- » Group Prep. (for presentations): Discussion on blogs, over weekend.
M 22-Mar Jeremy Bushnell, The Imaginary Year (2004)
- Presentation: Group 3
W 24-Mar Jason Nelson, Dreamaphage — note: might require Flash update
- Presentation: Group 2
Note: Weekly Blog Entry: optional (for e.c.)
R 26-Mar “Studio”: Workshop (praxis, “tech-support”) — Project 2
- ♦ Prep.: in addition to reviewing assignment and online discussion (groups’ + my Qs):
— post tech/design Qs to “troubleshoot” (partic. e.c. for “tech support” to classmates!)
— prepare text (“rough draft”) to work with in “Studio”
» to re-organize into collage, non-linear threads, hypertext layout, multimedia assemblage (electracy)
F 27-Mar Workshop / Studio (independent design time)
» update « Project 2 — Due: S 27-Mar (deadline: 11pm)
- — Note: 8pm email deadline to guarantee response in time
(still send “emergency” notes after, if necess.)
FYI: several replies to Qs in comments below.
Gary, what’s the material breakdown for the groups. Namely for group 1 (Apr. 14)?
some Qs. & Comments, following Groups’ Reviews:
Monday
Wednesday
Ok so I know I’ve probably exceeded my question limit for the day, but this just occurred to me. I’m making multiple pages for part 1 and they’re all showing up on the page directory (left side menu of the blog, idk what to call it). There’s some of the more embedded pages that I would rather only be accessed through a link and not from my main page. Is there any way to hide them, or am I stuck with it if I keep my current layout?
(reply to student’s email)
reminder of guiding principle for composition choices: use any of the film elements, especially the narrative (including dialogues), as the “raw materials” for your expression — literally presenting the details, in fragments. Not to compose a coherent summary of the plot, though: we want to disperse the key events throughout the site, in non-linear organization.
The film provides the atmosphere/mood for the project, for us (“readymade” remix, of the childhood memory) — it works “to enhance” on its own, serving as expression of you (and your subjective feelings at the time of your identification). Remember that this is only one part of the “mash-up” technique, and it expresses mood, in relation to the community story.
In terms of examples, I agree that the ones in chapter 5 do not work precisely in the way we want to write; If you can work by analogy, seeing the logic in these examples, then you might appreciate the following:
”Alice in Cyberspace” (173-4)
”Remake: Blues Legend” (213-4)
Chekov / Sketch (218)
Sagliviano (221)
(reply to student’s email)
Crucial to remember that this is not a memory recollection composition; you are the DJ/MC, creating new expression through the combination of two unrelated databases (the film and the community, any details you select from each). The goal/task is to express the experience of one’s position in relation to these two popcycle dimensions, using these details as the “raw materials” for composition using poetic logic (“high concept,” “haiku design,” etc. from textbook).
The examples last night of Emily’s couch and of Evelyn’s basketball were concrete materials to use to establish the earlier context of our lives, the childhood memory distinguished from our present situation. This is the key strategy for using figures, rather than the typical autobiographical mode of “I remember the old couch in my living room where I watched The Little Mermaid…” — or in my case, including a coffee table in the project (without stating “our old living room table in my childhood home”). Need to switch from your question of the possessive case into the logic of the DJ/MC or film director — her relation is there in the mash-up, but implicitly; the association of the two songs expresses her mood / attitude / disposition.
The question of value/interpellation is an important aspect from chapter 7 to review, which the group also covered on Wednesday (and online here).
— see “Comment” p.190; “Ficelle” p.195; maybe also “Tables” p.224.
By shifting the focus off of ourselves and onto the people around us (“ficelle” technique, essential), we are trying to understand a prominent value of the community; this is what I was reminding you last night, how people established the annual/ritual events long before us and separate from us now.
Hypothesis: Whatever we choose, person or event in community, should give us insight as to the value behind the practices (not the ritual or homage itself but what these express about the community).
We need not state this explicitly, but we should express the value poetically through the electracy style of “documentation” that we’ve proposed: multiple voices and stories of the “characters” (readymade, in the communal database), present in the project in place of ourselves.
(response to student’s email, today)
On the issue of organization, a key reminder from last night: we don’t want to split the project into discrete parts, like first time; rather, to design using “mash-up” technique, just like you did in “high concept” exercise (literally, page layout). The respective databases — film, memory, community — provide the “raw materials” (including characters).
You could also think of the databases as the original songs to mix together as DJ, adding/subtracting “tracks” (heterogeneous fragments) to pages — just like the mash-up songs, Pulp Fiction, and The Imaginary Year. (Tarantino adds/subtracts characters and their storylines to/from scenes; Bushnell arranges pages with 1-5 characters and their narratives.) Remember, the film (“track”) serves a distinct purpose, providing the mood/atmosphere; the community speakers (secondary characters) articulate the prominent value (“interpellation”) of the situation you were part of but not responsible for as a child.
(another email)
On question of distributing overall word count between parts 1 & 2:
no parameters for this issue this time; as I suggested last night, think of the two parts as databases from which to select details to include, along with the family memory context (a third database). The overall composition is not separated by Entertainment and Community sections, but arranged in “mash-up” and “high concept” style (heterogeneous elements in juxtaposition). So, we don’t want a total imbalance; also, selecting quantity of details is relative to topic, given that community elements might be fairly limited in our memory (“creative license” is available for us to use).
With Poetics page around 250-300 words, remainder is for you to mix as the DJ, balancing relation of the three databases — keeping in mind the overall goal/task (expressing the experience of our position in relation to popcyle, which we learn through this, cf. chapters 5-8).