Interarts: Soundscape (Rewrite)

            Sound is something that surrounds us everyday. Whether it is a motorcycle revving its engine or a cardinal singing near your window, we never are away from sound. We use sound to communicate or to locate where we may be.  In the introduction to his book, Schafer tells us how important soundscapes are to us by explaining what soundscapes are. So what exactly is a soundscape? According to Schafer, “a soundscape consists of events heard not objects seen” (Schafer). A good example of a soundscape would be a forest or an ocean scene. 

Schafer also points out the three important elements to a soundscape; keynote sounds, signals and sound marks. Keynote sounds are sounds that are found naturally/normally in an environment but are usually regarded as background noise. Signals are almost the complete opposite of keynote sounds. Signals demand attention and are in the foreground of the element. An example of a signal would be a police siren. And lastly, sound marks “refers to a community sound which is unique or possesses qualities which make it specially regarded or noticed by the people in that community” (Schafer).

For our project “Anonymous Project” we tried to give our videos a more scary feeling. 

An important part of the horror music genre is using a mixture of silence (which would be the keynote sounds) and signals in order to set the scary mood. While we chose music that fit our video, we also tried to find music that contained sounds that caused your heart to race. A mixture between quick sharp beats and long, but loud sounds mixed in with silence really gives you the scary sound effect. Also the natural rustle of the leaves and the twigs snapping while Liz runs gives the video more of a realistic effect even though it is obviously fictitious.

Interarts: Copyright and Free Culture

            In Lawrene Lessig’s article, The Failures of Fair Use and the Future of Free Culture discusses the issue about law regulations in creative processes. In the first two sentences, Lessig lays out the reality of the matter, “"the law regulates creative process. It always has and always will”. (Lessig, 42) It does not matter how amazing your art is, if it is located on something that “shouldn’t” be turned into art or if you use (for example) sexually explicit material you may get in trouble. But out of all the regulations that have been created, copyright is the most well known and more recently has been used to stop artists from creating works using other known artists works. A good, modern example of this is “raised about DJ Danger Mouse’s Gery Album, created by mixing Jay-Z’s Black Album with the Beatles’ White Album.” (Lessig, 51) Lessig goes on to tell us that Jay-Z actually had no issue with the remix being made but the Beatles had an issue (the EMI even threatened to sue anyone who even so much as distributed the Grey Album). There are countless examples of artists being sued by large companies for using so much as a sound clip from a movie in a creative artwork. A long time ago, copyright only used to be in place until the creators death, then the work was released into creative commons. This issue of increased copyright is actually going to hurt our society and it’s creativity in the long run. Due of the recent increase of Internet use, copyright laws have been heavily enforced all over the country and for the majority of the time big companies win lawsuits because of how vague copyright issues are. If nothing is done soon, our countries creativity may be stifled.

            An example of a place that has realized the negative effects copyright has on the creative process is Japan. This is why the highly popular art form called doujinshi is allowed to thrive. Doujinshi is quite simply the Japanese word for self-published works (like novels or mangas). They are generally fan made mangas (the Japanese form of comic books) that usually use already created characters (like Naruto from Naruto or Luffy from One Piece). Doujinshi authors write entirely new stories or adventures for characters to go on. You would think that Japan would be upset over these mangas but they actually almost never are. Many real manga artists do not mind if fans make doujinshis because of a few main reasons. One being that these upcoming artists can get practice drawing in either a certain authors style until they find an art style that they like. And two, doujinshis helps new artists learn how to become good manga writers and once they get good will usually go to the publishing companies to create their own stories (which will bring in more money for the publishers). And three, doujinshis actually bring in more profit for the artist who originally created doujinshi characters because many times readers will go and read the original work. Unlike America, Japan has realized that it is beneficial to let some copyright regulations go unenforced for the betterment of their societies creativity and business.

