Hindsight Needs Corrective Lenses Flashcards
Who was credited with earliest form of record keeping?
Sumerians or Egyptians
Hieroglyphics
Egyptions used for inscriptions on walls of tombs temples, statues, coffins, and sarcophagi
Sacred Carving
Cuneiform
Writing started for practical uses.
Cuneiform means “wedge-shaped” and was written on clay tablets using a reed stylus with the end cut in
a wedge shape.
Cuneiform is syllabic, and one symbol could represent one full word then becoming letters, the character for the word “ra,” meaning head of a man, turned into the symbol for their “R” consonant.
Cuneiform was only used by skilled practitioners such as astronomers, scribes, priests, and the king.
Cuneiform began to be deciphered into English in the late 1800s by Henry Rawlinson.
The Behistun Inscription was key in accurately translating ancient cuneiform
Differences between Hieroglyphics and Cunieform
Hieroglyphs are intricate pictures representing objects, while cuneiform uses wedge-shaped impressions made on clay tablets
Hieroglyphics were used for the ancient Egyptian language. Cuneiform was used for several languages like Sumerian, Akkadian, and Elamite.
Hieroglyphs carved in stone have survived for millennia, while cuneiform tablets are more fragile.
Petroglyphs
Rock carvings made by pecking directly on the rock surface using a stone chisel and a hammer stone.
deep religious significance or were used as maps (depicted surrounding terrain with symbols)
Created around 40,000 years ago with the oldest cluster of them thought to be in Iran.
Highly concentrated in parts of Siberia, Scandinavia and Africa
Nsibidi
Indigenous to the Ejagham peoples of Southeastern Nigeria
Many show love affairs
Used TODAY by the Ekpe Secret Society
Aesthetically compelling and encoded- decorative
Quipus
Made from strings that was used by a number of societies in Andean South America
Inca Civilization
Knotted tally cords
Used for collecting data, monitoring tax returns, keeping track of calendrical information, and organising troops
Unknown if it has corresponding language, if it does not; it would be impossible to decipher.
Dispilio Tablet
Wooden tablet containing inscribed markings which is more than 7,000 years old
Tablet’s text is indecipherable
Found in 1993 during George Hourmouziadis’ excavations of Dispili, Greece (Neolithic lakeside settlement) at the bottom of Lake Kastoria
Partially damaged due to being exposed to an oxygen rich environment for a long period of time
Oldest known text in existence
Oracle Bones
Animal bones and turtle shells
Used in divination ceremonies (future predicting using supernatural powers)
Questions were carved on the bones/shell before they were subjected to intense heat through a metal rod until it cracked due to thermal expansion. A diviner would interpret the pattern of the cracks, seen to be a message from a person’s ancestor, and finish by writing the answer to the question on the bone
Ancient China- Shang Dynasty
Cyclons
Cylindrical stone marked with incisions
Originated from magical or religious functions
Could contain maps- which would be the oldest known in existence
20,000 years old
Geoglyphs
Large-scale drawing/image made on the ground made by arranging stones, stretching the earth, etc
Only fully visible from a distance or the air
Modern form of art being popularized during the Land Art Movement
Purpose is unknown
Nazca Lines in Peru which consist of white lines along the desert landscape which form large figures
Runestones
Memorials to dead men
Rune language
Most were brightly colored
4th century to 12th century
Used by Ancient Scandinavian societies, most notably the Vikings
Why do images present a challenge for those producing stories set in photographed times?
To build realistic sets and to cast actors who look enough like their historical counterparts
Who played President Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho)?
Tien Hoi in 1987 play- “A sleepless night”
Why was Tien Hoi chosen to play Ho Chi Minh?
Striking resemblance to a young Ho Chi Minh
What did the success of “A sleepless night” do for Tien Hoi?
Earned recognition General Vo Nguyen Giap
Showed that he was capable of embodying historic figures
The Musical Hamilton defied the expectation of what actors in historical dramas should look and sound like by….?
Casting Black actors as America’s legendary founding heroes
People say that it distorts American History
Hamilton
Aaron Burr (US v.p) and Thomas Jefferson (US P) Duel
Created by Lin Manuel Miranda
Colour- blind casting
Casting of Jodie Smith as the Queen of England in the Channel 5 series rendition of Hamilton
August Wilson, an African American playwright, was against color-blind casting, arguing that it perpetuates the erasure of history and assimilation of repressed communities
West Side Story and The Simpsons facing similar criticism
Call for the industry to create new spaces where BIPOC actors can thrive and contribute their talents without controversy
In Hamilton on Disney+, white roles were often portrayed by BIPOC actors.
Only King George III was portrayed by a white actor
Audio recording in theater- Example
Actress playing Margret Thatcher is expected to study her voice diligently
Color-conscious casting
The Great Gatsby, where characters’ ethnicities are reinterpreted to reinforce and explore themes of identity and belonging
4 Steps to mimicking voices
- Study & Research (Accent, Tone, etc.)
