Arvin Smith Week 5 Analysis //

• What themes or concerns in the presented reading are your responding to?

The concept of living forever, death and meaningfulness is addressed in my collage in a strange way.  I decided to throw randomness and hints about living life forever.  Since I read about it I have been taking Reservatol supplement pills (the substance found in red wine) and have had a goal of living as long as possible.  I also had a cat before so I threw that in the collage as well and the idea of having 9 lives and living forever.  The paint gave the idea of being poisoned.... bitter paint reminds me of that and the possibility of death.  The goofy pictures are just there to give a sense of meaningfulness which I think went well with the text.  This includes the short video of my hand eating nothing; it gives an example of meaningfulness due to the eating of the "universe" which is equated with nothing and the idea of being goofy and meaningfulness.  The horse gives a sense of being content with the meaningfulness and the text "don't tread on me //" gives the idea of being strong and overcoming these thoughts of being irrelevant in this huge universe.


• What are the materials and processes you used to formulate your response?  Why these? If several, which are you most concerned with?

I used my phone camera to take a short video of my hand and many pictures both taken TODAY and some taken from before (such as the cat and horse).  I then used the app on my computer, IMOVIE to design the flow of the film and used a bubbly template for the gyst.  I then added sound effects to the movie in total randomness to give an idea of this and some music made by friends to give a sense of a goofy vibe and an interesting spin.

 • Why these materials and processes. What are their limitations? What do they allow?

These materials and processes give me a way to make a video in a collage fashion - sticking things together.  It also allows for a mayhem vibe because IMOVIE has tons of sound effects and a great assortment of templates.  My friend's music is strange and drives this theme even more.  All in all, the theme I described above is amplified by these materials and processes - the crappy iphone camera just adds to this effect.


• What choices did you make? (For example, the tone of a piece of writing, or the lighting decisions for a photograph.) What led your decision-making about them?

I chose a crazed, strange, trippy, WIERD tone.  This was the purpose, to make people think abstractly about LIFE, about an impending DEATH and say "hey, well while life isn't really meaningful, WHO CARES. I'll still live my life like i'm very important".  Everyone dies, but why not try to fight it..... why not try to keep on going and live it to the fullest, even if it ultimately may be a meaningless dot in a multiverse.  The randomness and eccentricity of the video does a great job of this in my opinion.
 • What did you learn through this response? (You can address new knowledge or new questions you’ve gained regarding the class reading, the materials/processes you used, or both.)
I learned that I could actually make a video that is similar to some we have seen in class.  I haven't used IMOVIE in a decade.... and I'm only 21, not to mention it changes decently every year.  I figured it out while in my room, eating and was later able to stitch this monstrosity together.  I got some inspiration from the randomness of the BOGOTA video and the existential crisis of a classmate's work (I believe it was Richard's week 3 response).  I learned that I really do question my existence and while I may have already known this, this project made me think about it a little more, for the better Or for the worse.  I don't really know.