cody | a portmanteau of web log

http://www.lucidity.com/NL11.DreamRecall.html

This is a really interesting article on creativity and film

http://filmsound.org/randythom/creative.htm

And I quote:

Nothing paralyzes an artist more than fear of screwing up. The first step toward curing writer's block is to begin writing, even if the most you can manage is to type random words. Writer's block is not the inability to type. It is the inability to type something of value. So you begin to cure it by typing anything. If nothing else, you copy the phone book, or the Bible, adding a word or two of your own now and then. Another approach might be to tear a page out of a book or newspaper, cut the page into pieces, rearrange the pieces and see if any interesting juxtapositions occur that might beg for elaboration.


I don't think the word "create" describes very well the process of trying to do fresh work. Creating implies making something out of nothing. For me, the creative process is about reorganizing things which are already there.

1. Learn your craft thoroughly, reading everything you can about the traditions and conventions of the craft, as well as experiments on the modern cutting edge.

2. Begin each project with few assumptions about the methods you will use. Let the needs of the project, most of which you won't know until after you've gotten your feet wet, determine your approach.

3. Experiment as early and as often and as inexpensively as possible. Make lots of mistakes when mistakes are cheap.

"Great art picks up where nature ends."

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"Only love interest me, and I am only in contact with things I love."

Studies have shown that brain scans of those infatuated by love display a resemblance to those with a mental illness.

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The oldest tortoise ever recorded, almost the oldest individual animal ever recorded, was Tui Malila, who was presented to the Tongan royal family by the British explorer Captain Cook shortly after its birth in 1777. Tui Malila remained in the care of the Tongan royal family until its death by natural causes on May 19, 1965. This means that upon its death, Tui Malila was 188 years old.[1] The record for the longest-lived vertebrate is succeeded only by one other, a Koi Fish named "Hanako" whose death on July 17, 1977 ended a 226 year life span.


ROOT - I will back here...

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RESEARCHING LANGUAGE.
THINGS I KNOW AND AM RELEARNING.

Rhetoric is the “art of enchanting the soul.”


Tropes

metonymy
a trope through proximity or correspondence, for example referring to actions of the U.S. President as "actions of the White House."

irony
creating a trope through implying the opposite of the standard meaning, such as describing poverty as "good times."

metaphor
an explanation of an object or idea through juxtaposition of disparate things with a similar characteristic, such as describing a courageous person as having a "heart of a lion."

synecdoche
related to metonymy and metaphor, creates a play on words by referring to something with a related concept: for example, referring to the whole with the name of a part, such as "hired hands" for workers; a part with the name of the whole, such as "the law" for police officers; the general with the specific, such as "bread" for food; the specific with the general, such as "cat" for a lion; or an object with the material it is made from, such as "bricks and mortar" for a building.

antanaclasis
is the stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time. Antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.

allegory
A sustained metaphor continued through whole sentences or even through a whole discourse. For example "The ship of state has sailed through rougher storms than the tempest of these lobbyists.[1]

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Analogy

Idiom
s an expression, that is a term or phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use

"up is more"

Meditation
It usually involves turning ones attention to a single point of reference.

Black hole
is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing can escape after having fallen past the event horizon. A single point of reference.

Quiescence
a state of being quiet, still, at rest, dormant, inactive;
as an adjective, "a quiescent mind.”

Transcend - tran·scend·ed, tran·scend·ing, tran·scends

1. To pass beyond the limits of: emotions that transcend understanding.
2. To be greater than, as in intensity or power; surpass: love that transcends infatuation. See Synonyms at excel.
3. To exist above and independent of (material experience or the universe): "One never can see the thing in itself, because the mind does not transcend phenomena" Hilaire Belloc.

To be transcendent; excel.

According to many philosophers, the only goal of life is to be happy.
And there is only one happiness in life: to love and be loved. Love is essentially an abstract concept, much easier to experience than to explain

a webpage

Uplifting

transitive verb
1: to lift up : elevate; especially : to cause (a portion of the earth's surface) to rise above adjacent areas
2: to improve the spiritual, social, or intellectual condition of

intransitive verb
: rise

Three is the magic number.

There are three types of galaxies.
Atoms consist of three constituents: protons, neutrons, and electrons.
Earth is the third planet in its local Solar System.

3 types of molecular bond: Covalent~ Ionic~ Polar Covalent (Dative or Coordinate)
3 isomerism types: Structural (Ethyl alcohol) ~ Geometric (Maleic acid) ~ Optical (L-Lactic acid)
3 hydrocarbon chain types: Straight (Propane)~ Branched (Isobutane)~ Circular (Cyclopropane)
3 basic chemical reaction substances: Acids~ Bases~ Salts

White light is composed of the mixture of the three additive primary hues: red, green, and blue.

Three basic rock formations: Igneous- Metamorphic- Sedimentary.

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Ego, super-ego, and id.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego%2C_super-ego%2C_and_id

SUPER-EGO
The super-ego acts as the conscience,

EGO

The ego mediates among the id, the super-ego and the external world.
It is like a slave to three harsh masters: the id, the super-ego and the external world.

It concern is with the individual's safety and allows some of the id's desires to be expressed, but only when consequences of these actions are marginal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego

ID (inner desire)

The id is responsible for our basic drives such as food, sex, and aggressive impulses. It is amoral and egocentric, ruled by the pleasure–pain principle; it is without a sense of time, completely illogical, primarily sexual, infantile in its emotional development, and will not take "no" for an answer. It is regarded as the reservoir of the libido or "love energy".

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Circles with triangles in them.



http://www.rahul.net/raithel/otfw/91circle.html

Triangles with meaning



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Colors

http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html

Chains are usually made in one of two styles, according to their intended use:

Those designed for lifting, such as when used with a hoist; for pulling; or for securing, such as with a bicycle lock, have links that are torus shaped, which makes the chain flexible in two dimensions.

