I have been to some museums like MOMA and Metropolitan in ­New York. I saw Da Vinci’s Starry Night and Moni’s Water Lily. Although the museums are so big, I could easily find these paintings because almost every visitor would go to see them. What I needed to do was to find the most crowded place. I was the one of the crowds that took pictures and felt so lucky to see the famous paintings. However, do we pay so much attention to the masterpieces that ignore the public art outside the building? Before doing this week’s research and reading, I have never really looked at a public art. What is public art? In my opinion, public art should open to everyone, which means we can see it in an opening place like street, park and shopping mall.  It also needs to represent a civic or local culture and history.

According to Doss, he uses Jack Becker’s definition that “Public art is artwork in the public realm regardless of whether it is situated on public or private property, or whether it is acquired through public or private funding” (2). Public art can be any diverse art platforms like a sculpture, mural, painting, carving or photograph. “Public art is a ‘multifaceted’ culture arena that is ‘open to artists of all strips, without predetermined rules or a mutually agreed upon critical language” (2). Public art relates to American’s culture and history. It is a way to represent mass culture and society. As Doss says, “Today, public art diversity speaks to America’s diversity – and to the increasing number of Americans who want to see their cultural interests represented in the public sphere” (2).

For this week’s research, I learnt more about Oregon’s local culture through visiting the murals in Knight Library. I noticed the two murals two years ago when I went upstairs. But, I only had a glimpse of them and thought of “Wow, they are so big!” I didn’t know their meanings and the painters. By looking at the website, I knew that Albert and Arthur Runquist borthers painted two murals in the 1930s as part of the Work Progress Administration Art Project. The two murals are Development of Arts and Development of Sciences. The arts mural uses tree as a symbol of universal human aspiration to create things of beauty. Each panel shows a time period such as Earliest Primitive Period, Greek Period or Medieval Period. The sciences mural also uses tree to represent humanity rising to erect posture of thinking being. It shows humans and their life situations from Stone Age to Modern Period. From the murals, the audiences can get a visual sense of the arts and sciences progress in out history.

In Doss article, he also mentions the importance of placemaking. He indicates that “Public art’s visibility relates to its functional utility. Since the 1970s, Miwon Kwon explains, public art has been charged with generating ‘place-bound identity’ and lending a sense of distinction and authenticity to the nations ever more homogenous public space” (5). Based on the website of the murals, the Knight Library, where the murals are located, was designed by Ellis F. Lawrence. His design of Knight Library was Art Deco with “modernized Lombardy and Greco-Roman” elements. Public art was assed to the design.

Doss, E. (2006, October). Public art controversy: Cultural expression and civic debate. Retrieved from http://www.americansforthearts.org/pdf/networks/pan/doss_controversy.pdf

10 Words:

Sunshine

Sky

Watercolor

Flower

Eye

Coffee

Creative

Typography

Pencil

Music

Two weeks ago, I took part in an advertising major students program, which called “NYC Trip 2014”, in School of Journalism and Communication. We visited different advertising agencies and museums in New York. What I saw in the top ad agencies reflected the topic “Art, Technology & Game” of this week.

After reading Jones’ article, I agree with him that today’s daily life is affected by computing, even heavily affected by computing. In the “Recent and Contemporary Computer Graphics” section, he mentions, “Practical and professional communities of advertising, entertainment, publishing, telecommunications, business, finance, education, and medicine have joined the academic, scientific and artistic communities in using this medium” (26). Computer graphics has changed the ways of communicating and interpreting new media. When I was in New York, I went to several digital advertising agencies such as StrawberryFrog and ROKKAN. Most of their works are produced and presented in a digital way. They also make print and television ads, but digital channels has became the most important direction for these newly born adverting agencies. As Jones’ says, “Computer graphics in advertising and entertainment rely heavily on the appeal of technical special effects made possible by earlier scientific/technical development” (27).  Here is a great example of a digital advertising agency, which is Second Story in Portland that focuses on creating new interactive experiences.

