Joke Videos

Joke Video Number One

Joke Video Number Two

Video Game Imagery

Game: Max Payne for Playstation 2

How To Be Creative

This video discussion is in regards to an article off ChangeThis.Com. The article is by Hugh MacLeod and is titled "How To Be Creative".

Movie Critique

Opening Scene of "Where the Wilds Things Are" 

Directed by Spike Jonze

Cinematography by Lance Acord 

Visual Framing

For blog 5A we were asked to pick one of our favorite images from the soundscape project and reframe it. I chose a Salvador Dali painting which I believe is titled,"Shadow fuq ramel" (according to a google search). As you can see below, I chose to pull the frame in tighter on the woman who appears to be crying and cut out the rock in the background.

ORIGINAL

 

REFRAMED

I originally was drawn to the image because of its boldness and mystery. Upon first glance you can guess that the woman is crying, but you have no idea why. It's very mysterious. Aesthetically, her shadow immediately pops at you. The shadows visual intensity is stronger than any other element of the picture. It is extremely bold.

When I went to reframe the image, my goal was to discard of the rock/mountains in the background, leaving just the crying woman. By doing this I was planning on focusing the attention on just the woman. Unlike the original piece which directs your eye to the mountains using the shadow. When you analyze this image you immediately notice the shadow, see that it's coming off a woman who appears to be crying, then you can't help but follow the virtual lines of the shadow directly into the mountains. This is why it's mysterious to me. Okay, so she is crying, got it, but why with the rocks and mountains? So my plan was to take that mystery out of the equation. However, I don't think that is exactly what happened. If you notice, the base of the rocks are still in the corner of the reframed picture. This almost makes it more mysterious! Because not only do you not know why she is crying, but now you can't even tell what she is looking at. The little hint in the corner creates tension because frankly it could be anything. You would think that pulling the image from an Extreme Wide Shot to just a Wide Shot would clear up some confusion, but the feeling of mystery remains an affinity.

When it comes to why I think Dali framed the original they way he did, a few answers come to mind. First of all, I believe Dali created with the rule of thirds in mind. If you divide the frame into thirds vertically, there is an important element in each quadrant. On the left is the woman, middle is the shadow, and right is the rocks/mountains. And again if you divide the frame into thirds horizontally. The bottom contains the blackness, middle contains the woman and shadow, and the top holds the horizon and the mountains. The rule of thirds is demonstrated to well to be a mistake. Also, by the use of lines (both actual and virtual) and direction, I believe that Dali wanted the rocks to be just as important as the woman. The woman creates a virtual line by facing the rocks and, as mentioned before, her shadow literally walks your eyes directly to it. The primary direction of the image is aimed at the rocks/mountains.

Overall I did dislike this blog as much as I expected. Once you apply the concepts we learned in class, it becomes obvious that the artist clearly had them in mind. It's interesting to pick up on the intrinsic information as well as the extrinsic.

Music Critique

For this project we had to create two 120-second songs with identical and different elements. I looked at the following students projects for this critique:

Alexa Krivoniak
Emily Levy
Kelly Matousek

The only music project that was posted was Kelly's. Here is my audio critique of hers:

"Brainwashed"

“Brainwashed” is another article that can be found on ChangeThis.com. The article takes a look at how our generation has been brainwashed into being average. The author, Seth Godin, strongly believes that our society has been built to produce average and compliant individuals. He argues that creativity and uniqueness can make an individual stand out thus making that person more vulnerable to being ostracized. Godin also discusses how we fear letting ourselves shine at times because we are afraid of being laughed at or perceived as being dumber than the rest.

Gobin discusses a handful of layers that people can use to try and reinvent themselves. By reinventing yourself you can possibly break yourself free from this average hegemony we have been forced into.

The first layer that I truly believe exits inside of everybody is what Godin calls “Acknowledging the Lizard.” Basically this a concept that talks about how our brains, that stem from the prehistoric lizard, are all naturally afraid of being laughed at. This fear of being laughed at is often the reason great ideas or creativity is repressed and cut off at the roots. He refers to this shut down as “the resistance”. Godin points out that we need to stand up and understand that “the resistance” will continue to hold us back until we can fight against this fear of being laughed at.

I for one can relate to this concept. I always just thought it was mainly me over thinking things, and some of it is, but I guess I never considered that other people felt the same way. Reading this has given me a small sense of relief to know that the way I feel sometimes is actually pretty common.

The next layer Godin mentions that stands out for me is the Fail layer. This layer refers to the act of failing and using it as a tool to grow and learn. However, like most would be agree, failing can be terrifying and crippling. But Godin says it is mandatory. Again, I love this concept. I like the optimism of looking at failing in a good way and a way to prosper. I suppose that if one never tries because of the fear of failing, then they will never really know if they had something good or not. This goes back to my howl blog about my favorite quote, “The biggest mistake one can make is living in fear of making one.” This layer entirely relates to this quote and how I believe I should run my life. I think I need to make a more conscious effort to live this way and try to suppress my own lizard mind more often.

Overall, I found this article useful because I have a weight off me now. I relieved to read that feeling afraid or apprehensive is completely common across everybody. This article was a breath of fresh air for me.