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approaching the world through the eyes of a learner

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Tuesday 10/22
Filming Day!
Today me and my iMovie project group, Jessica and Kendall, did our filming for the project. We decided to use our cell phones because the quality was fine and it was convenient. I also have a selfie-stick (I got it as a joke but it's been surprisingly convenient!) to use as a monopod to steady our filming. Our film is about the daily life of an art student, the struggles and the successes. Here is a "teaser trailer" or sample of one of the clips we shot to give you a sample of what we did. (I shot this clip of Kendall walking down the hallway).

Thursday 10/27
Text Animation and Sound Demo
This isn't the nicest quality, there are some bugs I wanted to fix but for the sake of time I left it as is.
Thursday 10/20
Spiderman Demo
Today we worked with the bone tool again, rather than on a drawing but an image of Spiderman from the internet. Definitely felt a little more confident with my understanding today.

Tuesday 10/18
Walking Demo
We utilized the bone tool today to learn how to animate (and draw) animals to have them walk across the "stage." For the sake of the demo, as usual, my quality isn't as good as what I'd like it to be, but I did learn a lot. I struggled with understanding how to move a sheep's legs since the back to have an almost backwards knee. Since I was not here for the first drawing class either, I feel my drawing could be better. But again, I did learn a lot!

Thursday 10/13
Pacman Demo
Today I think I learned a lot! Although it started off a little rough it turned out. Although the munching music isn't exporting correctly, it works in the Animation program but not after it has been exported. Oh well! I'm still happy with it.

Thursday 10/6
Adobe Animation CC Demo
This was a little challenging, however I did learn a lot. For the sake of not getting left behind I did not want to adjust the way the basketball moves to my liking, but it got the job done for now.

Tuesday 10/4
Starting Animation
If I were an animator, I feel like I'd love to make stop-animation because it's seems like very a cool process. An issue that I am interested in is, of course, nature-oriented. I'm interested in nature in many different forms. I am very interested in making statements about taking care of the environment and minimizing pollution. I am also interested in community outreach and open engagement and community based works. Combining those two things: I think that nature in art is always portrayed with a sense of "escapism" or isolationism" and I think that this does nature a large injustice. I'm interested in the idea of showing the impact of relating the community to nature and how the two could benefit each other.

For the animation project, I'm working with Bridget Falenski and Ryleigh Wilson. Details for our animation can be found on Bridget's blog: http://visuallyobservingtheartworld.blogspot.com/

Tuesday 9/27
3D Text Demo
In our 3D Rendering Demo class (below) we also learned how to create 3D text. I applied a sunset image off of google to the sides of the text.

3D Rendering Demo
Today was a little challenging, but overall I was able to create 3D objects and render them into images. They might not be the highest of quality but I did learn a lot, just kept things simple for the sake of time.

Thursday 9/22
Photoshop Rendering Demo
We also learned how to use some of the rendering tools, such as adding clouds, fire, a lens flare, and overlaying gradients.

Tuesday 9/20
Photoshop Text Masking Demo
We also learned how to mask text.

Tuesday 9/20
Photoshop Masking Demo
Playing with the masking tool was a little bit of a struggle for me at first, but once I got it down I felt comfortable to have some fun with it.

Thursday 9/15
Photoshop Paintbrush Demo
Today we played with several different paintbrush tools in photoshop to create playful, visually interesting, and creative images. Below we mimicked Andy Warhol's style by using a color overlay and paintbrush tool.

Demo on Hair, Shadows, & Color

This class I worked a little slower so I was not able to do the quality of work on the demos that I wanted, but hey, that's okay! I did learn how to do both techniques, and I think thats what matters most.

Photoshop Demo on Cloning

Thursday 9/1
Photoshop Demo & Lecture
Just a quick little photo thrown together, a tree (because I like nature & the outdoors), a chair (honestly just because I liked it), and a boot (because boots make it easier for me to experience the outdoors).

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Tuesday 10/22 Filming Day! Today me and my iMovie project group, Jessica and Kendall, did our filming for the project. We decided to use our cell phones because the quality was fine and it was convenient. I also have a selfie-stick (I got it as a joke but it's been surprisingly convenient!)

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In class exercise working with shadows and tried creating distance in the background shrinking the sheep.

Used photoshop working with the eraser tool learning how to erase the space between the hair exposing the layer behind and in between the hair.

