In reading the article Freak Factor by David Rendall, I learned a lot about what it means to have a weakness. Everyone has weaknesses, but I know that the term "weakness" can be incredibly subjective. I have noticed that when it comes to creativity, the important thing is not to get down on yourself or analyze what others may think of you, but to instead evaluate yourself, like what really works and what doesn't. For example, others may think that one of my weaknesses is procrastination, but I find that it is a strength. It is a strength because of my ability and preference to work under a time crunch (I'm writing this at midnight the right before it's due...can't you tell?) and my ability to surpress stress. I see my peers turn into a stress ball when they learn of an upcoming project or assignment and feel they have to start doing it right away. This can be great for them, but I have found through experience and success that I really have no need to worry, and that I can manage my time and energy better when it gets down to the wire. This, according to Rendall, would be a strength rather than a weakness.

Rendall gives nine suggestions for self-improvement, all of which I found to be insightful. I found hat I most disagreed with suggestion #4: Forget it, don't try to fix your weakness. This correlated with the suggestion before it, which stated that there is nothing wrong with you. With this I agreed, however, I found the suggestion to not fix or improve your weaknesses to be unproductive. He makes the statement that our weakness will never become a strength, and I definitely agree with this. However, as I stated before, weakness can be a very subjective term, and so it depends on why the weakness matters. As with my earlier example, if one's weakness is procrastination thought it always seems to leave them with late assigments or sloppy work, this is something that undoubtedly should be improved on. Of course you can't work within your weakness, you have to learn from your mistakes and work around it. So a way to fix this would be to evaluate your best working times and measure that with what you are really willing to do. That would end in a happy balance that would likely help you to succeed rather than keep failing.

I very much agreed with #5: Build on your strengths. It is true that if you don't use it you lose it, so one that might take a strength for granted and not appreciate what they have been given, it will start to deteriorate and they will lose it. Broadly speaking, if someone had the strength of an amazing musical ability yet never practiced or expanded their musical knowledge, they would never grow and therefore their ability would diminish because they didn't use what they were given.

I also very much agreed with #7: Find the right spot. It is true that you will never be able to excel at something you don't enjoy doing. It is also true that it is a waste of time to continue to torture yourself with activities you don't enjoy or were forced into. This will never make anybody happy and will only end in extreme amounts of stress. For example, I have never enjoyed going to mass. My mother would always make me go in the hopes that I would one day like it, but I never did. Eventually, I started to make a huge fit about going, and regardless of my protests she would drag me there or otherwise I would be grounded. This stressed her out as much as it made me frustrated. So eventually, we both realized it wasn't getting anywhere and I just stopped going. This allowed her time to enjoy church on her own while causing me a lot less anguish over dreading going. The entire process was entirely unproductive, but now, during the time that I would otherwise be hating my life sitting in church, I can do other things I enjoy.


As I stated earlier, one of my "weaknesses" is procrastination. It is double ended, because on one end it has never really been a problem, and in some circumstances has really helped me out. I work well under pressure, and work sloppily when I have a lot of time. A related weakness is that I don't have a lot of self-discipline, which I have learned is not as important as realizing simply what you enjoy doing versus don't enjoy doing. So, I have come to realize that rather than trying to become better at procrastinating and to start things earlier, I set myself a specific time (usually last minute) to work on something and just do it. This has oftentimes resulted in concentration and on the fly thinking, which is my best strength. However, on the other end is when I realize I have missed out on something that had an earlier deadline that I waited too long to do. For example, I might put off on buying a class book until the day before the exam (because of course I wouldn't study any other time) but the book store had sold out weeks ago. In this regard, I need to learn when it is okay to procrastinate, and what the absolute deadlines are for the things I need to do.

