Superhero by ato4409

Game Presentation: Refelection

In our game presentation there were a few points that did not come across clearly in our presentation. Two that stick out the most were the visuals for our game, and the idea of different factions or ways of play. Since we did not have any visuals for the way the game was going to look, I believe it made it harder for our audience to follow the idea of our game. If we were to have more visual elements explaining the look of our game, than the audience would have gotten a better feel for how the game would be played. By providing visual elements to a game presentation, you are able to show, not just tell the audience what you are creating. By just speaking to them, they will not receive the same details that they would through a visual model. The second problem, the explanation of factions throughout the game, posed a problem due to the complexity of the idea. It was not explained well enough in our presentation about how the game could be played form three different aspects. We should have made a point to stop and explain, in more detail, the way the game could be played. If we had had a separate presentation of each faction: human, plants, and hybrids, explaining what each one was and how choosing each of these factions would change the experience of the game, we could have gotten through more clearly to the audience about the concept behind having different factions.

The most difficult concept to get across to the audience, to me, was the rules. Within a video game, there are a lot of rules, and a lot of exceptions to rules. In a short PowerPoint it was difficult to address, clearly, all of the rules involved in such a complex game as the one we thought of. Rules are a very important part of the game and I believe it was in explaining the rules that we lost our audience. Many times rules will change throughout the game, explaining these rule changes, and even coming up with the different rule changes proved to be very challenging when creating this game concept. When explaining a game concept I find it rather straightforward when listing the goals, objectives and mechanics of the game because these aspects remain the same throughout the entire game. Rules do not; they are always changing, which makes it a more complex aspect of a game. I was not surprised at this finding because rules, having to do with anything, are always changing and are usually more complex than straightforward.

Stop Motion Critiques

Austin-

http://artistmdia.blogspot.com/2011/07/mdia-203-project-3-animation.html#comment

Austin,

First of all I would like to say that I am very impressed with the animation you were able to do on this project. I would defiantly have no idea how to even go about doing such a thing. One thing that I thought added a great element to your project was the choice of contrast and shadowing. Since you kept it in black and white the characters were really able to contrast with the white background and pop out, while the shadows added depth. The black and white also worked to set more of a dark or suspenseful mood, which really helped the element of tension and release toward the end of the animation. It also served as a symbol toward an alternate reality or a dream state because it was not in color like a state of reality would be. The music also added to the tension through out the project. As the main character started to sense more fear and anxiety the music seemed to increase along with his emotions. When we finally realize that the character has been in a dream this whole time, it releases the tension of not knowing what was going on and even fearing for the characters life. All in all I thought you did a great job in your animation. It was very impressive and left the audience very entertained. I know that I, along with our other peers, was very “tripped out” by your project, which is a good thing!

Kirby-

http://kirbykilwalski.blogspot.com/2011/07/cost.html?showComment=1311265741805#c1690200017013453544

Kirbalicious,

I thought your stop motion Rocked due to the Ferris Bueller references. You also did a good job differentiating the characters attitudes using different hues and saturations. It is obvious through the use of more basic colors who is the boss. By having the boss dressed in a simple white shirt and contrasting it with a blue tie, it is easy to determine that he is a boring boss type character. I liked how you used a giant pot leaf on the rebels shirt in order to differentiate him from the boss too. The saturated green pops from the black shirt and lets the audience know he is a “free spirit.” The brightness of the different scenes also helped to understand when the rebels were talking and when the boss was talking from inside the building. The brightness from the window gave a more relaxed feeling where as the darker tones in the building gave a more confined, drab feelings. The use of Ferris Bueller really added a subjective element to your presentation. Those who recognized the references were able to pick up on the story line more easily than those who did not, giving them a different view of the situation. So overall good job although your focus was a little wack but I understand the constraints. The only thing I would change would be to give your characters more movement in order to make them look more life like. Oh yeah, the star wars characters were cool too.

Stephen-

http://sh269608.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-stop-motion.html?showComment=1311266323908#c6663817338758676925

Stephen,

I thought you had a good, funny stop motion. The idea to use chess was funny and the character noises made me laugh. It was easy to determine the hero vs. villain due to your use of different hues. The darker green hues were able to contrast well with the lighter pink hues and give the characters different looks. The way you saturated the colors in Photoshop also helped the characters to pop and gave more attention to them. The brightness of the room allowed the audience to see the actions very clearly as well. You were able to keep affinity however, by making the characters out of the same material. By doing this you made them book look as though they were form the same genre. I also enjoyed the tension that was created through the use of a chess game. It was suspenseful as to who was going to win because they were both making moves that seemed like they could win. The addition of special effects also helped to add to the tension because it added a new element to the game, which made it a little bit more unpredictable. The tension was then released when you finally revealed the winner, and although it was not the hero there was still an obvious outcome. So overall good job! The only think I would change would be to manipulate the squash and stretch elements more throughout the video. This will give the characters more realistic qualities.

