Final Reflection

Over the course of my time in DMA I have learned a lot about the course goals. First, I have begun to understand and analyze the contemporary cultural contexts of UNCSA and beyond. By learning about all five schools on campus and more about the Winston-Salem area in general, I have begun to realize more about the world around me. I know that we are all composers because we are always making something. Whether it be making music, dance choreography, or making things we do in everyday life like emotions, we are all composers. In each artistic domain, creative processes are different due to their art forms, but they always have a period of rest before their composing. I tried to remember this when composing in other art forms like video or acting, and it was a little hard. However, I was able to over come these challenges and create a piece of art that I could be proud of. Finally, when first-generation multimedia meets second-generation multimedia we have composed something new. We have created something with our own unique perspectives that has never been seen or thought before because it's from our own experiences. 

Composing in Movement and Performance

In Unit 5 we looked at Composing in Movement and Performance by looking at the contemporary context of these mediums. We looked at these context through by reading Marvin Carlson's Performance: A Critical Introduction and a lecture by Dean Wilcox, Dean of Liberal Arts.

Before this unit I knew a lot about performance and movement. I have worked many dance shows and during The Nutcracker I do most of the dances back stage with the stage crew. In my high school years I was in many smaller theatre shows like The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged and directed other shows like Elephant's Graveyard that had both acting I had to block and dancing I got to choreograph.

From my journals this unit I learned that movement and performance are essential to the work of a stage manager. One of our basic duties is being in charge of managing performance. Without actors, dancers, singers, jugglers, acrobats, performance artists, speakers, poets, or any other type of performer, we would not have a job. The performance of the artist allows us to perform off of them in more subtle but very vital ways. From my online discussion forum I though that Erin Burt's statement, "In my opinion, anyone or anything can perform, however, a certain quality must be present, whether it is music, artistic finesse, rehearsal or improvisation, to be considered a performance," was very accurate. This is why I think UNCSA is so special, we have all these performers who have a special quality to them. From Performance: A Critical Introduction by Marvin Carlson I learned about the two types of performance, one having to do with the display of skills and the other having to do with the display of skills that are less particular than of a recognized and culturally coded pattern. From Dean Wilcox's lecture I took away a lot from his Art History references. Seeing how life influences art which influences life is very important to me as an artist, so to hear how the Dadaist saw the chaos of the world around them in WWI and then created art reflecting that chaos seems very emblematic of the contemporary movement. From my Conversations video (can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3r5N-Y4uCE) I learned more about parallel editing like last week, but I also learned about writing a script and forming two different characters out of the same person, me.

I would like to learn more about composing in movement because we did not get to hear Brenda Daniel's lecture due to conflicts. I can and have been learning more about this throughout my time on The Nutcracker through ballet masters like Jared Reddick, Laura Martin, Dayna Fox, and Jenet Zerbe.

Overall, Composing in Movement and Performance is a very complex topic that has to do with the ideas of performance and all of it's facets. 

Composing in Film, Video, and New-Media

In the fourth unit of study, Composing in Film, Video, and New Media, our class focused on the contemporary context of these mediums. We researched the historical sequence and interactive synergies between these three mediums through looking at Lev Manovich and listening to lectures by John LeBlanc and Julian Semilian. 

To begin, before this unit I knew a few things about composing in video. I had made many short videos for high school projects since my school used iPads. I also had created a Harlem Shake for my stage crew and a senior goodbye video for my theatre senior class. I did not know much about film or new media however, but I did like going to see films by my favorite directors like Wes Anderson or John Carney. 

From my journal writing and in the assigned reading I learned about Lev Manovich's principle of modularity. For instance, because new media follows the principle of modularity, new media bits can function as stand alone objects or come together in a multitude of different ways to create something new. However, even when they do come together to create something new, they are able to retain their individuality as an object. From my online discussion forum with my classmates I saw something interesting that Julia Dietsche said, "I think the boundary between new media compositions and pieces of film and video is a line that is very easily blurred by the perception of the viewer or listener.  Much like a perceiver defines art, it is that perspective that makes the piece what is." I found this to be very inline with what I though to be true about perception as well. From the lecture by John LeBlanc I learned that we always need to be willing to collaborate and with Julian Semilian I learned about how we sometimes need to sit on moduls for a while and come back to it later to create art. From my channel surf video (can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33N8I4pOqF4) I learned a lot about parallel editing and using different resources of new media and video to create a film. 

I would like to learn more about editing films and what it takes to create a movie. I also wish they explained how the film school here at UNCSA works and what majors they offer. To find out more about these things I am going to talk to my friends in the film school and see how their school works within the UNCSA context, and where they will go afterwards. 

In conclusion, Composing in Film, Video, and New Media is a very modular and precise art form, but can become anything it wants through collaboration. 

Composing in Language, Sound, and Music

In this unit we explored the idea of composing in language, sound, and music. We looked at composing through the lens of language and sound with poet Joe Mills who talked about not only the meaning of language in poetry, but the meaning of language's sound in poetry as well. We looked through the lenses of sound and music as well with Bruno Louchouarn's presentation on his compositions using music. The main goal of the unit was to explore the contemporary status of music, language, and sound to see how they work separately, but come together so easily.

