Week 8 Blog Post

Weekly Progress Update

I thought that this week was very productive for me. It was my goal to lock down all content materials, and I believe I accomplished just that. For a while I was struggling with what type of video footage to incorporate into my mix, but I finally decided to edit a 5-minute mix using old cartoons that I grew up watching. In order to accommodate the “fair-use” clause in copyright law, I only used short clips from various sources that were downloaded from YouTube, and then did a bunch of editing techniques within Final Cut Pro to create my own remix of these cartoons.

I intended to create an aesthetic with my edit that I believe fits with the overall theme of the project surrounding nostalgia and psychedelia. I think by sharing footage from old cartoons that my peers grew up watching, it will create a feeling of nostalgia and might cause the viewer to remember old memories that are associated with these cartoons. I spent a lot of time manipulating the footage into this trippy-abstract mix by using blending, cropping, and various effects. I find that this idea of psychedelia fits closely with this idea of nostalgia because psychedelic drugs are often associated with deep memories, and intensified colors, which seem to create a disconnection from normal conceptual thought. When you are in this heightened state, your mind is “reborn” and the way you view the world is similar to that of a child, in the sense where colors and shapes are more appealing, and to me, I associate cartoons with my childhood. As you grow older, you’re sense of color becomes dull, and less attractive.

There is also a close connection with electronic music, the use of psychedelics, and visual art. With the rise of Electronic Dance Music into the mainstream, this aesthetic for psychedelic, cartoon-like visualization are becoming much more relevant, and video synthesis is going through somewhat of a resurgent phase with the advancement of technology, which allows the artist to have superior control over their performance. With the use of computer software, the need to purchase a lot of expensive equipment to accomplish a similar style task is becoming less necessary.

Reflection on Progress

I am very happy with my progress on this project, and I have been having such a blast learning and experimenting with audio and visual synthesis, which has been a huge interest of mine for a long-time; I just never realized how much fun I would really have going in depth with this topic. I am super excited to put everything together for the final performance, and add something fairly significant to my portfolio. My only lament is that I didn’t start working with this medium sooner than my last few months in school. I feel I would’ve dedicated more time to learning all the ins and outs of my topic, but still I am content with what I have.

My head was spinning for a while trying to work through the issue of copyright with the cartoon footage I wanted to use. The law of copyright is so vague at times, and often times, I found myself wondering whether or not this was the direction I wanted to go. I think if I had more time, or if I had went a little bit of different direction for an overall theme, I would have spent the time to go record my own videos, because then I could completely avoid the issue. Although, I find something intriguing about remixing content that people are familiar with, and decontextualizing it to create something original, and engaging. I just have to be conscious about using this type of content in a show that I would be receiving profit from, but for the sake of this project, I just went for it, and did what I could to build on the “fair-use” aspect of the videos.

 

Inspirations, Ideas, Readings, Research

1. https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/the-25-greatest-psychedelic-albums/
2. https://books.google.com/books?id=jHuiAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69&dq=psychedelic+video+synthesis&source=bl&ots=Bfh2kBbv9S&sig=oJ0QipJU0-rAIKj4rUFMxFR3a38&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXkZHV_rzZAhVJzWMKHckgBhEQ6AEIUzAH#v=onepage&q=psychedelic%20video%20synthesis&f=false
3. http://www.cpr.org/openair/story/dus-visual-trips-exhibit-showcases-psychedelic-art-rocks-golden-age
4. http://retroavangarda.com/psychedelic-style-in-graphic-design/

Revision Plans:

• What is left to do/Project Changes:
  • I believe that instead of using the Roland JP-08 synthesizer, I will be using my new Roland JD-XI analog synthesizer, which gives me a little more hands on control over the improvisation aspect of the music. I will be able build a beat from scratch, and add layers of sound using USB Midi into Logic Pro X.
  • As far as finalizing set-up design, I believe I want to cloak my television/stand in some type of psychedelic fabric so that all you would see is the television screen. My goal for Week 9 is to go to a local fabric store and/or online to find an appropriate pattern to add to the aesthetic of my project, and then spend time trying to dress the television/stand.

• WEEK 9
  • Find and implement a fabric to decorate my television
  • Finalize video footage
  • Practice mixing with JDXI
  • Blog update

• WEEK 10
  • Practice mixing with final setup design
  • Any last minute changes
  • Blog update

• WEEK 11
  • Final Presentation
  • Final Documentation