Week 6: Ecstasy of Influence Response (Matthew Fertig)

In Jonathan Lethem’s “The Ecstasy of Influence: A plagiarism” he utilizes the very techniques he analyzes as the fundamental way of proving his point. He draws on the ideas of numerous authors to prove the worthiness and success ‘plagiarism’ has generated in the arts. In doing so, he intentionally takes other authors’ ideas to further his point that there are acceptable ways of going about plagiarism (he also eventually and appropriately gives credit to these authors). Moreover, he mentions throughout his work many famous instances of plagiarism. He writes, “without The Flintstones-more or less The Honeymooners in cartoon loincloths-The Simpsons would cease to exist” (61), subtly revealing the connection of three huge franchises as plagiarisms of one another. 

Further, what I had a hard time with in this article was defining the line between plagiarism and inspiration. How far can we go in taking someone else’s idea that we’ve successfully transformed it into something new? When, if ever, is it acceptable to rework someone else’s idea to achieve something completely different? In this way, I see meaning in plagiarism. I think there are genuine, acceptable ways of recreating someone else’s idea, or even telling the same story in a different form. For example, it’s well known that Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is based off of an Italian tale with relatively the same plot line. But Shakespeare’s work is an art of it’s own: his use of iambic pentameter, elaborate rhyme schemes and diction is what makes his reworking of the story so effective. In my opinion, instances like this are not plagiarism but rather using other works as inspiration to achieve something greater.

Week 6: Response to “Homecoming” (Matthew Fertig)

I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a full podcast before, so everything about “Homecoming” was new for me. My first observation was how well the creators were able to incorporate familiar sounds to help us envision the setting and actions of the characters. Without any visual element, they’re able to set the tone solely through tone of voice and audio effects. They utilize heavily varying qualities in audio to indicate when they’re on the phone, recording a voice memo, or just partaking in a normal conversation. This allows us to imagine a change in setting and picture exactly what the scene aims to capture. One of the most fascinating elements to me was the ability to cue us into flashbacks so effortlessly. By abruptly changing the settings between scenes one and two and referencing the information introduced in the previous scene, we are able to interpret a change in time. They also utilize the ‘warp-like’ sound indicative of a flashback, letting us know directly that we are changing both time and place. Lastly, the use of music in the podcast sets a serious tone, providing us another element to indicate the feeling of the story.

Interactive Comic Project: Matthew Fertig

http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~mvb312/commlab/week-4/animation-project/index.html

Our concept for our comic project shifted slightly from what we initially sought out to do, but the general premise was still accomplished. We decided pretty early on that it may be better to in fact make our comic in third person rather than first person, allowing the player to see the impact of their choices immediately. Making this switch also allowed us to play with putting ourselves as the subjects, and with that, using varied facial expressions and body language to tell our story in a different way. 

We intentionally blurred backgrounds and simplified the drawings to create our unique storytelling style, one that puts a particular focus on our faces. We thought about alternating ways of changing slides so it’s not just clicking the same button, but given the workload in just developing our initial idea, it made the most sense to keep the design simple. 

Finally, one of the most difficult tasks in developing our idea was brainstorming four distinct story lines, and with that, choosing the best images to represent our ideas. This probably took the most planning and reworking to accomplish, but I think we did our storylines justice. All in all, I’m proud of our final product and I’m excited to share it with the class.

Week 4: JavaScript Exercise

http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~msf432/commlab/week4/index

This exercise definitely required the most logical thinking to complete. It was hard to visualize each step in the process and organize it in a way that makes sense. Thankfully, I received guidance from experienced coders to help me understand exactly what I’m doing and how the system reads what I’m doing. It was especially difficult trying to think of how to restart the function once it reaches 3, but that was a relatively easy fix after reviewing my other steps. 

  

Week 3: JavaScript Exercise

http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~msf432/commlab/week3

I’m honestly quite impressed with how well I was able to identify my problems in completing this exercise. The only time I really ran into trouble was with styling the buttons which I thought would be the easiest part. I played around with using classes and ids in both JavaScript and CSS but nothing seemed to be working for me. I eventually realized that in order to style a button you have to simply list button{}, not .button{}. It was satisfying to have finally figured that out but still frustrating that the fix was that simple.