angelarsonportfolio

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My Fireside Chat video, titled “Car dependency kills; why public transportation is the solution” was a practice in working within my means. I had a hard time starting this project because I felt intimidated by the wide range of “beliefs” we could choose to display. I had a lot of ideas floating around on things I “believed in”, but trying to make those beliefs come to life in a way that was interesting, new, and engaging was a separate issue. 

I like being able to make connections between my classes–it makes me feel like the things I learn are coming together to complete a greater picture, rather than just sitting in a bin of “facts/skills” that may or may not fade into obscurity over time. This desire has become especially amplified for me as I continue searching for creative ways to apply my PR skills in the film world, and vice versa. The audio for my video is a voice recording of an Op-Ed I recently wrote for a Public Relations class. Op-Eds are essentially just argued beliefs, so I decided it would be an appropriate launch point to expand upon using new media. From there, I chose to do a whiteboard-style video because I knew it would be a great way to make a somewhat bland, academic-y subject more engaging. As I started working on drawings, I also quickly realized that there was a  lot of potential to add a bit of comic flair and make the message much more my own. 

In Ito et al’s research synthesis report, titled “Connecting Learning”, et al explains how New Media amplifies opportunities for connected learning through four main points: 1. By fostering engagement and self-expression, 2. By increasing accessibility to knowledge and learning experiences, 3. By expanding social support for interests, and 4. By expanding diversity and building capacity. As someone who was practically raised online and is also very passionate about education, et al’s research synthesis was encouraging to read, and it helped me tap into my own creative voice. Creating is hard–but it becomes much less difficult when you have a concrete “why” and purpose behind your work. I love having opportunities to make educational content because it feels inherently purposeful. 

One of the things I loved most about doing the fireside chat was being able to see the many creative paths students chose to take with their projects. I’m endlessly impressed and inspired by what people in this program come up with, and I admire the kind of grit it takes to be constantly creating, especially when the work you do requires you to be vulnerable. I know I’ve mentioned not being a film major a million times, but it’s something I think about a lot. I love my major, but the TMA department honestly feels much more like home—not because I’m some kind of film buff—but because the act of creating and sharing stories is intimate by nature. I struggle to find the motivation to create on my own—so I try to savor each moment and opportunity I have to meet new people and try new things while I’m here. Thinking about graduating makes me sad, because I know once it happens I won’t have the opportunity to be surrounded by so many like-minded creative people, especially ones who are as kind and talented as the ones we have in this program. I often worry about what the future holds for me, for a lot of reasons, but in part, because I feel like if I don’t have a support system or a solid reason why, I’ll stop creating things—or stop applying myself in general. But I know worrying doesn't do me any good. I’m trying to do all I can while I’m still here. I loved this class, and I’m incredibly grateful for every opportunity I’ve had to create and connect with the amazing people here. 

[angelarsonportfolio]

Community Curation: memes

https://bcvance3.wixsite.com/my-site-1/post/amsterdam-101-redefining-the-french-fries

For this project, we knew that the hardest part would be trying to get people to voluntarily participate. We wanted to get as many submissions as possible, but if we were going to reach out to people via social media, the call would have to be for something really easy to accomplish—or better yet—something people would actually be excited to participate in. As a result, we decided to ask people to send in their favorite memes. We hoped that from gathering a large sample of meme submissions, we would also be able to get a glimpse into what makes a meme a “favorite”. Of course, this wasn’t a question that could be easily answered, but we were still able to see a variety of common themes/trends in the submissions that we got. 

Our collage of different memes that we collected from various users on social media is a reflection of what some people find humorous. This curation of collaborative content ties in perfectly with Jane McGonigal’s article Becoming a Part of Something Bigger Than Ourselves, as the nature of a meme can either bring people closer together because they may find it relatable, or it can divide them if it is a political statement that others find disagreeable. Creating, sharing, and reacting to different kinds of meme content makes people a part of a community with its own unique culture without them even knowing it.