- Feedback (from people who have heard the original person’s voice)
- Only Voice- Method Acting
- Ready To Perform
Which leader gave his victory speech from prison?
Pakistan, Imran Khan used AI to give his speech
Pakistan 2024 election
Shehbaz Sharif, representing both PML-N and PPP, poised to become the prime minister with a coalition of seats
The election raised questions about the credibility of the electoral process and sparked protests and clashes across the country
This happened due to internet shutdowns during polling day
Who played Gandhi in the movie?
Ben Kingsley
Some have criticized the choice to cast someone of only partial Indian descent—and British
Kingsley, born Krishna Pandit Bhanji in the UK to an English mother and a Gujarati father
Very successful film
“Gandhi” Movie
Gandhi’s political awakening as a lawyer in South Africa, where he fought for the rights of Indians and tackled segregation.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Disability
Never photographed in a wheelchair
Paralyzed from the waist down by polio
Kept out of public eye by using leg braces, holding onto an advisor or a lectern while swinging his legs forward
Went on to become governor of New York in 1928 and was elected president in 1932
Concealed from the public eye, as he was determined to project an image of strength and capability
Photography of FDR in Wheelchair
2013- First photo
Showcasing him being transported down a ramp after visiting the USS Baltimore
FDR Memorial Commission selected Lawrence Halprin to design a memorial for Roosevelt
Statue of him in a wheelchair unveiled in Washington, D.C. in 2001
Statue has wife’s words about his condition and his perseverance
Old movies and TV shows filmed in black-and-white
To feel more authentic
Steven Spielberg- 1993 magnum opus “Schindler’s List”
Allowed audiences to connect
History of photography
First photo- Joseph Nicephore in 1826
Exposing a metal plate into a camera obscura (which is essentially a black box that can project images)
“The View from the Window at Le Gras” is the title given to the world’s first permanent photograph
Who created the Leica Camera
Oskar Baranack
Ansel Adams
Premier landscape photographer of his time
First 2 people ever photographed
Paris’s Boulevard De Temple- a shoe shiner and his customer.
Daguerreotype
First conventional large-scale method of taking photographs
Louis Daguerre
Involve the use of treated light-sensitive polished silver-plated copper which was exposed in a camera for as long as necessary. The plate would then undergo mercury fuming and chemical treatment before being rinsed and dried
Dry-plate method
Richard Maddox
Kodak Camera, mass producing plates
George Eastman
Steven Spielberg
Creator of Jaws, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List
Schindler’s List
Oskar Schindler, a man who single handedly saved thousands of lives through employing Jews in his factories
Refers to the list of 1,100 or so Jews who were to be sent to Brünnlitz rather than Auschwitz.
5 Techniques to show flashbacks
Decreased Shutter Speed
Smooth Transitions
Cross processing
Colour tint
Diffused Glow
Decreased Shutter Speed
Decreasing the frame per second rate leads to each frame having a longer exposure time. This creates a collection of blurred images making it perfect for dreamlike sequences.
Smooth Transitions
Transitions contribute vastly when it comes to indicating a flashback scene.
Two of the most popular are the white dissolve (dissolving in and out of a white solid) and bloom transition (typically used when recounting events to quickly switch between the past and the present.
Cross processing
This is when the wrong chemical is used on purpose for creating a film-stock. The result is that the sequence has high contrast and unnatural colours allowing the sequences to stand out and feel different from the rest of the movie.
Colour tint
This involves using different coloured tints for both time periods. This is typically used when switches between the past and present are frequent. Using this can help the audience to understand and keep up with the timelines better. This technique is simple, yet incredibly effective in making it stand out.
Diffused Glow
A visual effect, where a glow is applied to a particular scene. This can help to make it look “ethereal”. It is similar to another technique where netting is put behind the lens to make the scene look smoother.
First coloured photographs
Created using potato dye
Jordan Lloyd
Manually recolourizes photos
He believes that achieving accurate colours is a moral imperative and argues that AI technology cannot match the precision and attention to detail required for this task
Stuart Humphryes
Digital Artist
Started their project called “The Colors of Life”
Aimed at recolourizing images
The project’s goal was to connect modern audiences with the past
Humphryes utilised AI technology, enhancing the vibrancy of early colour photos captured on Lippmann plates, Paget plates, and Autochromes.
Takes lot of time
3 AI colorization tools
DeOldify
DeepAI
Algorithmia
Examples of AI colourisation being inaccurate
Coloring a waterfall brown or the Golden Gate Bridge white
Founder of DeOldify
Jason Antic
Supports AI to recolourize photos
Which phone uses AI to enhance photos?
Google Pixel 8
Magic Editor
Utilises generative AI and processing techniques to enable complex photo edits
Raises ethical considerations
Emil Wallner
Argues that its difficult for AI models to replicate the nuanced understanding of human historians
Two main types of AI image enhancement
Super-resolution and Denoising
Super-resolution involves increasing the resolution of an image
Denoising focuses on removing noise.
