Work Reflection and The Medium is the Message

My project has a very crude approach: I wanted to make the backgrounds and character rather ugly and sad, and it was kind of hard to work on it, seeing as how I had to look at these things all the time. It was kind of an insult to my artistic integrity. In most scenes, the dog was a cutout, which was held together with sticky tack to allow movement. It was difficult to work with, since the sticky tack picked up the charcoal I worked with, and required constant kneading to remain sticky. Some scenes were cut, others were combined to include symbolism I wanted and to compress the length of the film. I'm not sure if I'm completely happy with the final product...it definitely had the tone and the look I was looking for, but I felt I could have added a bit more substance.


The Medium is the Message

I have noticed that, over time, technology and its content has evolved with the introduction and creation of new mediums. A very simple example is the recent advent of simple, touch oriented games for smartphones and tablets. The portability and use of a touch sensitive screen on these devices are imperative for the touch based, basic, and repetitively addictive games that come out exclusively for them. This demonstrates relative content in response to a new medium. In the video of the 3D printed horse, running in stages on a turntable, the artist used a combination of different generations of mediums to create a new form of content. The device hearkens back to old zoetropes, but uses 3D models and strobe to achieve the same visual effect but in a different dimensional plane. The project relies on all aspects of each type of medium to be successful.

Humans rely on media for a variety of things; in this day and age, it's practically become a necessity. Information, entertainment, opinions, advertising...all of these things can be broadcasted instantaneously, and have the power to influence and change the viewers. In a way, we've become sucked in to everything the media has to offer, and it has the overwhelming power to corrupt, slander, broadcast, enlighten, educate, etc etc. And in today's society, our daily lives depend on this information, from ease of use to downright necessity. It is something we can escape, but often have no choice in the matter. With cell phones, people store their contacts' numbers and forget about them. Unlike a few years ago, where it was necessary to remember a number or keep a personal address book, phone numbers are more often than not glanced over and typed in, often not even by the owner of the phone. This results in serious predicaments if contacts are deleted, lost, or the user doesn't have their own phone for reference.  Kara Walker's animations, in an indirect way, also talks about the influence everyday media has on the public mindset. Many of her pieces detail the stereotypical portrayal and beliefs around African Americans, especially during times of slavery. Even to this day, media will inadvertently change our opinions and dispositions about entire groups of people. It's worked for hundreds of years, and the influences are still there, though much more subtle.