Fireside Chat

Families Can Be Together Forever

For my fireside chat I made a video consisting of pictures from my wedding, a couple pictures from my past, and video clips from some of my favorite movies. I wanted to tell a story of my family and the dynamic I have with different members within it. The clips from movies I used were scary accurate to the relationships I hold with my parents. I told a personal story about my family while also expressing some errors I find within the primary song "Families Can Be Together Forever."

As soon as Benjamin said that this fireside was meant to be a means to possibly tell a personal story, I instantly thought of telling the story of my parents divorce. When it came to what type of mode of presentation I would use I wanted to solely do a video, since I am not one for presenting in front of a crowd. Well then he said "and there has to be an element of performance," and I sunk. I decided I would figure out how to bring in some kind of performance later, and focus on the video aspect at first. 

My idea of comparing still images to movie clips came to me right away. I feel as though with still images, even though a picture is worth a thousand words, they tend to be deceitful and misleading about what the true story is. I find this to be true especially with my wedding photos. In the pictures we all look like best friends, despite the fact I was upset with my mom or that my dad did not really approve of the marriage thing in the first place. Oh yes, so back to my story of my parents divorce. The weekend before the fireside chat, I watched A Doll's House at the request of Dean Duncan. I instantly chose to use that final clip as the way to tell that my parents got divorced. Also, instead of using a wedding photo to overlay that clip, I found a photo from about a year before they got divorce, one of my last photos of us all still sealed as an eternal family. After my parents got divorced I started to become really annoyed with the song "Families Can Be Together Forever." It means well but the type of family dynamic it describes, be it broad, is hardly common among families, at least it wasn't with my family and many other families I connected with after the divorce. So I decided that would be my element of presentation, satirically singing that song in a primary sort of way, which is accurate to my form of singing. 

While looking for clips to describe my current relationship with my parents I stuck to movies I know, and the conversations within these clips are way too accurate. I legitimately did yell at my mom for having such an easy life now with her "perfect job and perfect boyfriend," both of which came to her as a result of the divorce. She was always accusing me of not understanding her because of how young I was. With my dad, Dan in Real Life is our family's favorite movie. That scene was perfect for our relationship because when I first told him I was going to marry my now husband he was not excited in the slightest. This was meant to really depict my life, and even though most comments I got after my presentation stated that people just thought I was trying to present situations that contradicted the traditional primary view, I was hoping to tell an abstract story about me. And even though I find problems within that primary song, I believe it instills a sort of hope for future marriages which is why I included the segment with me and my husband at the end. 

Concerned Citizen

SUBJECT: Melissa Kaufler

Hadley Holyoak

Bryce Bolick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmRzuIG5MLA&feature=youtu.be

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, "I don't like that person. I must get to know him better."

For our subject we chose Bryce’s friend from home, Melissa Kaufler. Melissa is a young adult that has spent many years being actively involved with the democratic political party. We believe that Melissa is a concerned citizen because of her efforts to enforce involvement with politics and the decision making of our great nation.

She is from our home town of Santa Clarita, and we were able to connect with her over memories of campaigns and through sites like facebook, the Signal (our hometown newspaper), and good ole’ google we were able to pull together a reflectional documentary on different backgrounds of people that grew up in a similar environment.

A concerned citizen is someone who works to participate in a movement or activity that is beneficial to their community, or changes something so that their community can improve. Melissa’s desire to encourage people to register to vote was her way of bettering her community. Even though we disagree with her political opinions in many ways, we believe she is doing aservice to her community in promoting the need to vote and have empathy for others. When you find you disagree with an individual, you may need to look harder to find the good that they contribute to the world, but it is there.

When editing together this short documentary, we quickly realized that we had much more footage than was needed. We decided to focus our attention on her actions that she took towards something she really believed in, and not so much on her political opinions. The main message we wanted to get across was that she helped her community and promotes democracy and empathy, which are admirable traits. We included images over her audio, which we hoped would give more of a profiling affect and help the audience to understand who she is as a person, who she was, and who she aspires to be.

