.:: The Power of YouTube ::.

The utilization of YouTube by our incoming president in a weekly official format demonstrates its power clearly. While YouTube has been widely praised for its ability to catapult just about anyone to temporary stardom I think that its utilization by the government is a true testament to its power.



P.S. Koyannisqatsi Kicks Ass. Philip Glass is brilliant in his composition. Perhaps comparing him to Mandy Moore creates a clear gap in musical prowess... I just personally find him to be on the preferential side of said gap. ;-)

Koyannisqatsi

I thought this film was amazing. Whereas many classmates commented that they thought the sections were too long and also very drawn out I felt the opposite. I didn't want the video to end! I especially liked the time lapse video of the clouds. I was shocked by how much the clouds took on the form of flowing water. The effect of time lapse on something like cloud movement imbues it with a surreal quality.

I also found Philip Glass's work in the composition to be very powerful. The whole concept of composing the music first and then making the video match the score is great! Taking a backwards approach to traditional methods has the rare potential to create something new and of unmatched quality, in my opinion Koyannisqatsi is one of those rare moments.

-Danny Mulvihill

Koyaanisqatsi

I had mixed feelings about this film. I have some friends who are quite into this series of films, but I'm not sure if it really does anything for me. For one, I don't really like Philip Glass. His minimalist composing sounds a bit cheesy and not-so-atmospheric to me. I'd rather listen to Burzum or Ildjarn, or other minimalist ambient sans the cheesy effects....

Second, the video itself sort of put me to sleep. During the first viewing session I didn't get it---meaning there seemed to be no point to this collection of video for me. What helped cast light on the story being told was the viewing of chapters on the second day. That little bit of word-based narration helped me to grasp the story much better. Either that, or the images shown during the second day were much more compelling---meaning much more disturbing.

To conclude, I recognize the significance of these series of movies; in fact, I can see their influence in video art all around me. The basic ideas expressed herein are quite interesting---a story told completely in images.

-Bryce VanHoosen-

Koyaanisqatsi

In reading most of the blog entries, I guess I'm a little different than some in that I thouroughly enjoyed this film.  So much so that I went home the night after we watched the first half in class and watched the rest online with my roommate who showed me some clips from Baraka, another Ron Fricke film that is very similar to Koyaanisqatsi.  With some help from IMDb and Wikipedia (yeah thats right) I learned that the imploding building sequence (which was one of my favorite scenes) was done near St. Louis.  It was a housing project called Pruitt-Igoe built in 1951.  The filming was done during it's demolition only 25 years later, which occured due to high crime rates, poverty, and issues with segregation (the projects were racially divided).

"The high-profile failure of Pruitt-Igoe has become an emblematic icon often evoked by by all sides in public housing policy debate..."

That's a quote from Wikipedia (again, yeah...i know...).  But regardless of my sources, I think the immense scale of the failure of this project - its demolition only 25 years after being built, the negative effects it had those who lived there, the fact that it did little to help anyone - and the fact that humans were (and ARE) able to build/cause such things says a lot. So this is certainly an important part of this film.  And to play off of what Matthew talked about below, this scene has strong visual correlations to other scenes in the movie aside from what I just mentioned.  To me, the buildings somewhat resembled the huge rock walls and canyons seen early on the film.  Obviously the common theme here is that no matter what it is or how natural or man-made it may be, we have the ability to destroy it.  

Of course this opens up an entirely new debate: are we destroying or creating?  Well I'm sure no one is reading this by now, so I won't get in to it.  This is just a part of the film I thought to be very interesting and meaningful.  But then again, the whole thing was great.

This film was seriously amazing and inspiring to me.  it portrayed exactly the issues that we need to be looking at today and in a way that plainly and directly illustrates the effects we have on our planet and ourselves as a species.  Pretty crazy stuff.  And far, far more exciting than Al Gore standing in front of a giant Powerpoint presentation.

Look for Samsara, due out in 2009.  Another one from Fricke, filmed in the Middle East this time, supposedly will have a lot of time-lapse and be based on the same concept as the previous films.

Koyaanisqatsi

I thought that the film was an interesting and captivating experience that I am glad to have been exposed to. However, I believe that this film is one that I would not be able to, nor would I have any desire of seeing it again. It's delivery and impact are both good and placed me in an almost dreamlike state as I watched, this is what saved it from being boring although multiple viewings would no doubt lose this effect. The most interesting thing about the film for me is that it allowed me to make a realization about the way that I view mankind. I am in a constant state of flux, constantly wavering between being disgusted by humanity, and being in love with it. During the scenes that showed the environmental impact that our species has had on the planet is sickening, and yet seeing the awe inspiring mass production of products and the monumental structures that we have built makes me proud of our accomplishments. This conflict makes me wonder, what would happen if we turned our ability for industry and massive projects towards the restoration of the earth?

