Fireside Chat

You think you know people after a semester with them. You have seen their work, watched them fight each other to sound effects, and heard them reveal intimate and personal beliefs and stories in front of the class, but I learned after the fireside chat there was still much to know.

More than a simple bonding experience for the class, this final assignment of ours was very effective in teaching a number of lessons. First of all, I spent a large number of hours practicing, teaching, and orchestrating my song. For the entire week prior, I was a nervous wreck. When I got to the actual event, however, and saw the others perform as well, I realized we were all in this together. Though that realization didn’t get rid of all my nerves, it certainly took much of the load off my shoulders. I felt among friends. It really is interesting to see the transition we all went through, starting as sort of hostile to each other trying to show how good or smart we were. Now there is much more of a feeling of collaboration.

As far as my own personal process for preparing a fireside chat, this was the hardest I had worked on something in a good while. The nervous wreck mentioned above spent weeks putting the song together. The song meant very much to me, so I wanted to get it as near perfect as possible. Witnessing it all come together and being successful was very satisfying, but even more humbling.

The song is from the perspective of society personified. People today, including myself, are often self-absorbed with an exaggerated sense of self-entitlement. “America is the greatest country on earth!” and, “I’m an American, so I am the best!” are words often found on the tongues of today’s citizens of the United States of America. These same people often sit lazily doing nothing while talking about how great they are, or complaining about how it’s not fair that others are doing better than they are. This is a rut I have fallen into from time to time, and it is an embarrassing way of thinking. The song’s point is to remind everyone, from anywhere, that it doesn’t matter where you came from as long as you work hard and aim to please more than your own selfish desires. Focusing on others will make the world’s citizens truly great.

Another element that expressed a belief I have was the use of buckets and wine glasses over conventional instruments. The point of this was that music, or art in general, can be found anywhere; it doesn’t have to be created by experts to be beautiful. Half of the people I had helping had no musical experience or training, yet they still played beautiful and meaningful music. There is more music than what is on the Top 40. My favorite music has always come from those less known by the world because they are more free to do what they want. They don’t make much money, so their songs are full of passion and emotion. I want people to search for this type of music.

Overall, this experience was something I will unlikely ever forget. The emotions I felt and lessons I learned will stick with me throughout my life. Thanks, everyone, for an incredible evening and an incredible semester.

Concerned Citizen

Video Link:
https://youtu.be/64F419z8dZ4

There is a line from the article, “Human Rights and Culture: from Datastan to Storyland” that resonated throughout the creation of our documentary. The text reads, “The antidote to a culture that equates security with conquest and punishment is a culture that prizes connection and creativity.” Though the living conditions in Provo, Utah are not as extreme as some mentioned by the article, this is still an important statement.

Connection and creativity and how those elements can positively affect society, was the focus of out film. There are many small groups of subcultures that most do not even know, or at least think about. One such group is the BYU Y Serve Scenic View Team, and especially the group they help. Becoming a young adult when one has been a child their entire life is a difficult transition for anyone, but for those with autism, this is even more true. This group of BYU volunteers helps these young people by helping them, participating in activities, and simply being their friend.

This group is one that meets frequently -- it is not a simple annual service project, but those involved are committed to creating a connection between themselves and those they are serving. Having spoken with one of the program directors, we were able to get a sense of how driven the program is to helping these people and how much care and love there actually was for their service. Revisiting the quote mentioned in the introduction, life can be cold. People with autism can be misunderstood by the public and even family, and are at times met with harsh consequences. The friendships made by this groups efforts are a small service that is a wonderful example for the rest of the world when it comes to treating neighbors. With examples of creativity and connection such as this, the fight against the harsh nature of many societies.

“Serving doesn’t have to be a chore or a task. It doesn’t have to be one of those things your dad drags you to first thing in the morning to go rake someone’s leaves. It’s super fun.” This attitude from the group’s director is a great example of what sort of mindset can change the world. If entire societies were able to say, believe, and apply the ideas referred to in this quote, the world would be much more accepting. These service providers do not have to be there. They are not obligated to help at this service group, but they come anyway because they want to make a difference in the world.

Game for Change

http://philome.la/SchindlerFoReal/can-you-make-it-through-without-offending-anyone/play

As exemplified in the Twine game, “Depression Quest,” video games can be a platform for spreading useful information and sparking change. The game takes the player into the life of a depressed person, allowing them to better understand the struggles of that illness. Video games are often depicted as monsters in the media because they are all violent and full of gore, but such reports are misinformed. Video games, like any other art platform, can be a medium through which to provoke change.

We live in an age where society is trying to better itself through increase in equality. Once we no longer see race, gender, or any other physical difference, we will all be equal. Unfortunately, we are not perfect and still looking to find the right balance that will lead to the desired result. Some people still struggle to treat others equally, and others go too far in the other direction. The game I created focuses on the latter.

The article, “How fear of offending has trumped freedom of speech among today’s young people” by Jenny Bristow, (http://theconversation.com/how-fear-of-offending-has-trumped-freedom-of-speech-among-todays-young-people-36392) explains the point my game is attempting to make. “Can You Make It Through Without Offending Anyone?” is a self-explanatory title of a game that attempts to help the player understand just how far some people go not offend. It also exemplifies how easy it is to offend someone in this day and age. The aforementioned article delves into this subject admitting that youth are much more conscious of racial and cultural sensitivity, but are offended by the slightest of unsettling images or harsh words. People are growing soft and overly sensitive to the point that it is affecting our nation’s freedom of speech.

An opinion contrary to popular belief today is setting a stage for an angry audience. The world begins to miss out on some valuable new points of view because of fear of offending those who may disagree. They don’t want to show up as the next bigot on the next Huffington Post article. The New York Times article, “Trump, Obama, and the Assault on Political Correctness” contains a quote from President Obama that adds to this argument, “I’ve heard of some college campuses where they don’t want to have a guest speaker who is too conservative. Or they don’t want to read a book if it has language that is offensive... I don’t agree that you, when you become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected from different points of view.” This is the exact point my game is trying to get across. The energy spent getting offended or trying not to offend shelters people from what could be a great learning experience.

The point of this game is not to argue that we should never strive to be politically correct or never worry about offending someone, quite the opposite. What we say should be uplifting and contribute something worthwhile to the conversation. The article, “Civilities: The current rage about ‘political correctness’ is both wrong and rude” offers a fair counterpoint to those completely against political correctness. It reminds again to be careful of extremes. Derogatory terms for any group of people should be avoided. People should not be able to say anything. If ruffling some feathers is what it takes to express one’s educated opinion, it should be done.

Once we stop worrying so much about who we offend, we will make a large stride toward society’s goal of equality. Only once we stop worrying so much about being equals and looking past differences, will we be able to actually achieve this goal.

World Building

Backstory: During our generation there was a nuclear war that devastated the planet and left the newly born affected with sickness and deformity, provoking society to turn its respects to its eldest generation. Old is a sign of health, prosperity, and beauty in this world. The elderly make the decisions and are glamorized like celebrities.

Fashion:



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Artist's Statement:

There is a lot to be learned from this assignment. First of all, (Dean Duncan would be proud of this observation) our environment caused us to come up with a back story. We had to understand our circumstances in order to understand the world that we are creating. It was very relatable to the movie we watched in class »La Jetee«. They created a world and an environment that drew us in and made us a part of it.

        We did make ourselves part of this world. While, yes, we were only able to create things that  we have seen or experienced, we were able to arrange them in a way that was new and tailored for our new environment. This, in a way really blurred the line between science fiction and science fact. We had to ask ourselves questions that sometimes we never asked before to enter into this new world. Questions such as: »If I was driving down the freeway, what would I see?« »Would they really wear that?« or the  occasional »would this be believable?«. What makes this even more interesting is that we all have our own vision on what this world would be like to us. We all might not be able to see things from the same angle as someone else however, it could be a wonderful thing.

        This project really stretched the imagination in this way by taking us out of this reality and thinking critically about the environment around this particular situation. What gave this world an even greater depth was the fact that it wasn't just one person's interpretation of the world, it was four collective imagination’s collective brain baby. This makes the world that we imagined complex. The complexity comes from a cumulation of ideas coming into a collective whole. It's just like movies and a quote that I’m pretty sure comes from Walter Murch which says that “each production element is someone’s artwork. If the scenic designer was having a bad day, it will show by things on the set ect. ect.”

        In Dean’s class we also learned about milieu narratives where a character is made round (or given depth) because of the environment. In this way what we are creating is a product of the Milieu. We are giving anyone who lives in this environment a story to tell. We are giving them a similar background at a particular time.

        Creativity, as a collective project, is a very interesting concept that, obviously shown here, shows that we can create worlds and new environments based on our own ideologies and circumstances. The payoff of which seems very rewarding.

Webspinna Battle

It’s an intimidating thing, going up in front of one’s entire class and their families and friends dressed as cartoon characters while pretending to fight with each other. This project was much different from anything else in the film program, and because of that we were able to develop some talents that we otherwise would have never been able to.

