Extra Credit Project

Group Project

Another video post – the group project music video to You Really Got Me.

Music Video Fever!

After using After Effects in class two weeks ago I decided to venture into this program to make my personal music video. After class that night, I downloaded Adobe’s free trial of the program. I really enjoyed doing After Effects tutorials, and found it to be significantly less confusing than Flash. I wanted my video to be dynamic and bright, so I chose a tutorial that embodied both of those. Unfortunately, when I was halfway through the tutorial I realized one of the plug-ins I needed to finish it wasn’t available with the trial version. Nonetheless, it was a good way to warm up to the program and I chose another tutorial. Yet again I needed a preset that didn’t come with my trial, but luckily I was able to find a free trial of the plug-in and imported it into After Effects. Even though it was a lengthy and tedious process, it was a fun and rewarding experience. After exam week is over, I definitely want to take more tutorials and learn all there is to After Effects.
My computer is super slow so exporting the video to a .swf took about 5 hours. I finally bought sarah-brady.com today, so was able to upload the video there. Depending on your internet connection/computer the video may need to run a few times before it plays smoothly. Please ignore the big red X on the screen, is there because I used the trial version of the program. The song used is Swimming with Dolphin’s cover of Fast Car.
Click here to view my video!

Video Critique

I had a fun time going through my classmate’s blogs and viewing their personal music videos. Everyone seemed to have their own personal take on the assignment which made each video exciting and interesting to watch. My favorite video was Stephanie Guttenplan’s

The opening lyric “once upon a time” and the simple hand drawn feel of the animation immediately reminded me of a children’s book. The way the moon is animated with swirling white sketched circular lines is hypnotizing and I found my eyes focusing on it for the entirety of the video. I also enjoyed the use of white on the dark scene, it helped to tie all the objects (the moon, stars, and tree) together. The video also embodied this “bedtime story theme” as the graphics matched the lyrics perfectly and helped tell the story. “Once upon a time I used to go Beneath the branches of a tree to a muddy hole And the rabbit and it brought me down.”

Text Self Portrait

I originally did the “destroyed Towson” project, but wanted to try the text self portrait out. I have attached my piece into the post:

Blog Entry – April 20th

Two weeks ago my brother embarked on an unusual bicycling trip. His goal was to travel from Florida to Oklahoma in 30 days. He set out on his trip with limited items which included some food, a hammock, water, netbook, video camera, among a few others. Along the way he slept in woods in his hammock, but also was invited into people’s homes to sleep on their sofas. He documented his trip via Ted’s Tumblr.

12 days into his journey, Ted’s hand was struck by lightning. He was rushed to the ER and luckily had no serious injuries. To keep updated with his adventure be sure to tune into his Tumblr, Facebook, and Youtube accounts!

Flash Website

Chromazone is a British company which specializes in all things digital (imaging, design, scanning, display systems.)
I came across their flash website and immediately thought it was fantastic. The website allows the viewer to interact with the site’s 3-D functions. The graphics are simple, crisp, and tidy which helps to make the website platform easy to navigate. Each main menu item opens to it’s own unique page. On the bottom left of each page is a zoomed out version of where you are on the site, which makes it nearly impossible to get lost. The colors are vibrant and bold which gives the website an enjoyable and happy feel. The title of the company “Chromazone” also fits in well with the website’s simple vector shaped designs, much like scientific diagrams for chromosome proteins and DNA strands. The music on the site also has a scientific/technological feel to it. These two themes are consistent throughout the site and reinforce what Chromazone offers to their clients – the latest technology and advancements in digital imaging.

*Update:
After seeing the youtube video of Jonathan Harris speaking at TED and showing some of his digital work, I immediately saw similarities between some of his projects and the Chromazone flash website, for example Harris’s We Feel Fine website

Kevin Kelley’s Better Than Free

Kevin Kelley’s article made me gain more insight into what is and what is not “free”. I think this essay is very true to the modern day, whilst ten years ago not all things Kelley lists were free. For example, watching movies online wasn’t even a common practice five years ago.

Being a connoisseur of free things, I can relate to wanting to get as much as I can for as little possible.

Beautiful Object

Choose an object around your room or house that you think is particularly beautiful or well designed. It doesn’t need to be useful. Describe it.

I bargained for this tapestry in August 2010 in Morocco. It is handmade, with beautiful fabrics and beads. I love the colors, it makes my room look summery, even in the winter. The design reminds me of the buildings in Morocco, full of detail and unique dome shapes.

Reading Walter Benjamin’s proved to be very difficult and confusing. I found it hard to find the meaning and discover his core beliefs. From what I understood, Benjamin believes that as technology advances, art does as well. Art forms such as paintings, are no longer seen as simply paintings. Our technological and modern minds greatly influence the way in which we look at all mediums of art.
Benjamin was greatly concerned with how easily art is replicated. He believes that with this modern mass reproduction the original piece itself loses its individuality that it once possessed. The art no longer has the “aura” that it was created with. With that loss it also may lose its original power and impact on the viewer that it originally had in its first form.