Daughter of Godcast
Episode 075
Smart Money
Well met wide world here on our ongoing Crowd Creation, Daughter of Godcast, Episode 075, Smart Money.
I'm loving this chapter of the movie, the making and the feedback. Scenes and components sketched out years ago, (or maybe last week) are tuned up and set loose upon the world, the world wild web, that is. How fun, how essential. I am fascinated and often surprised by your experience. Hints about how to clarify and enhance scenes, new ideas. Thank you.
Episode 074, Twelve Mediatronic Ads received feedback from just three dedicated collaborators - James, Seamus and Judith.
Not much feedback IS feedback!
Maybe Twelve Mediatronic Ads just sucked. Is there another explanation?
Test screening on the internet is exciting, because our content has to be ultra compelling. This not in a darkened movie theater, you are not a captive audience. There's so much else going on, so many other posts, feeds, a smorgasbord of seductions. DOG's scenes have to be more intriguing and magnetic than everything else, if they're going to capture any cognition. But the flow of feedback is not just about a scene's awesomeness.
Sparse feedback could mean the presentation is ineffective - the video might be glitchy, slow to load or my request for feedback could be obtuse and confusing. And/or, the content might be totally inappropriate for the social media platform - too long, too subtle or in conflict with the prevalent aesthetic. There's a lot of mights to consider.
If we offer a scene and there's not much response, I can't immediately assume the content is awful or that no one loves me. This is detective work, observing and tweaking, optimizing for response. The nuts and bolts of getting feedback are as important as the feedback itself.
Twelve Mediatronic Ads was likely too long and didn't have enough context. I wonder... if the ads had appeared on refugee relief boxes, either in an empty hallway or behind Christina or Gerry, would feedback have been more abundant? This will be fun to revisit.
We've requested feedback on 4 scenes, 2 under 15 seconds and 2 over 2 minutes. On Facebook at least, shorter chunks are more likely to be watched and commented on. The scene with the most feedback so far, Open Season is a free standing miniature story, with a hero, a challenge, and a transformation. That might have helped too.
Social media platforms are diverse. As an artist and designer, I feel Facebook is a horror show, an addictive, sluggish time suck, but many of my family and friends are there. Even so, only a small percentage of my family and friends are also the audience for Daughter of God. She's wanting more nerds, freaks, iconoclasts, mavericks, tilters at windmills, dreamers, utopians, troublemakers. There are scads of social media platforms specifically for artists and geeks. We're headed there, stay tuned.
Feedback
As of Monday January 29, for Twelve Mediatronic Ads Facebook reports 51 views for 36 minutes. Since the video is 2 minutes long, 36 divided by 2 equals only 13 people, which means most of the 51 viewers didn't watch to the end.
89 people saw the post on Ello with one like by Darren John, a nifty muralist based in London. I can't tell how many watched the video on Ello, but Darren likely did, so thanks Darren!
Vimeo had 8 plays and 19 impressions for a 42% play rate, best so far, oddly enough. 86% watched to the end, or 6.8 people. Open Season still rules, with 100% of Vimeo watchers staying until the end.
Seamus opined via dog.movie...
07 is my favorite, probably because of the rhyme. 10 is the most disturbing, because it implies that no progress will have been made during the intervening years on the issue of male disposability.
07 is Addictouvre, a mashup of English, French and Spanish, possibly promoting a therapy regimen for substance abuse. There's a flash of Ernesto Che Guevara at the end, so who knows.
10 is the classic Uncle Sam saying, Your Boys, My Toys. Perhaps a recruiting poster for adolescent drone pilots.
Judith and I had a brief exchange via email, concluding thus...
#11 favorite
several were ‘disturbing’
11 is about Collaborative Cognition and Global Wealth Redistribution, whatever those are.
