Archive for the ‘ Art ’ Category

Compare & Contrast

Our first production assignment in film school was to film and edit together a silent short, then give it a sound­track that completely altered the emotional response of the viewer. It was a demon­stration of the equally-​​​​matched emotional power of picture and sound. It was a chal­lenging exercise. Today, I present you with two videos, both of which use nearly the same sound­track, but with different pictures. This inverts the exercise. Watch them both, then tell me how each made you feel. Don’t think too much, and don’t try to limit yourself by thinking which is better. Just watch and observe your automatic response to each. [ . . . ]

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Incompetent Industrials II

Here’s a partic­u­larly bad one from a company by which I once was employed.

Incompetent Industrials I

Remember when you worked at that company? And they made you watch those cheesy indus­trial videos about sexual harassment in the workplace? You know, the one you slept through because it was so awful? Did you ever wonder why they’re so awful? Because the producers realize their target audience is an unin­ter­ested but captive one, so they try to over­com­pensate for the general lack of enthu­siasm for these things. They are uniformly heinous, but some are more heinous than others. Here’s one touting Microsoft’s SP1 for Vista: If you have any awful indus­trial videos, send them to or post them in [ . . . ]

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If I Had One, I’d Bet She Could

The writers of Absolutely Fabulous came up with a perfect line for every situation. Patsy manages to burn down Edina’s kitchen by falling asleep with a cigarette in her mouth. Afterwards, the two are discussing how to redec­orate the room. Patsy, commenting on how easy it was for her to achieve the “distressed” look of the kitchen in its burned-​​​​out state, makes the following comment. What the hell is the difference between a painting done by a person who chooses to paint like a child and a child’s painting? If anything encap­su­lates the current state of modern art better than Patsy’s humorous quip, it is this [ . . . ]

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