Xerox Project

I wanted to bring my project in to class, but unfortunately the weather is making that almost impossible. I will post more pictures tonight and bring my physical project to class on Wednesday.

3D Animation - Bouncing Grenade Project V1

The initial version of my grenade project for my 3D Animation class. I am working on the explosion!

Experimental Skeleton Inc.

The two main projects that caught my interest on www.experimentalskeleton.com were "The Refractory" and "The Genetic Archive". The Refractory seems like a spectacular show, as it includes the use of 15 different projectors; consequently, I was disappointed by the website's lack of video clips from the event. The article on the website mentioned multiple formats of media presentation, including the use of recording performances for future playback, but does not actually have any of these files available to visitors. In contrast, i found the design of the large dream machine to be intriguing as I tried to visualize the movement of a moth around a light while looking at the picture. Yet again, I think the quality of the website could vastly improve with video clips of these events included on their respective pages.

Another project that I found interesting was The Genetic Archive because I believe it to be a unique and potentially useful experiment. One thing that I am still curious about is the difference of using medicinal leeches compared to using the traditional methods of drawing blood one would find in a hospital. From a conceptual perspective, I feel like the experiment may prove to be useful in future scientific studies or experiments, and that the concept of creating a genetic archive that is greatly diverse seems to be a very futuristic based experiment compared to the other experiments I read about online.

The Private Eye of Radio

The audio-only aspect of radio entertainment resulted in the adaptation of many already established genres, like detective stories, as the medium of radio required a more intensively intellectual content for the basis of its broadcast; consequently, the radio produced detective characters with more conceptual powers than those of a physical nature. In contrast to television, where images would drive the production, radio productions were driven forward through more sophisticated plot twists and dialogues between characters. One early example of this type of a "Private Eye" radio detective was the Honolulu detective Charlie Chan, who was featured as the main character in "The Adventures of Charlie Chan". As previously mentioned, compared to what I imagine the video production of this detective series might have been while listening to the radio broadcast, it was easy to determine why radio needed detective characters of this nature in order to be successful. Ultimately, if the character of Charlie Chan were to have been a detective who depended on brute force in order to solve crimes, the broadcasts would be much less interesting because the consumer would not be able to physically see Charlie pummel the bad guy or chase down a criminal, and the consumer would therefore be less consumed into the plot of the story.

Another "Private Eye" radio broadcast that featured a detective character who used deduction rather than brute force in order to solve crimes was Sherlock Holmes, who was one of the most famous detectives of this genre of all time. Although Holmes' series usually featured very little action, his intellectual deductive powers allowed for the sophisticated plot-twists that kept listeners engaged through out the program. As I was already familiar with the Sherlock Holmes series, I chose to listen to the Ellery Queen broadcast in order to gain a more elaborative perspective on the detective characters of radio entertainment. Ultimately, Queen was extremely similar to Sherlock Holmes in the way that they both solve their crimes by finding clues that no one else noticed and mentally arranging them in order to solve the crime. However, one unique element of this broadcast that I found interesting was the stopping of the action for the purpose of soliciting possible solutions of the crime to the audience. I felt like this was a significant aspect of the broadcast because it was an obvious attempt to further engage the audience in the plot, and the general concept reminds me of the Goosebump series that I read when I was younger, which featured alternate endings based on decisions the reader would make through out the story. Obviously the broadcast did not feature alternative endings, but i found the attempt to convert radio from a passive experience to an interactive experience to be extremely intriguing in terms of its long term effect on multimedia.

War of the Worlds: Orson Welles' Radio Broadcast

Orson Welle's radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" on October 30th, 1938, was one of the most significant broadcasts in the history of commercial radio. The Broadcast began with a brief statement about the broadcast being a fictional story, but then proceeded right into the storyline; consequently, many listeners who began listening in media res, or as the story was ongoing, did not know that the broadcast was fictional. Furthermore, most listeners did not tune-in long enough to hear the addition disclaimers that were dispersed through out the program, which caused a massive panic across the United States. The power of the radio medium during that time period was unquestioned, as listeners were accustomed to believing everything that was broadcasted; essentially, the absence of the television as a communication medium left radio as one of the only options Americans had of receiving breaking information or news. In addition to the context of the time period contributing to the general realism of the broadcast, official sounding names of weather advisories like the Government Weather Bureau filled the fictional broadcast, adding to the broadcast-induced chaos; furthermore, the broadcast's script also added to the authenticity of the program because it led people to believe that there were announcers, orchestras, newscasters, and scientists on the air from a variety of locations, rather than simply being conducted in the studio of the radio station. The panic that the broadcast created caused reactions in listeners across the United States, such as people fleeing their homes, constructing home-made gas masks, and thousands of people calling radio stations, Police stations, and newspapers hysterically anticipating the conformation of an alien invasion. After the public received the news that the broadcast was fictional, the American people were outraged that a radio station would try to trick them, and many people attempted to sue Orson Wells for taking advantage of their trust in the authenticity of the radio medium. Ultimately, Orson Welle's radio broadcast had an enormous affect on the relationship between communication mediums and the consumer; essentially, it forced many Americans to reconsider their instantaneous belief of any information obtained via a mass communication medium.



Resources:

1) Orson Welle's Radio Broadcast of "The War of the Worlds".

2) About.com - Orson Welle's Radio Broadcast of "The War of the Worlds".

The Technological Revolution 1952 - 1971

The time period from 1952 to 1971 is extremely important to the history of art because of the numerous technological innovations that took place. In 1955, Simplex Technologies (Today Subcom) built the American portion of the first transatlantic telephone cable. Another one of the most significant innovations was the RCA's first commercial color television in 1954, and later the conversion of black & white tvs' conversion to color in 1955. SD analog technology was developed by Subcom in 1962, who later would develop the SF coaxial cable in 1968; furthermore, the first consumer only video tape recorder was released in 1963. In addition to the advancement of television, computer technologies also improved dramatically. The first computer mouse was demonstrated in 1968, and was shortly followed by the emergence of arcade and home video game consoles. Computer Space was the first video arcade game in 1971, and the first home video game system, Magnavox Odessey, was released in 1972. Other technological innovations included the first use of a computer, UNIVAC, to predict elections, the first satelite to transmit live transoceanic television in 1962, and Jack Kilby invtented the integrated circuit in 1958.

Sources:

1) www.tycotelecom.com/flash/history.aspx

2) www.cedmagic.com/history/index.html

New Sony Mobile Computer

Very cool up-coming technology (ETA 2020)

New Mobile Format of Sony Computers