In photoshop we learned how to change the colors and hues of different objects allowing for a different mood and setting.

This Demo we made the image colorful and bright. It's like the hulk with makeup.

Art History Brush tool was used, making this picture both realistic and a bit cartoonish or painted like.

Used the art history tool to change images by making them blurry, realistic, etc. The further the image gets the more realistic it becomes.

We used the poly tool to select the mirror and replace it with a new image as if it were a reflection when you are looking in.

Again we used the poly tool to select the mirror and use and image creating a reflection or a window out of the mirror.

Again used the Poly tool to create an image as if we were looking into someone's home. If selecting all windows first you can add more images to create more than one room.

We used the pen tool to create curves and different shapes replacing the mirror with a new image.

Here we used the Pen tool again to select a portion of the vintage van and changed the color or image on the van.

Used the wording text tool which we laid on the image to fit how we wanted. Masked the words and then used the bevel tool so the words look like they are coming from the background layer.

We used filters to change the colors, add smoke, fire, and a frame. This makes for a different illusion.

Post Card

3D Cubes with Shadow and Rendering

Wine Bottle For Obama to Celebrate when Obama leaves office.

HELLO

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In class exercise working with shadows and tried creating distance in the background shrinking the sheep. Used photoshop working with the eraser tool learning how to erase the space between the hair exposing the layer behind and in between the hair.

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The place I chose to photograph was a park. A park is place people go to relax, play, or catch up. It's somewhere most people take for granted. It's a place in nature that we have taken for ourselves, so we should treat it that way. Things at a park include a jungle gym, swings, sand box, tennis court, basketball court, picnic tables, large grassy areas, to name a few.

The first picture I chose was of a tennis court. I wanted to show the importance of cleaning up and keeping a place like a park clean, not only for other people, but for animals. A park is a place used by people and nature, so keeping it trash free is really important. I chose to duplicate sand diggers and place them around the tennis court to bring that idea to life. You wouldn't usually see sand diggers on a flat hard surface, but the idea is that even though you don't think about it at the time, trash and junk can build up to become such an issue that the place needs to be renovated or completely tore down. It is so important to keep public areas clean and understand that your little bag of trash can dramatically impact animals that reside there or even nature in itself.

The second picture I chose was of an area where you would normally see kids playing in water. I chose to put animals playing there because I wanted to show that a park, although in nature, is a place for people and pets, not for the animals that reside there. The more area that we take up for us, the less natural area there is for the animals that need that area to live. We as humans are so concerned for our well being and our pets treat outside like it's a place they can only go so often. When I think of nature, I think of squirrels, birds, foxes, bears, ect. But we turn a place they live in to a place that's convenient for us. Putting these household animals here playing and being free shows that nature really is a place for animals to be happy and free.

The last picture I chose was of a merry-go-round. This was (for me) one of the best things to play on when I was a kid. Going back to my first image, I wanted to enforce the idea of how important it is to pick up after yourself and treat public areas (especially places that kids go) with the upmost respect. Choosing the quote "what goes around comes around" was the most influential one I could think of to portray that idea. I believe that if you treat nature or public outdoor areas poorly, karma will come back and get you. You might think that leaving a small piece of trash out will be okay, but that small piece of trash turns into something way bigger than you would expect. It takes one person to start something good. A lot of people treat the outdoors like no matter what we do, nature will always work itself out. But, like a merry-go-round, even the things we create have a way of turning against us.

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The place I chose to photograph was a park. A park is place people go to relax, play, or catch up. It's somewhere most people take for granted. It's a place in nature that we have taken for ourselves, so we should treat it that way.

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The theme of my project was based all around hockey. The rink that i play out of is where i took all of my pictures. This place holds so many great memories for me growing up. It is a place i go to let everything out and put everything behind me for a few hours. Hockey is what i am passionate about so i thought i could bring it into the three postcards.

Postcard 1:
For this first postcard we had to represent Repetition. I wanted to incorporate the movement of the puck by repetition. I also wanted to make the viewer feel as though the puck was coming at them. As the puck gets closer to the viewer it gets bigger and has a greater clarity about it rather than when the player initially shoots the puck. It is very small and also more faded and less detailed.