The project combined the use of sound effects, costume design, and acting to tell a story. Since these elements are not part of the norm as directing, cinematography, or screenwriting are, it forced us to be more creative. By using the lessons from this exercise, the creativity of the media we create in the future will be more rich and well rounded because we have learned to think about other elements as storytellers.

The webspinna battle also brought up questions in regards to plagiarism and its sometimes confusing lines. Every sound we used was created by someone else. The look of our costumes were arguably a rip off of Pokemon. If these sounds and costumes were used together as a way to create a new, original story, is it still plagiarism? After creating this battle and watching others, it seems they are a completely new work of art. Much like textual poaching, we used elements of other media to create something completely new. Our Pokemon battle used familiar and new characters while adding an original story. The example of Bob Dylan in the article, “The Ecstasy of Influence” by Jonathan Lethem describes this point well as he used lines and stories from other authors in order to create songs with deeper meaning.

Not only were the costumes and the sound originally created by other people, but elements of the story we acted out are also present in the Pokemon television series as well as the games. Disobedience is depicted in the show by the main character having a pokemon that doesn’t respect him. This leads to contention between the two. Our battle used elements from that story, but ultimately created something original by adding in modern elements with texting and putting in headphones to listen to music. The mixture of modernism with the popular show creates media that most people can connect with.

The Webspinna Battle itself is a creative media where our creations and combinations of other media make something original. The combination is something that shows how pokemon and other elements can mix together to create something fun and interesting.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12A58FeV4kr0ogy-ZLHFhE5fc8DZ9mQmSSNKFDOQ-zGM/edit?usp=sharing

Fat White People

Lately, society has turned its focus to how different races, genders, and cultures are portrayed in media. Most of today’s people would argue the group they belong to has been sighted in some way regarding their portrayal in media. The Oscars’ lack of African American award nominees is the most recent example of this, as it quickly became the theme of the show. While breaking down stereotypes and striving for total equality among human beings is a fantastic and worthy goal that all should work toward, we need to stop being so oversensitive, or we’ll go too far in the other direction. My submission to the textual poaching assignment pokes a bit of fun at this idea.

I belong to the group of people who have the absolute least to complain about. That’s why my piece is a complaint. It is an argument for the demographic of the white, lazy, fat male, to which I belong. We have been misrepresented in media. White men in movies are almost always strong, confident, and with striking good looks. If an actor does not have these qualities, they will most likely be in a comedy. They will be the fat guys in little coats who flop their way to accidental victory. My drawings ask, why must this be? Why can’t our super heroes and romantic heart throbs be lethargic and unattractive? I bet a clumsy, overweight man would be much more likely to fall into a toxic waste spill than Ben Affleck anyway.

The answer to these questions, of course, is because that would be ridiculous. Overweight people should exercise, and white males have had no atrocity happen to them that any other person on Earth hasn’t had to deal with at 500 times the intensity. The point is, society is much better off than we have ever been, yet we complain more than ever. This was the long-winded way to explain the thought process behind my corpulent subjects. It is true that most white men in action or romantic films are beautiful people, so I went to the opposite extreme by taking famous characters: Captain America, Patrick Swayze from Ghost, and Neo from The Matrix, and making them obese. I highlight a stereotype of the white male group to which I belong.

Just like the examples in “How Texts Become Real,” I represent famous movie and comic book characters in a cartoonish, and extreme way because I believe seeing them as fat people would be funny. The people in the passage also rewrote episodes to Star Trek in the way they wanted because they liked it. The fact that I identify more with the drawings rather than the actual characters I portray makes it more personal, but I am not offended by their original forms. The “rewriters” of Star Trek were not doing so because of an issue, and most of the work I make is with the same mentality. These drawings stray from that norm and attempt to recommend the same mentality, at least for some artistic works.

We have made huge strides toward equality, and we continue to make them everyday. Of course there are still some wrinkles to iron out, but overall, life is much better in 2016 than it ever has been. I believe as long as we treat everyone else we meet as equals, we will be fighting inequality in the best way possible.

Medium Specificity

Comedy, A Comedy

Let’s see. What is the funniest way I could start this paper? I need something short, but hilarious or the rest is going to completely bomb. Should I try to be edgy? No, this is BYU. I could always start off with a Harry Potter joke. Everyone here goes crazy over those. I’m pretty sure you have to wait until people know who you are before you can start selling out, though.

Maybe I’ll check my phone. There has to be a good opening liner somewhere in this mess of the thousand jokes I’ve written. I don’t even remember writing half of these. “Cowboy poetry guy?” What does that even mean? “Blue Cheese paint?” Why? Ah! I just saw one, but I can’t find it anymore. Where is it?! It’s too late. It’s gone. Oh wait, there it is! Never mind, that isn’t any good either.

