Fireside Chat

Putting together this piece was a really great experience for me.  The hardest part was deciding exactly what to do for it.  By the time I decided to do it about my friend, it was pretty much too late to put much together for the assignment.  But what surprised me was how much video content I had of the two of us.  Then I expanded the idea to how music has effected basically every significant relationship that I have.

As I presented, I really felt like I was able to express myself in a surprisingly personal way.  The amazing thing was that everyone was able to do so.  What I most appreciated was how open everyone was about  things that were really personal to them.  Deep down, I really got the impression that everyone wants to express themselves and be understood, but we are normally too afraid of doing so.  I think that that is the reason why most of us struggle to communicate through any medium.  There are always technical things to be learned in order to practice a craft effectively, but no matter how effective we are as craftsmen, we have to communicate honestly.  The fireside chat was an incredible opportunity for all of us to really open up to one another and experience a really unifying thing.  That thing is still beyond my articulation at this point, but it was great to experience.

Something else that surprised me was how much fear I felt while watching some of the performances. I think that some of that fear was because of a lack of trust on my part to receive something so personal from someone I don't know very well.  However, when those whom I do feel I know well presented, I felt much more comfortable while they presented.  I think that this explains why I sometimes have a hard time with a lot of art forms.  When we experience something new, and the author is someone we don't know, it makes sense that the experience results in some dissonance.  So I hope that from now on I can give every piece and every person more of a chance to express themselves.  I'm really grateful for the chance that I had to express myself.

Concerned Citizen

David Wright is the director of the Provo Community Garden located just south of the BYU campus.  This garden is situated on a street corner lot that looks more like an empty plot of land meant for developing than it does a garden, but that is probably because it is.  David and his team asked the owner if they could garden the plot instead of just leaving it there unused while the land waits to be built on.  As he puts it, the ground can either sit as an “eye sore” or be put to good use now.

Everyone who chooses to participate in the gardening process does so for a number of different reasons.  We live in a world where we buy all of our food at a grocery store and then work it all off in a gym, where we pay a membership.  But gardening in a community garden costs nothing, allows you to produce your own food, and get a workout all at the same time.  Many also use the experience as a form of physical and/or emotional therapy.  Being outside and working in the dirt provide a sense of fulfillment and feelings of peace.  David even says in the video that some who struggle with schizophrenia are able to cope and even partially recover from their illness through gardening.

This organization does more than provide a little bit of land for gardening.  They also give classes on gardening, which teach skill that can be applied to home gardens in the future.  It also gives community members an opportunity to bond with one another and expand their gardeners’ social circles.

Like the reading by Arlene Goldbard discusses, this community garden in a perfect example of how allowing people creativity and expression is a better salve for society that legislation or coercion. The members of this community from a bond fused by their own collaborative experts. Those who are typically marginalized by society at large feel comfortable coming out and participating in this creative-nurturing process. This forms a more tightly knitted community than any legislative action could induce.

An example of this effect from mass media is the film Freedom Writers. In this film, students from an inner city school are fused together despite their various cultural differences, through the efforts of their English teacher. The students bond through the process of writing. After given the power to express themselves creatively, tensions and grievances within the group are allowed to melt away. Here once again the allowance for creative collaboration and expression has a greater effect than rules forced upon the students.

In conclusion the Provo Community Garden is busy forming a bonded community that cannot be formed stronger in any other way. It allows for people from all social standing can work alongside each other in a creative effort where they can all benefit in the spoils.

PTSD Text-Based Game

Click (or copy-paste) to Play Game: http://www.philome.la/kentthalman/ptsd

PTSD:

This is a text-based video game in which one explores the struggles of PTSD which many veterans experience today.

World Building: Dead Labor and Response

The top is a PSA discouraging the trends leading to more reanimation of the deceased for free labor.

The bottom is a poster created for a billboard which promotes a private corporation's service of ensuring the dead for purposes of familial preservation.