In the article that we read for this project, entitled Human Rights and Culture: From Datastan to Storyland, it argues that paying attention to the art pieces in certain communities is a way to become aware of societal issues that aren’t necessarily showing up in the stats. Art is a beneficiary to society, for the world cannot be run by those who only know math and science. We should pay attention to the artists we have now, for they are more attune to the social issues around them due to their seeking for inspiration in all corners of the world, and we should not limit the creativity of our young people. For someone to become a well-rounded citizen it takes exposure to multiple aspects of our complicated world: science, math, art, issues, etc.

Many create documentaries, such as the one we created, about someone who shows their desire to change something in their community that they see as an issue, or someone who simply participates in something they see as beneficial. In this way does art raise awareness to a particular aspect of society that many should be aware about. Even though I vary in political views from Melissa, she did share some powerful statements about the importance of voting and it has inspired me, and hopefully others, to become more involved in that aspect of life as a free citizen.

Game for Change

Soccer Dads

file:///Users/openlabuser/soccer%20dads.html

For this project I chose to tell as story of the not-so-talked-about social issue I call "Soccer Dads." This refers to those parents, dads or moms, that begin to become so involved with their child's extracurricular activity that they almost seem to forget their child altogether and use these events as a means to relive their childhood or just add a stimulus to their dull adult lifes. It has a bit of a Disney Channel Original Movie feel to it but I believe that it is a real problem, and maybe the kids are learning to chase their dreams from these motion pictures, but the parents sure aren't learning to back off. 

I had a minimal dose of "Soccer Dad" syndrome in my childhood as I was put into multiple extracurriculars: cheer, ballet, soccer, basketball, tennis, and drama. Ultimately I found my passion was in the theatre arts, and I pursued that all the way through my senior year of high school. My parents were very supportive of that decision and made sure to come to all my shows and cheer me on. However there were instances in my life were that "Soccer Dad" effect came into play. When I was in my elementary ages I participated in the AYSO soccer league (all of the kids in my family played soccer and my dad coached all of their teams, except mine, but thats a side issue). I was young and so found pleasure in running around in circle occasionally kicking a ball and elbowing other girls in the face. As I got a little older in the following years I slowly began to lose interest and found myself dancing on the field or picking daisies. It was then that my mom signed me up for a community theatre workshop and I found my passion. The "Soccer Dad" syndrome often times caught hold of my dad and he would yell at me to "pay attention" and "stop goofing off." My younger brother Kai was a much better player than me and so my dad found an outlet for his soccer enthusiasm and luckily I was let off the hook. Many years later another instance occurred with signs of the "Soccer Dad" syndrome when I decided to choose performing in a play over being on the JV tennis team. My dad had trained with me for months in order to prepare me for the tennis team tryouts, and I made it! But when I found out it was the same time as rehearsals for a play I was a ensemble member for, I went with the theatre option. For a long time he gave me a lot of grief about that decision, and it is not an absurd thing. "Soccer Dads" are not horrible people with no motives: they often want whats best for their children and are using their personal judgment to decide that. 

I am hoping to bring awareness to those parents that do not see a slight error in their methods of pushing their kids too far in something they do not want to do. Becoming too involved in the sport of it rather than being weary of how their kids are feeling. I am reminded of the movie Kicking and Screaming in which Will Ferrel's character takes the "Soccer Dad" issue to a whole new level of crazy, and gives no respect to the kids on the field. In the video "A Single Story" the speaker warns the audience of only listening to one side or one story about a certain place or people. I hope that we will not ONLY heed to the story of "obey thy parents" and give some attention to the kids and their needs. 

World Building

Toes as Sexual Organs

Hadley Holyoak

Travis Clark

Helen Butcher

Colton Elzey

When we were given the task to create a world in which toes act as sexual organs, our minds immediately jumped to popular culture and fashion. What position would the toe have in this world’s advertising? Would people even walk around on their feet? Shoes and socks began to take on an entirely new meaning. The BYU Honor Code and other religiously-influenced rules and regulations would be different. As we delved deeper into our discussion, we began to see the extent to which our unique reproductive organs would affect our new world.

