Exercise 3 Video Collection

Each video selection had excellent ideas and presentation, and therefore choosing a favorite is difficult, but there are some which I appreciate more than others. 

The video on Eisenstein's methods of montage provided a clear and concise look at what makes for a memorable and befitting montage, and what is not montage but rather filler from different angles. Intellectual montage is perhaps the most recognizable in various forms of media (but not necessarily my favorite). I've seen a few animated films and TV shows try their hand at the concept, some were meaningful, others felt too conspicuous.

The editing present in Requiem for a Dream is admirable, and has similarities to the editing in some of my most favorite works. I feel that animation often doesn't shy away from this more creative style of editing, but even so there are conventions that restrict many pieces. Below I've attached some gifs from the TV adaptation of a favorite project of mine. You may not like anime given that much of it truly is littered with tropes and shallow and explicit content, or you may selectively enjoy the well-praised and classic Ghibli films. Either way, the animation studio Shaft is known for its interesting visual direction, and they were chosen to help produce a series written by a singular person with a passion for story song writing. The TV adaptation is Mekakucity Actors, and it's certainly not for everyone nor would I really recommend it off-hand. A quick google search might lead one to deduce it to be an incredibly shallow, angst ridden, ordinary anime with simple visuals (seeing as though the only portions of it usually posted are the more mundane ones) but it's really much more. A metro setting, a handful of strange and goofy kids who exchange lots of banter, and...Medusa's metaphysical snakes that inhabit their bodies from generations ago. The direction was meant to resemble a music video while still following the storyline, and so there are strange visuals such as a teddy bear strapped to a chair with a crank radio representing a door-to-door scouting agent. There are also jarring and random changes in color palette or "camera" angles (yet hardly any evidence can be found in Google images!). It seems to be...falsely appreciated? If one can even use such a word in that sense. Perhaps because the viewers happened to be seasoned watchers of generic animation and attempted to assimilate the portions which resembled that into the public eye most predominantly (I'm not trying to be elitist I swear).

Peter Mack's works are quite trippy inspirational and have similarities in tone with some of my current projects. Unfortunately I lack motivation and resources, and as a result my progress suffers. Ocean Artifacts and Composition #1 (From Many Sources) were my favorites of the group. The latter produces streams of energy through the flashy visuals which feel akin to a running adrenaline rush. The color and motion blends with the dynamism of the sound.

Lastly, Pipilotti Rist closes on a philosophy that I think anyone with a yearning for a specific kind of art should follow (and I've learned to practice a bit over the past couple years)- create the type of works you'd like to see rather than waiting for them to be created.

Art which doesn't encompass a variety of preexisting tropes, but rather becomes the embodiment of the seemingly disjointed concepts and imagery contained within one's mind is what captures my attention the most. I enjoy seeing one's unrestrained creativity.