Dhane Taylor

Ian Hawkes

Kent Thalman

In the world of the composed dead, there are many solutions proposed, but none without controversy.  Several political and religious factions do much by way of persuasion in order to rally others behind them.  There are those in favor of cremation, others that propose reanimation, and several others who are in favor of simply preserving those that have passed on.  The politics as they relate to aesthetics has much to do with the motivations behind each group’s proposition.  For example, if those in favor of preservation are heavily opposed to “dead labor,” then their arguments take a moral aesthetic tone.  You could almost call it a play toward our sympathy and guilt at the same time.  Conversely, the groups in favor of cremation seek a more informative and realistic aesthetic tone.  There is no need to guilt anyone into burning themselves after death.  Rather, their stance is a logical one, seeking to achieve social reform through spatial practicality.  Finally, those who wish to reanimate the deceased more often than not will take a similar tone to logic.  The aesthetics therefore will relate, much to the outrage of extremist groups that find reanimation immoral.

A social reality today is centered not around the time of death as much as near birth.  Abortion is a topic with very difficult texts to navigate, and is a current and important topic of discussion.  While the issue of reanimation is fictional, it can be related to the complexities of current issues such as abortion, illegal labor, xenophobia, etc.  Are not some people treated as if their lives were less important than the high-born today?  And are not others feared because they are considered the “other.”  This happens in every society in today’s world.  Such a discussion potentially navigates and communicates within the confines of this invented reality.  There are potential limitations as well, as is the case with nearly all narratives or artistic platforms.  But the benefits of such a communicative platform is its reach.  Such a fantasy can cause reflection within those who would otherwise refuse to grapple with said issues in the real world.

One example our group drew from in class specifically is that of Effie Trinket and the Capitol’s absurd focus on fashions around a death game. It creates an aspect of the Hunger Games world that wasn’t as explored in the film. It is an advertisement those people would see every day and influence their menial decisions. Comparatively, the people of the world where the dead refuse to decompose would be so accustomed to the bodies that many would not have a strong stance as to what to do with them. With our endeavour, we created public service announcements, government issued messages, and juvenile placards. Each of these were to represent a different decisive extreme aimed at swaying the average citizen’s opinion.

The creation of a world within a fiction piece is always daunting and exciting to me. I will always remember the first time I read ‘Dune’ by Frank Herbert. I was absolutely enveloped in the science fiction world he created. What I thought was most impressive with Herbert’s work was how each of his characters were driven by actual social pressures, that interplayed with one another and had correlating sponsors, enemies, and followings. Herbert created a complete system of government, trade, and religion, and his technology and characters were based off of these constructs and felt as though they had grown organically from the world. We tried our best to bring this type of believable culture into our world. We quickly realized that not having bodies decay would lead to a great deal of religious complexity, as well as social problems with responding entities who try to solve those problems. As different viewpoints became clear to us, it seemed natural to break our group into factions, having each of us create artifacts from that certain social view. I feel that in this way we have managed to create a world which is populated with actual social questions that seem relevant and human.

Webspinna Artist Response

The idea of a Webspinna Battle was so foreign to me at first that I really had no concept of how to begin.  After some time, it became evident that my ignorance was perhaps not only exclusive to me, but beneficial in my coming up with a unique approach to the medium.

Admittedly, my work tends to consistently fall on the topic of film, which is neither bad nor good.  Or maybe it is both.  But as far as poaching is concerned, there is likely nothing I know better other than music.  However, if I have learned anything in school, it is that there is so much out there to read, see, and hear, that I will never know it all.

Jonathan Lethem's article titled, "The Ecstasy of Influence" perfectly describes this process of endless searching.  There is so much to know, and we will never know it all.  He describes how he has hunted for sources for hours only to find that a finite source can never really be found.  Which makes this assignment a very appropriate follow-up to the textual poaching of last week.  Everything has meaning because of what has preceded it.  And that which is to come will only re-contextualize and revitalize what has already been done.  Perhaps there is something archetypal about a person being born, living, asking questions, and then dying.  Then someone else doing the same thing in a different age, asking the same questions, then accomplishes something that seems totally new to her contemporaries.  But really, there is very little revolutionary thought, and mostly a lot of translation of the old into new.

Ben and I decided to do silent cinema vs. sound cinema.  Really, contention shouldn't exist between the two types, but the battle perhaps illustrates the fact that they would be formidable one to another should some sort of argument arise.  Frankly, for the purpose of humor mostly, we contrasted the sound effects of modern cinema with the would-be equivalents of folley sound of the silent era.  In other words, a "boing" would be comparable with a punch sound.  One seems pretty innocent, while the other seems to hurt more, and when contrasted, the difference is laughable.

Did God really create anything anyway?  The word "create" means to organize.  So, taking the liberty of using our own religious vernacular, intelligences always existed.  God merely organized them into spirits.  The materials which make up our planet and universe are likewise eternal.  But Jehovah organized those as well into what we know now.  So God basically remixed, or re-contextualized existence as we know it!

