Blog Assignment 9

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Within Rendall’s nineth suggestion he says that people should be more energy efficient in their own way. This means that every person is better at doing some things rather than others and should do whatever is more efficient for each person. To me, playing guitar actually gives me more energy and so then I can do more things after being creative in this way. So here I can study, take a break and play guitar, then go back to studying and have more energy than before (as I have just done). Allthough, Rendall also says that instead of procrastinating on things you don’t like, just stop doing them alltogether. I wish this were more easy. It doesn’t make sense. If someone were to procrastinate on something then obviously theres a reason for that person to have that objective in the first place. So it actually needs to get done but if I don’t do it then it won’t get done. Also I believe that seeking someone who complements you is a good idea. I look for women who are creative, because I am not, my future wife will complement me in the way Rendall speaks of here.

Much like the previous example about finding what suits yourself for the right efficiency, Rendall’s 7^th suggestion states that someone should find the right place were they fit in. This makes perfect sense to me. If someone were different in a way then they should find a place were they work best and fit in the best, instead of trying to change themselves. For me, I am not a good drawer, so I’m not going to try to become a great drawer and fit in there. I am going to seek out the good qualities in myself and use them to my best advantage. This will make things more efficient for me and allow for more energy to be conserved. Like rendall said, don’t make yourself adapt, choose the situation that fits your natural strengths.

Rendall’s fifth suggestion is to build your strengths and not worry about your weaknesses. I believe this is a great way of looking at life so long as you don’t forget what you weaknesses are. Like he said, you don’t need to eliminate all of your weaknesses. Your strengths make up for your weaknesses. But, I believe that as long as you know your weaknesses, you will know what not to do, just like if you know your strengths you will know what to do. Eliminating weakness means you are gaining another weakness, insecurity. If you feel you not perfect in certain areas and are trying to be better then you will think you aren’t a good person. I believe that if you work on your strengths and make them even stronger then that will get you somewhere in life. But, if your life is spent getting rid of your weaknesses then you will be mediocre at best.

My strengths as a creative person deal with music. I know I’m a good musician when it comes to drums and guitar. I am confident I can get into the marching band next year. I do know that I am not the most creative person when it comes to art itself. I cannot draw or paint. The most I can do is stick figures and those aren’t good at all either. But, after reading this article I know that I need not worry about my weaknesses and that I should be serious about my strengths. I am an audio person and have a musical ear. Therefore, I’m going into the audio production field to strengthen my stronger side and not even worry about my weak side at all. This goes along with fitting in where I can. I do not need to adapt to anything because I know my strengths will get me where I need in the future. I won’t adapt to what other people want me to do, but what I want to do. 

Blog Assignment 8

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The connect section tells how the future is connected and the past was isolated. Social media like facebook could be a huge waste of time (Like I think it is) or it could connect everybody in a way that betters their lives. Some make themselves heard by spreading their artwork.

Be generous showed how most people are connected so in turn we can be generous and give gifts of many sorts. Because all gifts don’t cost money, it’s easier to give when connected to others. One person can simply give gifts through words and texts and show support, it doesn’t all have to cost money.

Make art was about giving a gift of art. Art doesn’t cost much to make so a poem or a painting can be something to be generous with people you’re connected to. Art does not follow strict guidelines like math.

These layers can have a large similarity to the blogs we’ve been producing in class. In our blogs we mostly make story-boards or write essays on a video we post. This can be directly related to the be generous layer. Being generous doesn’t meaning buying something, instead it means to show support using whatever tools you have to work with. I showed support by making my blog one week at a time and writing the required length of essays. By writing words and expressing my thought I in a way, gave a gift. I was generous enough to show that I cared about the assignment and worked hard on it. The connect side is obviously related to blogs. Were all connected (everyone in the class) by these blogs. We now have access to all the works that other people put up in their blogs and were connected to them. We can follow other classmates and see what they worked on and what they were generous about. Making art is less related to these blogs because there was mostly essays in our blogs. Mostly, we wrote about videos we posted, which are art but not created by us. These videos are a way to express ourselves but not exactly art that’s unique to ourselves. The largest aspect of art that we produced was in the story boards. The storyboards contained art in each frame and was unique in its own way. I for one, cannot draw at all so my stick figures were the extent of my artwork. But all of these layers have a connection to one another. Making art is a way of being generous, being generous is a way of connecting. By making art you are being generous to those who view it. And by being generous to another person you’re connecting yourself to them. These excersizes do not make me a better artisat. I suck at art and always will. However, by doing these blogging assignments I have a better work ethic and understanding of the media I wrote about. This class as a whole is great in the sense that I’m learning the basics of all media planes. But the blogs are in particular a good way to keep my student side awake and thinking about media. 

