Toupee in 5

Reaction to Experimental Films

In class we watched a bunch of experimental films including a few by Brakhage. Although I can understand from all of the readings and class discussions the interesting structural elements that help to construct these pieces as well as the unique visual components of the work, I really struggle when it comes to purely enjoying the films from the perspective of a viewer. Out of all of the pieces, I enjoyed the one that Brakhage did during the time that he was living with his in-laws, having a new child and struggling with money. The film was a struggle to watch and I can understand the visual friction that he created when I think about the work in terms of his life. I guess that if I think about these films not as films but more as art objects, I can feel more comfortable talking about them. I almost feel like this is some sort of flaw with me. In college, as an art history major, everyone who I was in class with really enjoyed these films and to me, I just drew a blank. As I said, I got them conceptually but when I just watched them I felt a void. Maybe that this struggle I feel with the disharmony between what I see and what I know is a part of the experience. Maybe with time I will have an A-ha! moment.

Amelie

The character development and narrative of Amélie is structured through an elaborate rhythmic system of lists. The film opens with a narration that is declarative while demonstrating the cadence of a sporting announcement. Each line that is spoken to in the introduction sounds like a shopping list of things that happened on a particular day. The technique is so interesting because it allows the narrator to communicate to the audience who the character of Amélie is in terms of her background, what the setting of the film is, who the supporting cast of characters are and begins to build the viewer’s curiosity about what kind of journey this character will be taking in her life. In addition to the verbal lists that are established at the onset of the film, the director has beautifully crafted visual as well as audible lists for the viewer. Every frame of the film seems to have a strong base color of red or green and then subtle colors pop out in front of those colors, like a layered palette, forcing the viewer to take in each element of the scene individually. The importance of each visual element becomes apparent through this system. You see a scene flooded with every kind of green, from the water to the trees, to the bridge (almost like a Monet painting) and then, strongly sitting on the bridge in the foreground is Amélie skipping stones in her red dress. It’s a strongly composed image, but also quite compelling and focusing. To top off this already emotionally charged set up, the director added the list- like element of the sound. Each individual sound is layered upon the other, in the same way that the colors are revealed. In the scene where Amélie sees her love interest for the first time, you hear her footsteps approaching him, then you hear the action of what he is doing (scrapping under a photo booth), you hear the counter sound of her breath being taken away from her and then you hear her footsteps moving away into the distance with speed. The sounds remind me of how when you play a xylophone you bang onto each key and the let the sound resonate until a new key is hit. All of the individual notes are heard clearly, but the resonance and juxtaposition of the notes creates a song. The dialogue of the film continues in this list- like structure. When characters tell stories about their lives to each other, they list events and anecdotes but in a very rhythmic manner. Although the film does have a very strong narrative and progression, I am reminded of the reading that we did on experimental film and how a director can successfully evoke a mood or emotion by emphasizing a sound or rhythm via repetition. In the film, even the quirky book of photobooth pictures which are an obsessive collection act as a sort of list or compilation of items that serve as both an activity within the story as an extension of the love interest’s character. While Amélie is a love story and a personal journey, I feel that the reason that the story is so successful is that feelings of love, uncertainty and hope are established to the point that they resonate with the viewer. The movie ultimately becomes about representing a feeling. I find myself personally very connected to the film because I can relate to the protagonist. I am a list maker. I am sometimes looked at as neurotic and I think that I use lists as a tool to organize myself and shield myself from the unpredictability of life. I think that the story uses lists in a similar way. The parts of the film that slow down and are almost silent are the areas where Amélie truly develops as a character and the story moves forward. This is because it is a moment to breathe and let things happen as they are- with out manipulation or structuring systems. I guess that this balance between the “list-like” moments and breaths of air would be considered themes and variations. The end result is an intensely layered network of sounds, words, colors and textures.

Presentation_ Portrait Project

Film Art_ Experimental Film

I like this reading because although I am personally a more literal creator, I really appreciate experimental film and the emotive qualities that it can produce in a completely different way than more traditional methods of film making. I think it takes a lot to accept experimental film making because aside from all of the theory and techniques the most important thing is that the concept is exceptionally strong. This is because the concept is the guiding principle of the entire work.


