About Me
- Emily Doerfler
- Writing connected to the Visual Learning Community and Jamie Bianco's seminar in composition class at the University of Pittsburgh. wiki-http://emilydoerfler.pbwiki.com/
Monday, November 3, 2008
Storyboard 1 Emily Doerfler
Transitions- fade to black and
Effects- fast forward. Make the video speed through the production of the Chalk Art title.
Voiceover- no voice over
Soundtrack- Drums based sound with the high hat and bass more prominent.
Second image- images of chalk art around the campus, starting at the cathedral and ending at the towers.
Transitions-
Effects- focus in on one image, screen in and then focus out on the next and repeat.
Voiceover- Chalk art or graffiti chalk has been around the university system since the first eventually developing in the histories of universities around the world as both a blessing and a curse.
Soundtrack- softer music maybe piano or classical music
Third image- Show photos of the different types of chalk art available meaning explicit photos, slogans, university pride, and party locations.
Transitions-
Effects-
Voiceover- Chalk art is used as a means of communication across largely concrete campuses. The messages can sometimes be explicit or harmless, challenge the university or cheer on the university on. The University of Pittsburgh’s chalk art is no different from other universities; it tells messages of when and where events are taking place, displays slogans for upcoming elections, and makes comments towards the success of the university’s sports teams.
Soundtrack- play hard scratchy loud guitar, then switch to a song that sounds like the university fight song.
video contract for interviewees
Signature_____________________ Date_____________
Revised Script
The main spectrum of chalk art on the University of Pittsburgh campus is located around the Cathedral, in the Quad, and around the Towers. All of these places provide the greatest amount of viewers in the shortest time. The locations are both sought after for the amount of viewers and to comply with the wishes of the university. The university may not have a strict no chalk art policy but it does dictate some control over the content and location of the chalk art. Chalk art is to be non-explicit and only in certain areas that are either easily removed through wear and tear during the day, the elements, or a simple blast of a hose.
All the work that goes into chalk art and it is simply washed away in a matter of minutes. (show video of chalk art production outside the cathedral). The first step to creating chalk art is to have a clear concise idea of what needs to be written down and where. Then the next step is to pick up a piece of chalk and begin to write the message down as large as possible in the space provided.
So why is chalk art essential to the university system and what influence does it have on the student body? Lambda Sigma recently created chalk art around the campus advertising free food and fun on October 30th. Lambda Sigma said…(use interview recording or if the information from this interview is insufficient use the interview recording from Sigma Chi or Haunted Holland).
Chalk art is not just messages, it is an important part of university culture both good and bad. The chalk art may disappear after a time but, like any performance art piece, it can leave a lasting impression on those who have seen it and allowed it to influence them.
notes and annotations
Chalk art is used to convey several different things in the university spectrum. The main use around the University of Pittsburgh Oakland Campus is to display times and places where events are being held. Chalk art is not limited to this idea in any means. It can be used as a form of protest, such as when the Georgetown University students used it to advertise their disagreement with the university’s policies on the Georgetown University apparel. The students used chalk art to advertise the sit in they had to protest the university’s policies on where, how, and who makes the university’s apparel. Chalk art was used to show anti-sweatshop slogans and it also should the names of the students involved in the sit-in (Williams).
Williams, Kristian. “Reflections on the Georgetown Sit-In.” Z Magazine. 01 May 1999. 30 Oct. 2008
“Girls Fined for Pavement Drawings.” BBC News. 29 April 2007. 31 Oct. 2008.
interview scripts
Q: Why did you choose to advertise the Haunted House in chalk form?
Q: Was there any specific reason you choose that particular location in the Quad?
Q: What were you hoping to gain by advertising the Haunted House there?
Q: Did you have any contact with Pals and Lambda Sigma in coordination to the chalk advertisement in the Quad?
Q: Do you think that advertising there brought the activity to the attention of more students?
