Fireside Chat

Narration:

Idaho and Utah have often been referred to as places of little diversity.  I was raised mostly in Preston Idaho where the most diverse person you would find is Uncle Rico.  I would get a firm scolding if I ever wanted to play rap music in the weight room and I could count the number of African Americans at my high school on less than one finger.  We were nervous about that which was different. 

In church, we were reminded of our eternal identity as brothers, sisters, and children of God yet it was hard to connect as a brother or sister with someone who we only saw on TV.  With my travellings outside of my small valley, I have had to adapt quickly to differences.  I was a missionary in Italy seeing people from around the world and having no idea how to connect with them.  

The gospel brought us together but before that we had to meet each other in a pleasant manner.  I soon found that “morning to ya.” Would not suffice as a proper morning salutation.  I had to figure out how to connect with all these people in some other way.

At night, I would awkward dance with my companions as part of our nightly wind-down ritual.  No matter which companion I had and no matter his background, they always knew what dancing was and that people often do it to express joy.  I had found my connecting point; joy.

No matter where the person was from, what color they were, what religion they professed, or whether or not they brushed their teeth, didn’t matter because they were all still human and man are that they might have joy. 

When I saw this movie by Matt Harding dancing with people around the world, I was reminded of the time I learned a Quechua tribal dance from my Ecuadorian companion and the baptism dance my companion from Las Vegas and I choreographed to express our joy of Rossella Musolino acknowledging her identity as a daughter of God. 

Dance has been the turning point for me to connect with that which is different.  But, moreso, it has been the impetus of my growing recollection and belief that we are all brothers, sisters, and children of almighty God.

ARTIST STATEMENT

From the first day that I heard about the fireside chat, I was excited for it to arrive.   I felt that it was a prime moment to be able to culminate all our experiences in art and life into a message that could benefit those we labor amongst.  I was excited because, like K. Newell Dayley says, “..,the arts enable us to communicate important realities that can be shared in no other way.” 

I knew right away that I would want to involve an artistic talent of mine, dance, in some way and I thought of a few life lessons that I thought would be particularly poignant to our artistic film audience (ie: put relationships before busy work, or be conscious of the label on your back and be an example at all times).  I have never tried to choreograph a dance that tells a story other than love and flirting (ballroom) so I was treading in uncommon territory. 

Still in uncertainty of how I would pull it all together, I found inspiration from the wonderful NPR program, “This I Believe” which was linked for inspiration on the class blog.  I saw one that said dance in the title so I went right to it and started listening to the podcast.  Then I saw links to some of the man’s YouTube videos of dancing so I watched them while listening to his podcast essay.  It was a sudden inspiration of the power of narration during a video and I decided I would do the same for my presentation.  Furthermore, I was inspired by his words on the unity of dance and it remind me of personal experiences where I felt the same way (as is mentioned in the narration above) and I decided to use one of his videos as an example to help the audience visually see what I saw in other when I realized the shared characteristic of joy through dance that all humans have.  

I concluded that I would also need to show my dancing abilities to show how I am part of the human family too and that dancing brings me joy.  It was a way of me adding my witness to my acknowledgement as a son of God and of my belief that we are all his sons and daughters at the end of it all.  Dance is the way we let that identity shine through.

Concerned Citizen

Artist Statement

I was fortunate to show up in Provo to find the man in the video as my roommate.  It amazed me how great of a guy her is and how busy he always was.  I wasn't your normal busy of chasing girls and watching football games though, he is the vice president of a few clubs on campus (Neurology, Kennedy Center Study Abroad to name a few), he volunteers at the hospital weekly, hosts multi-cultural dinners for friends and others non-United Statesians he meets to join in.  It really blew my mind how much he did.  Then a couple semesters after living together and him having backpacked around South America for 6 months, he decided to start a non-profit organization.

