Mark DeVries
Acts of Futility: Video Game Art
Grades 9-12
Lesson Overview
The definition of futility as it relates to our modern
situations of war, economics, politics, etc.
Through this lesson students will learn that some things are not worth
fighting over. To highlight these futile
acts students will create an unwinnable game based on their chosen overarching
subject matter.
Benchmarks
Content Standard 2: All students will apply skills and knowledge to create in the
arts.
Apply materials, techniques, and processes
with sufficient skill, confidence, and sensitivity that personal intentions are
carried out in artworks.
Objectives
Students will learn about futility.
Students will be able to judge a futile situation.
Students will be able to create a video game.
Art Content
Big Idea: Struggle | Futility
Key Concept: Struggles are not easily overcome, and some
struggles are useless or pointless
Essential Questions:
What are some situations that are
futile?
What
situations in your life do you see as futile?
What
types of futility do you see in popular culture?
Artist: Cory
Arcangel
Background
Cory Arcangel (born May 25, 1978) is a
Brooklyn, New York artist who makes work in many different media, including
drawing, music, video, performance, and video game modifications, for which he
is perhaps best known. Arcangel often uses the artistic strategy of
appropriation, creatively re-using existing materials such as dancing stands,
Photoshop gradients, and YouTube videos to create new works of art. His work
explores the relationship between technology and culture.Key Concepts
His work is about repetition in a digital age. Most of his work deals with the ever repeating pattern of our technology, namely gaming and technology as a whole.
Boundaries
Arcangel is limited to a digital media pattern of work. His subject matter varies from repetition to try and fail types of work. He uses hacked video games, sound, digital performance, and basic photoshop elements to create his work
Key Artwork
One example is Super Mario Clouds (2002), a modified version of the Super Mario Bros. video game for Nintendo's NES game console in which all of the game's graphics have been removed, leaving only a blue background with white clouds scrolling slowly from right to left.
Knowledge
Through the systematic examination of our digital culture and regression as a society
Art making problems
· Technical strategies
Arcangel simplifies our media down to its smallest portion as an
exploration of the overall media itself.
·Conceptual strategies
By erasing the functional part of video games, Arcangel takes the
most interesting and interactive part out of our hands and allows us to
disconnect and enjoy the media in a different manner.
Art
Activity
The Acts of Futility
In this worksheet students will be
asked to create their own futility idioms after they have been given some
examples. These idioms will be fleshed
out in drawings, which will then be turned into game concepts. Emphasis will be placed on creating idioms
based on personal experience (A test they found impossible, a game they could
not win, a fight they keep getting into) as well as things within our immediate
realm of culture (War, Elections, Poverty, War on Drugs) from these rough
outlines students will be begin story boarding their unwinnable game.
Anticipatory
Set
Archangel Videos
Flower
Video Game
TED
Talk
Sketchbook
Futility
Quotes
Preparation
Students
will need their sketchbooks, and writing utensil
Reserve
time in the computer lab
Worksheets
need to be passed out
Display
the Futility Quotes
Vocabulary
Futility (noun)
1. The quality of having no useful result;
uselessness.
2. Lack of importance or purpose;
frivolousness.
3. A futile act.
Idiom (noun)
1. A
speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself
grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its
elements, as in keep tabs on.
Procedure
Day 1
Discuss the concept of futility
Discuss the quotes on futility especially Confucius,
Murakami, and Jones
Watch TED Talk
Hand Out Rubric
Day 2
Review Futility
Watch Cory Arcangel and Flower videos
Discuss their intrepetations of these videos
Discuss the concept of an unwinnable game
Hand out worksheet, and have the students begin work on them
(Homework)
Day 3
Meet with each student and discuss potential video games
Begin experimentation in the different build engines.
Day 4 - 6
Student work days
Allow for revisions and concept integration
Day 7
Check in day
Make sure projects are progressing
Self evaluate each student
Day 8
Student Work day / Revision Day
Day 9-10
Critique on video game project
Rubric
Grading
|
Futility Video Game Project
Student creates an interesting, engaging and conceptual video game
that is unwinnable. This video game
illustrates a futile act in a clear manner that is thought provoking and
based on a situation real or imagined
Completed Video games will be unwinnable, either through repetition,
difficulty or any other means. These
games will be visually interesting with characters that are well thought out
and well planned (see storyboard worksheet).
|
A - Excellent
|
Aesthetics
Video game is beautifully crafted, well thought out and interesting
to look at visually. Characters(if
any) have been developed and planned through design and storyboarding
Concept
The act or acts of futility are clear, and are beautifully
illustrated. The game is unwinnable
in a manner that is interesting and experiential.
|
B - Good
|
Aesthetics
Video game is lacking the final polish that would make it great. Imagery and character development could
have been pushed further, but is satisfactory.
Concept
The act or acts of futility are understated and could have been push
to further manifest themselves, but are overall satisfactory
|
C - Average
|
Aesthetics
Video game is alright in its visual interest. The game lacks good characters and well
thought out scenery
Concept
The futile act is pretty standard, and does not relate well to
understanding the concept of futility
|
D – Below Average
|
Aesthetics
Video game is completed but is visually uninteresting. Little or no time was put into its
construction and characters lack depth
Concept
Little to no effort was made into creating an interesting futile act.
|
F -
|
Project was not completed, or simply incomplete
|
Closure and
Follow Up
What is futility?
Name some struggles that are
futile?
Are futile acts worth fighting for?
What are some things in our current
culture that appear to be futile?