The question remains, has the advent of sound caused us to consider different issues or weightier subjects in cinema?  Or was and is silent film just as vital to our vocabulary?  When a film like Yoyo by Pierre Étaix is watched, what do you call it?  It starts as a "silent film," which transforms into a full-fledged talkie, and by itself feels like a remix.  But the film tastes like a parallel, in which the father and the son live in the same mansion, which mansion damns the son to the same loneliness experienced by the father at the beginning of the film.  In the end, only the liberation of family and poverty really free either of them.  So we, and the film, come full circle.  The Webspinna, the poaching, and the remix combine the validity of the old and the new, into one conversation.  That which the father lived, so shall the son.

Maybe Malachi was on to something.

Textual Poaching: Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg may be the man most responsible for my interest in becoming a filmmaker.  As a result of reading his biography in the fifth grade, I suddenly began to understand the general process of planning, shooting, and editing a movie.  I can't say that he is the greatest filmmaker ever, or even living, but I will never be able to dismiss the impact that his career and his films have had on me and my idea of film.

The reading this week, "How Texts Become Real," explores what I am trying to capture in this remix. Often, as children, we are enveloped in something that becomes real life to us, although it is only a representation of it.  In fact, many Hollywood films are so far from real life, that it causes us to wonder why we believe them so easily.  But as a child, I wasn't as concerned with verisimilitude as I was with being told a beautiful story.

The clips that I put together were of a speech that Steven Spielberg gave a while back, and shots from two movies: Super 8 (Abrams) and Buster Keaton's The General.  Both of these films depict huge train wrecks, and both films have had very recent effects on my view of cinema.  Buster Keaton opened up my mind to the world of silent cinema about three or more years ago.  Super 8 on the other hand caused me to reconnect to my Spielbergian roots, which I had been in the process of severing myself from at the time.  Dean Duncan recently described to me the process that he often has gone through of loving a film or filmmaker, realizing that they're not perfect (the film or director), and then later learning to accept that art or artist once again.  Such was the experience that I underwent with Steven Spielberg, which I have tried to capture in this remix of media.

The part of my identity here that is discussed/represented is that of being a filmmaker.  Honestly, I identify with Steven Spielberg only because of the films that he made which effected my childhood.  However, in few ways to I connect with him now as an aspiring practitioner.  No matter what, I hope my life is nothing like his (speaking of his personal/family life).  It is a far cry from the worst celebrity life style that most of us have heard of, but frankly, if it comes down to a great career and my wife, I'll choose my wife without hesitation.  As far as the films that he makes, I can see myself making films like those that he has, but often I feel that it is a very imperfect profile of my full aspirations as an artist.  We are two different people.

I remixed the audio with that of scenes from Super 8 because I feel that J.J. Abrams has almost totally lost his voice as a filmmaker as he has sought only to follow in the exact footsteps of his predecessors.  This is noble, but not particularly artful.  I don't really know much about him or his beliefs than that he was apparently as much of a Spielberg fan in his youth as I was.  And I included The General because it was probably one of Spielberg's great inspirations as a youth.  At least we know from the speech that Cecil B. DeMile's The Greatest Show on Earth was.  So there is a sort of artistic genealogy happening.  And as I am not the same as my father, who is not the same as his father, each new generation carries the banner in their own way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AysaJ4vM62s&feature=youtu.be

Reading

Reading

by Kent Thalman

Published: February the twenty-fourth

of the year two thousand and fifteen

This is an interesting thing which you have come upon. First off, it is in fact a pamphlet, and not simply a paper. You may recall that once upon a time this was a common form by which articles were published if not in the newspaper. These days however, if something important has happened, then all you have to do is watch the news or listen to the radio (if you happen to be old). But perhaps something that we hardly account for anymore is if what we want to know isn't an important event or a bit of information that will simply make life easier. What if we were asked to read and consider a very important idea that someone has taken the time to write down?

"Oh!" you may conclude, "you mean like reading an email." True, writing and reading emails is a great form of communication, but how is this different? Usually emails are for the sake of fast communication, and a single reading after which the document can be discarded or lost in cyberspace. But great documents of thought and literature were and are meant to be read, kept, revisited, and carefully considered. But given that this must be such a difficult task for many of our young folks these days, I suppose I will write my thoughts in the way that you will read them anyway, so as to not waste time and energy.