The most jarring social discovery we made during our world-building was how saturated with sexuality our media is. As we tinkered with the media we consume daily (i.e. television, advertisements, websites, literature, etc.) we realized most of what we came across, no matter how innocuous it seemed, alluded to human sexuality. These sexual references ranged from vague innuendo to combative measures against STDs to the “sex sells” mantra parroted by unabashed advertisers. Our society’s subliminal sexual messages (and let’s face it-- not-so-subliminal messages) connect with media consumers on a base, biological level; sexuality is the timeless, universal aspect of the human experience. Sexuality drives our politics and not merely by way of scandal. Many of the divisive political issues within governmental, religious, and social hierarchies center around gender equality and sexual objectification. Women are voted for and not voted for because of the internal placement of their reproductive organs; centuries-old religious customs are deteriorating as individuals question why anatomy must affect spirituality; a college student’s performance art regarding sex crime legislation gains international attention as she advocates local change.  We kept these hot-button issues in mind as we constructed our new world and quickly realized that altering the location of our genetalia does nothing to alter the spirit behind our reality’s ongoing sexual dialogue; in a world where toes are sexual organs, our eyelines, not our focus, changes.

In his essay entitled “Design Fiction: a short essay on design, science, fact and fiction,” Julian Bleeker discusses how products of design fiction can only present selections, or corners of this new, imagined world. The author goes on to explain that these objects complete these fictional worlds because they encourage imaginative thinking. These small “windows” spark our imaginations, and we naturally fill the social gaps they leave. Theodore Twombly’s (Joaquin Phoenix) world within the film Her (2013) is an excellent example of how design fiction products can reveal something about the social landscape they’re found in. Like our group’s fictional world, Twombly’s world is marked by its members’ needs for sexual fulfillment. A pocket-sized gadget that houses an Operating System provides thousands of men and women with companionship, but as the film reveals the scope of the humans’ dependence on these gadgets, it becomes clear that the Operating Systems are a symbol of the culture’s isolation and social deficiency.

As world-builders, we embraced Bleeker’s design fiction concepts by creating artifacts that drew attention to various facets of everyday life. These products introduced a world with a completely different interpretation of the term “modesty” and an even more insatiable demand for shoe donations than what exists in our reality. Although our artifacts represent only a sliver of what this new world has to offer, their pervasiveness makes them “totems through which a larger story can be told, imagined or expressed.”

Textual Poaching

Sonnet 130 (Poached)

My own two eyes are brown like everyone;

Coral is the red tone of my face:

When my art’s displayed I want to run

For fear I have done my work a disgrace.

I have seen much talent praised far and wide,

But I just hope to come across as meek.

In physical I am no rare delight

Now some of my self-doubt will I now leak:

I try in public to speak, but I know

With quivering statements do I sound.

When I enter a room it is no show,

For when I walk, with duck’s feet I move ‘round.

Yet when I see me I know I am rare,

Remembering I don’t need to compare.

-Hadley Holyoak

       This project was probably the one I had the most difficulty with. I am not knowledgeable in the ways of converting and adapting on the inter-web. I felt incompetent when hearing the ideas of others and how they were planning to photoshop this and take clips from that. From this, I decided to focus on my identity as an up and coming artist with flaws and insecurities. Then I chose to take a piece of art from one of the oldest and most well know artists: William Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's infamous Sonnet 130, he creates an image of his mistress by using less than pleasant descriptions. However, even though he admits she does not have many desirable qualities, he declares his pure love for her and all her imperfections. This sonnet has stuck with me since I first heard it a few years back because of its faithfulness to life's realities, how everyone has flaws. In Shakespeare's case, the one you love isn't always going to be considered a 10, but that does not make them any less lovable, and in my case I want to love myself and all my not-so-10-ness. 

