Game for Change

The Dyslexic Mage: http://philome.la/grahamof6/the-dyslexic-mage

                I chose to make a game about dyslexia because my wife is dyslexic. Her case isn’t too severe, but I have seen how it affects her schooling and more often how it affects her confidence. You see, I come from a family of readers, and even though my wife is incredibly smart, she has spent a large portion of her life avoiding too many books. Family conversations about this book and that make her feel out of place, not to mention anytime she has to read in a public or classroom setting. As I said, her case is rather mild, and yet my wife’s dyslexia has significantly shaped her life. I was very interested in building a game that not only simulates dyslexic reading but also demonstrates the social and emotional pressures experienced by those with dyslexia.

                I consulted my wife to learn more about the frustrations and worries that students with dyslexia often feel. Keeping in mind Chimamanda Adiche’s lecture on the single story, I also opted to search out other sources to learn about the causes of dyslexia and possible ways to simulate dyslexic reading. I learned a lot about the neural operations of dyslexia from a Yale article that talked about the more complicated process of “decoding”. In short, the article explains that “coded” messages, written and viewed in text form usually take a short journey to the part of the brain that can decipher them. The dyslexic brain however, passes the “coded” text through a few more parts of the brain, giving the letters different structural and even spatial references. This more arduous “decoding” process can cause words and letters to move or warp on the page as well as confuse the separation of phonemes or sounds within words. I then found a dyslexia simulator on PBS.org that replaces vowels and consonants within a line of text and then offers a key to help the reader decode the phrase. This added measure of complexity doesn’t make the words impossible to read, but greatly increases the amount of work and widens the margin for error.

                After all my research and consultation I decided to make a game that people would want to play, but would eventually become frustrated with as the difficulties of dyslexia complicated commonly practical tasks. For that reason, I chose to write the story of a young mage on his or her first day of magic school. Who doesn’t want to go to a magic school? Well maybe it wouldn’t be so fun if you were dyslexic and you thought you were just dumber than everyone else. Some of the dyslexic simulations in the game are informed by the PBS.org “key” and “deciphering” mechanic, while others confuse words at the click of a mouse or present the player with only false pronunciations of words or phrases. I wanted to present a diversity of dyslexic simulations because the dyslexia itself is a rather diverse and complicated learning disorder. Hopefully may game doesn’t get too lost in magical worlds to relate the very real difficulties that dyslexics face all over the world. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/experiences/readexp1b.html

http://dyslexia.yale.edu/whatisdyslexia.html

World Building

Group: Emily McNey, Pepe Callejas Manzo, Jake Nelson, & Graham Walker

Julian Bleecker in his article Design Fiction states, “When something is “designed” it suggests that there is some thoughtful exploration going on.” He goes on to emphasize how imagination can expand when one seeks to physically design that world. In order to create a new world, we were forced to explore and define much more than we originally thought. Just by changing one event in history, we were required to project numerous differences socially, economically, politically, and so on in order to make the world seem authentic. Thus, we had source material from which we could truly make our imagined world come to life. Our new culture was born out of the ashes of a nuclear war in which Egyptian society survived and mixed aspects of modern technology with classical Egyptian ideology and culture.

Map of New Cairo

We as a group thought a descriptive and authentic-feeling artifact of this new culture would be some sort of damaged, rough copy of the new civilization’s city plans. As mentioned, the new Egyptians would be able to reverse engineer some technologies and retain certain skills, but we felt that (due to lack of resources) the new culture would revert back to papyrus and inaccurate drafting techniques. Thus, the map models itself after modern Cairo’s city structure, but presents certain changes and modern buildings in a rough style seen in early city plans. Logically, we used the outside sources of modern satellite images and older city plans for inspiration in creating the piece. Finally, we decided to maintain a sense of authenticity and label areas in a rough and corrupted form of Arabic as such a style would be more realistic.

New Cairo Original Plans

Modern Cairo

   Example of 18th Century Novgorod Plan Style

Desert Wear

We wanted to incorporate clothing into our project because of the unique perspective it would bring. This society, a dystopian world that decides to model its government after the inspiring success of the Egyptian empire, would have a very distinct blend of wasteland survivor and ancient religion. Pulling from the costume design of such films as Mad Max, Star Wars, and the animated short The Oceanmaker, as well as iconic tropes of Egyptian fashion, we created a mask that incorporates both worlds. It is practical in its use of keeping sand out of your mouth, but is adorned with Egyptian design made from broken pieces of lost technology.

