For my three material translations of a DVD I made a medium-sized vinyl ‘pillow’ filled with VHS tape, a to-scale astroturf DVD, and a tissue box made out of a Titanic VHS box with DVDs printed on tissue paper (the gift wrapping kind). My first translation, the vinyl ‘pillow,’ relates to the topic of dying mediums such as the DVD, vinyl records, VHS tapes, etc. The astroturf translation plays to what is often said by parents–“stop watching television and go outside to play;” and lastly, the tissue box and tissues play to the emotions that television and movies can draw out of people.
Thinking about how to enhance three of my ten translations was really interesting because it gave me the chance to look deeper into the three original ideas behind them. My first and second translations, weren’t as successful as the third (the tissue box), but I think that they could be brought there by changing them in ways that were suggested by in our critique. I think that the way that I thought about the tissue box, and the way that I thought about the other two were different and while hearing the feedback I started thinking of how they could be changed so that I was thinking about every aspect of the translation. I also thought about how I might enhance the tissue box through improved construction and through adding a video element. I thought that this project was interesting because especially after the critique, I realized that I had to look at every element of my work rather than focusing on one main idea or aspect of it. I don’t know that I would change anything about how I went about my project because during the critique I think that a lot of important points were touched upon and they will stick with me, so I’m glad that they were brought to my attention.
Vinyl “Pillow”
Astroturf DVD:
Tissue Box and Tissues:
Gallery of Images:
