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MA Blog - Week 13 - Where to Go from Here?

It took a lot of trial and error, but I have recently finished my Proof of Concept. This took a lot of improvisations and reworks. I do like the basis and the general feel of it. It’s eerie, weird, and a little awkward. I do see some things that I would like to adjust and take note of. The hardest part of this was dancing within such a confined space where you are unaware of the boundaries. I do not mind doing a reshoot for the final product, exploring different approaches until I find the right fit for what I envisioned.

I have received quite a bit of feedback from my committee, especially concerning time constraints. For the past month, I have been struggling to cast actors. I have been expecting to have at least my main character casted for months. Days worth of slow replies and technical difficulties made sure to push me back. I do have a back-up plan to readjust my script and cast myself as the crucial roles. Though, I also received the recommendation that I turn my video into a documentary to save time. Though, considering the work-load I still have to do, I may struggle regardless. Honestly, I did dedicate an entire semester developing a story, I think I should at least try to see it though. Though, I am usually not the type to take a risk without a back-up plan and a back-up plan to the back-up plan. I can envision what I will do if things go wrong. I think the best thing I can do right now is trust myself.

This will be my last blog post, but I want my project’s future to go further beyond. Earlier this semester, I applied to the Philadelphia Media Maker’s Fund. If I am accepted into this program, My Eyes Deceive will be screened during the program’s screening night. I will also be showcasing my project within the Klien Graduate showcase. If I am fortunate enough to have money left over from the Media Maker’s Fund, I will use it to enter my work into film festivals and other events. After a nice adventure, I want both my project and paper to retire within my portfolio, resting as one of the most ambitious projects I have created in my scholarly life. 

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MA Blog - Week 12 - AFROSURREALISM GLOBAL INVASION

This week, I have read “Black, Brown, & Beige Surrealist Writings from Africa and the Diaspora Paraphrase.” In this article, D. Scot Miller explores the growth in Surrealism within the Black diaspora and throughout history (Miller, 2015). Unlike the previous articles I have written about, Miller (2015) uses surrealism instead of Afrosurrealism and uses Franklin Rosemont’s definition of surrealism. Here, surrealism is a realism that acknowledges topics that are overlooked or suppressed in society (Miller, 2015). When surrealism reached America in the 1930s, Black Americans used the art to push back against pro-fascist, pro-capitalist, and conservative media (Miller, 2015). Black American Surrealists then used the art to advocate for civil rights by linking the art through jazz, literature, and poetry (Miller, 2015). 

I made this relevant to my paper because it is a different take on afrosurrealism and how the art spread across the globe. Many Afrosurrealist explore how Afrosurrealism takes many forms across the African diaspora. However, many use Afrosurrealism for a similar purpose: to uplift Black voices through the expression of whimsical art. It would be helpful for me to discover the different ways scholars recognize Afrosurrealism. This will play a part into how I express my own Afrosurrealism. My experience as a Black American will play a part in the entire outlook of the visual portion of my project. 

For my pre-production feedback, I was recommended that I add time for committee feedback throughout my schedule and conduct a table read. I already started incorporating meetings with my committee, so my next steps are trying to schedule a table read so I can see if I have any problems with my script.

For my proof of concept, I will be doing the piece of a scene where TV Thang, the villain of the story, initially targets the protagonist Destiny. I plan on creating it tonight. This will contribute to the second scene in my project while I wait to cast Destiny. 

Source: Miller, D S. (2015). Black, brown, & beige surrealist writings from Africa and the diaspora. Mosaic Literary Magazine, (28), 28–31. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1314693985/abstract/3A96B33B07B6474EPQ/1?accountid=14270&sourcetype=Magazines

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MA Blog - Week 11 - Are You Actually Awake When You Watch TV?