"What difference does a pamphlet really make?" Well, your very life may be totally shaped by the things that have been written down and then read in pamphlets! I ask you to recall the man Thomas Payne. Sound familiar? You have probably learned of or even read his 1776 pamphlet titled, "Common Sense." This was Thomas' ideas concerning the importance of declaring independence from England, which at the time, most people living in the American colonies were still on the fence about. So this is significant. By recording and distributing his ideas, the whole world was changed. But he wrote more that just that famous article. There were several. John Adams said of Payne, "I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine." Today, it has been written of him as follows: "In an age of political pamphleteering, Paine had become the most influential pamphleteer of all. His writings remain classic statements of the egalitarian, democratic faith of the Age of Revolution" (http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/thomas-paine). In other words, everything that you and I enjoy about being Americans may not have even been possible were it not for the written thoughts of one person.

At this point in the pamphlet, you may be very interested. But you may also be pressed for time. Likely is the chance that you did not fully anticipate reading this whole pamphlet at this exact moment. You want to think that you will come back and finish it when you have time, but we both know how that works. This will just be placed somewhere important, like at the bottom of a backpack or briefcase, or on a bookshelf between two books where it can't be seen, and never will be again. But I'm being dramatic, aren't I? Some of you will stick around because you do have the time. Great! By now, you may have been so impressed that you underlined a couple of things in the pamphlet. That is one novel thing about paper which you can't do in an email!

Anyway, I digress. Many others have used this form of communication to help transform history, thought, and all of us. There are too many to mention, but one champion of literary thought that comes to mind is J.R.R. Tolkien. His name makes you immediately remember Middle Earth, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings books. Admittedly, you probably thought first of the movies, but maybe that is unfair. After writing The Hobbit, which was a book intended for an audience of young folks, he began work on his trilogy of books mentioned above. The sequel to The Hobbit, however was proving to be much longer and in depth than was previously anticipated, which at the time was a problem. Mr. Tolkien knew that the popular thought of his time was that fairy stories were meant exclusively for children. And what he was then writing was not exactly a childrens' book. Therefore, he determined to first put at ease the minds of the publishers, who would no doubt have their reservations concerning the idea of publishing a series of fairy stories that adults were expected to buy. What resulted was an article or thought titled, "On Fairy Stories," which was a landmark in literary, religious, and fantastic thought. Literary, because it paved the way for what is now an explosion of fantasy novels and movies. Religious, because in this article Tolkien consolidates Christian thinking and fantasy reading. And "fantastic" because of the genre-shattering effects that his works had and still have on all things fantasy.

So what's the point? I guess it's that these things called pamphlets do make a big difference things called pamphlets do make a big difference things called pamphlets do make a big difference things called pamphlets do make a big difference oh no... you're falling asleep. That's fine I guess. You've made it most of the way, and you've probably gotten a pretty good idea of what I'm trying to say anyway. You are getting the idea of what reading pamphlets is all about.

Since from here, you'll probably just skim to the end, then I will try to hit the main points for you.

...over here I'll say something about T.S. Elliot's article, "Tradition and the Individual Talent." Just read it.

...then again, if you're skimming now, you'll never make it through that one.

... this part is boring...

...booooring...

You know, reading used to be a pretty significant experience. We probably don't think that it is as important because based on what we're reading, it really isn't.

We sort of know that the blogs and websites that we read are mostly garbage anyway. "The sources are probably all bunk too," (famous person, 1997).

...so we just skim, peruse, and then quote what we remember from it all as if defending our deepest religious beliefs.

By now, you're confident that you get the idea, so you skip to the end. Now you can write that paper, or at least say that you read this. Congratulations!

Historical Story: Bulletproof

https://drive.google.com/a/happyrwe.com/file/d/0B-4uV4cW03_ETDBwQVAyWUdUeUU/view?usp=sharing

(Note: there is a change in the script in the action paragraphs.  "Washington" and "Revolutionary Soldier" should all read as "Washington.")

