Artist Lecture

I think we should start at the beginning of the process,

Talk about working as a group,

then move to filming,

then talk about how the concept evolved from the film,

then just talk about how we let the performance develop itself.

12/2 Performance

This was awesome!

I think that this was an absolute success, everything worked out perfectly.

I dont think that anyone suspected that anything was off or even remotely

close to being a performance.

The best part of the performance was the fact that Ian was the only faculty

member in their and was convinced that he was about to lose his job. It was

beautiful!

Screening Preparation

The food will be warmed around 11:30 or 11:45 and set up on the table. The projector will be ready to go between 11:30 and 11:45.
We will need:

(Ian will make sure that we are able to use the projector and that it is in working condition)

We will have a finished playable DVD

Donald has been confirmed
*Table with table cloth and chairs
*Painting of Woman
*Microwave
*Turkey and Side Dishes
*Drinks
*Our wine glasses and plates
*Paper plates and cups
*Plastic forks and spoons
*Our costumes
*Projector and laptop

_________________________

We will have two cameras set up and running the whole time to document the event.

__________________________

I think this will be a success if we are able to make the people who view this performance question the role and the amount of authority that authority figures hold.
*Video Cameras

Performance Piece

The performance was a complete success and i think overshot our expectations at points. The crowd interaction was perfect and exactly what we needed. I got a lot of response afterwards asking what the performance was about and why we did it, which I then used as a perfect opportunity to pitch the next part of the project.

As a group I think we maintained characters well with the exception being when Wesley screamed, which I did my best not to laugh but couldn't hold it in. Just the response from the crowd was beautiful, the room went dead silent for a solid ten seconds before anyone resumed their previous conversations.

It was fun to me to listen to the people talk about us as though we were not there. As though we were just as much an art exhibit as a painting on the wall. They soon accepted us a part of their surroundings and went on with normal life, but we were not met without a sense of curiosity from our observers. The best part was when people would come talk to one of us and we would just go on with our meal completely ignoring them. I remember towards the beginning of the performance when the people were lining up to get their food they would all just stare at us with inquisitive looks on their face, but very few of them actually came up to is, as though they were intimidated by our difference, yet they had no reservations about staring blatantly at someone they did not know.

I think we actually had a lot of layers to this, which were only added on to by the people observing it. At first I approached this as a statement on normality and absurdity, but then it became a much broader statement on American ideals and values as pertaining to, in this particular case, Thanksgiving dinner.

To me, the only thing that I would change would be our interaction with audience, I think that we should have fully assumed our characters identities and then interacted with the crowd. I think that ignoring them did make a poignant statement about art and observation, and dealing with things or people that are different or out of the ordinary, every day experience. It could work either way though, our silence I think made just as big a statement, if not bigger, than anything we could have done interacting with the audience. I think that our disengagement from the audience actually allowed them to think more abstractly about the concept and be more receptive the performance as a piece.

The whole performance was documented by a photographer, which to me was not adequate documentation. A video camera could have captured not only the performance but peoples engagement with it.

As far as implementing performance into my later pieces, I don't know, but I certainly won't rule it out at this point.

Character Psychology

My name is Melvin...

1. How does your character think?

I am a social recluse, who is prone to violent outbursts, and I am miserable in my existence.

2. How does your character think he/she thinks?

I am a super hero. I am all powerful but do not use my powers becuase if I do the universe will come to an end.

3. What does your character want?

I want to be loved and respected and have a family and friends that I can turn to in times of need.

4. What does your character think he/she wants?

I want everyone to realize that they were wrong and I was right when I save their puny little lives from the alien invaders in 2012.

5. What does your character believe?

I believe that G-d does not exist and if he does then he is an asshole.

6. What does your character think he/she believes?

I believe that G-d has chosen me to judge the people of this planet, and save those who G-d deems righteous, as of yet, no one is righteous.

7. What is your character’s truth? Mythology?
8. What is your character’s real truth? Real Mythology?
9. What does your character need?

I need a positive and supportive environment.
10. What does your character think he/she needs?
I do not need anything to survive, not even foood or water, as I am not even from this planet and do not need the material aspects of life to survive.

11. What actions does your character undertake?

I don't have the patience to put together detailed models but I always buy them so people will think I am smart. I try to put them together without using the directions but I always get frustrated and just end up breaking them.
12. Why does your character think he/she does what he/she does?

I create art by taking things that have a set way and doing them differently.

Deren Response Film Write Up

I have to say first off that I absolutely loved working on this project. I think it was mainly the fact that I was no longer working in stop motion which gave me much more freedom and ability to improvise my shots. The best part about this project was the freedom allowed to the actors. I basically just set up the shots and told them to go. Because I was focusing on minimal movements I basically just let the actors talk normally and tried to pick up on their normal body language. The only tricky part was trying to equal out the number of activities that my non-smoking actress did with that of the smoker. There was just a lot more that a smoker naturally does during that activity that someone who does nothing has a hard time keeping up with. But giving her something to drink and trying to pick up those little movements that can, upon closer observation, be very sexual, added weight to her shots that the smoker didn't have.

I learned that it is much easier for the subtle movements of a female be taken as flirtatious as women are naturally (at least in this culture) viewed as sexual objects (at least much more than men are.) However, with that said, I enjoyed trying to play on the natural sexual tension that occurs, at least in the viewers mind, when you film a seemingly innocent conversation between a man and a woman. That, to me, was the most fun part of the whole experience. Examining the subtle body languages of the actors and allowing their natural attitudes and movements take on the form of dialogue, of which there is obviously much underlying tension.

New Concept

We all take for granted for the ability to perceive our own realities; but what if you were ask to explain how, would you be able to? This film will attempt to construct a "reality" through the cognitive perceptions of three different people. The people will be participating in some form of group social activity, at this point I am thinking along the lines of a card game. I will build the "experience" of the card game using the different perceptions of reality that each individual has. Each perspective/perception will be filmed in such a way as to mirror/echo the philosophy, theology, lack there of, of each person.