For this week, I have read the chapter “Philosophies and Critical Histories of Avant-Garde Film and Current Practice” from “Experimental Film and Video: An Anthology.” Here, Grahame Weinbren (2006) discusses how he explores his films and applies historical context to the concept of experimental film. In his previous works, he has used a dream like format to reflect the human mind (Weinbren, 2006). Experimental films are often reactionary, which is the basis of avant garde films (Weinbren, 2006). These films, according to Weinbren (2006), may require previous education in order to analyze it. This education however, does not necessarily need to be historical (Weinbren, 2006). They can be cultural, spiritual, psychological, and so on (Weinbren, 2006). Due to the requirement of having a contextual understanding, experimental films often break the rules set by structural films, making experimental films feel more like a fever dream (Weinbren, 2006).

There is the reason why Terri Francis dedicated a section of her writing to experimental film in “Close- Up: Afrosurrealism Introduction: The No-Theory Chant of Afrosurrealism.” The film genre has close ties to Afrosurrealism, especially Black experimental films. Both the film genre and the art genre produce a product that can feel out of body for the average viewer. To make a narrative piece that is based within the Afrosurreal, it would be helpful for me to incorporate some of the strategies from Experimental Film. This is also why I often referenced ENA as one of my points of inspiration, despite not being regarded as an Afrosurreal piece. I would argue that it fits into experimental films since its perspective and behaviors subvert the viewer’s expectations. I want the viewers to experience surrealism in a way that makes them think and converse with others.

For my training day, I actually started looking at ways to animate. One of the characters I planned on having is a little cartoon-like in nature. It has been a while since I talked to my committee members. After I complete the Pre-production folder, I plan on meeting with my committee members to update them on my work.

Source:

Weinbren, G. (2006). Post future past perfect. In Experimental film and video: An anthology (pp. 3–73). Indiana University Press. 

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MA Blog - Week 10 - Time to do the Banana Dance

This week, I found the book titled “Josephine Baker’s Cinematic Prism.” For this week, I have read through the prologue. The conversation about Black women’s sexuality and sexual stereotypes began when the actor Lynn Whitfield stressed about performing partially nude during the development of “The Josephine Baker Story” documentary in 1991. This soon inspired Whitfield to write an essay titled “Selling Hot Pussy,” exploring the oversexualization of the black body from the white European eye. The author of Cinematic Prism, Terri Francis, found that through the stereotype of Jezebel and others, many people were socialized to not take Black women seriously. This included their intelligence, their agency, and their pain. But Francis decided to deeply study Baker’s performance and life.

Terri Francis is an expert on the Afrosurreal. In fact, I have used one of her previous works in one of my older blogs. This may not initially seem relevant to my paper, however, I did read the description of the book. Francis does recognize the surrealism of Baker’s performance and her willingness to comment upon it. So, this book is worth the read for the sake of my paper. I also think that this book will be a direct example of bridging the gap between Afrosurrealism, dance, and videography. I, of course, plan to come to my own conclusions and explore the topic beyond Josephine Baker’s performance.

I made major progress with my project this week. I have applied to the Philadelphia Student Mediamaker Fund. If I am fortunate enough, I will be able to fund my project starting in December. Not too long after that, I fixed my “Talent Wanted” poster and gave a couple of paper flyers to the dance and theater departments. I have two people who are interested in being the protagonist of my video. If all goes well, I expect to have at least 3 out of 5 of my important roles fulfilled. Now, on to complete the script!

Source: Francis, T. S. (2021). Prologue: What might be josephine baker’s film history. In Josephine baker’s cinematic prism (1st ed., pp. 1–5). Indiana University Press. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/templeuniv-ebooks/reader.action?docID=30657072&query=.

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MA Blog - Week 9 - Black People in SPAAAACE

This week's “Article of the Week” is “Black Movements - Flying Africans in Spaceships.” In this article, Soyica Diggs Colbert analyzes some Black performances and music that portrays their interpretation of the “Flying Africans.” The “Flying Africans” is a metaphorical term that often shows an ambiguity towards death. For some performances, the idea of flying represents freedom through death. Meanwhile, performances such as “Song of Solomon,” expresses the desire to combat the physical and social deaths of Black Amercians. Fast forward to 1952 with George Clinton’s creation of the band Parliament and their introduction of the Afro-nauts of Parliament. This paved the way for the depictions of flying and spaceships in Kanye West’s album “Graduation Day.” The symbolism seems to represent flying as an ascension beyond death rather than the desire of death. 

