Homework 4

               As far as the production of the film, I found it interesting that they reproduced an older version of the video and overlapped the new version with the original. It provided a different prospective to the same subject based on the different time periods that the both videos take place in. However, the information that was provided in this video was difficult to grasp.

                The flow of the film wasn't smooth and it gave a lot of information at once. I think that the spectacle's affect on society is an interesting topic. It was defined by the video as "a social relation between people that is mediated by images." The video went further into detail about how the spectacle affects society, but it was hard to take in all the information about it. Some of the information seemed irrelevant/unimportant to the idea of the spectacle. For instance, the entire concept of social dreaming, "as long as necessity is socially dreamed, dreaming is a social necessity." 

GIF Project

Homework 2

               Videogame aesthetics are different from other art aesthetics because, artwork such as paintings and videos cause the audience to just become a viewer/witness to the piece. Their main job is to observe the artist's work in a visual sense. However, in videogames, the audience has to both observe the visual elements as well as experience the work as well. The quality of the work is based off of two factors: how well the game looks, and how well it plays.

                Due to the fact that videogames aren't always considered an art medium, people have trouble understanding the aesthetics of videogames. As it mentioned in the article, videogames are being produced rapidly and are mainly created for purposes of being sold and meeting customer demands. I had previously seen a video about how videogames can't truly grow as a medium because of the consumer demands. Games such as Mario and Sonic are forced to follow a set formula because, if the creators stray away from the usual gameplay and try a new approach it doesn't sell as well.

                It's a difficult situation for videogames in terms of their aesthetics; every once in a while a game comes out that is successful and brings something new to the players. Take the original Mario game for example. The remade versions and sequels sold more than Mario Sunshine which strayed away from the typical games. This is because players were more familiar with the typical Mario games. In order for videogames to grow as a medium the players need to expand their horizon in terms of gameplay and try various games that they are not used to and then provide feedback to the creators as to whether or not the game was good. The involvement and dependency of the audience is what sets this medium apart from other art mediums. 

Homework 1

    Images can capture a specific moment in time. The instant that it is captured, it becomes a thing of the past, because that image could never be recreated the exact same way again. The idea of turning images into icons becomes very intriguing, and immediately reminds me of "The Kissing Sailor" photo that became very memorable and turned into a bit of an American icon. As it said in the reading, icons can be created through the content, and the story behind the picture is what made it famous.

    When cinematography was created, people were able to capture moments that weren't frozen in time any more. Though, with photography, the only human sense that was being used was vision. And although, videos don't always have to incorporate sound, the ones that do forces the viewer to use multiple senses, and creates a bit more of an experience for them.

    I looked through Bill Viola's work and the way he chooses to install and show his work adds to the experience for the viewer.  Many of his installations are in a darkened room so that the viewer can focus on the sounds and imagery of the video. This also erases the viewer's mind of any other distractions so that the viewer can put more thought into the piece.