As our piece indicates, Taylor Ottesen helps young people in India pay for education in order to further their careers and thereby help them to provide for their families and escape the clutches of extreme poverty and hardship.  The biggest reason we wanted to feature Taylor is that he is a college-aged young adult that figured out a way to help other people on the other side of the world after one simple act of kindness.  Because most of us don't have the money necessary to travel to India to have a similar experience, we wanted to show that experience to other people to hopefully motivate them to look for ways to be more concerned citizens, not necessarily with Taylor's foundation KVM, but even in their own communities.

Reflecting on the videos we saw in class, we wanted to show parts of these destitute Indian villages to help those that view this video get an idea of what these people's lives are like.  We show harsh conditions, but we also show smiling people.  Taylor showed us many photos of himself with the natives who look happy and content, even amid hardship.  While the video about porch-sitting didn't show neighborhoods quite as destitute as these, it does reflect a similar sense of community.  Just like the people featured in that video, Taylor has helped people and accomplished much, even though it may not seem like much to a citizen of the United States looking from the outside in.

While considering our reading from the last week and the differences between Storyland and Dataland, we feel like what Taylor is doing is combining the two ideas to make considerable contributions to a community.  Not only do we consider the Storyland aspect of the satisfaction of helping people and inspiring others to action by getting a glimpse into their lives, but we also get an idea of a Dataland aspect of his plan because he lets us know exactly how much we can help and how little we have to do to do it.  His story motivates and inspires us, makes us want to believe that even small acts of charity can help people, and he gives us a concrete and physical plan to do it.

Protest Poster

Artist Statement

Supreme Court Justice, Dallin H. Oaks, in February of 1992 gave a discourse on how the constitution of the United States is divinely inspired.  It is a base of organization, order, and balance which with time, is added to or adjusted with new revelation as are the scriptures.  This is an idea that is not initially common throughout most of America, however.   Whether one believes it is inspired or not, there always seems to be a reverence for its greatness nonetheless.  Even so that a politician would never straightly say that he is against it and when governing, he is always held in check by it.  New laws and old laws are constantly contrasted with the writings of the constitution and, if not congruent, are dismissed without further opinion sharing of man.  Likewise, many can argue that holy scriptures play a similar role in the life of the religious individual and family. 

Now, outside of the pattern of the two inspired texts being displayed as guides and bounds for government and its constituents, there is another demonstration of how church IS state in this poster as well, which is actually the greater part of the issue I wish to engage.  It is that of the juxtaposition in the images of the government and the family.  Many articles have been written about the family unit being basic unit of government.  An English writer, Charles Caleb Colton in fact states, “The family is the most basic unit of government.  As the first community to which a person is attached and the first authority under which a person learns to live, the family establishes society’s most basic values.”  Likewise, in an blog essay by Dr. Clark Jensen he further addresses that “no matter what the teacher does, no matter what the school system does, no matter what the state and federal government, if the family is weak, the child will struggle to a much greater degree than if the family support system is solid” showing that the family unit, in the end, has a greater effect on the nation than a couple politicians do.  Should the definition of America be placed in the few politicians that represent it or the millions of families that comprise its populace?  Now, considering that most of those families are God-fearing, is there really separation of church and state.

This poster ends up being a display that 1-God is guiding America through the inspired texts upon which it is based 2-No ruling will necessarily rule out that America has actual separation of church and state and 3-families should realize their potential still be God fearing though it may be against the words of a small number of government officials.

Webspinna Reflection

The webspinna was a lot more difficult than imagined it was going to be.  I am one who beat boxes and can loop noises to music like nobody's business so I thought that this would be a piece of cake.  What surprised me though was the need to find only clips that related to my character and then to make sure they had the right volume to be played simultaneously one with another.

Josh and I wanted to choose a subject that would be very easy to represent and thus we chose the blatant enemies of light and dark.  At the time it sounded like it was going to be a piece of cake but then once I started looking for sounds, all of the preconceived sounds in my mind ended up seeming like they would go better with dark then with light.  I first began to look at figures of truth and wisdom from Gandalf, Yoda, and Dumbledore.  They only had some lame quotes and I wanted my clips to each be clearly about doing good or making right choices rather than just having any phrase by the person and because it was said by that person of light, it was fine.  Quickly, Morgan Freeman also popped into my mind and I remembered a song by B.O.B. that was a narration of Morgan Freeman in it in which he talks about the war between light and darkness and if it will ever be one.  I was very excited for this epic piece of audible joy but then realized it could go with both of our topics so I talked with Josh and we said we would use it as our intro piece.  He then shared a song by Fall Out Boy with me that spoke mostly of darkness and so he wanted to use it but then the chorus spoke of light.  We talked and figured that we could play the different parts of the song one after another and I would be "fighting him with his own medicine."  We thought we were pretty clever.

