Module #8 Video Review

1. Explain why you selected the video you choose from the selection listed above.

The video I selected was, The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure, and the reason I chose to watch this video for this assignment was because I have always been fascinated by Greek statues and Greece is always a place I have wanted to visit. I thought since I probably won’t get to Greece any time soon, I might as well learn as much as I can now about the history behind some of their work. As for their statues, I am a big fan of statues to begin with, while I also visit many different museums when I travel and I have always liked the Greek statues just a little bit more than others. 

2. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

For the first video, More Human Than Human, I liked how they talked about humans in artwork and how they are depicted, the style that stood out to me the most was the Egyptians way of representing the human body. The video discusses how the Egyptians showed the body from its clearest angles being, chest up front, face in profile view, while having the eyes seen from straight on, and having the feet and hands shown sideways. I thought this was very interesting, while the key concept I learned from this video was, just how particular the Egyptians where about the human body and how it should be represented. They also stated in the video that this style of depicting the human body has lasted over the last 3000 years and they do not want to change their style because of their great deal of consistency and order. 

For the second video that I chose, The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure, I liked how they talked about the various greek artwork and statues. The key concept I learned from this video was how the greeks depicted human beings in their sculptures, but also where able to depict things such as movement as well. They describe one statue as having the human anatomy of appearing to be walking, having its one leg out, giving it the appearance that it is putting one foot in front of the other, or walking forward. They also describe in the video how just the most basic of characteristics can make you depict whether or not the statue represents a man or a woman, for example, just looking at the beard or long hair of the statue, tells you if it is a man or a woman. I thought this was very interesting, while definitely something I would have never thought of before unless watching this video.

3. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?

These videos relate to the readings in the text mostly due to the fact that they cover the same subject matter covered in the book, while they are also able to add to the understanding of ancient statues and depictions of human life back in history. While the videos did seem to touch base of some of the same topics covered in the book, such as the Egyptian statues like the sphinx and some other ancient drawings of humans from that time period. While I think that it is good that there was an overlap in some subjects, it added more depth to the understanding of certain subject matters, while also giving a different learning method of listening and watching, rather than reading. Overall I do think these videos where able to relate to the reading in the text and definitely provided a good understanding of the topics presented in this lesson.  

4. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the readings and art concepts?

For my opinions on the films, I thought the first film, More Human Than Human, while very long, it was very informative in talking about why certain cultures depicted the human body differently in how they represented them in their artwork and sculptures. While the second video, The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure, was much shorter, but still equally informative, I thought it was very interesting due to the fact that the subject material covered was stuff that I am interested in, while I also liked that we got to choose from a selection of videos. All together, I think the videos were very informative and definitely adds depth to the understanding of the readings and art concepts, mostly due to the fact that it is more visual learning, which I am more into, rather than reading, so I understand better and more by listening rather than reading in the book.