I have decided to continue posting in this WebLog as I continue my media education at the Evergreen State College in the Student Originated Studies: Media program. The work that I have laid out for myself is multi-faceted. The largest component is an independent animation project, which will attempt to be structured by and contain cloudy references to higher mathematical concepts. These structures and references will affect the project in construction only, meaning that these concepts will be used to construct the events that happen, but will not affect the contents of the events themselves. That is, the structure of events will be separate from the content of the events themselves in the origin of their creation. The semantic content of the piece (of course of lesser importance than the structure of information in the project), will roughly follow the evolution of an artificial intelligence from being a weak AI blindly following its algorithms, to a strong AI capable of independent and autonomous thought, and creativity ex nihilo.
This is the treatment I wrote 3 weeks ago for this project.
The main project I would like to work on this fall quarter is an experimental surrealistic science-fiction-esque pseudo-narrative animation, using mathematical concepts in its construction and subject matter. Multiple methods of animation and varieties of footage and media will be composited together and manipulated in After Effects. This includes 2D line-drawing and cutout animation, 3D object animation, experimental direct animation on 16mm clear leader, and experiments with moldy 8mm found footage and frame-burning.
As subject matter, this project will loosely follow the dreams or experiences of a newly created artificial intelligence. Emphasized will be the differing perspective with regard to perception and action of this artificial mind. Self-reference and resulting paradox will be an emphasized and recurring theme. Logic will be evident both in the construction of the story and in the content of the story. I am very interested in interrogating the idea of the distinction between form and content, especially with regard to language structures. That is, in any established language, the formic syntax is established and existent independently of the content that that structure communicates subjectively to an interpreting (or processing) entity. The same might be true of the English language, or a cinematic language. The interesting thing about formal logic, is it attempts to quantify the rules of reasoning and deduction and other attributes of language without regard for the content of the language. Logic is at its base, form without content. Content is irrelevant to its operation and functioning. I intend to explore this idea in the cognitive and metacognitive escapades embarked upon by the artificial consciousness that is the central character of this animation.
The format will be high definition video, at 1080p24, with concurrent down-conversion and export to 480p24 SD DV. Animation will be accomplished with a digital still camera for the 3D object animation, and a flatbed scanner for the 2D animation and background plates. Direct animations, digital filters, and other techniques will be used to apply texture and physicality to the scenes. The length will likely be about 5-9 minutes. I am going to acquire additional skills at doing 2D animation, both cutout and drawn, both physically and inside of After Effects. I will also concurrently be learning Max/MSP and Jitter, which may certainly be used during the process of creating this project.
I readily acknowledge that this idea is not yet fully formed. I plan on spending the first couple of week on pre-production tasks, including writing a detailed shooting script and storyboards for what I envision the final product to be. However, as per my normative working methods, I am very open to intuitional alterations during the process of creation. Having my ideas about something in flux while creating it helps me make it much more nuanced and cogent.
I have a fair amount of reading I am currently working on, and wish to continue as preparation/inspiration for this project. Notably, Douglas Hofstadter’s books Metamagical Themas and Godel, Escher, Bach, as well as Artificial Intelligence and Literary Creativity by Selmer Bringsjord, Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truth in Logic and Math by Joseph Mazur, as well as The Essence of Logic by John Kelly.
One idea that I’ve been thinking alot about recently is language, and the difference between the form, or syntax of a language, and the content, or semantics of a language. This is a common feature among most significantly advanced language-types: written and spoken English, mathematics, Braille, sign language, and even (though in a less rigid sense) in the conventions and processes that make up the language of filmic represention. Traditional narrative cinema uses the conventions of established filmic language in a way similar to a college professor giving a lecture: their purpose in using the language is to convey ideas in a clear way that people can understand. Experimental and more abstract cinema on the other hand, explore the expressive possibilities of the language they are working in, and even exploit the form or syntax of the language itself in the construction of the larger meaning of their work. So language in the context of art, specifically film art, and what this means in the context of the construction of meaning in experimental cinema, is something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. This idea will be explored in my project, as I think that this bilateral way of looking at language is something that relates very closely to the idea of artificial intelligence, and the difference in ways of functioning between human and machine.
A New Era Begins
I have decided to continue posting in this WebLog as I continue my media education at the Evergreen State College in the Student Originated Studies: Media program. The work that I have laid out for myself is multi-faceted. The largest component is an independent animation project, which will attempt to be structured by and contain cloudy references to higher mathematical concepts. These structures and references will affect the project in construction only, meaning that these concepts will be used to construct the events that happen, but will not affect the contents of the events themselves. That is, the structure of events will be separate from the content of the events themselves in the origin of their creation. The semantic content of the piece (of course of lesser importance than the structure of information in the project), will roughly follow the evolution of an artificial intelligence from being a weak AI blindly following its algorithms, to a strong AI capable of independent and autonomous thought, and creativity ex nihilo.
This is the treatment I wrote 3 weeks ago for this project.
One idea that I’ve been thinking alot about recently is language, and the difference between the form, or syntax of a language, and the content, or semantics of a language. This is a common feature among most significantly advanced language-types: written and spoken English, mathematics, Braille, sign language, and even (though in a less rigid sense) in the conventions and processes that make up the language of filmic represention. Traditional narrative cinema uses the conventions of established filmic language in a way similar to a college professor giving a lecture: their purpose in using the language is to convey ideas in a clear way that people can understand. Experimental and more abstract cinema on the other hand, explore the expressive possibilities of the language they are working in, and even exploit the form or syntax of the language itself in the construction of the larger meaning of their work. So language in the context of art, specifically film art, and what this means in the context of the construction of meaning in experimental cinema, is something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. This idea will be explored in my project, as I think that this bilateral way of looking at language is something that relates very closely to the idea of artificial intelligence, and the difference in ways of functioning between human and machine.