Comments for blogs

I commented on stuff!!

blog 1

a different blog 1

blog 2

a different blog 2

blog 3

a different blog 3

soundscape blog

another soundscape blog

song comparison

another song comparison

song comment

another song comment

visual framing

another visual framing

Read More

(10) I'm strong. I'm weak.

2. What’s my problem?

No one likes to talk about his or her weaknesses. That is not something I ask friends or family on a regular basis. “Hey, so if you were to make a list at everything I suck at, what would that list look like?” But David Rendall says otherwise. David thinks that by correctly identifying and listing our weaknesses, we learn more about our strengths. I love when he talks about this in his own life. He lists his weaknesses and then shows how his life is utilizing the exact opposite traits. He doesn’t like authority, so he runs his own business. He likes talking, so he talks for a living. I think this is a great point he makes, and while it may seem like an obvious one, putting it in words that are easy to understand and showing real life examples are a great benefit.


4. Forget it: don’t try to fix your weakness

I have flaws. But I also have strengths. So do I try to fix my weaknesses or do I work on my strengths? David would argue that concentrating on my weaknesses is pointless and will only be painful and slow. To summarize his point, he gives this advice: We all have limitations. I think this is another great point of his and something that we all should think about. Well, let me specify what I do and do not agree with. I cannot be a writer. I could not make up riveting plots, personable characters, or cold sweat educing action drama. But in my opinion that doesn’t mean it is not something I could work on. In fact, I think some good could come from working on weaknesses. Now that doesn’t mean I think I could be a writer, but writing in my spare time could assist in improving other areas of my life that are more important.


8 Freak: the power of uniqueness

David states that being unique is a great quality to have. And it definitely is. The people that succeed in this world don’t do what is expected of anyone. Banksy is a now famous street artist. I have talked about him many times before but that is because he is a great illustration of this class in real life. His art is different. He is different. People don’t want normal. They want a mysterious graffiti artist with a passion for rats and strong political opinion. They want what hasn’t been shown to them before. They want people that use their flaws to strengthen what they have going for them. I agree fully with David on this point, it is better to be exceptional than it is to be normal.


My strengths and weaknesses

Well, I hate bragging, and I have pointing out what I’m not good at, so this section kind of sucks. Haha.

Nonetheless, let me start with my strengths. I love art and I love technology. I love taking a story, a script, and using both of those to better tell the words. I think I am good at taking words and visualizing what I want them to look like on a screen. But I think my favorite part and where I excel the most is postproduction. I have always been kind of a closet nerd, so I love computers. I could, and do, spend hours upon hours editing one video just to get it exactly how I want it.

I am not a good writer. Trying to write a script for the joke was challenging for me. I could not get enough outside of the box to come up with something truly creative. But I will not let that stop me from trying (so take that, David Rendall)

Read More

(9b) The end of the world is coming, quick, play a game to help

Collapsus.com

Read More

(9a) Reflections on our games

     When you are by yourself behind your desk in your room, everything in your powerpoint seems very simple to understand.  But when you step in front of a classroom of students and your teacher, the words and concepts seem harder to explain.  For our group, the concept of missions seemed difficult to express.  What we were trying to explain was that each character (i.e. Greek, football player, nerd, etc…) would have specific missions that are relevant to their specialty.  Like a football player would have to go to tryouts, while a nerd would have to go to a science fair.  But also, the players would have some missions that all groups would attend (like a party or orientation)

     We had a simple time explaining the layout of the game.   In a world where video games are well known phenomenon and it is something that people experience on a daily basis, explaining things in video game terms is a good way to go.  So, when we said that our game would be an MMO, similar to World of Warcraft, I think that the class knew exactly what we meant and could picture it in their heads. 

Read More

(8b) Sun v Clouds, and critiques

Critiques

http://lworthington.blogspot.com/2011/05/nightnurse-vs-biohazard.html

Night Nurse was a little confusing to me at first. With the creepy moon and dark lighting, I was not sure if she was a super hero or a villain. I do like the color chosen for her though. The bright pink helps to identify her as a good guy. Maybe if she would have been white and pink, this would have been more obvious.