            The United States should realize that enforcing copyright all of the time often stifles creativity. When you think about it, our culture was brought up on the borrowing and use of other people’s ideas (which is what many people would call “piracy”). Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both took different people’s ideas (none of which were credited) during the creating of both Apple and Microsoft computers. Even childhood favorite movies, like basically any Disney movie, would never have been made if piracy and copy right laws were in place because Disney would not have been allowed to put his own twist on a classic Grimm or common story tale. As long as artists are not taking other artist’s work, claiming it as their own and making money off of it (like if someone traced a famous drawing and sold it off as their own original creation) they should be allowed to used other, existing sources to either get new ideas or perspectives or inspiration. For example, there are many artists who take music and noise clips from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to create cool songs. Most of these artists make no money off of any of their music because they allow free downloads rather than forcing listeners to pay for the track. If Hasbro wanted to, they could go after these brony musicians and sue them for using sound or song clips from their shows. Yet, they choose not too because, like in Japan, Hasbro does not mind people using their products in art as long as money isn’t being made off of it or the artist is claiming 100% ownership of the music.

It is up to the artists and society itself to fight for the change of these laws. Lawrence Lessig puts it best when he says; "we have entered an age in which the right of artists to create freely must again be won". (Lessig, 53) If no one puts up a fight, then slowly our societies creativity will crumble. 

Interarts: Transmedia Storytelling

           This week we read weblogs from Henry Jenkins. Henry Jenkins is a well renowned media scholar who has written multiple books about new media. The most relevant readings we read by Jenkins were about convergence culture and transmedia storytelling. But what exactly is transmedia story telling? “Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” (Jenkins). This means that in a transmedia story, the plot or story line makes its own unique contribution to a story. Jenkins uses the Matrix as an example of a transmedia story. The Matrix is a franchise that contains three movies, one animated series, two comic books and a couple of games. The unique idea about these movies though is the fact that they all relate to one another. You have to play, read or watch the entire Matrix in order to piece together the entire story. One character may be introduced in the animated series that later appears in the movie. The most important thing about the Matrix, Jenkins says, is, “There is no one single source or ur-text where one can turn to gain all of the information needed to comprehend the Matrix universe” (Jenkins). This is the basic idea of transmedia story telling. 

           On his blog, Jenkins mentions a few key points that are important to a good transmedia story. For example, a good transmedia story is dispersed across different channels. This means that when a story should be told a certain way (whether that be with pictures, video or text) will hold more value if told in that said way. A good transmedia story should be synergistic. Having synergy in a story makes sure that the story makes sense as a whole and that issues (such as a characters past) are not changed from platform to platform. Jenkins also notes that fictional worlds should have a complex and interesting idea behind them. Characters must also be interesting and the story can be complicated when new characters are introduced or different ideas or viewpoints are shared. According to Jenkins, the fans also play a large role in transmedia storytelling. A good transmedia story should also contain gaps or potholes that fans can fill in or make up themselves in order to keep the fandom alive. 

Jenkins also tells readers multiple important transmedia story telling principles. The main principles mentioned are, spreadability/durability, continuity/multiplicity, immersion/extractability, worldbuilding, and subjectivity. Spreadability is the capacity of the public or fandom to circulate the media content through multiple different social networks in order to gain support. Drillability is when fans must dig deeper into a story in order to understand it better. Continuity in a transmedia story is also very important because it allows fans to take pleasure from gaining a greater understanding of the content. Multiplicity is when stories are retold to appeal to older fans. Subjectivity can be used in order to show lesser or secondary characters ideas through an outside source such as a character blog. Immersion and extractability are also quite easy to understand. In immersion, the fan enters the story world and in extractability, the fan takes part of the story and uses it in every day life. Worldbuilding uses the ideas of immersion and extractability push fans to treat the story world as a real space rather than a fictional wonderland. And finally, performance. Performance is important to a fandom because it allows communities to be created based around one thing, that media source. When new episodes or chapters are released, there are often people to interpret or discuss new fandom happenings. They help other fans understand issues like arcs, character development or story lines better.

