Our Daily Bread questions

How would you characterize this film? How is it a documentary? How is it a piece of video art?
I would characterize this film as a dramatized documentary. I think the director and producers were more concerned with scaring people off from eating mass-produced meat and vegetables/fruit as opposed to informing people about the whole process. At the same time though, it was really interesting that they were able to show so much about the meat industry. It's also a piece of video art because there was so much attention to detail and the movement of the camera was flawless. Someone wanted their message to come across in a really poetic way. 

Characterize and describe the different narratives that possibly run through this film.
There's the pig narrative, the chicks/chickens, the fish and the cows, with some vegetable stories thrown in here and there. It was almost like they were trying to show certain workers doing their job and try to catch them looking guilty or something but it seemed like a real stretch to me. I mean, yeah it's disgusting having that much blood get on you day after day after day but they're only doing their job. And I feel like us "city folk" don't quite understand that killing livestock is a part of a lot of people's lives. 

Reflect upon the filmmakers approach to sound and dialog in the film.
Veryyyyy minimal. You could hear the noises of the basic actions people were making and the sounds of the machines but not much else. Some animal noises. I think they were so concerned with showing the jarring visuals that they didn't want a lot of audio to interfere (which I felt was the right decision). 

Describe the scenes in the film impacted you the most, both conceptually and formally.
Really all the scenes that had the animals being killed/butchered were a lot to deal with. Formally, they were flawless, moving from one station to another. Conceptually, I felt sick a lot. But that bothered me. Doing things this way is the most efficient way that saves people time and money and those animals would have been killed for food at that time of their lives no matter what. The people doing this work have a good steady job and don't seem at all bothered about what they do. The animals never seemed to be in pain (except maybe the cows at the end?? Was that just like a last shudder kind of thing?? Definitely the most sketchy part of the video and would like to know more about what in the heck that machine did to them) and I can't really fault anyone for what was happening.

Reflect upon the filmmakers approach to time in the film. As the audience, are you aware of time passing or not? Explain.
I felt like it went way too slow. I was really interested in everything that was happening but some of the shots that last for long periods are just showing a tractor passing by or a worker chewing on their piece of bread. I was not aware of time passing when things were actually happening (like the animals going down the assembly line or watching the workers do their one job again and again and again). 

The Art of Fermentation Notes

-fermentation ancient process

-reclaim daily diet

-not all bacteria dangerous

-started with basic stuff; wine making, cheese making, sauerkraut

-anaerobic metabolism

-wild fermentation is ferments that are based on organism on food

-culture fermentation is ferments that have organisms introduced (have a starter for yogurt)

-sauerkraut is wild fermentation

-some cultures need to be fed regularly

-animals can become inebriated by eating fermented fruit haha

-commercial yogurt made up of several cultures/bacterias; doesn’t make other yogurt as well as yogurt made of one culture

-fermentation is part of making coffee and chocolate before the beans are roasted

Final Process

Final doc

Overall satisfied with the outcome and presentation. Would have changed and better prepare the survey for next time. The technical process was a big learning experience and further attempts would have only improved it for better results. I was very grateful for the equipment to make these trays. My overall concept hit some people but not all. This might have been due to lack of background info or perhaps the concept was to obvious from the survey. Finally as final project for this class it was truly a unique project that put me out of my comfort zone so I was able to learn a lot from it.

GIS fun

Proj. 2.13

Final Documentation:

Proj. 2.12

Final Critique Notes:

-adorable

-creepy

-needs mobile

-artist as mother

-England and Canada breast milk bars and ice cream

-label and title because people are going to nibble on cheese baby, especially because it’s loose cheese and not condensed together (also duh why did I not think to just label it?! genius.)

-where is this baby? at home? in hospital?

-food would deteriorate over time; baby grows and cheese dies

-fridge underneath crib? babies need heat. interesting juxtaposition. 

-sound from mobile; could also have images describing what’s in cheese baby hanging from mobile if do not want to label

-non-gendered brighter blanket; add some color (but mobile might take care of that)

-clearer lyrics (important part of piece)

-something so gender neutral inspires so much gender talk

-different reactions to cow/human milk; we’re the only species that drinks other species’ milks

-milk as nourishment; not good mother if you don’t breastfeed (would formula make cheese?)

-what if this piece was in a country where people eat that kind of cheese? differences in culture

Proj. 2.11

Some cheesy pics:

Proj. 2.10

It’s Sunday afternoon and 2 gallons of milk have been made into cheese and I just cannot get the breast milk to become cheese. It’s gotta be something about its proteins and/or its overall composition because I have used soooo much lemon juice and it just is not separating. But I think it would be okay to pour the milk over the baby and the blanket, staining here and there. I’d have to tell people there’s breast milk on it but I love the idea of using real human milk to show the messiness of milk and babies and breastfeeding and children. 

Proj. 2.9

Sound updates

I’ve been looking at a lot of children’s nursery rhymes because I think I need to have some sort of sound element to get my concept across and I really like one rhyme I found. It’s the “What are Little Boys Made of” one where the lyrics go: 

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

Frogs and snails and puppydogs' tails,

And that are little boys made of.

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice and all things nice,

And that are little girls made of.

What are young men made of?

What are young men made of?

Sighs and cheers, and crocodile tears

And that are young men made of.

What are young women made of?

What are young women made of?

Ribbons and laces, and sweet pretty faces,

And that are young women made of.

I haven’t heard any versions before that contained the young men/women lyrics but I love having this rhyme. My project is all about molding the child into something and I love having it be molded into certain stereotypes about gender; this song is super sexist and I want it to be playing from the crib. 

However, I don’t know quite where to get a starting base for the song. I was working with this version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkbofAQd6m8

But the woman sounded too churchy and I do not want any kind of religious thing in my piece. I eventually found this sound piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcNKs0of4mU 

which I think sounds much better. I want it to be just juvenile enough that people understand I’m talking about children but not so kid-like that you get a headache from listening to it. 

As far as the blanket goes for my cheese baby, I’m thinking about gray. I feel like green might be too close to grass and cows and I don’t want that. And then I felt like yellow would be too close to cheese and it would be too much. But I don’t know any other non-gendered colors besides green, yellow, and gray. Brown might be gross. Definitely want the blanket to be made of fleece, though. 

Proj. 2.8

I’m super excited. I was thinking about all of the things from my last post (how to get the concept across with just crib and cheese) and wasn’t really sure where to go from there when I was talking with a friend and they mentioned that they know someone who was nursing and probably wouldn’t mind giving me some breast milk for my project. I called them up and they were totally cool with it so long as they could have a relative amount of privacy and pictures of my project when I was finished. 

So I got the breast milk and am totally going to try to make cheese out of it. I don’t know if it’ll work but it’s worth a try, right? 

Proj. 2.7

I’ve called all the gainesville listings on craigslist about cribs and am having no luck. They are either already sold to another or are toddler beds and can’t be converted back to the crib. Also called 5-6 thrift stores that are family/kid oriented and they only have cribs that cost $100 (at least).I’ll probably just buy one from walmart. 

I’m wondering how well my concept will come across. Right now, I want to have a cheese baby form swaddled in a crib. I’m picturing people walking around the crib and looking at this cheese baby and not knowing what to make of it. 

I think sound will help with this. I’m looking into nursery rhymes that talk about growing up. I’d love to find something that really drives home the “shaping the child” idea. 

I’m wondering too about milk and the messiness of milk and if I can’t get something about milk across in my piece, as well. If you don’t have a baby, you can’t make milk, and therefore you can’t make cheese. I like the idea of pressing liquid out of something, like milk from breasts and the extra liquids from cheese after you make it. I also like what was said in the mid-process crit where cheese is a way to store milk. 

Proj. 2.6

I didn't exactly know where to go with this project before having talked with Katerie. I wanted to relate my cheese to babies but didn’t know how when she made the amazing suggestion of buying a crib. Can get on craigslist for around $50 or worst comes to worst will purchase from evil corporation store and then return. 

I want my project to say something about molding the cheese like molding a child. This is an idea that has stayed with me since we started on food. I’ve always been interested in how a substance can change from one form to another and I feel like physically molding something is very similar to that. When it comes to molding on a more educational/behavioral way, I feel like that is also similar in that you’re still shaping something. I also like how the more you “mold" a child the more that they will become better (or at least more like how you want them to be) while there are a lot of hard cheeses that physically gets moldy and are considered better with the extra growths. 

Smell experiment

create smell for a person:

lemon extract and rose absolute (for my great aunt; smells like her favorite perfume)

smell that reminds you of your childhood:

green tea powder and sweet orange oil (reminds me of when I would eat oranges with my mom after going swimming on the weekends)

smell that evokes particular place:

butter and myrrh (smells like a dingy movie theater I've gone to occasionally)

smell that makes you hungry:

coconut extract and asafoetida (smells like curry)

smell that is unpleasant (why is it unpleasant):

jasmine, frankincense, roman chamomile (too much happening; I feel sick after smelling it)

two smells of things that you want to make up:

butter and myrrh and green tea powder (less movie theater dingy, more at home popcorn)

peppermint and vanilla extract 

Process 2.17 Crit & Post

Final Video

Notes from whirlwind crit:

So situationally, the microwave for whatever reason refused to heat the food, so unfortunately the room wasn't able to be filled with Chinese food smells, but it is quite potent in and of itself even when not piping hot, so when people were at the table, you could still get whiffs of it which was nice at least.

The scramble to set up led to the video being projected onto the wall with the table covered in food up against it. The food originally was going to be arranged on more of the outskirts of the table when the video was going to be downwardly projected onto the table, so therefore I wasn't able to get much height with my intended quantity of food in the new arrangement.

I REALLY REALLY liked Katerie's idea of having the table with mounds of food in the center of the room (able to be navigated 360 degrees) and then projecting the video as a separate entity on the wall, thus having to navigate between the space of the source of emanating smell and pure visual stimulation. Also it would allow your gaze to bounce between the physical manifestation of what's pictured in the video while being visually entrancing in and of itself because it is such a glistening, alluring type food.

I had thought about the positioning of the table before: against a wall vs. totally navigable in the round, and I guess for whatever reason before I was afraid of having two separate entities (video separate from the sculptural installation), but according to feedback from people, it seems like it's okay to do so and would actually have the potential for further success.

More notes from crit:

-Jay talked about smell-o-vision in conjunction with the effects of my piece
-He also goes to chinese buffets and always gets the chicken kebabs and talked about how every place has them slightly differently
-this video/installation makes him want that familiar food

-the table is covered in seemingly waste/byproduct/discarded food - in piles, enthusiastically put on table

ideas about buffets from viewers
-don't want to run into someone you know

-could have "double" project/duplicity of project where the video is projected down onto the table as well as on wall
-food mounded up in middle of room with projection on wall
-mounding of food on table, no plates, plates as container that's now abolished

-to see and smell food in this context - gross slop pile, but still want to eat pieces of the chicken
-know it's so bad, but want to have a bite of it anyway

-what happens if you have the food displayed and let people loose with the video playing separately on a wall?
-people will probably want to pick at the food and it'd be interesting to see what happens
-if the video is longer, how long would people wait to eat
-make it sort of a performance and give everyone forks
-jennifer rubell piece gone bad, but in a good way

Claire talked about ethnic labels with food
-other scents/distinct ethnic foods
-ie: curry

-people felt my shots were well done/composed
-Claire really liked the octopus shot

-the arrangement of food on table in installation could be seen as a "buffet gone crazy"
-potential for food to get all mixed together, no structure in place to keep order
-vulnerable
-food presenting itself to us

-super shiny aesthetic
-a lot of activity
-active/looked really busy at the buffet

-audio could incorporate stomach sounds
-growling
-this food evokes visceral response
-smell of grease in particular

Process 2.10: Post Crit

Once crit began I knew I should have used Diet Soda in my piece as a third element. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't have done it in time because I know I could've filmed it so well and it would have made the video much stronger. But alas.

I got a lot of comments on that and not using the commercial from the actual coke zero. I also got a good suggestion about actually using a middle aged male in the video who has these affects on their bodies. Thinking more about the male body and sugar getting stuck in men's hair and chest.

I though it was interesting Katerie's comment on weather and how landscape and snow play into the piece. People didn't like where they knew which body part and only liked where the skin was ambiguous. I knew I shouldn't have added the mouth shot into the final but it just matched the coke opening so well.

People appreciated the sound but didn't really like it. It did distract from the piece a little and not give people time to breathe and see the images on the screen. If I were to re edit the sound I would definitely have breaks in the sound and more coke sounds as I would have more coke footage that was my own.

The word dispassionate was used and I really enjoyed thinking about that word and how that really ties into the rest of my work.

Process 2.9

After I shot my footage I wasn't as pleased as I thought I would be. The sugar and egg mixture didn't turn out how I wanted and I knew I was missing a third element to the shoot but I just wasn't sure. The wet sugar looked gross and overly sexual to what I wanted and I knew that I needed to do something extra in editing.

I shot the footage with a 100mm macro lens and the Canon 5D in camera raw. Thus I did have some beautiful imagery to work with regardless. My concept after shooting changed into more about the female body and its relation to fake sugar. Covering the skin and getting stuck in certain parts of the body and pores.

But I knew I needed more. I thought and thought about what would make it "ironic" and make more sense to what I originally talked about which was the idea of diet soda and how we need no calorie drinks even though it is still bad for you and artificial sweeteners make you crave real sugar more. I also wanted to connect this culture, I guess partly American culture, to how the images are portrayed and excessive drinking of this especially in middle aged males.

That is when I thought, finally, about using soda. Of course I should use diet soda as the third element. At that point it was much too late to shoot again but I knew I could use commercials of diet soda and how they are displayed, much like the female body. Many of the techniques I used were employed in the commercials.

I was also interested in this new coke zero campaign that focused on "drinkable commercials" I thought this was bizarre and the more I looked into it the more it was creepy and fast propaganda with a free coupon at the end. There was also a billboard made that you could drink from and that was very confusing as well.

I used quick editing in my piece to speed up my shots and follow the quick and relentless pace of the sound that I made based on a strange medical npr culture that I also found interesting. On health and shoving strange health facts to the listeners while having callers call in about their bad experiences.

Process 2.8

I have been trying to think about how to further the sugar ideas.

I like the idea of the sugar meringue dried on skin and how that would look. I'm thinking that I want the subject to be doing something, some kind of action that plays into why the particular person may use artificial sweeteners and such.

I have been thinking about ideas of body image which I feel is the most obvious notion towards this project. I am also thinking about how the media portrays

• Getting Ready for the day
• Trying on clothes
• This interaction between the gross crystals and fabric could be interesting

I am shooting with Shanna tomorrow night. I plan on taking a multitude of shots with a macro lens close up on the sugar cracking and of various actions that I am going to make shanna do. Perhaps with Cling Wrap and creating interesting textures. I am then going to work more on sound which will pertain to the video. I have been thinking a lot about "sugar songs" and although most of them reference LSD I think they have an interesting consistency that I can mix with sugar sounds and with npr vocals of interviews.

process 5

Research Materials

No one doubts women’s abilities in the kitchen. They certainly have skill and creativity. So what is the problem? This conundrum reminded me of something I’d read in an undergraduate art history class, Linda Nochlin’s “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Her article was a watershed not just because it posed such a loaded question—a rhetorical device, as it turns out—but also because by posing that question Nochlin forced academics and feminists to challenge their own practices. She argued that the query is inherently flawed because it presupposes a deficiency in women and thereby perpetuates the difficulties of female painters and sculptors in achieving the status of artist, let alone great artist. Much of the problem, Nochlin maintained, lies in how we, as a culture, define terms like “great” and “great artist,” and also how those of us who examine these terms—academics, journalists, critics, and theorists—shape or champion their definitions by accepting them as the norm.

 The evening’s message was that men and women don’t really cook differently; we just judge their food in different ways. This prejudice operates on two levels. Edible flowers on a plate can be said to signify “female,” while precisely stacked layers and drizzled sauces can be deemed “male.” But, when a chef’s gender is known, we can also describe his or her seemingly neutral dish with different vocabularies. Panelist Gwen Hyman, who writes about gender politics and food, reminded the audience of the old cultural trope “Women cook with the heart, men cook with the head—because women have hearts and men have brains.”5 So, if a male chef serves a plate of Spaghetti Bolognese, it is lauded for its “in-your-face,” “rich,” “intense,” “bold” flavors, while a woman’s plateful of the same indicates “homey,” “comforting” fare, “prepared with love.” The former becomes an aggressive statement, a declaration of ego, while the latter is a testament to home cooking.

Process 4

Throughout my molecular gastronomy technically it was a bit of a learning curve. 

It helped that some of the things i had to do we had done in class recently but overall

I had to re watch plenty of videos to get some food to come out right. Some parts that I messed

up or had difficulty include:

Tying the ends of the chicken

cutting the beets with a mandolin thin enough

the first batch of caviar sphere

getting a powder texture for olive oil oil powder

getting a finer purae for carrots

finding the right shock value for the whip

frying the first chicken

Overall, I was able to finish the technical part of the project with a lot of trial and error.

As for the conceptual part of the project i will have to wait to post pics of the final set up 

to show the male chef vs female cook comparison. 

Process 3

Pics from cooking

Perfume

I really liked this movie, first off all because i love movies in the past and that have to do with aristocracy. The movie really started out with a bang and was pretty gross how he was born. I found it cool that the creators could use the "super power" of smell into something too powerful and the fact that grenouille had to perform unforgivable deeds to make the ultimate perfume. The message was clear grenouille would never find the true love he smelled from his first victim because at the end people wouldn't love him for who he was but what smell he had placed upon himself. Having no smell himself would prove to still be his ultimate downfall. He saw smell and love to be very correlated so if people were loving him for his perfume it was a false love or false smell. I loved the part where he first introduces the smell and how to the executioner bows to him. The part where the dad of his final victim begging for mercy is truly sad and i believe thats what finally broke grenouille to kill himself. Having put the perfume completely on him he came to terms that some smells are meant to not be in existence and thus his existence of super smell and smell less body became completely useless. Some things im not sure what they could symbolize were how every time he leaves a place his master dies and if the final drop meant anything at the end. Finally, one of my favorite parts was when he tries to get the woma's smell through heat and has to hide her. In addition, i like how after the orgy everyone went back to their normal lives and blamed his master for the killing. Overall, great movie, great plot and top production quality.

Our Daily Bread response

I found Our Daily Bread to be very insightful to mass produced foods but also a bit disturbing. It was interesting to see how some things are done such as mass crop yielding. I found some parts to be quite meditative because of the repetitive process. However, it soon became a little hard to watch when showing parts about animals being used for mass food production. The living standards were poor, all the animals were squished together and fattened for killing. Although this was hard to watch, I found myself losing the disconnect of pity when the animal was turned into just meat. I assume its the fact that how i see it at the grocery store doesn't bother me as much as when its still living or when it has skin.
   The part i found most disturbing would have to the cow feed shooting on to the cows. I found it so unnatural and disgusted that the simple labor of providing cow feed had been mechanized to shoot with high speed on to the cows. It was like seeing old videos of people being fire hosed. Furthermore, I also lost disconnection with my pity on animals when it was fish. I'm not sure if this is because i come from a seafood dependent island or whether fish are seen as more food than animal due to the earth being more water than land. Finally, honestly after seeing the film i would not change my eating habits not because im an evil human being but with the time constraints and high speed society we live in its hard and expensive to get well treated animals.
   Overall, the film was more of a behind the scenes look on every day food as suggested by the title and not so much of an eye opener since a lot of the things seen are made public due to our mass communication. I could however see someone ignorant to these occurrences as a big shock factor for what they consume.

Process 2.16

So the good news was that when I went back to shoot my actual footage, a) one lady that I had talked to originally in person was there that day, b) maybe she was just in a weird mood the first day because the second time she was way less weird/bad vibe-y towards me, c) they let me stay as long as I wanted and I just kind of stayed out of people's ways and no one from management otherwise never stopped me.

The bad news was that when I went back to shoot my actual footage, I didn't capture any audio. I checked out a mic that slid onto the hot shoe of the camera and connected by a cable into the camera body, which is perfect for what I needed, but I realized after I was leaving that I didn't remember the little light for the mic being on, but I knew I slid the switch to what I thought was on. 

*Apparently* I didn't slide it all the way and it landed between off and on, so it wasn't recording through the mic, and since the cable was plugged into the camera, the camera body wasn't recording any audio either. THUS when I went to import all of my footage, there was zero audio and just white noise.

Then I resided to the fact that I needed to go back and take audio recordings of the place. So after Carly and I deinstalled from our senior show Saturday morning, I went back to Ocean Buffet for the third time and (luckily again that lady was there and didn't care because I just explained I needed to capture only a couple more things) alas! I used the mic properly (made FOR SURE that the red light was on on the mic) and captured some legit buffet audio. Voila! And thus ends my tale of field work for this project.

Nevertheless, furthering my conceptual development and thought process, some things that struck me while shooting and editing my footage:

-Traversing patterns of buffet goers in buffet lines from scouting to compiling

-The endless cycle of same motions, different people, and also endless food

-Seemingly never lowering supply of piles of food because always refilling

-Notion of never shattering facade or outward appearance of endless food by always keeping glistening steaming piles of glossy goodies

-Warm colors/temperature of light and pristine chrome surface of structures and light fixtures

-Almost menacing appearance can be achieved with steam and range of tones with deep blacks

-Illusion of never having to "want" or "yearn for"

-Immediate/instant gratification or fulfilling of wants

-These wants are potentially superficial as well - not speaking about the portion of people that may eat here because it's cheap and just to survive - but speaking about those who eat here just because it's cheap and convenient - both very superficially gratifying things

-Thinking about what makes people happy in life and degrees of "meaningfulness" or "superficiality" not that there's anything wrong with indulging in superficial desires, but when thinking about fulfilling wants instantaneously, of all things, the buffet is an example of a want that is born out of a culture of excess and potentially gluttony. 

-In this case, examining the concept behind the 'want,' you may initially go there because you're hungry and you want/need food. So you go there, you fulfill your initial want, but because perhaps you're presented with such an abundance, or because you want to get your money's worth, or because you simply want to eat more because you have the option to/can and there's no one to pass judgment or tell you no, or because you just want to indulge yourself, all of these wants are not out of necessity, but rather, now circling back, superficial.

Also, brainstorming with Rose and Marisa on Friday as to how I should install and also more conceptual development:

-Thinking about ways other than projecting on the screen which would be meaningful to the installation of my piece

-They asked what types of things is your video about

-It has sort of morphed from focusing on/coming out of overconsumption and moved more into the space of gluttony, repetition/repeated gestures that parallel the more more more/bigger/more is better mentality, self indulgence, but also creating this uncanny/atypical visual representation of the buffet in my video so that it offers a new perspective than the opulent abundance of food that may seduce or entrance you into thinking solely pleasant things about the buffet. In my framing, I align the tops of the sneeze guards with people's faces, so that they become these anonymous people who are part of this buffet culture and practice, and lend the viewer to be able to think more critically about what they're seeing, instead of solely being presented with an objective standard shooting of people maneuvering a buffet.
-This framing, in conjunctions with my other shots, which also never show faces, mostly fragmented/disembodied arms begins to create a collection of these buffet goers. It stops being about them as individuals when you obscure their faces, but rather now they're part of a collective and you can begin to draw parallels between them based on their actions and general appearance/how they hold themselves, and how they are in many ways similar when in this context, even if they're of different ages, races/ethnicities, genders, etc.

-As for installing, some ideas were tossed around about:

-projecting onto the floor, which I felt didn't jive exactly with what I was looking for
-projecting onto a wall above a table, Rose felt that wasn't as strong as it could be

-projecting onto a table - then the questions came up:
   -what shape table? decided not round, definitely should be rectangular
   -need some sort of white covering - decided on tablecloth/covering

   -chairs? no chairs? decided no chairs because want people to have to stand and look down at that same angle like at a buffet or looking down at a spread of food on a dinner table
   -plates? silverware? set table? decided no, should arrange chinese food on the tablecloth and let it stain it and create this uncanny space on the table
   -then project down onto the table with the food already on it
   -with the food, decided to buy a bunch of chinese, then microwave it *in* the black box to start getting the smell really filling the space, then arrange the hot food onto the white tablecloth/covering
   -create ambiance/evoke immediately what this food would taste like just based on the smell, can imagine just the type of tastes it would have
   -this smell and visual component, combined with audio, I feel will hopefully transport the viewer or at least support the video in a novel way and emphasize the experience of the buffet/american chinese food
   -i think the best course of action will be to set up my piece during the break so that the smell won't overpower other smell pieces and the projector won't be commandeered prior

Moreover, here's documentation of some sort of "out there" tangent concepts that came to mind when I was editing and thinking about steam and food and buffets:

steam

close proximity

skin

facials

cleansing - not only physically, but like mental/healthy associated with health and wellbeing, which is the complete opposite of this type of food

grease/glistening has that alluring quality, but in reality clogs pores, clogs arteries, you physiologically get sluggish and gross afterwards, coats your mouth (mouthfeel!) with grease, associate with slime/slimy feeling, greasy feeling after leaving (being around that type of hot fried food for so long)

piling on

repetition

layering of video

overwhelming

inundation

compounding

reflected in audio, video, food itself (footage), installation food itself

Process 2.15

So after scouting, which in and of itself was such a weird experience, because the people I spoke to were very reluctant to even talk to me, let alone let me shoot. But nevertheless, they acquiesced, and I was able to, that day, take some photos and video with my iPhone and really just get a lay of the land for the buffet, atmosphere, behaviors of people, food types, food quantities, quantities of people, etc.

Aesthetically I really enjoyed how the buffet tables were arranged. They're all parallel to one another in this long strip that you can weave from one line to another. Conceptually I feel like this is done on purpose to create ease of access and to allow you to look to what you can get next, so to speak. You can in one perspective, gaze down row after row after row of tray after tray of different types of meats, starches, fried morsels, and sweets.

It certainly is a "feast for your eyes" and keeps the viewer/buffet goer engaged with not only what they're spooning onto their plate currently, but always looking ahead to what else they want or can have. This notion of not being present with your food is an interesting concept as well, and there's definitely a "zone" that some people get in if gorging themselves (I've talked to some family members about this in researching for this project).

Where it's not even about recognizing the food you're eating at that moment, but "looking" ahead or elsewhere (mentally) while just spooning bite after bite until the food is gone. Then, unlike a table service sit-down restaurant, where you have your ordered portion of food and that's it, a buffet allows people to engage in this mindless eating plate after plate until they can't anymore and decide at whatever point to stop.

This repetition and compounding is definitely something I'm working with in my video. There's repetition in serving motions, walking through the buffet lines, and even the audio element. The repetition exists between the buffet goers as a whole almost, where each person becomes a sort of faceless participant in this realm of endless opportunity of eating, and everyone mimics each other, not out of want, but out of going through the same mindless motions.