Biohazard is a very well put together villain. His red and black colors are typical evil colors and add to his look. In contrast to Night Nurse, he appears to be grungy and sloppy, while Night Nurse is clean cut and well put together.

Looking at the video, it appears that Biohazard is not the brightest light bulb. Night Nurse obviously throws a reflective barrier over the poor innocent girl, but Biohazard still shoots his evil snots at her. The snots proceed to bounce off of the shield and jump right back in his face. Instead of shooting over the shield at Night Nurse, he just gives up and flies away. This could also be some subtext found in the video. It doesn’t come and tell us right away that Biohazard is a complete idiot, but upon further inspection of the film, we can see through his actions that he is indeed a complete idiot.

http://yingqi203mdia.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-05-29T19%3A16%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7

This hero/villain was one of the only that I saw that used lighting to it’s advantage. Even though they both have on colors that could be villainous, the shadows are a complete give away. The villain has shadows behind him, and even some on his face that is cast by his hat. This was a nice touch and helped make the contrast between them more obvious.

Apart from black, the colors of the bad guy are blue and purple, while the hero is proudly wearing red and yellow. These are great color palettes to emphasize the difference between the two. The villain looks very suspicious and like he’s trying to hide, while the hero looks proud and ready to go kick some villain butt.

This brings us to our next point, movement. The posture and position of the characters tells us about their personality. The evil guy looks sly because of his smirk, popped collar, and covered body. The hero looks like bold and like she is ready to get physical because of her posture. Her sword ready to be drawn and her determined look help add to this over all feel. These emotions are not said aloud, but can be observed.

http://m2d0i3a.blogspot.com/2011/05/wolverine-8a.html

Pepsi vs Crush. Oh yeahhh. This was my favorite hero/villain assignment, because of the characters, how they drew them, and their animation.

Contrast between the two in many ways. The first being colors. The pepsi can wears the obvious red and blue. And the crush rocks the orange and white. But the subtext of this rivalry can be seen in the brands. Pepsi and Crush are competing brand names and that is the root of their violence. That is what set this team apart from others, it was a very intelligent choice of hero vs villain.

The video may be the best part of this assignment. The movement of both the hero and the villain is very impressive. When the pepsi gets angry, he squirts his arms out to attack the cashier. That movement in itself is very evil and you can tell that he is a violent villain. The mortal combat techno song added a lot to their fight scene. The crush can obviously destroyed the pepsi can. When he jumped up they kept the size and weight of the character very consistent. Overall, they did a great job and put a lot of thought and time into their characters and animation

Read More

(8a) superhuman superflight

Read More

(7) Got some jokes for ya'll

here is the second video, I cannot embed it because it's private

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU2zdmFVxC0&feature=youtu.be

Our assignment was to make two videos using the same joke.  We could not use sound recorded from our camera, so that made the assignment much more challenging.

I don’t really know what “binary terms from week one are.” But I have my notes from week one so I will talk about some of the terms we learned.  Both scripts we voted on were shot in a bar, so we decided to shoot both in the same place; that would be some affinity right there.  And of course the fact that we used the same base joke for both scripts is also similar.  But because they were recorded in the same location, we had to get creative to make them look and feel different.  In other words, we had to use some contrast.  The first thing we decided to do was to film one with an old school silent film look, and then film the second with voiced over sounds.

Taking into account the silent film feel, the rhythm of the videos is much different.  Because of the word slides, the rhythm of the silent film would have to be choppier than the other video.  The viewer must watch the action unfold, then read what just happened.  This made the video seem much slower compared to the other video.  We used movement to counteract this effect.  The camera frequently jumps to keep the viewers attention.  If we were to keep the camera still while having the slides interrupt, the video would seem unnecessarily drawn out and boring.  In the color video, we did not have nearly as much camera movement, because that would have been too fast and confusing.

            

Read More

(5B) A (very) small look at Fight Club

Read More

(5A) Perception

The image I began with is interesting to say the least. It is an image by Ben Goossens of an owl sitting on a book on a chair in a sort of nature room. I found the concept, aesthetics, and the execution of this piece very intriguing so I decided to write about this image.