Stop Motion: Good vs. Evil

Audio Commentary of Video game

Blog 3.3 by ato4409

Pause the sound

Blog 3.2 by ato4409

Reimaging Digital Framing

Roy Lichtenstein originally drew me to this piece due to the mixture of solid and striped objects within it. The use of complimentary colors was also an eye grabber for me. In the original image Lichtenstein used lines to draw the audiences attention to the skyline view in the window. When we look at the image our eyes instantly move to the view of the city because of the diagonal lines on the chair, carpet, painting, and even on the magazine on the table. This shows a successful use of actual lines that helps lead our eyes to where the artist intended. The constant use of square shapes also attracts the eye because it accomplishes a sense of affinity throughout the image. We see contrast, however, through the quality of lines throughout the image. The use of linear and curvilinear lines brings contrast within the frame.

When I decided to reframe the image, I chose to take out all of the leading lines and just have the image that seemed to be the point of interest for me. I wanted to see if the image would have the same impact as it did in the original. In doing so I realized that by putting the skyline among the rest of the image, Lichtenstein was able to give it more of a meaning. Alone the image just looks like a skyline but when framed by the lines in the rest of the image, it looks like a desirable skyline in a high scale apartment. By doing this, the artist is able to use the image as a representation of an affluent space instead of just an image of buildings. Many times artists put strong images among weaker or contrasting images in order to add more meaning to the image as a whole, which is an example of the gestalt principal learned in

Find Your Howl Response

Video Response: How To Be Creative

Audio Reflection on Music Project:

Kevin's Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69tTtMYyelw

Kevin,

I really enjoyed your song. It had a lot of structure and organization. You would return to a chorus even after adding instruments and changing the speed, which helped give your song structure and affinity. You were also successful in maintaining a steady rhythm with the, what sounded like bass and guitar. The change in speed from beginning to end helped build the tension in the song and had it more anticipated for when you were going to speed it up, as you did in the end of the song. The guitar and bass were also able to add a little funk the song with gave it a consistent feel.

Kenny's song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuu0SboCubo

Kenny,

I thought your song had a very consistent and enjoyable sound. You were able to keep the rhythm with the drums, which allowed you to add more instruments without losing your original focus. I also noticed frequent changes in timber, or the noisiness and softness of the song. Every time the song got quieter, it slowed down the speed of the song as well. The opposite happened every time the song got noisier, it sped up. I also noticed that you kept the same structure by going from loud to soft and soft to slow consistently throughout the song with gave it good organization and fluency.

Vivid's Song:

http://a5.video3.blip.tv/0410005784834/Vivid-Media203mySong930.mp4

Vivid,

I thought your song was very eclectic and showed a lot of different music styles. It was almost like something out of girl talk. The way you mashed up different speeds and intensity of instruments really gave the song a lot of texture and depth. Although the song seemed to lack structure and organization, it still worked in the way that you arranged your instruments and transitioned into the different parts. Toward the middle of the song it seemed to take a more impulsive shape and start to change more drastically that it did in the beginning. I thought this was a great way to use garage band and experiment with all the different sounds. Great Job!

Music Production

Ace of Base- "All That She Wants"

The Kooks Cover- "All That She Wants"

The songs I have chosen to compare are The Kooks cover of “All That She Wants” and Ace of Base’s original version of the song. “All That She Wants” first released by Ace of Base in 1993. It is a pop song that uses horns and wood instruments to give it a hip groovy feel which is a sound known to be popular throughout the 90s pop era. The Kooks, an English Pop band formed in 2001, took on the challenge of covering this top hit and was able to put their own spin on it. As we compare and contrast these songs we will look at the change in tempo and speed as well as the different instruments used between these two songs.

It is obvious in comparing the two songs that the lyrics are the same. The Kooks also do not change organization of the song. It is rare that a band can cover of a song, while changing the lyrics. It tends to make the song seem like a totally different song and takes away from original songs influence. One could argue as well that they attempt to keep the pitch the same through out the song to give the same flow, although they do change the intensity and timber of the song.

When listening to these songs you can defiantly see the different emotions being portrayed by each song. As The Kooks slowed down the speed of the song, you can better able to hear the lyrics and in a way be more subjective to their meaning. By being able to hear the words he is singing more intimately, you are more willing to think about what it is he is singing out as opposed to wanting to just sing and dance around, as you do when listening the Ace of Base version. We also see more of a tension and release effect going on in The Kooks version of the song because, unlike Ace of Base, who open with an upbeat intro, they start off slow and raise the intensity of their song until they release toward the end of the middle of the song. The change in intensity we see has a lot to do with the different instrumentation used in the songs. Ace of base seems to have more noisy and bold sounds like the horn they open with while The Kooks keep their instruments simple and less noisy. These are the factors we see as having the most effect on timber and can be a very obvious difference between songs.

Although I was a fan of the Ace of Base version of this song before I heard The Kooks version, I must say I am a bigger fan of how The Kooks perform it. I would think that my bias toward the Kooks comes form an appreciation and like for Indie music and for he creative ability of bands to take a song they are familiar with and making it into their own. Not to say that I like covers more than originals just for the creativity, but sometimes there’s something to be said when you think you hear a classic song and then the remix comes out and it is a more appealing version than the first.

Sound Scape Reviews

Kevin-

http://kevin-mdiablog.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-soundscape.html?showComment=1309474011811#c5807745546918562521

Kirby-

http://kirbykilwalski.blogspot.com/2011/06/soundscape-vid.html#comments

Austin-

http://artistmdia.blogspot.com/2011/06/mdia-203-audio-reflection.html#comments

Response to: "Ways to Get Ideas"

http://changethis.com/manifesto/49.06.14Ways/pdf/49.06.14Ways.pdf

This is a link to an article written by Mitch Ditkoff is President of Idea champions, a consulting and training company specializing in creative thinking, innovation, leadership, and team development. Within this article he outlines what he calls “a quick hitting tutorial of what you can do to conjure up brilliant ideas.” He does this by first outlining different approaches to creativity, which he calls schools of thought about the topic of creativity, and then listing fourteen ways to become more creative. The two schools of thought her refers to are, first, “one that ascribes to ideas that inspire individuals purposeful mental processes to conjure up new ideas.” The second, he describes as, “ascribing the appearance of ideas to a transcendent force or muse.” Through these approaches he is trying to get the bottom of where ideas come from. He gives both of these approaches equal importance and claims that they are both used by each of us at different times, depending on out mood or circumstances. The fourteen suggestions given by Ditkoff all revolve around the idea of thinking outside the box and not allowing yourself to suppress your imagination. He encourages the reader to avoid conformance and to stand by and learn from their mistakes. I found Ditkoff’s suggestions to be very useful. I especially enjoyed his suggestions to follow your fascination, listen to your subconscious, and to hang out with diverse people.

I enjoyed Ditkoff’s words on following your fascination because I am a firm believer in doing what makes you happy. And what better way to gain happiness than allowing yourself to follow a fascination that is calling you to do great things. He tells us to allow our fascinations to flow inside of us and follow the “calling” to do what we are so taken with. If I were to follow my fascinations, I would be allowing myself to open up to a whole new world of possibilities. As I allow myself to become more fascinated with whatever is calling me I will not limit myself to the fascinations of others or of society and I can open myself up to many more ideas to be found within my own interests.

The next suggestion that caught my attention is his advice to listen to your subconscious. This is the idea of taking a step back from a project and allow yourself to think freely and to follow your instincts instead of carefully planning and manipulating every more your make. I can totally relate to this idea because I myself tend to consciously overwhelm myself that I forget to allow my creative juices to flow naturally and without so much thought. Just recently when working on making a musical song in garage band when I became was so overwhelmed with my conscious efforts to make the song perfect that I ended up losing my initial intentions of the project. If I were to apply this suggestion to my work habits, I would find that by taking a step back and not being so controlling of my creative ideas, I will be able to accept ideas more naturally and apply them in a positive and creative way.

