Video class has finally ended.
"insert Carmina Burana here"
I am free - no no hold on I wasn't free immediately till I switched on a light bulb. I had received my written critique from a peer and there was a section in it that said (I kid you not): Write in - how bad was it. 5 beign bad, nonsense, nothing.
With that said the comment written expresses the following:
"The idea to try to get your video length down and more specific would make it even better than it is"
Now this is me focusing on the negative part of my critique just to assure you I know what I'm doing. Then I thought to myself .....
Why should I compromise my pacing for a faster or more specific video? Wasn't I the one preaching about taking your time and savoring the moment and all that? That was yesterdays piece of chocolate blog.
As an artist and a human being I need to stay true to my convictions, be it through my artwork or day to day life. So I decided to defend myself. Now I do apologize if anyone is hurt by this because that is not my intention. Granted I do feel that others within my class don't really care if they hurt others or not.
Regardless of that and perhaps that's my over sensitivity spilling into the hardness or toughness that some people claim to be exerting. (Hardcore like a piece of constipated shit). ohohoho sorry that was a slip of the tongue.
So anyway here was my defense:
The biggest critique I got towards my video has been the length of it. While I feel it’s easy for people to throw around that statement - I beg to differ.
The argument that perhaps this isn't my audience may have some merit but I would like to state something I feel is important to me as an artist and a human being.
I am not in a rush. I don’t like being rushed and I refuse to make my video shorter. I don’t think it will make it “better”. Why? because I truly believe in savoring the moment. In this video the “moments” were my characters.
In my blunt opinion - people’s attention spans are getting way too short. I refuse to cater to that - especially through my work. Also “better” is a matter of perspective as artists I had hoped people would be more open to something “different” rather than fitting things back into a box.
As hard is it is for me to say this but:
DEAL WITH IT.
I have to draw the line for compromise somewhere. I've compromised most my life away and it's painful. Art was my home for the longest time but lately I feel like I've been robbed of that feeling. I realize now that I compromised it for the sake of pleasing others and I robbed myself. The line is drawn.So..
Come at me bro!
And now I leave you with a my celebration song:
The issue I've found with a lot of Cornish critiques is that students don't always use the correct terminology to express why they like or dislike things.
ReplyDeleteA comment like, 'Your video is too long' is a completely subjective statement, and is, for all practical purposes, useless. I haven't seen your film yet, so I can't speak with knowledge as to what your classmate might have actually meant...
It's probably just a case of him or her having a short attention span, which is the unfortunate case with so much American youth today. If it doesn't have sex and explosions every 5 minutes, they can't sit through it, right? :/ But if it's something else, that they're just having trouble articulating, here are a couple of possibilities to consider:
1. Pacing. You know how some 3+ hour movies seem to go by super fast, since they're really dynamically cut, but some short movies seem to take *forever*, because either nothing happens, or the cuts are really awkward? When you cut a scene and what follows immediately after can really affect how well your film flows and whether it seems too fast or too slow.
2. Sound/Music - Sound elicits such a visceral response in most people that your use of silence, music, and sound effects also make a huge impact on the overall 'feeling' of your film. Like pacing, sound also has the ability to really stretch or truncate a scene.
I'd say go with your gut, and make the art that makes you happy. I can honestly say that I received very little useful feedback from any of my critiques in any of my studio classes my entire time at Cornish. :( Best ones I had were from the peers that I spent time with outside of school, who knew me on a more personal level, and were actually interested in understanding my work and challenging me for my own artistic progression, not just to start an argument in class.
I'd love to see your video! Do you have it posted anywhere? :)
Yes it is posted in the blog entry titled Triality. there is a link there. And thank you - your insight is a lot more informative than the critique I received. I don't feel there was anything wrong with my transitions. Perhaps it was the repetitive nature of my movies? I felt I was trying to depict "habits" but none the less what I understood from class was:
DeleteI got what you were trying to say in this scene like 10 seconds in - you could have cut it there and it would have worked for me. It doesn't need to be long. i.e. It's too long make it shorter. I don't know. At this point I can only hope that as people get to know me artistically they don't expect me to fit their needs of enjoyment.
Ooh! Yay! I can't wait to see it! My computer with speakers isn't hooked up in my new house yet (been stuck using the silent PC's at work since my move), but I'll watch it as soon as I have my own compy up and running. :)
ReplyDelete