Evolution of Horror

I would say that I am very familiar with the Horror genre after years and years of watching Horror movies. I've notice that techniques that directors use. The father of Horror, Alfred Hitchcock produced the famous Psycho that shocked all audience during the 60s. He killed off the main character Marion. In cinematography, Hitchcock uses cut and editing to direct the audience to what he want that audience to look at. He also utilizes shadows of black and white films. Now many contemporary directors like to use the frame of screen to produce an effect scare. They would do a close up of the actor’s face only to reveal the monster or the ghost. I can guarantee that 8 out of 10 movies have scenes where the camera is close up to the girl’s face while she slowly turns around in a haunted ally. Sound play a crucial role, too. The dramatic and loud sounds that accompany the appearance of the monster successfully allow the audience to feel the tension that the actors convey. In one of the scene of James Wan’s SAW, a girl is seen with a contraption in her face. The camera soon made 360 turns with several jump cut of different angles around the girl as she struggle to get out meanwhile music loud music plays. This shot made the audience more tensed without spending much money. In a more recent movie Insidious, again directed by James Wan, he use cut and editing in a different way. EH would do a medium shot of the ghost and cut to the same shot but with a sinister face of ghost. It’s subtle and last only for a second or two but nevertheless it affectively scared the audience. There are many ways to use the basics of cinematography to change the feeling that affect the audience. From the cut and editing that Hitchcock uses and the cut and editing that Wan uses produce very different effects to audience.

Giving Headlines

1. Giving Headlines have a more traditional  and yet different type of design. The play utilize the role of the audience to their storytelling. The idea behind Giving Headlines is a news report. The audience is watching satire of news reports. It talks about many of the contemporary social problems and pokes fun of it, giving a lighthearted and comedic atmosphere. This makes it more similar to the play Turns. In contrast to Fragments which is very tense and deals with darker themes. At one point in Giving Headlines broke the 4th wall. The characters in the play asked some of the audience to sign a form. The structure of the play is quite simple. The whole stage have a desk and Katherine Gorham, who's dressed in formal attire, sat behind the desk. The arrangement and costume convey to the audience that we are watching a report. The audience also get to witness the behind the scenes of the "news report" and watch the employees interact with each other. There is a transition of scene, in every change of reports we see that the character brings and takes the props along with them. The only character that remains consistently is Katherine, who plays as the anchor. Of the two plays I saw, Turns & Fragments and Giving Headlines. I prefer Turns & Fragments because it is very unique. I have never experience to be part of the play as an audience. Watching the play was an emotional roller coaster. I went from laughing and having fun a subway to scared and distressed in a dark room, which represented someone's minds. It also make me think how the public underestimated mental disorders. Most people only sympathize with people who are experiencing inner turmoil, yet the play allows the audience to give a different perspective of how it's like to live the disorder socially and mentally.

Turns & Fragments

1. There were two parts to the performance. The first performance, Turns, begins with a old women entering a subway. She greets the people around her and starts to make conversations. She talks about the shoes brand Nike because many majority of the audience is wearing Nike. In the middle, a guy holding a guitar enters and starts playing music. The old lady become energized and starts dancing with some of the audiences. As she starts to become fatigued, the music also became softer and slower. She tells audience all the years she spent taking the train and different types of people she observed. The play ended when got off the train. The second part, Fragments, begins with a man reading off a paper titled "Screen Test for Dissociative Identity Disorder. Soon another actor, played by Tiar Jamoor, starts talking. She describe the voices in her head. She went from talking to yelling. Then we see that she acknowledge and becomes the voices for couple of seconds. All the lights in the room were turn off and performers wore white mask and holding cell phones to their faces. We heard noises of several different people talking in the background while the performers walk around.

2. Both Turns & Fragments have a completely different storytelling style than the play As You Like It. The relationship between the audience and the performers are 2 dimensional and separate. Like most plays, As You Like It have an imaginary wall in between the audience and world of the play. Occasionally, a character talks directly to the audience, breaking the 4th wall. While in Turns & Fragments the audience and the performers are interactive. It was almost as if there is no imaginary wall between the audience and the world of the play. The audience takes on a character in the play. In Turns, the audience is the people of the subway. The old lady walks and dances amongst the audience and talks directly to the audience, asking "How are you today?" In Fragments, the audience became more subjective. The first half, the audience watch how a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder behave. The second half, we journey into the mind of that person. Feeling what she is feeling. And the performers guided the audience on the journey.

