Final Post

Describe the ways that your final project reflects your goals as a Mormon Artist. What has the collaborative process has taught you about your own need for growth in the BYU film program?

My final project reflects my goals as a Mormon Artist in many ways, the post important of which being that the subject of my final project is someone who not only believes in being Christlike and living the Gospel fully, but who actually is Christlike and lives the Gospel fully. I feel like through this project, my fellow students will be able to learn from Maddy and see that they can also do something to help humanity, even in a small way. Not everyone has to do as much as she does, but everyone can do much more than they think they can. I hope that will be an important message people take home. As a Mormon artist, this is my goal. I want that which I put out into the world to reflect my beliefs and what I feel is truly good and uplifting, albeit often challenging and sorrowful. There would be no need for progress and development otherwise.

We are a bit behind in our group work for this project, however I have still learned things from all the other group projects we have done in the program so far, and I can foresee how the group work in this project will pan out. I have learned a great deal that filmmaking is an entirely group process. I can't do anything on my own in this field. I have very much attempted to keep my projects and work as absolutely simple as possible, to the point where I feel my projects have been completed as assignments and not pieces of art. This is really unfortunate. However, I am quickly realizing that this doesn't have to be the case. Working with other people, sharing ideas, and sharing the work load vastly improves my own ideas and the projects themselves as a whole. As I continue through the program, I hope to develop better teamwork skills and attitudes as I try to make art and not assignments.

Feedback

Describe your goals for eliciting and utilizing feedback on creative projects. What did the reading teach you about the necessity of receiving productive feedback? What did your own experience in class teach you about the necessity of receiving productive feedback? 300-500 words

Receiving and giving out feedback has been a big part of everyone's life this semester, especially in our 185 class. I have had a lot of mixed feelings about it. Brad always wants everyone to participate, but I often feel like I don't want to. It's always the same few people who raise their hands every time, and I always feel like you have to be extra assertive to be able to get a comment in. I also feel like I don't give any good feedback, so I might as well not say anything. I may have criticisms for other people's work, but I usually don't feel like it is my place to tell someone they should change something just because I want them to.

As far as receiving feedback, I often dread it. Sometimes, I really want to hear what other people think, but only if it is something I am proud of. If I am just turning in a project as an assignment I don't really care about, I feel like I don't want to hear anyone's feedback. I also often feel like I already know what they are going to say, because I am already aware of the faults in my work.

HOWEVER, I have recently decided that I am going to try and revamp my approach to feedback. I like the way we did feedback in 112 with our most recent project because I felt it was actually helpful. Everyone seemed to take it more seriously than they do in 185, and the direct we took was more productive. For me, i think the most important part about giving feedback is that you are giving suggestions for things that can actually be fixed or avoidable, in the form of questions or comments. For example, when pitching an idea for a story, good feedback could include sincere What if? questions, like, What if this happened instead of that? How would that change your ending? etc... This lets the person pitching think about more options than they had maybe thought of already. A helpful comment could be something like Make sure you make it clear that...blah blah blah. This helps the author understand that everything they had planned may not be as clear and cohesive as they had thought.

When I receive this kind of useful feedback, I am genuinely thankful for it, and it really helps me. What doesn't help are comments and suggestions that have obvious solutions, of which I was already aware. For example, You need to color correct that clip so it matches the others! I also don't find feedback super helpful when everything is already done. What's the point of getting feedback for something you can't change?

All things considered, I am going to start having a more positive approach to feedback. I am also going to try and give it more, but I still don't think I could give very good feedback, but I guess you have to start somewhere!

Sense of the Sacred

Marilynne Robinson's article about reclaiming a sense of the sacred was interesting, although difficult for me to read. She wrote very poetically, and at the same time, very technically. It was also really long. However, I was left with much to think about.


