Writing a Paper

Here's the audio of the Process Piece.

Before starting our assignment, Benjamin discussed how the processes within our lives help define our identity and sometimes, even our humanity. As full-time students with jobs, our “processes” tend to lean away from the more fun moments life has to offer. If our identity were truly defined solely on the processes we engaged in, we'd probably relate more to shampoo instructions with a wash-rinse-repeat lifecycle than an actual person with fun activities or interesting lives. Our daily schedule is typically: wake up, go to classes, write a papers, do readings, and then work - hopefully fitting eating and sleeping in there somewhere.

Taking this into consideration, we decided to present a typical college student activity: writing a paper. However, we added a small twist to the project. Different people approach the same process is many different ways, as we see in the Routines series from this week's viewings. The videos all show fairly typical events that are apart of someone's daily routine, such as putting on a belt, shaving, flipping on a light, stamping an envelope. But, the way this one person does these things isn't the exact way someone else does it, although the action is the same throughout, the approach varies person to person. Even though all students have to write papers, individual students each have their own method for writing. This is why you will find a different recording on each blog. Both contain the process of writing a paper, the same exact way, except one student strays from focus and takes a small detour to watch some videos on Youtube. But in the end, both students accomplish the same task.

There were many directions we could have taken this project, however, we wanted to focus on the process alone, and how this process is typically done by oneself, so we decided to not use any dialogue in our recording. This is a method used in videos often, and example is the Google Chrome Speed Tests commercial. There is no dialogue (save for a song at the end) and so you are only focusing on the process that is happening before you. No one is telling what to look at or hear, so it is up to you to look and listen for what you see. So, we show that writing a paper is a very solitary and monotonous experience, hence the lack of voice, but we also show that in the monotony there is variation from person to person, in our two process pieces different steps lead to the same outcome.

Round Robin Artists' Statement

In his essay entitled “Totems without Taboos: The Exquisite Corpse,” DJ Spooky asserts that “the remix, as always, is what you make of it. Juxtapose, fragment, flip the script — anything else, simply put, would be boring.” During our Round Robin exercise, it seemed as if everybody was “flipping the script” as each group member continued the previous person’s story, this led to some drastic tonal shifts within the narratives. On the flip side of that, there are some stories where a thread is woven finely throughout all five of the mini-stories, making a (more or less) complete narrative, with each story complementing the last.

  This technique of starting a story and then passing it on to another to complete is nothing new; there is a game called “Photoshop Tennis” during which one person introduces a photograph and then sends it off to another person to add a visual element to it, who then passes it on to another person to edit. This goes on indefinitely, unless a specified  number of edits has been pre-agreed upon. An example of this is:

  “The “text” is never inanimate — it’s the human imagination that gives shape and meaning, the elixir that breathes life into the golem.” In some ways, pieces of art that we create and “finish” are never really done. Unbeknownst to us, somebody could pick up that piece of work that we created and add to it until it is unrecognizable from the work that we created initially.

  Another art form that can be remixed is music. Famous artists create and release music that then gets into the hands of the remixers, who then make the music their own by adding and removing musical elements. By doing so, they restructure the song in a way that was never meant by its original author.

  In our Round Robin storytelling experience, each of the tiny stories stand alone. However, combining five of the stories together creates a collage of different ideas that all spring from the same seed. Each contributor used a different vocabulary to try to make sense of the unusual and limited information they were given. In a way, one artist’s choice to use “the hardiest of folk” to describe a group of people that a previous artist described as “notoriously rowdy bunch” differed in verbal texture as much as water colors and oil paints do. Thus, even if all of us tried to preserve the tone and content of the story, it would inevitably change over time.

  Our individual pictures added an extra element of expression and another opportunity to leave our mark on the story. We had varying styles and a wide variety of framing to suggest plot. As mentioned earlier “The remix, as always, is what you make of it. Juxtapose, fragment, flip the script”. On occasion, an author would create a juxtaposition, fragmentation, or script-flip between the picture and the text, thus creating an odd precedence in the mind of the next author. Close-ups versus wide shots, color versus monochrome, and other such aesthetic decisions all added something different to the mix.

Round Robin

Michael looked for the door, but couldn't find it. He felt around frantically until he found a knob. He tried to turn it, and . . . locked.

Frustrated, Michael felt around for the light switch. He flipped it, and suddenly the ground fell out from underneath him! Down he fell into a pool of sharks.

The sharks thrashed Michael with their nuzzling noses.

These were not the cuddle buddies Michael yearned for.

But he could call them home, and that was good enough for him.

Music Mosaic Artists Statement

                In Annie Dillard's "Seeing" she says that "Everywhere darkness and the presence of the unseen appalls." She talks about how we are strangers to the darkness, and how shadows spread and deepen and that, even after thousands of years, we are still "strangers to darkness." This is an idea that I wanted to convey in my Music Mosaic. I wanted to explore the unknown, the fearful, the dark matters of the world. I picked Bjork's discordant song Dark Matter as the platform to build my mosaic. I drew inspiration for my photographs from my first year at BYU, when I was diagnosed with schizophrenia and almost failed out. I would often find myself wondering around Provo at 2 in the morning - scared, alone and confused.

                I wanted to simulate what those late night walks were like in the best most understandable way possible. However, it's hard to make the overwhelming feeling of confusion and paranoia understandable. It's hard to use the concrete to describe the abstract. So, I chose a song those sounds like it shouldn't work, and yet somehow does. Bjork uses a made up jabber of lyrics to punctuate the moody music in her song. She set out to write a song to explain the unexplainable, it sounds as if it shouldn't work and yet it somehow does work together to create, in my opinion, one of the best representations of pure fear and confusion.

