Connections

Using some script from my recordings I am looking for connections, disconnections, and God knows what else.

Sample of Scripts:

KITTY: Okay so the dream I remember is that I’m in this very stereotypical, like dark damp gross dungeon bars are all rusty and everything, I’m in like a, like a cell. And this big ass guy with a leather mask on comes in, like medieval style leather mask, And he...there’s a chopping block in the cell that im in he just like pushes me down onto the block and holds my head down and steps on my back, like, here And then he brings out this like giant axe like executioners axe And brings it down And then i woke up I don’t have a lot of nightmares.

JEREMY: I guess uh a dream that was recurring for me, uh, it’s very simple, wel it’s not simple, i- i- it’s I was rotting. It started with the teeth, which is always fun because you’re looking at your hands like what the fuck And um Hands to arms to body you know recognizing that you are falling apart In an instant I probably was doing something mundane because that’s usually how it is Usually I’m like casually in my house just sitting down and then like This one little thing happens and I just like pluck a tooth out This is happening Yeah I’ve had dreams like that That one happened more than once Yeah I remember waking up holding my teeth like, are you still here Its always a weird sensation of seeing yourself like deconstruct There’s no sound it’s happening You're dealing with it now Thats one reoccuring dream

HARRISON: In the beginning of my dream I wake up in my bedroom from when I was five and its pitch black. And I hear muffled screaming from down stairs . So I walk downstairs and as i walk downstairs this room is like this strange like purpley yellow color and i look into my living room and i see giant wolf like creature walking ever so slowly like towards me Like...just...erie movements..like slow, kind of glitching And I see my parents in the corner of the room just like shaking in fear and i was like No! I will destroy you demon and I kicked him...and that was the end of my dream. ----------Questions promted------------ HARRISON: I woke up scared because I thought I died because there was no resolution to the dream. Yes, the room felt really surreal like the colors melded into each other and just a really weird combination of colors

How do things become associated? How can we trust those associations? Like stars making constellations, sometimes things line up and connect to make a distinct picture and sometimes it just a random mess.

Mind and Media

Currently Mind and Media is focused on how the internet reflects the American mindset in today's society. The internet has become a personal archive for anyone who has access, allowing one small image to go viral countrywide. Using a mix of key search word results and original work to provide an 'Internet Regurgitation Video' to serve as visuals. They will coexist with the audio through a vaguely developed system of selection.

Kitty

Using GIFs from Tumblr to make an 'into' and a looping throughout the rest of the audio. I had put a variety so there were no repeats of any individual GIF but it felt too cheesy to steal multiple things and just paste them.

Currently

I've started taking photographs using only my smartphone and instagram filters to become the visuals accompanying the audio recordings. Things to consider:

1. Duration of image playback
2. Do I have to remember the specific filters to individual pics, or should I use the same one to 'fit the mood'
3. Take a group of photos to repeat, or enough photos to never repeat

Using instagram or snapchat offers the use of a social platform, however snapchat wants to share my location. Content of the images changes for each audio recording and may vary depending on the context within the recording itself.

Edit: Used the short clips I'd taken the other day to see how it looked with the audio to halp_mixdown. Experimenting was successful, now just to create some kind of narrative.

Audio Over Video

After playing around with video and audio software I believe that the restriction of visuals leads to a more impactful audio. I enjoy the feel of this 'over the phone' effect because it appeals to the more humanistic side of this project. You actually become the audience to this audio as if you know the person speaking. Thanks to all of the persons I recorded I've come to the conclusion that I want to make short clips that sound as if they are a phone conversation.

halp mixdown

Kitty mixdown

Who do you save?

 
Um, well...
 

Planning Interactive

Opposing the drop in hours proposed in class I thought of a way to one on one sit down with someone and have a conversation. A mock podcast or vlog, where I have guests over my house and we casually unwind and discuss moral dilemmas over a glass of spiked apple cider. This controls the environment from distractions, like a busy hallway and seeing a friend in passing. The topic is, How to justify immoral decisions. What does it take, circumstance wise, for a person to sort through their morals and make a tough decision that may often be the lesser of two evils. When a person is more comfortable I'm assuming they would be more likely to be honest, less concerned with how they will look to others when they make these tough hypothetical choices.