They go down lines, they survey the area, they make lateral and/or determined b-line moves, they spoon up one dish or another onto their plate, they snake around to the other side of the line, and they ladle gooey sauces onto their portions. All of these actions get performed by almost everyone there, almost as if they're acting within a hive or as a larger "buffet unit."

This culture, behaviors, and systems which are in place, consciously or not, are definitely something of conceptual interest to me when I shot there for both scouting and actual shooting.

Extra Credit - Perfume movie

Okay seriously what in the world did I watch. This movie was so freaking ridiculous! But it definitely did quite coincide with our discussions about smell and influence of smell on perceptions of situations and circumstances. Honestly though, how over the top was the massive writhing orgy and then the main kid getting eaten alive by poverish people at the end? Also, the whole movie escalated exponentially once he started killing people. Like the way it was shot to incur drama, building tension, and anxiety, while still putting this unnerving, uncanny importance and perspective on scent and the never-ending quest to obtain, manufacture, and preserve that perfect scent combination/perfume, it all just coalesced quite beautifully, albeit quite messed up.

Moreover, the color grading/correction and lighting in that film was seemingly very deliberate, with the chiaroscuro conditions in some scenes, and in others emphasis on the amber or golden colored essential oils/perfumes - especially when the kid poured the perfect perfume on himself at the end right before the got eaten. Anyway, this was a very strange but interesting watch that really makes me glad that I'm incorporating a smell component into my installation for my final piece, just out of how powerfully influential smell can be (as emphasized in the movie).

Farm Visit

1. sugar energy cane

Every 4 years it comes back

Take sugar cane out of cane

Residue is left after mill'Make electricity by burning it

Or make bio gas

or anareboic digestion for crop feed

2. Skim clues from top of algae

dilute water

get dry mass

concentrate cells

put in oven

take sections under microscope

check cells for bio mass potential

lipid chlorophyl content

ammonium water rate decrease

divided by the alge balls

Proj. 2.5

Mid-process critique notes:

- women make cheese
- mom blogs; pioneer woman
- mom, cook, job -> takes time
    - what about identity
    - life, religion
    - this is what I snagged (man), this is what I reproduced (kid)
- good and bad
    - cheese is mold
    - waiting for cheese to set up
- for blog, write about why want to work with cheese
    - phenomena of milk
          - messy
    - cheese is a way to store milk
- w/o baby, no milk, no cheese
- ways to preserve cheese; covering it/wrapping/swaddling
- multiples in cheese; lined up in stores
- different taste in different places; different cultures (society and bacteria)
- pressing liquid out of something
- performance cheese art
- people eat the labor of women

Taste Experiment

Food Process 2.0

Molecular Gastronomy links and Research

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9KD4fnSF3s

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/butternut-squash-puree

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/avocado-puree

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/red-cabbage-puree

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/chicken-roulade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOsZPrw2ULI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6FUuxcPoQw

https://www.chefsteps.com/classes/whipping-siphons/landing#/

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Parsley-Oil

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/fir-tree-needle-ash

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ikura-cones

http://www.edinformatics.com/culinaryarts/culinary_science.htm

http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/molecular-gastronomy1.htm

Proj. 2.4

I made cheese!

Used these links to help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWx8VlnT8ZY
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cheese-at-Home

Used:

Whole milk, pasteurized (was nervous because it was pasteurized but could not find non-pasteurized milk. Reflecting back, I maybe should have tried Wards, Lucky's, or another *specialty* grocery store. Though Trader Joe's might have it but no such luck. Honestly, though, the cheese turned out fine and I'm glad I didn't spend extra money on non-pasteurized milk that I didn't need.)

Lemon juice (a tonnnn of it. Much more than the recipe called for, probably because I did not use rennet.)


Shots of the cheese from film that I recorded while making: