ARTS 1601 :: Section 3 :: Time and Interactivity :: Fall 2007

Jenna’s ideal world is one in which time is no longer an issue. She has created a world where she is able to create “multiple Jennas�, capable of completing the many tasks on her hands. Her video opens with many scenarios and events being planned – all happening to be at 12:00. As she goes to each example, a reaction shot of Jenna is placed after each one, adding to the panic of having no time. As this is all going on in real time, the images suddenly shift to a stop-motion style, emphasizing the pure manipulation of time. Now, with her different forms, she is able to go running, socialize, and get homework done all at the same time.

I like the use of narrative in this video, however there is no real conclusion. I was a bit thrown off by the sudden black screen, signifying an ending. I liked the transitions between each segment, though, where it just shows Jenna’s feet running. It was consistent, and a nice change in pace from the dialogue and surrounding action.

The sound is definitely at a forefront in this project, however I think that it could have been brought out a lot more. There are noticeable gaps in between each speaking part, which I think could have better come out had there been a constant “room tone� going on behind each scene. That way, the dialogue wouldn’t seem to come out of nowhere. Besides that, though, I thought the dialogue was very effective in setting up each scene and the action that surrounds the video. I just think a little more attention to it would help ease the sometimes-distracting element of the sound coming out of nowhere.

Overall, I thought Jenna’s ideas for a perfect world were really interesting. The thought of having multiple ‘You’s is a cool twist on the perfect world assignment. I thought it was effective in portraying what she was trying to show, however I believe with a little more focus on the stop-motion aspect of the video and more focus on the audio, it would help create a much more coherent piece of work. I enjoyed watching it.

Posted by Chris Hirsch at 3:35 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Emanuela's "Manu's Perfect World" used a combination of clay animation, drawings and origami for it's media. The idea to make the video be a dream I found very appropriate for the theme of a perfect world. The video starts with an empty cityscape with clay characters entering from the left and right. The colors are very drab and the camera focuses on one individual, who I assume is Emanuela's clay counterpart. She strolls through the city being passed by busy pedestrians and greeted by a dog. Then she stops and is met with a variety of colors and origami shapes that dance around. The colors and shapes go away and she continues on but seems to leave with a brighter attitude.
I really enjoyed the visual style of the video. The drab sepia toned buildings and characters really set a mood of sadness caused by a hectic lifestyle. Also the intro of the cursive text was perfect for this world which seemed very formal. The sounds made in this place are city noises and grunts and coughs of people passing by. This helped create an atmosphere of people rushing and nobody enjoying themselves. When the dream sequence starts and stops, the way the environment floats away and comes back in is very well done. The use of the colorful clay wrapping the bland character and the dancing art around her works well with the abstract noises that are heard. The sounds are almost trance-like.
This idea of a perfect world is very relatable. A world where people are so busy that there is no time for creation or leisure is a terrible image. I like that even though the colors and creatures did not stay with the character, she seemed to have a better outlook with the pitch of noises she made and the absence of other noises like grunting and coughing.

Posted by Mike Koenig at 2:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Jenn's project was about the social, cultural, and racial divisions in the world. Through the use of different chicken nuggets, she portrayed the fictional colonization of a country. The inhabitants of the country where then cast into two different groups according to "what was on the inside." Special rights and privileges where given to one group over the other. Eventually, the groups rebelled against their colonial masters and gained their freedom only to find they still where cast into two different groups. Fighting ensued and eventually only one nugget from each side was left.

I believe this project meets the guidelines for a perfect world. It shows what can happen in a not so perfect world and how this type of thing could be avoided. I also thought the voices used in the film where excellent for the point they where trying to make. Lastly, the overall quality and seamlessness of the motion was good.

Posted by Charles Holley at 2:27 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I really liked the way that Alan made his stop motion project. Although the sound aspect of the project was not the absolutely most interesting, i did find that the sounds went well with the visuals. This is most evident, i think, when the guy is eating the apple. This shows that Alan has a very good grasp on both the visual and audio aspects of this process. As far as the drawings he did are concerned, they were very very well made, and I thought it was fantastic that he put that much time into making the character and the train and the setting and everything like that. Also, the interaction between the tree and the train and the guy sitting next to the tree was quite interesting. I thought for sure that when the train ran into the tree it would topple the tree on top of the guy, but rather all it did was startle him, and then drop an apple from the tree for him to eat. This is why I also like this presentation for the theme of a perfect world. Although things are going to happen that are out of your control, it is nice to be able to think that maybe even when things seem like they are going wrong there is something out there that can keep you safe.

Posted by Donny Sollars at 1:52 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Manda’s piece was extremely successful at questioning the idea of how to create a perfect world and making me laugh. At the beginning of the her film, I didn’t understand what the phrase “Hug a Furry Friend for a Better Tomorrow…� meant. I was unclear whether she was making a statement or asking a question. By the end of the film, it was clear that this statement, placed at the beginning, served as a question that set up the rest of the film. Manda’s film questioned the simplistic idea that hugs and smiles can make the world a better place. As a watched the cute animals cut through the toy soldiers and tear the main character apart, I understood the point of the film: being kind and gentle is a naïve way to create a perfect world.

The use of claymation proved to be an effective media format for Manda’s film. She was able to use it to make a big-eyed person and cute little animals. She had no dialogue in her piece, nor did she need any. Her uses of “Ooooooh�s and screams helped convey her “naïve perfect world� better than words could have. The scenery was also very well done. Her cheesy, colorful, background made it seem very innocent. Each animal had a character represented by its design, movement, and fighting style. It was shot fairly smooth and was able to hold a moderately fluid feeling.

The sound ended up being the best part of the whole piece. As I stated, her choice to omit dialogue worked very well for the film. Her timing was perfect and her cutesy “Oooooh�s conveyed the feeling well. The screams at the end were absolutely hilarious. They fit perfect and created a great sense of surprise and contrast at the end of the film.

In the end, I was very interested by Manda’s film. It was effective in discussing the idea of being kind and gentle to create a naïve perfect world. I felt the visual format, sounds, and storyline did a great job of pulling this idea together and discussing our theme.

Posted by Sean O'Rourke at 1:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I found this video to be somewhat underdeveloped...things could have been worked on here. The absence of an audio compliment was one of the large issues that I noticed. The flow of the animation was a bit jumpy, and probably could have been fine-tuned a bit. The topic of racism is obviously a pretty large issue to tackle. I think it worked to Jon's advantage to de-personalize the subjects involved in his narrative so that it would be easier to place them in the context of the video. However, it's hard to consider the horrors and dark history of racism in this country or in any other without bringing some emotion and feeling into it. So, I guess the subject matter was a little much for the end result.

Posted by Alan O'Neil at 12:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I wasn't able to find Chaz's project on the blog to re-watch it, but from what I can remember his video had a splitscreen of two of him. A college student and an office worker. It shows how different the college student has from the officer worker from beginning to end. I guess the message I got from this video was that college students do have it a lot easier than full time workers because even though we do have a lot of work as college students we're able to schedule our time whereas most working people don't have a choice for their schedules.

I thought that this project was well edited and shot. The split screen was a good choice for how he decided to make his video. The stop-motion part of takes us through his day in a fast slow-motion type of way. I thought we were able to think about this a lot while watching it.

Because I was unable to find Chaz's project on the blog, I can't remember the sound of it.

What I did think was effective about Chaz's work was his use of splitscreen. That stood out the most to me because it was what helped get his whole theme across. Comparing the student and the worker was what helped the video the most.

Posted by Bax at 12:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'm not sure if I understand Jenn's project fully in the theme of "Invent a Perfect World." I think she's using some kind of revolutionary form to it, and how one group is suppressing another in this case the waffles over the curds. After constant fighting the country burns in flames and there are two survivors. The two survivors begins to do drugs which is a start of a new movement. So I interpret her "Perfect World" theme as after hard times or war times there is a new start.

There was one main setting in her video which was on the table, or in the video t he village of the curds. It does reflect ideas of time and space because she has curds and waffles moving so we get that much about that. Because of how the story played out, I do think that it helped convey the goal she was trying to get across. Waffles asking curds for identifications, then killing them to find out. I thought it was edited well and shot well. One thing I did find funny was that it seemed like the flames died and she had to relight and burn her table a few more times.

The sound itself worked great. She was able to pull off multiple voices and narrate the whole video also. It helped convey the ideas of the work that she was getting across and helped us understand it a lot more.

What stood out to me the most was the sound. The video itself was good, but I thought the sound made it much better. The narrating and voice overs on curds and waffles were great because it helped the audience understand what was really going on in her video.

Posted by Bax at 12:33 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I really enjoyed the work that Amanda presented for the stop motion project. The use of the Russian lullaby, i believe thats what it was anyways, combined with the music from the music box really made for an interesting experience. The flow worked quite well throughout the film. The transitions between frames was quite well done. As far as paying close attention to detail goes, Amanda did a fantastic job. Personally I did not necessarily enjoy the music that was playing from the music box, but as I said before, I do believe that it had a really nice flow to it, which added an enjoyable aspect to the presentation. Although I was unable to read the subtitles translating what was being said, it did not bother me, because something about the red text kind of added a different feel to the presentation. It was almost like we were not supposed to be able to read what was being said, but rather just experience the sound the feel that it creates. overall this was a very good project in my opinion and it was very interesting to watch.

Posted by Donny Sollars at 12:30 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Sam’s piece shows the history of the world to illustrate an idea of a perfect world. From an abstract standpoint, I can see how an Adam and Eve type story teaches history of our “perfect world� but I don’t exactly understand how it bonds with the theme. Reading his project proposal shed some light on the idea but still left me with more of a feeling of curiosity for the world than a sense of “perfection.�

The structure of the film was well planned, narrated, and shot. It was done in a very linear fashion. By far, the best part of the film was the way Sam seamlessly put the audience in a viewer’s perspective. His use of legos to create a changing environment was smooth and captivating. It was intriguing to watch the scenery change and develop into a historical landscape. The placement of significant events accentuated this perspective. Through his use of symbols and geographic changes, Sam was able to show us where we were and when it was instead of just telling us. This made for a stronger cinematic feeling with more depth of realism. This sensation was backed with his smooth photography and frame transitions.

His choice to use little dialogue added too his use of audience placement. The sound effects he had, were well done and contributed well to the piece. By using environmental sounds and random effects, he forced us to interpret what was happening instead of just telling us. This strategy made a strong contribution to his piece and ended up being a fine point of his work.

Overall, I found Sam’s piece to be effective in demonstrating the possibilities of creation. He did a good job of placing us in an atmosphere of wonder. I don’t see exactly how it shows a perfect world but I can make an abstract connection to get a deeper understanding of the world we’re in.

Posted by Sean O'Rourke at 12:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Xi’s project was a representation of a perfect world displayed through various viewpoints on sportsmanship. Many different countries don’t always demonstrate sportsmanship; Xi asks the question “why?� We are all human; why can’t we be civil with one another? He executed his assignment of a perfect world with stop-motion animation.
The animation Xi did exaggerated the way various countries show sportsmanship. I thought they way he portrayed these scenarios was humorous. Obviously, some of the actions of Xi’s characters are extreme, and are not played out in real life, but the exaggeration was effective by obviously pointing out the problems society has with displaying sportsmanship.

I thought the quality of Xi’s images was good. He used real life images combined with special effects to reach the final product. I was impressed with some of the effects he was able to achieve with the computer. However, I was not as impressed with the quality of the sound. Some parts worked well with the visuals, but other parts were too loud and some did not have sound at all. Maybe if Xi would have recorded a background tone for the piece it would not be so awkward when some of the sound kicked in. I noticed there was no sound in the beginning which led to an uneasy transition in the middle of the piece when sound was added.

Overall, I felt Xi accomplished his goal in portraying a perfect world. The theme Xi displayed in his work could be played out in the life of athletes and also everyday citizens. It’s important to be courteous to one another, even if it is hard to do so. Perhaps, a perfect world wouldn’t be so far out of reach if we took the time stop ourselves and help each other up sometimes, like the characters at the end of Xi’s animation.

Posted by Laura Rask at 11:56 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My favorite project we have done this semester is the stop motion videos. I really like the idea and form that videos take when using this type of media. So, for my project IV I will definitely incorporate this style. The main idea/theme for my project will be super Mario Brothers (the old scroll screen versions). The twist will be that the levels that Mario is trying to get through are incorporated on the walls of my room. For example, I will probably show Mario beating four different levels, each one a different wall of my room. Hopefully each level will have its own theme. I already know the wall with my bed on it will probably be a water level, the closet a castle and the other two or thee levels will probably be normal.
I will either make Mario, all of the boxes, tubes and other things usually found in Mario levels using construction paper or on the computer using Photoshop. Even if I decide to use Photoshop I still plan to print the images and manually insert them into each frame. Thus stop motion will be used to get Mario from one end of the wall/level to the other.
When I was a little kid I remember have this type of idea while I was sitting my room trying to fall asleep. The idea was rekindled when we were watching the stop motion video where the artist drew charcoal drawings of people walking around the walls of a room.
To give the audience a sense of what is going on, I plan to shoot wide shots of all the walls/levels and then zoom in on the starting place before Mario begins each adventure. Also, I may use some filters to give the video a more game/cartoon like feel. For the sound I will probably simple use the old Mario theme music but maybe add in some of my own sound effects (i.e. when Mario dies or hits a box).
Overall I’m not sure there is any point to this video I just think it would be something fun to try. Maybe after a little bit of work a message will become evident.

Posted by Charles Holley at 11:07 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Bax's project was about superheros defeating the last bad guy on earth. He used action figures to present this. I think this idea works well for the project guidelines of a perfect world. Overall the animations created by the stop motion effect could have been smoother, however, they were easy enough to follow. I liked how the characters entered and exited their vehicles. If he were to rework this project, I would probably suggest the use of sound (maybe the DL version didn't have it?). The subtitles used for communication were a little hard to read (color choice) and I felt distracted from what was happening. Maybe next time use different voices for each character.

Overall, I liked the idea the project was portraying, a perfect world where there are no longer any bad guys and there are superhero there to protect us. With a few simple changes this project could be really really good.

Posted by Charles Holley at 10:17 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I really liked Tanya's use of construction paper for this assignment. At first it created a children's program type feel. However, after several seconds it became clear this was intended for a more mature audience. I think this approach worked well for the constraints of this assignment, along with the overall message of the video (what goes around comes around). So in the end a moral was given (just like in a children's program).

Overall I also really liked her use of sound. It was well edited and fit the context of the video well. I also though the overall project was edited well especially some of the transitions. The only thing I maybe would have changed is the editing when the worm is eating the other characters, maybe add in a few more frames so the worm isnt eating the character in three bites.

Posted by Charles Holley at 9:59 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Xi’s project starts out in the real world with some kids playing soccer. The offense scores a point on the goalie after a couple tries and then cheers for his achievement. Then it shows the players on the field. The defender slide tackles the other player and when he gets up he head butts the defender. After this it shows Zedan (a professional soccer player) head butting another player during a real soccer game. The video then goes through how different people would perceive this action. It shows how the referee saw it, how the French saw it, how the Germans saw it, how the Americans saw it, how it could happen in Mushroom Kingdom, and in the Street Fighter world. After showing all these different clips it then goes back to the real world with the two players on the field. The defender helps the other player up.

The video was very well put together and made a good statement. It says that even though bad things sometimes happen during sports you should always be civil about them and move on. The soccer player at the end shown helping the opponent player up portrays this in a great way. I like how this video had a very easy lesson to learn, but at the same time it pointed out some of the world issues. The video says that everyone has their own perspective on things and it’s not always easy to see what someone else sees.

Overall I thought this video was very well put together. You can tell a lot of time was spent on the stop motion animation and editing. I like the humor aspect that was added to the clip. My favorite part was the Mushroom Kingdom perspective. The sounds in the video were put together fairly well, but they could have used some more in the beginning. The sound also got very loud on the Street Fighter part, which was random. If we had more time to edit this project I suggest that more time be spent on the sounds of the video.

Great video!

Posted by Nohman Baysudee at 9:36 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I really liked how Mike put together his stop motion video. I thought it was very creative how he utilized the white board with drawings of musical instruments and then played those pictures. The sound for the beginning matches well with the music he creates with the instruments and then blended right back into the concluding music which brought the whole piece together nicely. The beginning of the video is really dark and I cannot understand where I am or what is going on. Once the lighting comes in and I see the bedroom I realize where I am at so I think at least some brighter image could have been at the introduction. It is probably walking down a hallway so Mike could show a far away clip of the hallway and then walk down it so at least the viewer is established right from the start.
The stop motion flowed well, Mike took plenty of photos to have the video go rather smooth but it still was effective in giving off the stop motion feel. I think reading Mike’s thoughts before watching the video helped me associate the messy to clean room with the chaos to organized sounds. Had I not read what Mike’s intentions were beforehand I don’t know that I would have made that particular connection regarding music making. All of his white board drawings were quite impressive in how smooth each cut came out.
As for the overall theme of the video being Mike’s perfect world I believe he could have been more clear in how the music creation equals his idea of a perfect world. I would assume he wants to erase messes and clutter in his life and just be able to make music. One suggestion that could be added to help clarify the message is maybe at the very end he could show himself in the midst of a busy life such as standing in the middle of a sidewalk with cars and people hustling by him and he is just serene, holding a guitar or something and playing his music. The sound would be primarily the music he is playing but there would be background noise of the city, people chatter and traffic. All in all I think Mike did a very good job and took a creative approach with how he made this project.

Posted by Jenna Stangland at 1:35 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The perfect world of nature portrayed in Chris’ stop motion film certainly did bring new insight to the natural world of the environment in which we live. I liked what Chris did with the sound for his video in that he opened with the image of him attempting to be at peace with nature but the sound associated with the image was the loud, sharp noises we are so familiar with in our day to day lives. It really is difficult to find the serenity Chris looks for through nature in his idea of a perfect world. His intro established a good base for expressing what he currently is surrounded by (made apparent by the sound) with what he would like to be surrounded by (made clear with the visual of him lying on the grass). I think the idea itself is a really good and unique idea and the approach Chris took for showing his perfect world had the right intention.
For being a stop motion film I think there could have been a clearer display of stop motion. I know that he could have had so many shots that the picture blended really smoothly but I think he could have had a greater transition in each of the nature scenes. One example is with the red and pink leaves on the tree. In the portion of the video with these shown there is not very much contrast between the images shown so the beginning of the scene looks very similar to the end of the scene. As an alternative, he could have had shown the leaves on the tree and then watched them fall to the ground or possibly shoot photos as he moves through the tree so the viewer feels like they are walking through nature. The scene with the storm clouds was better in displaying stop motion and was visually pleasing. Chris’ closed eyes and smile in the final shots undoubtedly make known that the sights and sounds just displayed are the ideals he wants to have in his perfect world.

Posted by Jenna Stangland at 1:32 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Chaz’s project was an entertaining split-screen comparison, which I found also raised some thoughts and opinions about the future of a carefree college student. The way it was initially discussed, it sounded as if Chaz was portraying college as a perfect world, and the work force, in comparison, was an endless boring routine of early mornings and bland surroundings. The video showed this thought effectively, with the college student waking at a later time in the morning and having a more colorful and creative background. The working man rises in the early morning with a work-weary essence about him, as if the character wishes with every ounce of his being that he could reenter the college life he had to leave behind. The split-screen helps the viewer feel this way also, as it creates a platform for them to see for themselves the clear disadvantages to leaving college life. It perhaps may make one a bit depressed. After all, high school required strict schedules and early mornings, leaving college (and of course early childhood) on average as the only time for creative freedom. If you wish to gather multitudes of information and explore the world around you, do it while you are in college, because you certainly will not have time for exploring later. This is a relevant message, for it speaks to those who are lucky enough to attend a university: don’t completely waste this time, because you will wish you had it later.
I thought the animation for the project was good and the audio worked well with the presentation. The ending of the film was humorous; I enjoyed the sped up phone conversations. I overheard (I don’t mean to sound creepy or anything) Chaz saying that he wouldn’t have enough footage to make the video split-screen, but I think he pulled through nicely. Since it was split screen, he had to have twice the footage for the same length, which made his efforts on the project that much more admirable. I think Chaz could have played around with the speeds of the footage a little more though. Perhaps he could have spoke about the experience of being a worker or college student by, for example, speeding up the college video to show a fleeting passage of time and slowing the worker video to show the never-ending work day. However, I am not familiar with the Final Cut Pro split screen effect, so for all I know that could have been impossible to do. This suggestion is made purely out of what my own personal interpretation would be, so it isn’t meant to be taken as something Chaz should have done, just something that could be experimented with. Otherwise the film was well made, showed a clear, simple-yet-meaningful point, and was fun and interesting to watch.

Posted by Tanya Wacholz at 12:09 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Emanuela's "Manu's Perfect World" used a combination of clay animation, drawings and origami for it's media. The idea to make the video be a dream I found very appropriate for the theme of a perfect world. The video starts with an empty cityscape with clay characters entering from the left and right. The colors are very drab and the camera focuses on one individual, who I assume is Emanuela's clay counterpart. She strolls through the city being passed by busy pedestrians and greeted by a dog. Then she stops and is met with a variety of colors and origami shapes that dance around. The colors and shapes go away and she continues on but seems to leave with a brighter attitude.
I really enjoyed the visual style of the video. The drab sepia toned buildings and characters really set a mood of sadness caused by a hectic lifestyle. Also the intro of the cursive text was perfect for this world which seemed very formal. The sounds made in this place are city noises and grunts and coughs of people passing by. This helped create an atmosphere of people rushing and nobody enjoying themselves. When the dream sequence starts and stops, the way the environment floats away and comes back in is very well done. The use of the colorful clay wrapping the bland character and the dancing art around her works well with the abstract noises that are heard. The sounds are almost trance-like. Good idea with using audacity to distort these sounds.
This idea of a perfect world is very relatable. A world where people are so busy that there is no time for creation or leisure is a terrible image. I like that even though the colors and creatures did not stay with the character, she seemed to have a better outlook with the pitch of noises she made and the absence of other noises like grunting and coughing.

Posted by Mike Koenig at 11:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The short film "Featuring Nature" opens to Chris laying down in the grass. There are overwhelming city noises and cell phone noises playing. As Chris gets comfortable the camera pans in to a close up on his face. The screen fades black and the noise fades away. A tranquil watery landscape is then shown with only the sound of the wind blowing through the air. Several other scenes are shown including a tree and the clouds passing by. The screen returns to Chris and there are no city noises any longer and the camera zooms out from his face.
The film embraced a perfect world as a return to nature. All of the settings shot without the city noise were almost completely void of man made items. There was a bridge and tops of buildings but these were not the focus of the shots. Chris has his eyes closed when we are taken to these settings. This may mean he is only thinking of these places instead of seeing them but regardless when the camera returns and the noise is gone, the viewer sense of nature taking away the stresses of life.
When the camera initially zooms in, the stop motion creates a kind of jerky zoom. I thought this complemented the audio that played and made me feel as though the noises were creating a pounding headache. Each scene is shown as a still shot with only slight movements caused by things like wind and water current. One of the most interesting scenes were the movement of the clouds from using a long delayed shot time for the stop motion. I think it was a good idea that no soft music was added because that would not have fit with the theme. Overall the project gave a strong argument for appreciating the natural world around us.