      The reading assigned discussed the art and science behind creating. It takes certain steps to create and everything you create is going to be drastically different from something done before you. In our discussion in class I was fascinated by the idea that there is no such thing as originality. Some may argue that in the beginning of time all that was invented was original, but I'd like to argue and say that every idea, innovation and thought came from something else and it all began with a great creator. I even believe that God came from somewhere, some kind of background, so He is not original as well. Stepping away from that theological path, I have found that every type of media I have been exposed to has multiple identifiable sources in which their creation was derived from. Shakespeare is often a source in which many writers, producers, and lyricists pull inspiration from, but even Shakespeare was inspired by those that came before him. 

       When "poaching" this particular sonnet, I sought to maintain the recognizable iambic pentameter found in so many of Shakespeare's pieces. I also kept many of the same rhyming sounds throughout the piece and a similar theme of flaws and imperfections. My work varied from that of Shakespeare's because I did not stick to physical characteristics, but wrote about those traits apparent in my artist self. I began thinking about this project when I heard the recent release of the song "Flaws" by Bastille. The message of this piece is that everyone has flaws and everyone deals with them differently and the specific flaws vary from person to person. Bastille suggests that the best way to face the reality of having such imperfections is to find a support and to put your flaws out in the public, which was my attempt here.

10-27-14

Web Spinna' Battle

Soldiers V. Hippies

Partner: Cody Mondale

        Initially after me and Cody partnered up we began listing the first sets of opposites that came to our head. We decided on war vs peace. After we came to that conclusion I realized that we had jumped into some pretty deep waters. After our search for clips began I began to see a narrowness occurring in our presentation and we settled on the idea that we were presenting a battle between hippies and soldiers (their ideology, not actual battle tactics for as mentioned on the night we performed, the winner would seem obvious). Whether it was because we were raised in the USA or because when we searched for sounds for hippie songs and war chants all the results were from American moments in history, our focus was the dispute between Soldiers and Hippies in America (although one clip of battle sounds was from a movie made about an Australian war).

I took the side of the soldier because initially I thought of how my husband was enrolled in ROTC and had plenty of camouflage wear laying about the house that I could use for the presentation. However, when I brought this plan to his attention he thought it would be disrespectful to use an Army certified uniform for a presentation. However after much persuading, and after all the badges were removed he gave in and came to watch the performance. 

       When piecing together the clips for our assignment me and Cody tried to create a basic story arch for our piece. We found that presidents declaring war to congress would be a good place to start and slowly build by demonstrating the reactions, of our two opposing sides, to the events that naturally occur in war time. As we researched further I thought of the movie Forrest Gump (1994) and how it presented the views of both soldiers and hippies during the Vietnam war. We followed Forrest as he fought battles in the war zone and the sacrifice soldiers were giving for their country, and we followed the peace movement and the frustration at the amount of bloodshed being spent by young American men. I kept this in mind when thinking of the essential elements Cody and I needed to include in our battle. We played guns shooting, rioters yelling, presidents speaking, and songs to correlate with our justification of what each side represented and why they were in the right. Ultimately when we decided to change our overall theme from war v. peace to soldiers v. war, it was because of a clip Cody found where rioters were chanting "we're not against the soldiers, we're against the war!" Instantly we both thought, THAT'S the message we want to get across. Nobody likes the idea of war and misery, but the soldiers feel a duty to protect their country and "hippies" feel that solutions should be dealt with peacefully in discussion. 

       Watching my husband prepare to enlist and go to basic training this summer and seeing all the benefits he gets from being a part of this organization, I see that it is tough, but our country generally treats their soldiers well. Of course the first thought that comes to mind when someone joins the army is "they're gonna die," but really? Really? As brilliantly stated in the movie What About Bob? (1991) "everyone's going to die." If you die in the service of our country then that is a life well spent. I hold my stance in the argument that following orders and protecting your nation in times of turmoil is more productive than protesting the progression of a nation.

LINKS

·        SOLDIER clips

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·   

   Ronald Reagan “when our citizens are attacked…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5fOq9PYp8A

FDR declares war https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhtuMrMVJDk

  Bush “these demands are non-negotiable” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CSPbzitPL8 

Captain America dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxRKwKJI_uI

       Captain America soldier speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9HCqnBcm8M

war zone effects       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qOFBulGTg

 Beyonce star spangled banner       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGDH18R7GfA