                Mixing these ideas together, I went out after work one night in an attempt to capture this idea that, by definition, couldn't be captured. I wanted to find the most concrete way I could show the darkness of Dark Matter, and to capture the "presence of the unseen," and to just represent how I felt my first year here in order to express myself better. The first image opens with the side of a building at night, there's a high contrast because of the flash of the camera, like the first note of Dark Matter, this image sets the tone of the rest of the mosaic, without giving away what the rest will be like.

                The remaining images show a combination of walls, parking lots, benches and the night sky. I used techniques commonly attributed to William Hope, a hoax photographer who convinced people he had actual photographs of ghosts.^[1]  Shadowy figures stand menacingly in the frame, smoke from sticks of incense mixed with the camera's flash create ghostly masses, the use of double exposure creates transparent figures just out of sight.

                I wanted to create a sense of unease and paranoia with my photographs, because I wanted to expose everyone to the feelings that I, and likely many others, get while walking around alone at night. Seeing out of the corner of your eye what might be a person, but is likely just your own shadow or a trick of your mind. But the idea is already there, that there might be someone just outside of your field of vision waiting for you to turn away.

Click Here to see Mosaic

^[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hope_(paranormal_investigator)

Music Mosaic: Shadows in the Night

Link to the song: Bjork - Dark Matter

Click here to read Artist's Statement.

Why Do People Seek Out the Unknown?

                Human beings are naturally imaginative creatures and, because of this, we tend to reject the most logical reasons for things to happen, and instead search for and invent the most fantastic version of events we can. As people, we are naturally drawn towards the unknown, the mysterious, the conspiracy because we tend to be unsatisfied with the simplest, most logical truth. People are often bored with their lives and situations, and with that boredom and dissatisfaction they will invent a way to make it all seem more interesting and make everything seem more significant. We invent stories, find new ways to spin our experiences, in an attempt to make sense of the monotony and bring meaning to experiences. However, most things people experience on a daily basis are just mundane events that hold no significance. In relation to every other person, one individual's life is no more or less important than any other individuals. We are all the same. However, no one wants to have a boring life of mediocrity; everyone has an innate need to be important.

                The idea of seeking the fantastic in the everyday is what gives people the desire to create art in any form. In film, the horror genre tries to take the most relatable of human experiences and turn them into the most exciting, and the most horrifying, version it can. The Conjuring is an American horror film directed by James Wan, released in 2013. Taking place in 1971 in Harrisville, Rhode Island the film tells the story of the Roger and Carolyn Perron who, along with their five daughters, move in to a new home. However, malevolent things start to happen and, in desperation, mother Carolyn seeks out the help of renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warren's very profession shows that they strive to invent the most fantastic version of events that they can. They travel far and wide helping people with paranormal problems, and collecting supposedly haunted items along the way. In their home, they have a room full of proof that their lives aren't boring, and that they are constantly battling against terrible and powerful forces. They essentially collect mysteries, and then put them on display for others to see.

We see the Warrens during one of their investigations.

                In the film, Ed Warren suggests that he and his wife take a break from their seemingly dangerous lives and settle on tamer pursuits. Ed suggests to Lorraine that she write the book she'd always been planning, a rewarding yet slightly dull task. Lorraine dismisses her husband's idea and says that "God brought us together for a reason, and I'm pretty sure it's not to write a book." . This idea, that every person is meant to do something great, is the driving force behind creativity. People want to make their mark in life, they want to feel important. We read books, watch TV shows and movies, and share stories with others  because we are dissatisfied with reality, so we need to invent a new, more exciting reality.  Everyone sees themselves as the protagonist in life, and they don't want the story of their life to be disappointing so they continually jump to the fantastic as a way of explaining things. Lorraine refuses to settle down and write a book, because she believes that she and her husband have a higher calling in life.

"God brought us together for a reason, and I'm pretty sure it's not to write a book."

                Carolyn seeks out the Warrens because she knows that there must be some outside force acting on her and her family, because if there isn't an outside force then all Carolyn has is a scared family and an old house. Accepting Carolyn's offer, the Warrens go to the Perron's home to see how bad the situation Carolyn described truly is. While there, Ed notices that one of the doors inside the house is tied shut with a small rope. When he asks Roger about it, we learn that every night the door would bang and, after getting fed up, the family decided it best to tie the handles. Logically speaking, a door banging in an old house is a very common occurrence, however Ed is dissatisfied with the logical reason and instead informs the Perrons that a knocking noise at night, especially when in groups of three, is typical of demonic infestation. Specifically, the three knocks serve as a mockery to the Holy Trinity. This way of thinking is incredibly typical for people. Instead of using the most logical, realistic approach, every immediately jumps to a fantastic idea. It isn't just a simple draft in the Perron's home, it's demons mocking God.

                People have a need inside of them to make the mundane seem extraordinary, so they try to spin their experiences in a way that makes it all seem so fantastic. People religiously seek out the unknown by reading anything from conspiracy theories to ghost stories to fantasy novels and etc. By watching horror, science-fiction films, or mystery films people are exposing themselves to the unknown and letting their own mind fill in the gaps. This is evident in the Conjuring when we see daughter Christine pointing behind the bedroom doing claiming there is someone watching them. 

It's more enjoyable to imagine the
"monster" than it is to actually witness it.

As an audience, we never see the figure behind the door and so all of the horror happens inside our mind. The only limit to the horror is our own imagination. It's more fun, in both the horror genre and in life, to speculate about what could be out there than it is to actually know what is out there. To most people, the mystery is better than the reality. The hunt for the truth in a fantastically constructed reality is more satisfying than knowing the truth in a dull reality.