Vietnam and Montagnard

During the later weeks of the DMA class, I embarked on a project, to craft a short documentary about Thomas Eban (A Montagnard who fought with Americans during the Vietnam War, eventually moving to the United States). After making a visit to his home with several other students, we asked a series of questions and took a small tour of his property and farm.


The following film is the product and result of the conducted interviews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1trJUhnYDE

Creativity Influence Ownership and Art in the Digital Era

The digital  era is normally described as only a very few things, or categories, such as internet, photographs, email, etc. But in reality is significantly larger, including all digital motion picture equipment, news casts, 3D animation, cell phones, laptops, computers, Ipods and Iphones, digital music files and videos, and much, more.


"New media commentators have frequently taken polar positions, pronouncing computer technologies either as revolutionary and heralding radical new paradigms as the emperors new clothes dressing the same old techniques and models"-Steve Dixon


As more contributions are made to the digital age, we experience several waves of creativity, influenced primarily for others around us. In Cinema, several independent filmmakers have made a living, a very successful one, relying completely off digital technology, and crafted their own unique style. Other, younger, and sometimes even more experienced filmmakers, become influenced by this and attempt to recreate or mimic. Occasionally they even craft their own visual style. 


There often is questions of ownership though. With the advances in digital technology, something can easily be posted on the internet, and then be ripped with in seconds and spread all over the world. Anything posted online is subject to go global and public. There are numerous issues with copy right infringement, and unfair use of others "digital property".


But there are so many positives. Digital technology has given us the ability to spread entertainment, talent, music and movies all over the world. People are able to give each other unique tutorials on "how to do" and what not. People are able to record themselves playing music, singing, or any other talented subject matter and post it to the world (which intern has exposed several unique talented people, launching their careers).


It has become easier for employers to hire (and occasionally decline) interviewees. Resumes, cover letters, digital interviews, letters of recommendation, can all be sent via one email digitally, saving companies a significant amount of money and time.


"But equally, it is acknowledged that in digital performance, the computer is commonly employed as an agent for the remediation of old and established artistic forms and strategies rather than as a means of originating authentically new performance processes and phenomena".

Is DMA Bad For Us?

"Worries about the control of information", "worries about who controls the authority to speak", "worries about the future of secrecy and privacy", "it seems to play such a key role in enabling information to leak, in allowing the authority to speak to become widespread".


As time progresses, and we construct further advances throughout the digital world, the question "Is digital media bad for us?" always tends to surface at some point. What benefits, and more importantly, what negatives are we left with as a result?


After continuous studies, there are major social-political worries,social-interpersonal issues, psychological, cognitive and emotional concerns, and behavioral practical worries.


There is a large fear that as the younger generations become  more dependent on the digital world, that they are loosing contact with the real world. Less and less make actual psychical contact, communicating by means only of texting, phones, digital mail and email, and social networks. Personal confrontations become something of the past, allowing fewer physical emotions and expressions to be transferred. 


Another fear is that of the vast and fast spread of news. With the ability to upload documents, news papers, documentaries, news casts, videos, or anything digital, news  and information, whether its true or not, spreads like wildfire. With in the first few minutes of being uploaded, millions of people view and comment their opinion on the matter. With this in mind, there is always that slight possibility that if something were to be posted wrong, or wrong info was given, that it may intern cause a global widespread panic. 


More and more people also have tended to become more "apathetic", and have a lack  of personality, staying glued to their computer screens, ipods, phones, and laptops all day. Checking the news, watching videos, listening to music,  reading a digital book. Digital technology, in my mind, has really destroyed many great things. its very rare to find someone who can actually sit outside and just listen to nature. Most universities or major businesses that have people sitting outside during the day, most likely have several digital devices with in their presence. Rather than just laying and watching the sky, having an intellectual conversation with a friend or someone new, reading an actual physical book with binding, or just eating casually and listening to nature rather than mp3's, is a very uncommon thing, and has seemingly made us more dependent on the digital things.

Remix Vid.