Some questions/scenarios I'm writing:
(Money)

You are a 40 something year old white male with a secure position inside a large company. You are well off and are planning a vacation with your family out of country. You are well liked at work, live less than fifteen minutes away by foot, and have your own office. One day at work, you overhear a group of women complaining about the unfair hours and wages. The next day, you notice that those women are not at work and their work areas are empty of personal items. Upon asking your higher ups, you learn that they were let go but are not given a reason why. A week later, you are approached by your boss. He says that you must fire the women working under you because they are not producing enough work and are costing the company. If you do so, you are looking at a significant pay raise. You doubt you will have your job if you refuse, but can't help but come to the conclusion that these women are being fired for bogus reasons. Do you fire the women and keep your job so you can provide for your family and make sure they never want for anything, or do you stand up for the women in your workplace even if it costs you your financial stability? What if your wife, the love of your life, is terminally ill and needs expensive treatment or there is a likelihood that she may die?

(Money)

You are walking back to your car after a long day at college. Your car is about fifty feet from where you are, but its locked and your keys are in your bag. On your walk you notice a duffel bag stuffed to the brim with what appears to be cash, you can see bills sticking out of the unclosed zipper. Looking around, you see a large man dressed in black walking straight for where the bag is located, but he's about thirty feet away. If you grab the bag and make a run for your car, you think you could make it, even if you have to fish around for your keys. Regardless of what the cash is for, you doubt that its legal. This could mean a big difference for you, an in debt college student surviving off ramen and microwave macaroni. Do you try to steal the possibly already stolen money?

Sa$$

So traveling down the social vigilante root we branch off at some weird catty destination. Still unsure how I feel about it, but was interesting enough to post.

Looks more like a meme, or captioned photo.

A bit different from the imagery that I've been bringing in in the past. Trying a different approach to bringing information to the table, as well.

Peanut Gallery

New Project title: Peanut Gallery

The cheap seats were considered the peanut gallery, so called because it was popular for patrons to throw things like peanuts and shells at the actors if they didn't like what they saw on stage. -Dictionary.com

This project's foundation was research on both the callousness of popular corporate companies and the fast paced culture we immerse ourselves in everyday. Rising from this foundation are symbolic emblems that evoke viewers to question what we as a group of people should allow to be acceptable in our country.

Company responsibility

Thinking about company responsibility.
Twitter estimates Donald Trump to be worth about 2 billion. While Twitter has allowed Trump to tweet about whatever he wants, even when breaking Twitter policy, they may become the first social platform used to declare war. "The North Korean government claimed the tweet was a 'clear declaration of war,' and a case could easily be made that it broke Twitter's rules prohibiting harassment and content that incites violence." Twitter has been struggling to crack down on harassment and inappropriate content with its rising 328 million users (active accounts).
Youtube has even more users, considering that you don't need an account to view the web content. Its recently come into light that many sexual predators have been using Youtube to recruit children under the guise of a Modeling Agency. Not to mention the overwhelming amount of harassing comments that people leave on videos. Others solicit illegal services, upload inappropriate content, and throw a bunch of internet trolls onto the list. It just makes me wonder if these companies are taking the best approach to monitoring its users, or if it comes down to an individual's moral obligation to not muck up the internet for kids. Or should kids not be allowed access these places, does it fall on the parents to be aware of these issues?

Exploration 1

Using iconic imagery in the form of text, I was thinking about common practices that people do. Sizing up a drink because it's however many cents more, watching people toss pennies away because they don't want to carry change, and then how Trump causes uproars on Twitter.

No Elysium

Right now the project is in a developmental phase. It will challenge viewers to see the current state of affairs in our world for what they are, not for how we think they are. For example, there is a predispositioned picture in our brain when we think of global warming but, is a polar bear on a shrinking iceberg really what that looks like? Is that really the extent of human impact, or is it more sinister than that? How deep do the consequences of us living here really sink, and is it too late for us to redeem ourselves? If you asked if humans deserved a chance of redemption, I would say that redemption isn't the goal but our only option. It's time to become aware now more than ever.

preliminaries

1

All seminar projects should have a title (always subject to change), and a 140-character (tweet length) summary (also may be changed). Optional: three or four #tags, possibly worked into that tweet-length summary, that help orient the work to larger (social, thematic, political etc) concerns.

For Tuesday: Have titles and 140-character summaries; do the readings; discuss current movements in your projects/initiatives.

This post is tagged with everyone's tag (or "label"), so you can see your name in the "posts by" list on main blog page, right column.

2

The two readings I assigned are these

Cameron Tonkinwise
design thinking, yet again, because, maybe, it could actually be useful, perhaps even necessary, given every thing
June 12, 2017

Christina Wodtke
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Design Thinking
August 26, 2017

Cameron Tonkinwise is a smart, energetic and prolific writer about design (sustainability design, transition design). I monitor his writing and links to others' writing via @camerontw.
he is also at academia.edu.