In the article “Deeply Seeing”, the author talks about the importance of seeing. When we see the subject, the meaning is coming up in our mind at the same time. He says, “Seeing determines every aesthetic decision” (72). First, artists see the subject that inspires them to create new things. Second, they scan the subject, then “dissecting the relationships of part to part balanced within the forms, appreciating the rhythm of its structure”. Furthermore, the author talks about his adaptation of the scientists finding of creative process. The creative process includes formulation, saturation, incubation, inspiration, translation and integration. In my opinion, I don’t think seeing determines every aesthetic decision. Artists can get inspiration beyond seeing. They can hear, touch and taste. Many ways would inspire people to create such as sound, music and smell. For the creative process that the author introduces in the article, I agree with him, but it is also a little complicated for me. This kind of creative process is very logic and strict. Also, the author says, “Not all artists will recognize each phase in their work, and each phase takes its own time, widely varying from work to work” (76). Everyone has his or her own way to create things. I think some artists might just have two or three stages of the creative process that is mentioned in the article. When I took my creative strategist class, I drew a map of my creative process. My creative process only has four stages. I wote, “I am seeing what is going on in the world” – “Then I use my DSLR to record what I am seeing. The images are like puzzles” – “When I close my eyes, all of the images become a mess picture. I don’t know what it is, but it’s colorful” – “Images + Key words + Ideas = Story. Telling is the center of my creative process”. Finally, I complete the puzzles, a beautiful and colorful puzzle.

I remember in the first class of my ENG 109, which is Introduction to Television, my professor asked, “What TV shows/series are you guys watching now?” Almost everyone said, “Walking Dead.” It seems that watching horror TV shows and films has became a popular trend among our generation. Why do we enjoy watching horror films? Does it change the genre structure of Hollywood?

In the article “Why Our Brains Love Horror Movies”, Sharon Begley uses Paranormal Activity 3 as a successful example of horror movies. She also gives some quotes to explain the relations of scary movies and human mind in terms of media psychology. “Horror movies are one of the better ways to get really excited,” says Fischoff. And then she discusses why horror movies are more popular among younger audiences than older people. They find that “a cathartic effect” can offer people emotional release and escape from the reality. Otherwise, Begley indicates that horror films attract people who like predictability and neat ends. Also, horror movies can help young people learn how to manage terror. “Horror films are popular because they speak to the basic human conditions if existential fear, the knowledge that we are all doomed.” Finally, she lists the top 25 favorite films, but horror is not in that list. Horror is less popular than other genres because they “often leave people feeling nervous and unsettled”.

Another article I read is from Hollywood Reporter, which is called “From ‘American Horror Story’ to ‘Walking Dead,” How Horror Took Over Hollywood”. The authors first introduce the makeup trailer of American Horror Story as a hook. And then they mention horror is flourishing film and television, also, they give a brief introduction to the horror films in Hollywood history. They also point out that based on Jason Constrantine, horror film can be cost-effectively produced and is popular with men and women regardless of age and race. The authors discuss some horror TV series such as The Walking Dead, The Following, Dracula and The Exorcist and American Pycho. There’s a long pattern of young audiences flocking to horror movies. Furthermore, the article talks about the budget issue of horror movies. Also, in the past, horror films targeted white younger teenagers, but now, “women and Latinos are fueling the surge”. Then they introduce several examples of the successful horror films since 2002. In addition, the horror genre also grows in the international markets such as the U.K., France, Russia and Latin America. Finally, back to American Horror Story, it is very hard to believe that horror films were laughed out of TV networking meetings. This kind of TV series also reaches international audiences’ eyeballs.

Why do young people like watching horror films? Begley says, “Freud suggested that horror was appealing because it traffics in ‘thoughts and feelings that have been repressed by the ego but which seem vaguely familiar’ as a 2004 paper explained.” That is to say, horror could provide people another different world that they seem vaguely familiar. They might have some feelings and thoughts but they are not real. Also, young teenagers like excitement, and horror films can bring this kind of feeling to stimulate their inner desires and help them release pressure. “Horror movies help young people learn to manage terror,” Begley mentions in her article. That’s true. I’m not a fan of horror films, but sometimes I watch it because I want to get some excitement and different feelings in my life. At the end of the article, the author asks a question, “Why is horror less popular than other genres?” Then Fischoff answers, “Generally, people anticipate feeling entertained and feeling good when they leave a film”, but “they often leave people feeling nervous and unsettled.” However, in the second article that I find from Hollywood Reporter, the authors introduce how horror has been a very popular genre in TV and film industry. In my opinion, I’m not sure if horror would be a “fast food” in young generation’s entertainment world.