This can be seen as an extension of how the Black arts often use metaphors to represent the Black experience. But after reading this article, I feel like the content within would be more aligned with Afro-Futurism rather than Afro-Surrealism. However, I, along with many other authors of the articles I have reviewed, have acknowledged the interconnections between two arts. So, it is possible that the Flying Africans can lean into Afro-surrealism in the right hands. This article may not make it onto my final bibliography, but it did help flesh out the possibilities within Afrosurrealism, my paper, and my video.

Two of the biggest feedback I have received involved space and sound. The sound of the music I used overpowered my speech a bit, and people seem to like the intimacy of the close up shot. The sound for the actual shot will be music during the main character’s dance with their reflection. I do not plan on having dialogue in that scene. For camera positions, I was thinking about doing a more spacious shot, but the feedback preferred otherwise. When it comes to it, I may test out different camera angles and positions to find out what works the best. 

Source: Colbert, S.D. (2014). Black movements-flying africans in spaceships. Black Performance Theory. https://www.fulcrum.org/epubs/xw42nc09f?locale=en#/6/38[chp08]!/4/2/6[p_1]/1:0

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MA Blog - Week 8 - “But Hey, That’s Just a Theory, A BLACK PERFORMANCE THEORY!” 

This week’s Article of the Week is “Introduction - From ‘Negro Expression’ to ‘Black Performance’” by Thomas F. DeFrantz and Anita Gonzalez. This article serves as an introduction to the Black Performance Theory, which establishes black expressive culture as a legitimate academic inquiry. They establish 2 truths: 1. Black sensibilities occur regardless if black people were present or not. 2. Black performance can occur without black people, but it can be seen as a circumstance caused by black sensibilities. Black American performance history is categorized by the way Black Americans were called at the time. African/Ethiop in our original locations before the slave trade, Negro/Colored during patriarchal domination in America, and Black/African American as a form of resistance after the Colored era. As the title for Black Americans changed, so did their performance and their academic perception. But the trait that all these historical eras share is the fact that Black Performance critiques the systemic issues all Black Americans have to experience. 

This article fits well into my paper. It aligns with one of my previous articles, “Transnationalizing the Rhythm/Remastering the National Dance: The Politics of Black Performance in Contemporary Cinema of the Americas.” Both articles agree on the idea that Black artistic forms of expression have a similar basis, metaphorical forms of commentary and resistance. “Introduction - From ‘Negro Expression’ to ‘Black Performance’” categorizes the eras of performance across the black diaspora. So, it plays into my argument about how Afrosurrealism is interconnected between the black arts, especially during the Black/African American era of performance. According to LeRoi, that era was the time where the Black arts truly dove deep into dream-like expressions, which is a perfect match for Afrosurrealism. 

For my training, I worked on the “Premiere Pro - Mastering Effects and Transitions.” It was definitely a lot to learn, but I’d love to keep these videos just in case I need to review them when I start editing. I, unfortunately, still have that final committee member spot open. It seems that getting a committee member in the dance division may be the one of the most difficult committee members to get. I may have to take a step back and think about what my next plan would be. 

Source: DeFrantz, T. F., & Gonzalez, A. (2014). introduction - from “negro expression” to “black performance.” Black Performance Theory. https://www-fulcrum-org.libproxy.temple.edu/epubs/xw42nc09f?locale=en#/6/8[cop01]!/4/2/6[p_1]/1:0 

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MA Blog - Week 7 - “Hitting that Halfway Flag”

For the research part of my paper, I am taking baby steps. Right now, I have about 15 books, articles, and panels I either had an interest in or previously read. Considering my workload, I have been focusing on reading one article per week. I do not plan to start writing my essay until around December, so I am glad to say that I am on track.

