Sorry Not So Sorry

In class professor Leeper was talking about keeping your mouth shut if someone offends you in his or her art. But at times I like to think of it vice versa. Not to be rude or anything, but I could honestly care less if I offend anyone in my art, especially if it was unintended.  Just like what Leeper said before, use the talent if you have it, speak the truth and let the art make you. I could care less of what others have to say about me and my art unless the criticism is constructive and I improve on my profession and learn new things. And if I do offend I will not engage, I'll just move on just as they shall.

Follow Your Art

One of the films we watched today, Michele Coyerne's "Artist," was a very interesting, yet true piece. I really like it, and it reminded about a conversation that happened between me and a friend once.

I can't remember what started the conversation, but we ended up talking about what we wanted to major in and jobs afterwards. Then we got onto what we would do or react to our future kids majors. My friend is going to be a nurse, always wanted to be one. We got on the topic of what we would do if one of our future kids would want to major in something in the arts, like theatre, voice, or visual art. I was all for it - if my kid wants to be an artist and pursue it, go for it! I'm an artist anyway (and at that time planning to be a theatre major). I would tell them to go for their dreams, unless they honest to God were really terrible. Then no. My friend continued the conversation by saying if her kid wanted to go into the arts she would tell them absolutely not, it's not practical. She would want them to major in something "practical," something that makes money and a secure living. I was starting to get really mad when I argued back saying "Wouldn't you want them to follow their dreams?" And she replied "If art or theatre is their dream, then sorry, it's going to just have to be a hobby, not a life." She also knew that I was planning on being a theatre major! So it was an indirect judgment to my dreams. I held my tongue, well, we were texting so I held my thumbs. It's a good thing we were texting too, or someone may have gotten a door slammed in their face.

This film reminded me of this conversation and how true it is. I feel many adults and parents may guide their children down the path of "practicality." Do something that makes you money, not something that makes you happy! Let me tell you something - there is nothing set in this world, nothing that will guarantee a good living and salary. Nothing that is a "safe" job. So, please, by all means, do something "practical." Because you know what? Art rocks.

Art Prize

Today in class we talked about Art Prize for a little bit and I thought that I would elaborate on it.

Art Prize first started in 2009 and has continued to grow ever since. In 2009 first place is awarded a prize of an astounding $250,000 (decreased to $200,000 in 2012) and decreases to $100,000 (decreased to $75,000 in 2012) for second, $50,000 for third and $7,000 (decreased to $5,000 in 2012) for the rest of the top ten. There are also numerous other specific awards presented as well.

Let me show you all the first place winners for the past couple years

2009

This oil painting is entitled "Open Water no. 24" by Ran Ortner

2010

 This 28ft pencil drawing is entitled "Cavalry, American Officers" by Chris LaPorte

Here's a close up

2011

This stained glass mosaic is entitled "Crucifixion" by Mia Tavonatti

Here's Some close ups

I remember there was quite a stir in the media when this was announced to be the winner.

2012

This is a drawing entitled "Elephants" by Adonna Khare

2013

This piece is a quilt entitled "Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore" by Ann Loveless

Being from this area I am very glad I grew up around all these influences to help me pursue the arts and feel confident in what I can show the world.

Children's Media in our Changing World

We've been getting into this new section discussing children's media and I am so excited to continue the discussion on everything we have been taking in! Honestly, children's media is a fantastic thing. It seems to end up being constantly over looked or underrated! There are so many artists that dedicate their talents and time into making amazing media directed toward children! What we have to realize is how important it is to get good, wholesome media towards our children. Leeper was making great points, that they will be the leaders of this world someday. We need to get more media to them that will challenge them to think, rather than giving them cheap thrills studios give them to make bank off of them or nothing at all. It's a pretty big dilemma in our society today.

I guess in our society today that it is definitely getting better. At least we have media going to our children. A lot of it is kind of trash, but at the very least we have some great artists working towards better and greater goals. We definitely see that at the Children's Film Festival. It is also way better than the alternative which us nothing at all. So we should be grateful. I truly think the industry is changing and we as artists are pushing it in a better direction and we need to keep pushing it in a good direction. It's our duty as artists in this new age of media!

Humility Time!

I would like to start by confessing that I learned that I have failed at being a Christian in a certain area today. Rather than being open minded, I judged the show Adventure Time by its outward appearance. For the longest time, I thought this show was some sort of crazy psychedelic cartoon created by guys on an acid trip (some cartoons are made that way). However, when Professor Leeper said today that he was happy that a cartoon was making people think, I had to check myself. “It messes with people,” said Prof. Leeper. This is good? Yes, I think it is.

            I would much rather have my kids watch shows that engage them than feed them mindless goo. So again, I am in the wrong and have learned something. I will have to check out this Adventure Time show, and I really need to be more open minded about such things. It may turn out that this show is as compelling as Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends or Avatar: the Last Air Bender on Nickelodeon.