Begley, Sharon (2011, October 25). Why Our Brains Love Horror Movies. The Daily Beast. Retrieved May 12, 2014 from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-our-brains-love-horror-movies-fear-catharsis-a-sense-of-doom.html

Marisa Guthrie, Tatiana Siegel (2013, October 9). From ‘American Horror Story’ to ‘Walking Dead’. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 12, 2014 from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/american-horror-story-walking-dead-645007

The non-diegetic sound could be a narrators’ commentary, sound effects and mood music. In the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when the boy kisses the girl (01:38), there is a short music creates a miserable mood. I can hear the sound of wind and thunder. It is non-diegetic sound because the music and the sound of wind and thunder are not from the actual stage. When I heart the sound, I thought something strange and horrible would happen later. I think sometimes the non-diegetic sound implies what will happen next and create a sense of mood to the audience.

Based on the course materials, the diegetic sound is “whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film. In 02:29, there is a little girl singing a song. Her singing is diegetic sound. Because of her singing, the female character is curious about the voice, and she asks, “Do you hear that?” The little girl’s voice is clean but unpredictable. She repeats the lyrics again and again. It sounds weird and horrible. Her singing definitely brings up some questions to the audience. Who is she? What is she singing?

One example of mise en scène is the lighting in the beginning of the episode. When the students sit in the classroom, the light is natural. It indicates that they live in a real world. After the boy kisses the girl, the light turns dark. It creates a strange environment and an anxious feeling. The dark light and the empty classroom show us they are in an unreal world like a dream or an imagination.

“Mirror, mirror! Is this the girl I really want to be? Am I in the right place? ” The mirror in my bathroom is not the magic mirror of the Queen in Snow White. It cannot give me a right answer, so I have to reply the questions by myself.

“Siyang, I think you are at least not ugly.” The “self” in the mirror says. I am satisfied with my appearance that my parents give me and make up by my BB cream, eyes shadow, dress and shoes. Thanks to people’s criterion about beauty, I pay more attention to my eating habit and health, so I have a normal body type. I’m a girl, a Chinese girl, a Chinese girl with big eyes and black straight hair. When I was a little girl, my mom told me, “Beauty is natural.” She doesn’t like making up too much, so I didn’t have any makeups until I was 19.  My parents like clean and simple dressing style. In my mind, my father always wears business causal when he goes to company, and he has never messed up. Their standards of beauty influenced me a lot before I went to school.

In China, students have to wear uniforms from Monday to Friday when they go to school. What really surprised me is that I wore uniforms for 12 years. The time period covers elementary school, middle school and high school. I think people in other countries might not believe all of the students in a high school wear the same uniforms. Before I was 19, which is the year that I came to America, I think I didn’t know how to dress up myself and what kind of body adornment fit my style. We were not allowed to wear personal decorations such as necklace, earrings and bracelet in school. I only wore them when I went out with friends on the weekends or holidays. If I looked through the photos that I took in my high school, I must say, “Oh my god! I looked so stupid. Why did I choose that skirts?” I think the school rules in China prevented our creativity and freedom of perusing beauty. I even did not know my personal style until I went to America.

When I went to America, I started to lean how to dress up and make up. I realized a personal should have his or her style. The way of dressing will represent one’s personality, not every parts of personality, but the first impression is very important. In Eugene, I think most of us like to wear comfortable. I always wear T-shirts and jeans to school. If the weather is nice outside, I will wear skirts or dress. However, it really depends on where I will go and what people I will meet. If I have a presentation or meeting, I must wear business causal. It shows my serious and polite attitude to other people.

Do I have my own criterion of beauty? Yes. But I have to change it according to others’ values because most of the time, my appearance is showing to other people not to myself. For example, if I want to wear high-heel tomorrow, maybe I will give up because it would be weird in university class. “Siyang, you look tired but happy.” It is true. I choose my current life style and role by myself, so I am happy. Although sometime things could be hard for me, I have enough confidence to deal with them. “Siyang, you are not the little girl; you changed a lot. Do you like that?” Half and half. I feel busy and happy at most of the time because I am learning what I am interested in and doing what I want to do. However, when I live alone or have to face some challenges, I will miss my family and miss the past “simple and innocent” little girl. Choosing to study abroad in America and being a new comer, I have to learn how to suffer the problems and get used to others’ judgements. This society forced me to change and adapt. “Siyang, will you still persist in your current choices and style?” Definitely. This is the way I want to live; this is the person I want to be; this is also the way I want to exist in our society.