3. The theme for Turns is everyone have their own unique story and observing someone can allow you to understand their story. Play arrange the seats for the audience into that of a subway seats. At first everyone was confused because the spacing of the seat are so small and different. Instead of facing a particular area, the audience faces each other. But when the play begin, sounds cleared up the confusion. We heard the metal track, the wind, and the announcements of the stops. These familiar combinations allow the audience to understand that we are in a subway. Tiar Jamoor play as the old lady. She is dressed with a green shawl over her head and a small bag. When she's energized and dancing, she takes the shawl off. The act of taking the shawl off accompanying the music convey to the audience that she is ready to dance. The important part is the ending because the she explicitly tells audience her thoughts and therefore connecting the theme to entire play. The theme in Fragments is someone with a mental problem is not only a burden to that person's lives but also cause a frightening mind of chaos. The audience walks into a dark room illuminated by several red lights. the seats are also arranged in a way the all seats are scattered and facing in different directions.This set design make the play uncomfortable and unpredictable. On each of the seats is a survey titled "Screening Test for Dissociative Identity Disorder". I glance round and saw some people have their pens out, ready to answer the survey. I was also about to write something but a person stood up and began to read off the paper. The play took off and I realize that the set up allows the performer to utilize the audience individually because we are all separated. The actress effectively convey to the audience her unstable mentality with sudden burst of shouts and drastic change of character. She went from frightened to depressed to flirty to aggressive. When the whole room when pitch black with only the performers with mask illuminated and sounds of voices, the audience understands that we are in her mind and we heard all the voices that she hears. Both plays effectively made the audience feel the tension and atmosphere of the play through lights, sounds, and seating.

Fishing with drones?

Drones have been are really cool. They gained a huge amount of popularity in the last view years. I’ve programmed a Leap Motion Controller to control one, and I’ve worked on controlling one with only brain sensors. Cool stuff.

Drones have a wide array of uses, honestly, I’m most looking forward to 30 minute Amazon deliveries. I just saw another use of drones that blows my minds. Someone rigged fishing line to a drone such that they could bait the hook, fly it out with the drone, drop it directly onto of the undisturbed fish, in this case tuna, and then as soon as a fish went after the bait, the knot on the drone broke, leaving just the main line and the runs for the person waiting all the way back at the beach to real in. This is so creative –– I love everything about this. Using new technology to revise a hobby and sport as old as history. 

Seeing this kind of creativity fuse technology with everyday life is so exciting to see and expands to almost everything. It’s just a showcase of how technology changes our world in ways we would have never expected. 

Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sdUZqOoAq4&feature=youtu.be

Surviving without my laptop

My laptop is my baby. I don’t anywhere without it. Every class and lecture, overtime I got hang out with friends, certainly every vacation and trip. How could I abandon my machine. What if I get a great project idea and have the urge to code for 12 hours straight (yes, that happens). What if I just get really board? My computer is the difference between me being fully engaged, productive and in the zone, and me being completely lost. About a year ago, I went a full day without my laptop. I’d like to say I did this as an experiment, to prove to myself that I could, but if I’m being honest, I left it in my girlfriends car. 

I survived, somehow. I find it fascinating how much we’re all dependent on our machines (admittedly, some more than others).  I spend upwards of 15 hours on my laptop per day, and I know that puts me at the end of the bell curve. But, don’t most people spend at least a couple of hours on their computer, and another number of hours on their phone? And a few on the TV? It all adds up. A few generations ago, this wasn’t true at all. 

While technology is extremely helpful and revolutionary, its important to remember that there is life outside that gorgeous 15” retina display. I’m trying to work on this. 

Thinner, thinner, thinner and thinner tech

Every generation of iPhone gets thinner. Every generation of laptops get’s thinner. Every generation of iPad gets thinner. This is pretty amazing. What Apple’s engineers do to improve performance while also reducing the form factor blows my mind. That said, I think it’s gotten to the point where Apple needs to refocus. 

The iPhone 7 is rumored to be getting rid of the audio jack. I think this is a terrible idea. This would be done so that the phone can be made thinner and so that apple can stuff more tech into the form factor of the phone. I think this compromise is going way too far. The audio cable has been standard for so long, every low to extreme high end piece of headphones depends on it. I’m never going to be in the mood to carry around adapters galore. 

I’m also really hoping that the next generation of MacBook Pro’s don’t get any thinner. They are already extremely thin and light. I have no trouble carrying around my laptop everywhere I go. If Apple compromise on a proper cooling system, quite frankly I will be extremely upset. Why should I pay top dollar for high end components that thermal throttle under extremely normal use? Please Apple, realize what “Pro” means and upgrade the hardware and the cooling. Don’t compromise on performance. 

What the internet did to music

I’m usually very quick to praise the internet and everything that it brings to humanity; whether it be access to information, greatly improved communication, improved computer interaction, etc. However, one area the internet has hurt in a way is music. 

With services like Napster, Pandora, and to a lesser extent, ITunes and Spotify, people in general have moved away from concept albums and toward single songs and shuffled playlists. For a lot of instances, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, a lot of artists carefully craft their albums so that they are listened all at once in order as once piece. This greatly improves the listening experience. However, because the general population like shuffled playlists, artists in general have moved away from that approach, and I think that is a shame because my favorite music are definitely albums. A lot of people also just don’t know that that is how music is intended to be listened to most of the timed. I sincerely hope no one has done them selves the disservice of listening to a Pink Floyd album shuffled. *Gasp, the horror.*

That said, the internet in general I think has also expanded the use of music and it’s popularity. So I suppose it’s not all bad.