our videos on youtube! awesome!!

It's done! On youtube
http://www.youtube.com/colorgroupeng569
Also going to submit to Scott later today before deadline.
I'm going to miss writing in my purple blog!!! Maybe I'll just have to keep blogging about purple.. there's so much to learn. Hm. My friend asked me if I'm sick of purple, and you know funny thing is, quite the opposite! I'm watching "the color purple" right now, great movie, def. recommend to everyone, its not directly about the color but its a metaphor for african americans.. the CD is purple though. Tried to get permission to add a bit of this but no luck. Watch me get the permissions like next week, haha. I'm glad I didn't put Barney in there. He is super creepy. I mean he's cute and all but people have nightmares about him, his voice is so weird. This is hillarious.. I wanted to interview my grandmother (didn't get to) because she loves purple, and she comes over the other day, and pulls a bit of her pants down to show me she has these crazy purple briefs on, like purple with flowers, it was awesome, and then she went and bought me a pair, she is sooo funny. I joked that I was going to film her in them.
I think all in all purple is a color of royalty and majesty. If I had to describe purple in single words it would be: royal. Regal. majestic. ancient. powerful. passionate. deep, intense
purple is truely ancient, and you know, purple is symbolic. it is a color for humans. to use. to interpret. to create with. to paint with. to produce short funny episodic films titled "purple". Never had a video on youtube so this is super cool. I feel famous. (haha) and I feel like I want to go out and buy a mac right now so I can have more fun with i Movie. Now the question is how do I get rid of this Vaio PC. (lol) and have a justifiable reason to buy a new one.. hmm... get the thinking cap on. wow I wish Mac's came in purple. oo I could get a purple cover or what not - a skin. I'm totally keeping this blog.. it's too much fun. I seem to keep having revelations , like I'll think a few things and start typing and the whole ordeal comes out and then I have a new idea. Like the Mac idea. Now I have a new plan. (scheme) But I don't know its a little spoiled of me because my PC is perfectly good. I mean it's not perfect, it keeps screwing up, and having some issues, but I paid like 2 grand for it and there is nothing really wrong with it. Icould go a while more with it. Oh but the macs are so pretty.. I so covet one. Never thought I would say that either. I think they are so smart to branch out into the educational realm, as this is the young generation (us!) and look I'm the product of this effect. I've been converted. And I was like a hard core I'll never get a MAC person. Now I used them in Denney and etc and it's like wow they are great. So nice and structured and convinient. Maybe we all just feel uncomfortable with new things, like it takes time to get used to new things.
It's only 630 and I'm rambling... I have a few goals today of what I need to do:
1) go to work, meeting with boss
2) Scott ~ purple project, submit, this will be around 3 or 4 before deadline
3) call OSU in AM
4) make another purple DVD if possible on computers on campus
not too bad. and all the other stuff I have to do for finals and school :)
More later. Yey for purple. I think I'm sick talking about purple right now though. I need a break. :)

plurp (glurp=green) plurp=purple

work work. edit edit. lots of stuff to do in class today, but its exciting because its coming together an the narrative is working.. its so far so good. a lot more to do still, but looking forward to class time to do it in! and adding in the aspects we did collectively as a group. purple purple. ready for the final countdown.

barney is purple

A-okay.. narrative I think is working out, so far it seems a little 'amateur' but I guess its my first movie and all so I should cut myself some slack ! i've added this segment for the intro which will kind of serve as the supporting narrative frame of purple with which i will put the interviews and info inside of, so its like me introducing general purple and then its specific and then general again, hopefully i can get the desired effect i want. its difficult to align audio and video so im working on that right now, esp when i have certain segments i need at certain places, this takes a lot of time. Overall the editing does take a lot of time! group meeting today so we'll smooth out our "surprise" intro which will connect all of our small films together. got my purple gear.

project prop.- help for narrative writing..

English 569
S. DeWitt
4 March 2009
English 569: Project Proposal

Description of the project:
Color has been an idea studied through various media workspaces, such as in the arts, films, photo documentation and projects, and the subject even takes precedence within the academic field of biology and science. Color and the individual interpretation and experience in color impacts how human beings live and interact with each other on a daily basis. Our capacity to view color (or lack thereof) influences how we see the world, and often limits how much we see of it. On an individual level, differnet colors mean different things to different people. Cultures emphasize different colors for different functions: Red is the color of celebration and good luck in China, purity and integrity in India, and mourning and communism in South Africa. Black also has different interpretations and connotations, both pertaining to funeral themes and also graduation robes in Western graduation ceremonies. Obviously, color is multifaceted and its symbolism is various and vast within the human framework.
Purple, as the color I would like to focus on in my individual piece, is seen differently throughout the cultures. Western culture views purple as having aspects royal and wise. The Purple Heart is given as a military honor for those injured defending America’s foes. Purple can symbolize nobility, envy, sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, ceremony, mystery, wisdom, enlightenment, arrogance, flamboyance, gaudiness, mourning, exaggeration, profanity, bisexuality, confusion, pride, Scorpio (violet, star sign), May, November, riches, romanticism (light purple), delicacy (light purple), and penance. Purple is a symbol of mourning for widows in India. I think that also different religions view purple differently, during Lent a Church is sometimes decorated in purple clothes to symbolize death and mourning for the death of Christ.
In my video, I’d like to focus on these cultural and religious differences in interpretation of the color, and how these aspects influence and/or interact with the portrayal of purple. Why do people choose purple/ do they have any of these historical or other awareness’s when thinking of the color or when deciding to relate themselves with a color? It is interesting to interview people based on “what do you think of when you see x or y” and portray images of purple royal figures and how the color becomes important in portraying ideas and concepts. So really this project has a circular component, all of the ideas interact with each other and circle back into the main question, which relates to the exploration of color as an interpretative element in human society.


Audience for the project:
I visualize the immediate audience as being you and the class, but for documentary and artistic purposes I imagine a varied audience of artistically inclined individuals. I think that the beauty of this type of project which allows for creative flexibility is that the audience does not necessarily fit into one category of type of people. Instead it encompasses a larger scope of the general audience of a college university atmosphere, including college students, some faculty, that sort of immediate viewing audience. Also I would imagine the film would appeal to a culturally inclined audience instead in aspects historical and religious, since color impacts these areas as well.

Technical considerations for the project
I plan to work mostly with video, though I think still images are interesting using my digital camera, and also working with the audio component to develop different combinations. I need to reserve and pick up a video camera as well as prepare technically before the components and or extra elements I will need to do my project. (aka if I am doing any experimental research or if I need any props) I think the idea of seeing how someone’s day is impacted by color alteration would be interested, like wearing glasses which made the person see purple and then videotaping responses to emotions during the day. That could be one idea of the general outline/setup of the video presentation, having this one component. Also I think it’s important for me to consider a general framework and sequence of how I want these ideas to be presented. Most technical considerations have to do with me figuring out how to properly work the software (imovie, etc) to get the effects I want and learning how to cut audio and video within imovie and other software.
Before I start the project, I still need to reserve the camera and prepare my research and general outline of what I want to present in the film.

Preliminary research

Before I start this project, I still need to do extra online research on the color purple, and find out historical and cultural, religious connotations and also other previous explorations of purple and uses. This is important because it will give me the background for the color and how the color works historically, which I can then work from in being more aware of possible interpretations of the color in current affairs etc. Secondly I need to draw up an outline/sequence of how and what I want to incorporate into the piece, and organize the materials I will need and have in order to do this. I will consult online resources and my own creative ideas. I will have to decide about the personal aspect/ how much I want to interact with this piece (if at all) and how much I want to leave open and more distant.

"the color purple" the movie
Why?

Note that the novel's title is alluded to in Letter 12, when Celie associates the color purple with royalty and longs for a purple dress. But the title undoubtedly comes from a passage near the end of the novel, in which Shug says that she believes that it "pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."

purple foods!

Blue/purple fruits and veggies are rich in flavonoids

. Flavonoids are the most abundant and powerful of all the phytochemicals contained in the foods we eat. There are many categories of flavonoids. One group of flavonoids helps make our blood vessels healthier.
· Blackberries
· Blueberries
· Dried plums/prunes
· Raisins
· Purple cabbage
· Eggplant
· Purple potatoes
also tarro, basil, purple corn grapes

Interesting note: purple has come to represent royalty, it is exotic as well, and I think a lot of these are slightly exotic and diffrent foods which at various times denoted royalty because they were rare etc, wine is a luxury, (purple grapes) so there are definite connections here, eggplant is also one of those delicacy type foods. purple corn is pretty exotic.

Very impressive interview the other day. I interviwed a very religious catholic who had a lot to say about purple, he was very educated in religious studies and knew a lot about the subject (a lot!) I'd have to say its my best interview in terms of content yet, he even knew all about the biblical history! Hopefully there is not too much sound in the background (it was relatively quiet) because he insisted on doing it outside. I also have been getting a lot of "spontaneous " ideas, and I think I'm going to center the film around a basic narrative (me speaking in back) through audio different portions of the film to kind of create a coherent whole and portray my message. I was telling my mom the other day about how great blogging is. I've never blogged before and I see how all of this blogging has not only developed but incredibly helped the entire process of doing this film. She wanted to know where the word blog came from

1998, short for weblog (which is attested from 1994, though not in the sense 'online journal'), from (World Wide) Web + log. Joe Bloggs (c.1969) was British slang for "any hypothetical person" (cf. U.S. equivalent Joe Blow); earlier it meant "a servant boy" in one of the college houses (c.1860, see Partridge, who describes this use as a "perversion of bloke"), and, as a verb, "to defeat" in schoolboy slang.

Random side note. Anyway so far so good. Have some more field work to do this week and weekend, we'll see where this goes!

Reminder: CHECK BACKGROUND SOUND IN INTERVIEWS !!! (go somewhere quiet!!!)
Also: charge camera battery
call elle, another interview?
e-mail class brady (will he let me interview again briefly?)
etc.. purple still images

Been trying to think of more ideas for this.. how to sketch a proper picture. I'm thinking more about narrative, what story i want to tell.

consider: still images
audio-need to check out audio recorder next weekend (or during week, depends)
more video needed-- send e-mails and try and schedule interviews
in class: have video, etc, have more firm concepts in mind.

Today at my interviews I learned a lot of very interesting things. I had to ask questions and I realized how important these questions are.. often all you need to get someone started talking is a simple question (And it's hard to get them to stop!) Of course i am still trying to contact more people... some are harder to get in touch with then others.. and of course learning so many things about purple in the process.. who knew it was such a color with such history and dynamic aspects? i guess ill never see purple the same anymore! now i just need to focus on what other information i want and gathering this information, send out some more e-mails and try and set up interviews or get some other ideas together. purple power!

Setting up interviews and getting ready for preparation. Also been thinking a lot about the structure of the narrative and how I want to connect my various aspects of the project-- and what message I want to convey in the connection. i've decided on a framework and I have a few interviews set up already and a bunch in process of being set up. So far so good! I've decided I want to frame my piece with the personal - the every day college student. I found someone who is obsessed with purple and she would make a great frame to encompass the larger ideas of religion, culture and etc of that aspect of the exploration. I still need to sequence this more on paper and figure out if I can properly portray this personal aspect (vs. meaning- the fact that people love purple as purple and the idea that purple has all t his historical meaning etc) so I want this to comment on that which is cool because I hadn't thought about that before. as director it's pretty neat to realize how much freedom and creative flexibility there is here!! which is always a plus. im finding purple to be more dynamic then i thought -- and im learning all of this stuff about purple which is all very interesting that i never knew before. i also seem to be becoming more 'aware' of the color everywhere since this project, noticing w hen pepole are wearing purple and wondering why, which is kind of intereesting personal interaction with this project. thinking and blogging has really helped me clarify thoughts. and today i even imported some video! so its not as hard as i thought. tomorrow i have a bunch of interviews so tonight i am gonig to "prep" myself and what questions etc I need to prepare them for their interview (and myself, knowing what to ask and how to place camera)

Sequence preliminary sketch ~~~

(still image(s) and audio? a brief introduction)
(Personal frame)
science figure
religious figure.
cultural figure.
religious.
cultural.
(other- still researching)
(personal frame end note)
(still image and audio? a brief conclusion)

Purple signifigance in aquatic origins.. dye ! (marine biology)

A dictionary defines purple as “any of a group of colors with a hue between that of violet and red” and as a “symbol of royalty or high office.” Historically, the color purple has been associated with royalty and power, but the secret of its power lies in the glands of tiny shellfish creatures.

The earliest archaeological evidence for the origins of purple dyes points to the Minoan civilization in Crete, about 1900 B.C. The ancient land of Canaan (its corresponding Greek name was Phoenicia, which means “land of the purple”) was the center of the ancient purple dye industry.

“Tyrian Purple,” the purple dye of the ancients mentioned in texts dating back to about 1600 B.C., was produced from the mucus of the hypobranchial gland of various species of marine mollusks, notably Murex. It took some 12,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of the pure dye. Legend credits its discovery to Herakles, or rather to his dog, whose mouth was stained purple from chewing on snails along the Levantine coast. King Phoenix received a purple-dyed robe from Herakles and decreed the rulers of Phoenicia should wear this color as a royal symbol.

http://pffc-online.com/mag/paper_history_shellfish_royalty/

I realize now I have more research to do in terms of whom else / what other type of focus I want to have in the film- if its a general exploration of purple from various perspectives ... there are other areas i could explore.