In Robinson's words, "If we think we have done this voiding of content for the sake of other people, those to whom we suspect God may have given a somewhat lesser brilliance than our own, we are presumptuous and also irreverent". For Robinson, trying to avoid ideological content for the sake of not offending others, we may as well not do anything at all. Why create something meaningful, when you can't even put the meaning into that you feel? I agree with her on this. I believe that if you are going to write something, say an article like hers, which is filled with your own opinions and strong beliefs, why leave out that which is most controversial? While it may offend some, that is not the purpose. The purpose is to share your opinions, whatever they may be. In fact, I think it would be of utmost importance to mention the controversial, because it demonstrates that your argument has been approached, educatedly, through both sides. But in the end, people will either agree with you, or they won't. It's not up to you who will side with you and who won't, so don't worry about trying to please everyone, because you won't be able to.

Conversely, it is important to not be offensive. While I believe there may always be at least one person out there who will take offense, it is important to not try to be offensive. Don't speak or write in ways that set out to bring others beliefs down, and don't try to discredit other people's ideologies. Instead, focus your argument on what you believe about your own beliefs and why you believe the way you do. When mentioning others religions and paradigms, be respectful. Don't act like you know everything about what they believe and what they stand for, because you don't know.

Above all, we should encourage interaction which demonstrates that we are adults who can stand to be in peaceful disagreement with others. After having accepted that not everyone will see eye to eye with us, we must realize that they have just as much right to their opinions as we do to ours, no matter how disagreeable their opinions may be. Positive interactions, tolerance, and love for our fellow men should be what prevail. I would encourage not being so quick to argue, and to engage in demeaning behavior of any kind. No matter the opposition received, it is important to be the bigger man. Do not stoop to the level of bringing others down, even if it is what they do to you.

The Meet Your Farmers films are a good example of respectful interaction. While I am sure there are plenty of negative things going on behind the scenes with regards to their farming, the videos portray the farmers in a positive light, and depict them as the hard working people they are. I'm sure they all have their faults, but I'm also sure that the inclusion of such slander would not only be ineffective, but would also be inappropriate and would lead to digression rather than progress. In my opinion, the sacred lies in positive progression. To consecrate ourselves, we must first uplift, respect, inspire, and love everyone, no matter how much they displease us.

Mormon Artist

What are our unique challenges and opportunities as Mormon artists? Where can we find compelling stories of light?

I think these are some really difficult questions. I believe that being an artist of any kind presents unique challenges and opportunities based upon one's situation. There is a difference I think, between being a Mormon artist and an artist who is Mormon, depending on how you want to look at it. To be an artist who happens to be Mormon may do different work than a "Mormon artist"... While a Mormon artist doesn't have to limit their artistic work to paintings of Christ and the pioneers, I think their art should allow for the Spirit, whatever it is they are creating. One really cool thing about following the strict morals of the church is that we as members of the Church as somewhat forced to learn to express ourselves abstractly. My best friend goes to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. So much of the art I've seen by her classmates is in many cases very explicitly sexual. In my opinion, it is distasteful. I believe that it requires more skill and insight to depict these natural and universal sexual emotions in ways that are more subtle and inoffensive.

On the other hand, it is my honest opinion, no matter how blasphemous, that I have felt the Spirit 100x stronger during certain R or PG-13 movies than I ever have in Sunday School. However, it is important to remember to look at these films as individuals and not just by their rating. An average Mormon may avoid such ratings, however I believe that as members of the church, we should look beyond what we are presented with and attempt to find the good in everything (within reason). There is no reason a beautiful, compelling, and thought provoking movie cannot be a story of light just because it wasn't made by Disney. The same goes for many other types of art. I think that it goes unsaid that painting for example, depicting the unclothed human form is not inherently bad because it is a blatant display of nudity. Instead, I believe art in any form can be a tremendous way for us to grow in our testimonies. Instead of approaching naked bodies as purely taboo because of sexual implications, we should marvel at the beauty, complexity, and Godliness of the human form. We can find stories of light anywhere we look. I think it can be especially good to step outside our comfort zones. While i think members of the Church tend to want to stay pure and sheltered, I think it is important to experience what life really is like. For example, I heard a story about a Bishop who loved the book Madame Bovary because it taught him so much about adultery and other such misfortunes in life. It made it so that when members of the ward would come to talk to him, he was better prepared and informed and better able to help them through their problems. Art works in ways that help us experience things we would never want to actually experience in real life. We can still take home the lessons learned through others' mistakes without actually having to make the mistakes ourselves. We become more empathetic, loving, and understanding of others the more we involve the arts in our lives. Anything can become a story of light if we are open to learning and progression.