This post card was about transforming the space in some way to make it unusual. In the background of this picture i have the celebration of the national USA team from the greatest miracle in history in the hockey world to represent celebration obviously. I also put colorful balloons spread out throughout the image because hockey is a game of celebration but you relate balloons to parties and birthdays and it is not something you would find at an ice arena.

Lastly, this postcard was about concealing and revealing. For this I used the stands of the ice arena. Throughout the stands we see railing going up the stairs and in that i decided to put a quote that is rather ironic. The stands are typically for the fans and parents and its a place to watch hockey and it is also somewhere where I would rather not be. Making the stands the background represents concealment because if i was placed in the stands looking down onto the ice the glass creates a barrier between me and my passion.

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The theme of my project was based all around hockey. The rink that i play out of is where i took all of my pictures. This place holds so many great memories for me growing up. It is a place i go to let everything out and put everything behind me for a few hours.

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Illustration, animation, and all things entertainment

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- Loss and finding of purpose in life

- Childhood fears (and either their relevance or irrelevance)

- Morality and decision making

- New ways of seeing / changing perspectives

- Loss of control (i.e. The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

- Hubris and pride leading to downfall

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On Design and Digital Creativity (or, Tyler Staley's Digital Creativity Blog)

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Loss and finding of purpose in life - Childhood fears (and either their relevance or irrelevance) - Morality and decision making - New ways of seeing / changing perspectives - Loss of control (i.e. The Sorcerer's Apprentice) - Hubris and pride leading to downfall

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Digital Creativity Discussion

This discussion comes from "Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community," by Joe Lambert - Chapter 10 "Distribution, Ethics and the Politics of Engagement"

Chapter Summary

Ethics (general)
Lambert opens the chapter with the quote, "Do no harm."

He goes on to say, "what starts as well-meaning intention becomes a minefiled of unintended consequences" (117). Lambert explains that some social groups were created with good intentions - to protect people, but become power struggles have emerged and have created a vulnerability.

Ethics (in art)
Lambert brings up the idea of "first voice"
"First Voice" - In artistic collaborations with local communities, we should strive that people should speak for themselves, and as often as possible that gatherings of storytellers should be facilitated within the community, by community members, for the general benefit of the community (as opposed to an outside audience)" (117). Lambert continues, "... the act of appropriating someone else's voice diminishes the person who appropriated the story, in much the same way it diminishes the person's for whom the story belongs." Basically what Lambert is saying is that the person who wrote the story (or created the artwork) is the best person to explain that story. If that person is not available, the next best person to tell that story is someone within that community.

Artistic Control and Expression
Lambert recalls at the end of one of his three-week workshops, one of his students wanted to make sure her work was completely deleted. Not understanding why his student would want to do this, he asked her why. The student explained that the artwork was for herself. Lambert, as an instructor, was used to encouraging students to publish their work, and struggled with the idea of a student wanting to erase all evidence of the work that was crated. After some consideration, Lambert came to the conclusion, that as an artist, his student (or any artist) should be in control of where, when, and the audience as part of the artistic expression. This control includes whether or not the work is ever publicly displayed.

Ethics in a Digital World
With easy access to the internet, the distribution, sharing and downloading of digital media on many platforms, ethical treatment has been lost. Lambert says, "Those partaking in [social media use] may have little experience in medial engagement, and little familiarity with approaches to ethics" (120).

Lambert reminds readers that ethical guidelines were based on a professional expectation that they would not abuse power. This include using cuts and edits to skew quotes, or take them out of context. Media does not have the right to put words into people's mouths.

Today, social media users have become a psudo-news reporters. Without professional ethics training, blogs, posts and videos can quickly become "propaganda, rumor, and slander" (122), without proper fact checking.

Thoughts and Questions

In the communication era, images, books, and music are popular forms of media that social media users historically have ethically abused. From personal experience working at a copy shop, there isn't a widespread understanding of copyright (which is part of the ethical treatment of artwork, artists and intellectual property rights). The majority I've encountered believe anything found through a google search is free game to use. With the boom of social media, how can we find a way to better police ourselves to use ethical judgement when posting, using, or reposting digital content? How can we enforce the "Do No Harm" principle of Ethics in a world of social media, when anonymity in various online mediums allows for such harm?

Lambert, J. (2013). Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community. New York, NY: Routledge.