So far, I am getting close to meeting the goals set for me for the project previsualization process. I have created a list of story beats and have launched an interest form for actors and dancers. I also have some ideas for scenes and shots building within my head. I have been writing them down as I go. Once I finish writing my script, I will see if I can incorporate them into my paper. I am quite nervous about finishing the script by the end of October as I planned, considering that midterms will be next week. However, I am choosing to put confidence in myself. 

I think that my project is set out to accomplish a couple of theoretical frameworks in the production space. It is meant to study the cultural connection between the afrosurreal expressions across multiple different arts. It is also meant to shed light on the power of information distribution in our society and how misinformation can cause ignorance and harm to others. Through an experimental and narrative approach, this would be portrayed in a whimsical and thought provoking way.

As I continue developing this project, I look forward to seeing the complete pre-production and plan for the recording and writing phrase. I am excited to learn more about my project, find more information, discover more opportunities, and more inspiration. I look forward to seeing how much I can stretch my creativity and enlighten myself.

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MA Blog - Week 6 - “Two Minds as One”

Hello again. It’s Kayla and this week's Article of the Week is called “Two Souls, Two Thoughts,” Two Self-Schemas: Double Consciousness Can Have Positive Academic Consequences for African Americans.” The theoretical framework centers around the psychological experience of African Americans called the “double consciousness.” The double consciousness serves as a reflection of the two mindsets for many African Americans: Mainstream American practices (Independent) and African American practices (Interdependent). Black American culture has often focused more on community and collective experiences. However, the distribution and injustices that drive the double consciousness is also responsible for the racial or ethnic stereotypes that hinder the Interdependent consciousness (Brannon, Markus, et al., 2015). It can change the way African Americans see their place in their own community. So, Tiffany N. Brannon, Hazel Rose Markus, and Valerie Jones Taylor conducted a study to see whether the double consciousness can be realized if a US educational setting makes it safe for African American students to engage with both of their independent and interdependent consciousness. They initially took 40 African American students and let them determine if a Black centered ceremony is important to them. Here, they did find a correlation, and furthered the study by introducing other factors such as multicultural environments.

This article taps into one of the aspects of Afrosurrealism. The concept of the double consciousness often serves as one of the main factors to Afrosurrealism. Half of what makes the art genre surreal is that interdependent consciousness, metaphors that mostly Black Americans can understand. It will also contribute to the creative process within my narrative video. Reading about what separates the Black experience will make it easier to conduct said experience in a symbolic and whimsical way. So, the practice will be just as important as the study.

For this week, I did quite a bit. I had a meeting with another potential committee member. I am expecting to hear back from him on Tuesday. I have also started writing down some story beats and ideas. By the beginning of next week, I plan on creating a poster for dancers and actors, and making an interesting form for students from Boyer College of Music and Dance. 

Source:

Brannon, T. N., Markus, H. R., & Taylor, V. J. (2015). “Two Souls, Two Thoughts,” Two Self-Schemas: Double Consciousness Can Have Positive Academic Consequences for African Americans. EBSCOhost Web. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.libproxy.temple.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=558874aa-ddc1-49d9-9a2c-bad40f0d95c9%40redis 

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MA Blog - Week 5 - “AOTW - Break it Down for the National Anthem”

Hello guys. Kayla speaking. This week’s Article of the Week is titled “Transnationalizing the Rhythm/Remastering the National Dance: The Politics of Black Performance in Contemporary Cinema of the Americas. Deonne N. Minto analyzes the multiple Black dance and performance movements across multiple different nations and how each of them helped the Black community retain some sort of power despite their oppressive situations. Many nations developed their own dance movements, which includes Dancehall in Jamaica, Samba in Brazil, and eventually, Afro-caribbean in Canada. Many of these movements would not have been possible without internationalization of these dance genres. These dance movements did eventually make their way into the modern space of Black Contemporary dance films, such as Dancehall Queen and Love Come Down (Francis, 2013). Dance is used as a form of resistance and expression with or without film. However, it is within film where dance becomes a device to help our main character move from violence and oppression to spaces of power. In film, dance is used to make note of the main problems of a nation through the main character and express potential hopes and solutions. 

