Something is Happening | Exhibition Experience

This past Thursday, my digital processes class had its opening night at the Mudd Library at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI.  Even though the rain and lightning scared away some people from coming, the experience was definitely a success!

Our exhibition was focused on our photo books that we made for our Something is Happening project.  For the exhibition, we had to make two inkjet prints and frame them, something I've never done before.  I absolutely loved the process of going through the photos and choosing the two photos I thought best represented my collection and overall message.  Although I did run into some hiccups with the inkjet printer, I was very happy with the end result.

One thing that I've found throughout my classes where I deal with time-consuming art is how short my attention span is.  With makeup, the process usually only takes an hour or two at most, but the process that we went through for this project took much longer that.  I'm finding that I need to develop my patience for art that takes a little longer than I'm used to. Knowing my brain though, I probably won't be able to.

All in all, I'm extremely proud of everyone's work and am glad that our efforts were successful! This was a great experience!

Smoking Causes Film Ideas: An Experimental Film

When presented with the prompt for the experimental film project, I was initially worried because of my inexperience with this type of media.  Or any kind of media project for that matter.

"We thought it was one of those new fancy candle warmers! Oops!"

However, I was not ready to give up solely based on my inexperience with Final Cut Pro!  Armed with a Sony Nex-5 camera and our somewhat trusty friend Google, of course, Zain and I set out to explore the space created when smokers need their separation from the anxieties of the 21^st century life.  What is the 21^st century life like, you ask? Just watch and listen to this.  If you’re not convinced, it’s sung by a cute Australian guy, Sam Sparro.

Mr. Sam Sparro

The song shares some of the sentiments expressed in “The Medium is the Massage.”  Sparro sings about having “21,000 things [he] has to do today,” which I believe can be related to the constant buzzing of iPhones, Twitter, Facebook, etc., that many first world country citizens can relate to.  McLuhan suggests that we have been deceived by this constant technological buzz into believing that we’re somehow being soothed and satisfied by the connection between our thumbs and the Internet, when in reality, we’ve merely been conditioned to be anxious for the latest status update or CNN headline.  “Smoking Creates Film Ideas” examines the zone of silence and solitude that smokers enter when they flick the lighter, exhale, and allow their minds to wander without a screen in front of their face.  Even in sub-zero temperatures. 

We hope you enjoy our experimental short film. :)