Made From A Computer Motherboard and Linen

Model Wearing Mask

Prayer to Pharaoh

As we decided on the history and details of our fictional culture, we had to focus on creating items that properly represented this society. This particular creation is cross between the Islamic call to prayer and a fascist propaganda program. New Cairo’s self-proclaimed Pharaoh has commanded the universal worship of the Egyptian Pantheon, a theology that reveres the Pharaoh as deity himself. Spreading a gospel of quiet subjection and unquestioning devotion, the Pharaoh perverts the established order of Islam into a hybrid pseudo-religion that combines the form of the Islamic faith with the content of ancient belief. Navigating the slippery slope of religious and political correctness was challenging, but the involved process of design pushed all of us to create unique and thoughtful pieces that not only represent our fictional world but the aspects of reality that inspired us in the first place.

Wall Mural

Every time human being have inhabited a place, they feel the necessity to create art. This forms of art are usually related to the religious beliefs, history and the social environment.

The first piece illustrates what happened before new Cairo was established, and combines Egyptian symbology and modern technology, the snake representing Apep, the evil spirit of destruction and darkness.The snake is placed right next to the image of a nuclear explosion which as we know is also a symbol of destruction and death.

Both paintings are a representation of the most important aspects of this society, both religious, political and ideological.

Some of the inspiration behind the paintings are the Marsh scene tomb of menna and the facsimile of the Egyptian book of the dead.

Webspinna Battle

                In our Webspinna Battle, the theme of Space and Earth (with a heavy emphasis on gravity) was used to essentially convey the power and inevitable nature of our humanity. Though we as a race have achieved great things that seem to transcend the bound of our Earth and even nature,  it seems Earth will always pull back and exercise dominance. Though we challenge nature in many ways, its power over us is amazing. The many different sounds of nature at the beginning of the battle are overtaken by the count down and rocket launch as mankind seems to conquer his environment. This is a victory though as man reached the climax of his voyage, the earth pulls back and inevitably brings man back down to the surface. This battle between man and nature is ongoing, and the silliness of it was symbolized by the track Space Tree (by Medium Troy) which asks if man will simply plant a tree on their space ship and watch the world burn. Man is not evil, but we do exist on a beautiful planet that should not be taken for granted. Though man achievements are great, the earth is our home and we should not abandon it in anyway.

                In order to relate specific themes for our project we had to draw upon some prescribed perceptions and connections made popular by the work of others. For example, consider the interplay of our piece that focuses upon the harmony and discord of Earth and human ingenuity. Forgoing the obvious connections between our project and actual events in aerospace history there exist other references from which we drew principle inspiration. From the simple build of our astronaut costume, loosely inspired by Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, to the actual act of our performance which portrayed a separation and a reunion visually inspired by Fantasia and a whole host of other cartoons so accurately structured to relay information through movement and position. The inspiration that developed our project is a product of decades of media exposure and personal navigation of particular texts. There were a thousand different angles from which we could approach our chosen theme, yet we selected a particular combination of elements and ideas that reflect our own artistic experiences. As Lethem stated in The Ecstasy of Influence, “one’s voice isn’t just an emptying and purifying oneself of the words of others but an adopting and embracing of filiations, communities, and discourses.” We proudly reconfigured concepts made familiar to us by other artists to create a unique experience reflective of our own navigation of the themes we find most appealing.   

Textual Poaching

 This is Farrah Fawcett in 1976. 

She is beautiful.

 This is my wife Kaydee. She doesn't know her husband is taking her picture. 

She is beautiful.

This is what you get when you combine their beauty. 

 It is an abomination.

I chose male heterosexuality as the subject from which I would draw personal experience and navigate a chosen piece of art. Now heterosexuality is a broad topic with many conventions and ideas bound within it, so to simplify things, I chose to focus on the aspect of attraction.  For the purpose of my writing, I will refer to those things that are attractive as beautiful, I understand beauty is another word with a wide range of interpretations, but regarding it’s use in this paper we will only consider it as a identifier of an attractive form.  For form and shape are really the foundations of attraction. The mold of nose or the proportion of a body can often separate those widely considered to be beautiful from those less commonly regarded as such.

With an established perspective I began to search the world of art predating my birth for some representation of a beautiful woman. Let’s just say I had options. I chose however to study the 1976 “Red Swimsuit” photo of none other than Farrah Fawcett. I chose this piece in particular because of its iconic nature and my familiarity with the same poster I had often viewed on my older brother’s bedroom wall.  The photo itself is beautiful; Farrah wasn’t an actress/model for no reason. I don’t feel the need to explicitly detail everything that makes her attractive; but thin, straight teeth, and bathing suit ought to cover most of our bases. I don’t think male heterosexuality is that complicated.

