Backwater Gospel

Here is " The Backwater Gospel" created by Bo Mathorne.

This fantastic 9 minute short speaks of a small town in an arid area of North America in which it's inhabitants are tormented by strict religion and death.

The visuals, the plot, the soundtrack and the atmosphere this piece portrais is incredibly detailed, giving the viewer a constant sense of dread and anxiety.

Here is the production video:

This is an extremely well produced piece. One that is ceratinly worth watching.

Workshop Week 1 Animations

Here are the animations created in the first Workshop Week. I have also included links to the Uni Blog where more explanations are provided.

Pilot Animation from Stefania Rebaudo on Vimeo.

http://srebaudouniblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/httpsvimeo.html

Demolition Animation from Stefania Rebaudo on Vimeo.

http://srebaudouniblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/demolition-animation.html

Particle Spray Animation from Stefania Rebaudo on Vimeo.

http://srebaudouniblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/particle-spray-animation.html

Dense Liquid Animation from Stefania Rebaudo on Vimeo.

http://srebaudouniblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/dense-liquid-animation.html

Propaganda

In this Seminar we were presented with a few propaganda posters and asked how they affected us and our judgement of them and the situation they portraied.

 How does the example from the magazine play on the viewer’s emotions to achieve its effects? Consider both its content and stylistic approach. 

Just by seeing the expression on the man's face, it noticable his concern and seriousness as he tries to respond to his daughter. Family is very important during these post-war times, and this poster depics it in a way that almost blackmails the viewer to take action and support war based establishments.

How does the example provided depict women/men? How is gender used in this example to sell a product? Again, consider both style and content. 

Post-war ideologies where extremely male oriented, and just by reading the slogan, we understand how women where treated and viewed as people that tended to the family and that had very little say in other matters.

Animation Heroes

In this Lecture, it was discussed how animation has affected and is affected by society, science and the economy.

The main themes where:

-Playful Politics: Reflection of social norms, which refferenced cartoons such as Top Cat, Yogi Bear, Tom and Jerry, Marvel's Spiderman and the Magic Roundabout, to explain norms that, although are not written or taugh, seem to be understood; an example could be the difference between good and bad or rich and poor.

-Sofa Satire: Narratives and issues from the events of the time: Series like Family Guy and the Simpsons, that depict everyday life of a working lower middle-class family and how they face different daily obstacles, face them in a comedic way and always get a "happy ending"

-Girl Culture: A vehicle for consumer indoctrination: A short study on not only animated series targeted to children are based on toys and other goods, but also install a very strong sense of gender difference, from the use of coulurs and sounds, to narratives and animation styles.

-Authority: Challenging the status Quo: an observation on how recent works of animation like South Park are challenging the common conventions of everyday life and viewing it in a different prospective.

-Us & Them Branding: Epitome of Emotional Attachment and Consumer Culture: how cartoons have made us attach to a conumer agenda.

How do we think about Gender and Sexual Difference?

Week 7 Lecture Notes

This Lecture examined how gender difference and feminism have influenced politics, art, society and social networks.

The main theme was !W.A.R. (!Women Art Revolution), a feminist film that explores the role of women during the political instabilities in 1960/70 America.

-For over forty years, Director Lynn Hershman Leeson has collected hundreds of hours of interviews with visionary artists, historians, curators and critics who shaped the beliefs and values of the Feminist Art Movement and reveal previously undocumented strategies used to politicize female artists and integrate women into art structures.

!Women Art Revolution elaborates the relationship of the Feminist Art Movement to the 1960s anti-war and civil rights movements and explains how historical events, such as the all-male protest exhibition against the invasion of Cambodia, sparked the first of many feminist actions against major cultural institutions. The film details major developments in women’s art of the 1970s, including the first feminist art education programs, political organizations and protests, alternative art spaces such as the A.I.R. Gallery and Franklin Furnace in New York and the Los Angeles Women’s Building, publications such as Chrysalis and Heresies, and landmark exhibitions, performances, and installations of public art that changed the entire direction of art.

New ways of thinking about the complexities of gender, race, class, and sexuality evolved. The Guerrilla Girls emerged as the conscience of the art world and held academic institutions, galleries, and museums accountable for discrimination practices. Over time, the tenacity and courage of these pioneering women artists resulted in what many historians now feel is the most significant art movement of the late 20th century.- 

The site: http://womenartrevolution.com/

Evolution of Architecture

During the course of my studies I found that Architecture has been a great resource for understanding the vrious hitorical and artistic movements. I began roughly at the start of the IX century, when glass and metal where starting to take center stage in industrial architecture. Then I moved on in chronological order, finally reaching the utopian visions of the practice Archigram. 

Here are a few images that describe the main movements in architecture, starting from Paxton's Crystal Palace, Olbrich's Secession Building, Gaudi` and Victor Horta's works of Art Nouveau, moving on to Adolf Loos's Tzara Mansion and finally an Archigram Poster and the Vimeo clip "Walking City" which describes in detail the evolution of Archigram's styles.

       

                   
                   Walking City from Universal Everything on Vimeo.