In Class

I think that what I'd like to hold onto is the various meanings of the word novel express sometimes opposite ends of the spectrum but are all simultaneously valid at different instances.

Sometimes novel is new and commercial and ridiculous. It's fed to the consumer with no real focus on contributing value; the focus is on receiving value from the author's standpoint.

Other times, things that are novel are creative and innovative and are meant to change lives; these works focus more on the audience. They are new, but the focus is not so egotistical and self-centered.

Lastly, there are times when both is true. Authors produce work to be commercial, but that doesn't detract from the fact that the work is real and vibrant and that it touches people.

One more thing as an aside, even the most douchebaggerous work from an egotistical, commercial mess of an author can impart meaning to someone, even if it was not intended. The meaning comes ultimately from the consumer, not from the author, whatever his intention.

READING...WRITING

One of the ideas I find particularly interesting here is that innovation, by itself, contains no value unless value is assigned to it. Innovation then, is not synonymous with creativity. Meaning found in the text or work is derived from the audience then, and not the author. The artwork and the audience communicate with one another and people derive an identity based on what of themselves they find in the work.

People become people through their engagement with their environment, and subsequently, with art. This communication with the creative aspects--i.e. the work "speaking" to the individual--is in a way illusion in the sense that is subjective. Two different people will communicate different with the same work. In another sense, however, it is very much real because the message cuts to the core of who the person is. If I read a poem and associate it with violence and you read it and associate with control, then where is that violence coming from? It comes from within.

Readers, sometimes seeing things in a piece that would frighten them if they thought it came from within, search for the author's motivation. They can pass the blame to another and not deal with the emotions stirred within. They can become excited by frantic scenes in a Stephen King novel and call the man deranged. But that text speaks to them, so who is deranged?

This internal voice, though, is not deranged in most cases. People are multi-faceted and in communicating with a work they are actually communicating with a part of themselves too often hidden. If they push themselves to find meaning, if they face it and do not back down, if they let that conversation happen, then there is the opportunity for real change and real creativity.

Creativity in this sense does not come from the author's pen or the painter's brush. Remember that creativity is only assigned to things of value and the audience places the value.

The best artwork and the best writing stirs emotions, makes people see the world in a new way and leaves them different. But it is only a conduit. If creativity is a light bulb, then the coil in the middle is the art. It stands there, dull and unlit. When an individual approaches that bulb, it is as if an electrical charge is waiting to jump on and complete the circuit, creating light--creativity. The conversation and the creativity happen because of the individual. Without the person, there is only darkness.

If the class went on

If the class went on, I would want to learn how to tweak what we're already doing in a way to tighten the message. For images, I would like to be able to dissect and rearrange and fit things together more clearly. I would like to be more familiar with shape tweens and how to use them more effectively. I would like to be able to break apart sound, to muffle it when I want or to make things louder or quieter within a file. I feel that I have a lot of tools, but want to become more familiar with them, want them to become more second nature.

I also would like to figure out ways to make things seem more polished, stripping away some of the rough edges or sputter-stop ticks within some of my animations. I would like to see full pieces that make clearer sense in their own context.

On my own, I'll be experimenting with all of these things, I think. I'll also be pulling in more of my own writing into my work and possibly tying in my artwork and examining those creations in this format to see what they can tell me here.

What do I know now?

I have always believed that words have the power to draw people in and make connections, to fuse emotional ties between authors and audience and to provide an outlet of expression. What I have learned, however, is that there doesn't have to be as much of a "lost in translation" moment.

Often when I write, I put onto paper the closest representation of what is playing in my head and hope that people are able to understand it enough. Now that I have some different tools to play with, I don't have to settle with a veiled understanding of my work. I'm never going to show a completely clear picture, but by incorporating images, sounds and animations, I am able to focus the lens a bit. The picture is less fuzzy for people. They can understand my voice and to be heard is a wonderful thing.