           Homestuck is a fairly good example of a story that uses these ideas Jenkins brings up. Homestuck is a webcomic that was started in 2009 by Andrew Hussie. It is a comic about a boy named John who plays video games with his friends and is tossed into a world of chaos where John and his friends meet multiple interesting characters along the way (worldbuilding). It is quite confusing and plots and themes often show up multiple times in the comic, almost everything has a meaning. Homestuck is told by a mixture of text, chat logs, pictures, flash animations, music and interactive play. Not only this but Hussie likes to throw in pop culture references and sections of older comics he has created within Homestuck. The fandom itself is a very lively bunch of people. There are multiple large Homestuck fan communities both in real life and on the Internet (spreadability). Multiple websites exist to help those who need events explained or theories discussed. There are even people who translate different dialects used in the comic (performance). There is also a vast majority of fan fiction and fan art that is created that helps gain outsiders interest (extractability). 

           There are many, many other fandoms that use these ideas Jenkins writes about. Shows like Supernatural, Sherlock and Dr.Who all share some aspects of transmedia story telling. (Here is an example of a popular piece of fan art that actually combines all three shows mentioned above) 

Blog Four: Digital Photography

            During this week’s Interarts class, we learned about photography. Two photography professors gave us a presentation about the history of photography and why photography is important for showing many aspects that may go unnoticed in life. They also discussed the importance of visuals in presentations and/or in web building. Both teachers talked fondly of both film photography and digital photography and informed us the differences between each.

            Yet after doing a reading for class, I learned that some people do not consider digital art to be a valid art medium for multiple reasons including the fact that there is no film and therefore is not “physical”. Mary Ann Doane, author of Indexicality and the Concept of Medium Specificity from The Meaning of Photography, is a big supporter of this view. She thinks this because; “the digital seems to move beyond previous media by incorporating them all and by proffering the vision (or nightmare) of a medium without materiality, of pure abstraction incarnated as a series of zeroes and ones, sheer presence and absence, the code.” (Doane, 9) So according to Doane, because the photos may be digitalized at some point or another, they cannot be considered a “real” medium. Even though the digital photos still capture a moment in time and may hold emotional meaning, Doane still does not consider it an art medium. Doane says that because you cannot touch a digital photograph means it isn’t a real medium, "the index makes that claim by virtue of its privileging of contact, of touch, of a physical connection." (Doane, 9) and because you “cannot touch” digital photography means, "the digital can make no such claim and, in fact, is defined as its negation." (Doane, 9) But just because a digital photograph may be just numbers at some point make it an invalid art medium?

            When it boils down to it, the argument that Mary Ann Doane makes is completely misconstrued. Just because digital photography may be code in some point does not mean they cannot be a real art medium. Digital photos actually do take up space. They use bytes and are stored in a memory stick or on the computer. One can hold a memory stick in your hand and therefore could hold the data in your hand. Digital photos can also be printed off of a computer and can make a “physical connection”.  One could argue that even an artists creation at some point or another is just a thought. So, in the end, Doane’s argument is both illogical and pointless because she ignores multiple factors in what makes art, art.

Run Lola Run

Recently in our Interarts class, we have been doing many readings from Timothy Garrand’s book Writing for Multimedia and the Web, which touches on the many elements writers should focus on while writing for interactive multimedia narratives. The focal points, according to Garrand, are, “the role of the player development, character development, structure, exposition, plot points, scenes, pace and time, and dialogue and other sound” (281). Many video game creators, including those of Mass Effect and Heavy Rain, effectively apply these ideas in the plot line, characters and story construction. When an author is able to effectively use and combine all of these elements while creating an interactive story, their narrative will be much more successful.

The movie, Run Lola Run, is a great example of a film that displays an effective interactive narrative rather than the traditional “linear” plot line. Even though the viewer cannot choose what Lola does in the movie, the director makes cinematic choices that allow the film to mimic an interactive narrative. In the movie, Lola goes through three different “runs.” Each interaction she has with different characters throughout the film effects the outcome of each run. For example, when the punk’s dog bites Lola during her second run, she cannot run as fast. This causes her boyfriend, Manni, to be struck down by an ambulance in the end of the run. In each run, Lola learns which decisions have the better outcome from her prior mistakes, just like a person playing a video game. Even the beginning of the movie sets viewers up for an atmosphere similar to that of a video game, including how the characters are introduced and the animated sequence. 

