Mark Myslín :: Creative

Digital video

Although I’ve been a small part of many projects as a consultant at the UCSB Digital Editing Lab, most of my own work in digital video has been for yearbook-style documentaries. In 2005 I directed Eureka High School’s first DVD yearbook supplement (at far left), and in 2007 and 2008 I advised the yearbook committee at the College of the Redwoods Upward Bound summer program (2007 DVD shown at left). I’m most content with Final Cut Pro, although iMovie HD has proven surprisingly viable at times.

No H8 project

No H8 is a series of three PSAs I created in 2008 as a sociolinguistics class project to dispel myths about electronic discourse (so-called ‘Internet slang’). The first piece, a forceful scenario highlighting the utter functionality of abbreviations, challenges the idea that electronic discourse is an unintelligible jumble that should not be considered language. The second piece is an unscripted reflection by two roommates that ultimately suggests categorizing electronic discourse users as unintelligent is both hurtful and unfair. The videos are highly stylized and a little silly, but their fundamental messages are sincere.

"Bomb" (34 sec)		"Roommates" (2 min 9 sec)

2003 drawing project

Drawings

Summer 2003 project

This has been my only real effort in conventional 2D media. The project was a series of five graphite-on-paper interpretations of semi-abstract nouns such as barrier (18” x 12”, at right) and sweetness (30” x 24”, below right). The project is untitled.

Web design

Web page design is my favorite medium because of the interactivity and multi-dimensionality of the final product: words, images, sound, and color fuse on a canvas that repels passivity and static viewing. There is also something about the marriage of coding and creating that appeals to me. Individually meaningless letter sequences between angular brackets taking flight as one dynamic, sensory work speaks to the intersection—and, I think, the inseparability—of technology and art, of science and sensation. HTML, then, is appropriately named a ‘language’ whose individual, technically separable units fuse as an abstract, communicative whole. Below are some of my websites.

UC Santa Barbara Digital Editing Lab

My place of employment. I love working at the lab not only because it’s full of beautiful Mac Pros, but also because I get to work with some amazing people, teach other students Final Cut Studio 2, and help people with some cool digital video projects. The lab is open to any UCSB student working on a project for class credit. I created the lab website in 2007. Visit the site

Humboldt Transit Authority Media

This is my bus photography website. I launched it in 2006 because there were basically no images of Humboldt Transit Authority buses online. The site is both documentary and artistic, reflecting the thrill of capturing a bus in the wild and—with a little luck—getting a beautiful shot. I also posted some MP3 recordings of the buses in the hopes that one day, another bus freak will be as happy as I am to have them on their iPod. Visit the site

North Coast Student Film Festival

“An eclectic showcase of work by high school filmmakers,” as it was once taglined. The festival is an opportunity for students in Humboldt County to present their work to an audience and win prizes donated by local camera shops and theatres. I coordinated this for a few years when I led the Eureka High School Media Club, and I created the website in 2004. (It has since mysteriously disappeared from the Internet, which makes me wonder what’s become of my dear old Media Club.)

College of the Redwoods Upward Bound

Upward Bound is a program for college-bound students that includes a six-week summer program in which high school students live in the dorms at College of the Redwoods in Eureka, taking classes and learning about college admissions. I worked for Upward Bound as Residential Advisor in 2007 and 2008, supervising students and coordinating activities and workshops during the summer session. I designed this website as an Upward Bound student in 2004.