ROUND ROBIN COLLABORATION

 
     This assignment really put the idea of creativity into perspective. Creative writing classes often teach that nothing is truly ever “original,” because inspiration is gleaned from all over to help produce new ideas. It was fun to write small stories back and forth within our group, as we were eager to see what the next person was going to come up with. None of us could imagine our pieces turning out the way that they did, yet we were all very impressed with the short stories that were “telephoned” off of our initial ideas. 
     Some of us were nervous to see what people would think about our work, what would be added on, and if someone would go in a completely different direction than what was originally imagined. DJ Spooky states that “the remix, as always, is what you make of it. Juxtapose, fragment, flip the script—anything else, simply put, would be boring” (DJ Spooky). Collaborating with others fuels our creativity and pushes us to think outside of the box. It was really amazing how you could see the different personalities of the creators in each installment. A lot of the story remained cohesive within the series, but then some would take a wild turn and change the narrative in a surprising way. 
     When the first story was conceived, there was an infinite combination of elements that could create the next installment, and the path that was created by each artist is the perfect mixture of choice and chance. Each story went through a different order of people in the group. If the order had been any different, we would have gotten another collection. This project was the anti-auteur as we weren’t the only authors of these stories. Chance, order, what time of day we chose to write, what we had for breakfast, our interactions that day—these were all collaborators on a set of seemingly unaffecting stories that ended up representing all of everything. 
     Having a 20-word limit per story served as a kind of mediator for the project. Because of our restriction in this assignment, each word had to be carefully considered, and anything superfluous was cut. This allowed us to really focus on the plotlines and help us channel our creativity in that direction.
     This assignment had us step out of our comfort zones - our short stories were inevitably put together with our own personal thoughts and feelings, and we had to watch that story change on a fundamental level. This was a good thing because, after all, the nature of film lies in collaboration, and requires a filmmaker to do what we did in this assignment—let go of our personal biases and desires for our creative output, and revise and reimagine each other’s work to create something unique and special. 

Written by Rachel, Nathanael, Emily, Addison, and Morgan


                                                                    AT THE END



         They stood with an umbrella under the rain, not caring what came next on this their last day.


                                                                 Addison Hunsaker

   He was moving across the country for his rigorous career, his unplanned departure had made for a very heartbreaking atmosphere.

                                                                     Morgan Jones

He moved across the country to be with his beloved. This unplanned departure proved strenuous on his nearly depleted bank account. 

Nathanael King

He arrived in a new city: broke, jobless, depressed, and lost. He had to find her to make it worth it all. Yet, he had to wonder, had she gone through with the transformation? 

                                                                      Rachel Lawyer

     He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but she wasn't it. Didn’t matter though. They were finally together.

                                                                      Emily McNey 

MUSIC MOSAIC: A CITY IN RAIN

                                                           

      “Si Tu Vois Ma Mère” by Sidney Bechet immediately takes me to a place of twinkling lights, rainy afternoons, and the hustle and bustle of city life. The most prominent instrument, the saxophone, has a lazy interlude throughout the piece that beautifully juxtaposes the image of a rushing city in much the same way that rain does; you could almost say that the sound of the saxophone is personified into a soft, lethargic rain. The steady, heavy rhythm that permeates the background of the piece gives a sense of consistency and immortality, as if the city and the rain never stop breathing. Something so special about a city is that the architecture that makes up the scape and character rarely changes in structure or form. Rather than going backwards, cities build off of each other and consistently progress forwards. The architecture and culture become a combination of old and new, and the foundation never really changes. What could be a picture of a 19^th century Victorian home right after it is built may actually be a picture of that home in the 21^st century. A city keeps its integrity by maintaining the aesthetic of its history and people.

      Everyone sees differently. What inspired me to visualize a city in rain, may have inspired someone to visualize an ocean under the stars. The point is that we are inspired. We cannot let ourselves be restrained by trying to see a certain way... our creativity will fly out of the window and we will revert to seeing as others see, and who wants to do that . . . "I can't go out and try to see this way. I'll fail, I'll go mad. All I can do is try to gag the commentator, to hush the noise of useless interior babble that keeps me from seeing just as surely as a newspaper dangles before my eyes. The effort is really a discipline requiring a lifetime of dedicated struggle; it marks the literature of saints and monks of every order East and West, under every rule and no rule, discalced and shod. The world's spiritual geniuses seem to discover universally that the mind's muddy river, this ceaseless flow of trivia and trash, cannot be damned, and that trying to dam it is a waste of effort that might lead to madness" (Dillard). 