When the unit started I had no real knowledge about composing in an audible sense. I had worked sound for many shows at my high school and knew the delicate balance that goes into mixing a live event, but I never created what was being heard by audiences. That being said, I was extremely excited for this unit to learn about composing in this context.

In this section I learned a lot from my daily journals including how songs cannot be a songs without words or lyrics. The lyrics create sound and the sounds are the lyrics - they cannot be without each other. The idea of sound and lyrics coming together in perfect synergy was a really interesting idea to me. From the discussion groups it was very interesting to see how some people extremely connect to composing in music and have very interesting opinions on using music or sound in other forms of media.  From the readings at the beginning of the week I was really intrigued by John Cage, who said, "When we separate music from life we get art," because if life connects art and music together because art isn't just on paper, it can be in the sound waves as well. My biggest take away from Joe Mill's presentation was the idea that for him poetry isn't just the words or prose, but it's the sound of the poem. My biggest take away from Bruno Louchouarn's presentation was the idea of semantic satiation, an idea that I've been aware of since I was little, but never realized had a name for. The idea that words only have meaning because we give it to them is fascinating, even more so when we start to purposefully lose that meaning. In my audio projects I learned how to hands on edit my own creative composition like Girl Talk from RIP! A Remix Manifesto. My links are as follows: Double Exposure (https://soundcloud.com/claire-murphy-43/double-exposure), Seamless Blend (https://soundcloud.com/claire-murphy-43/seamless-blend), and Side by Side (https://soundcloud.com/claire-murphy-43/side-by-side).

I would love to learn more about the filmmakers behind RIP! A Remix Manifesto and learn about their process filming, writing, and editing the film. I would also love to learn more about Girl Talk. Ever since I saw him live in 2012 at North Coast in Chicago I've been a fan of his mashups, but I have never looked at his creative process. Seeing him create on tour would be such a cool experience.

In conclusion, the contemporary movement of composing in language, sound, and music exemplified by Joe Mills, Bruno Louchouarn, and Girl Talk is constantly developing and changing as the sounds, languages, and music of our world changes.

Composing in Design and Visual Art

1) Introduction

In this unit of Digital Media for the Artist, we examined the idea of composing in Design and Visual Art. We looked at the scope of the design and creative process through visual art, with input from D&P visual arts director Will Taylor, and architecture and writing, from Chancellor Lindsay Bierman.

2) Starting points

Before this unit I knew a lot about visual arts and architecture. I had already had Will Taylor in Drawing class for a period of time and knew his background as an artist as well as had visited his gallery exhibit downtown. I also have taken an AP art history course at my high school so I felt very comfortable talking about the idea of composing in either design or visual art. 

3) What I Learned

Diptych

Gradient

Double Exposure

In this section from my writing journals I learned more about my own creative process, and when I looked at the discussion form I learned more about those processes around me. It is interesting to see how each person, although all composing creative ideas, can come about these ideas very differently. From the readings I learned how the process of generating ideas takes a very good deal of practice so that one can just think of an idea without simple mind roadblocks inhibiting you. Csikszentmihalyi suggested it takes ten years of pratice to master a skill and Young's idea of mastering the technique of producing ideas was very interesting to me and stuck with me. I learned a lot from Bierman's lecture, mostly because I had already seen all the pieces he had talked about, but the way he explained them gave me more of an artistic view into their place in the world. I learned a lot about photoshop in my image projects, especially with the gradient, but I ultimately realized how awesome and helpful of a tool photoshop can be.

4) Things I Would Like To Learn More About

I would like to learn more about the length of time it takes for one to sufficiently master the skill of generating ideas. I think by reading more material by Csikszentmihalyi and Young I would be able to find out more about this topic. I would also like to learn more about the capabilities of photoshop and how to produce art from images I already have taken before. 

5) Conclusion

In conclusion, composing in Design and Visual Arts relies heavily on the idea of harnessing creativity through generating ideas thereby creating art like the new media images we created.

Composing in Context

1. Composing in Context is the idea that composing, or making, can happen across all art forms. We have explored composing through human nature reflected through the culture and society of today. We began looking at the context and society of our world here at UNCSA.

2. Composing had always been a vague topic to me before this class. I thought that the only people who could compose were primarily artist like musicians, authors, and visual artist. I knew that all people were creating or "making" things, but the correlation between making and composing never occurred to me.

3. During this unit, I learned a lot about the idea of composing in the context you are placed in. From the readings like The Medium is the Massage by Fiore and McLuhan I learned what a vital role that the internet and new media has had on the shaping of our global identity. That then segued into the website project where I learned how important it is to establish a presence on the internet in our society. From the lectures I witnessed how in each art form, whether it be liberal, fine, or visual arts, there are common threads that run through each composing process.

4. I would like to learn more about other faculty's specific art forms like Norman's lecture. I found it fascinating to hear about his design process and then to see it all played out into one show. I am also curious still about the impact of the internet on composing today and I hope to learn more about this through further lectures and readings.

5. In conclusion, the art of composing can be applied to any instance of "making" and is enhanced today by the globalization the internet has provided to us.