Blog Assignment 10:

In this article, Rendall tries to give the reader suggestions that will help them “discover uniqueness by flaunting weakness.”As is the case with most of these articles, I disagree with the majority of the points that are trying to be made. The three suggestions that I thought were the least valid were 3, 6, and 8.

3: Pretty much this entire article seems to be ideas that he seems to think support his point but in reality do not support it at all. One example in this point is when he is talking about the man who used to be addicted but “turned his life around.” What he seems to be trying to suggest is that any weakness can become a strength in any person. He tries to support this by using the example of one man who just happened to get clean from drugs. In no way does this support his claim that all weaknesses are or should be strengths. He even diminishes it even further when he says that the man proceeded to lose everything again because of his addiction to something else. Just because his addiction is now in something other than drugs doesn’t mean that it’s positive and should be considered a strength.

6: I think something that is blatantly wrong with this point is the fact that he strives so hard to emphasize that strengths and weaknesses are connected and related to each other, and then treats them in completely different ways. He says that if you focus on your weaknesses then it will diminish your strengths, but acts as if the opposite is not true. He doesn’t try to support it in any way he just assumes you won’t question the idea that if you focus on your strengths then your weaknesses will becomes larger.

8: Once again I think this point is an example of something that he seems to think supports his point but in reality, it does nothing of the sort. If you just take a step back and look at how he is trying to compare (in order to support his argument) a failed architectural attempt, to the farthest stretches of human personality, it just seems a little ridiculous.

As for my own creative strengths and weaknesses, I have definitely discovered some of my own after being in this class. First off, I would say my greatest strength is working by myself, and therefore my greatest weakness is collaborating with others. Every time during the class that I worked with others, (all but once) I felt like my creativity was being held back. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the people I was working with, but rather that many of my ideas were so different than what the others collectively wanted to go with that my ideas weren’t incorporated as much. The one time that I was able to work by myself however (animation project), I felt much better about my final product. I wasn’t able to complete the animations to the degree I would have wished (mostly because of time restraints) but I was definitely able to make them represent what I had in mind.

Freak Factor by David Rendall

Blog Assignment 9B:

Audio Critique

Collapsus

Blog Assignment 9A:

I think that overall we got across most of the points that we were intending when we gave our presentation. I think the one thing we could have improved upon is getting across the point of how isolated the player would feel playing the game. We tried to give that impression when talking about the ambient music but I don’t feel it completely got the point across.

I think the best thing we could have done to get this point across better would be to have actual examples for the kind of music and the kinds of sounds that would be used. Actually hearing these very deep sounds would make the isolation appear much greater that way.

One thing I think we got across strongly was that it would be fun to play. The premise of the game wasn’t entirely original, but the humorous design choices for some of the characters seemed to have people laughing a bit.

I think that mechanics are the easiest of those 4 things to talk about. All of the other 3 things are highly dependant on the plot, and if that isn’t completely clear then those other things become more difficult to understand. The mechanics however are completely independent of the plot. They can be easily explained with not only a simple description, but more than likely a video can be found that shows similar mechanics to that of which you are trying to create in your own game.

Blog Assignment 8B:

#1: Mary Swick

Mary’s hero and villain were Finnigan Strongjaw and Sinastra Pikespear. She did and excellent job of using contrast and affinity to differentiate between the hero and the villain. The villain looks much more evil than the hero making the difference easily noticeable. The villain is also much pointier, which usually is symbolic of evil. The villain is also much more shadowed and darker which continues to add to that effect, as well as that of the mood. The evil eyebrows and the curled pointy finger also create a sort of subconscious sense of evil that helps differentiate between the hero and villain.

#2: Michael Garrett

Michael also made good use of contrast and affinity for his hero and villain. The villain is much more sinister looking and includes much darker colors so that you can easily tell which one is which. The shadow on the villain helps add to a much darker mood, something that is not seen on the drawing of the hero. The spikes on the villains outfit are also very likely symbolic of evil. As with Mary’s villain, the spikes on Michael’s villain also create a subconscious sense of evil in the character helping to differentiate between the two.

#3: Michael Mulig

There weren’t any pictures included in the post, but from what I can tell from the animations these characters also used contrast and affinity in order to differentiate themselves. The hero was bright green and the villain was very dark hues of red. The villain is also significantly less bright as well as less saturated which adds to his look of evil. The animations also give a pretty objective idea of who is the hero and who is the villain. In the hero’s animation you see the hero helping out a child, and in the villain’s animation you witness him stealing a jewel and (possily?) killing a person.

