Early Return Missionaries

When we began talking Marshal and I wanted to find a subject that we are both passionate about, without looking to far we realized we both had a connection the unrighteous stigma that is often associated with early release or non-missionaries.  As we approached this subject we knew maybe all to personally that this is a delicate subject, and one that often goes overlooked so it was important that the video was informative yet honest to the emotions. One of the videos that impacted our approach to this assignment was “Stoop Sitting” it was focused on normal people in a normal environment. We have all sat on a front porch before, and that is why we can all relate so well to it. We also wanted to semi satire the “I’m a Mormon” ad’s by adopting their style and approach to professing their faith.

Originally we wanted to interview UVU professor Kris Doty who has pioneered new research to the adverse effects of being an “Early Release Missionary” (heretofore referred to as ERM(‘s)) on young men. She clearly had a deeply personal connection and a scientifically rounded approach to the subject. Initially after reaching out to her she was eager to participate and we were very excited, however last minute obligations got in the way and she would not be able to participate before the deadline so we decided to take a new approach to the project.

David had been an early release missionary, before his mission he looked down on missionaries that returned early. Marshal finished his mission and often considered the missionaries that returned home early wimps with “not enough faith”. When his younger brother returned home early from his mission for mental health issues, he was stunned and his outlook changed overnight. Over time what David and Marshal had to come understand and what we wanted to members of the LDS church to understand is that the Lord issues the calling, whether it is two years, two months or a lifetime, as long as you serve to the best of your ability that is a “full time mission” and a worthy one.

We approached this film with a more personal tone and asked Marshal’s brother to be interviewed for the piece, he agreed. So we filmed him while he went for a hike to see the sunset (one of his favorite past times), and delved deeper into his emotions, his concerns and what he is doing to reform this unrighteous stigma and help future ERM’s. We initially had shot B-Roll of missionaries, the temple etc. but ultimately felt that the images distracted from the real message, which is the “worth of souls” in particular, Parkers. Arlene Goldbard said in our reading “If our higher purpose is to develop societies securely grounded in possibility, compassion and connection, our task is to collectively imagine these things. There is no more powerful way to do that than by making art that rehearses the future we wish to help into being”. We feel that we accomplished this by (1) letting Parker rehearse his mission, emotions and experiences (2) paint his image of a better society (3) testify to his belief in said future.

1. http://www.chron.com/news/article/Study-probes-impact-of-early-returned-missionaries-4983273.php

2. http://blogs.uvu.edu/newsroom/2013/10/30/uvu-study-reports-on-the-reasons-for-and-reactions-to-early-returned-missionaries/

Textual Poaching

I chose to remix the story of Abraham and Isaac. The reason I chose this story is because I am the oldest child. As the oldest child you are the ‘guinea pig’ to your parents to figure out what works and what doesn’t. This can be both a benefit and a burden as the child. On one hand you have a different relationship with your parents because both of you are trying to learn how to become a family. On the other hand there may be some things that the oldest child has to experience that the younger children don’t because the parents realize that certain things don’t work very well in their parenting technique.

Peter Forbes article “The Power of Story in an Age of Consequence” really impacted me on how I wrote this story. He says, “Story has always been the way we explain our

relationships and who were are.” I wanted to reflect my relationship with my father in this story. To state the obvious, my father has never tied me to an alter to sacrifice me. We though do trust each other and love each other very much. I respect my dad’s opinions and I believe my dad respects mine.

Just like Isaac I trust my dad with my life. I wanted to put myself in Isaac’s shoes if my hero did something like that to me. What would I say? What would my dad say back? Would I still love him? Isaac most likely did not walk away from that situation completely fine at first. There were probably some questions that he asked and I am guessing there were a few heated discussions.

I also made a conscious effort to have the dialog be more modern. I wanted to put the reader in the story and one of the best ways to do that is to use common language that feels familiar and welcoming. Sometimes we read these stories as if they are like the Harry Potter series of books, as in the people in the stories are not real. I believe that these people are real and they had lives and real emotions just as much as any person who is alive on Earth right now. To show those emotions I used language that presented a less formal feel.

Medium Specificity

 

            I chose to focus on the way words are displayed on a page for my medium specificity.  I am not fantastic at prose and that was part of the reason I chose this medium.  This is the most personal piece of any type of art I have ever made.  It allowed me to really focus on something I have a passion for.  One outside piece of work that impacted me was the book “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer.  In the novel Foer uses the printed word as art as well as the choice of his words.  Some chapters there are edits in red pen over his writing and in other chapters the words will bleed together.  He would also put just one word on a page to make sure that the tone of the book was exactly how he wanted it. 