Blog Assignment 7

The theme of this movie is compassion. This scene perfectly represents this because Jenny is the only one who understands enough to accept forest Gump and sit next to him. She then goes on to talk to him and actual care about him. Jenny is compassionate enough to see past the braces on his legs and treats him like a normal kid. This theme is described actively because it’s supposed to be understood by the viewer that the theme is compassion. It differs from a didactic theme because they don’t come right out and say what the theme is.

When Forest Gump says, “I do remember when I heard the sweetest voice…” the camera zooms in. This camera movement helps reinforce the theme by making the viewer more understanding to what forest is saying. The viewer as something important automatically registers this type of movement being said at that time. Something else, which reinforces the theme, is the space between forest and the girl sitting next to him on the bench compared to jenny sitting next to him on the bus. This contrasts from far apart on the bench to close together in the bus. By doing this, the viewer realizes that Jenny is compassionate and is a perfect girl for forest. Even while forest stands on the bus the camera is at a low angle, which makes forest, seem more alone on the bus. But when he does sit down he is so close to Jenny, which tells us she is compassionate toward him and will most likely be seen throughout the entire movie. This space is much closer meaning the two characters will be close throughout a lot of the movie, and they are.

MDIA 203 video

Blog Assignment 6

The Simpsons, still images

In the top picture we notice a split-complementary color scheme using yellow for the skin, red for the beer and blue for the woman’s clothing. Overall this color scheme adds a pleasing effect to our eye. On the other hand, the bottom picture consists of an analogous color scheme with pink (unsaturated red) for the walls and brown for the couch and rug. Next to that we also see an analogous scheme with the blue and purple being used. This adds four colors, all analogous to each other, which helps bring out certain images we are supposed to look at. On the bottom picture we have Homer Simpson sitting on the couch in his underwear. The brightest object in this frame is his underwear because that’s what draws our attention and makes us laugh. The somewhat dull colors around his underwear make the bright white come forward and be noticeable. The rest of the room is darkened for this effect whereas in the top picture we notice the bright colors. Almost everything is red besides the skin and eyes of homer and the girl, which is exactly what were supposed to be looking at. We notice the eyes of homer looking directly at the woman’s body because the brighter colors pop out at us.

            On bottom we can also tell that homer is wearing a superman t-shirt which symbolizes the oxymoron taking place. Obviously homer is not superman because he’s in his underwear, he overweight, and he’s not doing anything heroic besides watching TV. The picture in the background also adds to this symbolism in the way that it’s offset. The overall lighting of this room (bottom picture) is very dark as well which gives a feel that homer is in an unclean, unsafe place. The lighting affects the mood drastically. In the bottom picture the mood is more dark, lonely and dirty. The above picture displays a lighter and happier tone. The only shadowing we see in these is under the girl, which acts as a way of showing that she’s outside and the sun is right overhead. 

Blog Assignment 5

Ben Stiller, the director of Tropic Thunder, did a great job making this movie by the book. Within the first ten seconds we notice the 180-degree rule being used perfectly. We always see the character that goes by the name Osiris on the right side of the screen looking to the left at Four Leaf. Four Leaf has a straight on shot which is just on the line of the 180 degree rule but the camera never passes it leaving us with a perfect understanding of where everyone is and what’s happening. Osiris always moves from right to left as Four Leaf always looks from left to right. This is mainly because Four Leaf is trying to get away from the people shooting at him and can only desire to go one direction

The rule of thirds plays an interesting role in this as the middle third pulls our attention to the bottom lip of Four Leaf as he over-acts his role in the pretend movie. This is supposed to be seen as satirical toward Hollywood. This rule also pulls our attention to the side when Osiris isn’t doing much but Stiller wants us to see that the other characters are providing cover fire for him. Another way this rule makes the scene flow is because there isn’t ever more than two main objects in the shot at one time. The two objects allow us enough room to see both those and a little scenery in the background.