Q: Who did the actual chalk writing, was it the Holland committee or the Pals and Lambda Sigma?
Q: (if they performed the actual chalk writing) Did you have to get permission to write the chalk message in the Quad?
Q: How long did it take to do the chalk writing?
Q: When did you make the chalk writing?
Q: Were you aware of any consequences that could arise from chalking the floor of the Quad?
Q: What do you think is the importance of the chalk writing around campus through your personal experiences with creating it and seeing its affects on activities?
Sigma Chi Fraternity
Q: What is the purpose of chalk messages when your fraternity creates them?
Q: Do you receive special permission from the school to create the chalk writings?
Q: Are you only aloud to put messages in certain areas and only aloud to write certain information down?
Q: What is the information usual present in a chalk writing?
Q: Do you feel that the chalk messages help to inform people of what is going on around the university?
Q: What is Sigma Chi’s personal policy on the use of chalk art?
Q: Who is actively involved in the creation of chalk art?
Q: When do they usually create the chalk writings both time of day, day, and occasion?
Q: Is it usually a group assignment or an individual assignment and why?
Lambda Sigma
Q: Lambda Sigma was recently involved with the chalk art in the Quad for Halloween correct?
Q: Was Lambda Sigma responsible for the creation of the multiple chalk drawings around the Cathedral and Towers advertising Free Food and Fun?
Q: Who created the chalk writings?
Q: Was it a joint effort with Pals and Haunted Holland?
Q: How long did it take to create the multiple chalk writings?
Q: Was special permission needed to create the chalk writings?
Q: What were the reasons for the locations?
list of interviewees
The Haunted Holland advertising Committee November 6th in the Holland Hall Lounge
Sigma Chi Fraternity Representative in Front of the Cathedral on November 8th
Lambda Sigma Representative in front of the Cathedral on November 9th
Dean of Students interview pending an opening in his schedule
Production shots
Video of the creation of chalk art in front of the Cathedral of learning entrance early morning on November 7th.
Photos of examples of chalk art around the campus showing where the chalk art is located. Locations include around the Cathedral, in the Quad, and on the Sidewalks around the Towers. Some of the photos were already taken and others will be taken on Friday, November 7th and Saturday, November 8th. The photos will be taken in the morning at 9, the afternoon at 12, and at night at 8.
Photos of chalk art as it begins to wear down. The photo locations will be around the Cathedral and around the Towers. The photos will be taken November 8th. Some will be taken at 8 in the morning, 12 in the afternoon, and 3 in the afternoon, 6 in the evening, and 8 at night.
Video of the fading chalk art over time. The photo would be taken outside the front entrance of the Cathedral of Learning, and it would be a combination of videos starting at 8 am and going till 10 am. It would show people walking over it and whatever elements, such as rain or wind, happen to be in affect that day. The video will be taken November 8th.
Video of interviews with the creators of the Haunted Holland chalk art. Video will be taken November 6th inside the upper lounge of Holland Hall at 8pm.
Recording of the morning sounds of Pittsburgh would take place at 7 pm November 7th by the Cathedral front entrance.
notes other students video ideas
The topic was on Light Up Night with a focus on the fireworks on Friday. It is hard to tell what the exact topic is from the beginning, because the way that it is set up it could be just the Cathedral or Light Up Night. There needs to be some kind of transition from the Cathedral history to Light Up Night and how they are connected. Also, provide a lead in sentence to the topic and history of the Cathedral.
Gill
The topic is very interesting with the focus on music, but what exactly is the project saying about Pittsburgh? Maybe use music from local artists around the area and use more than four volunteers so there is a variety to pick from for the video.
Ariel
Try and find a commonly tattooed cultural aspect of Pittsburgh to help tie in the idea of tattooing and culture. Also, talk about why tattoos are considered taboo and then back up your point of why they should not be taboo.
Julie
Try and find specific examples of the artists and artworks on the sides of buses. Also, try and explain where the idea for the bus art came from and how it affects the city.
