Saturday, October 12, 2013

Summary of Presentation

Carlos Villagrana
Professor Hoyt
10/12/13
Inter-media Project Overview


I have in mind a lot of subjects that I want to talk about. But I was thinking, I can do anything from what I understood from the assignment instructions. So I have decided to do a presentation on the actors that have played Batman in recent years and how they have been measured in terms of performances, authenticity, role playing for Bruce Wayne and Batman at the same time, and how their performances either helped spread the legend of the Dark Knight, or if they did a poor job and were sent home packing. And last but not least, I want to address the issue at hand with Ben Affleck taking over the role of Batman in the new Superman/Batman sequel to come out in 2015, arguing that he will be a superb Bruce Wayne and Batman, as opposed to everybody already bashing him for taking on the role these past 2 months.
I’ve always been interested in the Batman movies because of the messages that it gives to its audiences. Even the animated series that came out in 1992 has some of the most authentic moments of Bruce Wayne’s past. Ever since I was a little  kid, all I could remember doing was either putting on my Batman costume and running around all day, watching the movies countless times, and just spending as much time as I could trying to understand him as the person he is and as the hero he has become. That relationship that I have with this superhero became apparent to everybody when I got my very first tattoo, which was the Christopher Nolan symbol, the latest one. People say I have a problem with this character, saying I have an obsession; but I don’t see it as an obsession or problem, it’s more of a way of life for me.
I have plenty of ways to come up with a performance of how I can present my ideas and points, one by simply using my body. I have a tattoo of the Batman symbol on my left shoulder, showing that I am fully committed to being an extravagant fan as well as someone who knows the ideals Bruce Wayne has as a person, and the ideals he has as the symbol of justice for Gotham. Sounds cheesy, but I just know them.
I plan on using video clips from all of the movies and audio clips that give my argument a valid point. I need facts and I am going to use them towards my advantage. I have plenty of comics and I will be finding key points in them as well. I will also be turning to the web for movie grading’s, critiques of the performances and the backlashes that occurred with the casting news of all of the actors that played Batman. I will focus on a clear one when the news that Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker and how the critics almost immediately shunned him, saying it was a poor decision. The majority of the presentation will be me just tearing these reviews apart and making the audience accept Ben Affleck as the new caped crusader. It sounds childish, but this is my passion, and what better way than express it than through a performance where I show off my passion to others.







Thursday, October 10, 2013

Intermedia Project Assignment

The objective of this assignment is to begin to utilize the synthesis of multiple sense to create a more immersive experience for your audience. Remember that "media" is anything that can deliver a message from the producer to the audience - so when we talk about media, we're not just talking about videos, music, technology, etc. We might be talking about setting or physical artifacts that the audience can perhaps feel if they are passed around or interacted with, or hear as it encounters other objects within the environment.

For this project, please choose a cultural/political/social issue that you a.) care about and b.) have a strong opinion about. Again, this does not have to necessarily be a "serious" issue, but please choose something you are interested in or passionate about.


  • Create an aesthetic text about this issue (it can be poetry or prose, narrative or persuasive, you can use cut n mix, but please have the end product be original)
  • Gather at least two materials that add another "sense" to your text. For example:
    • Tactile - you can find a physical artifact (object) to pass around to your audience
    • Acoustic - you can use an audio clip or allow the sounds of a physical artifact to add to your performance
    • Kinesthetic - you can integrate movement or you can invite your audience to move
    • Olfactory - please no burning objects! But anything else that adds a scent to your performance :)
    • Taste - you can bring treats that might be relevant to the issue you are talking about (for example, if you are talking about a specific culture, the audience can further connect by tasting some food from that culture)
    • Visual - Pictures, physical artifacts and/or video
Due on Tuesday: Please post a 500-word intermedia concept to the blog

  • Discuss the historical context of your issue
  • Discuss your personal relationship to the issue
  • Define your stance on the issue
  • Discuss any oppositional stances on the issue
  • Include any ideas of further media to include

Questions for Thursday's Class - 10.10.13

Pertaining to the Youngblood reading:

  1. How does Youngblood define ecology?
  2. What is the job of the "artist as ecologist"?
  3. How does Youngblood define "intermedia"?
  4. How does Youngblood talk about "synesthesia"?
  5. What is kinetic empathy? How is it different from emotional empathy?
  6. Why is kinetic empathy important for performances?