The third suggestion I found most helpful is to hang out with diverse people. It is in this section that he suggests that we not limit ourselves to just one type or group of people. He encourages us to break away from people that are like us or that we feel a strong attachment to, every once in a while, in order to experience new ideas and gain new insight from a place you would otherwise not seen. I find this to be very good advice because I believe, especially being in a college setting, that it is from my peers that I learn the most. People, especially those who come from different backgrounds and areas from you can often bring in an entire new entity that you had never seen before. As I continue working toward my career in media, I plan on getting to know as many different people as possible and learn from them as well as help them learn from me. It is a form of networking and learning that holds not price tag.

Response to # 11 exercise:

What is the topic of your next group brainstorm? Who will you invite? Who will facilitate? When?

Going off the suggestion to hang out with diverse people, I believe that it has been a positive aspect of MDIA 203 that we are required to work with a different partner on each project. So far I have gotten to work with two awesome new people that I got to know a little bit about and have really enjoyed their company. It is in preparation for our next project, stop motion, that I will have the next chance to brainstorm with a new partner, Josh. The topic we will be brainstorming is a stop motion plot involving an antagonist, protagonist, and a conflict between the two. Josh and I will be the only two brainstorming about the project, and I expect it to be a joint effort. We will be working on the project in the next two weeks and I am looking forward to meeting yet another person as well as sharing ideas and working together to allow our creativity to sore.

Who Influences Me as a Creative Person...

When I think of the kind of creative person that inspires me, I first tend to think of what kind creative works I enjoy. My first instinct is to think of unique, edgy, and almost rebellious works such as graffiti or wall painting. When I create my own works I usually try to take different inspirations and put my own mix on them. This is a concept that many people my not see as creative but yet is widely accepted in the under ground world of graffiti and wall painting. The art of Graffiti has become less and less a symbol of vandalism and more and more an expression of social and political messages.

One artist I would like to focus on is the infamous graffiti artist known as Banksy. Banksy is a British street artist who’s identity has remained anonymous throughout his career. He is known for his controversial and subjective graffiti art that can now be found all over Europe, and can be seen in the form of imitation all over the world. In the video above Bansky gives a rare interview that explains his love for graffiti and why be believes it is such a positive art form. It is amazing how, with just a spray paint bottle and a stencil an artist can draw so much attention to such prominent political and social issues that otherwise would have been swept under the rug (which is a concept that Banksy does in fact illustrate in his work shown below).

Through his graffiti, Banksy is able to create didactic messages for his audience. He takes an art form that had previously been seen as negative expression of art, and makes it into an informative art form. This was a brilliant new way to speak to an entire new dynamic of people. Almost every piece of work that Banksy has done is meant to give off a moral message and inform the audience of social and political issues. By taking this new approach to street art Bansky is able to appeal to an audience that has not yet been touched by political activists. He has the ability to get the attention of the underground, rebellious, grunge crowd that is usually associated with street art, as well as the masses.

Since Banksy’s work is so didactic, it lends itself to be very subjective. When you see a Bansky work you do not just see in an objective manner; you see a deeper message that reflects his feelings on a certain issue, or that causes you to open your eyes to societal issues. In the piece below containing an image of the children dancing around the mushroom cloud, you can see that Bansky is not just making is art for the simple fact that he is a good artist, he is using his art as a medium for him to get peoples attention to the realities of the world. He is speaking out against the use and procession of nuclear weapons and is doing it in a way that people are going to notice and remember. It is inspiring to see someone use their creative ability for the sake of the greater good and to use it in away that speaks to people in a way that allows them to be subjective and form their own opinions or beliefs.

In the same way that Banksy is presenting his work in a subjective manner, he is also causing his audience, whether they like it or not to take a conscious look at the world around them and at the same time subconsciously take in the message that he is portraying. This is not an easy task but it is one that Banksy admirably does remarkably well. When someone looks at Banksy’s work, since it is so controversial and speaks such volumes, they are going to consciously evaluate their feelings on not only the art, but the message as well. It almost forces them to consciously decide how they feel about what they are seeing and cause many to question their involvement or opinion on the subject. This is also true for a lot of other artists and other art forms but what makes Banksy’s work stand out above all the rest is its affect on the viewer’s subconscious. What makes his work so strong is that it, whether the audience likes it or not, gets into your subconscious and ties itself to the association of whatever characters are in the photo. The picture (that can be seen in the slide show below) of the guard being patted down by the little girl has caused me to question who is really to be trusted with our safety and who is really running our political system. This photo may not give the same message to everyone especially those who find this work to be controversial, but it still causes them to make these decisions and think about them even after seeing the painting.

Soundscape Project