The future is the past, the present, and yet to come. Years ago, when the filmmakers of this modern era had been born, they looked to our present as the future. It is my opinion  that they took the political and social issues of their era and combined them with themes that they found interesting in order to craft overall films that have culturally impacted us. Rather than just saying that it is of traditional vs. contemporary, or old to new, the video more combines traditional home video footage shot on both super 8mm and 16mm film during the early 1960's, along with the recorded "Rice" speech by Kennedy. Near the end of the video, some major motion picture clips are introduced. The overall theme and subplot of the major films were mainly influenced by that of the social and political issues of the late 50's and 60's. A big topic of course being the moon and space travel. Their was a nation wide obsession with ufo's, aliens, and the moon during that era, which would come to have an overall huge impact on the filmmakers who grew up in that day and age. Their films, all well made, captured the eyes of the nation and managed to inspire many of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE8Ytq66bXE

The Creativity and Influence in a Digital Era

With several advances, the digital age has brought us many new innovative and unique ways of completing work, developing art, and inner connecting, or social networking, with other people around the world. It has benefitted us in so many ways. Such things as being able to access videos, documentaries, audio files, pictures and portraits, and other things incredibly fast. Years ago, this would have never been possible. Yet even with all these technological advances, in my mind, I feel like such advances and changes have also brought somewhat of a demise to creativity and social interaction. It becomes more common now to email, text, and message other individuals in order to come in contact with them. Due to this unfortunate, and although easy, means of communication, we have become much less reliant of personal face to face confrontations, something that used to have quite a bit a stature only years ago. I feel that not enough can be worded with in digital messages to completely express what could be better worded in a personal confrontation. This can even be lengthened to individual art forms. In filmmaking,  there have been multiple advances in technology. The digital era has provided young filmmakers with the opportunity to shoot faster, easier, and cheeper footage with completely digital cameras. Film is no longer required, occasionally less lights, less time is consumed, and fewer people are needed. However I feel this has greatly impacted the industry in a negative way. Any given person can look at an image on a large screen and determine whether or not it had been computer generated or was model work (I appreciate model work, and everything real-in-camera better than anything computerized). Many people can also look at a film and tell over all whether it was shot digitally, or on a film format. With film, filmmakers would spend more time during each setup, making sure everything was perfect, no matter how long it would take, due to limited film stock. With this in mind, after the film was processed, the images that would come back were so beautiful and crisp. But with the use of digital, cameras can be kept rolling. There is no limited film stock, it is limitless. The DP can just dump all of the data and footage onto a hard-drive and keep uploading directly onto a computer. Quite a few people may argue that this is a positive. I disagree in the belief that it is affecting the quality of the overall product, resulting in sloppy work that continually looks more artificial, and less like reality. Film has a unmatchable beauty and quality to it. With all of its imperfections and grain, it offers us such a unique way to watch physically moving images through a projector. Digital does not provide me with that at least.

Overall, as always, digital will have its pros and cons. It provides us with an easier way of doing things. easier methods of mass communication (especially that of the news, and entertainment industry). It assists in making eduction easier to reach. In many ways, it also helps us become more "green", using less valuable recourses.  But you just have to ask one big question: Are you satisfied with the over all quality with the result of what is being produced?

Who Were They Really, During Vietnam?

Long before Vietnam or Cambodia ever became the country they are today, there existed a purely native group people that eventually became known as the Montagnards. Coined by the French nearly hundreds of years ago, the Montagnard means "people of the mountain, or mountain dweller". They lived peacefully and sustained a fully working and structured community, until the French released the rule of the country to the Vietnamese people, making it purely independent. The culture and base of the whole country soon began to crumble, leaving confusion and violence. The Montagnards fled their communities, and hid in the jungle. All during this process, Americans invaded the country and intern began the Vietnam War. During the near 20 year period that both countries were involved, they had to struggle through the harshest of environments. The Montagnards were forced deeper into the brutal Vietnamese jungle. For sometime, the Montagnard Degar people had increasing tensions with the Vietnam majority.Both the Montagnard's political and social views were quite different than how the Vietnamese saw it. In the early 1960's, we began to see contact being made from the Montagnard Degar people and the US. Slowly, they began to be trained by American forces in unconventional war. Soon nearly thousands of Montagnard Degar people began fighting along side American forces, especialy once we began working along the Ho Chi Minh trail. As the end of the war finally came into sight, the Montagnard Degar people fled the country, moving into the United States. It wasn't until 1986, when a large sum of the population began making the long trip. Once in the country, they settled all around, but especially rooted in North Carolina.  Through the mid 1970's, through the late 1980's, several major motion pictures captured what they believed the Vietnam War to have been. Films such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, The Deer Hunter, and Full Metal Jacket were releases over a period of 20 years. All of the motion pictures seemed to have a very similar outlook onto how the natives and locals were treated with in vietnam. Was the relationship between the Montagnard Degar people displayed truthfully in the films, or exaggerated. Did Americans miss treat them, or did we work well together and sustained a good relationship, fighting side by side? 