Those designed for transferring power in machines have links designed to mesh with the teeth of the sprockets of the machine, and are flexible in only one dimension. They are known as Roller chains.

Chains can also be decorative as jewelry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_%28physics%29

Forces occur in pairs, one called the Action and the other the Reaction. Both forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. The distinction between action and reaction is purely arbitrary: anyone of the two forces can be considered an action, in which case the other (corresponding) force automatically becomes its associated reaction.


Maybe I will just film the game mouse trap. Yay. Fun.

So... I have a few ideas for this project.

I want to make something more romantic or more loving then my past work. My most recent projects (Alienation, Blink) both both fell into slightly erie category. I feel the two projects were considerably different but I really want to hug everybody in the classroom. Right???

I am not quite sure how to do it with out being overly sentimental (aka cheesy) or if I should care. I evolve from love. I would like to make this into a film. I am thinking about adapting the frog prince story, not quite sure that I know exactly what I want to do with it though.

 

I would like to do most of this project in AE. Still shots with zooms and pans across images.

Interesting Chain reactions
Does God Play Dice? or Dominoes - simple elegant create beautiful patterns.

The Butterfly effect - Somewhat of a used concept but I love the idea of how small changes can yield gigantic impact.


Chaos theory - begin simple and have everything spiral out of control.
For a dynamical system to be classified as chaotic, it must have the following properties:[8]

it must be sensitive to initial conditions,

it must be topologically mixing, and

its periodic orbits must be dense.



A coin tosses up into the air.
There are two variables in a flipping coin: how soon it hits the ground, and how fast it is flipping. Theoretically, it should be possible to control these variables entirely and control how the coin will end up. In practice, it is impossible to control exactly how fast the coin flips and how high it flips. It is possible to put the variables into a certain range, but it is impossible to control it enough to know the final results of the coin toss.

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position of over those who offer up their work to ourselves and our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic actually risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends."

OK... so after critique I started thinking more about what I was trying to say with Blink and why it didn't come through as much as I would have liked it to.

First the movie is about how a persons life is stored in their eyes "the window to the soul."

Also was trying to convey the idea of someones gaze as their life span. I understand that each eye was a little bland but it was difficult enough to get 50 people to stare into the camera. Lame excuse but I cant pay my actors except in compliments.

I really grew to love and appreciate the eye through this project. I watched each eye so much and the way the pupil breathed and the iris. I love the iris.

Perhaps this piece should be adapted for installation.

I loved the music, it was my favorite part, maybe I put too much into the music and not enough into the video. But I really feel music / sound helps drive visuals to their peak and I also find alot of joy in creating music for video (not music videos, don't be confused).

Yay for music!!!

Problems.

What is interesting about this persons soul... why a film. The ordinary is beautiful. Is that reason enough, YES.

This idea started to mature after my inital eye footage which I tried to manipulate and resurrect into fulfilling the idea.

The flashing images were too quick. I now what they are and they tell the story but I needed to let them live on screen a little longer for the viewer.

I spent alot of time on the eye footage and I hated the idea of throwing it away but clinging to it in the fashion I did did not prove successful. Reshoot it? Ahhhaha?

Ideas about critique,

I wish it was more guided (topics, instead of random comments.)
I would like more time for dialog so I can explain my ideas and try to receive feedback on my they are not being understood and or apperciated (to vague... or what.)

I am continually hearing that my stuff is generic (I have seen it before... TNT, hallmark, etc.) and lacks emotional risk taking. Perhaps that is true but if so I am not sure why I feel so emotionally crushed when my work is destroyed.

My skin is thin... I have scrubbed it all off.

Goonight Cody.

I have currently captured 25 eyeballs and I want more. I was hoping to get 100 to create a 10 by 10 grid of eyes staring you down but I have instead opted for 49 (7 by 7). THe idea is that the grid will start out with all eyes and as each eye blinks it's square in the grid will go black. The other idea I am toyin with is to add titles into the black squares to act as the title sequence. We will see.

Snakes.

Goodnight

I changed my idea. My new movie is a video staring contest. So get ready and don't blink.

Everything in the Universe is in a state of creation, maintenance or destruction.


“Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom.”

I think I am going to make a film, or show the experience, of someone trying to bury their burdens. I have images in my head of someone dragging this enormous burden (a chest full of belongings chained to his leg) and he drags it to an open field where e begins burying the items.

Burden - something oppressive or worrisome

Burial - Can be seen as an attempt to bring closure to something (typically the deceased)

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...The character should wear loose clothing...




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Hands Digging



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A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to tear down, and a time to build up



things to bury
time - pocket watch
heart
childhood



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walking into the distance


dragging burden with him. Probably not a refrigerator though.

Outerspace.
Innerspace.
Atomic Theory
Quantim Physics.
My Cats Thoughts.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology

A man thinks that a particular bridge is safe enough to support him, and he attempts to cross it; unfortunately, the bridge collapses under his weight. It could be said that the man believed that the bridge was safe, but that his belief was mistaken. It would not be accurate to say that he knew that the bridge was safe, because plainly it was not. For something to count as knowledge, it must actually be true.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy

but an experience you have never witnessed from a genre that doesn't yet exist, about something you don't know.

You can't appear in the work.

Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event. The history of the word experience aligns it closely with the concept of experiment.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randomization

I want to make a film that will decay over time.

I want to make a random film that will randomly select from a database of clips and compile a completely random movie each time it is played. The database could actively add clips to itself.

I want to make a film that challenges its own existence. I want to leave the viewer questioning whether they saw anything at all.