In an excerpt from Writing for Multimedia and the Web, Lena Maria Pousette, a writer for Voyeur, indentifies three key questions a writer must answer while creating characters for their narrative, “What is the [game’s] objective? Who is the player? And what does the player get to do” (282). Run Lola Run successfully answers all of these in a clear manner. Lola is the player of the “game,” and her objective is to obtain money for Manni to pay debts to his boss, while keeping them both alive. This is why she has three different runs, Lola is not able to achieve her end objective in her first two attempts, so she kept “playing” until she reached her end goal. Also, just like an interactive narrative, each interaction Lola has with another character results in a new path.  This is best illustrated in the quick flash-forwards of the characters’ futures following interaction like the biker, or the woman with the child’s lives. If it was drawn out, the structure of the movie would most likely resemble one of the flow charts Garrand uses as an example in his book.

While Run Lola Run technically is not by definition an interactive narrative, it is a very good example of how a movie could closely achieve this type of narrative. 

Interarts Blog Two: Citizen Kane

            Citizen Kane is often considered one of the renowned movies of all time. At first I was quite skeptical of this claim. I had never seen the movie, but I had heard a lot about it from many people. When I read the synopsis of the movie, I was not impressed. It honestly seemed very dry and boring, which is not the type of movie that should be revered amongst other films. At first when I watched the movie, it seemed like my expectations of Citizen Kane were coming true, just as I had predicated. The movie was long, and I found the plot boring rather quickly. It wasn’t until our class discussion that I realized the movie’s merit; Citizen Kane is actually amazingly well done. The more we discussed the details of the narrative development, the more the film drew me in. Together, my classmates and I brought up multiple interesting plot points, camera angles, metaphors, scene set ups/dynamics and engaging character roles that brought to light Orson Wells’ cinematic creativity.

Wells has mastered many cinematic tools, which is reflected throughout Citizen Kane. He effectively uses a journalistic approach to tellthe story of Charles Kane. Wells also is able to convey many symbols and metaphors subtly throughout the film that can be easily overlooked by many viewers. Citizen Kane effectively conveys many of the points that Timothy Garrand (author of Writing for Multimedia and the Web) claims are important for a successful script for a movie. Garrand says a scriptwriter should focus on about seven points, “Showing, not telling…Structure…Interactivity and chunking…Setup…Characterization…Conflict…and Cost” (35-36). Wells most effectively uses the “showing, not telling” technique in Citizen Kane. There are two scenes in particular that effectively use these elements; each helps make the film deeper.     

            The first scene was the one that occurred in the snow during Kane’s childhood. In this scene, Mr. Thatcher and Kane’s parents discuss Kane’s future while he plays in the snow. There are many cinematic elements that are being used in this scene to give the viewer a deeper insight into Kane’s childhood and foreshadow later events in his life. This scene in particular follows Garrands’ movie script tips. One cinematic element used is the body positioning of the characters. The fact that Kane’s mother is depicted standing in front of the father shows that she is the more authoritative figure the family in that time. Also, by depicting young Kane playing in the snow not only shows Kane’s innocence before he is thrown into the adult world but also the loneliness he will sufferer through for the rest of his life. Kane is literally framed in the window as he plays in the snow, which represents the life that he will soon be trapped within. This idea of being trapped is a theme that follows Charles throughout the rest of his time in the film.

The second important scene was where Kane speaks his last words. This scene was one of the most important scenes for the symbolic portion of the film. There is only one word uttered throughout the whole scene, “Rosebud”. Kane is holding a snow globe that has a miniature snow-covered house within the glass orb. You find out later in the film, “Rosebud” was actually a sled. Both Rosebud and the snow globe relate back to the scene mentioned above when Kane was child playing in the snow. Charles was remembering a time before his life became a lonely and cold place.

The traits of a good movie (as told by Timothy Garrand) are obviously used and very effective in Citizen Kane. If Orson Wells had decided not to use and of these cinematic techniques, the film may not have popular or renowned as it is in today’s society. 

To Fur, or not to Fur: Second Life Bronies

 Recently, the television series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (MLP:FiM) has gained considerable popularity in the United States. A Brony (or its female counterpart: a pegasister) is a viewer or fan of this television series. Since the show’s release, there has been an increase in the population of Bronies in Second Life. Multiple sims like BronyTown, EverFree Forest and Trotsdale have been a hot spot for thousands of these SL Bronies.