         An example of sharing and becoming a part of a community, according to McGonigal, was the constant victories that players had with each other while going to war against aliens to save virtual mankind.  With the same objective in mind, they feel a sense of being a part of something even though they may never actually see or meet each other in person. Likewise, if you were to see, say, a SpongeBob meme that you find really funny, you would naturally want to share it with other SpongeBob fans. As a result, you would feel a greater sense of connection either with the creator and/or reposter of the meme, or the person you choose to send it to.

         McGonigal mentions a place called the Halo Museum of Humanity.  This is a virtual museum where players can look at all the accomplishments and history of other characters as if the whole environment was originally for educational purposes. It created its sense of belonging with other players just like the meme community.

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Twine Poetry:

https://angie516.itch.io/twine-poetry-andromeda

Angela Larson 2/14/2022 Twine poetry artists statement In the paper “Platform Studies: Frequently Questioned Answers”, Ian Bogost explains that Platform studies differ from (but still relate to) the cultural studies model of studying media by focusing more on the medium’s role in how we analyze different kinds of digital media and the cultural effect it may have. It leans into the aphorism that “the medium is the message”. Platform studies focuses onthe relationship between hardware, software, and the creative works produced from those systems. Additionally, Bogost places great emphasis on how understanding both of these aspects in conjunction allows us to better analyze how these influence influence each other. For this assignment, we were able to experience the power of the medium by using Twine, a free open-source tool used for making interactive fiction in the form of web pages. While Twine does not require extensive programming knowledge as many other game development tools do, there’s still a bit of learning curve and a distinct set of limitations that differentiate it from other creative platforms. Before starting my project, I looked up other Twine poetry examples online to get some inspiration. However, I ended up being dissapointed wtih what I saw. When it came to Twine poems, just about every example I came upon was essentially a glorified slideshow; click-through pages of text with some fun background images to spice things up. While It’s clear that many of these projects were thoughtfully made, I couldn’t get around the fact that they were ultimately pretty boring pieces of media to interact with (which might also have to do with the fact that I generally dislike super abstract, flowery poetry… but that’s besides the point). In my opinion, the bread and butter of Twine–the thing that makes it stand out in comparison to other platforms–is the emphasis on interactive text. If I click something, I want to be entertained by what it does in return. This was something that I kept at the forefront of my mind as I worked on my code. For this assignment, I chose to use lyrics from the song “Andromeda” by Weyes Blood–for no particular reason other than the song really bumps. The poem is more a contemplative rambling than a cohesive narrative, and I like the themes relating to hope, nihilism, and the parallels between having faith in romance and/or divine providence. Similarly to the “music mosaic” assignment earlier this semester, I wanted to see how I could “translate” these themes through my own interpretations, this time, however, using interactive text rather than visual art. (This is also also why I didn’t make any changes to the background. Although I considered it, I felt like adding too many images would turn my project into a music mosaic part 2, and ultimately detract for the interactive experience I was going for). I use recurring motifs to emphasize certain concepts

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ROADS AHEAD

by Angela Larson and Emily Colton

We worked together to create a gif series about the dilemma that takes place internally when we are faced with external changes. Our story is about a girl on her way to college, contemplating how she will be changed by what she’s about to go through, but also reflecting on what she’ll carry with her through these changes. It’s an exercise in individuality- we all go through experiences that shape and change us, but the ways that we are shaped and changed are influenced by the people that we were before. We chose to animate our own unique gifs in Procreate. The hand drawn aesthetic elevates the idea of being shaped through changes- the drawings are simple black and white, so they are easily altered through the use of various colors. The bright, electric colors in the gif set represent the changes that the girl is going to go through, while the warm yellows and brown represent the familiarity of home and the person that she already is. The cyclical nature of the gifs also serve the story, because it’s about the changes and progress that we are constantly going through. Just as the gifs play again and again, the changes we go through are never-ending. We are always building upon the person we are, and then building on it again.

