Blog 9A

Here's a video of me reflecting on my groups video design presentation..

Blog 9B

First here's a link to a sweet site/video/lots of stuff: Collapsus.com

Second, Here's an audio clip of me discussing Collapsus, trans-media, and the way MDIA 203 has changed my media perspectives:

Blog 8B

Below are 3 links to the people's blogs on which I critiquing their animations:

Stephen Hicken's Blog

Sissi Xiao's Blog

Adam Martinelli's Blog

Stephen Hicken's Blog Critique
In creating this pair of characters Stephen and his partner employed several tactics.  First thing that is noticeable about the two animations is the difference in Lighting. In the Swordfish video the scene is very bright which gives off the feeling that it isn't really that unsafe of an environment.  The Octopus animation on the other hand is much darker and employs the usage of shadows, specifically in the cave lair of the Octopus.  This suggests that this is a much more unsafe environment and that the Octopus must be up to no good from the begininning.  The lighter the scene the more relaxed the mood and the darker the more tense the mood gets.  It is somewhat hard to examine the way in which the hero Swordfish is lit, seeing as how he is simply black outlines and no color was added to him after he was drawn.  However, the Octopus is a very dark blue, easily the darkest thing in the scene.  This is symbolic right away of the fact  that he is the bad guy in the instance.  Had the Swordfish been colored in it would have been logical for him to have been a much lighter colored blue than that of the Octopus.

When it comes to contrast and affinity there are a few examples of both terms that can be found in this Hero/Villain pairing.  To state the obvious, the two affine in the fact that they are both sea creatures.  Aside from that feature there are some obvious differences.  The Octopus moves in a creepy slithering like fashion while the Swordfish seems to fly into the scene to save the day. The Swordfish is adorned with a chest emblem denoting his super abilities, while the Octopus possesses no costume and appears to simply be an evil octopus. The Swordfish is smiling throughout the scene, while the Octopus possesses an obvious scowl.  Also the colors of the two, contrast as I earlier stated. Tension and release is also used in the Swordfish animation as the fish hold up takes place and is tense, and then the tension is released as Swordfish scares the criminals away.

Sissi Xiao's Blog
The pair of characters that Sissi posted are interesting when it comes to examining them as a Hero and Villain pair.  What I find to be the most interesting aspect is the use of color.  The hue of the two characters and how they compare is what I found most intriguing.  First of all, the villain is a greenish color.  The green is more of a dark value being not very bright, which is helpful in creating the perception of him as being the villain.  However, for a good portion of the animation the villain has a smile as well as a pleasant expression of his face.  This is counter productive because these characteristics are usually attributed to a character that is good.  The hue of the hero on the other hand is a saturated dark red.  Red is an interesting color because it can be associated with good and bad attributes.  It can mean anger and aggression as well as it can mean courageousness and ambition. The hero arrives on the scene with a happy facial expression that makes it clear he has good intentions. However, after he engages the apparent villain the hero's facial expression changes to a rather unpleasant grimace that remains on his face for the remainder of the animation.  This is another contradictory of symbols within the animation.

The use of contrast and affinity is also apparent in this animation.  The Villain is more skinny and possesses a triangular face that shows he can't be trusted, while the Hero has a more rounded figure as well as a rounded face which shows he is trustworthy.  Also it can be said that tension and release are present as well.  The tension builds as the villain kicks the creature initially and continues in an implied hunt for more destruction and is released as the hero swoops in and knocks him out.

Adam Martinelli's Blog
The contrast in characters within Adam's animation is very good and easy to critique.  Sticking with the aspect of color, this group did a great job using it to effectively create a contrast between the two colors.  The lumberjack hero in this instance is wearing vibrant bright colors including hues of red and two different shades of lighter blue. The villain ghost thing makes his intentions clear through his wardrobe which consists of black and two shades of grey, one being more saturated than the other.  Also, there really are no other physical characteristics of the hero and villain that conflict with the message that their color schemes send out. Another interesting aspect of the color choices for these two characters is the way in which they chose to use the color red.  It is the primary color of the Lumberjack's costume and is quite apparent the color is supposed to be viewed in a positive light.  However, when the same exact color is used to fill in the eyes of the ghostly villain it is apparent right away that this character must be evil.  This is because it is nearly impossible to not associate red eyes with evil.

Contrast and affinity is more apparent in these two characters than any of the previous pairings I've examined in this blog.  The Lumberjack is brightly colored and stands stationary for much of the animation with a big smile on his face. The villain contrasts from this by being a dark,  jagged, and hovering around menacingly for the entire animation.  Perhaps the only characteristic that I can see as being affine between the two is that they share the color red. The Lumberjack wearing it on his chest while the Ghostly villain possesses red eyes. Tension and Release is also very present in this animation.  The tension begins to build the moment you see the menacing villain hovering and increases as the Lumberjack's axe initially fails to take him down.  However the tension is soon released as the Lumberjack approaches the villain and vanquishes him with a mighty bang from his axe.