First, a comment on the process taken to create Bulletproof: The first step was deciding what direction we wanted to take with “British Washington hunter” during the Revolutionary War. After initial research and discussion, the story became entirely different than previously imagined. The story was to be narrated by an Indian Chief recounting to Washington his attempts at killing him during the French and Indian War. Countless sources all shared the story (perhaps false) of an unnamed Indian Chief prophesying that Washington would one day be revered by a great nation. It sounded excellent. One of us wrote an action script, and the other, narration. While interesting, the two individual processes did not produce a cohesive narrative. The action alone was exciting, while the narration approached absurdity. This was the copy taken to class for work-shopping. With additional notes on what worked in the script and what did not, an entirely new draft was composed. It instead takes on an entirely new context and drama surrounding the same unbeatable George Washington.

We’ll jump right into an analysis of Thomas, the protagonist, and his relation to the context of the story, ~1775 colonial America. With the Revolutionary War in full swing, political strife involving true Revolutionaries and Loyalists was taking place. (see http://www.ushistory.org/us/13c.asp). Angsty Thomas sides with the belief of his father, providing his brash and brazen attempts to stem the tide of the war in favor of the British. With passion that a teen can easily garner, Thomas drives our narrative’s message deeper (that Washington and the Revolutionaries were essentially destined to triumph). By having our vulnerable protagonist on the losing side, we feel that this message is greater emphasized and portrayed in a different light: what about the people who did not want to shuck British rule?

As an aside, some “creative liberties” were taken in the crafting of our script. The Battle of the Wilderness, for example, was not a battle that took place during the Revolutionary War, but rather the French and Indian. It provided a direct portrayal of Washington’s invulnerable nature in battle (see http://frenchandindianwar.info/Braddock.htm).

In reference to the reading, “The Veil”, there is an alternative approach, or point of view to the history being discussed. The story does not revolve around General Washington, or even a patriot, but rather, an obscure loyalist boy who would typically be painted as the enemy. This hopefully has many implications, including the youthful effects of parental politics and our sometimes overzealous political objectives.

This piece could also be compared to films like Forest Gump or the Work and the Glory novels, which place a fictional protagonist against the backdrop of historical events. The aforementioned film even uses archival footage as a literal backdrop for some events. This fictional telling of historical events operates in a way that can help the reader to delve deeper into real history, which was the effect that both mentioned works had on many. It could also be discussed the possibly negative implications that such a telling of history could bear, although it is not necessarily so. Hopefully those that read this piece do not find it mythical, but rather a channel through which history can be seen newly, and revisited thoughtfully; all of this in the context of a worthwhile story.

Audio Process: Deaf Cheerleaders

For our process piece, we had planned on recording a deaf basketball game. This opportunity came up because Jeff’s sister is taking an ASL class and was required to attend various events as part of her grade. The interest of this subject was that is was a process similar to one that nearly everyone is familiar with (basketball), but different enough that it would bring a new experience to everyone.

Jeff: “While recording this process, I talked with my sister and her friends about ASL and the deaf community. Something I learned was that deaf people don’t think of themselves as being disabled—they just see being deaf as a different way of perceiving.”

As such, we wanted that mode of thought to be reflected in our documentary. In other words, we wanted the experience of listening to our piece to reflect the mindset of “experiencing something differently, rather than through a limited lens.” Thus, our piece is simply an unmediated piece of audio, rather than being several sounds edited together. It also has no narration and no explanation—just a different way of experiencing the process. When we listen to audio (like a radio show, for example), rarely do we feel like we are disabled. Rather, we feel as if we are perceiving a story differently than if we are reading, watching, or experiencing it first hand. So this process piece offers a unique experience, given that we're hearing but not seeing what others are seeing but not hearing.

It was decided that the clearest process that we could show in 1-2 minutes in this fashion was the halftime show, put on by one of the teams’ cheer-leading squad (all of its members were also deaf), therefore, the sound of the game was cut for this particular piece. The final buzzer was edited to be closer to the end of the routine to keep the piece brief, otherwise, the process is reflected completely without interference.

The Smokehouse video which was viewed for this class showed a process that was executed by someone with a different perception of the world around him. This was a clear focus which we wanted to take advantage of in this piece. The documentary titled In the Land of the Deaf by Nicolas Philibert is a film about how the deaf do not lack a vital part of the human experience. Rather, they develop a richly unique culture because of the creative restrictions under-which they are obliged to labor.

Our piece seeks to add a layer thereupon by observing this same culture auditorily, providing us with yet another creative restriction as listeners. Perhaps our next piece will be a silent documentary showing how we made this piece, but that may just be too absurd.

https://soundcloud.com/authorman12/halftime-of-the-deaf

Round Robin

The Dragon and the Bird Kingdom

A dragon spots a bird and tries to fry her, but flies higher than there was oxygen for fire, and dies. 