In most cases, gifs are often used in the context of digital communication. The repeating images allow users to easily portray a variety of nuanced human emotions in a concise, file-friendly format. Oftentimes gifs are just cropped moments from films or other videos, but ideally, they loop. Regardless of the content, however, gifs are a new way of seeing and designing that didn’t exist before the digital age. While films and gifs often have very different uses, both are similar in that they’re just moving pictures. When you combine the looping nature of gifs with a narrative structure and the spatial freedom of digital canvases you can create a truly unique storytelling experience. Just as our protagonist works through the transformative experience of handling change and combining old lived experience with new potential ones, our project is an example of how mediums themselves can be born through the collaboration of “old” and “new” media. The little “gif cinema” is an interesting example of how the “New Aesthetic” and the ever-changing mediums that accompany it can be used to create artwork that relies on a unique blend of traditional cinematic concepts in a digital landscape.

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As we discussed in the readings, determining a work’s “authorship” is not as simple as just determining who made something. It has often been said that “there are new ideas”, or in other words, all art incorporates ideas and techniques from works past. Every work of creation is essentially just a translation. For this assignment, I chose to visually represent the song “Bitter Milk” by Ibi. While all of these images are my own original work, their conceptualizations were a direct result of me visually “translating” Ibi’s music. His composition makes him a sort of is a co-creator, as well as any inspirations he also may have pulled from.

Rather than sticking with one medium or cohesive narrative, I wanted to experiment with a variety of techniques that reflect the range of visuals that came to my mind as I listened to the music. However, there were a few elements I chose to make consistent throughout each piece. For me, I find it easiest to visually translate music through color. Bitter Milk’s tone is dark, moody, and its baseline has a stormy, thunderous quality to it, only offset by some of the “lighter” melodies incorporated by the right hand. I felt that these qualities were most accurately displayed through a series of desaturated blues, grays, and occasional yellows, and decided to stick to this color palette in each piece.

My first piece is a simple, abstract representation of what “Bitter Milk” sounds like. It aims to represent an emotive concept rather than a situation. Starting off with some of my adjectives and palette in mind, I produced something that gives off a sense of storm clouds, however, I chose to make the image more soft/blended to represent the smooth, ambient, almost “creamy” quality of the music. I also overlaid a black gradient to communicate a sense of looming darkness. Like the image, “Bitter Milk” has no hard edges. It’s a shadowy background with inklings of energy evenly spaced throughout.

While listening, I asked myself; how does “Bitter Milk” represent itself as a setting or narrative? The song is almost boringly ambient. Not much actually happens—It’s long, drawn-out and low-energy—but it still has an air of suspense to it. In addition to all the descriptors I’ve used before, the song also feels contemplative, investigative, heavy, and “in anticipation” of something. In my next three pieces, I felt that these ideas were better translated via more concrete visual metaphors.

For example, painting 2 takes place in a kitchen. It’s simple and familiar, but at the same time uncomfortably stale and sterile. Dark, except for the light that permeates through a single open window. On the table, a single cup has been tipped over, and an ambiguous dark liquid pours out. The darkness envelopes the entire floor and appears to be steadily rising. Photograph 1 takes place at the end of a long hallway, although it’s hard to make out where. From the viewer’s pov, you are enveloped in grim shadows—but you can make out the light at the end, and anticipate that there might be something right around the corner. But there’s no rush. The 2nd window photo portrays a similar idea, but while the hallway photo represents the song’s long, drawn-out quality, the window photograph focuses on the “contemplative” aspect.

My last 5 images are a more literal take on audio-visual translation. Together, they form a sort of “beat map”, each image representing a different progression in the music, and how the accompanying chords and rhythms might be visually displayed. Empty space is used to show rising and falling pitch values and gradients are used to communicate resonance/depth.