My next task was to manipulate the photo in some way to relate my own navigation of the piece. I didn’t want to create something shallow or disrespectful, physical attraction is founded in the appeal of shape and form but I figured there are better ways to reveal understanding than circling those shapes and forms that draw the eye more than others. I decided to combine the beautiful image of Farrah Fawcett with an equally beautiful image I see everyday; my wife. After snapping a photo of the missus when she wasn’t looking, I left to makes prints of both Farrah’s and my wife’s photos.  Here is where we return to the concept of shape and form. Both Farah and my wife are beautiful women, understandably Farrah’s photo is quite posed and contrived and my wife’s photo is much more natural and relaxed. Each woman is completely unique in shape and form.  I chose to marry the two images of beauty by dismantling the beautiful shapes of Farrah Fawcett and reassembling them within the beautiful form or silhouette of my wife. The resulting combination is nothing short of a monstrosity.

Applying the shape of one to the form of the other ruins the beauty of both. For attraction, I believe, is largely developed from the idea of comparison. Which girl is prettier and why, and so on and so forth. In completing my project I came to realize the ugly nature of comparing beauty. What shapes and forms make one person beautiful, don’t necessarily apply to others. There may be conventions of attraction, and perhaps they are just as natural as they are a product of society, but I do believe much beauty will go overlooked if it isn’t perceived in the context of it’s individual shape and form. Much like in Jenkin's How Texts Become Real, the reader of a text or beauty holds some amount of power to bestow value upon people and characteristics he or she find appealing. I think such regard for people should be considered most carefully before evaluating the worth of a subject.

Medium Specificity

                I knew I wanted to build a diorama for this project but I honestly didn’t know if the popularly educational medium would be passable as art. Following Scott McCloud’s lead I first sought to define the medium before approaching it any further. To my surprise, the word diorama can be used to describe a whole host of displays from the classic miniature environments housed in shoeboxes to collections of household items arranged in neat exhibitions. The first dioramas weren’t even three dimensional, they were scenes painted on transparent film that could be manipulated by moving the source of light by which the display was viewed. The dictionary’s definition lacked specifics and it became a messy business trying to create a definition that truly encompassed everything that a diorama is, and everything it definitely isn’t. After some considerable effort I arrived at a definition I believed was sufficient. A diorama is a static display of elements arranged in a coherent collection.

                Now I understood my medium it was time to produce art. I wanted to challenge the definition of diorama by somehow doing everything a diorama is supposed to be but adding or removing something that could possibly disrupt the identity of the medium. I chose to manipulate the coherence of the piece. Every diorama I researched, in any shape or form, was always a display of some collective concept or idea. Whether it was battle scenes, animal habitats, or ancient relics every diorama is made of individual elements connected to one another by an overarching idea. I decided I would stage a scene that was easily recognizable, a classic diorama if you will. In the case of my piece, I chose to replicate a safari scene with two lions stalking a zebra. All elements would be particularly arranged to create a single and cohesive identity for the piece, then, I would ruin it.

                First I made everything white. From the grass in the display to the animals themselves, everything would be stripped of color. Usual painted backgrounds would be rendered blank and the false depth of field would be eliminated. It may seem an odd comparison but I drew my initial impression of the stark white display from the Mocking Jay Part 2 posters that showed their characters arranged in full color before a white throne and blank background. But just painting everything white doesn’t challenge the cohesiveness of the piece; it is after all, still a safari scene with two lions and a zebra. I then began to label each element of the piece with completely unrelated words and symbols. I was creating something else with my labels; I was forming new identities for every element in the display and therefor challenging the idea that connects them. I didn’t choose words like “capitalism” or “war”, because some words are charged with more meaning than is prescribed in their definition. I wanted to bombard the recognizable scene with unrelated nonsense that leaves the viewer still searching for the cohesive concept that unites them.  

Historical Story

Group Members: Nathan Tanner & Graham Walker

Link to script:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzlAYWykvgltZDdObXpXMGtkUFk/view?usp=sharing

Our screenplay explores the events and discussions surrounding the inception of the real-life vigilante group; the Baldknobbers. Born out of the lawlessness of post Civil War Missouri, the Baldknobbers were primarily Northern men focused on securing justice against ex-Confederates who murdered, robbed, and abused the prospering Union settlers. Information regarding these vigilantes and their exploits was scarce. We drew heavily from Gerry Darnell’s, Bald Knobbers: The Ozark Vigilantes and Kathy Weiser’s historical commentary Legends of America. Piecing together the information concerning the group’s key players and infamous methods we decided to paint a narrative that introduced the Baldknobbers as well as comically explored their true to life transformation from vigilante band to oppressive mob.