James's favorite was 10, Taste the Royals, a not very subtle hint at celebrity cannibalism. I am a little worried this will actually happen before the Daughter of God hits theaters, such an obvious extrapolation of current trends. James was most disturbed by 04, Proslots 100. I am disturbed by 04 too, though I am not sure what it's about. I asked him to elaborate.
I am fortunate to have a cadre of about 25 other artists who appreciate the significance of this undertaking, the zany Daughter of God movie making. Folks who enjoy collaboration. Judith, Seamus and James are among these shining stars. Kudos comrades!
Smart Money
Somewhere in a grassy flower dotted field, federal reserve bank notes and rotting leaves co-mingle. American scrip was always more cloth than paper, and this cash, instantiated just before the collapse of civilization, is more computation than cloth, it's smart money. Each bill is slightly sentient, able to answer questions, check the accuracy of transactions, and offer sound financial advice. Now tho, with humans mostly missing and no economy to service, the lonely bills have only the wild things to keep them company.
I've offered more backstory than usual. My guess is that plenty of people will watch this scene without knowing the premise behind Smart Money... the title is a little hint but I am curious to see what non podcasters make of this. So, there are two variations of the feedback question, depending on whether you checked out this episode or not.
If you haven't checked out episode 075, what is this scene about? If you have checked out episode 075, which characters in this scene do you feel the most empathy for?
I trust this algorithmic question isn't too complicated, I guess we'll find in Episode 076. Thanks for your attention and another thing we'll be revealing in Episode 076 or 077, we're going to unveil our frequent flier-esque awards membership club, where you can earn cool DOG swag with your feedback. Better and better and better and better... James and Seamus and Judith are sitting pretty!
Thanks for flying with the Daughter of Godcast, the frequentest feedbacking movie ever to hit the internet. An innovation, an unprecedented hot mess that we're just making up as we go along, and what fun we're having, eh? I am for sure, the royal we and if you're still listening and watching up to this moment then by gum you might be too, so unlike greats swaths of the internet, some of our assertions are true, go figure. Truth is totally over rated, what we care about is allowing maximum yumminess, of feeling good in the deep sense, the damn I'm the whole freaking universe sense, because being the cosmos while playing the human game is the cats pajamas. The royal we includes you too, we love you! What emotions does that bring up for you? Feel them, mmm!
I actually just think it’s really pretty. If you say the bills are sentient, then , then I suppose I would wonder what they were thinking and if they were terrified or tranquil.
Right, what is the bills’ experience? I wonder how to suggest the sentience more clearly in this scene? Is this vignette enough to get the imagination going or do we need to develop the bills further?
I felt the most empathy for the trillium flowers, followed by the slugs.
My first thought while seeing this sequence was “that’s beautiful!” I was really pulled in by how the focus goes from the flower to the bills below. It was quite a surprise. The money looked too fresh and clean to be at the bottom of an aging forest, but then when the eyes blinked, everything made sense: This futuristic money is not made out of paper that would break down, but rather some sort of polyethylene paper-thin composite that was created to enable a moving cryptic image. Due to their synthetic structure, the bills are not decomposing; they still look very much alive even though their value is dead.
Also, I really liked the quiet, ominous rustling of leaves. Great touch.
Very useful feedback, James! How the new look of the money was offset when you saw the eye move, which gave you the hint that these bills weren’t the cloth cash of our time but some sort of synthetic tech. That helps a lot, I have been pondering aging the bills, but maybe less is more. “They look very much alive though their value is dead.” Wonderful, I hadn’t thought of that juxtasposition, brings up some new ideas.
Something about this scene gave me the distinct impression that some creature had evolved to camouflage itself against cash, and that it was about to slurp down a delicious slug.
As an alternative impression from the bill, the way he was positioned beneath his comrade made him look like a frightened child peaking up from beneath a blanket.
To answer the question posed, I felt the most empathy for the slug, because who knows what toxic effects the ink would have if absorbed through its epidermis? Or perhaps I’m being paranoid.