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Critique of Hunter's Performance

            Pelias and Shaffer explain one of the models of critic as a textual study. In this model they focus on the “power of performance to explicate aesthetic texts”(185). In other words they want to performer to follow the texts because the performance is based off the words and content. Hunter’s piece is about an argument with a girlfriend. He states, “I saw it was a guy who just stormed out of his house after a fight with his girlfriend, he is venting a friend or even to himself.” Under this context, the performance could use more emotion. Hunter has great loudness and delivery of the words, but it lacks the emotion of the piece. He could be angrier or frustrated because of the fight with his girlfriend. Going into the next performance just be aware of the emotion of the piece and try to convey that emotion through actions or tone.
            Another model of critic Pelias and Shaffer discuss is performance as a communicative act. This means the performance is interchangeable between performers and listeners (185). They expand on this idea by stating, “whether genuine understanding emerged as a result of the exchange” (185).  Hunter’s performance could be viewed as interchangeable between the audience and speaker because the audience is involved with laughter and asks questions. Overall, Hunter does a great job of continuing his tone and voice although the audience is laughing. He is not distracted by the audience, and did a great job focusing on the delivery. At the end of the performance, when the class comments and asks questions, he answers the questions effectively and true to the context of the piece. However, when Hunter is quoting Dodgeball, his voice becomes slightly higher and less serious. Although the lines are from a comical movie, the overall nature of the piece is serious because it is a man venting after a fight with his girlfriend. For the next performance he could remain serious and follow the emotion of the piece, even though certain lines may come off funny since the audience has began laughing.
            A third model Pelias and Shaffer elaborate upon is performance as a cultural process. This means the performance indicates some background information of the culture. Following this model, Hunter did a good job because of the classroom setting. Obviously he did not just storm out of his house after a fight with his girlfriend because his performance is light-hearted. This gives the audience more insight into Hunter as a person than the background of the performance. He comes off very light-hearted, but this does not follow the context of the piece. As previously stated, he should be more connected to the words of the piece. He should convey the emotion of the words.

            The last section of chapter 12 explains performing and ethics. They discuss how the performers can alter the creator’s text, respect the audience, enter into lives of others, and if anything can be viewed as unethical in performance. Hunter’s performance is extremely ethical. He merely states he is reading Carlos’ piece, but the interpretation is completely original. He does not impose on anyone’s boundaries or make the audience feel uncomfortable in anyway. The light-hearted delivery of the words makes the audience feel comfortable. Hunter also states that he made changes from the original piece. Following Pelias and Shaffer, Hunter has every right to do this because he is not obligated to follow every word exactly. He has the right to make changes and convey the message under his own beliefs and predispositions.

critics


Zhishu li

Critique of Eleanore Dykes

Critics viewing performance as an artistic event

“As artist, performers must not only demonstrate a mastery of craft and technique, but also offer an artistic experience.”(p185) So, Eleanore use the material which Abby gives her to make her own poem. Because the thing she get from Abby has already been mixed up to something like a poem, so, she did not have many choice on words, she just try her best to keep the feeling Abby write and add some own words to make the poem more consistent and more make sense. However, because she does not have too much choice, so, the meaning between sentences is still not really making good connections. The story she tells us are not really complete.

Critics seeing performance as a communicative act

The concern of this part is “how performers and listeners make performance events meaningful” (p185). So, after I watched Eleanore’s performance, I found her voice is really emotional, and her speed of speaking really makes people comfortable. However, a biggest problem is, although she sometime rise her head up, but she did not make a really good eye contact. Because, she write a really short poem, so, she has a chance to memorize it and did a better job, this will not use her too much time. Also, although her poem gives us a really strong feeling, however, because she wants to keep the feeling that Abby gives us; her poem did not really make a perfect sense for the whole article. So, I think she can add more words of her own next time and gives out the feeling she wants to tell by her. Thus, it will become her own work and become more meaningful and believable.