The flock rejoices! The dragon that terrorized them is dead and it is all thanks to the runt everyone made fun of.

It then became apparent that the birds should choose their new king.

The crows decided to make this one guy named Chad their king.

Crow King Chad ordained that every crow must wear pants. This outrage caused his usurpation.


Group Response

Just like The Exquisite Corpse, Round Robin was very collaborative and could not be done alone. Doing the Round Robin reminds you of many other collaborative projects including, the production company hitRECord, the documentary Life In A Day and the art of remixing songs. With song mixes in particular, the original piece is reconstructed into something never meant by the original author. DJ Spooky emphasizes this. You take something, reimagine it then “juxtapose, fragment, flip the script.” Every round we did this and the end result was very different then the person before could have imagined. Because there were different minds and voices in each part of the stories, the form, content, narrative and theme tended to change but each story complemented the one before. There is no telling how it will end up. Writing such short stories made it so the reader had to fill in the gaps. This made it easier for the next person to write the next part and continue it on in a unique way. It is interesting to see how each story connects and the things people chose to connect and continue through. If the order had been changed, the stories would have been very different. Round Robin gave me a greater understanding of the collaborative process. Collaborative projects are meant to inspire and make an original idea better though the use of multiple perspectives. When you build something together you become connected.

In addition to being highly collaborative, it was a uniquely self-revealing project, which gave insight into the mind and imagination of each individual.  Much discussion could be had based on the similarities and tendencies of each individual to continue each distinct story in a certain way.  For example, while contributing to five different stories, one writer may tend to one specific theme or plot direction overall.  While the process lead to out-of-the-box thinking, perhaps it shows that what resides outside the box is what exists deepest in a person’s cultural background and traditional beliefs.

It was interesting to see what stories looked like as they went by. Since we only got to see one picture per story, it was awesome to wonder how the story had become what it was. It felt like a really good exercise for the mind to imagine how a story could possibly get to some weird points. It was kind of fun to try and come up with something creative in hopes that the person after you would laugh or smile at the picture that you sent them. Obviously they were not stories to send to Hollywood or anything, but they may have sparked some ideas for some of us.

Working as a group was also a helpful thing to experience and learn. We could have been a little bit more organized at the beginning to help us all make sure we were doing the right stories, but other than that, we worked hard to work out any problems that we faced. I’m glad that we were able to experience that since it is something that we will have to deal with all the time in the real world. It is good to see that we can handle something like this maturely and respect each others work.

Music Mosaic: "The Moldau" by Bedrich Smetana

These images are sequentially ordered based on the musical movements existent in the above-mentioned piece.

 Independent Joy

 Joy in Seeing a Bit of Reality

 Independence of Adolescence

 Joy in Routine

 The Paradigm Shift -or- Something's Missing

 Selfless Love/Desire

 Parenthood -or- Infancy Reprise

 Familial Trial

The Third Act, Death, and Finale

These images are my work in association with the orchestral piece titled "The Moldau" by Bedrich Smetana.  They are, in a sense, sequential, as they are a reading of the musical journey that the composer takes the listener on.  This reading is highly subjective, and is exclusively what came to my mind as I listened to the piece several times.

Annie Dillard's article, "Seeing" addresses the child-like spontaneity of art that truly caries something unique and/or touching.  In my images, I tried to tap into what made the music's auditory nature so interesting, and I think that it really shines right at the first movement.  The introductory notes have a sense of childhood to them, which always made me feel like a small person discovering an ordinary thing for the first time.  There is something wonderful about the world when you first see it and experience it for yourself.  Therefore, I tried to capture that in the first two images, as a child is born, seizes life with all available strength, and finds joy in seeing the subtleties of ordinary life.

The following images contrast the idea of dynamic space and flat space.  Several photographers utilize deep space to increase the feeling of adventure.  The third image is the adventure of an adolescent that is oblivious to danger.  The fourth image is plastered against a flat surface to accentuate the routine life style of a young-professional adult.  The juxtaposition of these two styles draws upon Danny Cohen's work on films like The King's Speech.  He often plays on the emotional depth of deep space as well as the mundane or ordinary feeling of flat space.