      With my collection of images, I attempted to represent the aesthetic of the song through the aesthetic of the photographs. A gloomy, rainy day in Salt Lake City was the perfect setting for my visual narrative of being a city girl for only a few short hours. Each photo should be viewed from the perspective of someone living in the city—perhaps commuting to work, meeting up with coworkers for a business lunch, or walking their dog. The muted hues of grey and white are contrasted with pops of warm blues, reds, and yellows to maintain the earthy tones that gloomy rain gives the world, whether indoor or outdoor. Each photo is contrasted with straight, parallel lines and curvy, windswept lines that attempt to epitomize the diversity of a city and the culture that is birthed within it. Rather than telling a consecutive, chronological narrative of the day that I spent in Salt Lake City, the photographs should exemplify the feeling of an everyday immortality that comes from a rainy world. The point is that this is a day just like any other, for any person, simply observing the world, quenching that curiosity of life in the rain, and relishing in the state of being contently alone.

Here is a link to the song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs_DD_7C8_A

THINKING AND WRITING: "SHERLOCK: THE ABOMINABLE BRIDE"

            The adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson have been impressively received since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first created the thrilling tales in 1887. Many adaptations have been created since then and each is as electrifying as the next. However, BBC’s highly rated TV-series Sherlock—staring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman—has taken the archetypal mystery and detective narrative to entirely new heights through its modern depiction and brought about a fandom that rivals that of Dr. Who. In the most recent Christmas TV-special “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride,” Sherlock and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890’s London solving a crime about a murderous bride-ghost. Although the episode takes place a hundred years prior to Benedict Cumberbatch’s modern Sherlock and is filled with costuming and set designing that is highly representative of London in the 1890’s, “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride” maintains its modernity through its social commentary on women’s rights, and through the brilliant interpretation of the classic, yet originally modern characters that brought around the Sherlock fandom in 2010.

            One of the most prominent textual characteristics of the Sherlock series is the set production and its modern references to the classic Sherlock mysteries. Creators Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat did not hold back when it came to minuscule, but brilliant detail. Whether it is the slipper filled with tobacco, a dagger driven into a pile of hand-written letters, or a stain-glass window with five orange pips as the design, these minor details have enticed audiences and kept them engaged in the brilliance of the writers and crew. While all of these little set articles are typical of Sherlock’s modern world, bringing these same articles to 221B in 1890’s London with a Victorian twist maintains that modernity that the creators strived for with this Christmas special. There comes an interesting cohesion between Victorian and modern as the two sets unite as one, creating a 221B fit for the 1890’s while maintaining those same characteristics that fans have grown to recognize and look for. While there is an obvious time lapse in setting, this episode preserves that modern world and goes to show that set-production and costuming cannot change or alter a timeless work of art.

            Furthermore, increasing the episode's modernity despite the time-hop, the creators chose to center the theme around a very prominent social issue during the 19^th century—women’s rights—but illustrate it according to our modern standards. The only character who truly shows signs of stereotypical 19^th century male superiority is Dr. Watson, who continually bosses around the landowner Mrs. Hudson, treats his wife Mary as an insubordinate, and refuses to do womanly duties such as speak to or order around the help. Martin Freeman’s portrayal of this type of character is meant to illicit an emotional restraint from the audience, which he does hilariously and wonderfully. The other characters, such as Sherlock himself, Mary, Molly, and Mycroft, are completely modern in their characterization and depiction. Mary, Dr. Watson’s wife, is hired by Mycroft to embark on a secret side mission to solve the crime before his brother Sherlock, while Molly cross-dresses as a man in order to perform as a highly intellectual and effective doctor; Sherlock admires the intelligence and capability of Lady Carmichael, and Mycroft is unapologetically on the side of the suffragettes, who turn out to be the schemers behind the ghost-bride that terrorize masochistic men. The entire episode makes a statement on the ridiculousness of Victorian era gender roles and illustrates the brainpower behind the women of the world, just as we view women today.

            This installment of the Sherlock series is nonetheless as brilliant as the rest, despite its change in scenery and setting. The success of Sherlock has been due to the incredible reception from a continually growing fandom, a fandom that inspires and motivates the creators to maintain the style and cleverness that is so characteristic of this modern depiction. Although it focuses on themes that have now become a tremendous archetype of the modern canon of literature and film and perhaps illustrates them in a modern light different to how it would have been portrayed during the late 1800’s, it maintains its modern feel despite the change in costuming and set design. Any screaming fan of Benedict Cumberbatch or Martin Freeman would not be dismayed by this change in scenery that is apparent in “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride,” neither would they be confused as to its placement in the Sherlock canon, for any story of the “high functioning sociopath” and his blogger roommate would be recognizable in any setting due to the brilliance and cohesion of the timeless world of Sherlock Holmes.