Blog Assignment 8A:

FLIGHT:

This American Life: Act 1

I couldn't get the audio to embed so here is a direct link to my audio.

Characters:

Villain:

Hero:

Blog Assignment 7

I used the video posted here to compare to our video.

When it comes to the talking about space in the two videos, you pretty much couldn’t be more opposite. Our video was very closed in the entire time, even when outside. All of the inside scenes were in pretty narrow spaces. When we did go outside there was always something behind the characters so it was still a fairly flat shot. On the other video however there were quite a lot of outdoor shots that gave the video an overall very open feel.

The use of shape in the videos was also present, but in different ways. In our video, shape was used more in the toys that Jimmy was playing with. The train was rather round, and so was the small ball he was playing with. Both of these shapes represent a sort of innocence from being a child. In the other video shape was also used to depict the characters but rather than being done by toys, it was done in the face shape. The male characters face was more of a round shape, which once again gives an impression of innocence.

Both of our videos also make use of tension and release, however in different ways. Our video really messes with tension throughout the entire video. Whenever Jimmy curses it creates a bit of tension as he is just a young kid and the mother doesn’t want him speaking that way. You get a bit of release when the mother interjects but then right away you get more tension when she starts using the language herself. The other video uses tension in a much more linear way. It just builds more and more as you realize that the girl might not be as nice as she seems.

Our videos also made use of contrast and affinity. Our video for the most part made use of affinity between the mother and son, mostly in their language used. The other video on the other hand made use of contrast between the characters, which was made more apparent by initially creating a false sense of affinity between them.

Blog 6B

Joke Video

Blog Assignment 6A

Hugh MacLeod's article

Blog Assignment 5B:

Blog Assignment 5A:

I was drawn to this image because of its use of contrast and affinity. At first glance you feel a strong sense of affinity between the two children as the both have on a similar shirt and look similar as well. But then once you look at the one child’s face and see the (what I thought was) blood, it creates a contrast between them. I also thought the affinity was brought out because of the lines on the shirts of the children. The both flow the same direction which creates a continued pathway of visual movement for the eyes. Because of the background being very close to the children as well as the picture being in black and white, it creates a very flat depth. I chose to reframe the image the way I did because I thought it took away the contrast and affinity and gave the image a new meaning. Because you don’t see the other child there and you have nothing to compare it to, this child seems like it could be in much more danger and gives the picture a much more serious tone. By framing the picture just on the bloody child, it creates a much more subjective approach to what may be happening. I think the artist chose to frame the image the way she did because of the contrast and affinity it gives it. At first glance everything seems to be very similar and peaceful until you notice the blood on the child. This creates a small bit of contrast and I feel it gives the photo a slightly more mysterious feel. I also feel like by showing the children’s hands together it gives a more peaceful feel and shows that whatever has happened to the bloody child is not too serious.

Blog Assignment 4B:

http://mdia203marchetti.blogspot.com/
http://joshuap51290.blogspot.com/
http://kamerynn.blogspot.com/

Blog Assignment 4A:

Acknowledge the Lizard:

            This section of Seth Godin’s article discusses the inherent resistance in our minds that wants to stop us from really exploring our creativity. It says that in order to really explore our creativity we must acknowledge this resistance so that we can begin to ignore it.

Learn:

            This section of Seth Godin’s article talks about how we must begin to learn not through means of school and brainwashing but rather our own exploration and everyday experiences in life.

Connection:

            I think these two layers can be connected to my blog in a multitude of ways. For one, some of these blog entries are really making me think deeper about myself as an artist than I may have thought without them. By doing so it sometimes makes me have to think about certain opinions I have and really have a tough time making that decision because of that “resistance” in my head. I think the blog also helps us explore some of the things that we really enjoy and analyze and relate them to our artistic expression. This definitely connects them to our “learning” experiences and may make us look at some of our favorite things in new ways.

Seth Godin's Brainwashed

My Song

Blog Assignment Week 3

The song that I chose to write about for the purpose of this comparison is “Heartbeats,” originally by The Knife, and covered by Jose Gonzalez.