Posted by Mike Koenig at 10:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The short film "Featuring Nature" opens to Chris laying down in the grass. There are overwhelming city noises and cell phone noises playing. As Chris gets comfortable the camera pans in to a close up on his face. The screen fades black and the noise fades away. A tranquil watery landscape is then shown with only the sound of the wind blowing through the air. Several other scenes are shown including a tree and the clouds passing by. The screen returns to Chris and there are no city noises any longer and the camera zooms out from his face.
The film embraced a perfect world as a return to nature. All of the settings shot without the city noise were almost completely void of man made items. There was a bridge and tops of buildings but these were not the focus of the shots. Chris has his eyes closed when we are taken to these settings. This may mean he is only thinking of these places instead of seeing them but regardless when the camera returns and the noise is gone, the viewer sense of nature taking away the stresses of life.
When the camera initially zooms in, the stop motion creates a kind of jerky zoom. I thought this complemented the audio that played and made me feel as though the noises were creating a pounding headache. Each scene is shown as a still shot with only slight movements caused by things like wind and water current. One of the most interesting scenes were the movement of the clouds from using a long delayed shot time for the stop motion. I think it was a good idea that no soft music was added because that would not have fit with the theme. Overall the project gave a strong argument for appreciating the natural world around us.

Posted by Mike Koenig at 10:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I thought Jenn's project raised some relevant points, which, as we talked about in class, could be interpreted and misinterpreted in a number of ways. The setup for the story was a clearly written, well thought out narrative, which, as we find out in the end, is based on the Rwandan Genocide. The characters used in the film were quite humorous and absurd, notably because they were brown nugget-like food items. I thought the Curds was an appropriate name for one of the food “ethnicities�, especially with the current involvement of Kurdish tribes in the Iraq War. As was brought up in class, there seemed to be problems with whether or not to take the project as a serious reference to a horrific period in history, or a reference made to be more playful, while not necessarily mocking, to the conflict. Without reading the last scenes of the film, the paragraphs, one might think of the absurdity of the situation of branding people due to what food makes up their interiors. Especially when a bunch of Belgian waffles (another clever name reference) show up and separate the nuggets into ethnic groups, the viewer comes into full contact with the concept of a breakfast food holding executive power. This by itself causes the viewer to take a more playful view of the project, while also realizing the utter stupidity of an all-powerful regime. I felt that even without the ending titles, the film took a more serious tone when the nuggets were stopped and questioned, and cut open if they walked the streets sans identification. I think for me it was something in the voices…perhaps the acting was too good, because it actually made me feel sad for the brutally slaughtered food item, even with the humorous aspect of ketchup on her body in place of blood. Since the film did have ending titles solemnly telling the Rwandan story, this transition into sadness worked, and yanked us from the absurdity into a more serious representation of the genocide. And perhaps this is not a flaw in what the movie is trying to portray, this quick transition from light humor to dark humor; this could be were this movie excels. In any wartime situation, history has taught us that annoying, somewhat silly situations, (such as issuing identification cards and curfews based on race,) can spiral into something much more terrifying. It makes us uncomfortable, the speed of this transition, but that doesn’t mean it's not real. The cocaine use at the end of the video portion, which I tried to form a conclusion about at the viewing of the film, didn’t appear to me as making a light-hearted joke as perhaps Jenn may have intended. Not to say it wasn’t funny, what I mean is it appeared to me very dark and real humor, a return to the utterly absurd that began the movie. And again, I believe genocide is absurd and nonsensical, and the coke scene showed the effects of war and poverty, and a need for an escape from the nonsensical situation, I am hoping that I am making sense! I may be reading too deeply into this subject matter. However, Jenn’s project had some very mixed messages, which I’m not saying is a bad thing, it just got me thinking. The technical aspects to the project could have been a bit smoother. The repetition of the fire scenes was a little distracting. All in all, I am glad Jenn took a risk with this project and addressed a real issue, and whether it works or not, I still found it engaging.

Posted by Tanya Wacholz at 10:07 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I think that Jenna’s video has a good start. From what I have seen and read so far about her stop motion project she is sticking to her original idea. Her idea of presenting a perfect world as a world in which she can split herself into several Jennas to be able to perform several tasks at once is very funny. She is approaching the subject from a different angle than others in the class did. But I do see a parallel between her project and Grant’s video. Both would like to do many things at once. Grant came up with the idea of stopping time and Jenna used the idea of multiplying a person so that she can do more things in a smaller amount of time. It is interesting how both explore the same concept of a perfect world, only Grant explores it with time and Jenna uses space.
As far as I can tell at this point, Jenna is exploring space well since her shots are all displayed in different rooms, which adds to the idea of wishing to be everywhere. She also uses a combination of video and stop-animation in her project, which I think is a great idea. With those two styles she will be able to explore different ideas of time. She could use the stop motion effect to better illustrate the fast pace of time and the video for the normal time sequences.
I would like to see the completed version since she has started with an entertaining idea. I would imagine that showing multiple views on one screen, showing the various Jennas at once might help to get her message across. Another point that I would like to mention concerns the audio. Until now, people’s voices in the video seem to be too choppy and they sometimes cut out all of the sudden. It would be nice to see some more attention paid to the audio so that it is less confusing.
In conclusion, Jenna’s video is a clever take on the assignment and shows potential. I think that if the video were finished, it would be quite amusing.

Posted by Emanuela Porcelli at 9:54 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Critique for Donny

For your project I thought the construction paper was a cool idea a lot of people used photographs for their pieces, so that was cool that you used a different, less common, medium. Your piece started out with an element of humor I thought that was really good, and a different take then some of the other projects. I think that your use of titles in between the scenes used kind of like subtitles added a little bit of structure to the piece. However I kind of got lost as to what was going on since there was no narration. As far as sound in this piece I think that if there had been some sort of story or main voice telling us what was going on things may have been a little clearer. The one thing I couldn’t quite understand is what the TV channels had to do with the utopia, I was lost when it switched to the construction paper shots to the end being just a guy playing the guitar. The change in medium seemed rather random to me, maybe if afterward you had switched back to construction paper to tie the piece together and add a conclusion that would have worked well.

Posted by Amanda Berglund at 3:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Critique for Jon...

For your stop motion I found it really interesting that you chose to use white board as your medium, I think that’s really cool I believe mike was the only other person who chose to use that for his medium too. I know it’s a pain in the but to have to draw all of that and erase it since I chose to draw for mine to so given our allotted time to do the project I don’t think it being choppy was that big of an issue it wasn’t a distraction for myself anyway. I like that you put in some transition titles in between your scenes to create some sort of time line cause I’m pretty sure I would have gotten lost otherwise.

One thing I guess I kind of couldn’t understand is if you were focusing on racism why just black oppression? There are a lot of different forms of racism guess I just couldn’t figure why you chose to focus on one form of injustice but it did work for your explanation of historical events. In the end of your video you tied it back to the original theme of the utopia which is good because in the beginning when we were discussing our ideas you talked about either going backward or forward in history. I noticed that you didn’t use any sound in your piece which is cool cause I’m not quite sure if it needed any, the imagery you used were pretty self explanatory. I know she said we couldn’t use music for our pieces but perhaps if we could have some dramatic music would have been a cool additionOverall I thought it was a really heavy piece, world piece is a serious issue and message to spread and I think you did a nice job of portraying that in your video.

Posted by Amanda Berglund at 3:17 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This video shows a soccer match in which one player, in a fit of anger, head-butts another player in the chest, knocking him over. Following the title of "referee perspective," another video plays instead that shows a similar scene where one player knocks over another by striking him in the chest with his head. Following this, the video is shown from the less-objective perspectives of the French, Germans, and Americans. (We also get to see the rather amusing perspectives of the Mushroom Kingdom and Street Fighters.) Transitioning back to the original sequence, we see one player helping the other back up, which shows the kind of sportsmanship you might expect in a perfect world. Stop motion animation is used for the sequence at the beginning and end. The middle part, with all the replays, contains animation laid over video.

I think this video does a good job of showing its basic point, that regardless of what happens in a game, we should be civil with other players (and help them up even if it seems they've just knocked you down). However, beyond that, I really liked the sequence of "replays" in the middle of the video showing the perspectives of various observers. Although it seems quite obvious what actually happened from the referee perspective, the French seem not to see the other player at all. The Germans see the other player, but also noticed that had he not valiantly knocked over the player wearing blue, he would have been shot and killed by a sniper kitten. The Americans blame Islamic extremists. These views are, of course, completely ridiculous in the case of this soccer match, but they do a good job of representing the vast chasms between various world viewpoints on other issues. Almost all conflict in the world stems from differences of viewpoints and an inability to understand others' points of view. To a lesser extent, these differences of views also show up in sporting events and can certainly lead to one group feeling sore towards another.

The animation is excellent. The beginning and ending parts are well done, of course, but it's the effects added in the middle that make this video stand out. The ideas for the various viewpoints are good, and they are well executed. The Mushroom Kingdom and Street Fighters viewpoints are humorous, and also serve to point out how ridiculous the other viewpoints actually are (since they fit right in).

To me, the sound was the weakest part of the work. Although what is in the video is generally good, there are long periods of silence, especially in the beginning and the end, which are awkward. It would be nice to have some sound effects in the opening part where there are shots on the goal. Also, a constant low background crowd noise might have helped tie together parts of the video which had specific sound effects that needed to be accentuated with those that didn't. The sounds in the "replays" section were pretty good; they helped show what was going on and enhance the humor of some of the clips.

Overall, I liked this piece a lot. I think the "replay" animations idea worked very well to show different perspectives, and I appreciated the humor added here. I think this video goes beyond just talking about sportsmanship and talks about differences in world opinion in general in a very effective way.

Posted by Grant Miller at 3:02 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This is a sketch-style animation that shows a young girl who comes upon some freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies, and is tempted by the cookies to eat them, but tries to refrain from eating them. In opposition to the cookies' plea to be eaten, voices from outside tell her that, though she may be hungry, she shouldn't eat cookies. Eventually, she gets overwhelmed, screams, and gives in to eating a cookie. Quite satisfied, she eats the remainder of the cookies happily and smiles.

The quality of the images in this animation is superb. I was especially impressed that the photographs of the individual frames were either very carefully taken or adjusted afterwards so that white was white and black was black; this made it easy to see and pleasant to watch.

As a perfect world, I think the idea of a place where you can eat free of guilt and consequences is a great idea. In Laura's description of this piece, she says that "time stops (as you can see on the clock in the animation) which demonstrates how the girl has escaped reality." I didn't notice this the first time I watched it; I wasn't watching the clock at this point in the video. If this was a very important point, some emphasis should have been put on the clock. But, even though I didn't see the stopping clock, I think the scream served as an effective transition to escape the voices. I also liked how the voices of society were drawn as coming from outside the frame, while the girl's own thoughts (and the cookies' pleas of being eaten) come from inside the frame.

Even though Laura says she didn't have much time for the sound, I think the sound is fairly good in the work. The pitch of the voices and the munching sound effects work very well together with the sketchy style animation. The only point where the sound doesn't work very well with the mood is during the scream, when another scream is patched onto the first to make it longer. It would be nice if this could have been recorded at the correct length instead. In general, the sound helps to show what the girl is thinking or feeling, even just by the simple way her hums change.

Overall, I think the video works very well to show a perfect world in which the voices of society are silenced and you can eat in peace. The video quality was excellent, and the audio was very good too; neither one got in the way of the message that the film was trying to convey.