Colleen
The topic was the Silver Eye Center for Photography with a focus on the history and cultural signifigance. Provide specific examples of other artist who have been featured in the center, and talk about the local artists who have been in the center. Explain why a local artist is always featured in the center.
Jenna
The Doors of Oakland Public Art Project is a great topic to focus on art in Pittsburgh. An idea would be to focus on the history of one door design and explain how this history parallels with the other doors. Also this might help condense some of the information, instead of focusing on the overall history and explaining each door.
Alejandro
Provide some connection between the billboards and the culture of downtown Pittsburgh. Maybe find out if only local artists worked on the billboards or if artists from all over were commissioned to create the billboards.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
notes on narrations for video
Don’t use whatever, say the whole law. How are all these facts related to your topic. Practice to not stutter. Good argument but cut short some of the material. Slow down in your speech and try to make the argument more apparent and maybe focus on the idea of the graffiti standing up there with murderers. Somehow draw on the idea that graffiti is art and not a crime.
Kate’s notes…
Sprout fund. Is it a narrative or a question? I like the specific examples that you give. Combined with pictures it will make the narrative very interesting. Explain how the murals are different from graffiti and how you can tell what a sprout mural is. Explain how each mural had an impact in the area it is placed. Maybe explain the process of a specific mural and how it came to be.
Patrice’s notes…
Try note to be so broad with the idea of in the world. Provide some specific examples of fountains. Maybe focus more on the fountain as a whole instead of the water by itself. The work focuses mainly on the water and not the architecture. Maybe bring to light the architectural nature of fountains and how they affect the landscape.
narration script rough drafe
Everyday there is a new story to tell… Everyday the story is wiped away to become just another memory. All over the grounds of the University of Pittsburgh Oakland Campus, there are chalk drawings, sometimes just arrows, other times just words. But either way the chalk drawings create a story for the life at the University.
In the dead of night and the early morning dawn, the artists leave the warmth of their beds. They work in teams with group assignments or they work alone, fulfilling their own need to tell the natives of the Oakland Campus just what is going on. In its simplest form, the chalk drawings around campus could be conceived as just a message system. They tell people where to go, how to get places, and when they should go. But the system is not as simple as a messenger. The messages are changed daily, sometimes wiped completely from the ground and the memories of the people they tried to reach or sometimes leaving faint traces of themselves for days on end. Yet despite how the messages are so easily changed and forgotten their appearance on the campus is a record of the events that happened there. The chalk drawings are like an invisible scrap book upon the walls and floors of the campus. They are a record of events to come, events gone past, and the events taking place at the present time.
Like any piece of art, the chalk drawings around campus reflect the context of the area time they find themselves in. Some of the messages pertain to not only the immediate area, meaning the Oakland campus, but to the world at large.
The chalk art is similar to an exhibition style or performance style of art. The art is on display for only a short while and is changed by the things around it. The art is forever lost and can never be repeated unless the chalk art is recoreded. Also, the chalk art is open to interpretation in many instances. Arrows could be pointing to places that lead to something good or bad. The arrows path can be taken differently from person to person. Some of the messages that the chalk art displays can be interpreted by the average person in several different ways. The messages are not always clearly written out in standard English language. They sometimes make use of a jargon that only a select people would be able to understand or left in an open ended style of writing that leaves the meaning of the words open to several meanings.