Some Notes:
Experimental films are made to - express personal experiences or viewpoints
- express a mood or quality
- explore the medium
Experimental films sometimes use narrative form.
In abstract form the entire film is organized around the changing pictorial qualities of line, color, shape, size and movement of images
Abstract films are organized by themes and variations
rhythm of editing is as important as the rhythm of movement

Associational formal systems- suggest ideas and expressive qualities by grouping images that may not have any immediate logical connection.

Readings Closure and Narrative

I was really interested in the reading on Closure. In my narrative strategies class we had to write short stories. Everyone in class had trouble with their endings. Some people in the class left their endings very open and others had a specific event that closed their stories. In the class we are studying Aristotle's Poetics and exploring narrative structures that are (this particular reading implied) conventional. There is definitely room for an open ended story but somehow in the context of my Narrative Strategies class it just felt really uncomfortable. In this reading, the importance of the cohesiveness of the story really came through to me. Even if your ending doesn't have closure, it can still be a valid ending if the story is cohesive from beginning to end.

Mapping Project

For my project I took the concept of the geography of the body and explored ways to map personal stories. I am interested in scarring and how scars are used to tell stories. My mapping is both emotional and time based. The story that is revealed as whole becomes a story of the woman's life. Here are some images of my project which do not do justice to the actual project.

Narrative as a Formal System and McCloud Reading

In the reading from Film Art, the chapter 'Narrative as a Formal System' presented many familiar concepts. I feel that a lot of this reading that I am doing on the topic of narrative for my major studio class and my narrative strategies class has pretty obvious information, however the terminology and cohesive study of the material which formalizes a system to speak collectively about it is new to me. The terms that stick out to me from this reading are:

- parallelism- 'setting up a similiarity among different elements'
- diegesis-'the total world of the story's action'
- causal motivation- determining the cause of an incident
- temporal order- arrangement of events in time
- the exposition-'the portion of the plot that lays out important story events and character traits in the opening situation'

On a side note, even though my group is presenting on the chapter about Time Frames in Scott McCloud's book, I came across this video on storyboarding where some Disney artist's compare it to comics at one point.

Me

Presentation

today

alligator

alligator
Originally uploaded by Jessica Klein

Getting lots of illustration done on my time off from school. So far I have redone my logo,made a logo for rosiebee.com, made an avatar for a friend, and I made this alligator. Enjoy!

Other stories on New York alligators

avatar

avatar
Originally uploaded by Jessica Klein

So I made this avatar a while ago for work. We ended up not using this at work because everyone ended up using one of the Face Your Manga avatars. I like this one because it pops but I'm not sure if I will continue to use it. Let me know your thoughts.

Happy New Years!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Video Podcast

My assignment was to make a video podcast about how I am affected by the economic crisis. It's a little rough because I had less than a week to make it, but enjoy.

Labels from Jess Klein on Vimeo.

Heat

Today I got heat in my house. I am sooo excited.

Ramblings on my state of mind mid semester

For seven years I tossed the idea of graduate school back and forth in my head while I worked jobs in the museum world. People think that museum work is glamorous and have visions of you working next to masterpieces and talking theory all day long. However, the reality of my jobs were that I was used and mistreated for seven years because I was young and capable. My salary was so low that I could barely afford rent in combination with food. Thus the prospect of furthering my education to take me to a different place- a different field- a field that I was meant to work within was incredibly tempting. I prepared myself by taking continuing education classes and applied and ultimately was accepted into a program in New York. I felt so much excitement going into work and declaring my resignation to say that I was going to graduate school. Admittedly it was a bit weird because I had mentored so many people through the process of graduate school for museum studies that to leave the safety of my current office felt uneasy.