Jose Gonzalez’ cover of “Heartbeats” by The Knife is a very different song than the original. Both versions of the song have the same exact lyrics but have a very different feel to them. The songs have such different feels to them because virtually everything used to create the song aside from the lyrics is different. Everything from the singer to the tone of voice to the instruments used is drastically different. In the original version the singer is a high-pitched female, while in the cover the singer is a fairly deep voiced male. Not only is the gender of the singer different, but the singers also have a very different style of singing. In the original, the singer Karin Dreijer Andersson has a very shrill voice, while in the cover Jose Gonzalez has a very mellow and calming voice. The original version is also primarily electronic whereas the cover ditches all electronics and is entirely acoustic. The original version of the beat is very upbeat and poppy; almost danceable, which I feel contrasts the actual tone set by the music itself. Because the cover is acoustic and is sung by a very mellow male voice, it gives the song a much more fitting and sad tone than the original. Even though it may not seem like it because of how stripped down the cover is, Jose Gonzalez’ version is also slightly faster. I think it might be sped up because even though he wanted to change the feel of the song to make it his own, he didn’t want it to sound like too much of a ballad which might happen if he kept the tempo the same and stripped away all of the electronics. Between the versions of the song, the melody is kept the same. Jose Gonzalez probably kept the melody the same because it uses some pretty distinct vocal jumps and if he were to change that it would probably give the song a drastically different feel, and likely one that he did not desire.

I think that all of these changes that Jose Gonzalez made to his cover of the song in turn create a song that provides a completely different listening experience. Because the original version is very poppy and danceable, it creates a contrast with the melody that gives it an interesting feel to it. The cover on the other hand ditches the pop and smoothes the sound out creating a different, but arguably better suiting sound for the melody. Despite that though I would have to say that I prefer the original version. While I do really like the cover Jose Gonzalez did, I am a big fan of electronic music so I prefer that sound. I also like the way the pop style of the original clashes a bit with the tone and I think that makes for a more interesting listening experience.

Soundscape

Emotion: Ecstasy

Blog Assignment Week 2

Finding Your Howl by Jonathan Flaum

Blog Assignment 1B: Written Response to Mitch Ditkoff’s “14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas.”

Mitch Ditkoff's article, "14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas," starts off by breaking down two different ideas of where ideas come from in the first place. The first, a western way of thinking, attributes ideas "to inspired individuals who, through a series of purposeful mental processes, conjure up the new and
the different." The second however is a much more eastern way of thinking which "ascribes the appearance of ideas to a transcendent force, a.k.a. the 'Collective Unconscious,' the 'Platonic Realm,' the 'Muse' or the 'Mind of God.'"

Next, Ditkoff begins to break down 14 ways in which he believes the aspiring innovator can use to create new and useful ideas. I think the first of his ideas that really makes a good point is his third one; "Tolerate Ambiguity." I think it is a really important thing for someone to do, especially someone who is attempting to come up with new ideas. He uses the following quote to get his point across, "when thomas edison was asked how it felt to fail 800 times before coming up with tungsten as the filament for the light bulb, his answer was a revealing one. “Fail?” he said. “I didn’t fail once. I learned 800 times what didn’t work.” His point ends up being that even if what you are trying to do doesn't work out, just keep going from there and learn from your mistakes because even though you didn't necessarily get what you were going for, you could come up with something else you hadn't ever thought of in the process. I think that could be implemented easily into any creative persons life. If you give up on something the instant you are met with a result that is different than what you thought, you will likely never get anywhere with your work.

The 4th suggestion he makes, "Make New Connections," I feel is not as helpful as Ditkoff feels it is. While yes, it is true that many great ideas have been created by making connections and yes, it is still possible to make these new connections, I feel that the more modernized we get the more of these connections will have already been made. I'm not by any means saying that it is impossible for one to make new connections, I just think that the more time that passes, the harder it will be to come up with new connections that are actually worth connecting.

I think that Ditkoff's 9th suggestion, "Notice and Challenge Existing Patterns and Trends," is another good one to keep in mind. While there are situations when followings patterns and trends can be useful, being innovative and coming up with new ideas is not one of them. While I do feel this suggestion feels a little bit redundant to the idea of coming up with new ideas, I still think it's very important. Sometime the most successful ideas are the ones that people never imagined they could do; something completely different than any way they have used something before. I think this suggestion is also very important to any creative person's life because it is an easy way to start off for new ideas. Instead of focusing on the idea of "something new,"it might be more helpful to think of it in terms of "something different than the old." That way rather than just blindly coming up with a new idea, a person may compare ideas in reference to older ones coming up with more innovative ideas.



Suggestion #9: Notice and Challenge Existing Patterns and Trends


One pattern that I have noticed lies within the music industry. Now, I could easily be mistaken as I was not alive in the 1980's, but this trend is just something that intrigued me. It always seemed to me like a lot of the most popular music from the 1980's was and still is considered "good" music, and is by very talented artists. Fast forward to today's popular music, and it seems most of the artists (with notable exceptions) are quite the opposite. With the exception of artists such as Beyonce and Kanye West, much of today's most popular music is created by artists whom are not considered to be superbly talented or even innovative by any means. I don't know exactly how it would be possible to predict any further trends in relation to this, and thus it's not really possible to see how one could use any prediction to their advantage.

Mitch Ditkoff's "14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas"

Blog Assignment 1A: Who Influences Me As A Creative Person?

So far in life, I have yet to create any work to call my own. Thus, I can't really show or explain how anyone has directly influenced me as a creative person. I can however go into detail about some of the artists that most inspire me and how I think they might influence me once I do start creating.

One of the first directors that really got me interested in film was none other than David Lynch. Up until the first time I saw one of his movies, I never really saw the movie medium as something that could really perplex the viewer and make them really have to think about what they just saw. To be fair, I didn't have this revelation the instant I first saw one of his movies, which happened to also be his first movie; Eraserhead. Rather, Eraserhead sparked a bit of an interest for me in to give movies more of a chance. I didn't really know where to start so I just explored some more of David Lynch's work. After I saw Mulholland Drive, that was when my mind was opened.

This scene from Mulholland Drive is a good example of many things we have learned in class. First off, it is a good example of Tension & Release. However, I almost think it works in reverse in this case. When the woman singing collapses towards the end of the clip, I think that is the "release,"and after that moment the tension just continues to build and never really gets a proper release. This clip also shows a lot of different ways sound can be used. Because of the fact that we know some of the sound is a recording, but not to what degree, Lynch is able to mess with how we are perceiving what is happening on the stage which ends up causing the Tension & Release.

This movie is also an excellent example of Active Storytelling. There is almost no way at all that someone who watches this movie for the first time will have any idea what is going on. It takes multiple views before someone can start to understand what is happening and even then, it's still really up to the viewer.

I think David Lynch will really influence my work because his work shows that not everything has to be have a clear and distinct point. Sometimes leaving the meaning up to the viewer can give a better impression than spoon feeding the message.



Another one of my favorite artists that inspires me is Panda Bear, or Noah Lennox from the band Animal Collective. In the same way that David Lynch's films opened me up to a whole new spectrum of movies, Animal Collective's music did the same for me with music. The thing about Noah Lennox that really inspires me is how his work is clearly inspired by his personal life and things that are important to him. When it comes to writing songs that are for his wife or children he doesn't try to hide the meaning underneath layers of metaphors and ambiguous lyrics, but rather gives them an Objective Meaning and says exactly what he wants to.

In his most recent solo release, Tomboy, the opening track is called "You Can Count on Me." As it sounds, it's a song dedicated to his family letting them know he will always be there for them. On Animal Collective's most recent album, Merriweather Post Pavillion, two of the songs that are written by Noah Lennox are again dedicated to his family. The album's first single, "My Girls," is a song dedicated to his wife and daughter (his son was not yet born at the time of writing). As seen in the lyrics, he is simply stating that all he wants in life is to provide for his family.

      My Girls-

There isn't much that I feel I need
A solid soul and the blood I bleed
With a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

I don't care for fancy things
Or to take part in the vicious race
But to provide for mine who ask
I will, with heart, on my father's grave

I don't mean to seem like I care about material things
Like our social stats
I just want four walls and adobe slats for my girls

 Noah Lennox is really inspirational for me because of how he not only freely lets his life influence his work, but he also shows it. I think that's really important for an artist to do, no matter what it is that may be doing the influencing.



A last artist that inspires me is Gaspar Noé. Gaspar's work was something I didn't come across until awhile after I started becoming interested in films. His work is so inspiring to me because of the innovative ways in which he uses cameras to get things across in his movies. When I first saw his movie Enter the Void, I was absolutely amazed at the creative and interesting ways in which the cameras were used to imply meaning to things. The film follows the story of a young man named Oscar who lives in Tokyo. It takes place in 3 distinct parts each of which can be differentiated from the others by the camera styles. The first part takes place with a 1st person view; through the eyes of Oscar. The second part pulls back and takes place in 3rd person; from behind the head of Oscar. The final part pulls back even farther and becomes a free floating entity. I would get into the detail of what each of these camera styles represent but I'm afraid it would spoil a lot of the story.

A first person point of view used in the beginning of Enter the Void

A third person shot used in the second section of Enter the Void

A floating shot used in the final section of Enter the Void

Gaspar is really inspirational to me because he is never afraid to try something new. In fact, he is known for pushing boundaries. I would not recommend watching any of his films if you are easily offended as they are some of the most offensive movies I have ever seen.

David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini