notes on narrations for video

Hannah’s notes…
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.

Lonelygirl15

Lonelygirl15 created a mystery for the audience to solve and this also kept the audience interested. The clips are mysterious from the very beginning. You never see whats outside of the door to Bree's room or where her supposed window really is. Also, there are weird objects in the background that look out of place in a teenagers room. Mainly the candle holder, the picture beside it, and the picture on the wall. The camera is never close enough to get a clear picture of the images in the picture frame on the bookshelf or the picture on the wall, so the audience begins to wonder what they could be. The mystery evolves with the mentioning of her religion, which is never really clarified what it is and what it entails. Bree also seems to have more scientific knowledge about obscure topics then a normal teenager would. At that point, it makes the audience wonder where she is getting this information from. Lonleygirl15 used clips from different characters that just randomly appear through the first season. Opaphid's videos seem random, but they connect back to Bree's video by using clips of her voice. These videos provide further mystery into Bree's life. Lonelygirl15 created mystery by leaving pieces of information out, like where Bree lives, what her religion really is, what do her parents look like, who is Cassie, along with several other facts. Then, Lonelygirl15 provides pieces of information that make no sense, therefore causing more mystery, such as with the pictures in Bree's room, Bree's scientific knowledge, the information about the temple in Egypt, and other info that provides further mystery. The way the videos are shot at some points makes them seem too professional, while at other points they look choppy. The lack of consistancy between the videos makes them mysterious.

Comparison annotation for Diamond Dust Shoes and A Pair of Shoes

Andy Warhol’s Diamond Dust Shoes and Vincent van Gogh’s A Pair of Shoes share some similarities but are defined more by their differences. Diamond Dust Shoes and A Pair of Shoes both feature the obvious, shoes, but while they share the same subject matter, they do not share much of anything else. Warhol’s Diamond Dust Shoes features women’s shoes, all of different colors, and none of them the same style. Vincent van Gogh’s shoes are only a single pair of men’s shoes that are the same color. Warhol’s shoes, though they appear to be randomly dispersed throughout the piece, all have the front of the shoes pointed towards the center of the piece. Van Gogh’s shoes are located in the center of the piece. The brushstrokes within each work provide the most dynamic contrast. Warhol’s brushstrokes are almost nonexistent, except for the occasional cosmetic fix, but Van Gogh’s brushstrokes are clearly visible. Despite the fact that both pictures have nondescript backgrounds, Van Gogh’s background does provide a sense of depth for a three dimensional object, which Van Gogh’s shoes are created to be. Warhol’s shoes, on the other hand, appear flat and two dimensional. The black and diamond dust background does not provide a way to make the shoes appear in a three dimensional space and causes the flat shoes to become nothing more than two dimensional objects. This idea of two dimensions is further justified by the idea that the image represents the reproduction of a photograph of a shoe rather than the actual shoes. Van Gogh’s image, though, appears to represent the reproduction of the real thing. Van Gogh’s picture shows worn shoes representative of hard work while the other displays fancy shoes in a sea of diamonds, representative of fame and fortune. The first image represents hard work while the other represents easy reproduction.

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Vincent van Gogh, A Pair of Shoes

A Pair of Shoes by Vincent van Gogh displays the strikingly static yet kinetic type of brushwork that Vincent van Gogh is known for. The piece is a painting of a pair of black worn shoes, most likely male shoes, lying on a nondescript surface. One shoe is standing upright, while the other shoe is upside down with its sole in the air. The shoes appear to be very realistic in the use of texture and light on the objects. The piece makes the greatest use of shadows and highlights to create its realistic appearance. The shadows and the highlights give the piece a three dimensional depth, despite the lack of an apparent background outside of black nothingness and a tan surface of some kind. But while the shoes obtain an air of realism, they also display an impressionist style. The brushstrokes of the piece are quick and chunky. They give the piece a look of being fuzzy or blurred while still retaining the overall realistic notions of the piece. These erratic brushstrokes also provide the image with a type of kinetic feeling. The brushstrokes are all different from one another and their placement gives the appearance of a flow in the paint. The overall effect of this is a paradoxical image. The brushstrokes are implying movement while the actual image the brushstrokes are conveying is of a static object.

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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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