Now that we had a little direction of where to go with our clips, it was battle time. I found difficulty in adjusting the volume of YouTube videos while live and they would be too loud for my other sounds to be heard in the mix.  That would have been nice to consider and practice beforehand but Josh and I were super busy and had no time to consult and practice before the show.  However, with the few things we had already planned out (as explained above) we fashioned our performance to not always be in contrast with one another or and ambiguous but to have some structure like the introduction and the matching songs.  We didn't want to be like the readings from DJ Spooky and be hard to follow and ambiguous.  I feel this more organized and relevant approach is more like how a real battle would go down in real life.  I don't think if someone came at you with a sword, you would fend him off with football (just an example of non-matching ambiguous battle techniques that we tried to avoid using).

All in all, I enjoyed the experience of the webspinna but wished there could have been more performance to match the hype of the event.  Maybe if we could have pre-organized our sounds and then had a dance battle to our pre-made song, it would have been more engaging for the audience.

Webspinna Battle - LIGHT vs. Dark

Sounds

3 Flights up

child laugh

morgan freeman light vs dark

shine the light EFY

angel chorus

independence day

yoda sound board

halleujah chorus

lite ‘em up

killer time

let there be light

I saw the light

World Building

"What if we were all wizards?", the fact that wizardry has already been popularly covered in recent years due to the success of the Harry Potter series, we really wanted to put our own spin on it. In Harry Potter the world was divided between muggles (non-wizards) and wizards, this would become the defining difference in our world, we are "all wizards". So there is separation, magic thus would be the norm in such a world. We looked at it historically first, this is when we realized that if everyone were a wizard and had access to magic, the need for technological advancement would be null and void. Who needs a car or airplane when one can simply fly, walk through walls and in theory teleport. In reality a magical world would seem to not  need to advance their architectures or anything. When thinking about this we realized that this would also likely have an effect on style, aka fashion.



So the traditionalist would probably look something like Gandalf or Arwen from the Lord of the Rings, having lived thousands of years they know what they like, (kinda like our grandparents). However the younger generation would want to have their own styles as well, to kind of set themselves apart.

Though they would still opt for the traditional hat and cape, they definitely would streamline them for comfort, such as these hip tights. On top of that, similar to the smartphone wielders of our world these young wizards would opt for a sleek portable solution aka wands, as opposed to the archaic staffs carried by the aged wizards of old.

We also asked ourselves what kind of social issues would the wizards face. We discussed some of the social issues we face in our world, one that's on the tip of everyones tongue is gun control. What if the 'Ministry of Magic' were to try and restrict wands as a measure to keep people safe? Then the people would need a protector so we unanimously agreed that the "NWA" (National Wand Association) would need to be formed to protect 'the right to bear wands'.

Like any good world sports must exist, otherwise what would the wizard men do on Sunday nights? So we discussed some entertainment opportunities, and came to the conclusion that everyone loves watching bull riders get thrown. So we decided in a wizard world we would up the anty a little. Imagine if being thrown included the risk of being burnt to a crisp and eaten...yeah I bet you would watch that. Thus Professional Dragon Riding came to be.

Obviously no entertainment medium would be complete with out some ad-placement to help break up the action. You would see ads like this...

We couldn't imagine a world without Denny's so we left it in. This ad also shows something about the type of food that exists in this world of wizards. With everyone assuming more magic through study and practice, some are more magical than others. some such masters of magic have begun to make healthy substitutes for desserts, etc. It is also a means by which to make child wizards 'eat their veggies.'