Are video games art?
Worksheet
Name:_______________________________________
Date:__________________Class______________
Futility Idioms
Have you ever heard anyone say
“You’re flogging a dead horse”? Or maybe
“get blood from a stone” or how about “The Leopard can’t change its spots.” These are all examples of idioms based on
futility. Futility is defined as the
quality of having no useful effect; In other words, something that is
impossible or in the very least extremely difficult to complete. In this unit we will be discussing futility
and how it relates to the world around you and I. This will all culminate in
you creating a video game that is futile or completely unwinnable.
Idiom’s Come to Life
In
this section you will be drawing out what each idiom is describing, and then
you will begin to create your own. Think
about things in your life that you have deemed impossible, or perceive as
impossible and begin creating images to associate with these dilemmas.
Draw each idiom in the box below the phrase.
Flogging a Dead Horse
Squeezing Blood from
a Stone
Trying to Catch the
Wind
Now it is you turn to create an idiom based on futility or
impossibility. Remember that these can
be based on your real experiences and understandings. As an example, “Mr. DeVries’ worksheets are
like kneeling on calm water”
Idiom: _______________________________________________
Idiom:
_______________________________________________
Game Creation
Based
on the idioms you created (or any other original idioms in your imagining) let
us begin to flesh out our unwinnable video game. You will be creating a storyboard to go along
with your game, each panel should show a major action or shift in
character. Please fill out this
worksheet and hand in with your final project.
1.
Idiom /
concept used:
2.
Is this a personal event?:
3.
Is this a cultural event?
4.
How does this concept work? Explain:
5.
Are there characters involved? If so how many? What are they like?
6.
What is the main focus of the video game?
7.
What type of setting is needed for this game?
8.
How will the player relate to the game?
9.
Based on this idiom are there other ways to
perceive this video game?
10. Brainstorm
a few more concepts based on this idiom.
Begin Storyboarding this idea. Keep in mind the better it
relates to an experience you had, or a cultural phenomenon the better.
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I think it is funny that your lesson plan is on a subject that is the complete opposite of mine (something worth fighting for vs. futility). Interesting.....
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I like the idea behind your lesson plan. Creating a video game would be very very interesting to students since games are often what they like to do.
My only concern is your time frame. I am not sure how detailed you want these games to be, but you only have about two weeks for students to work on this project including the introduction. I would just worry that they wont have enough time to finish or will have low quality projects.
Ah, Mark. These are clever, funny, and fantastic. This entire lesson plan seems like something I would have loved to have as a young art student. Very well done, very very well done.
ReplyDeleteThis lesson plan seems like a technically challenging one...I dont know if I would have been capable of doing this as a high schooler! The twist you are putting on video games, something that relates to many students, was really interesting. Besides digital software, this lesson also teaches students how to analyze situations and find the contradictions are ideas behind them. I would be really interested in seeing student examples. :)
ReplyDeleteNice use of the word shenanigans. I think this is a great idea for a lesson plan. Totally different and something that i think many students will be really interested in working on. I think its awesome that you are giving students a chance to try out a very particular medium that they probably would otherwise not have been able to. Sheeps are fluffy. Goats are fun. HURRY UP AND FINISH. Then we'll be done :D
ReplyDeleteHi Mark. It's Trevor.
ReplyDeleteI think this lesson plan is really interesting! Definitely something the chiltrins will like. I wouldn't even know where to begin teaching this lesson, to be honest. You. Are. So. Smart! (or at least smarter than me. but, ya know, I can pour paint like nobody's business.) Like you said in class, this will need a longer timeframe, but great work! Keep it up! I'm Team Mark!
i think that this concept is so foreign to me and many other people that if you could teach it properly it would be amazing. this can be very artistic and if you plan on teaching this as a lesson plan... props Mark!
ReplyDeletelol Reb-a... goodness gracious.
I think that your lesson plan is a good idea, and I agree i think that it needs to be extended because it cannot be created in that short of a period. I wish haha. But you have great resources to look at and you are interested in the topic so that makes it that much more teachable for you. good job!
ReplyDeletemark,
ReplyDeletei gotta say that you seem like youre gonna be a great art teacher. you just naturally have a loud voice that is easy to pay attention to even after being lulled into stupidity after 4 hours of class....
i can see you leading a classroom very well.
the concept for your lesson is really interesting, it gives students a specific idea but a lot of range within that idea. they could make it comical, they could make it serious, or anything in-between. it is also nice how you are taking advantage of something students are already interested in and turning it into an intelligent and educational topic. very nice! ( :
wow, your movie is pretty condemning. it makes me think about current issues very deeply.
and the fact that she wanted you to use your own footage is CRAP. this was amazing and edited very well. The voiceovers were really relevant and added quite a bit to the message.
Love your idea of creating a video game with a concept in which winning is not the top priority. I think its a really interesting concept the students should explore as a group and individually.
ReplyDeleteGo video game art. Looks good, and very detailed and thorough. It is cool to think of video game art in a new way. I like the main ideas you bring up for this lesson,
ReplyDeleteAs for your movie, very well done. You put the pieces of video/footages together in a very engaging way. The film kept my attention and I was very intrigued by the outcome. The concepts were powerful and compelling. Nice job.
iMovie
ReplyDeleteYour movie brings up some really interesting ideas in a really straightforward, yet subtle way. The footage is powerful and almost exaggerated in their respective ends of the spectrum, but this works perfectly to convey your intended message. The critique you are presenting here is a really important topic and I wish it was talked about more often. Nice work