language

My understanding of Theory Fiction

Theory fiction focuses on trying to create radically new concepts for thinking about the world. It does this through anecdote, fiction, film, criticism, speculative history and science, literary reference, and various frame narratives.

Notes: puncepts - September 17

- Neologism --> New
- Portmanteau, example: Twerk --> twist and jerk
- Puncept: pun and concept
---pun: wordplay
---concept: the function of a problem
- Philosophy is creating concepts
- Hermeneutics: the interpretation of language
- Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari:
---"What is philosophy?"
- Pop-culture: shipping people
- When words sound scientific:
---they will be trusted more quickly

Random thoughts:

- Dancehall is a language based on daily events in Jamaica
- Limit (foreigners): understanding of language (the steps: meaning)
- Giving meaning to words: semiotics (theory research)
- Making a fictional story with the names of the steps

Notes: Terms in sound studies - September 18

- Soundscape= Sound + Landscape
- EcoAcoustics= Acoustic Ecology

- BioAcoustics= Animal Sounds
- Acoustemology= Acoustics + Epistemology

- PhsychoAcoustics/NeuroAcoustics
- Unsound
- Rhythmanalysis

- Audint= Audio + Intelligence

Interview: Questions Dajana Jurczak
---------------------Dancehall teacher and dancer from Poland

- Is there a list of Jamaican dance crews I can find somewhere? Or is it just that I have to travel there to find out?
- Where and when are most steps created?
- How do the dance crews keep track of their steps? Do they make lists? Do they film their steps? Or is it a mouth-to-mouth thing?
- How did they do it back in the days? And how do people remember the steps?
- How do dancers/teachers like you remember the steps once you return from Jamaica?
- How can I find the steps? I know many crews have an Instagram account to share their creations, but are there also other places to find the steps?

Interview: 23 minutes, answers by Dajana Jurczak

Giving meaning - The Work of Representation by Stuart Hall

Non-linear story idea inspired by Mille Milliards de Poémes
using the names of Dancehall dance steps

In Jamaica, dancers are driven to create dancehall steps by the things that happen in their daily life. Through workshops, they teach those steps (with names) to foreign people.
So, on in Jamaica they can speak a shared common language, which is English. Therefore, Jamaican people are able to translate the dancehall language to foreign people. That makes that the foreign people are also able to express this dance language. But, do those people actually know the concept of what they are expressing? For us, dancehall can just be a form. It’s like pronouncing a foreign word, without knowing what it actually means.
Is that because we don’t have a shared conceptual map? Is it because, those steps we express, are an obscure or abstract thing for us?

In many dancehall steps, the hands are formed into a gun. We can have a concept of a gun in our head and we can also express this concept. But, we can’t express the same feeling or meaning this (gun) concept has like Jamaican dancers whose family members have actually been killed on the streets in downtown Kingston. So, do we actually understand this concept that we are expressing then? Maybe, yes, but do we also know why?

All references from the video:

Dancehall crews:

Black Roses (first Dancehall crew ever)
Ravers Clavers
Xpression Family
Elite Team
Ghetto Legacy
Black Eagles
Hectic Dymondz
Sopreme Blazzzaz
Xqlusive Dancers
BG Dancers
Optimistic Dancers
Smashing Skankaz
Overload Skankaz
Cleanstep Skankaz
Equanoxx
Kriptic Klique
Flame Team
Extreme Pushers
Active Immortals
Cautiion Crew
Nuclear Skankaz
Unique Rockaz 3rd Dimension
Bermuda Squad

Female dancehall crews:

Outshine Girls
Xqlusive Girls
Versatile Onces
Xpressionz

De dans maakt het woord.
De expressie van de dans is zo sterk, en uiteindelijk vormt dat een woord.
Ze dansen het woord.

FEEDBACK AND THOUGHTS MID-TERMS:

- too many steps between the text and the dancehall:
- distance between the meaning of the word and the dance step
- can a publication also be a video?
- can a publication also be a choreography?
- dance is a form of language, thus a form of communication

- video essay dancehall (uiting van het script)
- choreography (dance the script) (word count?)
- script digital and physical a choreography or essay
- does a documentary count as words?

FEEDBACK AND THOUGHTS:

- make something so people know they have to print the script
- How will the reader know that something is in the script?
- make a trigger point so people know the script is interactive
- can I make things appear and disappear in the script?
- Make the script dance?

- print the script vertical, because that's how actors also hold their script. Therefore, the notes have to fit on an A4.
- Important message is also part of an official script since actors are never allowed to share the information before the premiere date.
- added a name to the script, so you through the actor's eyes
- write a message from the actor to make people print the script. On the printed script the reader will see further info.

FEEDBACK AND THOUGHTS:

- the message of Alkaline is a bit too straight-forward. Takes away the strength of the different layers the script holds.
- How can I keep the layeredness and non-linearity of the story, while showing the reader what to do with the script?
- maybe make a pop-up of the note or another message
- Decide when to use the "handwritten" font and when to use the "textual" font. Does everything have to be a "note"? The message online is also handwritten, so there is no distinction between handwritten-physical and digital-online text.
- What is a link? How to tell the reader?
- The "important" message on the first page gives a sense of censorship, that the publication may not be read. My most important message in this publication is to SHARE the dancehall culture, so this is a bit contradictory.

- take the important message away completely?
- change the font of the "information" parts to textual font
- cancel the whole Alkaline note?
- make a trigger point for the reader
- make the script clickable - add all the content

THOUGHTS

The entire script consists of:
- Online text (the script)
- Printed text (history and actor's/director's notes)
- Interactive online videos: documentaries, lectures, music, and most important: dancehall moves
- Online video (script performed in dance)

THOUGHTS

- Important message only removed from the online script (this is an important part of a script and therefore I wanted to keep it in the physical script)
- Only the notes have a handwritten font. The informational font has the same font as the script since it is a crucial part of the story.
- the clickable parts in the script are pop-ups with the background information of the steps (dancehall steps, lecture, documentary, interview, and pictures)
- page two of the script will be about the history of dancehall and instructions on how to use the script.
- replaced the Alkaline note with a summary of the script.
- I want to add buttons as trigger points for the reader.
FEEDBACK: think about how these buttons should look like. They play an important role in the story so think for example about the form and the colors to use for this button.
- Also, think about when people see those buttons. If I'm placing them at the end the reader first has to read the entire script. Is this necessary? Or, should they be present all the time so the reader can click them whenever they want?

THOUGHTS

- Buttons are in Jamaican/Dancehall/Reggae colors, to give a slight sense of the Jamaican dancehall culture.
- The buttons pop-up when you scroll down to read the story. They are constantly visible when reading the script, so the reader can decide when they want to click on them.
- I added two buttons: one functions as a print button, the other one is a link to the performed dancehall routine.
- Instructions on how to use the online script are red-colored in the physical script. This way, people will know the online script is interactive and clickable.
- the clickable words now hold all the videos and background information for the script.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR EVERYONE USING THE SCRIPT ONLINE:
Because I'm hosting the online website from a file on my computer, certain (copyrighted) videos don't work right now. The script recognizes the videos, but YouTube doesn't allow me to play them from my local server. From the 53 hyperlinks in the file, this is the case for 6 videos.