Project 3 Recap

3.1 Reimagined Reality

For my object, I started with a cotton candy-colored bear. I have named her Leab and I decided to let chance take over when I started to take her apart. I wanted to keep the essence of the bear while replacing elements of its body with objects. I took off her ears and replaced them with fake plants that you would find in fish tanks, I placed a beater in her head, I sewed plastic flowers to her feet, and I took the earrings I found in her ears and put one in her forehead as an adornment and one as a nose ring. I also took out her eyes and I replaced them with eyes from a lobster. Chance was a very large part of this activity when I was taking her apart and trading with other people because I never knew what I would get from others. This also relates to the library activities because we did not know what to expect. There was a great amount of chance with the three books that we would each pick, similar to the three objects we had to choose when creating our character. We also had to work with the others in our group when creating the sentences and the short play, similar to working together to create the idea for our video that the characters be imaginary friends and have them be interviewed. The process of creating my character relates to chance because there were no guidelines for creating the object and no one knew what to expect or what the final product would look like.

3.2 Surrealist Short Process

For our video, Lydia, Shannon and I decided that we would have the characters we made be imaginary friends and that we would interview them. We created names and personalities for these characters that would have the freedom to be surreal and not make sense. We asked each imaginary friend the same set of questions in the interview and staggered when each of them talked when we were constructing the video. These included: Tell me about your kid, what is the hardest part of your job, what is most rewarding about what you do, what do you like to do in your free time, do you enjoy being an imaginary friend, and do you like your kid?
We decided to have one imaginary friend, my character Leab, not make any sense when asked the same questions as the other imaginary friends. For her answers, we incorporated the answers that we came up with at the library. This is how we incorporated the surrealism qualities. We also were very aware of surrealism when constructing the video because we structured it in a way that did not make complete sense because it was not linear. We also had a segment for all of the characters of a close up of them saying or doing something that did not make sense with the theme of the interview.
For Betty and Oswald, we created the answers when we were recording because we thought that it would bring another element of chance as well as be more collaborative if we all created the answers together. We also incorporated change because when we were recording we did not know exactly what we were going to say, which made it more entertaining because it was natural. It was a lot of fun coming up with the answers and the personalities of the characters when we were filming because there was complete freedom, there was no right or wrong way for the characters to be. We were all able to have a good time and be playful and trust each other. We also came up with the accents and voices for the characters when we were filming to go along with their personalities.
Parts of the process were scary, mainly in the beginning and when we were figuring out what to do for the video and how we would be able to fill 4-5 minutes. It was also slightly scary in the beginning because we did not know what to expect or how it would turn out. It is also something that we are all very unfamiliar with, so it was a learning experience for us all.

3.3 Surrealist Short Film

3.3 Outcome

For our surrealist video, we created an interview with three imaginary friends and we took the viewer through their lives. The three characters are Leab, Betty and her Body, as well as Oswald. Each have their own unique personality belonging to a different child that fits their personality. To incorporate elements of surrealism, we had one character, Leab, not make any sense when she answered the questions from the interviewer. We also organized the video in a way that was very choppy, similar to a dream where you jump from one thought or one element of a dream to another. Also, throughout the video we added elements from each of the characters that did not make sense with the overall story. We did this to add to the surrealism of the video and have the story not be linear. The three of us incorporated chance into the video by not planning the answers to the set of questions that each of our characters were asked in order to have the ability to feed off of each other and create nonsensical, yet humorous answers. Chance, in a way, was able to lead to surrealism because we were all very open to creativity and anything that could help us make a successful video. Having an open mind about creativity and not going into filming with any expectations allowed all of us to be open to any ideas. Through this I have learned the connection between chance and surrealism because surrealism relies on chance and the artist’s ability to be open to various types of creativity. This can be difficult because chance is unknown, and it is difficult to be open to all creative possibilities, yet I believe that we were all able to trust each other and trust the process that had been set up for us in order to make a successful surrealist video.
Success can be defined in many ways, especially with surrealism, yet for Lydia, Shannon, and I, we were able to be successful because we enjoyed the process of making the video and it communicates to the viewer that we were open to creativity and to the various directions that the video could go in. Our final video incorporates the choppiness and confusion that can occur in dreams, which helped us achieve the surrealist qualities that we were striving for. Also, the environments that the characters were in made sense for their personalities, yet not in general, which replicates the feeling in a dream where an event makes sense when you are dreaming, yet not when you wake up. Another quality of surrealism that we were able to utilize is through the characters, having their bodies not have all of the regular features of their base animal or person. Through the activities that we did in the library and the deconstructing and constructing of our characters, we were able to see how we could incorporate chance and surrealism into the elements in our video.