heritage, something I hold very dear to my heart. I was inspired by an 18th century classic oil painter, C.F. Goldie. He is primarily known for his captivating oil paintings of elderly, tattooed Maoris. The first piece I created was a manipulation of his oil portrait of Ina Te Papatahi. I decided to recreate it as an Andy Warhol pop art style piece to represent my bringing my culture into the modern day.

Waka Taua of the Maori of New Zealand by Herbert Kawainui Kane

The second piece I created was to represent my grandparents (my mother’s parents) immigration to U.S. In Maori culture, we learn of the seven waka (canoe) that traveled to New Zealand. Ironically, my family went the opposite direction of their ancestors in search of better opportunities. I purposely meshed a painting portraying Maori voyagers and a photo of my mother’s family as they travelled by boat to America to show this contrast. I’m grateful for my Maori ancestors and their discovery of a new land, New Zealand, as well as the sacrifices of my grandfather and his family to find their new land, America.

Maori Girl with Moko Chin by New Zealander Photographer

The final piece I created is a representation of my own self and how I carry on my ancestors’ legacy in a land other than my Maori homeland. My culture and ethnic heritage inspires me to create work and media that properly perpetuates not only my own culture but others as well.

***Just for kicks and giggles here's what a haka should look like

Haka

Medium Specificity

[ le film ]

When the description for this assignment was given to us last week I found it a bit confusing to understand the task at hand. I felt that, yes, the pieces we viewed that were medium specific did portray specific characteristics of their relative medium, however, I also felt that many characteristics were also applicable to other mediums. This presented a challenge to me: I needed to dig deeper in order to find a certain aspect of a medium that didn’t apply to any other medium. Considering Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”, I was better able to understand how to approach this assignment. McCloud helped the viewer (me) grasp the concept of medium specificity by finding a more creative way to tell the history of comics. Rather than resorting to a boring written history of the art, he actually creates a comic to complete do the teaching.

Initially I wanted to focus on one defining trait of photography. My mind shifted from aperture to shutter speed to playing with lighting until finally I realized how photography is able to snapshot a single moment in time. But wait. The more I thought about it the more I realized that film does this as well. Except film is able to take it one step further and adds the motion and sound of a specific moment.  

As I pondered how I could create a commentary or explanation of how I see film in an actual film, I knew I had to play with or manipulate certain tools in order to successfully represent the classical characteristics of this certain medium. As mentioned above, I knew for certain I wanted to focus on how film captures a moment, whether that be a fraction of a second or a few minutes long. My approach to my creation was to base my work off the classic three-act structure of film, yet present it more abstractly.

My subject for the short  film were dancers that participated in a BYU Dance production a few weeks ago. I was able to shoot from backstage which presented some challenges yet also provided unconventional angles that I wouldn’t have if I were anywhere else. I decided to show the exposition by using shots of the performers backstage and also in the wings of the stage as they prepared to perform. I also decided to only use shots that were poorly lit in order to add to the contrast of later shots in the second and third acts. This created a change of pace as I moved into other parts of the film.

To represent the inciting incident and climax I decided to increase the speed of the clips I used. This represented conflicts and suspense we experience as we go through these parts of the films we view. I particularly enjoy the chaos that this creates. This chaos is resolved in the last few clips as a solo dancer uses more flowing and graceful moves.

I enjoyed the challenge of this assignment and honestly want to explore it more in my later works. Not only with film, but in other mediums as well.

Historical Story

Voodoo is often seen as evil, though few know its benevolent doctrine. Similar to the story of Satrapi’s “The veil,” we wanted our story to be about a well meaning follower of a religion that runs against the grain of local beliefs somewhat. Thus we developed a story around a Voodoo practitioner living during the Salem Witch trials.

This story was inspired partly by the Bones episode, “The Man in the Morgue,” which represents truer Voodoo beliefs of protection, harmony, peace, and service, and highlights the social stigma attached to the religion. So, our research reflected this good side of Voodoo. We decided John would be trying to bring balance to Salem. Huffington Post discusses the concept of the Lwa (or Loa, phonetically). The Loa is a spirit which practitioners converse with to bring balance. Thus John prays to one in the beginning. Another source pointed out that snakes were the symbol of the god who is the “protector of the helpless.” so, we decided to add a snake to his ritual. More than just that, Voodoo practitioners believe highly in community, according to the African Holocaust organization. That is why John references his service as he pleads for his family’s lives.

As mentioned above, our story focuses on the heated interaction between a voodoo practitioner and a Puritan priest. The story is set in colonial America during the hectic Salem witch trials. Historically, these trials came about due to a mass hysteria that  swept across Salem where young girls claimed to be witches (http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials). Locals hanged many who were accused, regardless of evidence, and some accused others for self-preservation. Not even children were safe, according to the Smithsonian. In our piece, however, we decided to make our protagonist a true practitioner, not merely one who claimed to be.

The two primary characters of our script are John Phelps, the protagonist, and the preacher, the antagonist. As our piece progressed we discovered additional ways to heighten the intensity between their relationship. Initially, we wanted to focus on the preacher’s angst and disgust toward the voodoo practices of John. As we got dove further into their relationship we felt it would add an extra kick to the script if John recalled times where he not only helped the preacher with voodoo, but also members of the community. We further developed their violent interaction by having the antagonist and his party destroy the tools John used to call upon the spirits-such as the sacrificial animals, jars, etc. By including these actions in the scene descriptions we were able to add to the suspense of the story.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saumya-arya-haas/what-is-vodou_b_827947.html

http://listverse.com/2013/12/11/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-voodoo/

http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/vodoo.htm

http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/

http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials