Reflection on "THE MACHINE STOPS"

 by E.M. Forster (1909)

How does this reading relate or reflect current times?

in the beginning of this story, the main character; the lecturer, mother of Kuno was quickly envisioned as socially uncomfortable. 

The excerpt -- “She knew several thousand people, in certain directions human intercourse had advanced enormously.” quickly establishes a connection between their world norms and social media, online relationships, internet sex workers and online classes like our own.

“…Be quick. Why could you not send it by pneumatic post?”” connected to how text messages reigning over face to face conversations, even over phone calls.

The long winded commented by her son Kuno saying, "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that. Great men, but men. The Machine is much, but it is not everything. I see something like you in this plate, but I do not see you. I hear something like you through this telephone, but I do not hear you. That is why I want you to come. Pay me a visit, so that we can meet face to face, and talk about the hopes that are in my mind.", mirrors how people hide behind their devices today. Machines have become new world Gods whom people worship and cannot live without.

“I dislike seeing the horrible brown earth, and the sea, and the stars when it is dark…” Besides environmental deficits, a pandemic has broken out that makes outside a less desirable place for many. Personally this is how I feel when I consider getting back on the subway trains. It has been 6 months.

“… and all the accumulations of the last three minutes burst upon her. The room was filled with the noise of bells, and speaking-tubes. What was the new food like? Could she recommend it? Has she had any ideas lately? Might one tell her one's own ideas? …” 

Technology demands our attention, and we become addicted to constant stimulation. The anxiety of not being on top of everything outweighs actual curiosity. The feeling of guilt or boredom overwhelms us and directs us right back to the noisy jittery device calling for its owner. A master slave relationship that goes both ways.

I personally related to this excerpt stating; “She made the room dark and slept; she awoke and made the room light; she ate and exchanged ideas with her friends, and listened to music and attended lectures; she make the room dark and slept.”. During this pandemic life seems to be a repetitive cycle of day and night passing by quite the same.

The more people believed in the power and necessity of the machine the more they did not believe in themselves. They made it the only logical solution to survival and began to worship and fear the Machine without full realizing it. The reestablishment of religion and the abolition were the two great developments towards to the unforeseen end of the machine. With that may have came the death of thousands, but the beginning of man reclaiming their status as true human beings.

Things to think about

• The concept of “ideas” that they speak so much about; getting and sharing them
• The “resemblance of a man” the comparison of objects to men.
• “Man is the measure” 
• The abolition of respirators.
• The re-establishment of religion. 
• The end of the machine

Blog Post : Fin

This semester was unlike any other. It started off great, with a lot of challenges, and just when things were finally going smoothly, a pandemic hit and everything changes. It sounds like the storyline for something like the Avatar. It was so hard to get used to online classes. Nothing was set in stone and things were changing every day drastically. It felt like I was going to have a great semester and the year was going really good too. I had so much planned and it feels like we jinxed ourselves by being too optimistic about the year somehow. The online classes took away the experience of really learning with classmates and making connections. Sometimes it was hard to be motivated about assignments even though I was excited and wanted to do them, procrastination hit hard. I went to Paris sick in January and came back sick. It lasted into early February. I was chronically sick. It wasn’t so serious that I needed to go to the hospital because I’ve always had respiratory issues so I was used to dealing with it till it ran its course. I wonder till know if my immune system was just weaker because it was winter or if it was COVID. But I don’t really care since I’m fine now, my immune system has been getting stronger since and I managed to get everything done for all my classes! *Woo hoo*

It was hard to record in the house. It was harder to focus and get into work mode. The first few weeks of the pandemic were really hard. I was anxious and afraid of my parents, friends and family going out to work still. I was worried about my boyfriend’s sick mom, and I was worried about myself with my trash immune system. But I quickly got rid of that fear by mediating and praying for everyone. I was better before my next therapist appointment so before she had the chance to make sure I was dealing with the pandemic fine, I let her know id handled it. 

I still really enjoyed the projects we did for class. I wish we could’ve had lecture in person but I like being able to watch the recorded classes after. I feel like we would have learned more if it was in person, but I also believe we actually gained more knowledge by working on our own and having no choice but to figure things out and use whatever resources we were left with. I hope that next semester things can run smoothly with no big interruption, but this experience definitely made me become more confident and resolute.