            The reason I chose the topic of depression is because it is something very close to me.  In our culture today people want to be continuously happy.  While we all know that being happy all the time isn’t something possible people with depression can go through long periods of time thinking that they will be never happy again.  Even though several people want to help someone who has depression, the person with depression may not want to talk about it.  I wanted to show this through the piece by obscuring some words.  I also wanted to show the anger I have towards depression.  It can become an obstacle within everyday life.  Keeping every negative word and the word depression in red emphasizes the intensity of the language and creates a link between the two.

            Another part of the page that I wanted to change was the background.  Through out the piece it is starting to become more and more positive.  Having the background change from black to white also helps that change be more prevalent.  At first the words are very stark against a black background, but as the vocabulary becomes more positive the words start to work with the background instead of fighting it.

            The choice of keeping one font was also an artistic choice.  I thought about changing the font for emphasis, but decided to keep the same font throughout the piece.  I did this because I didn’t want any one word to draw away from the message that was being written.  Every word holds the same amount of weight.  The reader may see some words pop out due to the color, but it is easy for the reader to start at the beginning and never miss a word because a word later on the page is so much bigger than the rest.

Historial Script

This assignment was much different from the assignments we’ve had previously.  It was less art intensive than the others as this had a little more grounding in logistics and reality than did the Tiny Stories or the Music Mosaic which could be much more abstract.  Though different, it was something with which we are more familiar.  The collaborative aspect of this project was very helpful.  When writing the story, we all had different ideas about how to craft it and what direction the plot should follow.  This allowed for many more ideas to be passed around and a lot of decisions to consider.  Though at times it was tough to decide whose idea to go with, it was beneficial overall because of this collaboration.  

When Josh first thought of this idea, he was inspired by two different and unrelated sources.  A few years ago he watched the HBO series Band of Brothers which made him find an interest in WWII.  He began to learn more about it in school as well and he watched more war movies and documentaries simply because he found the stories incredible.  When given this assignment, straight off he knew he wanted to create a story that was somehow involved in the second World War.  However, he wanted to do something a little different that he had not seen before.  First he thought of a pilot in one of the B-25s and the perspective that pilot had during the Doolittle raid in 1942.  While this idea was formulating, a friend of Josh’s went to the theatre to watch the film Prisoners.  Just the name of the film changed his idea for the story to something about POWs and he didn’t want the perspective to be one of a prisoner but rather of the guard over them.  

            Though we know relatively little about the Hell of war, we felt that the perspective of this piece is one that many don’t consider, especially from the point of view of the enemy.  Most of the time people view the enemy as evil and inhuman but this is not true.  The enemy is usually just a normal person who doesn’t want to be doing what they are doing. He is complex and so are we. This story has aspects of a psychological narrative. There isn’t a clear bad guy or good guy.  This is what we wanted to show.  We felt that it would be most interesting to look at an unwilling Japanese guard dealing with the horrible things that he’s had to witness.  We didn’t want the effect investigated in the Fort Barnwell story to be part of this story.  The script shouldn’t be romanticized and it shouldn’t be seen through a modern lens.  A story such as this should be viewed in the same light as the time.  It should be, what you see is what you get. We feel this is much more powerful than showing it in a different and manipulated way.

           To write this script, we utilized the power of the internet with Google Drive.  Before writing, we got together to discuss what we thought the story should do and just to flesh it out a bit.  We then went to our respective homes and began writing on the same document on Google.  We found this to be very effective because we could all write at the same time and we could observe the others writing without having to be looking over their shoulder.  It allowed us to change things very quickly. The chat function also made it possible to discuss aspects about the story that we thought were good or possibly unnecessary.

Process Piece

For this project we wanted to focus on something that could be relatable to everyone.  Anyone who has been a student knows that there is this automatic routine that we go through when we hear a school bell ring.  We finish up whatever we are doing and pack up as quickly as possible.  We wanted to capture all of the sounds and textures of this typical mundane task. 

            I loved Mr. Rodgers as a kid.  In the clip of Mr. Rodgers showing how construction paper is made I was brought back to that child like curiosity of how things are made.  Even though we couldn’t use images in this piece I still wanted to focus on something that could inspire that child like curiosity to the listener.  I really enjoy the sound of the pencil writing on the paper.  I like it so much because it is such a unique sound.  Every student has used a pencil and paper, but how many people actually listen to the sound it makes with each stroke.