The original image has the cloudy walls as a background with the owl and chair as a main centerpiece that the eye is immediately attracted to. When I cropped the image, the space was shrunk, the chair moved into the background with the wall, and the own became the solo item in the foreground.

The main, driving lines in the first image are the corners of the walls. They all seem to be pointing to the center of the piece where the owl is. They point to the most important object and are the artists way of directing our vision. When cropped, the main lines become the back of the chair, and because they are so bold, they take away from the owl.

The chair, its shadow, the window, and where the walls connect all give us visual anchors of the depth of the picture. Our mind takes all of those things and can grasp the size and relative depth of each object. When cropped, we loose all of that. Our minds have no idea how far back, how big, or even what the background is. The clouds could be the actual outdoors from the looks of the second picture.

The first shot is a medium shot while the cropped image is much more of a close up of the beautiful, elegant bird.

Read More

(4B) Song Assignment

This is my song, yo. Deal with it.

Read More

(4A) Brainwashed....?

I was assigned to read this article, written by Seth Godin, this week in my Media 203 class. And honestly, I am not sure that I agreed with the majority of what was said. This article was a typical "stick it to the man" type reading. That because we are taught high school math, we have been "trained to be a compliant cog"  and are being "brainwashed." I would completely negate that opinion; math teaches us persistence, how to think critically, organization skills, memorization abilities, and the list goes on. Take away math, then you take away science because "hey, thats not using your imagination, that's just reading facts." I don't believe all high school teachers are "out to get" students and make them learn geometry just to go home and have a good laugh about it. I believe that those skills are essential and for many people, develop into a hobby, passion, or job. Now I am not saying that numbers and science rules over art and music, but a balance must be found. And getting rid of Algebra is not that balance.

But alas, let me summarize two points of this article. Unless I shouldn't because it was on a syllabus and that would just be submitting to the man and giving up my brain. 

No, but in all seriousness, here are some summarizations for you.

Acknowledge The Lizzard

When we get nervous, we tend to stay quiet. We are scared to show our inner selves, our art, our emotions, and who we really are because we are scared that people won't like it. I call this self-esteem issues, and we all have them. We all are scared of what other people think whether we admit it or not. Enter, alcohol. Just kidding.

But our buddy Seth here thinks that that nervousness has been pounded into us by "the man." That because we obey our teachers in school and follow instructions, we are giving in. Now I am all for being creative and embracing individuality but that is just ridiculous.

Ship

I do like this one. Seth explains here that the most important quality one could have is the ability to get things done. To stop picking daises and prancing around the bush. To have determination, drive, and the ability to close. I agree that this is an essential thing to posses, especially in the media field. Because the ones with the jobs won't always be the most talented, but the ones who get their selves out on the field and get stuff done. 

I do like these little exercises that are assigned on the weekly. They make me think critically of the world around me, evaluate what I think, and challenge my actions (or lack thereof). Which in turns makes me a better student and artist. They are very interesting articles that I would never find or read if it wasn't for this class. Keep them coming.

Read More

(3A) I Got 99 Problems...

watch this---><---then watch this

Covering a song has become a normal thing to do in the music industry. Artists do this either because they think they can ride off the song's popularity, convey the song in a better or different fashion than the original, or because they have respect for the artist and song and want to show it. 

Jay-Z recorded "99 problems" in April of 2003 and released it short after. It reached the charts in the US as well as the UK. In 2010, Hugo Chakrabongse covered the song in 2010 with Jay-Z's approval. Both songs have very a very different sound and some lyrics, but the same chorus. 

The easiest thing to notice is the difference in musical quality.

Jay-Z's original song has a sort of hybrid rap rock type feel. A strong drum and beat driven rhythm dominate the song with some grungy guitar chords thrown in. His raps have an in your face flow to them, and give off an underground concert feel. The intensity of his song seems always at a peak, with constant sound effects in the background and beats out the wahzoo.