Animation

This is the animation I made for our project. It's of the Villain named "SpikeStrip".

Heroes and Villains project

Here are the heroes and villains from last week..

Blog 8A: If I could have a Super Power...

Here is a link to an 'Audio Article' of sorts about super powers: Superpowers "First Act"

Wolverines ability to regenerate and survive virtually any injury is what allowed him
to obtain his adamantium skeleton and claws.  Without the ability no human could survive the procedure. 

I like Wolverines power of "Regeneration".  Here is an audio explanation explanation below:

Blog Assignment Week 7: Video Joke Assignment

Above is the video my group created for the Video Joke Assignment.  I wrote, starred in and edited the production.

Heres a link to a video by another group in my lab: LINK HERE!!!!!

After examining both videos closely I've come to find a number of similarities and contrasts between the two.

One aspect that both videos share is the use of movement at some point in the production.  The other groups video employed the use of movement most specifically in the scene where the car is driving down the curvy road.  Here they are using the technique of object movement as the car drives in and out of the frame. In the video my group made we used movement in most of the scenes, from the begininning where my character is getting dressed in the room, to the sequence where the character is running across campus trying to get to an exam.  For most of the running scenes object movement is what happens as my character runs in and out of the frame, however in a few scenes the camera followed the character, moving slightly to track his progress before exiting the frame.

The use of lines is also employed in both videos.  The most apparent implementation of lines, in each instance, is the use of virtual lines, specifically lines in eyesight.  In the other groups video virtual lines can be observed as the lines in eyesight can be seen when the male character is reading the newspaper, conversing with the girl and the other prisoner.  The same lines can be found observing my character in our video as he looks at his alarm clock, notices his bike being gone and converses with the girl in the elevator.  For the most part, these virtual lines are used to direct the attention of the audience to a specific point in the frame.

One of the six binary terms that could easily apply to both videos is contrast and affinity. The videos demonstrate affinity in a few ways. One way being that both videos include both male and female cast members. Another way they videos are affine is that the scripts for each one is based around a simple joke.  A third way affinity can be found by noticing that the female character brings about the distraught of the male character in the end of each video.  They contrast from each other often as well.  For one, the other groups video is in black and white while ours is in color.  Also, the other groups film is silent besides the silent film music, while ours includes sound effects, background music a recorded dialogue.

Another binary term that can be found in both videos is tension and release. My groups video starts out with very little initial tension when my character first wakes up and begins moving around.  However when the realization is made that he is going to be late for an exam the tension instantly begins to build. The music is a big help to add tension as my character runs across campus and encounters troubles. When he finally reaches the elevator and lets our a sigh of relief, the tension is also released.  In the other groups video the period of tension is much shorter as it consumes the portion of the video following the car crash.  This tension is quickly released as it can be seen that both characters involved are unharmed and in good spirits.

Blog 6B

For this we needed to do a commentary on a scene from from a video game, so I did one from Assassin's Creed 2:

Blog 6A

I did a critique of this article :(How to be Creative)

Blog 5B

Okay for some reason it wouldn't let me post this video but heres the link to youtube. (youtube wouldn't allow me to put an  embed version on here either)
Blog 5B Link: Requiem for a Dream Commentary

Blog 5A

Above is Salvador Dali's painting "The Temptation of St. Anthony" seen from 2 different perspectives, the one on the left being the original artwork and the one on the left being a reframed to focus more on just St. Anthony and what appears to be a giant, disproportionate , white horse.  A big difference can be made by simply reframing an image, especially this one.  In the following few paragraphs I'm going to explore these incongruities and explain them using some very sophisticated terms.

First of all, I was drawn to the original image for a variety of reasons. The main reason being how bizarre the images.  At first glance it is simply a cross bearing, naked man attempting to ward of a menacing parade of a giant horse and giant elephants, all with extremely elongated legs.  The number of details incorporated into this ominous parade create visual intensity as the creatures are meant to represent several forms of temptation that have been sent to corrupt the naked man, St. Anthony.  Also, the way Dali was able to create space in the image conveys how the odds are stacked against St. Anthony as he must stand up to this slew of giant creatures with literally nothing but a cross.  The optimization of space also helps give an idea of how large these creatures must be as they fade into the distance while still maintaing such impressive stature.

I chose to reframe the image the way I did because it displays the place where the most action is taking place.  By perceiving the lines of the image, specifically the arm and line of vision of St. Anthony, it can be seen that the giant horse is the most threatening creature at the moment.

I think Dali framed the image the way he did because it includes all the elements necessary to truly understand the paintings meaning.  While the images affine in the fact that they portray a challenge for St. Anthony, they contrast in that the original shows the challenge as much more staggering.   The interpretational  views of the painting can also be changed by reframing.  While the objective view that there is a challenge at hand for St. Anthony is demonstrable in both images, the subjective meaning of the painting (St. Anthony being faced with a number of temptations) is lost when the additional elements of the image are cropped out.