Throughout the entire scene we see the rule of 30 used well for the most part. Sometimes it seemed as though the helicopter was a little too far in the back from where we saw it last but it flowed nicely. I didn’t notice any jump cuts in this scene that stuck out at me. When we see a medium shot in on Four Leaf, the camera switched to Osiris before it showed a wide show of Four Leaf. This eased the transition from being zoomed in to zoomed out.

Blog Assignment 4 (cont'd)

The song “Turn the Page” was originally written by Bob Seger but was also remade by Metallica. The two songs have similar qualities such as the lyrics, tempo and tone in some parts, but also have many differences such as instrumentation, height, groove, and emotional architecture.

The tempo of both songs is roughly around moderato/medium range. It’s a very regular rhythm throughout the song. Also, the lyrics are exactly identical. We see a recurring theme (motif) in both songs that the guitar plays in the beginning of the Metallica version and the Sax plays in the Seger version. The notes start low then quickly swing high pitch and gradually become lower. This motif is heard in the beginning, parts of the middle, and the end of both songs. This becomes the melody in between the choruses.

As for the differences, the largest is intensity. The overall intensity of the Metallica version is much more to compensate for the 30 years of time passed between the two. Rock was much less intense back then than it is now, therefore, Metallica’s version is much more loud. Also the range of frequency/pitch is much great in the Metallica edition. The opening high notes are played on a saxophone in Bob Segers band and an electric guitar in Metallica. Metallica’s edition was much higher pitched. The overall groove or mood to these songs is different such that we have a rock solid rhythmic feel to Metallica and a jazzy, less intense feel in Bob Seger giving his song a more laid back feel. The timbre of the two songs is not far off from one another. The Seger version is definitely quieter with less distortion than Metallica but also has some complexity in the beginning with the fingerpicked guitar. The two timbres are somewhat similar despite the distortion from the electric guitars.

My choice of favorite song goes to Metallica simply because its more modern. The style of music is up to date, the intensity is much higher, and the vocals are better in a more distorted and loud manner. While both of these songs are very skillful and well put together, my favorite is Metallica’s version of “Turn the Page”. 

Blog Assignment 4

Turn the Page - Metallica

Turn the Page - Bob Seger

Week Three Blog (Cont'd)

This scene incorporates many aspects of sound that go along with the special effects of this and many action movies. Most of the sounds such as helicopters and grenades exploding are semantic in the sense that they aren’t actually blowing up.  Another example of a semantic sound is heard when Four Leaf hits the ground. Instead of a soft thud, it’s replaced by a loud timpani hit. There is also a fair amount of non-diegetic sound that is the music playing in the background. The characters can’t hear it but to the viewer it adds a lot more suspense and emotionality. One of the properties of the Gestalt Principle, illusion, is heard when Four Leaf is getting shot and all we hear is the helicopter and music playing. Here the audience only needs to understand that he is getting shot. The bullets noise coming from him and every other sound would be over-kill in this situation. In this same situation we see Figure and Ground taking place. Here the camera is only focused on Four Leaf while there is still other action in the background. It almost hurts our eyes to try and see what’s behind Four Leaf but the point of this Figure and Ground is to only focus on what’s important. This is a very intense scene and the sound and focus adds to that intensity.  