Critics conceptualizing performance as a cultural process

“Performance, like other human achievements, tells people who they are and what they believe.”(p185) The poem that Eleanore wrote is really like a love story, it just like a girl who fall in love write to her boyfriend and tells him he means everything to her. I think she really did a good job on this part.

Critics, perceiving performance as textual study

This part “primarily concern themselves with the power of performance to explicate aesthetic texts”.(p185) In this poem always emphasize “you are her home”, and think the repeating of this is a kind of figure of speech. The sentences she wrote are really beautiful and give us a strong feeling of love. I think she really did a good job on writing a poem.

Overall performance and more suggestions of the future work
In conclusion, I think she really did a good job on this work, both the sentence she write and the feeling she gives us are really good. Also, she’s preforming really makes me feel comfortable. However, just like the problems I said before, try to add more words on it of your own and make it more meaningful. And next time, I also want to see you can make more eye contact and do not need to read.    

Critical Feedback to Will

Critics seeing performance as a communicative act
       “Critics seeing performance as a communicative act primarily focus upon the interchange between performer and listener.” (Shaffer and Pelias 185) Performance is a way to communicate, because it always shows some information to the audiences. It’s so important that the audiences get the correct information. So, make sure your audiences truly understand you. Will shows a very good example. If he just read his version, I couldn’t understand him a single word. He explained his imagination well, old man, disaster, destroyed City, and sad story. And when I heard the word like “tomb” or “dynasty”, this picture of destroyed city truly came in my mind. I guess that means I understood him well, which means this performance is a good communication.
Critics viewing performance as an artistic event
       “Critics viewing performance as an artistic event assume that artistic events should possess certain qualities and responses should be.” I feel this artistic event is asking the performance is whether beautiful or not. Will’s performance have the characters of artistic events. Find connection between words and create a story. From Will’s story, I see the power of nature, the power of time, and the big conflict between the city in the past and now. That distinct conflict is really beautiful, well, at least in my opinion.
Critique Conceptualizing Performance as a Cultural Process
       “Critics conceptualizing performance as a cultural process see all performance events as an indication of cultural assumptions and beliefs” Form Will’s performance, I can see that there are several values and assumptions he holds. An old man represents the respect of time and experiences. He speaks to his people to give them hope show two things. The first one is showing that value of giving up and rebuilding. In my opinion, American people are quite optimistic. There is always hope. The important thing is how you look at that. Other thing is the individualistic heroism. Maybe because of the movie and novel, American people love to put all good qualities to one man and let him became a hero. Well, actually Chinese culture also has the same thing, but not that much. The people’s hope is given by one old man as an individual.
Conclusion

       Will is good at using pause. That makes me feel the emotion in the performance. Just like an epic, with deep inside sense of history, his story makes me to be absorbed in it. I can still remember his first performance (that letter to past self), he was nervous at that time. However, he is quite fluent this time. That means well practicing and confidence. I believe confidence is the first step and the basic step of every performance. I think he can still work on it, and tried make more eye contact. And just in my opinion, he could speed a little up next time maybe.

Taylor's Performance Critique by Lauren Van Solkema


Critique of Taylor’s Performance
By Lauren Van Solkema

Critique through perceiving performance as textual study: this form of critique is how the performer makes sense of an aesthetic text. Taylor wrote the original text backwards and created a story from it about a moth’s adventure. This was an extremely creative idea and it’s so interesting how someone could think of a story backwards from another one. This blew my mind. It’s such an original idea and shows a little of Taylor’s interest and way of thinking, which is a part of this view of critique.

Critique performance as an artistic event: this method of critique represents how the artist is presenting themselves through certain qualities that trigger certain responses (185). Taylor did a good job of presenting himself in a calm and soothing way that went along with some of the content he was reading. The moth story never got too intense or loud, so his voice fit it perfectly. The way he read about the moth’s adventure set the steady and calm mood of the story. He read with a good rhythm, articulated every word well, and projected perfectly. This polished presentation led to positive feedback from the audience. This view of critique focuses on audience-performer relationships from what the performer intended to have their audience’s reactions be and Taylor was real from the way he remembered a poem from a few years ago and applied it to Tucker’s original text. As far as I know, the audience’s reaction was what Taylor was expecting from the conversation at the end.