            When Professor Leeper said today that he believes Children’s Media is one of the most important areas to invest in as an artist, I think he may be right. Though God has not called me to go into Children’s’ Media, I believe it is crucial. If kids are starved of good media at a young age, what kind of art can we expect them to make when they are older?

Frogs

I watched a documentary about a year ago called This Film is Not Yet Rated where a team of filmmakers investigate the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) who have the power to censor and give ratings to films. The goal of the film was to show unfairness in the ratings dispersed by the MPAA amongst different types of films. For example, there were movies created in Hollywood which were rated PG-13 because of things like language and violence, but the same language and violence being used in an independent filmmaker’s movie would be rated R. I shut the TV off about half way through because I felt like the filmmakers were being a bunch of liberal crybabies who wanted their “unfitting” films shown in theatres and on TV across the nation. Honestly, part of me still thinks that way, but now I can kind of see where they’re coming from. A lot of what the MPAA regulated wasn’t fair, but at the same time I believe we still need regulations on our televisions. I’m at the point where this kind of argument has gotten petty. If I don’t like what’s on TV I change the channel. No one’s forcing me to conform to society.

It is sad for me though, because I see my younger cousins growing up in a world where all they are only exposed to are big-name brands and companies. All they watch is Disney Channel. Their house is completely Disneyified and I always wished they knew of some of the other wonderful great shows or companies that were out there. I did get a glimmer of hope though this past summer. All of my cousin’s books are about Disney princesses except one which is about frogs, and she makes my uncle read her that frog book every night before bed. Even though her life has been cram-packed with Disney princesses she was able to find an outlet in frogs. Anyway, none of that really had much to do the MPAA, but my brain is kind of fried right now so hopefully you found some sort of connection here.

Kids Need a Healthy Dose of Exploration

Big fan of the short film "Duel" that we saw today in class.  It was so well executed on a number of levels.  It pointed to the unfortunate reality of adults shoving information they deem necessary into kids' heads, giving them no breathing room to think for themselves.  As discussed before in class or the other blogs, kids are oftentimes smarter than we think.  They need to be able to explore.  They need to be able to figure out things for themselves.  Now, it is essential that they be grounded in certain truths, but at a certain point, they need to be "let go of" and just explore the world for themselves.  The film did an excellent job of showing how people can turn out to be boring, rule-following robots if they only carry the knowledge of others before them; if they only accept what everybody else deems to be appropriate, without ever analyzing it for themselves.  The kid in the film could see this coming, and he was able to take matters into his own hands to stop it from becoming his own future.  

My new favorite quote is from a recent reading by C. S. Lewis, which goes:
"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence.  And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms.  Young things ought to want to grow.  But to carry on into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development.  When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so.  Now that I am fifty I read them openly.  When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."  

This is basically what the kid in the film decided to pursue: the curiosity that comes with childhood, even though he was growing up.  

But all that was only the message of the film.  Instead of just preaching, like it could have done, there's also a story to this film.  It's actually pretty amusing -- I loved the variety of visuals used to illustrate its meaning, like the conveyer belt machine, the scissors, knives, and pliers, and most of all, the funnel.  The funnel was a hilarious way to represent stuffing useless material into kids' brains.  Lastly, and this isn't as important, but even the look of the film was quite pleasing.  The characters were hand-drawn, but there was some brilliant interaction with real-life objects, animated in stop-motion.  

Overall, I was blown away with this film: It speaks directly to the issue of kids not being exposed to proper realities of life, and how just letting them explore on their own will actually develop them to be wiser adults.  But it also does this in the form of a story, where the viewer actually cares about the characters in the film.  

   

(If you haven't guessed by now, this short film reminded me of The Lego Movie, which is about pursing creativity and going against the falsehoods that the rest of the world would have you believe.)  

For kids, by kids, and starring kids

So we talked a lot on making films for kids, the next generation of thinkers and doers, and it reminded me of something from an age long gone. There was this show called "Kidsongs", it was a music video show, with the occasional interview, that had inbetween segments showing what it took to make a TV program. The catch was that the cast and crew were all kids with an intense desire to work on a TV show.  

Took me six years to realize this was all fake. (Except the Biggles.)

The most impressive thing about this show for me was that these were kids my age (back when it was on TV) and they ran into the same fears and problems I did but handled it responsibly while managing an adult's job in an adult world. Of course, they had a couple magical gremlins that lent a hand here and there. (It was a kid show after all.)

 

Kids see art as a physical manifestation of the imagination, trying to nudge that imagination to whatever ends you will can and will have consequences. But not entering into the discussion WITH the children has the worst ramifications of all.

Also, Professor Leeper mentioned School House Rock and I've had this stuck in my head all day. 

