Short project

I'd like to do something with text and animation, but with more pictures being involved. I have been considering focusing on a character or perhaps one phrase outlined in the movements. I really just need to finish the conversation project before I can tackle this one in my head...

BUT, I want it to be more funny than preachy. Most of the stuff I've done has been a bit more serious in nature, I'd like it to be cute and sassy this time. Definitely want to incorporate photography though...

Red Riding Hood

Here is what I saw

Honestly, I wasn't too sure of what I was watching. I was a little lost due to the interactivity not being too clear at times (clicking on the pictures of trees behind our character to get her to leave, etc).

I think that the author of this piece is just trying to inspire the reader to view a classic re-told story in a new way. I think that by creating a character who doesn't look like Little Red Riding Hood and making the wolf into a young man with animalistic arms, we get a different sense of the story.

I think it was almost like playing a game with only one end. Giving a story like this a "choose your own adventure" kind of feel is important, mostly because it is such an ingrained story in the minds of most people. It's not anything new, and to create something new, the author had to take it a few steps farther.

I think a reader has to have an open mind and a sense of hidden meaning to get anything from this. It's not what the reader expects, and it takes some getting used to. The audience has to be open to interacting and to experiencing something that doesn't necessarily feel "right" all the time. There is also a very feminist message in the piece, so the audience needs to be open to a different line of thought.

I very much enjoy the interactivity although at times it is confusing and a little too hidden. I had to use my tab button more than once to figure things out. But overall, I'd like to incorporate more interactivity into my work to make it more of an experience rather than a text.

Networking - How does it change the game?

I had not really considered networking as changing the game right away, until I realized it didn’t mean networking as in facebook or with a group of people; it meant creating something that someone else creates too. Maybe I come up with the words, and someone else creates the code and someone else adds more motion, etc. It’s an odd principle to struggle with.

Multiple authorship has been happening for generations in literature, but what about when we can’t discern if it was a partnership or who was in charge? Usually, if two authors are listed, we assume they worked on the piece together, and in larger groups, many times they are listed as contributors working under a single editor. The lines haven’t always been black and white, but they have been a consistent shade of grey, but now, who is the author? How would it feel to be a co-co-co-co-author? It’s an odd field to get into…who gets the prize for the best piece?

It’s almost as if this literature is crossing over into a film genre. The writer of the film works with the director and the crew and the cast. Without one set of people, the rest of the film fails. No actor can be great without a great writer and vice versa.

Who do we put our faith in the most? Who should we pick as our guide in this crazy new literary world?

Maybe this is easier to relate to graphic novels that are made on partnerships…The author sometimes cannot be an illustrator due to lack of skill. So two people come together. In my opinion, the person who actually knows the story and what they want the frames to look like is the true author because otherwise, the pictures wouldn’t have much purpose. It’s not as if two people work completely independently in this situation. But, at the same time, a graphic novel without the pictures is, well, a novel. It loses that je ne sais quo that it gains with illustrations.

All of this computer stuff makes it a far more complicated. Now it’s not just that I am creating something, I need more people to help me complete my vision, and along the way they add their own. Is there such a thing as team-literature or team-art, because that’s what it feels like. It’s an interesting new time, and I suppose with new technologies and new ways of completion, old labels just don’t suffice anymore. It’s not that we need to know who and why, but we like to know.

As a writer/artist/etc, I like having right to my own work, and the whole issue of intellectual property kind of gets lost here. I think it will take some serious exploitation of someone’s work before any kind of line gets drawn in the sand. I don’t think we can just decide now what would be easiest, we have to wait and see how this new literary world works. It’s scary, but it could be the next great movement in literature, and I just hope to be on board with everyone else…Time to start coding…

Conversation Project Draft

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/manningl/ConversationProject.html

That is my link to our project. Wish I was there instead of concussed!!!!!

Independent Research Project...

...SO....My window was loading from the cache, so now I can see the questions, but I couldn't before.

I really was hoping to do research on Alison Bechdel, but I'm not sure if she is "experimental" enough. Her graphic novel, Fun Home, really blew my mind on what text was and what it could be...It also was the first graphic novel with such subtly, hidden messages, and I'd really like to do more research on her as an author.

For this, I would like to research her history, the other texts she has produced and her place within the literary and LGBT communities. I just find her really interesting and since her book was the one that inspired me to take this class, I'd like to be able to look back on her with fresh eyes and perhaps learn more about her and her genre.

Is this okay? Is she "experimental" enough, or do I need to pick some sort of flash poet?

Just so you know...

In the next few days, I'm going to find the pieces I've missed writing about and get them done. Also, if I feel it, I will revisit some others...

Form? What is it for? - Julianne & Lia

Typography, font, italics, bolding, use of punctuation, structure of paragraphs, placement of words/letters on page, dialectic writing...

We feel like form is more like freedom of speech, and if that is, then:
-Social Norms
-Preconceived notions of what is "right" or "safe"
-The language being used
-How it is presented (on paper, on screen, etc)

Lia & Jenna Conversation

We chose gay marriage for our topic. We will do some research on the states that allow gay marriage and the states that don’t. We will probably have two or three voices. We want to use font, color, the placement and movement of words to express this.

Two Examples, Compare/Contrast

So here we go...I chose Cluster/Icon and Counting to compare...why did I pick these pieces? I thought they were both really clever and that using text without animation got their points across. I'll start with Cluster/Icon.

Cluster can be read at Constellation and Concentration and Icon can be read as Black or Block. Both of these use clever textual illustration to convey the fluidity and flexibility of text and language. They also convey how easy it is to alter what is being read. I thought they both were making a commentary on the nature of miscommunication and the complexities of written language. One letter, the smaller piece of the word can change the entire meaning which in turn changes the entire sentence which in turn changes the entire thought. It's one of those mind-blowing epiphany moments. Also, there is a point to consider: both authors could be trying to relate the two words they are using, but I can't reach that far.

Counting was clever in a different way. While using wordplay like Cluster and Icon, it does it differently. It took me more than one read to interpret the piece. At first I read the columns one at a time, top to bottom. Then the second time, I read it row by row. It made sense both times, but I felt more of a meaning when I read row by row. It had rhythm, and rhyme...basically, I liked it a lot the second time, but I'm not sure what it all meant. It was done in an intelligent way, but there wasn't a whole lotta meaning buried under there.

Okay, compare contrast: They both had wordplay involved however, Cluster/Icon had meaning in the words more than Counting. Counting was cute and clever, but not deeply meaningful. That's what I've got.

And again!

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/manningl/wordfinal1.html

That's my final with a cool black background

and here's one more thing!

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/manningl/wordfinal.html

That's a link to my final on pantherfile since Blogger hasn't been working correctly for me...