Critics seeing performance as a communicative act: Taylor did a good job of explaining what he was about to read to the audience. This is important for this type of criticism because it’s strictly based off of the performer-audience relationship and the audience stayed interested during the whole speech because we knew there was going to be a story behind it since he explained it. I genuinely understand the story to a certain extent that it was about a moth going on an adventure, possibly to the moon, and struggled on the way, but a little more of an explanation after he read the text would’ve been nice. His explanation was a way to bring the audience into his presentation.


Overall Performance: Taylor did a great job presenting someone else’s text in his own way by creating his own story through interpretation. He did a great job presenting his aesthetic text by speaking with confidence. I know he mentioned afterwards that he gets nervous about presentations and he was scared the whole time. It did not show for a second. I was very impressed by that. The only criticism I have is he needs to look up more. I know it’s hard to look up a lot when the content isn’t memorized and doesn’t make sense, but if he looked up a few more times I think the presentation would’ve been that much better. Also, the performance seemed a little short.  Maybe a little more background on the original text or some more about what exactly the moth’s adventure was would’ve made it a little better as well. I could’ve thought it was a little short just because mine was really long so that might not have even been a problem.
Lastly, I find that Taylor’s piece and performance relates to politics and ethics by the way the moth had to struggle and was compared, briefly, to other bugs. In society, this happens. Taylor pointed out, whether he tried to or not, that no life is easy and ethically, you have to work hard and struggle through to get what you want which shows a social process.
Great job Taylor!

Critique of Lauren’s Performance

Critique of Lauren’s Performance
Critics viewing performance as an artistic event

            A Critics viewing of performance as an artistic event are one of the five evaluative models that the book discusses and mentions, specific points regarding the topic. “Assuming that an artistic event should have certain qualities that should trigger certain responses.” (Pelias and Shaffer 185) Lauren’s performance of Lee’s piece was of this type of performance. It was an artistic event that is meant to leave a mark. Cut and mix is hard to put together and try to make sense of it, so for each person that listened it was up for debate on what it was trying to explain. Lauren’s performance of it was of the same, it was controlled in that she read it carefully and tried to get out the performance as functionally as possible. Her voice wasn’t clear and she was rushing which hurt the essences of the performance making it not have the “umph” that it could. Due to it being confusing could be what hindered her performance ability and that it wasn’t her, own piece.  Lauren’s ability to analyze and give feedback to her belief is what made her performance; she was able to focus after the difficulty reading the cut and mix. She was concise on the points she was trying to make. She left a mark with her opinion and analysis, which is what this evaluative model is looking for. A suggestion for the future would to be focused on the end goal and not just getting out the words, speak them with meaning.

Critics seeing performance as a communicative act
            Critics that view the performance, as an act of communicating is another of the five evaluative models and what it consists of the act focusing solely on the interchanging of performers and listeners and the reactions. “Especially the concern with how the performer performs and listeners position on the events having something of worth.” (Pelias and Shaffer 185) In Lauren’s performance her acts in communicating to the class resulted in mixed reactions of the listeners, the difficulty with relaying what was written is what lessened her effectiveness as a performer. Speeding through and not giving thought and pauses to what she wrote made it difficult to get reactions and feedback, because of the execution. During her analysis she had difficult time speaking also due to trying to rush, by pausing it would be easier to for her to perform. One thing she did well in communicating was during her analysis where she laid out everything and made it possible for her to make her points across, which was able to get reactions from the listeners. This enabled her performance to be apart of the critic as a communicative act.

Critics, perceiving performance as a textual study

            Critics watch a performance as a textual study; they look directly at the power of the performance and what they said. “They explicate aesthetic texts, certain interests of the text and the performance carries and interests.” (Pelias and Shaffer 185) A performance where the words speak more then who says them adds importance to what it says and more so when both the speaker and the words have meaning. When delivered properly it can be very empowering, which can make something that seems basic to a whole new level. In Lauren's performance Lee’s piece had memorable lines “Flowers and song’s song” can be interpreted by me to have a lot of meaning and when delivered could be inspiring. Lauren lacked in this, she was unable to bring the text to the front and make it powerful, due to speaking too quickly. Something that she did that stood out was her ability to put effort, she tried to read it as well as she could, this opens room for improvement, and could help in the future by taking it slower and one thing at a time. By slowing down and grasping the little things that could have more meaning is the goal for Lauren in the future to bring the words off the paper, rather then them just being said.