Hugo's cover of the song has an excessively laid back flow compared to Jay-Z's fast paced rapping. A picking banjo and a very consistent bass drum are his weapons of choice. And his voice has reverb that makes it almost seem more whiny and almost dream-like. This slower folk song does not loose the same rebellious feel that Jay-Z introduced. Lots of background noise and effects give the song the same grungy feel found in the original.

Most of Jay-Z's inspiration for this song was based on racial inequality. When we look at the lyrics, the second verse depicts a scene where he is pulled over by a cop and when he asks why, the cop responds "you were doing fifty five in a fifty four." What he was trying to say through this exchange of words is that the cop is being racist and pulled the man over for no legal reason, just simply based on the fact that he is black. This racial discrimination is something that Jay-Z talks about a lot and is often the basis for many of his songs.

Hugo inspiration for his newgrass version of the original gangster rap song came to him when he was listening to the original song itself. "He raps," Hugo told the reporter of Hot News, "but there's a melody implied in it." Wow, what a great vocab word Hugo used there, melody, I bet he took Beth's class. 

Both versions of this song own a little place in my heart that can never be replaced or interchanged. I like Jay-Z's version for his originality and passion, while Hugo's smooth and rugged vibe is a rare find. But if I had to choose one that I "like better," I would have to go with Hugo's slick banjo cover. 

Read More

(3B) My Unbelievably Exciting Soundscape

Last week, my class was assigned a project to create a soundscape that expressed emotion.

Out of all the exciting, horrifying, suspenseful categories I could've been assigned, I got Boredom.

So, ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy my excessively boring soundscape and the picture that inspired it all

Read More

(1B) Ways to get breakthrough ideas

Mitch Ditkoff recognizes the fact that this world revolves around innovators. Around people that take the familiar and make it more economic, affordable, usable, versatile, efficient, whatever have you. But how does one do that? How can one get themselves in that creative state where their juices are flowing and they are truly thinking out of the box. Ditkoff believes that there are actions we can take to get us in this state of mind. Tangible acts that can be put into words and sentences. Fourteen sentences, if fact. And he has them to share with us.

FASCINATION

Mitch’s first point in this paper is the idea of fascination.  That things make us think for a reason. What I find interesting, others won’t. And I will still have no idea why some people are fascinated by ancient history. But that’s ok, that is his point and I fully agree with him. Fascination knocks on the doors of our brains all the time. We must tap into that curiosity and use it to push ourselves forward into further research, discovery, and inspiration.

IMMERSE

If we just put half of ourselves into a task, it will only be half done. If we put half of our brains to a thought, it will remain half an idea. Ditkoff exposes one of our problems that surfaces in the form of multitasking. Even as I am writing this blog, I have some background music on, I’m halfway in a conversation with my roommate sitting across the room, I am occasionally responding to texts, I am fighting the temptation to watch my roommate play XBox. Now, that being said, am I fully immersed in this paper? Admittedly, no. Would this be a beneficial environment to do some serious work or thinking in? No. Yet this is what most college students do, put half effort into their work. And that is exactly what they get back, a so-so result.

TOLERATE AMBIGUITY

We have all heard the very inspirational quotes about failure. “You don’t fail until you give up,” “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” But how much truth is there to these oh so corny quotes? Mitch would argue quite a lot of truth. In fact, he says that “failing” is something we must get used to. That not knowing something is inevitable and we should use this as motivation instead of an excuse to stop. I very much so agree with this statement. If people were to give up when they were confused or when they didn’t succeed on the first time, we would live in a much dumber world.

Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better. 

Samuel Beckett

What trends in the marketplace most intrigues you? In what ways might these trends shift in

the coming years—and how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift?

Technology seems to be moving at a ridiculous pace. This years computers are eighteen times faster than last years. Your laptop can’t make you coffee? That’s so old school. Oh, you got a new iPhone 4? Have you heard about the new features of the iPhone 5 that is coming out in a few months? 

Innovators are taking the current standard of computers and technology, and constantly looking for ways to make them better and faster. They are looking for ways to make them better than their competitor and more marketable to the largest amount of people.

