Flipbook Animation Video

This animation project was interesting to me. I love the art of animation and understand the hard work that goes behind it, so although I like the idea the process got somewhat tiring rather quickly for me. But I'm glad I was able to get the thing done. I learned that the pen was a better tool since it made clearer lines and you could see what the drawings were on the other side. Marker was even better, since it sometimes bled through to the other page so I knew the outline of what I needed to draw. Also, marker allowed for more coloration of the pages, making the images stand out more than the pen or pencil drawings.

Below is the final result of the second project.

Stage Door Response

The Stage Door blog is a large archive of clips from all kinds of different broadway shows. One unique thing about this blog is that it is in Spanish. Thankfully Google Translate provides a translation, albeit not a perfect one. I enjoyed the analysis on Annie, as it gave some history to the creation of the musical. I never knew that Annie started as a comic strip!

Another thing I liked about this blog is that it has a highlighted actor for each year. One year was Hugh Jackman, and 2015's was Julie Andrews. I really love Julie Andrews' work, so I was pleasantly surprised to find some information on her career, along with a numbered list about why she is awesome.

I had a video for Annie too, but the link's gone and I can't remember the way I found it in the first place. But oh well. The Stage Door blog has all kinds of information about all kinds of musicals, and introduced me to a few I never even knew about. Although it seems like it's not being updated anymore... That's a bit sad, not knowing what happened to the blogger. But the wealth of musical history is still here on the Stage Door blog for anyone curious.

htpps://www.angel-stagedoor.blogspot.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=7lSHZ1uVyHw

International Videoarts Festival Response

On September 12, 2018, the International Videoarts Festival was hosted here at UT. This was a display of short visual music films that were created by artists all around the world. For me, the festival was an introduction to visual music as an art form. I think that the very first film, Storms, did a very good job introducing the subject of visual music to me. It presented a form that would change according to the music. If the sounds were sharp and choppy, the form's edges became sharper in response. This showed me what to expect from the films, and also helped set the stage for what was to come. My favorite film from the display was Changes like the Shoreline. As the title implies, it was a representation of what you would see on a walk on the beach. I love the beach, so this film kept me interested. It used sounds of ocean waves lapping onto the sand, which was calming. The videos used were also serene, displaying a walking person and various beach plants. It felt like a dreamscape. However, after this film, the rest of them were a lot more abstract and used sounds that weren't as natural as the rainfall heard in Storms or the ocean heard in Changes like the Shoreline. Since I couldn't really relate to any of the other films, I didn't really like them as much. They were a bit too experimental for me. Overall, the International Videoarts Festival was interesting, even though I didn't really like all of the films.

3rd Opera Assignment

The 3^rd opera assignment was to watch an opera from 1920 or before 1920. Although I found one that I thought was interesting, The Excursions of Mr. Brouček to the Moon and to the 15th Century, I could not find video footage of it, so I opted to watch the Madame Butterfly footage that was provided. The story is very much like the stop-motion adaption, however, there are some differences at the end and beginning.

It opens with lovers Madame Butterfly and Officer Pinkerton, set on the island of Japan. They are to be married soon, and a great crowd approaches to celebrate their marriage with song and dance. These guests contrast greatly with previous actors, who have been in all white. The stage is also white, so they stand out that way as well. Anyways, the marriage proceeds as planned, until an uninvited guest comes barging in. He knows something about Butterfly that the guests don’t know – that she has abandoned Buddhism for Christianity to better understand American culture before marriage, as Pinkerton is American. This news doesn’t sit well with her guests, who leave in disgust. This saddens both Pinkerton and Butterfly, and they sing a heartfelt duet together. However, their time together is cut short. Pinkerton must sail away, leaving Butterfly to live alone in their new home. She sings him off, thus ending the first act.

The second act ends some time later. Time is shown to pass by a tree that has been planted in the spot where Butterfly waves Pinkerton goodbye. It has been years since Pinkerton has been seen last. Butterfly’s friend Suzuki wants Butterfly to move on, and a man involved with her marriage, Goro, also desires her to get married again. But now, she has given birth to Pinkerton’s child. Their son represents their connection and she doesn’t want to give her love for him up. More time passes, and eventually Butterfly gets news that Pinkerton is coming back to Japan! She is very excited about this news. She watches for the boat along with Suzuki and her son. Suzuki and the child fall asleep, but Butterfly stays awake all night. This marks the ending of act two.