Final Evaluation
            Lauren has the ability to be a great speaker and performer she has the tools at her disposal, it’s as simple as keep practicing, and slowing down. Slowing down and pausing will help her further her performance and speaking ability. The performance overall was okay, her analysis was much better. To improve future performances, ideally is to read the piece as if you wrote it and own it, doing this will make it easier for the reader to read and be able to speak in a dramatic and emotional tone. Confidence is also key the more confident you are the more natural it will become, and the better you feel when reading.


Critical Feedback of Partner's Cut n' Mix Performance

Eleanore Dykes
Kate Hoyt
Communication through Literature
10/7/13
Critical Feedback

The person whose performance I am critiquing for this assignment is Li’s, who re-interpreted Will’s original piece. Among the five views presented by Pelias and Shaffer in the text, I chose to look at Li’s performance as a textual study, as a communicative act, and as a cultural process. Let’s start with the first one, shall we? When we look at a performance as a textual study, we are basically looking at it as a communicative act, focusing on the power of the performance to explicate, or interpret, aesthetic texts. Here, the aesthetic text would be Will’s original piece. In regards to the content of the text, I thought it was interesting how, because the original piece Will gave him was fairly short, Li added in his own text; in fact, the piece that he performed was mostly his own text. I thought Li displayed a lot of creativity here in being able to make something out of nothing, so to speak, in essentially crafting an entirely new piece rather than only tweaking the original here and there. However, when he was explaining his choices for what he did to reinterpret Will’s piece, Li admitted that because the original was short, he didn’t have a lot of words to choose from, so he added in his own to make a new story, since he didn’t really understand Will’s idea. I think it might have helped give the performance more power if Li had had a clearer idea of who he was as a speaker in the text. However, even though the message Li was trying to convey through his piece- that of hope for a better life- was somewhat vague, I think it’s a very powerful idea, and it would have been nice if his performance had mirrored that power.  As for the delivery of the piece, I think that Li could have spoken louder and made more eye contact with the audience in order to connect with them better. I think he could have also slowed down and added in some pauses for more drama and effect, such as at the end when he finished reading the piece to let the words sink in more fully for the audience before transitioning into his explanation. So, going back to the first view of performance as a textual study, while Li’s interpretation of Will’s original piece was not entirely faithful or authentic to the original in that it was mostly new words Li added in to make his own story, and while the message of hope for a better life he tried to convey through his piece was rather vague, Li certainly expressed his own creativity and persona through his performance.
            In the second view, I chose to look Li’s performance as a communicative act, which focuses on the interchange between the performers and the listeners. This view is also concerned with how performers and listeners make performance events meaningful , and whether a genuine understanding emerged as a result of the exchange. I feel that for Li’s particular performance, because he was a little hard to understand sometimes due to his quiet voice and the fast pace at which he read the piece, the meaning of the piece got a little lost in translation. As a result, the piece’s message of hope for a better life was not fully understood by the audience.  In order to achieve better clarity, I think it would have helped if Li had worked on the delivery of his performance. Speaking  louder and slower would give the text more presence and power within the space the performance is set in, allowing the words to be understood better and their meaning to resonate more with the audience.
            The third view, performance as a cultural process, looks at performance events as an indication of cultural assumptions and beliefs. In a sense, performances are ongoing cultural practices, reaffirming cultural understandings as well as producing new cultural values and meaning. This view is also concerned with how performance and culture comes together to teach people about who they are. Because of Li’s Chinese heritage, growing up in a different culture would have shaped his perspective of the world and the way he interprets it in an entirely different way from someone like myself, a Caucasian female, for example.  It is this difference in culture is what informed Li’s interpretation of Will’s original text.  In his introduction, Li stated that he didn’t know if he got Will’s idea; because the original piece Will gave him was short, Li didn’t have a lot of material or words to work with, so he added his own to get a new story, one that made sense to him.