Electronics are evolving on a exponential graph, and it looks like they will only continue to do so. So why should anyone care about this? Well for one thing, it means less money in our pockets. But it also a prime example of a competitive marketplace that is growing a blazingly fast rate due to great, revolutionary ideas.

If every market, college, job had this kind of competition and motivation to outdo the next guy in line, the results would be unthinkable. We get lazy, unmotivated, bored, content, and we lose the vigor that is necessary for real change and inspiration. If you want to have breakthrough ideas, you need to find ways to stay motivated.

“One day soon the Gillette company will announce the development of a razor that, thanks to a computer microchip, can actually travel ahead in time and shave beard hairs that don't even exist yet”

“If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG”

Read More

(2) That poor tiger...

Y'all should read this. Forreal.

Nick Thompson was a fifth grader that was assigned a simple writing assignment. Most of his classmates struggled to reach the five page limit, I mean come on, they are ten years old. But Nick went over the minimum, and in doing so wrote about something deeper than he may have realized at the time.

Nick wrote about a tiger that was caged in a zoo. For months this tiger planned his escape; he would jump out of the top of the cage and be home free in the wild. The night came, and the tiger jumped with all of his strength and made it out of the top of the cage. But, when he landed, he found that he was just in another cage inside another zoo. This process went on and on and the tiger could never escape the series of cages that seemed to be always waiting for him.

"There's nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place." 

— Banksy

Read More

(1A) Me and people who inspire me.

I have always had a strange fascination with graffiti; the aesthetics, the meaning, the reasons behind it, and the secret nature of it. While it is often viewed as destruction and vandalism, it is also beautiful art that I believe should be taken more seriously. Graffiti artists often have a subtext to their art. That is, there is often a meaning to their pieces. They often speak the artist’s opinions on the world, society, and the people that surround them. They often contrast and challenge the world around them. And because graffiti artists often paint anonymously, it is often said to be one of the purest forms of self expression; no critiques, no one to impress, no agenda, just telling people what you believe and how you feel in any way you want to express it.

Since I was able to navigate a computer, I’ve always wanted to know more. I always had a burning curiosity for how things worked, how I could change them, and how I could make them better. This interest only grew through high school, especially after I enrolled in a video production class. I loved the way video took art combined them with the nerdy side that I was longing to explore. A film is not just a mechanical process, it requires creativity and imagination. But at the same time, without a solid knowledge of video equipment, computers, and advanced programs like Final Cut Pro, a videographer cannot create anything. Phillip Bloom has always been someone that inspires me and pushes me to work harder.  Phillip Bloom is a videographer from London who has really taken the technology side of video to a new level. He is an example of someone who truly uses technology to unlock art forms that could never be captured before. His skill has got him work with Discovery Channel, Lucasfilm, Sky One, and the list goes on. Often, Bloom’s work has a subtle subtext to it; meaning that he uses his videos to prove and share a deeper meaning. Philip’s videos are very active in the sense that he leaves it up to the audience to decide the meaning of his work. His videos often show the contrast between the cities and the beauty that can be found in them.

In a world where Hollywood has turned to special effects, advertising, and famous actors, Christopher Nolan has not lost focus on what matters to him. And that is the fact that movies are about telling stories. His films are based with a solid text supported by a strong subtext that makes the audience actually think about what they are watching. Films like The Prestige and Momento are not for a passive movie viewer. Most of his movies are of a subjective nature, leaving the meaning of the film and it’s characters up to the discretion of his audience.

Read More

8AM media class? Really?

If you were to come and find me at 8AM on any other Friday of the year, I guarantee you I would be cozy, cuddled up, sleeping every week. Needless to say, it was not my choice to take MDIA203 at 8AM. But alas, all the other classes were taken but the 8AM and 2PM. So in no way am I looking forward to this early morning class, but with some early morning coffe and a quick reminder to myself that all I have to do is play with computers, I'm sure I will make it through the quarter with minimal complaining.

Read More

Test, test, 1 2 3, testing

Creativity is the overflow of inner feelings.

Be it through music, dance, writing, or art.

Creativity is all around us.


But we are too busy to notice.

Read More