Blog Nine: Freak Factor

Freak Factor, by David Rendall

David Rendall’s, Freak Factor, makes the point that everybody has weaknesses that are a part of them and how they present themselves.  He then mentions that we should take our weaknesses and use them as clues to our strengths.  By doing this, we can find ways to be successful through using our weaknesses to match them to the perfect situations.  Everybody has a weakness, which causes them to be different making them a freak.  Being a freak is a natural and good thing according to Rendall.

Rendall mentions that everyone is ‘Flawless’ and provides a chart that lists strengths and their corresponding weaknesses.  The first one mentioned is that if your strength is being creative, then your weakness is being organized.  I agree with the idea that yes, I am a creative person and happen to be disorganized.  However, I disagree with the fact that being disorganized is a weakness I should embrace.  I feel as though more creativity does come from a more disorganized place at first, but eventually this creativity requires order.  It immediately makes me think of being on set with a crew of people depending on the director of photography for a great image.  As the DP, you are required to know what you want to shoot.  Knowing what you want to shoot requires at first a disorganized mess, but then you have to take that mess and make it organized.  This happens through storyboarding, creating overheads, making shotlists, having an idea of exactly how you would light it and so much more.  You cannot take a thirty-page script and shoot it without taking any of these steps.  You need to know every single shot you want to shoot and what lens will work best to capture the perfect image for a single shot.  There are several steps a DP must take in order to create that great image everyone expects of them.  Organization is key to someone as creative as a DP.  Without organization, they would find themselves in a mess of problems.

Rendall mentions that people should ‘Forget it’ and not fix their weaknesses.  I disagree with that point.  It is very negative.  It’s true that weaknesses are hard to overcome and it is a slow and tough road to recovery, but how could he say to forget everything about your problems and just make them beneficial to your life.  A weakness of mine that is pretty apparent to me is my way of doubting things.  It has been an issue for a while now and is hard to try and overcome, but that is not the goal.  I would like to recognize the issue and make it less a part of me.  My doubt holds me back in life and does not benefit me.  I would never want to use this weakness and make it a strength of mine by having a job that consists of using doubt as an advantage.  It has benefitted me when it comes to being told chugging alcohol is the best way to make it so no one else waits on me so we can go out.  I doubt the fact that chugging alcohol is wise.  That is a benefit to being doubtful, but often times I do not see this weakness of mine strengthening anything in my life.  If someone has a weakness that it pretty small, then yeah, forget it.  However, if you have a weakness that overcomes you and affects how you interact with people and situations, then you should do your best to rid of it.

Later, it discusses, ‘Putting your quirks to work’.  I found myself agreeing with most points in this section.  The first one addresses moving into situations that maximize your strength and make it so it seems as though less energy is being used.  This is a valid point.  I would much rather be in the major I am, than in Psychology.  I am interested in psychology, but there are so many steps that you have to take that would make it hard for me to maintain an interest.  With video production, I am able to keep on trucking because I am constantly working with crews on projects, which makes me feel as though I am working toward something I love doing.  Yes, I am using a lot of energy, but it is energy I don’t mind using.  I found myself disagreeing with the idea of ‘permanent procrastination’.  No matter how hard anyone tries to avoid doing things they don’t want to do, they will always have times where they have to suck it up and face the task at hand.  It’s as if I were to stop being in the Video Production major just because I didn’t like my MDIA 100 class.  You cannot fail any classes in this major, so I would be kicked out of the major if I chose to not do what is presented to me.  Rendall makes a valid point in saying that people should find others who compliment their weaknesses.  It is smart to have people around with strengths in things you might be weak with.  They can help someone work on that weakness subconsciously, or even consciously.

As far as my own creative process goes, I have plenty of weaknesses.  I am creative, but my weakness is being disorganized.  I can be responsible, but face being boring.  I am definitely realistic, but my weakness is being negative as a result.  I am not always assertive, but in some situations I very clearly am, which can cause others to feel intimidated.  I can also be stubborn, however I do not feel it is caused by my dedication necessarily.  There are plenty of things that I could consider weaknesses.  Most are just qualities in my opinion.  They are not all what I would consider to be bad things.  The one that gets the best of be is being realistic.  There have been countless times where I would consider what I am saying to be a realistic factor, yet the people around me inform me that I am being negative and bringing a bad feel to everything.  That is not what I intend to do.  I feel as though I am making a valid point that is pretty important, but sometimes people just do not see it in the light that I do.  It is a weakness of mine that has caused problems with my creative process.  While working on a short feature, A Campaign That Failed, the director of photography, Matt Mantyla who is one of my best friends, enjoyed referring to me as the ‘broken record’ of the crew.  That is not what I want to ever be seen as to people or known as.  It is not a good impression and could easily affect my goals in regard to being successful.  My strongest quality is probably being creative or being responsible.  Being responsible has hindered me at times in regard to having a ton of fun, but at the same time it has kept me out of a lot of trouble and allowed me to have quite a level head, which benefits me quite a bit.

