Interesting work from Kazuhiko Hachiya

I find Kazuhiko Hachiya's work very interesting because this art work really bring out an innovative idea which I never think of before.

This work is called Inter-Discommunication Machine which can  exchange views and their sound perception between two people. This machine composed by a camera, transmitters, head mounted displays and wings. People A and B using it have to wear a head mounted displays and carry a pair of wings on their back.

And then they will start to see what the other one is seeing. They are actually exchanging what they are seeing ( their view). In other words, They will see their own faces though the displays and it seems that  A is B and B is A. I  think it's a live example of " think for people just like you are playing their role".

It creates a new way for people to communicate with each other since they can somwhow feel what the other one feels. For example, if A is turnign her back in front of B, then A will see this  and get to know that Oh! I have to turn around and find my friend. It is so good that this machine can really blur the boundaries between the identities of  "you" and "me". According to UNESCO , it is definitely a remarkable art work with enormous creatativity. It allows its user to enjoy a brand new perceptive experience and also create a very interactive relationship between the users. Other than its function, I think it also looks beautiful and reach a harmony realtion asethetically. The colors black and white , adn hte use of  the batterfies are very enjoyable to look at. And they also enhances the funniness of the work. I want to try this when I look at it at my first sight.

reference link: http://www.eyebeam.org/projects/inter-discommunication-machine

                      http://www.petworks.co.jp/~hachiya/works/shi_ting_jue_jiao_huanmashin.html
                      http://www.camk.or.jp/english/exhibition/hachiya/index.html

My feeling towards the Mouchette website

   I think this website is quite weird for me because I don't really get the message it tries to tell and since something is related to sexual aspect, this just confuses me more. And I at first doubt that is it really a 13 years old girl made this website and I think it is very likely that there is someone else who actually own this website. It is because online identities are not so reliable when everyone can pretend to be others or even create a person that not really exists. And after I did some research on this website, I found that the concept of this website is based on a film called " Mouchetter" in 1967. And this website did had some link on the film's official website, however, the link was removed later because the film's owner tried to sue the Mouchette website. And I think the website is trying to express the girl's feeling since the female lead character was raped in the film and I think that's why the website contains some erotic content. And as I mentioned above, the real identity behind this website is still a secret. ( Mouchette, 2007)
Reference link:  "Mouchette", 2007, Brown University Wiki, retrived from 30 Oct 2010:https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Mouchette

Identity Online

How many online identities do you have? What are they like?    
I have more than 5 online identities. They are some blogs, emails, Msn Forums and facebook.Some of them are rather serious, for example, the blog related to academic issues, in thoseblogs, I will be much more serious than my "in person" identities.Moreover, sometimes I may use a fake name in forums because I don't want to reveal too muchpersonal information on the net. I think in general, most of my online identities are different from my "in person" identities in terms of the seriousness and the way I present myself. I think I will be absolutely much more careful on how much personal data I'm giving out. However, on theother hand, I will be more comfortable to share my personal feelings or even some secrets when I'm using my blog which showing a fake name of mine.

In what way are they different to your "in person" identities?  
Some of them are rather serious, for example, the blog related to academic issues, in thoseblogs, I will be much more serious than my "in person" identities.Moreover, sometimes I may use a fake name in forums because I don't want to reveal too muchpersonal information on the net. I think in general, most of my online identities are different from my "in person" identities in terms of the seriousness and the way I present myself. I think I will be absolutely much more careful on how much personal data I'm giving out. However, on theother hand, I will be more comfortable to share my personal feelings or even some secrets when I'm using my blog which showing a fake name of mine.

What are some benefits of expressing one’s identity online?  
 I think one can get different kinds of infomation easier when they are expressing their identity online, for example, they can gather people's opinions or their past experiences very easily in  forum. And also, it is easier for us to know about our friends since it is so convenient that we just need a click to check on others' daily lives.

What are some risks?

 Since we inevitably need some accounts for establishing our identities online, we are giving our personal data to many third parties and we may not even be aware of this personal information exposure. I think this is definitely a risk when we are contructing our online identities. 

Video sharing sites enhance creative culture

Funny Video based on the "Leave Britney Alone".

This video is obviously a parody video about Chris Crocker. And I think things like this would happen again and again on the internet since it is a phenomenon that people keep copying from some hit Internet figures. According to Marek, "the first video that gained their reputation was an unintentional surprise hit. However, the internet celebrities tend to copy the successful formula of their first hit to maintain their reputation and to commercialize their success into real world earnings." (Creativity meets Circulation, Roman Marek, 2009)

I think this shows that these video sharing sites can enhance creativity since the netizens is a mass group of people who can create and react immediately to some hits on the net. Let see another  creative example:

This is another parody video in responses to "Leave Britney Alone" And according to Marek, this is a kind of "collective creativity" that can specifically shown in those video sharing sites.