            Finally, since we are talking about performances here, and performances are, at their core, basic human action, that human action is going to have ethical consequences. Since part of this assignment is to take someone else’s original work and reinterpret it, I think that there is a certain obligation of the performer to maintain the original meaning and integrity of the text. I think that performers should be encouraged to experiment with the texts they’re given, but to work within the parameters of those texts. Ideally, the perfect performance, if such a thing existed, should be a balance of give and take, of originality and creativity. I think there is a certain amount of responsibility and duty of the performer to honor the work of the original creator and the work that has come before, but, as a performer, there is also a responsibility and duty to yourself and to the audience to create something new and different, your own work, and to put forth your own effort, to give back to the community you are taking or drawing from, so to speak. 

Monday, October 7, 2013

Partner Critique: Cut n’ Mix Performance


Partner Critique: Cut n’ Mix Performance
Critique Through Viewing Performance as an Artistic Event
            The book defined critiques framing performances as artistic events as ones that “assume that the artistic events [i.e. performances] should possess certain qualities and should trigger a certain response” (Pelias & Shaffer 185). Perri’s performance of my piece was, by this definition, an artistic event. Perri acted as an artist through her use of costume [anchorwoman coat], tone of voice and pace to construct a scene of a newscaster delivering the nightly news to the public. Her voice inflection and tone were both sobering which is very true of a real newscast. Often the newscasters deliver the news fairly straight-faced and devoid of emotion except for a slightly serious undertone. Perri captured this, though, I would suggest even being more stone-faced. This would add to the satire and comedy of the performance.
            Pelias and Shaffer talked about how these performances are most effective when they are “real” and “believable.” Perri accurately and believably portrayed a newscaster despite the slightly absurd news headlines [however, in real life the new headlines can be equally absurd!]. Perri stared straight into the imaginary camera and made us believe that she was actually delivering the news. Though, it would have been entertaining if she pretended there was more than one camera [like in real life broadcasts] and turned to a different one every so often. This could have added emphasis to certain headlines. She stayed true to the nature of actual news broadcasts by talking slow and methodically. Perri did very well slowing down the pace of her speech.
Critique Conceptualizing Performance as a Cultural Process
            Critiques that define performances as a cultural process “see all performance events as an indication of cultural assumptions and beliefs” (Pelias & Shaffer 185). Perri’s performance is a type of cultural artifact in its satiric critique of America’s obsession with gossipy/“fluffy” news. It criticizes America’s prioritizing of absurd gossip over ‘legitimate’ news. Perri did a good job at portraying this satire. Through her critique of the absurdist news culture, she establishes herself as one that does not agree with current news practices.
            Pelias and Shaffer mention that this critique sees the power of performance in its ability to change culture. Satires have been used for generations to both critique and enact change within American culture. Perri was only showing our class the performance but I could see her performance, if done on a larger scale, enacting social change or at least starting a dialogue about news broadcast practices and priorities.
Critique Conceiving Performance as Ethical Practice
            Critiques that define performances as an ethical practice “examine the implicit ethical issues involved in valuing some forms of speech over others” (Pelias & Shaffer 186). Perri’s performance could face some political backfire from news outlets in her satirical portrayal of them. However, I think she was morally just in using satire as a technique to critique a section of American culture. Perri did not viciously attack or belittle news organizations. Her satire was refined and tasteful. Though, privileging satire and critiquing American culture may hurt the feelings of those who find enjoyment with the type of absurdist headlines/stories Perri was presenting.
Overall Performance Evaluation and Suggestions for Future Performances
            Perri mentioned at the beginning of the quarter that she sometimes speaks very quickly when giving a performance. She has improved upon this a great deal! This performance was a good pace though I believe most everyone can slow down his or her speech a tad. A good technique to implement is, before going on, to take about six deep breaths through and out the nose because this actually slows down the heart rate and puts you in a calmer state. Perri seemed very confident and comfortable with public performing! Perri stumbled just a hair at one section but did an excellent job recovering and continuing on with the speech as though nothing happened. Perri has an audible, commanding voice that is great for public speaking. Perhaps a technique she could play around with would be changing the volume of her voice.