Blog Eight: Brainwashed

Brainwashed, by Seth Godin

Acknowledging the Lizard is facing your fears and dismissing them.  There is something inside humans, that tells us to remain compliant and stick to the protocol (the resistance), but this is what holds us back from letting the creative genius inside us out.

Art is as simple as interacting with others because you may create something new.  Art is a creation made by one or many and takes the risk of being criticized, or having no connection to others.  Risk can lead to success.

One must fail in life in order to make any progress or succeed.  Godin says that present day, we really must acknowledge the lizard and ignore it, and continue to face failure.  No matter it be a large company or just a person presenting a project to their class, failure is likely to occur at some point.  You must be willing to fail publicly in order to grow.

Every single one of these Layers presented by Godin relate to my life along with this blog.  Throughout this quarter, I have honestly had some trouble with the concept of ‘Acknowledging the Lizard’ when it came to presenting the art that I have created along with another partner.  So, acknowledging the lizard, art and failure have played a roll consistently for me.  I know I am not the only one in this world to call myself out on it, but I fear failure more than I would like to admit.  I let my fears hold me back, which suppresses my creativity.  I have always been told that I am wonderful at expressing myself in ways such as this and that I am very creative, but lately, I have felt pretty bland when it comes to what I try to do.  When we had to take a scene and write it out as the script or when we had to draw storyboards, I was even nervous to do that.  I was worried that because I am inexperienced in script writing or if I didn’t make my drawings good enough, that I would face a failing grade for the blog.  Outside of the blog, I have been presented with opportunities to shoot things this quarter, and have found myself handing out excuses to avoid doing it because of my fear of failure.  I honestly do not feel like I know enough, but at the same time you learn through going out and doing it.  This leads me to the fact that I need to change starting now.  Art is one of the best things this world has left.  I would like to confidently say that I contribute to the art that flows throughout this world.  Art has a different meaning to nearly everyone.  It is amazing how much you can find in a simple five-minute clip, or a painting of a woman cooking in a kitchen (long lasting expectations of women), or a man working in an office (long lasting expectations of men).  Art faces fear straight in the face and takes a risk.  It acknowledges the lizard and faces failure head on.  There is no single person in this world that hasn’t failed at some points in life.  Failure helps you grow.  I need to continue to remind myself of this so I go out and create the art that is inside me waiting to be revealed.  These layers are true of how life plays out for people, and I have found that sometimes they hold me back, but it helps me understand to go out and face the fear.  Slowly but surely, I am becoming a better person, artist and student because of these factors.  Every day I am reminded that I cannot let the fear of failure hold me back.  Now is the time to take risks, not later.

Blog Seven: Scene Deconstruction

I chose a scene from, The Big Lebowski.  It is toward the beginning, but plays a large role in providing the entire movie's theme to the audience.  The movie is didactic in the sense that this scene makes it clear that two men with the same name, Mr. Lebowski, have been mixed up and 'The Dude' wants to be compensated for his rug that was peed on by the men looking for the actual Mr. Lebowski.  The part that makes it active is why people are searching to take money from Mr. Lebowski.  There are multiple options that people assume as to why money is on the line.

Focusing on movement, I noticed that one of the types of movement, point of interest, was used nearly the entire scene.  They kept the subject(s) in the middle of the screen the entire time once they sat down to talk.  Both of the Lebowski's were sitting in chairs having a discussion, and through point of interest, i noticed that my eyes  just barely moved between each cut.  The only difference was a matter of height.  Mr. Lebowski was placed a slight bit higher, while The Dude was lower because he was slouched over in the chair.  I believe they did this to show that Mr. Lebowski is more proper and rich, so his better posture and higher stance shows that he has dominance over The Dude.

Paying attention to shape in the scene above, I noticed that Mr. Lebowski has a rectangular shaped face.  I believe this represents the fact that he is a man with a harsh personality.  Mr. Lebowski is a rich and powerful man, yet faces being in a wheel chair due to the loss of his legs in a war.  In this scene, he makes it clear that, "I didn't blame anyone for the loss of my legs, some Chinamen took them from me in Korea, but I went out and achieved anyway!"  I feel this captures his personality pretty quickly within one statement.  As for The Dude, his facial shape is is semi circular and I think his hair helps add to his facial shape.  I feel his flowing hair and circular face represent that he is a loose and cool-headed kind of guy.