Hello blogosphere!

I feel like I should introduce myself, since you’ll be hearing from me once a week for the rest of the year.  I’m Aislinn Frantz (kind of like the lion, if you say it really fast), I’m a senior, and I’m a BTA (Bachlor in Theatre Arts).  I’m concentrating in dramaturgy (I’m sure I’ll devote a blog post to trying to define that field), playwriting, and new play development.  I think that’s all you need to know for now.

Being a theatre student is different than many other fields, because there is always something new beginning.  As we finish up fall break, which more or less marks the middle of the semester, my semester is getting a breath of fresh air.  This is the time that many students begin to get bored or frustrated, but tomorrow will be one of the more exciting days of my semester: a first rehearsal.

I will be 2nd assistant stage managing the University Productions mainstage show The Beaux’ Stratagem.  The show goes up in mid-December, and tomorrow will be the first day that we all get together and read the script.  First rehearsals are always exciting for me.  It’s a little bit like the first day of school.  You’re not sure exactly what to expect.  It usually consists of some paperwork for the actors, a design presentation, and a read-through of the script, but there are no givens when it comes to first rehearsals.

Each first rehearsal is different.  Why?  Because each cast is different.  Each crew is different.  Each director is different. Each show is different. And that is why those of us who choose to spend our lives in theatre love it so much.  Each show is a new experience.  There are a few things I know about this process going in, but the rest of it I will learn as I go along.  The give and take of theatre is the best part.  The way that everyone involved works together influences how rehearsals will run.  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the word collaboration since I’ve been at this university.  There’s a good reason for that.
I, like many of my colleagues, am a very independent person.  I hate group projects, I was never very good at team sports, and I am a writer, which means much of my work is done in solitary, in front of a computer screen.  However, I am also an incredibly social person, and there is a dependency at work there.  I depend on my friends, and I like being able to depend on other members of a production team.  I thrive on the input of other people.  Theatre is so interactive.  It isn’t like a group project where everyone has ideas to further their own means.  Everyone is working together for the same goal, and when the overall vision is executed well by everyone, the results are stunning.  Each job is done alone, but the real fun comes when everything is put together.  Theatre is a creative art.  We are creating something.  For Beaux’ Stratagem, tomorrow will be the beginning of this creation.  And I can’t wait.

With my Undergrad degree coming to a close in the next two weeks, mixed with moving away from Ann Arbor in a little over a month, I am left feeling like there are not enough minutes in the day to do all that I want.  Therefore, I have compiled a list of things I am going to miss about the beautiful place called Ann Arbor.

1.     Porch parties in the sun on any given day of the week and at any time of the day.

2.     Walking to a movie theater.

3.     Living with my best friends.

4.     Living in a liminal space.

5.     Getting lectured about art.

6.     Watching people interact in a college setting.

7.     Sleeping in on the weekdays.

8.     Going out on the weekdays.

9.     Running into your friends on the street.

10.  Not relying on a car and having the freedom to walk everywhere.

11.  My porch swing.

12.  Getting free food.

13. Writing my weekly Arts Ink Blog.

14. Being surrounded by people who are making the Michigan Difference.

I bleed Maize and Blue through and through.  Go Blue!

Deceptively simple, Windosill presents a little wood block car that travels from room to room (or window to window). Its journey from its storage shelf through a series of surreal, interactive scenes transforms this puzzle into a work of art.

I have said before, and I will say again: The well-crafted flash game is a rare sight. Not to say that most of them are bad, but most of them exploit the same concepts and the same methods again and again and again. Windosill is not necessarily a game in the specific sense of the word-  there is no point system. You are given no instructions and there are no rules (save the game world’s own physical constraints, its own laws of physics). The objective is conceptually simple but neither linear nor clear-cut.

The beauty of this game is its ability to sit unobtrusively there- some objects are interactive, others are not. Some of them relate to finding the key to the next stage; others are there for mere amusement. It’s quite possible to play through the puzzle a dozen times and still find new features. There is meticulous attention to detail. The illustration is smooth and simple, the subjects of the illustrations odd and unexpected. Both the animation and sound effects are highly realistic. Every oddslot object seems tactile and tangible. Materials have texture and yield and just the right amount of resistance. A review sums this up quite nicely:

[The artist] offers a world where everything is magical, where you can discover the rules from scratch, like a child. The laws of physics are more or less familiar, but everything else is new. You play with Windosill and it plays back, sharing its secrets in baby steps, never cheating, never even betraying the presence of puzzles or goals. It feels like before you arrived, all these geometric plants and bird heads and giant moons were just sitting there lonely, blue, waiting for a playmate.

Where other flash game developers may be choosing quantity and marketability over quality and innovation, creator Patrick Smith seems to have thrown both convention and preconceived ideas to the wind and fashioned something refreshing, intriguing, and delightfully simple instead. The last half of the game requires a purchase (which I have not yet done, but intend to do), but even the available levels are rewarding on their own.

One of the amazing things about the world of Harry Potter is that no matter how many times you read the books or surf the web for HP related content, there’s always something new to discover. My HP “discovery” of the week is J.K. Rowling’s website, and although it is neither new nor obscure, it is well worth checking out if, like me, you’ve never found your way there before.