Posted by Grant Miller at 3:01 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I enjoyed that Mike’s video concentrates mainly on music. As the video starts, we see a person walking into a chaotic room. For the first scene, Mike used a rhythmic, loud drumbeat. This reminded me of a parade, which gives the video a theatrical and circus-like quality. The theatrical effect is then reinforced by the lights, which lead the viewer to a blank board. From here the viewer enters an imaginary world that opens up with several images such as disorderly placed letters and designs and then shows us drawings of instruments that are played by a real hand. First, the hand tests every instrument and then the hand plays them all together producing a unique melody. Mike concludes his piece by leaving the imaginary world and reentering into the room that was shown at the beginning of the video, which gives the impression that the viewer is pulled back to reality. This time, reality looks clean and the loud music is replaced by the new melody created in the fiction world.
From this narrative part of the video I understand that Mike’s intention was to show a perfect world as a creative world where creating music has a liberating effect from the messy world that surrounds us every day.
With respect to the visual part of the video, I think his use of space is effective in that he leads the viewer from one space to another, implying different worlds. The choppiness of the images created by the stop motion adds a humorous quality to the video, which goes well with the parade-like opening and ending. Some of the best shots that stand out in his piece are the shots of the real hand playing the instruments. That those images stick out helps the viewer to really understand where Mike has put the focal point in his piece, which is his understanding of a perfect world.
The only negative critique that I have is that I did not really understand what the first images that were drawn on the board represented. I think that it would have made more sense if there were already chaotic images on the board to start with that the hand could then wipe out. This solution might more clearly illustrate the cleansing and purifying effect of the imaginary world. Furthermore, this would work well with the beginning and end of the movie in which he starts with a messy room and ends with a clean room.
In conclusion, the video effectively gets its message across and shows a very creative solution to the assignment where context and form work well together in showing Mikes unique, musical world as a liberation from chaotic and messy surroundings.

Posted by Emanuela Porcelli at 8:45 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Manu’s video is very well crafted. It presents an industrial world created of both clay and drawings in which a single subject is freed from the busyness by their own state of mind. Starting out surrounded by a mass of people, we see a woman trudging along among them. As more people keep passing her by, the camera zooms closer to her, following her to a busy intersection. From here, we zoom in and enter a mental state of bliss, marked by the clear switch from black and white to color (like the Wizard of Oz!). In this dreamscape colorful pinwheels, flying fish, and colored streamers surround our subject. And as she draws back to the real world, a sea of commotion again surrounds her; only this time, she is still happy in her tranquil state of mind.

I liked the narrative form that the project took, creating this circular trip in and out of this character’s mind. By starting and ending with the same images, we as the viewer, feel both the sense of completion and the effect that this state of mind had on the character. Along these same lines, the sense of space felt in this world is very well portrayed. We get a depth of field with the perspective drawings of buildings, and the characters appear and disappear in what seems like a huge expanse of unseen space. In the pure creation of such a world, I would say that Manu was very effective with her project. Aiding this claim, I’ll move to the sound aspect of the film.

The sound here is very beneficial to the project; without it, it would completely loose its effect. The viewer gets a great sense of the sound fully encompassing and taking over the space on the screen, which has the effect of placing the viewer in the scene and in turn, surrounding them. A great element of the sound is the transition between the busy surroundings into the state of mind. There is a great fade out and fade in to the ambient audio for the dream sequence, which is repeated to go back into the ‘real’ world. Although maybe lacking in varied “outdoors sounds�, the general hubbub sound of the streets was also done very well.

I think what Manu’s working at here is very effective with its meaning. The idea of a perfect world being a state of mind is a profound take on the directions we were given, seeing as many of us chose to create a physical alteration of our present world. I think she did a great job in executing her idea, and the work itself is genuinely good.

Posted by Chris Hirsch at 8:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

/Users/jenniferwhalen/Desktop/eating_with_furniture-large.mov

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 7:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Laura’s video is about a girl who sees some fresh cookies on a table, but doesn’t know if she’s allowed to eat them. She slowly creeps up on the cookies as they keep telling her “Eat Me!!!� The reason she doesn’t want to eat the cookies is because she knows it will make her gain wait. The closer she gets to the cookies the more she wants to eat them. Voices start coming out of nowhere saying that she shouldn’t eat them. As the voices start coming from every direction she finally gets overwhelmed and screams. Finally, she gives in and eats the cookie and becomes really happy.

I think the video is commenting on the influence of others. The girl knows she wants the cookies, but she is so worried about the weight that she could gain and the other people warning her not to do it. This clip is telling me that the perfect world would be one that allows you to eat whatever you want without ever worrying about what people think of you or how they will comment about you. The overall message of the clip was conveyed very well and it was presented in a funny way.

Overall I thought the video was very well put together. You can see that it was done with individual drawings put together to show a whole clip. The video seems to be a little choppy, but it’s expected with drawing stop motion. It’s obvious that a lot of time was spent on the movie. I liked the cartoon drawings very much and the humor incorporated with the clip. The sound was also done very well. There wasn’t too much sound, but it was enough to have an effect on the video. I liked the voices a lot and the sounds made while eating the cookies.

I liked the video very much and I think it was done very well.

Posted by Nohman Baysudee at 3:31 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For your project I found that the use of charcoals as your medium as opposed to pencil helped to add to the perhaps whimsical emotion of you piece. The use of the titles in between the drawings helped aid the organization and created a flow between scenes, I saw you had addressed that one title was missing which now makes sense as to the transition. The drawings were very nicely done, the movements were minimal but smoothly done. The focus of the project was a utopia where I in your piece I feel a little lost as to what that maybe it seemed to be more of a comedic/ ironic animation. Perhaps I got the idea of luck and simplicity of looking on the brighter side of a train wreck? Not sure if that’s what you had in mind but it was overall a very nice drawings.
For the sound of the project I’m not sure if it was the class projector or my computer but it was kind of hard to hear certain parts of the piece, but what I really liked is that the simplicity of sound allowed the watcher to focus on the drawings. I’m the type of person who needs lots of stuff going on like music and such but I think that would have ruined your piece or become to much a distraction.
Something that really stuck out to me in the piece was the concept of the old man being completely unaffected by the wreck, I was half expecting him to die of a heart attack, I would if I saw a freight train jump its track, so I found it hilarious that he utterly ignored the whole disaster and focused more on the apple.

Posted by Amanda Berglund at 3:29 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The perfect world in Grant’s point of view is achieved by stopping time. In the video Grant comes home and complains that he doesn’t have enough time to get everything done. When he wakes up the next morning time has really stopped, but he doesn’t realize it right away. As he goes on with his day he finally realizes what has happened. Grant is then able to get all the things done he hoped to in one day. He does his homework, cleans his apartment, plays games, and even washes all his dishes. As the day progresses he realizes that life is boring without time because things just aren’t as exciting. As he runs out of things to do the time finally starts moving again. He realizes in the end of the clip that stopping time sounds like a perfect world, but when it’s actually happening you change your mind. In the end, it also seems like he regrets not doing more or taking advantage of the time stopping.

I think Grant’s project was very well shot. He uses many different angles and scenes that make you feel like you were with him wandering around. All the cuts are done really well and nothing leaves you thinking it was a mistake. The sound is also done perfectly. He adds the cell phone ringers, the clicks on the alarm clock, the opening of the DVD cases, and even the pages flipping in his books. The detail put into the movie makes it obvious how much time was spent editing the clip.

Overall, I liked Grant’s clip very much and I would definitely recommend my friends even outside of the class to watch it.

Posted by Nohman Baysudee at 3:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

https://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/download.php?file=6078.mov

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 2:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

So what I got rom your movie was that Eden was a perfect world but the world can never stay perfect. I was unsure if you were going back in time or forward in time. It isn't really relevant but it would make sense either way.
I really liked that you used legos as well as other toys. i thought that were you had the main character was perfect, it kept me moving forward in the story without becoming confused. Even though the main character was front and center it did not get in the way at all for seeing what was going on in the background. I was not really sure why the main character was there or how he got there but again, I don't think that it matters. The line "I wonder" explains it enough.
I really liked the sounds, there were a lot of them and they all seemed to be well timed. A few of the sounds were a little choppy but overall I think you did a great job. I also liked how there wasn't a whole lot of dialouge, I think it worked well for the piece.
The movie was effective in getting the message across. Eden has obvious religious overtones but your movie was not overpowering. It seemed more like a myth or your view on it and that made it new and interesting.

Posted by Manda Burger at 2:31 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

Posted by Jenna Stangland at 2:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'm not sure what happened to this entry the first time I posted it, but for your reading pleasure, here it is again:

Lisa Lipinski confused the hell out of me. I'm not sure if it was because I was low on sleep or if that was her style, but I could not follow her talk. it seemed like she was just rambling about topics at some points and I really had difficulty finding continuity in her discussion. I found this ironic (and perhaps it was intentional) that her talk was unstructured since her primary art format is sculpture.

Speaking style aside, I found a similar trend in Lipinski's work. In her sculptures, it was clear that there were continuing themes (history, politics, religions) but I was unable to find the meaning in the mass of her work. She addressed this topic in her discussion, stating that her work didn't always need to have meaning and it can be created just to exist. This frustrated me because she used some definite symbols that I wanted to hear explanations for.

After a while of trying to get over my frustrations with Lipinski's discussion and work, I decided that she had some good points. Art doesn't always have to say something, it can exist just to be seen, heard or felt. Leaving meanings unattached allows an interpreter to to see it for what it is, create your own meaning, or just observe.

Posted by Sean O'Rourke at 2:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Grant’s third project focused on stopping time, an idea that at first seemed ideal but eventually turned out to be something not so desirable. I thought Grant was successful at portraying this idea. I liked how he used both video and stop motion to display this type of situation. He used the video to show real time and then after time stopped he used stop motion. I thought the idea was well thought out.

During the animation Grant also incorporated sound. He impressed me with how nicely he fit the audio to the visuals, which many other people in class found difficult to do. The sound was clear and crisp. The animation seemed virtually seamless. It was evident he put a lot of thought into what sounds worked with the images (i.e. clock changing numbers, flipping through books, walking outside, etc)

Another part of Grant’s work that impressed me was one of the final shots, when Grant was falling on his bed (in essence falling back into real time). I was amazed at how he was able to capture himself falling with stop motion. He must have used a special feature on his camera where he was able to take shots in a sequence, sometimes know as a paparazzi feature on a camera.

Overall, I thought Grant did a good job expressing his idea of a perfect world. He even touched on the fact that what we think might be a perfect world doesn’t always play out that way. The images we great (i.e. exposure, clarity, etc) and so was the sound. I couldn’t think of any ideas of what to do differently next time.

Posted by Laura Rask at 2:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Grant’s third project focused on stopping time, an idea that at first seemed ideal but eventually turned out to be something not so desirable. I thought Grant was successful at portraying this idea. I liked how he used both video and stop motion to display this type of situation. He used the video to show real time and then after time stopped he used stop motion. I thought the idea was well thought out.

During the animation Grant also incorporated sound. He impressed me with how nicely he fit the audio to the visuals, which many other people in class found difficult to do. The sound was clear and crisp. The animation seemed virtually seamless. It was evident he put a lot of thought into what sounds worked with the images (i.e. clock changing numbers, flipping through books, walking outside, etc)

Another part of Grant’s work that impressed me was one of the final shots, when Grant was falling on his bed (in essence falling back into real time). I was amazed at how he was able to capture himself falling with stop motion. He must have used a special feature on his camera where he was able to take shots in a sequence, sometimes know as a paparazzi feature on a camera.

Overall, I thought Grant did a good job expressing his idea of a perfect world. He even touched on the fact that what we think might be a perfect world doesn’t always play out that way. The images we great (i.e. exposure, clarity, etc) and so was the sound. I couldn’t think of any ideas of what to do differently next time.

Posted by Laura Rask at 2:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Grant’s third project focused on stopping time, an idea that at first seemed ideal but eventually turned out to be something not so desirable. I thought Grant was successful at portraying this idea. I liked how he used both video and stop motion to display this type of situation. He used the video to show real time and then after time stopped he used stop motion. I thought the idea was well thought out.

During the animation Grant also incorporated sound. He impressed me with how nicely he fit the audio to the visuals, which many other people in class found difficult to do. The sound was clear and crisp. The animation seemed virtually seamless. It was evident he put a lot of thought into what sounds worked with the images (i.e. clock changing numbers, flipping through books, walking outside, etc)

Another part of Grant’s work that impressed me was one of the final shots, when Grant was falling on his bed (in essence falling back into real time). I was amazed at how he was able to capture himself falling with stop motion. He must have used a special feature on his camera where he was able to take shots in a sequence, sometimes know as a paparazzi feature on a camera.