"There were too many of us, we had access to too much equipment, too much money, and little by little we went insane. My movie is not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam"  - Francis Ford Coppola

The Framing of Society

Framing to me has become a more personal matter. A structure constructed strait from the interiors of the mind based on previous experiences with that particular subject or related topics. In many senses, it is an opinion, or judgment. When I first began reading and researching the idea of Framing, it sounded more and more of a deeper theory than just plain judgment. However, the major difference is the fact that framing requires a larger amount knowledge and  research in order to come to an honest, true, and philosophical conclusion. Judgment on the other hand, seems to be based more on a first encounter. People judge others immediately by clothing, speaking, overall appearance. On a larger scale, framing is how we can categorize large amounts of information about a particular subject that we have acquired over a longer time span. It has been introduced as, and become, an important thinking skill that determines not necessarily what we see, but how we see it.

L.ovely I.rreplaceable F.ascinating E.vents

I have a dream, just as anyone does - To be someone different, do things that normal people may not consider, go places people wouldn't consider, explore unique and diverse situations, and follow myself. The only thing that seemed possible for me to complete that was to do the unthinkable-become an artist, something easier said than done. It turns into a long a treacherous journey, completely unexplainable through words. Most people that consider themselves to be an artist may agree that their journey was much more difficult than anyone could imagine. Mine has been too, and I have yet to fully succeed.
I think I knew I wanted to craft my surroundings into a visual story all my life. Possibly even dating back to the initial inception of my creation.
I was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, until I was 3 years old. My mother's family resided in Norfolk for several generations, and my Father's family lived in Richmond. Upon my father receiving a new job, we considered moving several places including LA and Pasadena, San Francisco, and Charlotte. After much debate, we ended up sprouting our roots in Charlotte, a place where I would predominately spend the rest of my life. I attended pre-school, elementary school, middle school, and high school. I met friends during my elementary days that I still have now, and consider them to be my best and closest friends. During the 15 year period before I departed for college, I essentially discovered life. I met all sorts of people. I had my first girl friend. I experienced major political and global events that shook the nation. I fell in love with the cinema, and movies. I had some of the greatest moments of my life. All of them completely irreplaceable.
It was through these magical days, especially those of high school and middle school summers, that I determined there was only career path for me. I was going to write and more importantly, shoot and direct films. When I was about 10 years old, my father showed me a movie. He described it as a horror movie, without any horror, and that the plot was centered around a fisherman trying to catch a great white shark. I was engrossed and obsessed right with the plot. It was Jaws. I fell in love. It was so magical, and unique. Unlike anything I had ever experienced. Every week from then on, we watched a movie similar to that. Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1941, E.T., Poltergeist, The Last Crusade, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Star Trek (which I found to be much more interesting and intellectual than that of Star Wars), The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure... Predominately movies directed by Spielberg, or from the 1970's and 80's.  There was something about them that intrigued me. They connected with a vast audience, and provided a very magical feeling and escape from the real world, yet felt very real.
I wanted to connect with people, show them a story, bring them away for their lives, put a spark in their eyes, and make them smile. Art and film was the way I wanted to do that. Art, to me, acts as a global language. Something that can be universally understood without any means of translation. It is predominately visual.
So many people have changed, and succumb to the changing world of technological advances, that they miss out on important things. Its not bad to be obsessed with technology, but sometimes we just need to stop, take a breath, and look around us. Observe our surroundings. Smell nature. Watch the sky. Meet people. Watch a good movie that gives you a magical feeling.
If there is one thing I know I wont do...I will never grow up. The moment I do, I am no longer myself.