 

Enjoy!

giving support to those with something to say

Patrons of the arts spend gigantic amounts of money forwarding the arts, whether it’s by letting a young cellist player use a vastly expensive Stradivarius, or paying a painter to decorate a wall in an empty room for a few months, it can cost allot of money to do. No doubt there will be some who do not agree with the artist’s vision, yet they still sponsor them, probably out of respect for the talent, and what the artist is expressing, not necessarily enjoying the subject, but admiring the work. I think it is important to support the artists that we may not like the vision of whether it’s in the currency of likes and sharing, or it is accrual money, because it takes all sorts to make up a world. Leeper has been getting us to try and let others in the world speak, I know I often get defensive about my beliefs, and observing art crafted by those who disagree with me is a fantastic way to get looser with my natural tendency to think my thoughts are not lying to me. I want to see what people who think radically different have to say in the arts, sciences, theologies and everything, supporting artists whom have a jib that I do not fancy the cut of is part of that. even if I think what they are saying is poop, they still have the right to say it as I have.

 Google toilet painting to find above picture

Today we learned how television exposes arguably good and bad media (wether it is good or bad depends on the person and their discretion). My takeaway from today's class was that good media and bad media can coexist. Leeper shared his postion and I agree with it: As long as good media is being produced, then the bad has a right to be there as well. Just let the bad media do it's own thing, and don't get butthurt if it offends you.

Today we viewed "Duel" by Pavel Koutsky. I felt a strong connection with the boy in this film. The boy had natural creativity and an interest in the world that he wanted to pursue, but as he grew older someone decided what he should and shouldn't know. The funnel in his head was comical because that's actually what it feels like to go to school and not care at all about what you're being taught. As he is carried along the assembly line of life, he saw what was happening in front of him. Boys like him were turning into men with suits, and dying. Fearing a similar fate, he abandoned ship and escaped the strong influence of conformity.  

I really enjoyed this film because it perfectly describes the stage of life I am at. Like the boy, I don't want to grow up. I love my youth and who I am. I don't want to be the same as everyone else. It's so hard not to view life for what it is: You are born, you work, and you die. That thought terrifies me, so I find myself trying to go against every societal norm. Anyways, enough about my teen angst. I was just pleasantly surprised that a film like this exists :-)

Protection or Preparation?

The last few classes have been making some major impacts on the way I think about children's media and IM LOVING IT.

Something that I really think is interesting is just in general the relationship between children and adults and how it is changing. I read a few other blogs that were posted today and agree that parents are becoming more and more overprotective of their kids, and they aren't giving them enough credit. It's so true, though, if you think about it. First of all, generations of kids today have a lot more to be wary of, if that makes sense. There's some super creepy people out there, and a lot of really horrible things that are happening all over the world every day, and the media shows everything. There's no boundaries these days, and I can see why parents are afraid of exposing their kids to a lot of it. I see it even in myself that as I get older, I watch out for things that my little sister watches, and it infuriates her. She's thirteen, but sometimes I'll watch a movie with my friends that when she asks if she can watch it too, I'm like aww heck no. It makes me feel like an old person, but as I get older it's almost some kind of instinct to shield her from the grossness of some media. I think this instinct is something a lot of people, including myself, need to control a little better, or else they'll be unprepared for the world we live in today.  I feel that kids need to see some of the things that the real world have or else it could just end up being a harsh reality for them in the future. I know for me, there were some major topics that I was completely oblivious of until middle school, while other kids were completely knowledgable of them. I think parents have a task of raising their children to be world-ready, and if our world is as tainted as it is, they should be prepared for it. Along with that, I think some parents don't think about all of the things that kids do actually think about and comprehend. There's a lot of smart kids out there who understand good and evil and can take in a lot more than one would think. They can handle the mind-numbing cartoons, as well as the things on the news afterwards. I think it's important that we help kids understand the impact that they have and the impact that other things have on them, like in T.V. Tango. It's a perfect example of showing kids, and adults, even, of the impact of kids' imagination and how television effects them. And with Duel. It puts the idea of censorship and how adults are so controlling of kids, when kids are people too, and need to understand. Not like they need to know of everything that's going on, but I think that they shouldn't be hidden from the world. Things just need to be explained to them on a level that's safe and comprehendible for them.

Okay so this got a little confusing so hopefully whoever is reading this kind of understood where I was coming from! You're awesome. 

What should children watch?

Children should be watching more educational television because parents and other guardians do not want the kids to to pick up any bad habits from those type of television programs. When we were watching the first video clip in class today, the clip displayed a good amount of positives and also even the negatives with watching in some kinds of television programs, I honestly feel that, children do not need to watch some programs because of  the content, but I also feel as if there should be restrictions placed on the shows as well. 