My Mormon Artist Mom

Mormon Artist from McKenna Nobbs on Vimeo.

I interviewed my mom, Melissa Nobbs as a Mormon artist. While she is not a specific type of artist, i.e. painter, sculpter, etc... she explores many different types of creativity, and is very talented.

What are your project’s strengths and weaknesses as a podcast?

Technically speaking, this podcast is nothing to be proud of. The sound quality isn't very good, due to technical difficulties we had while recording, and the editing could be much better. Because I have grown up with my mother, everything she was saying made perfect sense to me, and I knew what she was talking about. The problem with this is that not everyone has the privilege of knowing my mother, and what she means when she says things. That being said, I am afraid that the podcast is too vague, although I feel it would not be too difficult to understand. I think my mother is an interesting subject, as guests on radio shows should be. For some reason, she is speaking really slowly, which cracks me up because she usually speaks really really quickly. All in all, I think that this is a successful podcast, even if it is not perfect.

What did you learn about yourself as an artist while creating this assignment?

It was interesting for me to think about how being a member of the Church usually means being resourceful and thrifty because we are taught to save our money and to not waste. My mo is a great example of how it can be easy and fun to make old things new again. I also liked how she talked about our need to be creative as one of our most Godlike qualities. This is a testimony builder for me to think that the creative we all possess it directly correlated with our divine potential. To think of myself as an artist is a stretch, but I hope that as I progress and develop more, I will be able to say that my being Mormon has positively affected my art. In today's world, art has become pornographic in many ways. As a member of the church I think it makes it more of a challenge to create art with heavy and adult themed messages. However, it is not impossible. Learning how to convey those tough themes in a way that is not vulgar or grotesque becomes a demonstration of being able to work around challenges, which ultimately, in my opinion, makes the art more impressive and valuable.

What does it mean to you to be a Mormon artist?

To be, being a Mormon artist is as simple as being a member of the church who values and expresses his/her creativity. I don't believe you have to be a world-class painter to be an artist, but to be a Mormon artist, I think it is important to approach your art in a way that coincides with the doctrine of the Church. However, you can be Mormon, and an artist, but not have the Church affect your art. But that wouldn't be a Mormon artist, that would be an artist, who happens to be Mormon...

Islamic Art

What is your general response to the exhibit as a whole? What is foreign about this kind of art? What is familiar?

I really love Islamic art. I studied Islamic culture and history quite a bit in high school, and I have always thought it to be very beautiful and fascinating. This exhibit held up to everything I expected. Everything was very beautiful, and of course, very precise and immaculate. I loved being able to see the deep and meaningful expressions of spirituality in the art. As far as being foreign is concerned, I think that there is obviously a huge difference between Islamic art and Western art, but there are more ways than one to interpret the word foreign. While the style and form may be somewhat different, the messages are the same. The archetypal nature of art, and in this case, religious art, is very profound, and is something that binds people across the world throughout history.

How is Islamic faith represented through this artwork? How is this different from how Christian faith is (often) represented through art?

I think that in traditional Christian art, there is a huge focus on the depiction of people, such as Jesus and the saints. Traditionally, a large part of the Christian view on art was that humans are inferior to the Divine, and thus, art should not attempt to replicate the divine nature of God. While the Christians took that thought and interpreted it to mean their art should demonstrate man's inferiority, the Muslim people decided to keep their art beautiful, but to remove any image of the human form, whether divine or mortal. I really like this sentiment in many ways, all though I do not agree that it would be sinful to ever replicate human form through art. Regardless, I find Islamic art to be very beautiful, and it amazes me to think of its complexity. I also admire their use of mathematics to form their artwork, and I admire their creative ways of expressing spirituality in art without depicting the human form.

What, if anything, do you learn about your own creative tendencies by examining this exhibit? In what ways can you be inspired by the work of these various artists?