Act three is shorter than the rest. Pinkerton returns, but he has a new wife now. Her name is Kate, and she only wanted to come to raise the child as her own. Butterfly is distraught. She loves Pinkerton, but she also loves her child. She makes a decision, giving up her child so that Pinkerton would stay with her. But, this proves to further tear her soul. She feels as if she has dishonored herself by giving up her child. In this vein, she decides to die with honor, committing suicide. This final act is the end of the story.

The stop-motion adaption did not portray the scene where the man reveals that Butterfly has changed her religion, or any of the marriage. It begins with a scene of Butterfly and Pinkerton in love. Suzuki and Goro are also not anywhere in the stop-motion one. I think that their characters add conflict to the story, and although the story can be told without them, their inclusion adds an extra layer of depth to the inner turmoil of Butterfly at that time. On one hand, she has Pinkerton’s son, and she still has feelings for Pinkerton. But, at the same time, it has been years since he has been seen, and if she stays true she will be alone for the rest of her life. Another difference between the stop-motion adaption is that in that version, her child is forcibly taken away from her. In the real thing, Butterfly chooses to give her child away in the hopes of being closer to Pinkerton.

I enjoyed watching this story a second time, as the opera had more details to make it stand out from the other adaption. The songs, also being longer and having words, had more depth to them.

The Birth and Life of Opera

The opera has its roots in Florence, Italy, where scholars experimented with drama, music, poetry, and dance to create a new type of art. However, the first two opera experiments didn't turn out quite as planned. This did not mean the end of opera, however. Some visitors to the second performance liked the idea and wanted to create their own variant of it. This time, the performance was a success! From there on, opera developed itself as a unique art form.

There are plenty of different genres and themes, such as tragedy, comical, or satirical. Many operas tell tales of love or sorrow. But no matter what type of story, operas are unique in the fact that all dialogue is in song. This differentiates the opera from musicals, which are similar in that they also tell stories in song. Musicals, however, have spoken dialogue as well. Musicals were also developed some years after the opera. This doesn’t mean one is better than the other, however. They both have unique stories and songs. 

It's interesting to see how opera has blossomed from its conception and how it still remains a form of art and entertainment to this day. The video showed many examples of impactful operas that helped pave the way to what we know as opera today. Although opera may not be too interesting to me, I now have a newfound respect for the art form.

Madama Butterfly

The Madama Butterfly animation was interesting to me. I haven’t seen a lot of work done in stop-motion, so I’m glad to have more exposure to it. I know that the animation process takes a while. Even to get a few seconds of animation, many frames are needed to be drawn and colored. But in stop-motion, the animator has to delicately move each part of the model to achieve their goal. And timing it with music can be even more difficult! To me, all the hard work put into this animation really shows. One example is the scene where the lady stands on the seaside as the clouds pass, and the setting turns from day to night. Not only is the lady’s hair moving, but the clouds and the sky also change. It all flows very smoothly.

Another thing I found interesting about the film was the symbolism. The most prominent one is the butterfly, which appears once at the beginning of the film, once as the man is leaving, and lastly at the end. I think it represents stages of her life. Once when her relationship has just begun, once as she has to let him go, and the last one at the end, giving it a sense of finality. However, at the end, the butterfly lands on the hair of another lady just like at the beginning, so it may also represent rebirth, as the final butterfly was also made from the protagonist’s clothing near the end.

An image from the short film

Raul Cuero's Creativity Interview

I enjoyed the video on Raul Cuero because his story is inspiring. He was born poor, and his upbringing helped him develop strong resilience and morals. He strove to work hard in school to make sure that he would have a good future and not end up poor again. He also wanted to do well in school because in America, racial stereotypes were very much against him. Despite this negative influence, he took it as constructive criticism and took to improving his own self. He became a microbiologist, inventor, and author.

He says that creativity stems from nature, and with the rise of technology, we are turning away from natural influence, and therefore people are being less creative. I disagree, because people can be creative in different ways. The rise of technology has led to an advent of all kinds of new ways to be creative, like in digital art, game development, video editing, and more. These new mediums can allow for all kinds of people to have access to the tools they need to be creative. I understand where he's coming from, however. Nature is a wonderful source of inspiration and power. It's a shame that most people don't see the value of it outside of economic use. But I digress, as that's a whole different topic to begin with...