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This discussion comes from "Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community," by Joe Lambert - Chapter 10 "Distribution, Ethics and the Politics of Engagement" Chapter Summary Ethics (general) Lambert opens the chapter with the quote, "Do no harm." He goes on to say, "what starts as well-meaning intention becomes a minefiled of unintended consequences" (117).

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Problem: The trail is surrounded by giant pylons, which take away from the natural beauty of the trail

Goal: To show the strenuous relationship between man's desire to advance technologically, and the natural world.

Postcard 1: Which Do We Take?

The Location I decided to pick for this project, is the path I like to jog on near my apartment. While the path is surrounded by trees and has a lot of natural beauty, it is also surrounded by giant pylons used to transport electricity to the surrounding area. These pylons have always felt to me like an eyesore, and I began wondering what the trail would look like without them. To help me show this idea in my first image, I decided to depict the path branching off into two separate directions. The right side shows the path as it is in reality, lined by the pylons leading their endless trails of electrical cables. The other side of the image, shows how I wish the path looked. On this side it looks as if man has had a minimal impact on the surrounding landscape, leaving nature to show off its beauty.

Postcard 2: Technology Versus Nature

As I continued working on this project, I thought about how human beings have a tendency to replace what is natural with what is unnatural, all in the name of advancement or convenience. Often times it feels as though human beings disregard nature, even going so far as to destroy it. In this image I wanted to depict the struggle between nature, and the encroachment of human technologies. I decided to fill both the sky and the path with computer code, as I am myself a programmer. The code, and the lower saturation gives the sky and path a bleak and dreary look. It is almost as if nature is surrounded by technology that wishes to replace it. The computer mice on the path look as though they are creeping ever closer to what is still natural. The area in the center of the image shows the plants and trees being vibrant and colorful, as if they defying the unnatural changes being imposed upon them.

Postcard 3: Working with Nature

As I began working on this last image, I wondered how we as humans can continue to advance as a species without the need to harm the natural world around us. I myself am in a field of study that is all about the advancement of technology, so it is a concern of mine as to how my work will be used. While technology can be destructive towards nature, it can also be created to coexist with it and still aid in our advancement as a species. In this image I show the path, with all the pylons around it. I decided to use the gaps between the metal bars of the pylon in the foreground to depict images of wind turbines and solar panels, which are technologies that have been developed to have a small impact on nature. The text engraved into the path shows how I believe that we as humans should not have to harm the natural beauty around us, in order to advance ourselves as a species.

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Problem: The trail is surrounded by giant pylons, which take away from the natural beauty of the trail Goal: To show the strenuous relationship between man's desire to advance technologically, and the natural world. Postcard 1: Which Do We Take? The Location I decided to pick for this project, is the path I like to jog on near my apartment.

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The place I chose to use for the postcards is the strength training gym I am a member of. The defining characteristic of the place is that it's sole purpose is for people who are doing strength training and for people who compete in powerlifting or strongman to train in. The question I had about the space is what motivates people to continue to pursue these activities and how they can be motivated. This is a genuine question and problem for me and others because everybody struggles with motivation at some time. The reasons for peoples motivation is the true reason for this spaces existence since it would not exist if people didn't use it and they wouldn't use it if they weren't motivated.

The first postcard explores progress and repetition. People train in these activites are not necessarily trying to be better than anybody else they just want to make progress. Progress in strength training comes from repetition. One must repeat a movement over the course of years to make progress. This progress is often slow and seamless because progress is made so slowly. The first postcard represents progress with a row of atlas stones. The lightest stones are first moving to larger ones but the change in size appears seamless due do the small changes and the camera angle. The mirroring of the image symbolizes repetition in training.

The second postcard explores something unique that powerlifters can experience that transforms the space they are in. Experiences like these are one of the things that breaks up the monotony that can de-motivate people. During heavy deadlifts the increase in blood pressure can cause the lifter to nearly pass out. When they set the weight down that can think for a moment that they are waking up in bed. This postcard transforms the space into something in between a deadlifting platform and a bed which for a moment can be a reality.

The third postcard explores the memories of past effort and sunk costs. The background is hidden by taking the picture with it out of focus and lowering the saturation. The knurling is shown by excluding it from these effects. This is to emphasize the the heavy layer of chalk that has built up over years of hard work. The text is a cliche that has been modified to emphasize this.

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The place I chose to use for the postcards is the strength training gym I am a member of. The defining characteristic of the place is that it's sole purpose is for people who are doing strength training and for people who compete in powerlifting or strongman to train in.