As aforementioned, I really like the way Islamic art works around obstructions. While Christian art takes a more literal approach to depicting the divine (i.e. by simply painting Christ as a person, etc...) Islamic art portrays God through the abstract. Instead of just painting God, they paint these geometric forms which symbolize and prove God's omnipotence and power. One of my favorite movies is called The Five Obstructions, and the point of this documentary was that one director, Lars von Trier, got another director, Jorgen Leth, to remake Leth's short film The Perfect Human, 5 different times, each time with 5 different creative obstructions. Working around the obstructions forced Leth to come up with some really creative and powerful ways to carry our his ideas. With my own creative approach, I am learning to see obstacles and limitations as ways to better express and challenge my creativity. Often I think, the end result is much more effective and impressive because of the limitations. This is the same way I feel about Islamic art. It is all so beautiful and spiritually powerful, but all in different ways than the traditional methods of religious art.

Greenpeace for Greenland?

Greenland is a country which has been deeply harmed by organizations meant to do good, namely Greenpeace. Greenpeace aims to protect the Earth and the animals, while at least in the case of Greenland, it seems they have forgotten human welfare.
In Greenland, 1 out of 4 people commit suicide. There are many reasons why this occurs, but perhaps the most substantial reason is that traditional Greenlandic culture is almost extinct. Hunting is or was the center of the Greenlandic Inuit culture. Everything in their society revolved around the hunting of whales and seals. Taboos and laws against this began when Danish explorers discovered and colonized Greenland, and the West moved in. Today, the Greenlandic people have almost completely lost their culture, but are still very far from fitting in with European paradigms. They are in between cultures: their ancient traditions, and the modern European world. The problems which ensue include a very poor education system, severe alcoholism, widespread child abuse, and the highest suicide rate in the world.
The question may be raised as to what Greenpeace and other such organizations have to do with this crisis. The rise of these social issues: alcoholism, suicide, etc... correspond directly with the involvement of said organizations. When Greenpeace moves in with movements to ”Save The Whales and Polar Bears”, and who push international laws meant to end global warming, they neglect to remember the Greenlandic people who have subsided on hunting whales for thousands of years. Because some young activists jumped behind a blind cause, the entire way of life for the native Inuit population is falling apart. While Greenpeace meant to do good, it seems their efforts to save the world by saving the lives of icebergs and seals are really just causing the deaths of thousands of human beings.

30 One-Second Film

30 One-Second Film from McKenna Nobbs on Vimeo.

by McKenna Nobbs and Whitney Taylor. We decided to base our film around the theme of transit and motion in daily life.

Photo Essay

The idea of "community" is somewhat ambiguous in my opinion. I think that it is difficult to pinpoint the specific reasons a community is the way it is. I suppose that it really comes down to the individual. For this reason, I find the home to be perhaps the most important and compelling part of the community. Being in college means that we are all (most of us) away from home and attempting to recreate that sense of home we lack in our cheap and non-personal student housing. This school year, I moved into a house with a handful of my friends, and it has been really awesome. There is a whole different atmosphere and sense of community when living in a house. Apartment living lends itself to an entirely different community lifestyle. Everyone in your complex kind of melts into one big group, and everyone is always moving out, and new people are always moving in. In a house, there is a more permanent feeling. Depending on your landlady/lord, you can generally get more freedom and a longer leash. You aren't ever bothered by your upstairs neighbors or by the constant house-guests who so easily and often bombard apartments. When you live in a house, your community stops being people who live on top of, beside, under, and all around you. Instead, your roommates become your community. Your house becomes your personal playground of expression and individualism. For my photo essay, I have taken a few pictures which embody the feel and personality of our home.

One of the pictures is a portrait of my roommate Kate, done by her ex boyfriend. We affectionately call the painting "Bald Kate", because he painted your usual normal-head-of-haired self completely bald. It's creepy. And we like it.

Another picture is of a big domed-glass portrait of a baby. We tell everyone who comes over that it is president Uchdorf. They almost always believe us. I don't know why they are so gullible, but we really get a kick out of Baby Dieter.