Overall, I thought Grant did a good job expressing his idea of a perfect world. He even touched on the fact that what we think might be a perfect world doesn’t always play out that way. The images we great (i.e. exposure, clarity, etc) and so was the sound. I couldn’t think of any ideas of what to do differently next time.

Posted by Laura Rask at 2:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I thought Tanya's video was straight forward on showing the theme of "Invent a Perfect World" because her video showed a worm eating everything in sight. Most of the things that were eaten were friendly creatures that just wanted to start a conversation or ask about the day, but the greedy worm just ate everything. Eventually karma came back to bite the worm and turned him into a toad stool. I interpreted this as nothing bad goes unpunished because it'll eventually catch up to you.

This was a narrative work, and I thought its structure was well executed. Following the inch worm from scene to scene was done well. It shows that the inch worm is moving from one area to another. I thought that when the inch worm ate the butterfly and apple it was kind of like a video for little kids that would be on Nickalodean. The whole video could've been something for kids to watch on Nickalodeon if you took out one part of the audio. Editing was well done also. As I stated earlier it could've been a tv show on some television networks, so I thought the editing went great. The shots looked fine too. The only thing that was noticeable about the shots were the light changes. Sometimes the background would be dark, other times it would be brighter. I think most of the class had problems with this though because of how we setup our shots to be taken.

The animation itself stood out a lot. I think she used construction paper and did cut outs with these if I remember right, and it worked great. Her animation looked really clean and I think that was really effective in her project. It stood out to me because most of the other animations were choppy, or the drawings were done too light so you couldn't see it. Hers was easily seen and followed.

Posted by Bax at 2:07 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I thought Bax's animation for the stop motion video was quite good, but as we discussed in class the day of the viewing, it really could have been enhanced by sound effects. I know that Bax was having trouble with the sound, but if he had recorded the voice-overs separately and put them in order on Final Cut Pro instead of working through Audacity, it would have made it easier. And as we also discussed, it was a bit harder to understand reading the subtitles and not being able to view the character's actions closely. But I realized upon watching the film again in the smaller format that it was easier to understand what was happening, mostly because I could stop and restart the film if I did not understand something. Plus, when I viewed it initially on the large screen, the subtitles were farther away since I was in the back of the room, so that could have contributed to my problems with understanding the plot. Despite the lack of sound, the project was well put together. I enjoyed the gestures of the action figures. I also liked the intentional amateurish feel to the project, especially with the name “Evil Last Boss Guy,� since it allowed the viewers to get humor from the project without needing sound. The scrolling titles that separated the scenes were also a plus, since they had that extra serious sounding element while talking about the rather absurd “Evil Last Boss Guy.�
I thought the topic of the perfect world Bax chose was also relevant to today’s world events. Today we need superheroes, and the basis of the War in Iraq was founded, (among other things) on the human desire to eradicate evil so our world can be perfect. The quote from the first scrolling text box “If the mission is completed the world will live in forever peace with the good guys retiring from their jobs,� reflects this point, as if the terrorists today are the last real threat to national freedom. I do not mean to form a conjecture about Bax’s work, which could also just simply be a play on superheroes and villains, but in the context of current events, I think it is quite relevant to say that it is reflective of the Bush administration. I apologize, Bax, if you do not agree with this conclusion! All in all, the project was entertaining and humorous and well thought out.

Posted by Tanya Wacholz at 1:56 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I found the illustrations throughout this video to be very pleasing. They were stylized enough to the point that low frame rates, and choppy cuts could be forgiven. I completely understand the difficulty of making elaborately constructed scenes appear to move seamlessly without perhaps another 2 months of work at our disposal. I was a bit critical of the audio choices throughout the video, but that is mainly because I didn't realize they were actually created by Amanda. Knowing this, I think the music was fairly fitting. It melded quite well with the atmosphere she created. The narration was also pretty effective. However, as she mentioned, the subtitles presented a bit of an issue. Being that they were red and the lettering was thin, I found it hard to follow them. I felt as if they could have been eliminated entirely from the narrative. As a form of translation, the poem could have been written in English just before the credits. In this way, the viewer could have enjoyed the video without the issue of attempting to interpret not only the subtitles, but how they pertained to the scene. Instead, the translation could have been presented to the viewer at the end, giving him/her a more leisurely option to mull things over at their own pace. As for the narrative, I think I got the idea without reading through the blog description. A little more could have been done (playing with time?) to signify a greater difference between the pre-apocalyptic scenes and the post-apocalyptic ones. This might have allowed my imagination to catch up and allow the progression to flow more freely. Just a thought. The idea of utopia was a tricky one for me, but I likewise explored ideas of alternate kinds of situations presenting a chance for happiness (in this case, an apocalypse presenting a chance for rebirth, a fresh start, something of that sort?) Interesting ideas.

Posted by Alan O'Neil at 1:56 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Your perfect world made sense at the end. I like that you really had to build up the message you were trying to get across. The movie was really funny and I enjoyed your use of action figures. The power ranger was ridiculous in the best way. I especially enjoyed the "plot twists" and ending. Having that garbage thing come back and run over Leonardo was great and the laugh you gave him was really funny and really appropriate. The movie was a little sloppy, the strings and the tape was super visible and the movements could have been smoother but I think that it works for the movie and I totally understand about time on this project, it takes forever!
I really enjoyed the sound; it worked really well with the movie and gave it that extra push towards ridiculous humor. I think having Leonardo as the main character worked well for the movie as well, it kept things linear and making sense. I thought that the conversations between the characters were really well thought out and worked really well in the movie. The whole thing reminded me of Robot Chicken. I don't think I can say this enough..It was really funny!!
I believe that you were effective in getting your message across. A perfect world would be boring!

Posted by Manda Burger at 1:54 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For my Stop Motion video I continued with my initial idea of trying to be everywhere at the same time. When I first came up with the idea I had it figured out in my head and then after I began to work on it that plan made a complete 360. I have regular video in the beginning to set the stage for filling up my schedule with everything being coordinated at the exact same time. Then I gather "Jennas". This is one portion of my video that is different from what I intended but I think it still fits for what I wanted to do in that the only way to accomplish everything is to have more than one of me available to go in multiple directions. This project was certainly the most time consuming and frustrating of the projects we have done in class. I had difficulties recruiting people to be in my video and then to act normal in front of the camera. I chose to video tape everything and then go frame by frame to turn half of the video into choppy "photo-like" images. I decided to do this because I felt it was necessary to incorporate other individuals in the stop motion segment of my video but I could not get anyone to actually sit with me and move inch by inch for each photo. For my sound I used natural background noise, I went into a classroom while people were working to get a study atmospheric sound, I used sound from sitting in on a meeting and then for the shopping segment I used noise from a dining room at lunch when people are all sitting around and chatting. I wanted each scene to have natural sounds that somewhat related to the visual so the shopping segment has socializing sounds whereas the studying and the meeting are quiet whispers and papers turning.
Ideally I could continue to work on this project as I believe with all art, there is never really a "completion point" because there can always be something new added, altered or converted.

Posted by Jenna Stangland at 1:22 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Ok. So I sparked this idea driving back from a weekend in northern Minnesota. This trip requires me to pass through an eastern chunk of North Dakota. I grew up with only a river seperating me from this desolate state. Having interacted with its minimalist beauty (big sky, lack of discernable landscape features otherwise common throughout the United States) I have a history of love/hatred with it. Anyway, while driving, this "what if" thing struck me. It went something like: What if North Dakota seceded from the union at an undetermined time, and subsequently declared itself (through a kind of inverted social revolution) the next fascist state, intent on raising militant oppression throughout the land? My conclusion was that this would have nothing to do with the people.

Something about North Dakota, in the way the land interacts so hopelessly with any structure placed upon it, seems heavily oppressive as it is. In this sense, people are eliminated from my imagined new North Dakota. The most fitting way I could think to explore this idea was to write a small narrative involving two "combat journalists" (one of whom will be myself) getting into the fray (which, in this sense, involves a lot of power lines and granaries) and compiling footage from the heat of battle. I will then use this "footage" to compliment an installation that will involve the journals of the team, some photographs of the action, maps of North Dakota with outlines and military intelligence, and perhaps a journalism award I intend to fabricate, to commend the two journalists' life-threatening efforts.

Audio will also be a large part of the installation. I intend to interview a number of people on their thoughts pertaining to the secession and rise of fascism in North Dakota. These will be conducted over the phone, which I hope will give a journalistic/documentary quality to them. These interviews will be playing over the entire set-up. Other audio ideas are also springing up, but so far they are not developed enough to mention. SO, there be my proposal. If things go according to plan, this should be a lot of fun.

Posted by Alan O'Neil at 12:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Watch Video
To me a perfect world would be one without animosity, but total peace. Being a non-white immigrant, I have experienced racism firsthand. In this day and age, though most people are careful to be politically correct and just, there still exists an inherent racism. I am not one to criticize the white community because they are not the only ones who have shown racist tendencies. I believe it is up to each and every person in a community to accept the fact that life is a mix of culture. From this day on, we will only become more diverse so we might as well accept each other’s differences. My focus in this project is to show a perfect world by using drawn characters
I show confusion and chaos in my animation. For example, I show different people criticizing each other and committing acts of violence upon each other. Locations change as different groups of people are shown. It is like a historic piece documenting different conflicts from the past leading up to present day. Finally, there is an explosive ending where the serious tone of the piece immediately changes to one of happiness where all the characters are shown getting along as one.
Throughout the project, I used a whiteboard and different colored markers. The reason I did not include sounds is because I felt that my piece did not require it; it is graphic enough on its own and the visuals will convey my message. I incorporated violent imagery because I believe that people should be aware of history. We, as citizens have to be tolerant and respectful for the rights and views of others. This is what a perfect world is to me.

Posted by Jonathan Pereira at 12:40 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I had a hard time thinking of what I wanted to do for project 4. I didn't have any ideas to start a new project. So I decided to re-create Project 2 - How To Video. My video was on How-To Not Buy Fake Jordans, but this time I think I'm going to go into it more. I'll work at it as if it was a documentary of his shoes though, and tell stories of each shoe. Because each one of his shoes has a story behind it, I'll use my shoes at home as props, and then i'll pull off images off the internet for the shoes that I don't have and also use those as images. I'm not sure if I'm going to go through each and every shoe because that will take a while, so maybe I'll just stick with the more popular one. I'll probably also use videoclips from some of his shoe commercials or his basketball highlights to help me explain the story behind the shoes also. I will probably end up shooting this video in my room again, if not maybe somewhere in my house where the place will be well lit. I'm still debating if I want to touch on the authentic/value/fakes of the shoe or not. If I do I think I can go into it a little bit. Explain what authentic is, what is its value, what are fakes and maybe give short examples. For examples, I'll maybe capture my computer screen with a screen capture program and go through a series of websites. Goto legit websites and show the value of the current shoe then goto a non-legit website and show what it is there. I'm still trying to think of more ideas of how I can better this project and I can use other peoples input on it too.