This article is relevant to my paper due to Minto’s analysis of Black political movements through dance. Portraying messages through movement can be seen as a metaphorical way of conveying the Black experience, which aligns the aspects of Afrosurrealism. Both artistic movements may require the audience to give some contextual understanding of what the artist is trying to tell, which may require real world experience. This is part of the reason why I wanted to focus my paper on the relationship between afrosurrealism, dance, and videography. 

This week, I did some training and had meetings with two out of three of my committee members. For my training, I did the “Learning Screenwriting” and “Camera Movement” courses on LinkedIn. During my meeting with my committees, we talked about the basis of my project, both creatively and academically. I also had a meeting with another professor that could have been a part of my committee, but they recommended someone else to me. For today, I am expected to give 5 aspects I noticed about Afrosurrealism and stay in contact with my potential final committee member. 

Sources:

Minto, D. N. (2013). Transnationalizing the Rhythm/Remastering the National Dance: The Politics of Black Performance in Contemporary Cinema of the Americas. In Transnationalism, Activism, Art (pp. 192–208). essay, University of Toronto Press. Retrieved 2024, from https://www-jstor-org.libproxy.temple.edu/stable/10.3138/j.ctt5hjxtn.14?seq=4. 

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MA Blog - Week 4 - “AOTW - Putting the Afro in Surreal”

Hi guys. It’s Kayla! This week's Article of the Week is titled “Afrosurreal Manifesto.” In this article, D. Scott Miller explains the core values of Afrosurrealism. The term was founded in 1974 by Amiri Baraka, following his analysis of Henry Dumas’ “Ark of Bones and Other Stories.” Afrosurrealism does not have rules, but it does have core values. It is based on the present day, which is a combination of surviving past values and future expectations that are occurring now. It is fluid and whimsical, similar to the nonsensical feeling of a dream. Similar to dreams, Afrosurrealism is metaphorical, and the absurdity of it all sparks controversy. But it all has a deeper meaning, hinting at the absurdity of the post-radical Black experience.

This article is probably one of the most crucial sources for my paper, for it is the article that is often referenced by many other academic Afrosurrealist authors. This is because D. Scott Miller is considered to be the founder of the Afrosurrealist movement. He essentially serves as the catalyst for every article, video, or project in the genre. It would be unproductive of me to not have D. Scott Miller’s “Afrosurreal Manifesto” in my project centered around Afrosurrealism. 

Progress Report:

Last week’s goals have been met. I have found three committee members who I have already met or plan on meeting in the upcoming future. I have also found 10 initial articles to read and review for the upcoming weeks. I actually did a bit more than I planned, since I already started taking notes on some of my sources, which will make my future literature review easier. This week's major goal is to decide on my video’s “theme.” As mentioned earlier, Afrosurrealism is metaphorical, so I cannot base my video’s theme on the concept itself. In order for this project to work, a particular theme of the Black experience is needed. My main goal for this week is to look at other Afrosurreal performances and decide on my project's “theme.” 

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MA Blog! - Week 3 - “Looking for Words. Looking for Texts.”

The first article that will be featured in my project is an article from Black Camera titled “Close-Up: Afrosurrealism - Introduction: The No-Theory Chant of Afrosurrealism.” In this article, Terri Francis analyzes the nature and history of Afrosurrealism. Surrealism starts beyond reality and it is often understood to be dreamlike. The art also gives the creators the ability to convey stories, messages, and emotions through its use of obscurity and consciousness. Afrosurrealism separates itself from European surrealism by putting the experience of blackness as the basis of the art. Afrosurrealism continued to flourish throughout the Black Arts Movement and eventually made its way to video as a form of experimental film.  