Questions about Leave Britney Alone's youtube video

1)Consider “Bus Uncle” or Chris Crocker’s “Leave Whitney Alone” and upload the one you prefer to your blog. Then comment on the following:

I will rate this video 5/10. =]
A) How many viewers are estimated to have watched the youtube video?

According to Youtube, there are estimated to have 34,222,774 viewers watched 'Leave Britney Alone".

B) How would you rate the video?

• Is it of high quality in technical terms? Is it interesting aesthetically eg camera angles, use of light, the narrative, and so on?
• Does it raise interesting socio-cultural issues?

I think this video is not in a very high quality because it contains a rather simple filmming techinque. However, I think this video is quite interesting since it has a very strong dramatical effect. The guy in the video is very emotional and is full of warth as he feels 'sorry' and 'upset' about how Britney is badly treated or chased by the media and the public.

After I do some research on the net, I found that some people just regard this video as an ironic piece of recording towards Britney since they think that Chris Crocker is simply "an actor",and also some video responses just ironically labelled Crocker as a 'Drama Queen" and, according to Wiki, Wired Magazine noted, "sent world Schadenfreude levels zooming to heights unseen since the Fatty Arbuckle Scandal."(Chris Crocker Internet celebrity)

 Moreover, when Crocker was defensing fro Britney's comeback performance, he seemed to be covered by a curtain or a bed sheet and the lighting was in a very warm tone, I think all these helped to enhance his bad feeling and emphasize the sad atmosphere of the video.

Furthermore, I think this video reflects that the showbiz thing can easily arouse public's attention. I think Crocker is really seizing the opportunity of the criticism towards the public figure- Britney Spears' comeback stage performance. He grabbed the chance and made good use of this and thus it "brightens' his career life and he became an Internet Celebrity.

 Reference Link : ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Crocker_(Internet_celebrity)#cite_note-Britney_drama_queen_inks_TV_deal-57 )

C) Do you think deserved the attention that it received from the internet community?

I think this video is not really deserved that much attention from the internet community since this video is neither well-produced nor great-organised. And not much meaningful messages can be brought from the video.

Screening: Mission to Earth

1)Using “Mission to Earth” as an example, note what is new or different about digital cinema compared to
traditional filmmaking? Consider the story and appearance of the film.

    I think the narrative has to be able to cope with the digital cinema system as the system is very unique and the techniques behind are all about database therefore the narrative has to have a structrual relationship to the database system, for example, the variation of the main character's identity is shown by the multi-frame windows. And the small windows all around can reflect the character's different feelings and thoughts. Hence, everytime when audiences watch the film by focusing on different windows, they get different stories and different endings.

 I think this kind of variation is very kind to be shown in traditional filmmaking since the conventional film or narrative always go very smoothly, at least not as many pauses as those in "Mission to Earth". We can notice that there are pauses occured from time to time and this is the changing time for the database behind. I think all these are very different from the traditional filmmaking.

2)What other art forms (eg film, digital art, painting, websites etc) does this film remind you of? Explain the similarity.

   
    This film reminds me of different kinds of websites we visit everyday because I think the variation of the structure of the film is quite similar to those in websites. Everytime we visit a website, we can choose what our focus is and then get the specific information we want. This kind of freedom can really alter our opinions and feelings towards a website and it is just like the way we enjoy "Mission to Earth", we can determine what window to look at and hence getting different entertainment and information.


Reference Link: http://www.softcinema.net/mission_to_earth.htm
                          http://www.turbulence.org/blog/archives/000504.html

Digital Photography VS Analog Photography

1) What are some photographic effects that can be achieved using digital or analog (darkroom,film, lights etc) technology?

     First, changing light can be done in using digital technology or traditonal tachnology. We can have a brighter or darker photo and we can combine different images , for example, we can have a double exposure on one photo so two different images can get overlapped and thus create a new form of image. And that is the way we can change an image in an artistically or creatively.

 2) What are some photographic techniques that can only be done using digital technology?

    

     We can cut up or combine different photos only by using digital technology since nothing can be changed after exposure if we are using traditional technology to take a shot. Therefore, those kind of combinations have to be done by digital technology. Moreover, we can obtain some high contrasting colored photos with the help of advanced technology. In traditional technology, the colors of the photos can't be controlled as well as those in a digital image. When we shot an object, it may not be possible for us to take some very contrasting colors at the same time or they may not be able to be put together. Furthermore, we can only use digital technology to create some imaginary and unrealistic things, for example we can have a pictures of a dragon or a monster when we are using computer technology.

3) What is the difference between analog photography and digital photography?

    

     I think analog  photography can give us some more realistic images since everything are fixed after exposure so we can get the original images from what we take a shot of. This kind of technology reminds me natural images. On the other hand, I think digital photography give us perfection and it is a technique that can create perfection since we can fix and change everything on the images in the way we desire and that's how perfection come.