Posted by Bax at 12:32 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I have no idea where I want to go with this project yet. After my last experience with stop-motion animation, I can rule that option out entirely. There were some parts I enjoyed about the audio project but I felt extremely lacking without at least some visual attachment. By far, my favorite work this semester was making my project II video.
I came into this class looking for new creative ways to make movies, better ideas on concepts I could convey, and more effective editing and directing techniques to express a feeling. All in all, I know I enjoy video and I’d like an excuse to make another one and explore new processes. One thing I noticed lacking in the previous three projects was music. A potential project could be to make a music video of some sort. I don’t have any music talent, but perhaps I could create a visual side for one of my favorite older songs without a video. I would really like to explore the process of accentuating sound with images since so often we use sound as a secondary sensory aspect.
I would also like to explore other film styles. One idea I had to test this out would be to create a fake reality TV show. I could look online to see how reality TV directors film their shows and use their techniques with a “mocumentary� style and attitude. With this style, I would have a lot of freedom to utilize humor and satire again. If I went with this idea, I could either make a “Big Brother� style film with my roommates. Otherwise I could go back to the military theme and follow a half fictitious life of a ROTC student. I think both of these ideas would be fun to explore but I think I could explore some deeper ideas with the ROTC route.
Sticking with the reality TV theme, I also considered making a satire of the wave of survival shows on television recently. I could counter their videos about surviving trips through the Sahara, Arctic and Amazon with tips for survival on the University of Minnesota Campus. I explored this idea during the “Do it Yourself� project but decided against it because I decided I didn’t want to focus it around “Do it Yourself� theme. This would be a good time to try on that idea and see what I can reveal about this campus, student life, and making it as a young adult in general.
I’m not sure which idea I’ll end up going with. I like aspects of them all but they all seem a little bit shallow in content. Since most of my ideas come when the camera is actually running I might have to just try a few random ideas and see how it turns out; that way, I can get an idea of where the project wants to go and explore my actual feelings on the subjects. After I film and edit my next piece, then I can begin to explore creative ways to present it.

Posted by Sean O'Rourke at 12:31 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My proposal is to make an animation similar to my how to video; and have the story line similar to my stop motion video. I plan to have the story line based on the Genesis account of creation, and I plan to show the creation of Earth take place from space. I first wanted to do this for my how to video, and for my stop motion, but for the how to video I had to make a film that required instructions. The stop motion did not allow the use of computers in the creation process, and I sort of new that the forth project would be a do it your self video. I wanted to use the same process as I did in my How to Make a Superhero which is to have music, animations, and a good presentation, I hope. I chose to do this simply because I felt that the traditional view of what the creation story shows does not fit in with many people, and I want to show that scientifically the creation story is possible. More specifically there are several tough questions I wish to address that many people believe makes the Genesis account of creation a little hard to believe. For instance many scientists cite the star light problem; which asks the question, “If the Earth is only six thousand years old, then how could the star light from all those stars in space, which are billions of light years away.� Another subject that sheds doubt on the creation account to some is the land masses; the shapes and sizes of the continents suggest that they were connected and it seems that the bible does not suggest this. I also plan to film more of the real world than I did in my how to video; perhaps downtown Minneapolis will be filmed and a Church that will lead the audience to the creation story. I plan on having the background mostly in space and several scenes on earth to show all the animals and the environment. I probably will not have any humor but I would be open to it, but right now I do not see where that may fit in. I plan to have a music playing throughout the entire video, the song will be “I Don’t Belong Here� by Klaus Badelt, I am quite sure it will fit with what I am thinking about.

Posted by Samuel Ayala at 12:30 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For this project, I plan on working collaboratively with Jenna to make a video. It will involve music and drawing. Our concept is dealing with the bodily changes from a youth to a teenager. Often times it’s labeled the ‘sex talk’ in the media and it is mostly uncomfortable and funny. In the video we plan on involving ourselves as well as made up characters by using a green screen. The idea is for the piece to be humorous and to keep viewers interested. How often do you see a cartoon giving the ‘sex talk’ instead of parents or elders? There will most likely be background sounds to complement the actions on screen. Also, we will probably use voice-overs for the characters. Green screen will be a new task because we have never incorporated it in previous projects. As of right now, I do not know how the story will form or what the characters will look like. They could take on an animal form.
Each aspect of the project will be worked on at separate times. Sounds recording will be done on one day. Also, we might include stop motion animation to show titles before different scenes to help prep viewers for what is ahead. Then filming and green screen will have its own separate time. For the final edit, we will use final cut pro.
Because of the freedom of this project, there are many ways to show the concept. We could do the random story approach (which will be similar to making a TV show) or have a narrator to lead the viewers along. There could be a narrator’s voice speaking in omniscience or a narrator that is a character within the clip (like a protagonist)

Posted by Jonathan Pereira at 12:25 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My idea for project IV is a narrative about a band bringing a homemade music video to a record label in hopes of hitting it big and changing the world. This idea comes from what I've done in both projects I and III. Project I was a recording of musicians playing a variety of different instruments. Project III also had a small amount of a song being played. I enjoyed matching the stop animation with the instruments in project III and plan on using a similar technique. I also used a program called Magix Music Maker for project III which I also plan on using. The music for the video will probably be a combination of live recordings and music from the program.
To start I would have the band sitting down with some record label agent explaining what their song means and what the band means to them. The band will talk about themselves and make it seem as if they are some deep, meaningful band and how the youth of the world needs to hear their music for inspiration at the present time with all of the problems in the world. The record label guy will then return discussing that this kind of music is what the market needs right now and go into financial aspects of what the music could become. After this they will give them the demo music video to play.
I plan on making the music and its video completely ridiculous and irrelevant to what the bands intentions were. The agent will become disgusted and stop the video short wanting nothing to do with them.
Both the beginning and the end will use stop motion animation. Instead of doing a ten frames per second motion style, I will try and sync the context of the dialog with the body language in the photo. For example if the record exec mutters a question to himself the picture will be of him looking into the air with his hand on his chin. If he is excited he will have an excited look and so on.
The stop motion for the music video will be a combination of the traditional, ten frames per second style and stop motion matched with the beat of the music. In the same way I used to match up with the music in project III.

Posted by Mike Koenig at 12:08 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For my final project idea i have always been fasicinated by both japanese and korean animation...

For my final project idea i think i would like to do something that features my fascination with japan. i have always been interested by both japanese and korean animation. it has become a huge phenomenon here in the USA and i would like to some way feature both music and the art style. I was thinking of including my fight scene that i had to omit from my 3rd project but i would have to revamp the style of drawing. I really enjoyed the animation and i would like to continue working in that medium.

Posted by Amanda Berglund at 10:46 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I have been debating on what I want to do for project IIII, but as of right now I am thinking about exploring animation a little more. In the past I have done an illustrated story for a different class, and was thinking about making this book into an animation. The story I wrote is about a moose who wants to become a reindeer. It’s a small narrative touching subjects regarding defeat, triumph, and friendship. It was meant to be a story written for children. I have many drawings done already, but they are not in a format where stop motion can be applied. The pictures go along with the text of the story, so I was considering using a video camera to tape the pictures and zoom in on the characters. I am not sure if it would just be easier to do stop motion. I would like to narrate the story to go along with the images. The characters are interacting throughout the piece and I thought it would be fun to play the roles of both of those characters by manipulating my voice in audacity.

Based off of the critique for the previous project, many people had said they had troubles matching the images with the audio. I am nervous that, that might be a problem for me in this situation. I was thinking about cutting out the narration if I choose to do stop motion, and using just sounds as I did before. The problem with that is I want to explore a different route than my project III. I am also concerned that because the story is fairly long, my project might drag on a little bit. I am not sure if it would just be easier for me to recreate the story using a flip book/stop motion format. I know I would lose quality in the images but it might be easier for me to put the story in an animated form. However, if I did start over on the drawings, time would be taken away for me to edit and put together the animation, which I regretted in the last project.

I have come up with some other ideas as well for storylines I might want to consider doing an animation for. One idea revolved around the topic for the last project. I was thinking about the perfect world, and came up with the thought, what if men got pregnant instead of women? What would be different in this world? I would do the project in a similar style as project III. I just thought it was a fun idea and would be interesting to carry out in animation form.

Posted by Laura Rask at 10:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The drawing was done extremely well. All the visuals were seamless as if it were done all on the computer. The sounds too were clear and they set an eerie tone throughout the story. I like that the story was original and was almost like a kid’s story, but at the same time it dealt with loss and the death. The Russian was hard to follow and although there were subtitles, it was difficult to make out what was being said. After reading the preview though, it seemed that you were not able to fix that due to technical problems. If I had not read the preview, I would not have understood the story. It was new to me and somewhat hard to follow. However it made sense after I did some reading. I believe the target audience would be adults because of the fact that most kids would not be able to comprehend life after an apocalypse. I do not know though how the movie conveyed an idea of utopia, but that’s probably because I would not call it my utopia. I cannot relate to it like the creator can. I think that the transitions should have been better. For example, when the scene centers about the girl, I had no idea she was in the egg. I though it was some random scene.

Posted by Jonathan Pereira at 8:22 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This clip was very artistic. All the sounds, titles, and effects were integrated perfectly. It was really easy to follow and it was concise. For example, you can figure out the message without having to read the preview. Having titles before the sequences was a good idea because it helped prepare the viewer for what was coming up. The story flowed well because the transitions were good. I don’t think that I can suggest doing anything to improve it because it seems flawless in all aspects. The story contained humor and the character was integral, yet simple. The fact that the man was smiling after does set a mood and that helps to drive the message. The only thing that I can question would be do you really find your utopia in not being hit by a train? With that in mind though, I think you got that message across pretty well.

Posted by Jonathan Pereira at 8:22 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The clip started off with some humor. The idea of utopia here is the material wealth I think, but after the first sequence I was lost. This clip probably could have used more sound because it seemed empty. Also, the question about watching TV was irrelevant to me and I did not understand it. The story could also use a narrative (like a voice or titles before the scenes) to help guide the viewer along. Transitions would have helped bring the story together.

Posted by Jonathan Pereira at 8:20 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Over the semester I have been fairly new with each digital process we use and it has been an intense learning opportunity but I can now say I am getting the hang of things. For this project I would like to create an elaborate animation video and put my real life self in the video. Soon after beginning our project III I was liking both stop motion with digital photography and stop motion with drawings. Because I chose the photography approach I would like to satisfy my interests of creating an animation short by using this "Design Your Own" project to do just that. I am most definitely not a very talented illustrator especially when it comes to creating some sort of character to interact with. When I was in the studio for project III work I watched the beginnings of an animation a girl was creating with some sort of paint or drawing program. I am going to look into that feature on our computers to see if it would be better for me to draw through a computer program as opposed to hand drawing.
When it comes to the actual story line or message for my project I want to create something funny. Jon and I have decided to work collaboratively in creating this final project and one idea we had was to have the cartoon characters give us (as real life people) a sex talk like when you are in middle school. We can have a scene of us just talking at lunch and dreading that we have to do this and then show us getting divided into boys and girls and parting our ways. The video would be best if it cut back and forth between the room full of girls and the room of guys. Then the lecturing that would be heard would include various in depth descriptions of the process and what occurs simultaneously in the brain and within the body. This could be a good idea because everyone can relate to that awkward day when the sex talk lecture approached. I think adding the cartoon characters adn having them be the ones in charge and explaining how sex and the body works adds humor to our video.
The digital processes that will be incorporated and used in making this video include video taping, use of the green screen, lighting with all the real life shots, possibly work with a computer aided drawing tool or program and then however we decide to add sound. I would like to take the sound we develop for our project and be more technical with it as in uploading it in audacity and playing around with the various features. One idea is to have Jon and I be the voices of the cartoon characters but just altering how they sound. It should be a fun project to work on, my biggest concern is timing. Based on how the past projects have progressed over the available time frame we are given I think it will again be a struggle to get everything completed and at the level that I am picturing. Regarding the idea, it is still a work in progress for the story line but I just am certain that I want to do an animation and then put real life images and real people interacting with the animated characters.