In the reading it talked about swapping fact and fiction. This was very helpful for us because we already know what a real world looks like, we simply swapped things that are familiar to us make this imaginary world seem like a realistic option for wizards everywhere. 

We were inspired by fantasy stories such as The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Final Fantasy, Eragon the NRA and Denny's.

Textual Poaching

My Covenant Obsession by Brandon Ostler

Artist Statement

Above is a remixed painting by Jan Van Eyck (1434).  The original is titled “Arnolfini Wedding.”  Today, many people hire photographers to take engagement photos or to document the wedding.  Take the official wedding photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton released by the Clarence House for example.  They may not be the most telling of photos about their relationship but it is a symbol of their covenant and a memento to look back to.  This is a similar concept carried out hundreds of years ago, in the “Arnolfini Wedding,” being a symbol of their commitment and the aspects relating to that commitment which I will explain as we go on. 

I identity with this painting for one specific reason.  As I thought about the characteristic of myself that I would like to have portrayed in the media and hence remembered by is my commitment to family and the betterment of families.  It is really only the one thing I can say I am really passionate about.  I have played college football, am on the BYU Ballroom Dance Company, broadcast live sports, am a published poet, a certified foodhandler, and a filmmaker, all of these are just things that I just enjoy doing but am not obsessed with any one of them.  Through my observations and studies though, I have seen that this world is a mess and it is such because of failure in the home.  Real talk.  I am not yet married, but I am a Family Life Minor and am trying to prepare to raise my family the best way possible.  In order to do so, I must find a career path.  I figure though, that if I am going to be spending so much time each day on something to provide for my family, I might as well help other families with that time.  This is where film making comes in, as it has the potential to inspire and show fathers, mothers, and children alike, how to make their lives better.  Anyways, I could talk about the importance of family all day and in the end it would conclude with a focus on understanding and reverencing the marriage covenant and your expectations therein, a lesson which, through symbols, is taught in the “Arnolfini Wedding.” 

Not only is the painting a reminder of the covenant that day but there are many symbols in the painting that show us what that covenant is.  First, you will find two pairs of shoes on the ground, a random dog, a mirror in the background, a signature on the wall under the mirror, oranges, an elaborate chandelier with only one candle burning, a hand broom, and significant body language being shown in the hands.  The shoes show that this covenant is being made on holy ground.  Her hand is submissive to the husband and the husbands to the officiator.  These have great significance and ties with Adam and Eve.  The mirror shows the reflection of two persons in the doorway which are witnesses.  Around the mirror are little snapshots from the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ. The signature on the wall is proof of the marriage witnessed by Van Eyck.  The oranges show fertility; the broom, domestic work.   The dog symbolizes loyalty and the chandelier with one candle is directly over top the couple symbolizing God and a concept that is taught in the Mormondom of the triangle between God and the couple that is getting married because all are part of the covenant.  It is amazing what truths were known during that time.  This whole paragraph shows the symbols that I also believe should be ever present to remind us of the importance of marriage.  This is why I put my face in the picture; like Marcel Duchamp’s “L.H.O.O.Q” making a famous interpreted painting my own.  I want to show my desire to be that man making the covenants and showing that I will accept all of these symbols.  I have a childish look on my face though because I am still extremely single and not yet to that point of marriage yet.

Now, this leaves us to determine if this representation of marriage and family that I got form Jan Van Eyck is also what the rest of media is showing about these things.  I come back to the pictures of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  I find that they are beautiful pictures but they are mainly done just out of tradition and for a memory of that special day.  As with most portrayals of marriage in the media today, it fails to remind us of the specifics of the covenants made that day.  With lavish parties and gift giving, it just adds to the confusion of why people get married; becoming a mere tradition and a step in life that honorable people should take.  This representation in the media makes it hard for me to be who I am showing I am in the Van Eyck remix.  People look at me strangely or chuckle when I tell them about my passions for strengthening marriage and family or tell them about something I learned from a marriage class.  There should definitely be more art made to show the why of everyday archetypal processes like marriage.  Maybe continuously seeing these symbols of the why will help change our perspectives that media has skewed.