While I’ve been cooped up here I made a podcast so I hope you’ll check it out and let me know what you think! 

https://open.spotify.com/show/0qnKocwLggqDo7Pws4GnQj

Classmates free to follow me on Insta and keep in touch!  @B.cuphinata

Podcast -Anchor.fm

"DTF"

https://vimeo.com/418458087

She’s just not that excited about going out tonight... dtf means down to flop 

AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH MRCOOPA

https://soundcloud.com/bia-hdc/things-ppl-do

Story & Question Planning

 Story:

• I am going to interview Eric Cooper, a New York Graphic Designer with Trinidadian heritage. He is also my partner. 
• What story are you going to tell? I am going to tell the story of his creative journey and how he found what he loved and pursued it, and the things that happened along the way.
• What is the beginning, middle, and end of the story? The beginning: his interest, the middle: college and internships, the end: his career and aspirations or proud moments
• What larger themes does this story address? Believing in yourself and putting energy into the future you want

10 questions:

1.    What did you want to be growing up?

2.    How many times did you change your mind about what you wanted to do/be in the future?

3.    When did your hobby become more than just a hobby?

4.    Who influenced you to take risks for what you want?

5.    Who inspired you to do what you were doing?

6.    How did you deal with fear and anxiety?

7.    How did your friends or family support you?

8.    What do you wish you did differently?

9.    What would you do exactly the same?

10.What advice do you have for anyone that wants to be in the creative field?

Shot List Define A Space

This is the shot list for the 68 street subway stop for our Define a Place Project:

1. Close up- 68th street hunter college sign

2. Wide Shot of the train of arriving

3. Wide Shot of the train departing

4. Medium Shot of the people exiting the train

5. Medium Shot of the people entering the train

6. Medium close up of the mta box office

7. Close up of metro/ticketing machines

8. Wide shot of people swiping into the train station and walking out

9. Medium shot of people going up and down the stairs

10. Medium shot of the people waiting in the train station

11. Extreme close up of a card being swiped

12. medium shot of seated waiting area

Team Plot Development

The location that Nina and I have chosen to shoot is the 68th Street subway stop. We plan to film both the movement and stillness of the location. We want to capture the rush hour crowd when there are tons of people entering and exiting the subway and contrast it to the calm and quiet of the in between times. We want to shoot the trains coming and going, the growing crowds, the signs, the stillness of the seating area, the empty turnstiles and the mobbed turnstiles, the ticket machines, the departure and arrival time signs, the countdown of the train arrival, and the empty tracks. The video is themed after Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times and uses one of his silent movie soundtracks. it has a comical feel to it and shows the reoccurring flow of everyday life for commuters. 

The feelings we want to evoke are the anxiety and repetition caused by the commotion of the people moving through the subway station versus the tranquility of the emptiness of the subway station prior to their arrival. The story we want to tell is how one place can be the setting of such extremes by changing one factor: the people moving through it. I am excited to have the opportunity to also show the diversity of the area, with the different types of people at the subway stop, students, workers, the average commuter following their daily route through the city. Some challenges I anticipate are since the subway stop does get so crowded, the hectic atmosphere of the stop could interfere with some of the shots, the lighting of subway, the time of day influencing how many people are there, and getting all the shots we need in the time allotted. 

NINA x BIA Modern Times

Define a Space: Nina And Biancha from Nina Dixon on Vimeo

Artist Statement

As a student of life, I’ve experienced many forums of expression. I crave knowledge and I am always either asking questions or looking for answers. I came to college to study psychology and learn how to further that journey outside, on my own time. While I was doing just that, I realized I could make the most of my experience and study other things that I’m strongly interested in. I believe that the best way to learn is to have a foundation of knowledge and guidelines to start with. 

I am a double major, Film and Psychology. I’ll be graduating in spring 2021 with both degrees. From the ages of 16 to now, 22, I have been very keen on psychology and photography, myself being the center of the content I help create, i.e. modeling, styling, set design. When I entered college, my peers were confused by my decision to do psychology at hunter instead of fashion or film somewhere else. I’ve always tried my best to explain to everyone how everything came together in my head, the big master plan, but I never realized what the fatal flaw in all of it was. I’ve told myself that I need to go to school I need to learn in this specific environment in order to really gain experience and confidence to work on my film ideas on my own. I don’t lack creativity, that much I’m confident in, but I hesitate to take control and put myself out there unless I feel like I have the fundamental knowledge, which after my first year in hunter I decided I could build by taking a leap and becoming a film major. 

Things feel more fulfilling when you’re genuinely interested in what you’re learning and have plans for the future. But even with all those optimistic thoughts I had I still only realized now after being stripped of the thing I was so excited about and betting so much on do I see that I was being complacent. My learning experience does not start or stop in the classroom. And I was becoming too used to relying on a prompt or assignment to get work done. This has given me the push I needed and shown me that I need to be hungrier if I am really serious about this. 

When it comes to working on ideas and content, as a creative director I am eager to help everyone. 

I have to learn many skills and programs to be flexible and versatile because knowledge is power. 

When it comes to my own projects and passion, I sometimes experience fear and hesitate to ask for help, I was and sometimes still am afraid to not look confident among my peers, afraid to not put my all into my work. 
I am afraid to get stuck. I want to do many things; so I have put many things into action. 

I identify with the slash generation, or “slash-gen”, and my goal is to find ways to broaden the perspective of young entrepreneurs to show them that they can pursue multiple passions and create new careers for future generations. The point of it all, as vague as it can be is to incorporate my studies and my interests into a lifetime amount of work and creativity on numerous platforms...

What that means and leads to is all up to me.

-Biancha Hamlet