Something interesting I came across

So we all know about Inception even though some of us probably haven't seen it. If you haven't it seen it, I would check it out. It has a pretty good story with some interesting ideas but if you don't I'm not the movie police so do whatever. Anyways, we all know about the ending, again see it if you want. The ending left us all confused but that isn't the reason why I am writing this blog.

Anyway the main point that I wanted to get was the great little thing that Christopher Nolan does is that, with any movie he makes, his number one choice for his movie score is Hanz Zimmer. Now throughout the movie people are going into the dreams and when they hear a certain song, it is supposed to "kick" them back into reality. While people are in the dreams, time movies way slower than when a person is awake. Now the beginning of the film starts off with trumpets blaring and I didn't think much of it until I stumbled upon a video. The video explained that the trumpets blaring is the opening to the same music used to "kick" people awake while they were dreaming but it was slowed down by a lot. The idea is that the audience is dreaming and because we are in a dream we hear the music slowed down. I know that this isn't major but I think that this is a really cool detail that Christopher Nolan included in the film to engage the audience even more. The video is posted above because it can't be placed down here so yea...enjoy

Just Make It

I've thought, for quite a number of years now, that children's media has taken a downward spiral into formulaic monotony designed to placate children rather than enrich them.  Growing up, my parents would read to me every night before going to bed and it was because of this that I grew to have a love  for stories.  I'm not the type of individual who sticks their nose up at children's literature because I have a deep appreciation for it.  So much in fact, that I have undertaken a huge project of trying to create a children's television program.  Things haven't panned out yet due to some complications that involved some severe back-stabbing but this is not the place to discuss such details.  So instead of writing more on the subject I'll simply show you our original pilot episode.

What Makes a Good Kids Show

I could be totally stingy about this and push my nose in the air and ramble about how cartoons aren't what they used to be but I will try not to get

to that route although I do think they used to be better than they are.

Not to say there aren't awesome cartoons today.

Although I do think cartoons had a pretty rad peak back in the 90s-early 2000s. There just aren't shows like Animaniacs anymore, one of my most favorite shows of all time, I could pop in a DVD and sit down and watch every episode. Animaniacs had the classic cartoon violence, it had content adults could enjoy, it was clever, the humor was intelligent and it was a great show.

Other great shows that I miss are shows like Ren & Stimpy, Invader Zim, Ed Edd n Eddy, Danny Phantom, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and so on. And by the way if you have not seen the Ed Edd n Eddy movie, it is so stunningly emotional and gets so dark at the very end and I recommend it. Even the earlier seasons of shows that are still alive like Spongebob and Fairly Odd Parents were better than the more recent episodes.

Ren from Ren & Stimpy

Zim in his "human" disguise from Invader Zim

This is from the Ed Edd n Eddy movie: Eddy has

a breakdown in the middle of their adventure

Danny Phantom's transformation into a ghost

Blue from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

Cartoons nowadays can lack greatly, CGI-knock-off shows of movies like Kung-Fu Panda and Monsters VS Aliens are difficult to watch and really seem more like cheap knock-offs than follow-ups. But there are a few brilliant gems. Phineas and Ferb is hilarious, formulaic, but entertaining. Gravity Falls is remarkably "dark" with sci-fi mystery paranormal happenings and a background mystery going on the entire show with hidden codes at the ends of credits and so on; it also includes several references to various geekery like video games, old paranormal movies, anime, etc. The Amazing World of Gumball is hysterical, the style is very unique and there are also a lot of geekery references in it like video games and various internet jokes. And each of these shows are laced with adult and maybe more specifically young adult content, jokes and references they'll understand and enjoy.

Doofenshmirtz, the 'villian' from Phineas and Ferb

Gravity Falls: Dipper brings a Street Fighter-parodied character

to life

The Amazing World of Gumball: The dad of the

main characters

I will be honest, I don't care much for Adventure Time. The Regular Show I sort of connect along with Adventure Time because, to me, they are both shows that can be very dull and watching it you feel kind of stoned. That's me, I'm sure other people greatly enjoy them, but shows like Regular Show and Adventure Time are shows that I enjoy not to the point I'd make an effort to catch every episode, but rather that if I don't have anything else to watch and I want to watch something that doesn't take a lot of brain power I'd maybe hunt down an episode of it online.

All of these shows I mentioned here have one thing in common: they
all push the boundary of "kid-friendly." They are laced with adult/young adult jokes and references and equally entertain and even teach a lesson
for kids. Amazing World of Gumball has great lessons about telling
the truth and being nice and avoiding fights and peer pressure.
At the same time it speaks to the young adult and adult with it's
other references and keeps everyone entertained.

Thus ends my rambling about "kids shows" and no clear conclusion. xP I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, and will check out Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, and The Amazing World of Gumball if you haven't already seen them. I greatly recommend them.