Rowling’s website is unique in that it isn’t just a tool for spitting out a montage of boring facts and dates, but in true “Dumbledorean” fashion, is a multi-layered puzzle that must be worked through and solved to access the whole of its content. Of course, most of the site is very straight-forward, but the puzzles unlock extra features, usually in the form of copies of handwritten early drafts and drawings from the HP series, which are fascinating to look at.

If the task of solving a series of puzzles sounds daunting, but you would like to see the extra content, this forum is extremely helpful. It has instructions for solving each of the puzzles.  Another fun aspect of the site, which also includes a series of puzzles (via Time Turner), is the Room of Requirement. Helpful information for solving this series of puzzles can be found here.

Click this link to apparate to J.K. Rowling’s website.  Happy puzzling or browsing, whichever you prefer.

I know I am a bit late in the game, but I watched Black Swan tonight and it turned out to be a great way to spend an hour and forty-five minutes.  The movie is a piece of artwork.  From the first scene to the last, my eyes were glued to the screen.  The camera angles, the ubiquitous use of the mirror, and the lighting gave the movie a dramatic and hypnotizing effect.  The cinematography is incredible.

The color palate is mute because the movie circles around images of black and white.  What happens by continual scenes of black and white is that the play of the light is extremely important and extremely visible.  The director is not concerned with directing color in his images, but controlling light, which juxtaposes shading, brightness, and haziness from one scene to the next, dramatizing the bipolar distinction between black and white.

Black Swan is broken down into formal elements in order to cast the correct mood and energy in each scene.  The director and cinematographer paid close attention to angles, line, form and movement.  The scenes are always shifting quickly from one angle to the next, consuming the viewer with different perspectives.  These different perspectives opens up the world into the black swan white swan dichotomy, shifting so quickly from one point of view to the next leaving the viewer uncertain of who’s who.  Line, form and movement play equal parts and are seen most heavily in the dancing by the ballerinas.  The dancers are moving eloquently and we as the viewers see their forms as linear gestures through space.  Their bodies are graceful and flowing, almost like a brush on a canvas.  This movie actually reminds me a lot of Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm.

Pollock’s painting is a world of tangled lines and movements that look chaotic, yet there is something about these movements collectively that make the canvas appear as one solid entity.  The cinematography is shown in this light because it takes from so many different angles and shows layer upon layer of images in the mirrors, yet through this bustle and noise the viewer still sees the soft motions and beauty through the grotesque.

Oftentimes, a long exposure (or slow shutter speed) is unintentional (it’s too dark, so your camera keeps the shutter open longer to compensate) and undesired (results in blurring, too much light, blurring, graininess, blurring). But you can use it to your advantage. Most cameras have a mode you can control shutter speed in, usually marked S or Tv. Don’t worry about anything else; the camera’ll take care of most of it. It’s quite straightforward: 1/200 is 1/200 of a second, for instance. 2 is two seconds. We’ll want something closer to the latter, but it all depends on the situation, and even then experimentation is the way to go.

Keep in mind that you will not want your camera to move, at all. Set it on a wall, in a tripod, on a box, suspend it from a banister if you must (though this is not recommended). Let’s proceed.

1) Traffic

It’s all about moving points of light blending all into one continuous stream. This works best at night, around twilight, any time of low light. Point your camera at the street, preferably not directly from the side/perpendicular to the traffic flow. We want to see headlights and taillights. Looking down at a busy overpass or road from above, if you can get it, may prove even more interesting. And there you are, a smooth river of red and/or white light, full of glow but strangely absent of car.

2) In Broad Daylight

Smoothen out running water, blur a passing train or bustling crowd. It’s often more interesting if there’s a still subject somewhere in there, something or someone who does not move while everything else swirls all around. Panning is another option. Track the dog or the cyclist or the child across your frame of view. You are ideally somewhere off to the side of their line of movement, because you don’t want to worry about focusing on something far away and then close up. It would also help to not be barreled over. The subject will end up mostly clear while the background blurs away into abstract streaks. Trial and error is the key.

3) Snow

Snow or sand is strangely reflectively bright at night, even without help of moon or streetlamp. Alternatively, try exposing moon-lit landscapes. It’s dim, but if you leave the shutter open for long enough a sufficient amount of light will get in there eventually. Again, avoid jostling the camera.

4) Stars

You’ve probably seen startrails at one point or another. It features a graceful arc of stars sweeping across the sky. This involves leaving your shutter open for longer periods of time, like minutes or hours. Sometimes your camera’ll allow it, other other times not. If Bulb (shutter stays open until you tell it it’s done) is an option, this may be the time to experiment with it. Find dark areas with open sky and little light pollution, as even the smallest amount of light (from the lamp two streets down) might register and potentially blot out the dimmer stars. You will probably want a tripod. And a clear night.

5) Lightpainting

Find a dark place. A room will suffice. Set your camera down and get in front of it (employ self-timer or a friend). Bring out the penlights and LEDs and the string lights from last Christmas. Pretty much anything will work, as long as it doesn’t give off too much light. Try different colors. Wave it around, draw pictures, plot out and follow precise diagrams (some people build extensive rigs with which to swing about their lights- it’s an art and a science). Do not fear trial and error; it is your friend.

And that’s all for this week on Fun Things to Do With Your Camera.