Assignment #3 Aesthetics and movies

1. Making a practical experience into an Aesthetic Experience

"Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction."
E. O. Wilson

As humans aesthetics can be found in everything we do. Aesthetics take the use of all of our senses. It is how we see and perceive the world.

On most nights I will  usually grab a cup of coffee and sit down at my desk with my lab top to get some of my school done. I usually arrange my computer mug on the right side of me with the lamp shining down on the key board this makes for easy access of everything. When I sat down to do my homework of the night, I knew this image was the one I needed to use, because of its repetition and ritual. This set up is visual pleasing for me. It allows my mind to be able to focus on the task at hand. To me having my work station set up in this manner is like watching a calming river. In times of stress and disorder it adds order and organization to my hectic life.  Even the room I am in is in a chaotic state, this buts organization to it. Emotionally it puts my mind in state of efficiency and motivation; some how making the work aspect not so bad. This is visual pleasing to me, so I would call it beautiful.  The set of of my laptop with all the items surrounding it is like looking at a front porch that  has been strategically arranged. Or like the arrangement of living room or bedroom furniture, everything as a purpose and place and is there for a reason. Even compared to nature, such as  a flower garden or vegetable garden, there is beauty in organization. Its like looking at a snow covered mountain top, moving down to the stream that flows downstream to the field at the foothills.There is symmetry and balance such as a ying and yang sign; giving this a circular flow.Its like seeing a sunrise, something that you expect to see everyday and is a reassuring thought. Once all of my work is done for the day I close my computer and turn the light off and return to life of chaos,but for those few hours I can set my mind at ease and concentrate on one task at a time.

2."Nessum Dorma"

This song defiantly took me on an emotional journey. As tempo and the rhythm of the music changed so did the tempo and the rhythm of my hand. The music somewhat cleared my mind. As the song progressed my mind was clear and still for a second, but then I started to reminiscence on memories from my recent past as well as child hood memories. I began to think about relationships that have evolved in my life. Relationships with significant people in my life that mean to the world to me, relationships that have come to an explosive end and everything in between. I began to think about how relationships define and shape a person and how we are constantly interweaving between each other. Thoughts that ran through my mind where "who would I be today had I never meet this person, what was the purpose of this relationship, and how I do miss some of the people that were once in my life." This music was so rich with different melodies built on top of each other, the instruments worked as a cohesive unit to make a finish product. I think this is how relationships are as well we are all the different melodies and instruments, everyone serves a purpose. This music took me to maybe a somewhat tranquil state, where at that moment I was content with everything in my life. Overall the music was very calming and soothing.

3. Establishing Shot

As cheesy as it may seem Ghost is my all time favorite movie!! Its like a rainy Friday, feel good, type movie. So I will use this as my establishing shot because I watch this movie at least once a month.

The movies establishing shot is with the camera going into a dark room, the only light that can be seen is through the dusty windows and crackers in the wall. Because the lighting is so dim you can barley make out what is actually in the room. The camera scans around the room and the viewer can see objects that appear to be some household items, chairs covered by  cloth some bowls ect. This room defiantly appears to be some kind of attic or something. I think this tells the viewer that this movie definitly has some dark undertones to it and that its not just going to be a fairy tell love story. It gives the viewer information to look out for later in the movie. This establishing shot is very important for setting the mood of the movie, it puts viewers in a certain state of mind. I also think that this establishing shot makes the movie more realistic, but at the same time mysterious for the viewer. This establishing shot in some ways depicts one of the main characters life in that eventually through a dark time the sun will begin to shine and peak through the cracks, it also kind of signifies that the light that appears after a person dies and is passing through into heaven.

Taylor Ferguson