            Another show that influenced this piece is “How Things are made”.  In each episode they show how typical things are made in factories.  A lot of the show can seem very repetitive within an episode or through out the whole series because there are a lot of shots of just machines moving.  I still enjoy watching the show because I love how there are so many moving pieces to mass-produce something so simple.  While in our process piece there is nothing being created by machines, the student is working and creating what ever he needs to pass his class. 

            The way we created this was very simple.  We recorded someone being a normal student and then had them pack up.  We did add extra sounds such as the bell and the crowd of students later to create a more diverse background, but most of it was recorded off of one take.  I think that also helps our piece because the piece is not over produced.  We wanted to have people focus on the typical and mundane and we stuck with that throughout the creation of this piece. 

           

           

Not Enough Time (Audio)

Terrible Situations

 

Jimmy finally made it to the bomb after fighting dozens of henchmen. He was ready to save the day. He then said to himself. “Crud.  Which wire do I cut?”

 

I’m ready to get my drivers license said the student driver. “Wait, I thought I was the student, I don’t have my license either” said the teacher.

“Tony Bridgewater has to make this free throw to win the national championship” the announcer boomed, “Too bad he is a freshman and hasn’t played a minute all season”

“Whoa wait a second,” said the newest angel, “I am not supposed to be a guardian angel, I was promised to be the angel of death”

Model needed for tattoo practice.  Models will be compensated for their time

In my short stories I wanted to put the reader in situations where they would not want to be.  There are so many instances in everyone’s life when they encounter ‘opportunities’ that will harm them more than help them.  When those moments do happen we should be able to look at them and laugh at ourselves.  Sometimes art takes itself too seriously.  While there is a time and place for serious pieces I also believe that art should make people smile.  If art is able to evoke strong emotions of sadness, anger, and fear art should also be able to make people laugh, smile, and enjoy life. 

            One piece in class that really influenced me was the video ‘Laughing’ from our class blog.  The entire video just had people of all ages laughing.  After watching that video I realized I hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time.  I wanted to be able to create something that might be able to do the same thing.  I don’t think that these short stories will make people laugh uncontrollably, but I hope it puts a smile on a few people’s faces.

            Another piece that influenced me was the “Holiday Inn Express” commercials.  In this set of commercials people are doing amazingly difficult things and when someone asks them of their qualifications they don’t have any other than staying at a Holiday Inn Express.  In the ads there is very little dialog and a lot of the setting is implied, but it is relatable to the audience.  I wanted that same feel of the reader being able to create his or her own setting.

            This idea started when I thought how tattoo artist first start their career and how no one would want to be a tattoo artist’s first customer.  I started thinking about how I would find my first customer if I was a tattoo artist.  The idea of a Craig’s List ad was one of the first things that came to mind because Craig’s List can have some of the most ridiculous ads a person has ever seen.  Another piece of art that affected me was the film “Safety Not Guaranteed” which is about an ad of someone who was looking for a time traveling partner and it is a serious ad.  People place ads in classifieds all the time and anyone of them can be answered as long as there is one person who sees it who thinks it is a good idea.

Music Mosaic

Link to the song: Click Here

I chose Daniel Waples Hang Drum solo for my music mosaic piece.  The music in the song is very bright and colorful as this inverted steel drum is played with a person's hands.  The song also never slows down or takes its time.  It is sprints through the whole piece and because of that I chose to photograph paths that are taken every day rather by people or nature.  I also chose to saturate the color of all of the photographs very heavily due to the brightness of the instruments used in the solo.
One film that influenced me in this piece was O Brother Where Art Thou.  In O Brother Where Art Thou it was shot during the spring and the grass was a very vibrant green.  They wanted the film to be set in the Midwest during the dust bowl.  To do this they edited all of the footage afterwards to de-saturate the grass and other foliage.  I wanted to the opposite affect on my photos so I enhanced the colors to give a brighter and happier tone to all of the pictures. 
Some of the paths that I have used in my mosaic are not paths that humans normally take.  People don’t want to walk through a river or in a gutter.  I chose to use these paths because of the basicness of the song.  The song is recorded in an underground concrete tunnel and has a very open sound.  The hang drum that he plays has no electric amplification either.  All of the sounds in his song are natural but the instrument itself is different and unique.  I wanted to be able to capture this idea of humanity living with nature instead of man trying to battle nature.  None of the pictures have people within the frame.  I wanted the viewer to feel isolated while looking at these pictures and for the viewer to focus more on the form, color, and composition without any distractions. 
The pictures do not look completely natural due to the over processing of the pictures.  I wanted to do this to make the viewer look over the picture again to figure out why it doesn’t look natural just like the song has nothing incredibly different but you want to continue to listen to it because there is just something different about the song.