Many Bronies choose to use pony avatars while in these sims. These players typically are avid MLP:FiM role-players. You can even see some players that have “mane” pony cast avatars running around the sim. It is largely in part due to this, that so many Bronies have been receiving hate from supporters of the anti-furry community.

Because many people are not big fans of the Furry community and because of this, rumors often spread throughout the grid like wildfire. Recently, many anti-furry advocates have been accusing the Furries of using the Brony community as a ploy to gain support. Upon hearing this, I was led to question the accuracy of this insinuation and began to wonder how much the Furry and Brony communities overlap in SL.

Firstly, I consider myself to be a Brony and would personally disagree with the anti-furry accusations. However, I am relatively new to the SL community, so I am not yet familiar with the popular opinions of many SL users.

Deciding to investigate this issue, I traveled to Bronytown and the EverFree Forest in my Pegasus pony avatar. BronyTown is one of the largest role-playing Brony communities in SL, while the EverFree Forest is one of the biggest pony sims. Once there, I was sure that I could find a few Bronies who would be more knowledgeable than me on SL Brony politics. Thus, I began to interview several random Bronies to obtain some insight.

SydVicious11: Do you think that there is an overlap between the furry and brony communities?

Pegasus Colt: I do not speak for all of either comunity, but my personal experiences there seems to be

Pegasus Colt: at least on S:

Pegasus Colt: SL*

EverFree Forest Pegasister: Somewhat. I mean, I'm sort of a furry. And I've seen other furries running around here aswell

SydVicious11: Do you think there is much of an overlap between the furry and brony communities?

BronyTown Rarity: There is a HUGE overlap. Almost every pony I meet here is a fur.

Brony Role-Player: personally to me there isn't really much over lap brony is brony and furry is furry

Shukie Galicia: the brony and furry fandoms do overlap abit. i myself am a furry for the past 8 years, and a brony for the past year or so.

It appears that to the knowledge of most SL Bronies, there is a relatively large overlap between the Brony and Furry community, yet that does not seem to bother many of them.

SydVicious11: Do you think this is a source of conflict within the brony community?

BronyTown Rarity: Not that I've seen. People, whether furs or not, tend to leave their other interests out in the Pony sims. Especially as the sim is PG.

One Brony who I interviewed explains the situation the best.

Earth Filly: There's overlap, but only among certain people. It depends on the individual, not the whole community.

Furthermore, when I interviewed a role-player from BronyTown about the Brony/Furry overlap she simply replied.

Brony Role-Player: does it matter if it does?

Thus there is a clear overlap between the two communities. Yet, when I asked if they thought that if the Brony community was a ploy by the Furries to gain supporters, many scoffed at the anti-furry accusation.

SydVicious11: many people who are anti-furry think that bronies are just a fur ploy in order to get more support

SydVicious11: do you think that is true?

EverFree Forest Pegasister: No. Some people who are bronies are also furries, but they are two completely different fandoms

One girl made a logical comparison between the relationship of Bronies and Furry fans to that of anime fans and Furry fans.

Shukie Galicia: the same way the anime fans overlap with furry fans and so on. like furrys go to anime cons

I even had a discussion with the owner of the EverFree Forest sim, zedmastermind, who agreed that there are some Furries that are Bronies in SL. He also thought the accusation by anti-furs was ridiculous.

While I do not have exact numbers and statistics, the general consensus is that there is a definite overlap between the Furry and Brony communities in SL. However, that does not imply that Bronies are Furries are mutually exclusive.

Shukie Galicia: many non-furs picked up on MLP. i personally am female so i'm just kinda into ponys because its adorable and makes me laugh :33 and the toys look cute on my desk xD

It seems that many SL Bronies enjoy My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic for the show and community rather than for the alignment with the Furry community. Furry or not, the SL Bronies are brought together by their love for the show, and most don’t care where your interests lie outside of that.

Maybe the anti-furry community needs to get past the Brony stereotype and take a lesson from the show. To quote Twilight Sparkle in her letter to Princess Celestia in the end of the episode Bridle Gossip:

“Dear Princess Celestia,

My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your "cover" is; It's the contents of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle. “