Meaning or not, the chalk drawings around the campus are art not only due to their nature of living in the realm of context but because they are interpretable pieces that combined form a whole piece that reflects the life of the world around it. Art is not always what is visible but what is beneath the surface or left behind.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Lonelygirl15
Monday, October 6, 2008
Comparison annotation for Diamond Dust Shoes and A Pair of Shoes
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Vincent van Gogh, A Pair of Shoes
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Andy Warhol, Diamond Dust Shoes
Diamond Dust Shoes (Random) by Andy Warhol is a prime example of commercialization in the pop art area, consistent with the style that Andy Warhol came to perfect. The piece is made up of silkscreened shoes painted with acrylic on a linen background with diamond dust spread over the images. There are fourteen shoes each a different color and slightly different style from the rest, yet despite their differences the shoes have a few things in common. The shoes are all women’s shoes, and they all have the points of the shoes pointed towards the center area of the piece. In between the shoes the image is covered with black and then sprinkled over with diamond dust. The diamond dust also appears in any area of the shoes that is shaded or black. Casual observation of the piece revealed that anytime shoes overlap the area they overlap at becomes straight and strays slightly from the original shape of the shoe. It also appeared that either the shoes were painted over with acrylic after the black background was added or minor improvements to the shape and appearance of the shoe were added after the addition of the black background, due to overlap of paint on closer observation between the shoes and the background. Also, in some instances the brushstroke on the outer edge of the shoes does not match the inside of the shoe indicating that the stroke was added later for more cosmetic circumstances. The shoes appear like photographs in the piece; some shoes have shadows, textures, or even words. All of the diamond dust appears to have been added to the work after the painting, due to the fact that it is visible, and if it was added first it would not appear as well as it does, and because some stray diamond dust appears in areas of the shoes where it should not. The overall affect of the diamond dust on the black background gives the piece a sandpaper like look. Even the wear and tear on the piece lends itself to this idea, because the right side of the painting has less diamond dust than the left. The right side looks streaky or worn down, where some of the linen underneath the black is becoming visible.
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Monday, September 22, 2008
methodology 1
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Barthes, Roland. Image Music Text. Trans. Stephen Heath. United States of America, 1977.
Andy Warhol, Dollar Sign
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Andy Warhol, Myths
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Keith Haring, Untitled (Elephant)
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Andy Warhol, Typewriter [2]
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Andy Warhol, Frog
Andy Warhol’s Frog shows his return to a more commercialized, catalog style of art. The piece was made in 1983, yet it is reminiscent of Warhol’s early catalog work, with its use of contour lines and childlike qualities. The piece features two images of a frog superimposed over each other and off set by an inch. This idea of superimposition gives the piece a feel of movement to it. The movement is further symbolized by the colors of the piece. One of the frogs is red while the other is white, and both appear in a black void. Warhol is making use of contrasting colors, black and white, and yet adding red to create an emphasis or a focal point in the piece. The obvious subject of the piece is the frog, but why is the frog changing color and why is it in a black void. The answers to the questions can merely be construed through observation of the work and general interpretation.
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008
From Work to Text summary
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Monday, September 15, 2008
In class writing #5/ ip#1
Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyper Reality focuses on the idea of making the work going on in America today worthy of the history of America in the future. Bruce Conner, the American artist, portrays the idea of American art today creating its own history. In the Carnegie International, Bruce Conner’s work, the Angel series, makes use of entirely unique mediums and ideas, but is using a universally known subject. Bruce Conner is already a part of art history in America, but his work will hold greater significance in the future. Instead of being linked to a universal style or era of art, Bruce Conner’s style is uniquely his own. His style and medium is ever changing, so he can never be linked to one single movement. Instead, Conner’s work will be linked to only himself and through him his work will connect to American art history. The idea is that Bruce Conner is making American art history and in the future his work will be part of American art history, but he is also making use of universal history. His use of angels is wholly a universal subject but his techniques and styles are his own, and therefore part of American art history. Bruce Conner is looking towards the past but is also striving for the future. In a sense, Bruce Conner is using the ideas of “ever forward” and the “backward march” in Eco’s Travels in Hyper Reality (11). He is working towards further revolutionizing art and yet his subject is universally renowned and revered in the past and into the present. The idea of the angel is linked to the past and was a popular subject throughout the history of art.
Eco, Umberto. Travels in Hyper Reality. Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1986.
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