How can I expect to write a paper about comedy if I can’t even think of one good opening line? Maybe I should just write something serious, but that would be even harder. Too bad I’m awful at painting, or else I could just paint a bunch of shapes and call it abstract art, saying things in my artist statement like, “This purple rectangle represents taking a stand against society’s norms;” or “Together, each shape and color tells a story, yet each section of the canvas tells its own.” If I don’t feel like coming up with another BS story, I could just say, “Oh the green triangle? That represents something very personal to me and I don’t feel comfortable sharing it.” No one would even question me. Is that comma the correct punctuation to put in the title, or should that be a semicolon? Okay, focus.

I could start off sarcastically:

Since I’m hilarious, I figured I might as well write about my process of coming up with comedic genius.

That’s not very good.

Or I could take on a mock-serious, historical documentary-like tone:

In the harsh, unforgiving streets of modern Sandy, Utah, one must learn to survive or die. Every day is a fight, a struggle just to make it to the next day. This fight does not include guns nor knives, but rather wit. Daniel Schindler, born February 28th 1992, grew up in the heart of this brutal war, and after making it out alive, he must now share his comedy tactics to save the thousands of others in need.

That last sentence gave off a Lord of the Rings feel for some reason. Oh well; it isn’t bad. I’ll use it as a place holder until I think of something better. I’m also not a fan of “nor knives” in that third sentence. Feels awkward. I’ll figure it out. It’s been two hours and I still can’t decide on the opening line. I need to start moving on.

I really want to include that one joke about accidentally asking a deaf person if it was hard to learn Braille. That might not be funny either though. I could also include the screenplay ideas I have as examples. I could write about the one where a woman’s fear of Hawaiian pizza tears her relationship apart. Or I could write about the story of the two friends hanging out when a choking man bursts through their front door and immediately dies in their living room. Maybe I should just create a comedy screenplay about a comedy screenplay for the assignment.

This whole comedy paper idea might not be any good at all anyway. Won’t it seem cocky or pompous to claim myself good at writing comedy? If I start this paper, I had better make it tear-inducing, or all credentials as being funny will be gone and I’ll look like an idiot. Oh, Dad’s calling. Okay, I need to start writing. Kyle and Gabe are  probably waiting for me to start the movie though. I said I’d be done by six. I don’t really feel like watching Sharknado 3 again. I’ll just write this later. It isn’t due until next Tuesday anyway.

Artist Statement

The point of this written work is to comment on the writing process. In a very personal way, I attempt to explain what goes on in my mind while trying to write a good story or screenplay or any other form of writing, especially comedy.

Although the paper is written as a personal process, I believe the thoughts included are not unlike those many other comedy writers have when writing. Coming up with jokes can sometimes be assumed easy and that naturally funny people can crank them out at will. Professional comedians work hard for their jokes. Hours are spent thinking and observing in order to perform that one simple, three-second joke. This writing was meant to celebrate the hard work involved in making a person laugh.

Many comedians, even the successful ones, are very self-conscious. The thoughts I wrote down were meant to express that anxiety of wondering if people will think the hard worked lines were any good. This aspect of the writing was interesting to analyze. Through the assignment’s writing process, I included my actual thoughts throughout the paper. Many came across as self-conscious and unconfident, and it was interesting to see them on paper. They made the comedy less funny. I believe that is not an accident. It is most likely the reason comedians and comedy writers act confident and excited while performing or presenting their work. No one laughs at the sad clown. So the audience sees the confidence in the work, and assumes the naturally funny person simply came up with jokes from the top of his head.

This style of writing thoughts and thinking patterns, which act as the foundation for which ideas are born, pays an homage to the comic from class. The comic was about comics, all the different kinds, their history, and more, but all through a comic. This paper was meant to accomplish the same goal. Like the comic showed the real world of making comics in a different way, I attempt to demonstrate the real world of writing.

In order to express the fact that the words written were thoughts, they were written in italics. The words acting as what was being written in the “actual paper” were with normal font. The sentences written in the paper are also very scattered and unorganized. This was intentional because that’s how thoughts are. The actual organization arrives after being filtered onto the word processor.

Although the paper has its moments, it mostly lacks in humor, which may be surprising to the reader. If it were not written this way, and instead included a joke every other sentence, the writing would not have worked. It would not have been realistic nor a work of medium specificity. It was the best way I could think of to celebrate the realness and hard work that goes into writing comedy.