I understand this process as freedom. Words don't have to live in tiny boxes. Sometimes the bold face type just doesn't cut it, but enlarging a word or accompanying it with a hard-hitting sound might make my point. I am free to give my own definition to words in a way, amplifying or softening as I need, expressing what I'm feeling without the confines of language and without a string of adjectives a mile long.

I have also learned to look at writing differently and to see how very specific choices can convey a specific message. I don't just look at the words anymore. There is depth and meaning behind them and so I search for the clues that will lead me to that.

Short Animation--Feedback

One of the things I wanted to know was whether or not what I had construed chaos like I wanted it to to. The feedback all echoed that the chaos was effective. The flower stilled the chaos a bit like I wanted it to. One person mentioned using sound, which while it was something I hadn't thought of, makes sense to me.

What I would like to do from here is to construct a door, something solid looking, that has a word/concept/idea on it and it would be opened to the chaos. Out of the chaos, different views of what that word/concept/idea are would come up to the door, wanting to be let in. The door would be slammed in each view's face. Eventually, something true to the actual word/concept/idea would show up and be "let in."

I'm hoping that there's a way to muffle sound somehow at various points throughout the piece so that it's quieter when the door is closed. As for feedback, I guess ideas on how to make a door swinging open would look semi-realistic, what kind of sound might be appropriate and just comments on how the idea sounds overall.

Writing Can Be Mine

I'm going to have to disagree with the assertion that "writing can be seen, not as an individual personalized achievement, but as a series of strands in a larger social-spatial textual fabric (the network)." I believe that writing can be seen at times as an individual personalized achievement, not strands but a whole.

I would agree that at times, writing acts as a thread through society, pulling things together. But other times, experience that is individual to the writer allows him to produce work that is private, that is precious, and that is whole. This work does not have to be shared with the rest of the world for it to have value. Every time the writer looks at it, it is a part of himself.

If all writing was simply a strand tied to another strand, tied to another strand and so on, we would be left with a blur of ideas. No one could find the beginning of the string, everything would become one and no one could truly appreciate the work of the individual. When a writer pours himself into a work, it is his and if he chooses to share it, he can then tie a piece of it into the network.

As for the idea that because experience is shared and we are all influenced by each other that our work is the product of the collective mind and conscious, I would say that not all experience is shared. Not all experience is common to man. What happens in my mind and my world can produce a completely different result than the man next to me experiencing the very same. It is the individual pieces of ourselves, the private worlds within, that shape who we are and what our writing is. Without the individual, writing will disappear. Without the individual, there are no strands to tie to the network.

What can be said then is that both the individual and the network exist, though not always in the same space. People can choose whether to link into the network, but this is by no means mandatory or inevitable. Some writing will never be anything but a note tucked away in a drawer that brings daily comfort to the author. Some writing will take on a life of its own and become a piece of each of us. Some of it will do both, retaining the individual while maintaining the connection. Nothing is for certain and all things are in flux.

Plan for Thursday

For Thursday, Amanda intend to attach the additional sequences necessary to complete the piece. I also need to tweak some of the sequences I've completed so that they run smoother and look more polished. We're also trying to figure out why, despite saving the file with a particular shape tween in place that when we reopen the file, Flash removes it as if it's upset that it even exists. Also, we've run into some differences as we transfer files between my PC and Mac software that we're trying to iron out.

Final Project

For my final project, I hope to use many of the techniques I've learned in this class to drive the writing. Understanding that we are to allow the process to drive the writing, I am excited to see how the technology drives what I will write. I hope to incorporate more visual images or pictures. Some of the more powerful example I've seen in class have tied images in to give explanation when words alone would not be enough. My initial idea is to use the theme of faith in some format because my faith is something that drives me, motivates me and inspires me. I am interested in expressing how faith is a reality in my life. The past seven years were only survived through my relationship to God and how I believe He has been speaking through my life and I think that journey would be interesting to translate. I think shape tweens will probably be effective as well as finding new ways to distort and emphasize different parts of that journey.