art, film, media, mobile, storytelling tara l. conley art, film, media, mobile, storytelling tara l. conley

Why vine is a perfect medium for comedy

vine-comedy-twitter-

Two words: Jump cut

In film, the jump cut, or abrupt transition from one frame to the next, functions like a quick, confusing, and incongruous utterance. The viewer is required to fill in the missing rationale or logic, although she doesn't realize it. In humor theory, incongruity theory describes "laughter in response to a perception of incongruity." The jump cut evokes humor, as seen on Vine, the popular short video mobile app with a growing number of aspiring and established comedians.

Because Vine is a short 6-second video platform that allows the user to manipulate time and space by pausing and dragging a scroll bar on a mobile screen, it's the perfect medium to evoke humor through incongruous--or (also conceptualized as) bizarre, queer, inappropriate, odd, discordant, contrasting, "ridiculous" imagery.

The jump cut transition, along with the cutaway is oftentimes a meta comedic device also found in the popular animated sitcom Family Guy.

So there you have it: The medium, in this case, Vine, is the message, humor.

https://vine.co/v/hL9nHAZrt5W

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art, Internet, storytelling tara l. conley art, Internet, storytelling tara l. conley

Aging in the Age of the Selfie #TheSelfieProject

Aging in the Age of the Selfie  

Looking at the lines on my face

through the iPhone lens

Drawn deeper, longer.

The curls on my head

lie heavy, grey.

Taking up the screen.

They move on their own now.

The camera's filter can't seem to catch a

glimpse of daddy's and mommy's face

in mine.

I am my own woman now.

My eyes appear

calm and dark.

They smile on their own.

I remember what Audre Lorde wrote in 'Change of Season'

She asks:

"Am I to be cursed forever with becoming somebody else on my way to myself?"

She continues,

"I have paid dearly in time for love I hoarded

unseen

summer goes into my words

and comes out reason."

I am trying to capture a sense of time in this selfie.

Still

unsure

where to locate change

on a digital

and aging face.

#TheSelfieProject

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art, education, imagination, storytelling tara l. conley art, education, imagination, storytelling tara l. conley

I'm from a black dot on a white canvas searching for rainbows

This is a multimodal piece I produced for my class in Culture, Media, and Education. I like fusing media and genres (written/spoken poetry, painting, digital video). Suites me quite well. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/20187343 w=398&h=224]

I am from long strokes of acrylic bent on canvas sky from blotches of black and blue mixed with white and reds I am from the taste of colors long forbidden Soul food, Black Foot, Irish-American.

I am from somewhere vague like shadows at noon from Negro seeds planted in the fields on hot southern days from an east coast milk truck named “Conley” for short. I am from somewhere whose love managed to give me life.

I am from hard fights and harder hugs from bedrooms of imagination filled with stories of magic carpets and gospel songs. I am from the house on 8th street where herbs grew in gardens instead of mangos.

I am from my mother’s eye Watching and waiting from her spirit longing to be free from the rainbow shirt that covered her belly with me inside.

I am from my father’s hands lost in the strokes of oily painted white mountains, from the heart he held to stop the attack, from hardened pale fingers I touched that were unfamiliar. From the shadow that moved curtains when it was over.

I am from an amalgamation of memories from a black dot on a white canvas searching for rainbows.

#culture #media #education #multimodality

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art, education, imagination, storytelling tara l. conley art, education, imagination, storytelling tara l. conley

I make videos about stories

This one is inspired by Ann Marie Fleming's illustrated memoir The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam. Fleming uncovers some of the mysteries surrounding her great-grandfather Long Tack Sam, a famous magician in the 20th century. She uncovers. I continue to search. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/19870165 w=398&h=224]

#storytelling #mixedmedia #spaceelsewhere

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