Both types utilise CNNs (Convolutional Neural Networks)
Upscaling (super-resolution)
Increasing the resolution of an image (often by 4x or more), while also maintaining its original content and details as much as possible
The capabilities of the Magic Editor have been tested by who?
CNET Editor Patrick Holland
Galaxy Enhance-X
AI tool to enhance photos
Advanced AI engines such as HDR and Upscale to address common photo issues like poor lighting, camera shake, and compression artefacts
“Magic” technology- automatically detects errors in photos and applies appropriate adjustments to enhance them
Available on the S23 series
Denoising
Remove or greatly reduce the amount of noise in an image
Backpropagation
A gradient estimation method
Adjusts the weight of connections between neurons in order to minimise error.
Estimates are computed by an optimisation network, which makes network parameter updates if one proves to be more efficient than all other previously tested estimations in a certain field.
Training
The process in which a CNN learns how to perform a certain task (ex. denoising).
It typically involves two steps, dataset training & backpropagation
Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)
A type of artificial neural network used primarily for image recognition and processing, due to its ability to recognize patterns in images
Dataset
A collection of images which CNN’s are trained upon in order to learn a task
Variety of images for better results
Object Detection
A computer vision technique used to locate instances of objects in photos or videos
Image Classification
The process of categorising and labelling images based on a specific set of rules
Semantic Segmentation
A computer vision task in which the goal is to categorise each pixel in an image into a class or object
Where is AI is being used to renew old opera footage?
China
Hua Mulan, a legendary heroine from Ancient China
Addressing issues such as scratches, noise, and image discolouration/distortion present in early recordings
Attracted more than 7 million viewers (feb ‘24)
“The Electrician”
Boris Eldagsen
Uploaded under alias “Cheeky Monkey
To check if competitions were ready for AI generated photos
Showed past experiences- His father’s experiences during World War II
Ministry of Culture and Tourism (China) using AI
Working on refurbishing other videos related to traditional Chinese opera.
Aims to utilise digital technology to renew and preserve cultural heritage
Establish a digital library where creators can share restored content.
Which major photography competition did “The Electrician” win?
Won Sony World Photography arts competition
Which AI generator did Boris Eldagsen’s photo use?
DALL-E 2
Bas Uterwijk
Use AI to update sculptures and other portraits that predate photography with photorealistic results
Promptography
Art of creating AI Generated photos
Proposed by Boris Eldagsen
Sunset Boulevard
Ed Ruscha
Kintsugi
The repair of broken pottery using lacquers that leave visible the original fractures
The breakage and repair of an object is treated as part of the object’s history rather than something to disguise
Ottoman Panorama
Sebah & Joaillier
Pre-1906 San Francisco
William M. McCarthy
McMansion
Uniform design of fast food chain McDonald’s
Lack uniqueness
Upper-middle-class homeowners
Ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 square feet
Role in the housing crisis- lending practices and subprime mortgages led to people defaulting their loans
Symbolize a superficial display of wealth and status
Origin of Kintsugi
Shõgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged tea bowl to China for repairs and it was repaired with ugly metal staples
3 Kintsugi techniques
Crack
Piece Method
Joint Call
Crack
The use of gold dust and resin to attach broken pieces with minimal overlap or fill-in from missing pieces
Joint Call
The use of a similarly shaped but non-matching fragment to replace a missing piece to create a patchwork effect
Piece Method
The entirety of the addition is gold or lacquer compound
This is usually used when no replacement fragment is available
Process of Kintsugi
Place inside a storage compartment, called a furo for 2-14 days
Submerged in a substance (ex. beans) while in the furo for temperature control and preservation
Yobitsugi
Accepting that you may not have enough of the original left to work with
Repairing broken items using pieces from other vessels, such as plates, to create an original work of art
Preservation of artifacts, blending traditional craftsmanship with contemporary techniques
History of Yobitsugi
Dates back to the Muromachi period
Oldest surviving yobitsugi pieces are attributed to Oda Yurakusai
Mino region of Japan associates yobitsugi with good luck
Japanese Mono-Ha art movement
Collision of the natural and the mechanical worlds; many of its works were designed to deteriorate over time
Examples of Yobitsugi pieces
Artists like Tomomi Kamoshita and exhibits from Robert Yelling Yakimono Gallery
Phase - Mother Earth 1
Amount of mother earth does not change even if it is uneven and the vivid materialistic presence of the soil had an enormous impact on the trends of the time
Modern Recreation: 40th anniversary of its creation, the work is for “Tama Art Line Project” exhibition of outdoor artwork Tokyo
Nobuo Sekine
Nobuo Sekine
Graduated from Tama Art University in 1968.
Studied under Yoshishige Saito.
Exhibited at Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Kobe.
Impactful in postwar Japanese art as he created the “Inverted Earth”