More working on material today and thinking. I got some great ideas for my focus in my particular part and I even got a few minutes of some great footage! I'd like to learn how to use imovie better so this is my focus right now..I want to be able to really make this work. So right now I'm working on organizing how I want the film to go sequence wise, been making a sort of sketch, sent a bunch of e-mails to some religious groups about possible interviews for perspectives on purple in religion/culture so hopefully (fingers crossed!) ill get some replies. this project is starting to really excite me!!! (learning how to use my own digital camera.. and I even used a tripod today.. I even impressed myself!! haha..!! I felt like a professional, well, sort of ) but anyway it was progress. definitely.
excited to talk to my group tomorrow a little more about our group project and how other's are going and etc.

The large, easy-to-read number "5" in the lower right corner on the back of the bill, which helps those with visual impairments distinguish the denomination, has been enlarged in the new $5 bill design and is printed in high-contrast purple ink.

from the US Bureau of engraving and printing on facts about 5 dollar bill: (why purple?)
• The background color is light purple in the center of the bill which blends into gray near the edges.
• An arc of purple stars surrounds the portrait and The Great Seal on the front of the bill.
• On the back of the bill, a larger, purple number “5” appears in the lower right corner to help those with visual impairments to distinguish the denomination.
• Small yellow “05”s are printed to the left of the portrait

as the why purple question seems to a be a mix of trying to be more euro trendy and for counterfit issues, seems to be a lot of public opinion about the color- some hate it (many do!) but why? some think its cheap, purple is gaudy and childish silly, unreal, fake aspect? money= not colorful. color role here.

The reason why the colour purple is used during Great Lent is because the Bible tells us that Pilate and his soldiers placed a purple robe on Jesus, just before His crucifixion. (Mark 15:16-20) "...they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, Hail, King of the Jews!" (John 19:1-5).

Okay doing some research on purple and want to put down ideas/ information about research. It is very interesting how purple is used in different contexts. Purple:
5$ bill
purple heart military honor
purple as royalty, mourning in thailand, nobility and spirituality. purple as an "ethnic" color ~ used in interpretive dance and other religious ceremonies.
purple flowers, orchids, lilacs, violets
purple can boost a mood as a very invigorating color
The Color Purple is the first African American, woman-authored, epistolary novel-- embodies many radical ideas womanist feminist and sexual
Julius Caesar only allowed to wear purple, royalty and VIP
painters use purple for virgin mary, spirituality connotations
also: interesting youtube videos portraying purple: i saw one ethnic video, one highlighting purple's other dimension qualities and another just for fun purple video, all interesting insights into the color.
I figure hte best way to figure out how I want to do a video on color is to find out about the color-- in that way I can make a good analysis in how to portray it and what to document ..
terminology: purple haze, purple prose, purple cow
combination of hot red and cool blue
mystical and spiritual properties?
what does the Church think of/ a priest./ when he thinks of purple?
What about a Rabbi? does purple work the same here?
Muslim/buddhist/hindu/ ? special clothes?
purple in the military; the purple heart.
what about an artist/ purple...? how are these two views different/similiar; aka religious vs artistic and are they somehow related ..? does color allow for this creative exploration, unity of these ideas? i wonder what is similiar.. and fashion.

more thinking

I've been thinking more about my project and I'd really like to explore using digital cameras, recording people and cutting the segments to "alter" my message. I think that doing the color scheme, it would be interesting to find out in a particular color area how other people respond to it and then cut and paste the commentary to create an effect by me (author). I want to humanize the peice while allowing for interpretation. I was thinking about the idea of interviewing various people about what they think of when they think of "purple" or what they imagine (I'll have to think more about what the question should be) and then having these varied and interesting responses to a simple word. It would be intriguing to take a sort of talley, and depending on my results portray a message to the audience. I'd like to work with different types of cameras and recording; I can't wait to work with imovie in class. I don't have much experience so I am excited to learn.

I like the idea of doing something in the group along the lines of "color" scheme. I think that it allows for individual creativity while connecting other possible individual themes. Theme wise I like the idea of integrating the personal and creative in a collective peice. Right now though, It's a little too early to tell exactly where the groups are going. I'm interesting in something aesthetically appealing, but also a peice that speaks to emotions and reality, so I'm still in the process of thinking about possible directions.