Most Interesting Technologized Bodies

I would like to choose Inter Dis-Communication Machine.

The two candidates wearing this machine exchange their visual perspectives, so that one can see what the other see. The equipment includes a heard-mounted display covering eyes and ears and a backpack with angel wings. Each HMD has two monitors and a video camera. The backpack is associated with a battery, a TV tuner and a transmitter. A TV antenna is installed inside the wings. The feather is a communication system for transmitting and receiving sensual experiences.

In appearance, the machine looks beautiful. It is intentionally designed to make the wearing person look like an angel. I think this is to increase the fancy feeling. Because, guess what, when we see in an absolutely different vision, we are attempting a stuff that human kind cannot do that! It's like going to a fatasyland! Not only the wearing person is joyful, but also those spectator beside are all entertained. The designer thought of this point. So such an appearnce can really facilitate the interest to try the machine.

The disigner claims that the purpose of the machine is to create a "double identity" or a "mutual identiity" for individuals. This interesting idea provides a preliminary trial to feel and think "where is myself". To my imaginaiton, the person wearing the machine may think himself an invisible man and feel like stealing the other's vision. However, his body is seen in the other place. The identity of "myself" is obscure. This may arouse the individual's curiosity to commit something generally prohibited in daily lives. This, I think, would be many people's dream. Fortunately, this machine is just forming an identity in vision only. The action would be still done by their own.

The two-way identity exchage aims at creating an identity to deal with "myself". He has to adapt himself to coordinate two identities. Videos shows that people trying the macine do not get used to it. That means to establish an actual double identity at the same time is quite a difficult thing. How on earth this idea could be developed to getting along with people and "myself" by exchange identiies? There must be a lot of interesting evaluation to be resulted through the amusing action of the people wearing the machine.

Look at Youtube (Take "Bus Uncle" as example)

1. How many viewers are estimated to have watched the youtube video?

According to Wikipedia, "Bus Uncle" had been edited for fifty odd versions and all of them was uploaded to youtube, totally over seven million people had watched the video in one month. The most popular version is the billingual one which received 2,613,498 views till now.

2. How would you rate the video?

•(a) Is it of high quality in technical terms? Is it interesting aesthetically eg camera angles, use of light, the narrative, and so on?

•

The video is of hardly no technial consideration. It was just merely shot by a mobile phone in candid way. The camera angle just came from the seat of the camera man so as to capture the two quarreled guys. No aesthetic concept was used then. The content was just the improvised conversation of the guys. No narration or any storytelling technique was implemented. The appearance of the video had obviously not been processed. It was a raw video. All in all, there is no aesthetic approach to make this video.


(b) Does it raise interesting socio-cultural issues? 

Yes, it does. Bus Uncle dominated the conversation. He told his dissatisfaction thoroughly in virtue of retorting the young man who annoyed him. Also, he demanded a proper solution so that he pestered the young man for such a long time. In some way he demonstrated the complaint of Hong Kong people living under pressure and demanding justice. This is the social issue concerning the video. Besides, Bus Uncle told in a serious manner with an amusing tone. Sometimes he used foul language which people might think interesting in scolding people. In other words, Uncle Bus was performing the popular speaking culture which people find interesting. So this is the reason that the video became so popular. Meanwhile it also reflected the socio-cultural problem which is the easily-provoked hostility of interaction among people due to their suppressed mental lives.

3. Do you think it deserved the attention that it received from the internet community?


I think it deserved. The video shows the naked reality in the society. We are indifferent to recall the potential contradiction within inter-personal relationship and our stressful living style in our daily lives. The video is to recall these stuffs. Besides, the internet is the most casual media to access so that such low-quality video is okay to be placed in here. The audience of the internet are all ordinary people, so that they, of course, identified with Bus Uncle.

4. Do video_sharing sites such as Youtube enhance or worsen creative culture? Comment.


I would like to say video sharing sites enhance creative culture. Because these sites provide a free and convenient platform to people to show their talents. Although most of them may not be professional or just for fun, there are actually a lot of amazing performances on these sites. In order to draw attention they strive to make independent selling points for their films. To some extent, competition is effected to encourage creativity. Not only the academic or professional innovation is favorable, but also the vulgar one. 

Discussion on "Mission to Earth"

1) Using “Mission to Earth” as an example, note what is new or different about digital cinema compared totraditional filmmaking? Consider the story and appearance of the film.

The story of the traditional films is always generalized by the script. Actors perform and speak dialogues, which means both the visual and verbal elements coherently contribute to show the story. However, digital cinema broke this rule. In "Mission to Earth", there are no dialogues. The story is told by the narrator using voice over while the actor is doing what the narrator tells. This indicates that the visual and the verbal elements can be presented in different way independently. Even they have nothing to do with each other at the very moment when the narrator diverge his talking on the actor. Thus, more possibilities in emotional expression and structural organization of the story are available to filmmakers.

Besides, the footage changes at an instant, interrupted by a conspicuous pause of the motion.We can experience an operation of randomly drawing the footage that the film appears to change its chapter and content. It resembles the format of DVDs. This implies that digital cinema is more like classified footage extracting from a database and constituting a film.

The appearance of the film is also affected. As "Mission to Earth" shown, graphics are applied on the film. According to Lev Manovich, mentioned in his writing "What is Digital Cinema?",  multi-media like 3D animation, scanned pictures, processed images etc can be shown via the same medium because different visual elements are eventually transformed into "pixel" by use of various softwares. Traditional cinema cannot do that. 

The film constantly presents composite shot where different screens showing different content are seen simultaneously. The screens are distributed freely in different positions and sizes. Digital technology provides such medium that the temporal and spatial sensation are manipulated to give fresh new feeling of films.

2) What other art forms (eg film, digital art, painting, websites etc) does this film remind you of? Explain the similarity. 
The film reminds me of experimental films. Actually these films manipulate the form of the films and try to present the content in a different and subtle way apart from the main stream. This film also manipulates the form and directly shows how digital technology differs from traditional filmmaking.

Technology of Photography

1) What are some photographic effects that can be achieved using digital or analog (darkroom, film, light etc) technology?

Both digital and analog technology can change the colour, texture, luminosity and image size. They can also change the content of the photo like the shape of the object.


2) What are some photographic techniques that can only be done using digital technology?

(a) Analog technology cannot provide a immediate accomodation for photo effects. Photographers can only assume the effects in virtue of their professional and experience. The result is always seen when the image processing is finished. Digital technology allows an immediate preview and delete in order to anticipate and achieve the most delightful effects.

(b) Certain amendment of analog technology on the photo cannot be restored while digital can.


3) What is the difference between analog photography and digital photography?

(a) The limitation of alteration of the two technology is different. Analog technology can just alter on a primary level. For instance, it can partly or totally change the colour or the texture in a very rough manner. It cannot go deep into minute amendment. The individual using digital technology can arbitrarily fuse parts of the images together, add abundant effects onto the photo, and therefore generailize a fresh new image.

(b) Various equipments and tools are necessary to implement analog technology. However, digital technology just needs a digital camera, a computer and a proper software to make photographic effects.