Although I had simultaneously applied for funding to the graduate program while I was applying for acceptance, I was offered a small fraction of the cost of education. This meant that in order to attend this school- the school that I had been watching from afar and admiring for seven years- I needed to take out 3 loans (2 government and 1 bank) and move into my parents house. I had not lived with my parents for close to a decade and moving back was exceptionally difficult. One of the big difficulties with moving back home was the fact that my parents had not expected me to return so they moved into a smaller house. I now live in the basement area of the house (which is over an hour and a half from school) with no door, no privacy and no heat. In order to get to my 9am class in time, I have to wake up and catch the 7am bus to the shuttle train to transfer to the train and then transfer once more. However, because I have such a long commute I have time to reflect on my work at school and I often wonder to myself- is this all worth it?

My classes this semester were adequate. Yes, they expanded my world and allowed me to think about new things. I was not in love with my teachers. I was not pushed to do work that I thought was particulary exceptional in any way and I struggled with the idea that I was doing "graduate level work" when my undergraduate counterparts sat right beside me in my classes. I see a few people singled out in the class and they get their names called and the choice opportunities for things to do within the department and I find myself feeling jealous. I think to myself, it's okay, you are not coming to the program with the skills that they have- but admittedly it is hard to ignore. I feel like I am just someone with some illustration skills who is easy to overlook. I like the sense of community that I feel amongst my peers and I think that social aspect of school is certainly worth it. However, I find it really difficult to become friends with people in the program when I spend over 3 hours of each day commuting, 8 hours of the week working, and then a large period of time studying. I hope that next semester will be different. I think that the first semester is difficult because you don't have a grounding in what's happening in the program. Moving forward I will have more confidence in my class choices and more enthusiasm for various activities that happen within the program.

I feel that the program is disorganized. It's not obvious how I can get specific mentoring or even what opportunities are available to me within the department. I find myself trying to learn what is happening and only by chance do I ever really hear about some amazing event that ties in with my interests. Additionally, I find that the ongoings between the Administration and students are very impersonal. I find it bizarre that I get emails notifying me to look at a website to learn about an invoice. I find it even more bizarre to get an email from the president of the school stating that because of the financial crisis funding for school may not be available next year. May not be available? How can something so ambiguous be sent out? I had worked for seven years and now am going through so much just to attend this program and now am going to have to attempt to take out a forth loan. Even just the prospect of this idea is daunting. So that is my upset with the Administration of the school. I just feel that I should be given the respect to receive these basic services.

This is a period of ambivalence for me. I know that I sound extremely negative and down. I feel that it's a struggle. I know that this is not a trade school and that I am going to leave Parsons with something more than the possibility of a future income, but I find it hard to accept inspiration when all day I think about how things are going to fall apart. Everywhere I look I see a label and to me that is equated with a price tag for something I need to purchase. This can drive you crazy. But it's not just money, it's getting the assurance that I will be okay, that I am doing creative work that is meaningful and that I am not just a number.

Ok a few more.

Rockin Cricket

Weight

another exciting assignment for my Animation Concepts class.

Weight from Jess Klein on Vimeo.

Vote by SMS!

This article talks about how Estonia is going to be the first nation to allow voting by SMS. I'm really shocked that America has not found more accessible ways to allow people to vote. For goodness sake- we are still stressing to get to our specified "voting sites" on a friggin Tuesday! Tuesday. It's like we have to make a special effort to vote. If people really cared about democracy then they would make voting a more democratic process and begin to look into alternatives to allow people various entry points into the vote.

Storytelling and Rap- Jay Z

Storyboardin- Fishin story

Here is my storyboard for my final project for my Animation Concepts class. I want to create a "quiet" story that shows a simple loving interaction between a father and daughter.

For the Birds

Here are some birds I made for a friends twitter php application.

For my Animation Concepts Class

We were all given pieces of this song and our teacher is going to put them together and make a rockin music video. :) Here is my 14 seconds

SS7_Jess Klein from Jess Klein on Vimeo.

More

Storyboardin

ABC3D

My first ever attempt at live action

dancin from Jess Klein on Vimeo.

Walking Man

man walking- new from Jess Klein on Vimeo.

Test

Parsons Area Graffiti

Lower East Side Graffiti Inspiration

Inspiring me- now step off

Painfully catchy

Minilogue - Animals from ljudbilden on Vimeo.