It is relevant to my project because it covers my project’s foundation. Surrealist messaging can be quite difficult to both portray and understand. So, I want to learn about the multiple analytical perspectives of Afrosurrealism to help me direct my own Afrosurrealist project. While I explore the concept further, I have to consider how to portray my project’s message throughout the “nonsense.” This article also introduced me to the topic of “Experimental Film/Video,” which is meant to break the fundamental rules of traditional cinema. In my previous post, I mentioned that one of my inspirations was ENA. ENA breaks those rules by functioning as a video game despite being an animated video. So, taking the experimental route for my project will amplify the surrealism.

As for my progress, I have mostly been brainstorming and searching for articles that will support my paper. My main goals for the upcoming week are to narrow down who I want in my committee and create a general outline for my paper. 

Sources: Francis, T. (2013). Introduction: The no-theory chant of afrosurrealism. Black Camera, 5(1), 95–112. https://doi.org/10.2979/blackcamera.5.1.95

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MA Project Blog! - Week 2 - “I May Be Weird, and My Mind May Be Shifting, but I Am Free!”

Right now, I think one of the pieces of media that is inspiring me the most is “ENA.” ENA is a surrealist web series on YouTube and it is one of my favorite web series of all time. It follows a girl named ENA and each episode has her embark on an interesting adventure. The episodes function similar to an old, first person video game and each character has an unexpected design and movement on their own. ENA is unique because she has multiple personalities with different faces and voices. The episode “Extinction Party” is a prime example of what the average ENA episode looks like. I personally do not think that full animation is the project I want to make. So I may also take inspiration from creatives such as Donald Glover to make a live action video instead. 

I plan on making either a narrative or web series. For this project, I will need knowledge in surrealism, as well as skills in critical and analytical research. Not only do I need to understand surrealism as a concept, but I also need to be able to express surrealism in my visual project. As mentioned before, I will be focusing on live action video rather than animation. So I will also need knowledge in media production, which would include camera, audio, lighting, editing, and so on. The best course of action here is to start training and brainstorming the execution of this project as soon as I can, so I have time to let my project bake in the oven.

Sources:

G, J. (2020, September 15). ENA - Extinction Party. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td7CBNu0914

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MA Project Blog! Week 1: "Every Journey Has to Start with a Step!"

Hello there! My name is Kayla Owens. Please refer to me with She/Her pronouns. Welcome to my first MA blog post. Before I talk about my upcoming project, I would like to share some of my background. I achieved my undergraduate degree at Temple University under the Media Studies and Production major. It had always been a dream of mine to achieve my masters program, which is part of the reason why I decided to join the Plus One Program at Temple’s Klein College of Communication. 

One of my biggest goals for my MA project is to do something that I haven't done before. I am currently fixated on making a narrative video project called “BrainRot!” It will have the main theme of online community discourse as an entertainment forum and its effects on the world around us. I must admit, I am quite nervous about setting this to be my path to my masters degree. Is the premise interesting? Will I have enough research to support my claims? Do I have the ability to make a compelling story that matches my research? I want to make sure that I am able to bring a new idea or perspective. However, knowing that I want to push myself and try new things makes this entire journey exciting.

Out of all my previous projects, I think that “BrainRot” will resemble one of my previous works called “I Spent My Rent Money on Pixels and Polygons!”: An existential analysis on the relationship between Genshin Impact’s characters and selling tactics.” One of the core analyses on the gambling game’s effect on the community. I do like the section centering around the Theory of Cultivation, however, I do think that this paper wanted to cover too many topics within the subject. For my MA project, I will make sure to narrow the talking points. 

Sources:

Owens, K. (2023, December 11). “I Spent My Rent Money on Pixels and Polygons!”: An existential analysis on the relationship between Genshin Impact’s characters and selling tactics.