Campus Arts
Simon Singh Unpacks "The Simpsons"
Have you ever felt that episodes of “The Simpsons” or “Futurama” are speaking to you personally and intellectually? If you were to ask Simon Singh, he’d probably tell you 1) that you’re a huge nerd, and 2) that the writers of both these TV shows intended to connect with viewers just like you.
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A still from the animated short "Falling," created by Oliver Luo '13 using stop-motion and ink animation.
Frame by Frame
It takes 10-20 hours of work to produce 2-3 seconds of animation. Though many students who wish to create animation professionally enroll in art schools, at Harvard a small group of students pursue animation via a track in the Visual and Environmental Studies Department—despite the massive time commitment—balancing their craft with a liberal arts education.
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At Harvard, animators must balance the workload of a normal student with an incredibly time-consuming craft.
Artist Spotlight: Jacob A. Brandt '14
"I would just say there’s no better way to learn about theater other than doing it. If you’re thinking about doing it, don’t think about it and just do it."
Phil Solomon: American Falls
Equally interesting in Solomon’s work is the choice of musical scores. His complex, chemically treated images are supplemented with conflicting sounds that are simultaneously soothing and threatening.
Still Our Favorite "Little Women"
Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s production of “Little Women”—which will play until Saturday at Farkas Hall—is a frolicking voyage back to the 1860s. A musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel tells the tale of four sisters—Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March—and their mother as they try to keep their heads above water in a fatherless household during the Civil War.
Harvard Summer School Films Berlin
On Thursday, the Carpenter Center screened eight short films directed by participants in a Harvard Summer School program that gave 15 students a hands-on intensive class on basic documentary theory and Berlin’s film history, then let them out into the city to find subjects worthy of their final project, a 10-minute documentary.
'Julius Caesar' A Giant Among Theater
The Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” which ran until Saturday in the Loeb Ex, was among the best-executed student theater productions this year. The creative staging and mild text revision of director Alice Abracen '15 synthesized with strong performances on the part of the actors, resulting in an updated performance that maintained the dynamics and power of the original. This result provided a model for modern settings of classic works.
