Extra Credit Assignment

You will have the opportunity to earn up to 10 points of extra credit for posting the following assignment to your blog by 11:59pm on Tuesday, Dec. 4th...

I'm planning for a new 112 class next semester and there are a few assignments that I may sub out and work on a little bit. I'm relying on your collective creative genius to provide me with some ideas for replacement assignments. So, the extra-credit assignment will essentially be a proposal for a new lesson/assignment that I could include in the course next semester. Here's what it would involve.

• A description of the primary concept(s) addressed in the in-class lecture/discussion/activity. For example, you might have found some idea in 114 to be particularly interesting and applicable to our class' objectives of exploring the location, creation and presentation of artistic expressions, developing your individual artistic voice, and gaining experience in collaborative creative projects. Well, summarize that idea in a few sentences and discuss how that concept might contribute to one or more of those objectives (including what unit it might fit into). And then provide one media example (a film clip, painting, audio doc, whatever) that would help illustrate both the concept and its relationship to the course objectives (with a written explanation of these connections).
• An assignment description (like those on the syllabus) in which you introduce a creative project, address some specifics of process and/or product, and then encourage student reflection on certain aspects of that process and/or product (this is where you connect the creation to the conceptual foundations in your previous paragraph). You do not have to complete the creative project yourself (but I guess if you wanted to you could).

There was a question about tweaking existing assignments. You can use an existing assignment as a starting point for your proposed lesson/assignment, but what you submit should be substantively your creation. If you're just tweaking a few things on the Textual Poaching or the Concerned Citizen, that won't be enough to earn you much (if any) extra credit.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Fireside Chat

Dana Atchley, "Next Exit"

Above is a photo of something that helped inspire our upcoming Fireside Chat. Below is the Radiolab episode we listened to in class for which many of you requested the link.

Protest Poster

Shepard Fairey, "Reforma Migratoria Ahora!"

 Shepard Fairey, "Legislative Influence for Sale"

 Barbara Kruger, "I Shop Therefore I Am"

Barbara Kruger, "Your Body is a Battleground"

Adbusters, "Corporate American Flag"

Adbusters, "Are We Happy Yet?"

So, there are some examples of what you're finished piece might look like. But remember, don't feel limited by these examples, feel empowered.

As a reminder of the process I went over in class today...

• Select an issue that matters to you. My intention is not to cultivate any particular political or social perspective in you. Rather it is to encourage you to develop some kind of political or social perspective.
• Research that issue across a range of media. In what ways do the representations of the issue exhibit uniformity and/or unity? Which voices, images, ideological perspectives, information, responses, etc. are included/addressed in these representations? Which are absent?
• Create a piece of 2D visual art--using text and image--to address your selected issue. Be sure that your piece reflects your research of the issue, and your developing perspective on the issue. Remember, the point of this assignment isn't for you to just make media--it's to encourage you to engage with an issue that interests/affects you, develop a better understanding of that issue, and then make something that reflects your perspective on it (and raises awareness of it).
• Then, post it on your Facebook page, Tumblr, Twitter, etc. and engage in a conversation about it with your community online.
• And lastly (as always) reflect on this process. Talk about why you selected your issue, what research you did, what you found, how your understanding of the issue has grown, why you chose to represent this issue (in regards to form and content) in your poster, and what it was like to discuss this piece with your friends online. 

I will be grading you with all of these points in mind. And remember that the same day that you post  your Protest Poster, you will be responsible for posting an artist's statement for the Webspinna in which you reflect on your experience composing and then performing your mix.

And here's a Ted talk from Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie called "The Danger of a Single Story" that addresses some of the negative consequences of the uniformity of media representations and advocates for other, varied voices to be heard and stories to be told. It's worth watching.

Webspinna links

Dark was the night..

I know how to pray

In B flat

Tapestry

Raindrop melody 

Star Wars Soundboard
Darth Blues

Cool Stuff I Mentioned

Here's a video of The Lucky Dragons' interactive concert I mentioned. Here, music truly is all about the relationship between creators, me and you. All the music you hear is produced through the physical contact made by those attending.



Here's a link to the article I mentioned about PhD's in science-related fields presenting their dissertations through interpretive dance. And here's a video just in case you're one of those link-averse peoples.


And another...


And here's a link to an article from Wired Magazine about the Cow Clicker satirical Facebook game I mentioned in class. And here are some cows.

Medium Specificity

As a supplement to today's discussion...

Here's that Pollock piece that I referenced. Pollock might be exploring painting as the process of applying paint to canvas, painting as paint on canvas (not necessary representational), paint as the dynamic relationship between colors, etc.

Jackson Pollock, "Number 6"

Here is the print from Warhol that I mentioned. Warhol is exploring printmaking as demonstrating the infinite reproducibility of art in the modern era and the commodification of cultural icons (like celebrities Elvis or Marilyn Monroe).

Andy Warhol, "Eight Elvises"

And just as a reminder, here is the assignment description:

Each student will choose an artistic medium (film, photography, drawing, painting, medium, dance, performance, graphic design, poetry, literary narrative, etc.) and produce a work which explores the specific elements unique to that medium--like Brakhage or Daren’s films, Pollock’s paintings, Warhol’s prints, Cage’s music, etc. Students are encouraged to consider how their particular work functions as a celebration, commentary or critique of their chosen medium.

 So, I will evaluate your work with the following in mind:

• Did you choose a medium, identify a fundamental element of that medium, and produce a creative work that both conceptually and artistically engages with that element of the medium?
• Did you provide an artist's statement that explains (1) your decision to explore a certain element of the medium and (2) how your piece creatively engages in that exploration? Also, consider (as mentioned in the assignment description) how your project functions to celebrate, comment on or critique the chosen medium.

Social Media Adaptation

So let's review today's discussion of social media as a venue for storytelling. But by request, here is Star Wars Uncut in its entirety. What a great example of collaborative creative online remixing.

Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

As a reminder, here is the assignment description:

Students will work in groups of 3-4 to adapt a ‘classic’ literary work to a social media platform. All students in the group must have read the selected piece of literature, and the instructor reserves the right to determine what constitutes a ‘literary classic.’ Social media platforms may include Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, Flickr,YouTube, Pinterest,Tumblr, and/ or whatever else you want to pitch to the instructor. Students are encouraged to consider how elements from the original literary work (themes, tone, character development, narrative structure, etc.) are translated into the new medium (which may include images, videos, music, sounds, hyper- links, games, etc. in addition to text).

In class, we decided that our adaptations of literary works to social media might acknowledge/take advantage of the following characteristics:

• Social media allow for stories to be told using a variety of media (images, moving images, text, games, etc. etc.) and platforms.
• Social media platforms have particular cultures, conventions and infrastructural limitations.
• Social media often emphasize social interaction (between characters within the narrative and between creators and audiences).
• Social media allow for instant and (arguably more democratic) dissemination of your creative work.
• Social media allow for storytelling simultaneously from multiple perspectives.
• Social media draw attention to the disparity between the constructed nature of one's online persona and their actual perspectives, behaviors, etc. 

That list isn't exhaustive, but keeping this discussion in mind during the creation of your project would be helpful. Also, I'll be evaluating your work with the following in mind.

• Effective retention of elements of the original work and the incorporation of new elements that speak to your (as creators) interests/strengths and contemporary context. (How is Nolan's Batman the same as Bob Kane's or Frank Miller's? How is it new and different? Why is it new and different--what does Nolan bring to the character and how is the cultural/political/social/artistic context of 2012 evident in The Dark Knight Rises?)
• Creative use of those aspects of social media (multimedia, interactivity, simultaneity, etc. etc.) that are unique to them. (What does Twitter or Instagram or whatever have to offer this story?)
• Collaboration among group members. How are the strengths, skills and knowledge of each group member contributing to the final work? How is the labor divided among group members? (This will be evaluated in part by the 'Grade your Group' feedback forms you'll complete on Tuesday).
• Reflection in artists' statement regarding your creative process, how your work relates to class discussions and outside media. (Ask yourselves: What elements of the original work did we find compelling and choose to retain? What did we bring (from our individual experience and contemporary context) to the story? How did we use social media to effectively present this adaptation? What was this collaborative process like for us? What did we gain from it? What was challenging about it? How does this relate to our discussions of and readings on playing, poaching, remixing and adapting?)

Next, how do we turn this in? Well, some content should be included on the blog post itself, whether it's a screengrab of the story as it unfolds on the social media platform. Like this...

...or this....

...OR if you are creating content (images, video, text, etc.), embed that stuff in your post. (Including content on the blog is especially helpful when your social media platform--like Myspace--is blocked on BYU's network).

And finally, because your adaptation is meant to be interactive (at least to some degree), include links to help your audience begin to navigate the narrative--for example, links to the public profiles of your characters (remember to set privacy settings to public to allow us to see your work without having to create an Instagram account and follow each of your characters). Though, depending on your story, and how you'd like your audience to navigate it, other links might be more relevant.

And to include, here are those other cool things we watched in class.

Morgan and Destiny's Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo from HitRecord

Morgan & Destiny's Eleventeeth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo from marc daly on Vimeo.

How the Amazing Spiderman Should Have Ended from The Fans.

And here's a collaborative fan-created music video for a post-humously released Johnny Cash song. And it's awesome. (I can't embed it because the video changes everytime you view it.)

"Ain't No Grave" by The Johnny Cash Project