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Kendall entrance: Jessica sleeping
Title to time (6:30 am)
Coffee grounds/filling of pot
Emily bus entrance
Emily entering building (first shot approaching door)
Coffee cup filling/draining
Emily opening door hitting bags

EMILY:

Kendall walking into computer lab/down the hall
Emily locker combo
Kendall at computer logging in/start loading
Emily at locker/cramming in
Kendall computer loading still
Jessica sleeping--Illustration couch
Coffee filling/draining

JESSICA:

Emily painting/coffee dip
Kendall waiting at printer
Emily painting white paint
Jessica sleeping-White chair studios
Coffee filling/draining
Kendall at walking into room/microwave OR vending

GROUP:
Jessica sleeping-enterance hallway
Daydream with money-Green screen

KENDALL:

Emily drawing charcoal on hand
Jessica/Emily stuff on face
drop pencil box
Kendall computer dying
Kendall walking out at night (Jessica sleeping background)\
Hands up and "Wednesday Check mark"

Credits

For the final project for the class, we experimented with iMovie and filming movies. We learned how to take raw footage from a theme (determined before hand) and add effects to emphasize the point we wanted to get across. We used effects such as slowing down the footage, and speeding it up, panning and adding filters to the footage, as well as properly placing the audio. We used film from the green screen and added footage overtop to create a fantasy effect.

A Day in the Life of an Art Student by Kendall Hart, Jessica Allen, & Emily McKenna

In this short film, we wanted to show what a day spent at the Alexander Calder Art Building is like (hence the title). Specifically highlighting the struggles (messing up art works, over-caffeinating, waiting for the Macintosh Labs to cooperate, carrying too much, etc.) and trying to put a sarcastic, light-hearted, and satirical spin on them.

We begin our film with Kendall walking into the building on a dark morning at 7:50 am, to show how early most students show up for classes, and that don't end up leaving the building for another 12-15 hours, and sometimes even longer. And how often times those students get here in the dark, and leave in the dark. Emily is the next character to enter the film, getting on the bus at a fairly early time as well. She shows how all students riding the bus must deal with overly full buses where it's a common occurrence to not receive a seat; For art students not getting a seat means also carrying all of your bags on the bus as well. We then show Jessica, our overly-tired, sleep deprived character who has spent so much time on campus the scene opens with her sleeping at an early hour, implying that she had so much to do she ended up just sleeping on campus. The remainder of the film follows these three characters throughout the day by highlighting struggles (or naps in Jessica's case) and humorously mocking how it feels to be an art student.

We chose the majority of our music to be a sad violin instrumental, accompanied by the theme music from Jeopardy, intense music, Big Pimpin' by JAY-Z, and Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds. Most of our music was to add an overly dramatic spin to our feelings about our days. Big Pimpin' was used in a day dream Jessica was having while napping. And to finish it off, Simple Minds famous song was used in the final scene and credits of our film to end on a high note, of accomplishing and living through another day, while also mimicking the end to the famous flick "A Breakfast Club."

We went in to shooting our scenes with only rough ideas of what we wanted to capture. But we all seemed to have a similar idea of what we wanted to portray, and in the humor and style that we wanted to portray it in. Using iMovie was relatively easy, and we all took to the software quickly. Although we only had a rough idea of what we wanted to accomplish, we all worked together smoothly, and communicated well and were able to create a short film that we were all pretty proud of.

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Kendall entrance: Jessica sleeping Title to time (6:30 am) Coffee grounds/filling of pot Emily bus entrance Emily entering building (first shot approaching door) Coffee cup filling/draining Emily opening door hitting bags EMILY: Kendall walking into computer lab/down the hall Emily locker combo Kendall at computer logging in/start loading Emily at