Seth Godin's Brainwashed was a very interesting and true article about the difficulty of being creative in today's world. He introduces seven things to utilize and make ourselves better, more innovative people.
One of those things is to acknowledge the lizard. The lizard is the prehistoric part of our brain that tells us to adapt to what is safe, which inherently will tend to avoid wanting to make art and be innovative and go with what is "safe" to get a job. He tells us we need to acknowledge that this part of our brain is there so that we can ignore it and trust our instincts to be something beyond what society wants us to be.
He also explains that shipping will help us surpass that instinct because that is the singular action that will make us and our talents vaulable as well as irreplacable in the creative field. Aside from simply doing something, shipping is the action of putting it out there and not being afraid, because fear will get us nowhere.
I believe that the seventh is the most important and what ties into everything we will ever need to know, and that is to learn. Learning allows us to build basically everything-- our thoughts, opinions, creativity, and deterrents from what we have known to not be successful. All we have to do to learn is open our eyes, ears, and thoughts and let go of the lizard!


In relation to the blog assignments, I find them to be mostly a waste of time, or more so just like busy work. In order to be creative, you have to create, and as simple as that sounds we don't really create anything with the blogs. From my perspective, the blogs are a cut and dry assignment with length requirements and topic parameters. They are not something I have noticed to be helpful in my creative endeavors, nor have I really thought twice about them after they have been completed.
As I stated in the previous topic, learning is the basis for everything, and with the blogs we aren't really encouraged to learn so much as just to fulfill a requirement. A major suggestion I would have is to make the blogs more open topic-wise, and more free requirement-wise. For example, it would be helpful for a blog topic to be something like "What is an area of video/audio/animating/etc. that you are interested in or curious about? Research it and write what you have learned."
That would really give me the opportunity to explore my interests and learn something I wanted to learn that could later really help me out. For example, if the topic of the week was audio, I would have the opportunity to learn a little more about it and what goes into audio production in the industry. This would make me more literate when communicating with the audio people when I am working on set and would allow me to understand it a little better myself.
I have always found that the best way to learn something is to teach it. So by researching a topic and writing about it as if you were teaching it to your reader, you would both really help yourself as well as have a useful sort of manual for future reference for youself. It would also help you to explore areas in those fields that you would have not thought twice about, or help you realize something new about a field you already thought you knew a lot about.

Blog #7- Scene Deconstruction

The scene I have chosen is the scene from Mean Girls where Regina gets hit by a bus. Since the movie is copyrighted, there aren't really any videos online, so I found this little clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT7os-ymfW4

I believe the theme of the movie is that being mean to people gets you nowhere, and being nice gets you everywhere. This is exemplified in this scene (the full version) because literally, as Regina is crossing the street yelling at Cady, she gets hit by a bus. It's almost as if Karma came back to her for everything she had been doing. which proves that being mean will do no good. The theme of the movie is quite didactic, as Cady, the narrator bluntly states that being mean didn't get her anywhere towards the end of the movie. The way the movie actively shows the theme is through repeated actions of mean-ness followed by negative consequences (the burn book, for example.)

Line plays a big part in this scene. It begins with a view down the middle of the road to foreshadow what is about to happen. It then cuts to a shot of Regina right next to a pole, to represent rigidity and stuffiness. When the bus then hits her, it comes in sideways to contrast the straight pole/rigidness, and eventually is what causes her to change. The next shot shows affinity in line with parallel lines drawn between the lines on the side of the bus and the yellow line down the middle of the road.

Movement has a lot to do with the theme in this scene. Regina walked out in front of the bus herself, rather than a bus just coming from out of nowhere and hitting her. This reinforces the theme, and the fact that Regina sort of got herself into the mess and now has to pay the consequences. Tension and release is a big part of the movement in this scene. The tension is created by foreshadowing the bus by showing a long shot of the road, and then is heightened when Regina moves out into the road. Even if a viewer had never seen the movie before, they would understand what is about to happen, and that the filmmakers purposely tried to create tension between the characters and between Regina and the road by having her walk into the street. The release then obviously comes when she gets hit by the bus.

Animation Project

Blog 6- Animation

The two animation pieces I have chosen are an episode of South Park, and the Pixar movie Up.
These are both from very obviously different animation genres). South Park is a very flat, 2D piece with very little differentiation, while Up is a visually beautiful movie with a much more 3D look (plus the fact that it was shown in 3D.)


Color
The color of both is quite vivid. South Park uses bright colors in a sort of irony (a children's show that's not for children) while Up uses bright colors for a few different reasons. Up is a sweet story, that is visually pleasing in its own way. The old man has dreamed of this beautiful place all his life and is finally going there. So, bright colors fit the adventure scheme quite well.
Both use a variation of hues (red, yellow, green, peach...) which make for a colorful piece. However, the saturation is where they greatly differ. South Park uses solid colors with no difference in saturation, while Up has a lot of variation in saturation, making it a little more realistic. Also, as I stated, the difference in brightness of Up makes for a deeper surface while South Park is a very flat surface. For example, as you can see the farther objects in Up (the trees) are less bright and vivid, while everything in South Park is solid.

Lighting
The lighting of Up is much more realistic and painterly than South Park. For starters, Up actually utilized lighting and difference in shadows while South Park does not (except for the photo on the wall). In this way, it almost looks like South Park was drawn by a 5 year old, while Up looks a lot more sophisticated. Up held to realistic standards with space and shadows, while South Park has no sense of realism whatsoever.
The mood of both are very different, due to the lighting. South Park is very sarcastic and does not care about realism, while Up tries to conform more to realistic standards in order to be emotional and more deep.
This shot of South Park doesn't really have any symbolism in terms of lighting, since everything is lit pretty evenly. However, Up is choc full of symbolism. For example, the old man is very dreary looking and is dressed in drabby colors, which represents cynicism while the bird is brightly colored and brightly lit, which represents happiness and vibrance.

Movement
South Park portrays very little movement, while Up definitely portrays a lot more. For example, the little boy is in the middle of running over to the dog, who looks like he is about to get up. Also, the old man is walking over to the right, and the bird is leaning down to look at the dog. However, South Park seems pretty static, and portrays almost no movement. Cartman looks like the only one who is moving in that scene, and even he is pretty still.
As stated, Up has a lot of overlapping movement. I can tell just by looking at that shot that a lot of things are happening at once. South Park, however, has almost no overlap and Cartman looks to be the only one even slightly moving.
The weight is distributed evenly in the South Park scene. All of the boys are positioned evenly straight across the frame, with no weight leaning one way or another. Up, however, has most of the weight centered on the left side of the frame. this is because that is where most of the action is taking place, where the bird and the boy are both looking. Also, the most vibrant colors are weighted over there, that being the bird and the dog. In this way, my eye almost certainly goes to the left side of that picture, while in South Park my eye isn't really directed anywhere and kind of settles in the middle.

Blog 5- Storyboard

**The overhead scenes are before the storyboard just because of the silly way Blogger uploads images.


The 180 degree rule was pretty strictly followed in this scene. If you draw an invisible line down the center of the ship, the camera always stays on the left side, or directly on the line. There is one slight exception to this, and that is in the second shot, where the camera pans over to reveal Rose walking up to Jack in the background. The camera goes just slightly over the 180 line, but since it used camera movement, that is okay. Then, it cuts away to Rose and the line is established back where it was.

The rule of thirds is also quite strictly followed in this scene. In close-up shots, both Jack and Rose's eyelines are perfectly placed on a left or right intersection, or if there is camera movement, their eyelines at least stay on a horizontal 1/3d line (the top line). In wide shots, like the shot where Rose moves in closer to Jack, the camera follows her so that her body stays perfectly on the left vertical 1/3d line. Sometimes there are neutral shots, like the close-up of their hands holding or when the camera cranes over them, but for the most part this scene is fairly textbook when it comes to the rule of thirds.

The 30 rule is also followed strictly, as every shot pretty religiously cuts to two "shot sizes" away. For example, when there is a wide shot of Rose walking up to Jack (from head-on), it cuts into a close-up of her face. Cutting into a medium shot would have caused a jump cut, which they avoided by following the 30 rule.
In terms of camera movement, there is certainly 30 degrees worth of movement, as the camera typically totally changes places or drastically pans or cranes.


I think that James Cameron chose to stick to the textbook with this scene is so as not to divert attention from the action. The entire movie is pretty textbook, likely due to the fact that when James Cameron was studying film early on, he learned all the textbook rules, so he is putting them into action (hence the practice meets opportunity lecture.) The only time the camera broke any of the rules (180) was during camera movement for a brief second, and it showed a new character entering, which is an exception to the rule.

Blog 4- Song Deconstruction

The two songs I have chosen for the assignment are "Someone Like You" and "Rolling in the Deep" both by Adele.

*I chose the live version of "Someone Like You" because it is both more popular (except for radio) and more soulful than the original version.


These two songs are quite different from each other. The lyrics of "Someone Like You" are quite sad and emotional, as it is about a difficult breakup. The song details the relationship between her and someone she used to date, and how he has moved on. It also speaks about how they have become estranged, but she is determined to move on and "find someone like him."
The lyrics or "Rolling in the Deep" are certainly more angry and powerful. She uses words like "fire", "scars," "burn", and "sorrow." The song is about the anger that comes with a breakup, along with regret and despair. Similar to "Someone Like You" it is definitely a song about a breakup, however "Someone Like You" comes with more acceptance and sorrow, while "Rolling In The Deep" is certainly an angry song. The two songs can quite possibly have been written during different stages of her own breakup (I think they are based on real events.) Typically, the first stage of a breakup is anger and regret, while acceptance comes later.

The melodies of both songs fit the lyrics very well, as the melody for "Someone Like You" is slower and more emotional, while the melody of "Rolling in the Deep" is much more powerful. She strains her voice a lot in "Rolling..." and sings with anger, while she sings with a kind of sorrow on "Someone...".

As the graphs show above, the music quality of both songs is where they differ the most. "Someone..." has a sort of smooth, wavy structure to it that adds to the emotion, while "Rolling..." has a structure that drops up and down very often. The chorus adds a powerful punch to it, and the verses seem to always build up to the chorus.

The timbre of both songs is, as I've said much, much different. "Someone..." contains only a piano in addition to her soft vocals, while "Rolling..." layers many powerful instruments together to add more power. This makes for a much more intense song, while "Someone..." is much, much less intense.

The organization of both songs is similar in the way that they go verse-chorus-verse-chorus (x2) and drop off. This is a typical song structure in the way that it leaves a strong framework for the song.

The speed of "Someone..." is very obviously slower, while "Rolling..." is faster. This goes along with the rhythm, and what drives the rhythm. Drums tend to be faster and more powerful, while piano tends to be (but not always) slower in speed and rhythm.



I personally prefer "Someone Like You" because of the timbre and instrumentation. There is a certain authenticity that I typically associate with songs that only contain vocals and piano, which I really appreciate. It is much more raw than "Rolling in the Deep" and I really enjoy the soft melody. "Rolling..." is much more a song for an upbeat energy, but to me seems a little more formulaic than "Someone Like You."

Blog Assignment #3- Sound Design

The scene I have chosen is the ever-famous "flying" scene from Titanic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MDPeL8lpzo).



This scene contains a nice mixture of diagetic and non-diagetic sounds. Under the Gestalt Principal, this scene creates "illusion" in the way that it sounds very "full", but there are only 3 or 4 sounds being created: the ocean waves, the wind, their voices and the background music. It is not a "catastrophic" sound, in fact it is actually a very comfortable scene, but still sounds very full which is an illusion of sound. The overall intensity of this scene is quite minimal, and creates a certain comforting, calm mood. The timbre is of both ambiance and melodic sounds (ocean vs. music) and pitch only occurs in the background music, which is quite high.
Space is created very intensely in this scene. The visual distance of this scene is shallow between Jack and Rose and very deep around them. This contrast is evident between the clarity of their voices, yet the rustling of waves combined with beating wind. So overall I would say this scene uses a mixture of shallow and deep space with sound to create the "full" feeling. The non-diagetic music works to create emotion throughout the scene in the way that it intensifies when Jack and Rose are physically close and fades when the scene overlaps to fade into the 'present'.

Johnathan Flaum's article, located here: http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/51.01.YourHowl speaks of an experience he had in the fifth grade. He talked about his experience when a fellow classmate had found a sort of "loophole in the system." The classmate had found a way to exceed the teacher's expectation, which nobody else in the class had even managed to come close to, while concurrently writing such an in-depth story that relates so closely to every person's situation. That particular point is this: One can run in circles for eternity trying to escape when there is no where to run to. Or, one can learn to admire where they are, in turn opening up a new world of possibilities.


A song that I love and that speaks to me creatively is "I Must Belong Somewhere" by Bright Eyes. This is a copy of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B-mBqG1HCA

And these are the lyrics:
Leave the bright blue door on the whitewash wall
Leave the death ledger under city hall
Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today

Leave the lilac print on the linen sheet
Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet
Let the sideways rain in the crooked street remain

Leave the wimpering dog in his cold kennel
Leave the dead starlet on her pedestal
Leave the acid kids in their green fishbowls today

Leave the sad guitar in its hardshell case
Leave the worried look on your lover's face
Let the orange embers in the fireplace remain

Because everything, it must belong somewhere
A train off in the distance, bicycle chained to the stairs
Everything must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here

Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell
Leave the widower in his private hell
Leave the liberty in that broken bell today

Leave the epic poem on its yellowed page
Leave the gray macaw in his covered cage
Let the traveling band on the interstate remain

Because everything, it must belong somewhere
Soundstage in California, televisions in Time Square
Everything must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here

Leave the secret talks on the trundle bed
Leave the garden tools in the rusted shed
Leave those bad ideas in your troubled head today

Leave the restless ghost in his old hotel
Leave the homeless man in his cardboard cell
Let the painted horse on the carousel remain

Because everything, it must belong somewhere
Just like the gold around her finger or the silver in his hair
Everything must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here

In truth, the forest hears each sound
Each blade of grass as it lies down
The world requires no audience
No witnesses, no witnesses

Leave the old town drunk on his wooden stool
Leave the autumn leaves in the swimming pool
Leave the poor black child in his crumbling school today

Leave the novelist in his daydream tomb
Leave the scientist in his Rubik's Cube
Let the true genius in the padded room remain

Leave the horse's hair on the slanted bow
Leave the slot machines on the river boat
Leave the cauliflower in the casserole today

Leave the hot, bright trash in the shopping malls
Leave the hawks of war in their capitals
Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain

Because everything, it must belong somewhere
They locked the devil in the basement, threw God up into the air
Everything must belong somewhere
You know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here
You know it's true, why don't you leave me here


This song speaks to me creatively for many reasons. The first reason, and the most straightforward reason is that it took me a long time to find what I wanted to do, career-wise. I have bounced around from fashion design to sculpture to fibers to music to video production. I have literally thought sometimes that "I must belong somewhere" and have wondered around trying to find exactly where. I am both relieved and excited to know that I have found that place now, whereas in the song, he sings "I know that now that's why I'm staying here." I have found my howl in the arts the hard way- by literally pushing through everything I jumped at before and eventually finding what jumped at me. Flaum explained that one cannot know their true path without knowing from where they came. You must learn the ins and outs of everything along the way and find your own meaning to it, and that is what makes you truly insightful. He also explains that happiness will never come from bouncing around, and the smartest thing one can do is to become content, and even happy, with where they are. I am finally happy now, and I can truly understand what this song is speaking about, because I have experienced it myself.
This song has a second meaning to it which I found to be important, and that is a sort of commentary on the way the world tends to look at people who are different. He says to leave everything where it should be, some literal and some sarcastic. For example, "leave the true genius in the padded room..." explains that people are often afraid to look at things differently and therefore condemn anyone who dares to do just that. This is relevant to us creative folk because we tend to look at things differently every day. We have found our howl in the workings of society by simply choosing to look at things in a different light, and that, I believe, will make a larger howl than anything I could imagine.

Blog Assignment #1- Deconstructing Characters

The three elements of my character- light, shape, and color- are all quite basic, yet say a lot. My character, Bingley, is made of an analogous color scheme of yellow, green, and blue. All three colors are quite vibrant, yet shading is used to bring attention to certain features of the character. Yellow, which represents fun and energy is the main color of the character. Green and blue compliment yellow as well as add depth. None of those three colors typically accompany any one gender, either, which is why I also chose to use them; I wanted my character to be gender neutral.
I chose a round shape for my Bingley for three reasons; one being that it is natural (being a puffer fish and all...) and because circular shapes do not typically represent strength, but more so fun. The third reason I chose a rounded shape is to compliment their favorite thing to do- play ping pong (ping pong balls are also round.)


I chose this picture of a ball to represent my character for two main reasons. The first being that it represents my character's rounded shape, and the second being that it obviously portrays the color as well. This is obviously a children's play toy, which coincides with my character's genre. It is likely that a child who would play with this ball would also be interested in my character. All in all I would say this is a perfect representation of my character, and would give anybody a pretty good idea of what Bingley is all about.

I chose this picture of colors to accurately represent Bingley's colors. Yellow is on top, which represents the majority of Bingley's coloring. Green is in the middle, which accurately represents the second major color, and blue is on bottom. Since Bingley is a sea creature, I chose not to color it blue, due to it possibly blending it with the ocean background. Yellow is a fun, vibrant color in and of itself, which is why I chose to use it. The yellow tone in this picture, I believe, fairly represents the shade of yellow I chose to use for Bingley. This shade is quite understated, which I purposely did for the sake of originality and attempting to not overdo the whole "bright fun colors" thing.


I chose this ball to represent Bingley's shape. Since Bingley is a fish, I chose a more sluggish shape rather than a stealth arrow type shape. Bingley is not a strong or stealthy; he is more of a rounded, bouncy- type character. Bingley can also be described as a "ball of energy" so I literally chose a ball to represent it. Of course Bingley is not a perfect rounded shape, but I feel that this quite accurately described its overall personality.




My second character, the antagonist, is named Octopong. Octopong is a monotone grey color, with only slight variations in shading. I chose grey for a few reasons- one being that it is an expected octopus color, as well as it being a relatively dark, dreary color. This is the exact opposite of Bingley, who is brightly colored and fun looking. This visual cue lets the viewer know immediately which character is the protagionist as well as the antagonist.
The lighting of Octopong is relatively simple and straightforward. His underside is colored lighter than his upper side for a few reasons. One being that he is more creepy and eerie, so lighting his underside is similar to someone holding a flashlight under their face to make them look creepy, and the other being that it is normally how an octopus looks.
The shape of Octopong is naturally the shape of an octopus, but a little squirmier. I did this because he is a sly, sneaky character, so I wanted to make him look the part. Slimy, squirmy tentacles that move and wiggle are a definite ick factor, so I wanted him to be extra slimy.


The first photo I have chosen to represent Octopong is this sun:
This sun represents Octopong's overall shape. That being his main center and pertruding squiggly arms. Of course, ignoring the coloring and brightness of the photo, I think the overall idea of the shape represents Octopong. This photo represents movement in its shape, and in relation to Octopong implies the movement of his limbs.


The second photo I have chosen to represent Octopong is this snake. This snake is definitely creepy and gross, and his squirmy long body represents Octopong's long, squirmy tentacles. It also somewhat represents the color of Octopong, and his intimidating appearance. Snakes are one of the most feared things in the world, so I thought it was appropriate to compare this snake with Octopong, since he is what Bingley fears.



I chose this last photo to represent Octopong for several reasons. One reason is simply the color scheme-- that being grey. This alien is pretty monotone and grey, as is Octopong. This photo also shows what a grey, monotone color scheme does for a character, and that is to make it cold, creepy and eerie. This brings me to the next reason I chose this photo, and that is to show the eerie-ness I want to convey with Octopong. He is a dark, creepie octopus who lives in the deepest parts of the sea, which I think relates very well with this alien, who lives in the deepest parts of space. Both characters are elusive and both are feared. So overall, I think this is the best photograph to represent Octopong and what he is all about.