Life out of Balance

After reading the last couple of blog entries it seems that a general consesus would be that of boredome and dislike to the movie. I guess I'll come right out and say it, I loved this movie. Although the beginning was a little slow, it was not boring and was infact crucial to the movie. Right away the viewer is forced to make a decision. Either that you realize something is happening and you want to find out, or you give up and say it's boring and stupid. The key here is that you have to want to see, enjoy, and understand this film. For those who don't like it, it's their loss. This movie is speaking to all of us. We are the masses that build, consume, alter, and destroy. For those who say that they "feel sorry and confused" for those of us who like it, I challenge you to step out of your self involved world and look at what's around you and what your a part of. This movie was brilliantly executed with a score that made a huge impact. I also realized how people can look at things so differently. Where I see art others see crap. While watching I was disgusted with what we've done to the Earth, but the truth hurts. We can't just turn a blind eye, and ignore it. I'm really surprised that everything just hasn't collapsed or imploded. To me, the light at the end of the tunnel is that even though things are ten times worse then what we saw in the movie, society has become aware of it and we are attempting to do something. It's all about making a major change in our way of living. Ironically everybody is inundated every day with thousands of sounds, and images that are bland. People however don't form an opinion until they are faced with these images in the film. I loved this movie so much that I am doing my final paper on it, and have already received a copy of it via Netflix, and yes I've watched it again. In a way, this is a moving painting that shows the beauty and horror of mankind and Earth.

Is this movie art? Absolutely. Remember, art is an idea. This is a powerful idea that speaks to all of us. Everyone looks at art different, and unfortunately many failed to see the beauty and power of this film.

Shawn Kepfer

Koyaanisqatsi

The film in all honesty was a little boring at first, but as the film went on it got more interesting. I can really understand why the music industry uses this type of filming in some of there music videos. I think that that way of filming can be used for so many different uses to reach out to people. The first part of this film shows some awesome scenery. They were absolutely beautiful to see.




by Sarah Richards

Koyaanisqatsi

I thought this movie was absolutely horrible and was I bored to death while watching it. Nature is beautiful in its own way and doesn't need to have every millisecond analyzed. Many parts of the film made my very nauseated and annoyed. While watching this video, it made me really question art. This video did a great job of degrading our world by showing every little detail. I made the shocking discovery that at the end of the film, the name Koyaanisqatsi was being sung throughout the movie. Thankfully, I didn't realize this tell the end or hearing this over and over again would have been too much to handle. Its true that some people really enjoyed this film. I feel sorry yet confused for these people. This isn't art and provided a huge waste of time in my opinion.My question for the class is: Where do we draw the line of what actual art is?

Chad Miltenberger

Koyaanisqatsi

I can see how this film could be considered important to the art world and I can appreciate as a piece of art, however it is not something that I will ever watch or have the desire to watch again. Not only were some of the sequences deathly boring, but others gave me a headache or made me nauseous. I understand that it is an important and influential piece that has impacted the art world, and I can appreciate how it was made, but I think its one of the worst films I've ever had to sit through. Thankfully it was broken up into two sittings, I don't think I could have survived watching it all at once. 

-Jessica Stockton

Koyaanisqatsi

Oh Koyaanisqatsi, where to begin? This movie is put together artistically, I will say that much. Koyaanisqatsi obviously had a message but I think some people get it and some people don't. I unfortunately do not get the vision and this movie hurt my head many times. The first half was torture, the music made it hard for me to get involved in the movie. The second half, although the music was still the same, was a tad bit more interesting. Watching people has always been amusing to me and I like how Koyaanisqatsi watched ordinary humans doing everyday things. It wasn't until the end of the movie when I was informed that the name of the movie was being sung. I am glad I didn't catch that until the end because that was the fatal blow for me, I know that I could have not watched the whole movie through knowing the same word was being sung over and over again.

-Laura LaVergne

Koyaanisqatsi

I had never seen the film, Koyaanisqatsi, before this class. To be honest, I didn't enjoy watching it. I understood the message that technology is harmful to the environment and culture, but that doesn't mean that I was attracted to that message. I thought that the nature scenes were too long, but I liked seeing them. They were very calming and seeing the scenes of pollution and factories were very depressing in contrast. I found the music in the film to be the most frustrating and made it difficult to focus despite the long sequences. I also didn't enjoy a lot of the city scenes because they made me dizzy to watch.

The people portion of the film gave me a much different impression. It reminded me of that saying that humans are viruses. It was hard to watch how routine life has become and I could see myself as one of those people walking by on the street or shopping in the mall. I guess I came away from the film feeling negative and depressed about American life and technology, and because those are both things that I take pride in and am interested in, I had a hard time appreciating a completely negative perspective. I would ask the portion of the class that liked the film if they agreed with Koyaanisqatsi's portrayal of technology and American life?