Week Three Blog

Week Two Blog

http://changethis.com/manifesto/51.01.YourHowl/pdf/51.01.YourHowl.pdf

Finding Your Howl

This article titled Finding your Howl by Jonathon Flaum gets really deep with one of his stories about a Red Wolf. This wolf is rare and was raised in captivity. The rest of the story is about finding the right way out of this prison he was born into and learning to howl like normal wolf. The wolf runs off and takes advice from a crow and a deer. He trusts his natural instinct to eat the deer and run as fast as he can (the bird being a metaphor for flight). He abolishes the old way of being fed everyday at a certain time, and trusts his inner self to eat and eventually howls like a normal wolf. The moral of the story is to fight through your problems. If you’re stuck in a cage you can’t just break out of the cage but you have to fight through it and learn how to live without out it. Because until this point the cage was not only a prison but also his home. The wolf gave up his artificial life and found his own way to live like a natural wolf.

Flaum, Jonathon. "Finding Your Howl." Changethis.com. 8 Oct. 2008. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.  <http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/51.01.YourHowl>.

My Favorite Quote

Abraham Lincoln once said "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." This speaks to me in a very deep and creative way. I heard this quote from my sister about a week before my parents were deciding on what television to get. When I found out they were about to go shopping for one I roused up a quick sales pitch for getting a 52-inch set, rather than anything smaller. My opening statement was the above quote from Abraham Lincoln. Being 14 at the time, I thought I was being very creative. I went on to say that this quote has so much meaning to it because, superficially, the better TV you have means the more fun you’ll have in life. Therefore, having more fun in life you wouldn’t need to worry as much about growing old and stockpiling all your money for the possibility of losing health insurance. Having a full and successful life is the only thing that’s important, therefore a large TV should be bought along with a loud stereo system.

This quote has more of an effect to me now than it did before. The way I look at it, the older you get in life the wiser you are. Abe Lincoln was an older wise man giving advice from what he learned throughout his years. We should pay very close attention to what he says because we aren’t as wise as he was at the time. The creative side to this meaning is that the “life in your years” part can mean anything. Some people think money is important so that’s what defines their life. Others think family and friends are what define their life. Even if to you “life” is defined by your cat’s Tinkerbelle and snowflake then as long as you have those that’s all that’s important. The amount of time you live has nothing to do happiness, as long as you lived a happy life, with what you define “life” as, then that’s all that is important.

Because of this quote I have had a completely different outlook on life for a while now. If I were to die tomorrow I wouldn’t want people to think I died too young. I would want them to think I had a great life. Childhood is one of the easiest times in life, high school is interesting and very fun, and college is a blast. But the older you get you not only gain new good aspects of life, but bad ones as well. So this quote is a way of looking at only the good things in life because if you’ve had a great life, that’s all that matters in the end.

Lincoln, Abraham. "Quote - And in the End, It's Not the Years in Your Life That Count. It's the Life in Your Years... on Quotations Book." Welcome to Quotations Book - The Home of Famous Quotes. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. <http://quotationsbook.com/quote/23744/>.

Week One Blog Assignment

The above picture illustrates the split-complementary color scheme for our character. The red and green symbolize both greed and blood, or blood money. Our character is a hero; yet he’s involved with the mafia, therefore these two colors symbolize the opposite attractions of good and evil portrayed in his character. The purple not only goes well with the other two colors but shows the dull and hazy sense Pavlo gets from the dilemmas he faces daily. Pavlo gets a dull outlook on life, represented by the low saturation of purple, while trying to decide whether or not to support his family through the mafia or quit and live a normal life. 

This picture shows the two possible paths that Pavlo can take. One is the good side, staying in school and getting a different job. And the other is the dark side shown by the right half of the picture. In Pavlo’s life, that would be staying in the mafia to support his family, which is the easy way out. The lighting on our character shows shadows under his head on his green shirt indicating a looming darkness in the good part of his world. The overall mood of the character is positive but slightly dampened because he needs to do somewhat bad things in order for his family to survive. 

Pavlo can be described in a very rectangular way. His natural look is rectangular which shows in a way that he’s always looking for his pot of gold, or, a happier Pavlo. He’s growing physically and mentally, likes change, and is unpredictable. A doorway represents him well because he has a choice to make with a better, happier side behind it. He just has to choose to go through it without knowing the possible outcomes beforehand. 

Scorpion Video

Scorpion

I chose scorpion from the video game Mortal Kombat to be my character because he is pretty damn cool and has a lot of tricks to take down his enemy.