Generous liberties were taken to mold our story into a succinct and engaging exposition that scrutinizes the corruptive character of power but still somewhat genuinely describes legitimate facts. Nat Kinney, was in fact the founder and leader of the Baldknobbers. His name, and many others that we used for the script were borrowed from history. The real Baldknobbers actually met on the tree-bare, Missouri hilltops to negotiate and plan their acts of justice. To facilitate the concept of blind ambition and the blatant disregard for consequence that eventually lead to the Baldknobbers dissolution, we decided to write Nat as the embodiment of misguided enthusiasm and the majority of the assembly as the bloodthirsty simpletons. Choosing to frame their exchanges in a more humorous light, we decided upon writing one character, James, to be the straight-man. He is the only level-headed, educated brain in the bunch. Much like NBC's The Office, our screenplay portrays the ridiculous majority interacting with their energetic leader whilst a few sober characters look on in disbelief.

Our portrayal of the first Baldknobber meeting is a historical caricature similar to one of our readings from last week entitled, The Veil. This text uses the superimposed titles to tell the simple facts and uses pictures and comic dialogue as a critique and caricature of the events portrayed. We used a similar technique, with superimposed title and end cards to give the simple facts about this historical group. During the portrayed meeting, we have a representation of what it might have been like to witness such an interesting gathering. Of course, we threw in a comical twist and we took a few creative liberties, but that is what makes it art! The author of The Veil did the same thing and it makes the message and story more clear and persuasive. It was a joy to take these pieces of history and give them new life in this script! We hope you enjoy it.

Weiser, Kathy. "Missouri Legends The Fierce Missouri Bald Knobbers."Legends of America. N.p., Sept. 2009. Web. Feb. 2016. <http://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-baldknobber.html>.

Darnell, Gerry. "Bald Knobbers: The Ozark Vigilantes." Bittersweet. Springfield-Greene County Library, n.d. Web. Feb. 2016. <http://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/su79e.htm>.

Process Piece

Group Members: Jase Van Meeteren, Catherine Santos, & Graham Walker

For our project, we decided to use the form of an autobiographical documentary to express a complex process. The process of our project was that of social anxiety. It was inspired by thoughts or actions that we, or more specifically, Jase, has experienced in his life. We wanted to capture a real life situation and translate it into an audio form. Because of the nature of this process, it being almost entirely in the thoughts of another person, we had to recreate the situation with a simulated performance. There aren’t many ways to document human thought other than voice over; so we staged the vocalized thoughts of the subject by recording them in a controlled setting. In this manner, performance further developed our project into something more than a simple autobiography.  We felt that the he personal content of the process and the complexity of the idea could be conveyed most simply through a staged yet genuine reenactment of actual anxious thoughts.

                A major focus of our project was the genuine intimation of anxious feelings. The film Inception proved to be a great source of inspiration concerning the reflection of character anxiety in sound. In a critical scene in the film, Cobb tries to persuade Robert Fisher to trust him.  While the two are talking at the hotel bar, the background noise is faint and slowly gets louder throughout the scene.  During the conversation, when the people talking in the background are the loudest, a champagne glass shatters and distracts Cobb with memories of his past.  This is the moment when the conversations in the background are completely silenced, causing a heightened sense of anxiety.  It is this stark contrast that creates an emotional reaction in the audience.  In our audio process, we recreated this technique with a crescendo of sound by increasing the layers of voice audio, amplifying the amount of anxiety felt.  When the noise silences and the tension is released the listener is jolted by the by the abrupt change. As our anxious subject finds renewed peace in his isolation, the audience is treated to the comfortable quiet of his liberated mind.

                Since our process had to be fabricated to properly relate the idea of the piece, we had to construct our own version of the beginning, middle, and end to social anxiety. In the case of our process, we chose to document a choice of isolation and detachment. The process begins with the subject’s self-conscious thoughts and develops as he is admitted into a social gathering that further stresses his anxious mind. As he spends more time in the awkward situation; the craze of his worried mind quickly escalates until the subject is overwhelmed. Opting to leave the gathering than suffer more anxiety, the subject completes his trial by alienating himself from others. Like Borup’s My Mom the Taxidermist, not every attempt ends in success. Sometimes the beauty of the piece lies in the process rather than the product.