Media and Communication Week One

Improvements in media and technology have drastically changed communication. Victor Köhler's PressPausePlay addresses how democratized culture effects art. Singer songwriter, Moby believes that advances in technology have made art a little less special; "50 years ago, people didn’t make things. People would go to photography exhibitions. They would go to record fairs. They would watch movies. Now everyone is a photographer. Everyone is a musician. Anyone can make a film"(presspauseplay). Making art so easy has made it less impressive as well, now that everyone can be an artist the real artists are being swallowed by the mass of bad art.  Andrew Keen also shares this opinion, "A young Hitchcock or a young Scorsese wouldn’t make it into the movie business today. They’d slap up their film onto YouTube and it would get lost in the ocean of garbage" (presspauseplay). The British entrepreneur and author believes that this generation is obsessed with themselves, that everyone thinks they're great at what they do but really they are poorly making art to drown out the real artists. On the opposite side, the mind blowing advances in technology is beautiful. The progress that has been made recently is too amazing to be judged so harshly. Another view displayed in the film is that this progress is a good thing, "The human spirit when it is allowed to express itself, will usually make interesting things. When humans make stuff, they tend to make interesting things. Give a human a hammer and a piece of wood, or a computer and broadband and they are going to make something interesting" (presspauseplay). The human race is amazing on it's own but with technology making preserving thoughts, ideas, and adventures makes the memory last forever. There are pros and cons to each advancement, and each will be equally disputed but overall progress is amazing. 

Editing and layout drastically impacts the feel of a piece. In Jason Silvia's video "Existential Bummer" his message is strongly conveyed through the moving narration accompanied by interesting images. He opens the video with a quotation from Sigmund Freud's essay "On Transience" which is said while beautiful images of nature play in the background, as he switches to talk about love the images change to match the topic. "And I was really struck by this, because perhaps that’s why, when we’re in love, we’re also kind of sad. There’s a sadness to the ecstasy. Beautiful things sometimes can make us a little sad. And it’s because what they hint at is the exception, a vision of something more, a vision of a hidden door, a rabbit hole to fall through, but a temporary one. And I think, ultimately, that is kind of the tragedy. That is why love simultaneously fills us with melancholy" (Jason Silvia). The video changes to a very relatable matter and the images help the viewer to remember how they felt while they were in love. As he continues on this topic the images help the audience to feel the words he is  saying instead of just hear them. As he says "That’s why sometimes I feel nostalgic over something I haven’t lost yet, because I see its transience" (Jason Silvia) the viewer watches a heavenlike clip of a man and a woman, and a golden retriever. This clip leads the audience to feel as if they were looking through old memories; while it is sad because that moment is gone it is also beautiful to look back at how things used to be. The things being said up to this point have made the video feel relatively sad, but he changes the pace as he talks about what we are supposed to do knowing everything will end. The music picks up a bit and the pictures match what is being said. "I think that we defy entropy and impermanence with our films and our poems. I think we hold onto each other a little harder and say, “I will not let go. I do not accept the ephemeral nature of this moment. I’m going to extend it forever. Or at least I’m going to try” (Jason Silvia). This makes the viewer believe they have a little more control over their fate; they are not destined to be wrecked by the transience of life they can make a promise to keep holding on. This video is very moving because of the images, music, and words. The piece came together perfectly and encourages the viewer to watch it repeatedly.