I watched most of the videos on lacma.org/video but the one that I found to be really entertaining and overall enjoyable was The Megalith Arrives at LACMA: The Making of Levitated Mass. LACMA’s video production, I have to say, is incredible! I think with the variety that the museum provides in its video content is what makes users engaged with not only what the video is about, but also the museum sphere and experience as a whole. Along that line, the video about the Megalith was one that had an interesting composition that was so simple, yet really impactful. I loved how the video was quite literally about how LACMA moved the Monolith into the vicinity of the museum building with thousands of onlookers cheering and documenting it. The shots of the crowds of people and the huge mass gave me a look at just how important the museum community is and how experiences like this make museums so wondrous and overall lasting.
Speaking of “lasting,” this is where digital presence comes into play. Yes, the fact that LACMA has a video section on their website- now common among most museums- is already evidence of a good and evolving progression into the digital world. When we’re talking about online classes, I also think positively on this method of delivering content from institutions like that of a museum. Essentially growing up on Khan Academy and other online resources during my high school years, I think online classes are extremely helpful in terms of allowing students to interact with content on their own terms, time, and interest, as well as have more subjectivity and material to discuss and present with professors, other students, and the like. I think that more art-centered classes would be interesting; that is, classes like understanding composition of paintings, color theory, visual literature, and so on. I think Khan Academy has a few videos on art history and the humanities in general, but they’re usually very general and sometimes gloss over the finer information that one would receive in a classroom setting. With these video ideas, which can involve having allotted time and instructions for activities to do while watching, I think positive engagement and interest would follow.
One digital storytelling piece that I recently saw other than the Monolith one earlier is by Variety Magazine called SAG Winners Recall Their First Acting Job. The video is quite short- only 3:39 minutes- but the significance of the subject stands in how the individuals talk about their experiences, all culminating into how their success with winning a SAG award singlehandedly changed their lives. Funny, uplifting, and warmhearted, the stories of the SAG winners remind us how dreams can be achieved against all odds. In the end, all individuals joke and reminisce about both the hard and good times of their journey to success. I personally love digital storytelling projects like this, which involve multiple perspectives that overarch into a single or common theme. I also am intrigued with videos that cover events rather than physical objects, as the personal connection we have as human beings are often associated with the memorable times in our lives.
All in all, with this post comes the reminder that the class will be visiting LACMA this Friday, and I can’t wait to wander through one of my favorite museums again and see what’s new, digitally and on exhibition!