Earthquake 1974

Have you heard of it? No. Neither have I until the recency of the past couple days. This movie was hailed for its ability to capture the chaos, anguish and the true terror felt by those living through the crisis of an earthquake, as well as the grueling rebuilding that lingers on for years to come. So after watching a few clips to gain an insight into the movie's theme it was difficult to resist the initial reaction to pre-digital age effects and quality yet the more and more I watched it became necessary to place myself in a theater in the 1970's and see this movie for the first time. As soon as I began to view the movie with a predated mind set I was finally able to get into the movie, to feel the buildings crashing, leaning from side to side in my chair attempting to avoid the dangers of falling concrete, wood, signs and, worst of all, people.
Pretending wasn't enough though (my imagination has lost touch with the one I remember from childhood) and I had to ask the people who were there, who saw not only the movie itself but were all well aware of the devastation the real life earthquake caused. So I went to my parents in hopes of hearing stories about their 'first experience' or to only hear what the world was like in the 70's would have sufficed. Well I apologize but I have heard neither; simply, "We didn't have television and I never got to see the movie." Which I suppose can be marked up as something to be great full for it was rather disappointing. They did however comment on the fact that they feel saddened by the many great movies of their era that have been forgotten about in the world of entertainment. Fighting to the point that these movies have brought film and hollywood to the conglomerate-sized business it has become.

Georges Méliès

To think of the idea of using layers with images in Photoshop or for video in Final Cut to create composite images or footage is rather easy in today's terms with all of the available technology from the cameras we shoot with to the programs with which we complete the composite. Now to image performing these tasks over a hundred years ago by only using the film on which the footage is captured (and I promise it was not digital) just as Georges Méliès was able to do before the turn of the century. Using many techniques in splicing and cutting of film Méliès was able to add advanced special effects to his films; the most famous being the space pod hitting the man on the moon. He also learned that painting directly onto the filmstrip frame by frame would provide color when shown in the theater or viewed in the newly invented kinetophone.
So you won't find Méliès' name on the developer list for today's most popular programs but we must keep him in the back of our minds to credit his brave ability to try something no one has ever done and in doing so set the ground work for a hundred years of advancement in film and photography.

Shnazzy Jazzy

As early as the beginning of the 1800's 'blackface' portrayal by actors had become a staple in the entertainment industry. Many people have claimed various reasons as to why the 'blackface' came about and the most prevailing of all is to exemplify and expand the typical segregated ideologies to the theater and eventually film and television. The 'blackface' allowed the entertainment business to remain segregated and still be able to have the role of the degraded black man by having their white actors mask or paint their faces along with an accent to their lips made them appear larger creating an almost ape-like look for the actors.

Personally, the beginning of the Nineteen Hundreds is what I see to be the greatest era of American history. Business was booming, the ability of the stock market to crash was out of the question and increased immigration brought together more cultures than ever before.

Although the United States were seeing much of their population prospering there were still many people being suppressed and demoralized. Music was a quick and easy escape from the troubles of poverty that many musicians and their followers were faced with on a daily basis. Regardless of how skilled this new generation of musicians was they were poor, often black and mostly disregarded. So they played were they were allowed and took their style to the streets. Their trumpet sounds gathered small crowds of passer-by's and eventually the attention of the local bars in their area. The most of the bars happened to also be sex houses and it was the site for the creation and expansion of jazz. According to some, the musicians wished for the music to be called 'Swing' yet their place of employment would not allow for it. When people went to these bars to pursue the women they called this "getting jazzed", they took this name and applied it to the music that would accompany them "getting jazzed" and it stuck for good.

Soon this would all change regardless of what their skin color was, almost. The stock market crash on October 29th brought all progress to an abrupt halt. With businesses booming the country felt confident in their system of stocks and loans were easy to come by regardless of whether the lender had the money or not. When the value of the stocks began to fall it sent the country into a panic and the population lost its trust in the system. Rapid selling and closing of stocks in the market are said to be main reasons for the inevitable collapse.

The days that mark the collapse are referred to as 'Black Thursday' and 'Black Tuesday' (October 24th and 29th, 1929 respectively) again a subtle degraded remark towards the black community. Unbeknownst to me the stock market crash of 1987 occurred on Monday, October 19th is also referred to as 'Black Monday'. So even seventy-eight years later the degraded name of a terrible event is posted again. So from Blackface actors to the southern black musicians which could only start in brothels at best up to the two worst stock market declines in history coined simply as a "black" day in history.

Prior to this post I was unaware of the events of the 1987 crash so I hope you learned something new today as well! See you next time.

First Day of Art 211

I am continuing this blog to be used in conjunction with my Art 211 class, Art and Technology. I am excited for this class and the new knowledge it will bring. Hopefully the classroom environment will be changed soon enough to allow for ease of learning but either way I am looking forward to the coming semester and sharing my new talents.