There is also a picture of the outside of our house. Because our family room has two huge windows, everyone can see everything we are doing from the inside. I think this is an interesting way to be a part of the community. In one way, it includes us in the community by putting us in the spectacle. On the other hand, I think it separates us. Like we are our own thing, and we can look out and see the rest of the world and distance ourselves from it. When taking the pictures, I chose not to clean anything up. I wanted to give everyone an accurate and genuine representation of our home. So I'm not proud of the mess, but I am proud to call this place home. I feel happy, comfortable, and involved here. This house is my community, and I love it.

Noah's Ark Social Media- Way Cool

Watch these videos! They will inspire a life of humanitarianism!

This video was made by a group of local filmmakers who work together under the name of The Good Line. I know one of the guys, and have met another of them (who actually graduated from the BYU TMA program). I really, really like their work for many reasons. Not only is everything very professionally done, with beautiful visuals and editing, but their films are also so focused on powerfully storytelling, they can't go wrong. Basically all of their work is focused around promoting the efforts non-profit organizations worldwide. Their aim is to create beautiful and inspirational documentary shorts for the web. I really like this for many reasons, one of which is the way their films can so easily be accessed. Anyone in the world can go to their website or Vimeo, etc... and watch these documentaries. This also is a huge benefit for the organizations they do work for. Watching a two or three minute video which explains everything the organization is doing is much more effective than just posting up posters around town and in magazines that don't really say was the organization does. With the video however, the viewer gets a visual, as well as an explanation and they also get time to develop and emotional bond with the subject matter.

This video in particular is about providing impoverished farmers with the resources to generate their own sustainable income. They not only provide these people with the the tools and seeds they need, but they also give them training, so that they have the skills needed in order to be successful farmers. I think that organizations like these are among the most effective because they target the individual, and teach the individual how they can learn to be self-reliant and sustainable, and thus become an invaluable asset to the community.

This video is in my opinion a very effective way in explaining the organization and their aims, as well as showing the positive repercussions of their efforts. Good Line's amazing storytelling and filmmaking abilities are so effective here because the viewer can really feel their passion and love for the people they are trying to help through these promotional videos. I would encourage everyone to check out their other videos on their site, to see some of the other work they have done. These artists are out in the world promoting great causes through filmmaking, which I assume is a goal we as film students all share.

Komaza- An overview from Good Line on Vimeo.

Björk Talks About Her TV

I found this video a few years ago while looking up videos about Björk with some friends. We really like her. I think that this video is really awesome for many reasons. Firstly, I firmly believe that Björk is one of the most interesting people or our time. Unlike most celebrities these days, Björk actually has a personality, but it's not a personality she shares with anyone else. One of her greatest qualities is her unique and in many ways childlike view of the world. I think that this video in particular really showcases just how interesting her world view is. Anyone else it seems, who would look at something as everyday as a television, would not think twice about it. Björk on the other hand decides to not only dismantle the TV, but also to allow herself the capacity to think beyond the literal and logical basics of a TV. 

While the stories that Björk is saying are about her imaginative take on televisions, I think that the real story is just getting this little glimpse into her life. Like the exposition of any traditional story, this video in some ways acts as an introduction to Björk as a character. To someone who knows nothing about her, this video would be a great way to introduce them to the image Björk has made for herself. 

While storytelling can occur under just about any medium, the video aspect of this story is especially effective. The person experiencing this story is thus not only able to hear the wonderful things that Björk is saying, but they are also able to see her, and see the things she is describing. Part of Björk¨s persona is her striking and unique appearance, and I think it is interesting for the viewer to experience Björk in her own home, a much more personal and intimate setting than seeing her on stage.  

This story is both interesting and important because the viewer is able to get such a good grasp on Björk¨s image and to an extent, understand her as a person. I would even go as a far as to say that this video is so ultra-typical of Björk, that it represents everything we as the public understand and believe about this unique and interesting character. I wish we could all embody her sense of exploration and wonder! Think how much more exciting life would be!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75WFTHpOw8Y