Week Three - Linearity and Nonlinearity

Working with a Max MSP patch created by Professor Steve Daniels I projected film clips first in linear narrative order and then randomly to create nonlinear results. I enjoyed the exercise. I found that examples I watched in class that were based on visual montage, i.e., a series of shots without dialogue and with no cutting within scenes would play out as a montage without a narrative both in linear and nonlinear modes, there wasn't a big difference. The narrative shifts were more evident in clips that used dialogue and had cuts within the clips. I enjoyed the sample I played with for this reason. I used four clips from a video I like called "Shoes" and the story intent at the start of the video shifted with the random order to become more wonky than it had been in the intended order. Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCF3ywukQYA

I will dedicate more time to the topic of narrative linearity in a post on the topic in the next few days. I got a little behind because today is my birthday and I've discovered that at my age it takes two days to prepare to turn a year older :0)

I will also write a post about archive aesthetics and notions of telepresence art. I want to dedicate a bit of extra time to each of these explorations and will catch up in the next few days. I find time going quickly and information overload piling up. Is there a new media sortware for sorting out time to extend the day -- to give us more time, say roughly five hours.....

I am also about to enter second life. My first question is why go there? I have created an avatar named Gia Parx and hopefully she will lead me to the answer.