What an odd adaptation for a future creature… why would looking like money be a great strategy for attracting slugs? Cue David Attenburough, he’ll be like 123 then. Unless we’re resurrecting the rusty old paradigm that the love of money makes us metaphorical slugs. As if being a slug is undesirable. Slugs are amazing! The see through skin, the trails of mucus. A creature disguising itself as cash? That’s a WHOLE new movie, methinks. Fabulous.
Yes! “frightened child peaking up from beneath a blanket” That’s lovely.
These bills still look pretty good after lying in the duff for DOG knows how long, so their composition must be pretty non-reactive, right? Designed originally to be passed through 10k hands, cash registers and wallets, crumpled, stained with take out food sauces, tumbled in soapy water with tube socks and fruit of the loom. Slugs are probably safe. Besides, no animals were harmed in the making of this movie.
How sentient are the bills? Perhaps they are at peace, blissfully lacking an internal monologue and simply experiencing the world as it washes over them.
Buddhist bills. I like.
3 slugs. 2 twenties. I didn’t notice the eye moving at first and wasn’t sure what smart money meant so I assumed this money decided to use camo and stay out of human hands… But the eye motion appears to watch the center slug… Like a wild animal this money has to watch it’s back… It has become a stage that attracts slugs… slugs that need to be watched closely ? I can’t tell but I’m left wondering why $40 fresh and not $1 with wear. Or $100 or $200? “Hindsight is 20/20 ” this phrase comes to mind and our Fiat currency is effectively unbacked… if a bill has the sentience needed to become a fugitive in hiding, the slugs will have alot of work to do. It may be common for viewers to assume the slugs are a metaphor for bankers and economists … While others such as James have empathy for and not prejudice against slimy lil buggers. Why trilliums ? The whole scene is feels peaceful regardless of the messaging … The eye moving is unnecessary to me unless your message is regarding nano tech, RFID , self driving dollars? Etc
PS this my favorite dogcast
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Wonderful to welcome 1/2 of the Ciaglaski brothers into the Daughter of God mix. She showers you with shakti Scott and I am appreciating your quirky and penetrating insight.
Feral money, hiding from humans. I like that.
Fresh $20s vs worn $1s, $5s etc. Are you wondering about diversity of denomination because that would reflect what is typically found in our wallets? Does seeing only 20s throw you out of the moment, or make you wonder *why* only 20s?
Maybe your wild bills travel in denominational packs…
“Hindsight is 20/20.” I like the layers this brings up. How did crisp 20s get integrated into this meadow? Are the events that preceded this moment clearly revealed and more importantly what are the lessons learned? This phrase sets my imagination spinning, you’re asking more of this scene and that’s fabulous.
“Slugs as metaphors for bankers and economists,” I guess that depends on our opinion of slugs AND bankers/economists. The character of George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life is a banker and he’s much loved, while his nemesis Potter isn’t so much. Slugs are key players in a thriving forest ensemble, and so worthy of our appreciation, even if they do creep some people out or eat their garden greens. Perhaps this slug/banker metaphor will be an entry point for some, but I want the scene to have other levels readily available, more subtle resonance.
“The whole scene is feels peaceful regardless of the messaging”
I’d like to think that there isn’t any messaging – what’s the meaning of a flower, what’s the meaning of a flea? They just are. I would, of course, be kidding myself This scene is implying all sorts of history, 20/20 or otherwise. Can we hint at the backstory without seeming coy or worse – annoying? I’d like the scenes to imply an unfolding without locking us into a fixed perspective.
“The eye moving is unnecessary to me unless your message is regarding nano tech, RFID , self driving dollars?”
Interesting. What I’m getting is that for you the eye moving might be a bit much, this scene is already a list of surprises – a field of beautiful flowers, money under the flowers, slugs on the money. That’s enough, a contemplation. The eye moving as the final surprise is jarring or maybe just… unnecessary. Unless we’re shoving AI or nano down the audience’s throat. Are we? Great stuff.
Why Trilliums? Because Michigan.