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As a group, we thought comedy would be the best route to go. Alex is an engineering major and didn't really want to be on camera. He brought the props, tripod, and spent a majority of time behind the scenes. He found a way to be on camera, but not act in the movie. He instead ran around in a costume. Megan is an illustration major who is amazing at being a fake news caster. She was outgoing and not afraid of being on camera. Bridget is an art education major with a visual studies emphasis. She had already edited movies before on a different program so she had experience doing so to ours. Kelsey is an art education major with an emphasis in ceramics. She kept morale up and pushed the group. She was the group leader and focused on making things flow. We brainstormed, watched many YouTube videos, and decided to go with a comedy newscast skit. We all leaned towards news bloopers. We considered what we had to work with material wise (camera, green screen, ect.) and decided to work with it and not against it. Our goal was to make a poorly executed news cast show that was much more relatable than a proper news channel. Ultimately, though, our goal was to be funny. We wanted to make something that we would personally choose to watch on our down time, something that made us laugh. We got our interview style from the YouTube channel "Between Two Ferns" with Zach Galifianakis. He was very blunt, to the point, and kind of rude in some instances. Both our film and Between Two Fern episodes present themselves as being serious, but are extremely awkward and comedic. When we filmed our scene outside, we used a cellphone instead of a camera to make it seem more candid. We kept things very organic, no scripts, impromptu interviews with unknowing interviewees. We wanted to show viewers that you don't need high tech equipment or scripts to make something successful. There were only a few issues we had, the camera batteries kept dying so we had to charge those and use other cameras in the mean time. We had limited props and available interview people because of our location. Luckily, the weather was good outside so the scene we filmed was successful on first take. Overall, the movie went smoothly and we finished it effectively with time to spare!

This is our script that we started with. You will notice that we made some changes since this first draft.
3 to 5 minutes
· Fake anchor/news crew
· Weather - hurricane reporting - straight man
· Interview
o On average, how many cat videos do you watch?
o How would dogs wear pants? o How many marbles are in this jar?
o Blunt interviews o Do you.... Like.... Cheese?
o Cat lady who speaks feline (cat onsie w/Catniss)
o Is this dress blue and black or white and gold?
o Gif or Jif?
o Do you like.........cheese
o Blowing bubble during an interview

· News of the day
o Not paying attention/random interviews - cut to weather

· Lookit this
o Random bit
o Cookie munster costume in tree
o CUT TO WEATHER

· Sports o Chuck a football at person
o BACK TO THE WEATHER - no ones there anymore

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As a group, we thought comedy would be the best route to go. Alex is an engineering major and didn't really want to be on camera. He brought the props, tripod, and spent a majority of time behind the scenes. He found a way to be on camera, but not act in the movie.

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The place that I choose to photograph was the bridge on campus. I think that it's very interesting that Grand Valley was built on such a hilly and eroding landscape, and that we need a bridge that large to connect two places on campus is comical to me. I'm interested in this space because I think it represents many things in the context of a college campus. Bridges were created to be a way from getting across unsafe terrain like over a river, they are also created for decoration purposes in gardens and decorative landscapes. I have a personal connection to bridges because they are something of a childhood fear of mine-- I think I was always afraid of the possibility of it collapsing as we drove over it and drowning. I'm no longer worried about such things but, I am always interested with how people react with this particular bridge.

My first postcard uses repetition to change the eye movement within this piece. Using Tom Bamberger's artwork as an example, I decided to replicate the trees in this picture to focus in on the nature instead of the man made bridge itself. By replicating the dark trees and some of the leaves, I created a wall of sorts, blocking off the bridge to potential pedestrians. In this image the nature is taking over the industrial bars. Aesthetically, I find it interesting that their is repeated vertical lines in the bridge as well as with the tree trunks. I am wondering here what is really important to the campus? What should be destroyed and what should be taken care of? It seems to me that we've been neglecting the nature that was created naturally for us and, only now are we adding in new landscaping features. I think it is important to take care of the world around us, and maybe planting new flowers, and landscaped trees can put a band-aid on that, but are we really fixing the problem? Does the bridge represent man destroying nature?

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The place that I choose to photograph was the bridge on campus. I think that it's very interesting that Grand Valley was built on such a hilly and eroding landscape, and that we need a bridge that large to connect two places on campus is comical to me.

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Place: Ludington Michigan

Setting: Sterns Park Beach

Issue/Problem: The beauty of the landscape and surroundings often causes tourists and beach goers to ignore the dangers of the water.

Relevance: Drowning, riptides and dangerous currents cause numerous deaths each year for tourists and locals

Goal: To introduce and bring awareness to the relationship between the attractive features of the beach and swimming and the dangers of swimming without caution.

Growing up in a town that thrives off the attractions and tourist magnetisms, I tended to take advantage of the beauty of the beach and the magnificent sense of nature that I grew up with. My intensions for this project were to bring awareness to the issues and dangers of water.Individuals often overlook the power of riptides and currents that take the lives of so many expecting swimmers. Your size, strength, or athletic ability is no match for the power of water and within these three compositions I plan to present the viewers with the interdependent relationship between beauty and caution. The alluring beauty of the beach is desirable yet with that quality, it attracts so many people and sets the risk of drowning high. That being said the unpredictable and beauty of disaster among the surface of the body of water is a phenomenon like no other.

______________________________________________________________________________

For the first postcard, I introduced concepts of repetition and the beauty in perfection adapted in the work of Tom Bamberger. Based on the location of the beach and the central theme of danger and beauty, I chose to focus on the natural attractiveness of the beach and water in a way that exaggerates the concept of beauty through repetition. I decided to replicate the lighthouse because of its simplicity. Often overlooked because of its lack of dominance, the South shore lighthouse incorporates the carried theme with accents of red, yet the repetition seems to soothingly guide your eye out into the calming water. The depth and forged perception causes curiosity to the horizon where your eye meets the fantasy-like sky mirrored to perfection. The colors of the scene are enhanced to imply the perfection of the beach and waters to all audiences.

Postcard 2: Transformation

With the works of artists such as Sandy Skoglund, this composition focuses on the opposing idea of the first image displaying beauty, and serene perfection. It introduces the issues and dangers of the water. Appearing calm and composed, the water is welcoming, yet the strangeness of the color and tint of the water gives an eerie feel. The boat in the water at first glance seems normal for the body of water, yet with a second look, it is noticed that it is a coast guard boat used to address emergency on the water. A red buoy sets stationary on the safe shoreline suggesting a hint of danger on the horizon, and almost leading the viewer back to safety. Just when the viewer begins to really engage in the image, they notice a consuming cloud approaching from the left hand corner readily available to stir up chaos in the water. My goal for this image was to introduce the negative side of the seemingly perfect beach and water. The beauty is still within the image, yet danger lurks around each corner.

Referencing artists like Barbra Kruger, and Jenny Holzer, postcard three focussed on using words to enhance the image and its anticipated message. Sticking with the theme of danger within beauty, I faintly placed the words, "Lifeguard not on Duty," on the surface of the boardwalk falling back as the picture fades. By creating a message of "warning upon advancement," I aimed to give the viewer a form of notice as they proceed into the water or onto the break wall. I also sharpened the texture of the image and enhanced the contrast of the image to give a rough, risky feel, while casting a red mask over the entire image to reiterate the idea of red, danger, and stop. The background of why I chose the image I did and the words that I did roots back to growing up in Ludington and near the beach. A sign before walking out to the lighthouse reads, "Warning, Structure is not designed for public access, proceed at your own risk." Despite the formal warning locals and tourists continually jump off of the break wall and venture out on to the structure.

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Place: Ludington Michigan Setting: Sterns Park Beach Issue/Problem: The beauty of the landscape and surroundings often causes tourists and beach goers to ignore the dangers of the water. Relevance: Drowning, riptides and dangerous currents cause numerous deaths each year for tourists and locals Goal: To introduce and bring awareness to the relationship between the attractive features of the beach and swimming and the dangers of swimming without caution.

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Animation project concept map -relationships with nature

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Animation project concept map -relationships with nature

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Relationships with Nature: with Bridget, Emily, and Ryleigh

(The story of seven and their city experience)

The concept map for our group animation project.

Animation circles around the idea of human interaction with nature. We are achieving this through our character, Seven, an ambiguous figure hardened with anger. A sketchy black and white animation style with pops of color to emphasize different ideas.

Opens with display of a city, two (one?) beams of light. Camera zooms in to focus on an apartment. Seven walks out of the apartment door, slamming the door in a fit of rage. Camera follows Seven walking through the city, seemingly to a job (carrying a brief case). As Seven goes through the city streets, people are an obstacle, bumping into almost every one. A flower is seen in the cracks of the sidewalk, Seven pauses for a moment and stomps on the flower anyway. The walk continues.

Construction on Seven's normal route forces a new path to be taken. Seven sighs, grumbles, decides the quickest way is through the park.

As Seven moves through the park, people are seen joyously enjoying the open air and nature. Distracted by anger, Seven trips and falls into a puddle of mud. Seven turns his head to the side and sees a bee hovering over a flower, doing it's job, collecting pollen. A beautiful moment occurs (filled with color), this scene takes seven seconds. A tear drop clears a stream of mud off of Seven's face. Seven's colors gradually change from red to green.

Seven gets up, moves to either sit on a bench or to rest on a tree. Seven appears to be finally aware of his surroundings, the beauty of the world around him, and appreciating nature for what it is.

A scene of a time-lapse occurs either focusing on Seven with a sunset in the background (going around in a circle) or focusing on the city skyline with a sunset moving around it. A still image as the ending scene with Seven covered (submerged) in nature. Flowers, bees, butterflies, ect.

WRITE UP:

Our animation circles around the idea of human interaction, and specifically with nature. Our group is achieving this through our character, Seven, an ambiguous figure hardened with anger. Our animation follows Seven on a journey through the city.

Our animation opens with a display of the vast city landscape. The camera pans across a few streets aiming to emphasize the hectic lifestyle this city perpetuates. The camera then pans to Seven's house as the journey begins. Seven walks out of the apartment door, seemingly emotionless and hardened by the city life. As the camera follows Seven walking through the city, possibly to a job, a meeting, anywhere Seven does not want to be. A long walk along the city streets, Seven encounters a detour sign and is visually upset by the blockade.

As the construction on Seven's normal route forces a new path to be taken. Seven sighs, decides the next quickest route is through the park.

As Seven moves through the park, the colors are incredibly bright, emphasizing the happiness that is brought by the presence of nature. Distracted by anger, and hit in the face with a butterfly Seven trips and falls into a puddle of mud. Seven turns his head to the side and sees a bee hovering over a flower, doing it's job, collecting pollen. This beautiful moment allows Seven to open up and shed a tear. This scene takes seven seconds. Seven's attitude is changed, now enjoying the place he lives in, viewing the world a little different.

Seven gets up and moves to a bench with a large smile. Seven appears to be finally aware of the beauty of the wolrd, and begins appreciating nature for what it is.

We hope this short film will allow others to take a second look at the world around them and appreciate their surroundings. We left Seven as an ambiguous figure so others can easily place themselves in this scenario. Everyone has bad days, and bad weeks. Everyone allows themselves to be hardened and burdened by the world around them. This serves as a reminder that even in a hectic world with issues and negative situations, beauty still exists and can always be found.

Our group worked together really well, we each equally contributed to the ideas of the project as well as the animation. When one person struggled the rest jumped in to assist. As a group however we did struggle with a few minor details in the conclusion of the project. The music was a challenge, we were confused on how to switch from one song to the next, however through trial and error we were able to figure it out. We also struggled with the bone structure of Seven at the beginning, with such a simple figure it was difficult to figure out how to add bones and still make it simplistic yet believable.We also had difficulties adding in color, trying to make it the style that we wanted to have. However, we figured it all out and we are all very pleased with our final product!

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Relationships with Nature: with Bridget, Emily, and Ryleigh (The story of seven and their city experience) The concept map for our group animation project. Animation circles around the idea of human interaction with nature. We are achieving this through our character, Seven, an ambiguous figure hardened with anger.

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October 4: Animation ideas

Not having any background in animation, I am not picky about the topic or theme of my animation. That being said I am passionate about topics related to nature or pollution. I like humor and irony in animations and would also be open to multiple different themes or topics related to powerful storylines.

Animation Demo: Oct. 18
http://jnella.blogspot.com/2016/10/animation-demo-oct.html

Today we used the bone tool to make a four legged animal walk realistically. We began by tracing the image on separate layers for each body part. We placed pin points where the animal joints would be and made them walk.

https://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2028427746932915182#editor/target=post;postID=652679532952846368

animation demo: Frame by Frame

Frame by Frame animation:

We experimented using the frame by frame style of animation and used a low opacity image to trace the bird. We then used different keyframes to move the bird across the stage. By erasing parts of the wings on the bird, I was able to recreate the wings as if they were moving up and down until it exited the stage. http://jnella.blogspot.com/2016/10/animation-demo-frame-by-frame.html

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October 4: Animation ideas Not having any background in animation, I am not picky about the topic or theme of my animation. That being said I am passionate about topics related to nature or pollution. I like humor and irony in animations and would also be open to multiple different themes or topics related to powerful storylines.

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Created by Miranda and Angela (ART 335).