Posted by Jenna Stangland at 1:49 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Emanuela took an interesting approach to this stop motion project. I found it unique how she incorporated both drawing and clay figures for the visual aids. Even though the characters are moving around in front of a stable background consisting of a building I liked how she must have created more than one background building pictures. I detected this as the characters are moving there is are slight adjustments with the background drawing and this little motion adds to the movement and chaos Emanuela was hoping to portray in the first portion of the movie. After watching the complete video I am glad I read Emanuela’s intentions beforehand because the first scene of being in the city did not fully convey the chaotic fast paced world in which she stated she was walking.
The sound served as the primary factor in expressing a busy lifestyle but I think that if the character moved through the scene faster it would have really added to the idea of chaos and constant movement. Overall, each scene had appropriately suited sound and really added to the ideas being expressed. Emanuela did a nice job in finding the right noise sources to not only fit the visual but to incorporate the thoughts she intended for each scene. It was creative of her to play with the sounds of the busy world and edit them in audacity. I think the idea she had of slurring noises together to the point of misunderstanding really matches the American “go-go-go� world in which we function. The sounds with the middle scene nicely blended to transforming us as viewers into a dreamlike, fantasy world. I think that after the initial transformation to the “perfect world� the sounds should have became more clear because in the perfect world it is no longer the hustle, bustle and there is clarity to one’s life outside of the action and disorder.
What I also liked about Emanuela’s video is that it was black and white in the real world commotion but then in the conversion to the dream world colors came into the scene. Color adds life and a sense of cheerfulness to what is going on in the scene. In conclusion, it really shows that Emanuela put time and thought into this project and she did a nice job!

Posted by Jenna Stangland at 1:07 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The first idea I had for this project dealt with “who makes terrorists�. The problems I come to are how I would show the message I am trying to get across.
I am thinking that I will try stop action again. I have always been interested in it and I would very much like to become better at it. Whenever I watch professional claymations I want to strive to be that good, if only for a short clip. I want to work on the smoothness of movements in the characters. I also want to work more with sound in the claymation.
I am also thinking that I will use clay again, because I think it will be the easiest medium to work with to show “making a terrorist�. I would like to reuse some objects that I have made/used in the past; I believe that conceptually this shows that whoever makes the terrorist doesn’t always make them from scratch but builds upon existing hate or fear. I think that I want to incorporate the media somehow but I am not sure how I would go about doing that.
Some initial thoughts on this project I had are that I will have someone take pictures of me making clay figures with terrorist’s faces on them and then pan up to my face to see who the creator is. I’m not really sure yet on whom I will have be the creator, or if it will be just one person or thing. I am still toying with a few ideas and I am not completely set on stop-action, claymation, or the concept behind it. I am a little worried I might come off to controversial.
I suppose I just need some feedback and some suggestions, I have hit a wall with ideas on this project.

Posted by Manda Burger at 1:03 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For my fourth and final project I wanted to play a little more with the idea of sound - specifically the relation of sound to an image, and what this connection does to our senses. I realize this is probably a very experimented concept, and there are thousands of directions that I can go with this, but I have a few ideas at the moment. These ideas, however, seem different, and I don’t yet know if they would go better together or on their own (only played out more). This is where I’m at right now.

What I do know for sure is that I want to do some kind of sound on image presentation, probably just presented on a typical screen like that in class. I was thinking that it would be cool to use an old cartoon (such as a classic Loony Tunes, or that style of short cartoon) and juxtapose it with sound from another source - something that fits visually, but doesn’t match with the mood of the cartoon. I was thinking I would use songs to do this part of the project, the hard part being finding a good song or set of songs that fulfill what I’m envisioning.

The cartoon is sure to have an already given narrative structure. My job - and what I want to play with here - is to morph that structure into something different. I want to play with this theme I like of creating something new from an already existing source and flipping it on its head. That’s what I hope to achieve in this project.

For the technical aspects of the project I plan on finding cartoon clips (I have a few in mind) and somehow, either by video taping from the computer or by finding a program to rip decent quality video from a computer, put it into an editing program like Final Cut Pro. From there I will play with different choices of songs (I also have a few in mind) and from there, edit the sound and image together to create a new being. If the clip or music is too long, or for some reason needs editing, I will work around that with the editing techniques I’ve learned this semester. I hope this turns out how I’m seeing it now, and I hope it has the effect I think it possesses, but we’ll see…

Posted by Chris Hirsch at 11:56 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

There were several things I wanted to do with my final project.

First of all, I wanted to do something a bit more "interactive" than anything we'd done in the past. I wanted to do something that wasn't just a static piece, but would change in response to people and how they interacted with it. The shadow screens done by one of the artists shown in class (whose name I've forgotten) gave me the idea that I might be able to use a camera to get video of people near my project, then use that to display something interesting. Since I've noticed people using Photo Booth on iMacs as a mirror, I thought it might be interesting to make a "mirror" using a camera and a computer.

My second source of inspiration for this project goes back to a project I did when I was in high school. For a (digital) photography course, I wrote a computer program to patch together many small photos to make one large photo. (you've probably seen similar photos before.) I've always liked photos like these. I think it's an interesting concept because you can show an image of something that's literally made out of some other type of thing.

For my final project, I would like to combine these two ideas. This implies transforming the "combine photos to make one big photo" technique into "combine videos to make one big video." This is a more difficult problem; I've never seen it done before, but I think it should be possible.

I plan to set up a camera and a computer. Right now, I think I'd prefer to use an iMac and its built-in iSight, but I haven't decided against using my laptop tethered to a camcorder and a screen yet; I'd like to see how it looks on an iMac first before I decide. The computer will contain a large library of very short (absolutely no more than 2 seconds) video clips. After collecting video for a period of time equal to the longest video clip, the computer will decide, for each region of the video, which clip best matches the color and motion in that region. It will then play the best matching video in each region. When each video ends, it will select a new video. To avoid making these transitions jarring, I want to make the clips of different lengths so that all the clips don't change at the same time.

I'd like to do it without the delay, of course, but predicting the future is impossible in general, and very difficult and complicated to do with any acceptable level of accuracy. (Though I do have an idea of how I could do it reasonably well as an extension of this project at some later time.)

For the library of short videos, I plan to shoot a lot of videos around my apartment, around campus, and pretty much anyplace I am over the next few weeks. I don't know how many I'll need, or how many it will possible to use. I'll need a lot of different videos in order to make a good enough match against arbitrary video so that it will work. At the same time, having too many videos will make it too difficult for the computer to figure out which of the videos to use, which could make the entire thing fall apart. I will need to experiment to see what I can do. My feeling is that it should be possible to do something that will look decent, though I don't know how difficult it will be to actually get this to work.

I think it would be a lot of fun to use only a certain type of item in the videos, but because I'm not sure how easy it will be to make a coherent image from videos, I don't want to limit myself right now.

Posted by Grant Miller at 10:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For my final project, I thought it would be fun and interesting to make a college soap opera. My first thought about it was that it would seem very out of place, since most of the soap operas I have seen feature exaggerated drama queens, and I thought that would play to the subtle humor behind the project. Plus the college setting works to my advantage since I live in the dorms.
The soap opera format would also lead to an experience of really focusing on camera angles and the relationship between the shooting of the film and the look of the edited product. I want to use more than one camera for the shooting so I can get the same footage from multiple angles and have smoother transitions. However, that also might be difficult getting the cameras to match in the look of their video, but that is something I can negotiate when I get to that point. By having multiple angles, I could simply extract the audio from one of the clips and then smoothly cut back and forth between people in conversation. That will also allow for the often-used effect of switching between speakers while one of them is still talking to create a more believable and smoother conversation. I also hope to make use of another technique in soap opera television, which is zooming in on an object to dissolve into another scene. With techniques like this and other soap opera format commonplaces (dramatic title music, low lighting, previous episode recaps, overuse of makeup on actors and actresses, etc.) I hope to capture the essence of the genre, while adding to the playful camp.
The story of the soap opera I wanted to be partly told in pre-show recaps, since I don’t have enough time, naturally, to create an hour long episode. The story, as of this proposal, will look something like this: The community advisor of the fifth floor dorm is investigating the brutal vandalism of the Global Studies poster board, and will stop at nothing, even threatening to write up everyone in the Global Studies House, to find the culprit. Meanwhile, the other inhabitants of the hall will be fighting viciously over typical dorm room arguments (cell phone usage, roommate issues, relationship problems, etc.), all in a time frame of five to seven minutes. I can perhaps consult the Doctor Date section of the Minnesota Daily to get a juicy relationship conflict. Either way, the ending will, keeping with the soap opera way, be another dramatic cliffhanger, a buildup with no real closure. After all, how else would those shows still be running after decades on television?

Posted by Tanya Wacholz at 7:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For my final project I am thinking about using space as a tool to explore ideas of boundaries. I was fascinated by a video that we saw in class in which an artist, whose name I forget, used the entire room to project a moving figure. With that in mind I am considering focusing on a child’s natural behavior of moving free around space. A child’s freedom from social politics and prejudice has always been interesting to me. It interests me because adults, including myself, think of children as being educated by grown ups. This is a narrow-minded perspective. On the contrary, I think that adults have a lot to learn from children. Children have the ability to interact with other people from different cultures without prejudice. Children also have the ability to view everything with a sense of curiosity. These are just two examples of how children can teach adults. I always ask myself: “What if adults would behave with the same sense of freedom from prejudice as children posses?� Would the world still look down on immigrants, which are always considered as either social problems or strangers around the world? I often ask myself whether my identity as a person would be different if I did not have to deal with questions of prejudice based on my status as an immigrant both in the USA and in Germany, since my parents were Italian immigrants to Germany.
The way that I am planning to express my ideas of the freedom of children and their lack of prejudice is to work with stop animation. I would like to draw images of a girl who is playing and obviously “childish� to accentuate the idea of a child’s uncomplicated way of dealing with new people and situations. In addition to the moving image of a child, I would like to draw three different outlines of cities. The viewer should be able to associate the outlines of cities with three different cultures. Each outline image will cover one wall. I could use black tape that I would stick on walls to represent different cities/cultures. I think that tape would be easy to remove from the walls and save a lot of paper, while getting the point across that I am trying to represent different cities with different cultures. I would choose city outlines that are easy to identify with different culture, such as using Arabic architecture and mosques to represent a Muslim culture.
I would project my animation on the walls with the outlines. There would be three parts of the animation that correspond to the three different walls and three different projectors. The girl would move around the room without regard to the separation of different walls. This would represent a child’s disregard for boundaries. In each part the girl will have a different way of playing: she will play alone or with somebody else or with a ball. I am also thinking about positioning the projector in the middle of a room on an old record player that will slowly move around as an alternative to using three projectors, but that depends on the equipment that is available to use.
I also would like to include sound in my piece since I think that music is very important to convey the message. Furthermore, I would like to stimulate every sense to enrich the viewer’s experience and further push the idea of different cultures since each wall would have its own sound. For now I am thinking about including a child’s voice and city noises that can be associated with different cultures.
The aspect of expanding my project into a larger space would be very interesting since I think it would demonstrate a child’s liberty and curiosity to move around space without boundaries.

Posted by Emanuela Porcelli at 6:58 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I enjoyed watching Chris’s video clip because it put me in a serene mood. I think that Chris’s video is a well-structured piece that has a well-developed narrative. It has a definite beginning, middle and end. At the beginning we see a relaxed person lying down on grass surrounded by traffic noises. After some zoom-in shots the viewer is shown different images of nature, which include leaves, water and sky imagery. Those images are accompanied by simple and serene sounds of nature. At the end, the viewer is taken back to the first setting, which is only different from the original scene in that the busy noises are replaced by calm whistling.
With this video Chris is definitely focusing on nature scenes since the middle part is longer than the beginning and the end. He displays the imagery of nature in way that mesmerize the viewer. I can see that his imaginary perfect world is found in the beauty and serenity of nature.
Several shots of nature in the video are nice, but what really stands out in his movie is the nice shot of the moon. It has a rich contrast between dark and white values.
Chris explores the representation of time. By showing us the change from day to night the viewer can see that time is passing. I interpreted this change to show that in an imaginary world, time has a different quality. It also seems to symbolize that time passes at a faster pace when we do something that we like.
The soundtrack goes well with the subject and the visual format. There is a clear shift from the chaotic, and loud sounds, which represent the hectic world of the city to the serene and peaceful sounds in the perfect world of nature. The sound change that occurs between the beginning and the middle part builds up a sharp contrast between two different worlds: the real and the perfect world. While in the beginning the sounds have a more repelling effect, the middle part includes more pleasant noises. The only thing that distracted me a little bit was the fact that I could hear some repetition of sounds in the middle part. But this was only slightly distracting. A second point that I would like to mention is that I got confused in the beginning of the video since I see the person relaxed. I think it would have been better to clarify that the city sounds were a source for anxiety to make the point of being displeased by those sounds in contrast to the perfect world.
All in all, the video is effective in getting the message across of showing us Chris’s personal perfect world.

