On the Rights of the Molotov Man

Wow..it's an interesting article. I never heard of the photograph of Molotov Man in 1979 or the agitprops of him in 2004...When I started reading this, I began to think that copying parts of the photograph into a painting wasn't that a big deal to me. But I completely understood why and how Susan, the source of the photograph, felt about the copyright. She said that she felt like Pablo Arauz (the Molotov Man identity)'s context was ripped away from its original image into something abstract form or something.

In fact, it really never occured to me that copying the photo into something abstract or graphic design is a big deal. I would definitely do the same thing as Joy. I mean I can find an image that was taken by someone else and I can mess around with it. I understand the copyright laws of film but not photographs or art because as a film studies major, I have to ask permission for the sound or music or footage or any films that were made before and so I do that before I use them. But on the other hand, photographs or art may or may not be a big deal for copyrights but I thought it's okay to use them for graphic design or whatever. What about magazines? Why should we buy the magazines where there are pictures of people or whatever? If copyrighting photos are such a big deal, then they shouldn't post the pictures, right? So I'm saying that I think it's okay to copy the photos and whatevever you want to do with them. Same as film in a certain style. I have seen some documentaries and some of them had footage or clips on it. I wasn't sure if any of the directors ever had permissions to use the footage or clips. Maybe. Maybe not. I bet experimental filmmakers used anything they wanted without approval.

I'm amazed that the Nicaraguna natives were obsessed with the image of the Molotov Man and used it with different ways for years and years. They also worshipped with other people. I have enjoyed looking at the same image with different designs. I liked one or two of them, such as one with Pepsi logo with TV sets on the bottom..and other one of millions of tiny squares along with pictures to create the image of the Molotov Man. Both are cool. I'm interested in graphic design so the article inspired me a lot. Cool!!! :)

Notes Towards a Theory of Animation by Wells

Ideas for 48-hour video race

I really have no idea where I'm heading at. I have learned what this project is all about since I saw the video about the farm, which was interesting and helpful..no film cameras, no movement, and it's all mystery. Just use a digital camera or a phone camera or something with a still camera, which is cool. Wowie!

I'm thinking to try to do stop motion animation because it looks fun, since I learned how it works! I am also thinking about another way to take pictures of anything interesting such as scanning pictures or something. Depends on what the mystery is all about....hopefully it's simple and interesting..

I know one hint for the mystery: bring orange something to class for the mystery day...hmm interesting..I know there are like orange, cheetz, cheeto, something! I can't wait to find out what the "mystery" is! When we find out the real mystery, I can't wait to work on it! :)

Saturday Shoot

I never actually used a bolex before and it's a really tough camera. I wish I could have some experience with it. Oh well! During the shoot, there were too much pressure because 1) we had to set up things (for an hour or so with the C-stands and the wind issues), 2) rehearse a few times to make sure, and 3) we had to capture something for 56 seconds for our long take! (56 seconds were too short to make a story, I know right?!) But it was interesting and weird to figure out what we needed to capture for 56 seconds. Even though we set up and our rehearsals, we had so little time to capture our video so we had to hurry! And also, it was really hot outside. But..I really had so much fun doing it. I learned a lot.

It's funny how my group and I talked about ideas for our shoot and then we figured out what to capture it for one longggg take without stopping. Tough but amazing. I was surprised that we got to learn how to put the reel into the camera and then shoot a long take and develop them with our own! And finally, we got to project our reel to record our take into the tape. All that were made in for four hours! So it was very interesting and so cool!

When I saw the video, it was perfect! Also, it was so weird to see our take with a little time. Reminds me of the old videos such as Lumerie's or people because of fast-paced and short. The video looked old and funny and fast-paced. I thought the fast paced movement cracked me up, but it turned out great. I'm glad we had to talk things over and then we created the right moment.

After it was developed, my group and I had to help another group for their shoot. We were extras so it was fun too. I am glad we helped them out to get theirs ready on time! :) I have enjoyed seeing other groups' videos..Very funny and cute! So all is good! :)

Scratch Film Junkies part 2...

I have seen so many handpainting experimental films and I had enough..Most of them I have seen are basically created on art--handpainting, perhaps some props on unexposed films, whatsoever. Some of them can be boring because they simply are shown only on lines and shapes and art stuff. But others can be interesting. For example, I saw M's presentation on Harry Smith yesterday and I saw his works and I enjoyed his experimental films..they seemed to look so different in a way..I mean he used mirror animation with cutouts and he may have tried it as 3-D. Very interesting.

Like I said, last week in class, we saw the film..mostly on art and handpainting again. It was okay. I mean I would like to see something funny or interesting. I see lots of shapes and forms in the film. One thing I enjoyed about it was the way they put fade colors in front so I can see the movement in back. Similar to Andy Warhol artistic colors like a color picture turned into pink or green. I admit, those experiemental films are way better than my elements project. I mean, I tried to make my drawings look hard, but couldn't. I just needed more time to figure out my plan and do it. I would definitely gonna try to practice on drawing or painting or exposing props to filmstrips whatever I can! :) Also, one day, I would like to try to make cutouts and paste them onto filmstrips..that would be cool.