As the archetypal subject of the journey continues, he senses a lacking feeling, which lead him to true romance.  Both of these feelings are portrayed in the music, as there is an emptiness, and then a sound of slow and enjoyable melodic lines [around 6:20min.].

Finally, the narrative comes full circle with the reprise of the infant's theme, represented by the images of fatherhood.  The music is faster than the last time this theme was featured, which accentuates the joy of both infancy and fatherhood while simultaneously suggesting the stressful nature of the latter.

Familial stresses such as finances, raising an adolescent, and marital conflicts represent the sound featured at about the 10:00 minute mark of the piece.  The final image [11:10min. to end] takes the spirit of the old man through death and onto resurrection.  I used motifs of color throughout the images to suggest certain patterns and emotions such as energy, jealousy, and more.

I hope that there is more to read into why I used certain color, line quality, contrast, etc. which the reader may draw upon to understand some of my thoughts behind these works.

Thinking and Writing: Into the Woods and Mormon Audiences

Disney's newest Christmas release, Into the Woods, challenges contemporary audiences and readdresses archetypes in what may be a troubling fashion for many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This doesn't mean that there are not many valuable themes contained within the story and its telling; nor does it mean that it is a "family film". However, the nature of the narrative may lead to many misunderstandings about the themes and messages of the film, the story being didactic in many ways. Despite these misunderstandings from audiences everywhere, it is indisputable that much can be gleaned from this worth-while film, and it should not be dismissed.

The audience reception of the film was surprisingly split, receiving about 58% positive response from viewers according to rottentomatoes.com. The most popular complaint thus submitted about the film so far has been the pacing, as the film resolves all conflicts approximately eighty minutes in, and then continues to heavily complicate plot-lines, dragging on, resulting in viewer boredom. I must submit that should Disney have decided to fade-out when everything in the film reached the point to "happily ever after" that not only would this film have lost all individuality and them, but it would have ended without saying anything significant at all. It may even be argued that the film would have been totally immoral with such an ending, seeing as up to this point nearly every principle character in the film engaged in ethically questionable activities in order to obtain what they desired. However, what the film does as it continues past what seemed to be a resolution is show all of the subsequent consequences of the characters' actions up to that point, and then teaches us all a true lesson.

In the film, the Baker and his wife want nothing more than to have a child of their own. When the Witch offers them their own child, they accept with the condition that they must retrieve certain ingredients from the woods for the Witch intended for making a magic potion. On the way, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (the one that climbed the bean stock), Cinderella, and Prince Charming all play roles in the plot-which is far too complicated to summarize here. In short, several characters lie to, steal from, and deceive each other in attempts to obtain what they most desire. In the process, several of the younger ones learn new things, and start advancing towards adulthood. This is a key theme of the film, that would be totally lost should the film had ended when many believed it should have. The trouble arises because members of the audience may react in one of two inappropriate ways. First, they may be drawn to overlook the mature themes of the film, and feel free to show it to their young children, assuming that because they see no questionable content therein, that it is therefore acceptable for all audiences. The other mistake would be find it irreconcilable due to its complex themes, label it evil, and reject the film as a whole. What a mistake that could be.

Should parents buy into the idea that this is a family film, they could risk certain misunderstandings occurring in the younger minds which are unprepared to deal with such themes as adulthood, sex, oppressive parenthood, and independence. Children will reach a point where all of these topics will be relevant to each of them, and should be discussed and talked about. However, there is a time for such discussions, and there is time also for innocence, obedience, faith, and even coddling. I would in no wise call this a film for children, although it has something to do with childhood. If there were a need to specify an intended demographic, this is a film for young adults and especially parents of children.

If the opposite position is taken, and the whole film is rejected in an attempt to shield everyone from such topics—none of which necessarily lead to evil discussions, then many positive lessons could be missed, which stand to enlighten our minds and please our hearts. I personally felt very humbled by the narrative, and inclined to try and understand and forgive others, especially family members. I would even go as far to say that it was a film that I needed to see at this time in my life.

Coming back to how members of the Mormon faith will likely react to this film, I would predict that most will fall into one of the two examples iterated above. In the end, I believe that while it is not a family film, or a film for all members of the family, it is a family film in the sense that the intrinsic values of the film, when discussed, will promote healthy growth and reflection within any family. Furthermore, is it possible to say that the artistic discussion of mature themes, handled tactfully and appropriately is wrong or dangerous? And will Satan be thwarted or benefited by our fear to talk about real human trials and experiences?