Posted by Emanuela Porcelli at 6:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

When I first starting to play computer game, I always wanted to make a video of the game which I play in. That was one of many reasons why I took the course. So on the last project I would like to illustrate technical skills and ideas of art through the concept of video game. So I can not only finish a great project, but also complete one of my goals and fulfill my passion.
On the video shooting part, I will choose to record it off screen either frame by frame or directly in a video format. Since video format only gives about fifteen frames per second and in a lower quality, I would choose frame by frame format instead if I can find the program. I will collect thirty frames per second and collect all pictures in a sequence. Finally compile together to reform the video. Sound will be collected separately through another program and edit through audacity before matching back to the video. I will be playing the game while recording. This will probably last about an hour and then I’ll pick out the good parts for final editing. My only concern here is the storage space I have for the frames. It will perhaps end up with twenty gigabits of pictures. Photoshop might be used to edit some frames to put graphical designs into the picture. But those will be simple editing consider the time limitation as well as the amount of frames I will have. Finally I will use Sony Vegas to edit the final video by changing lighting, contrast, and adding special effects.
The concepts and moral thinking that have to be included bother me a little. I’m thinking about that players who play well are being thought of cheating. That has always been a major issue in online games. But we know the concept of games is to play it, not to modify it. So in this video I can display the idea of facing such things through views of talented players.

Posted by Xi Wu at 4:53 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Mike’s project is all about music and is strongly influenced by his use of sound. It starts with a person walking into a cluttered room. Among this messy image is a droning beat of a drum, the never-changing continuity of our everyday lives. From this messy ‘real’ world, we enter into a created music world, made by drawings with markers on a dry-erase board. Here, instruments are created, and one-by-one they provide another piece to the freeing musical solution of our messy lives. When each new instrument is created (and then tested), they all return together in the end to create a structured piece of music. As this new song plays out, we exit the same way we came in, only this time the material world we were once surrounded by is now clean. In essence, we are set free.

This idea of music as a freed peace of mind from our busy lives is a great play on our given theme of a ‘Perfect World’. With the use of the choppy effect Stop-Motion adds to a work, it brings a whole new dimension to the structured element in question. Both the image and the sound are fractured, unable to be seamless because of the underlying essence of our theme: Our world has caught us in a deadly routine and it takes something as powerful as music free to us from all of that. In this sense, the provided circular narrative works very well for the concept. We start and finish with the same images; only it is the middle section that causes the change that polarizes the beginning from the end. Whereas in the beginning time seems to drag (the long stroll to our destination, the droning effect of the drums, etc.), the ending has a very fluid sense of time (despite the stop-motion choppiness).

Going off of this theme of structure, the audio picks up where the images alone can’t reach. As mentioned before, the beginning is all about the droning tempo of the drum. When we reach the middle, however, something pretty amazing takes place: as each instrument is tested, the structure of the 4/4 tempo disappears, providing a freed world without tempos. The significant aspect of this, though, is that each instrument (once free) comes back together to form a unified piece of music, suggesting that not all structure is bad. In these respects, I would say this work is very effective. Every element put into the video adds to the idea of depicting a world saved by music. And in these regards, this project as a whole is quite effective.

Posted by Chris Hirsch at 4:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Laura’s project starts with a young girl tries to find food and found some chocolate chip cookies on her kitchen table. She had a dilemma of whether to eat those or not. Her desire for the food was in conflict with the outside voice of trying to stop her from eating them. The voices became overwhelming and she finally broke down. She screamed loudly to make the voice go away and the time froze. She then finally escaped the reality and got to eat her food in peace. The work posts a problem that this world has. People cares about their body’s shape too much that they forgo the idea of food. Sometimes the taste of things can balance with healthy perspective. She tried to push the idea of idealism away and replace with people’s real desires and their pleasure of consuming delicious treats. The idea of keeping weight and eating food conflicts and posts many problems.
Laura’s project is based on drawings. I can see hundreds of frames taken by cameras and edited in Photoshop. I can see the lighting and contrast were enhanced on drawings. Perhaps some color could be added in to make important items or ideas stand out. The work moved through time and incorporated with the space. The idea was clearly illustrated. I think the sound worked well. She obviously recorded sound to match her drawings at the end. She seems enjoyed the recording of sound in the eating part. The narrative part was effective to help audiences understand the dilemma which the character was facing. The sound could probably be edited more using Audacity or Final Cut Pro. Overall the project was very effective in illustrating the theme of a perfect world through the idea of eating. It is suitable for many audiences because many of us are facing the similar issue. The perfect world becomes to eat whatever we desire but at the same time still be able to keep a perfect body.

Posted by Xi Wu at 5:18 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I really enjoyed Chaz’s project because of the use of the split screen. I think that this added feature really added a lot to the paradox that he was trying to convey. I also liked that he used a compare method to show his utopian world. He was the only one in the class who used this method. I appreciated that he used himself as the protagonist in his animation. The narrative followed a linear pattern, which started as himself as a college student going through a typical day on campus and himself as a professional going to a typical day of work from 9:00am to 5:00pm. I enjoyed seeing the comparison and it made me realize that even though college can be stressful, we as college students have it pretty good. There is minimal responsibility and the best part about being in college is that we don’t have a boss! Most college students work really hard in their classes and choose to major in a subject where the jobs are lucrative, stable, and well paying, which to a young person in college seems very attractive and perhaps is a utopian dream, which is the paradox in Chaz’s idea of a utopian world. Most lucrative and stable jobs are extremely boring and spontaneity is not a choice for most of those who are supporting families. Chaz realizes this, and will probably always be conscious of this because he knows that the 9-5 job will eventually end up happening to him because he is career choice thus far is engineering.
I think that the project was very effective, although it probably could have been longer just show more of the “boring day at work� that the worker was experiencing as opposed to the “care-free� days that the college student experiences. I understand that it was probably difficult to judge how long it would be because of the stop-motion technique. I had a hard time judging how long a scene would be as well in doing my animation. I like the use of no narrative or voice over or any dialogue. I was very content to just watch how the two scenarios played out in the animation. I think that it was a good choice to not add voices because it wasn’t necessary to do so.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:53 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I really enjoyed Chaz’s project because of the use of the split screen. I think that this added feature really added a lot to the paradox that he was trying to convey. I also liked that he used a compare method to show his utopian world. He was the only one in the class who used this method. I appreciated that he used himself as the protagonist in his animation. The narrative followed a linear pattern, which started as himself as a college student going through a typical day on campus and himself as a professional going to a typical day of work from 9:00am to 5:00pm. I enjoyed seeing the comparison and it made me realize that even though college can be stressful, we as college students have it pretty good. There is minimal responsibility and the best part about being in college is that we don’t have a boss! Most college students work really hard in their classes and choose to major in a subject where the jobs are lucrative, stable, and well paying, which to a young person in college seems very attractive and perhaps is a utopian dream, which is the paradox in Chaz’s idea of a utopian world. Most lucrative and stable jobs are extremely boring and spontaneity is not a choice for most of those who are supporting families. Chaz realizes this, and will probably always be conscious of this because he knows that the 9-5 job will eventually end up happening to him because he is career choice thus far is engineering.
I think that the project was very effective, although it probably could have been longer just show more of the “boring day at work� that the worker was experiencing as opposed to the “care-free� days that the college student experiences. I understand that it was probably difficult to judge how long it would be because of the stop-motion technique. I had a hard time judging how long a scene would be as well in doing my animation. I like the use of no narrative or voice over or any dialogue. I was very content to just watch how the two scenarios played out in the animation. I think that it was a good choice to not add voices because it wasn’t necessary to do so.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:52 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I really enjoyed Chaz’s project because of the use of the split screen. I think that this added feature really added a lot to the paradox that he was trying to convey. I also liked that he used a compare method to show his utopian world. He was the only one in the class who used this method. I appreciated that he used himself as the protagonist in his animation. The narrative followed a linear pattern, which started as himself as a college student going through a typical day on campus and himself as a professional going to a typical day of work from 9:00am to 5:00pm. I enjoyed seeing the comparison and it made me realize that even though college can be stressful, we as college students have it pretty good. There is minimal responsibility and the best part about being in college is that we don’t have a boss! Most college students work really hard in their classes and choose to major in a subject where the jobs are lucrative, stable, and well paying, which to a young person in college seems very attractive and perhaps is a utopian dream, which is the paradox in Chaz’s idea of a utopian world. Most lucrative and stable jobs are extremely boring and spontaneity is not a choice for most of those who are supporting families. Chaz realizes this, and will probably always be conscious of this because he knows that the 9-5 job will eventually end up happening to him because he is career choice thus far is engineering.
I think that the project was very effective, although it probably could have been longer just show more of the “boring day at work� that the worker was experiencing as opposed to the “care-free� days that the college student experiences. I understand that it was probably difficult to judge how long it would be because of the stop-motion technique. I had a hard time judging how long a scene would be as well in doing my animation. I like the use of no narrative or voice over or any dialogue. I was very content to just watch how the two scenarios played out in the animation. I think that it was a good choice to not add voices because it wasn’t necessary to do so.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:52 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My ideas for this project are heading in the direction of sound, and how that affects our interpretation of visual images. This idea stems from previous films that I have watched and have realized that most of the impact that the film has on me is because the sound and music is so powerful. This is especially true in horror and drama films. I have never been a fan of horror films because I have come to realize that the only scary thing about them is the music and sound. What I’m wanting to do for this final project is challenge people’s thought process by assigning sound pieces with different moods to the same footage found in a particular horror film. My goal is to stimulate thought about what we predict to see visually based on what we hear, and how we interpret certain images based on the sounds that build the context around the image. The execution of this project will consist of either a looped image taken from a horror film with different sound pieces playing during each looping, or have different scenes playing while the same sound piece is looping, or I could do both.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My ideas for this project are heading in the direction of sound, and how that affects our interpretation of visual images. This idea stems from previous films that I have watched and have realized that most of the impact that the film has on me is because the sound and music is so powerful. This is especially true in horror and drama films. I have never been a fan of horror films because I have come to realize that the only scary thing about them is the music and sound. What I’m wanting to do for this final project is challenge people’s thought process by assigning sound pieces with different moods to the same footage found in a particular horror film. My goal is to stimulate thought about what we predict to see visually based on what we hear, and how we interpret certain images based on the sounds that build the context around the image. The execution of this project will consist of either a looped image taken from a horror film with different sound pieces playing during each looping, or have different scenes playing while the same sound piece is looping, or I could do both.

My ideas for this project are heading in the direction of sound, and how that affects our interpretation of visual images. This idea stems from previous films that I have watched and have realized that most of the impact that the film has on me is because the sound and music is so powerful. This is especially true in horror and drama films. I have never been a fan of horror films because I have come to realize that the only scary thing about them is the music and sound. What I’m wanting to do for this final project is challenge people’s thought process by assigning sound pieces with different moods to the same footage found in a particular horror film. My goal is to stimulate thought about what we predict to see visually based on what we hear, and how we interpret certain images based on the sounds that build the context around the image. The execution of this project will consist of either a looped image taken from a horror film with different sound pieces playing during each looping, or have different scenes playing while the same sound piece is looping, or I could do both.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I really enjoyed Tanya’s animation because it had a very homemade feel to it and everything was created and produced by her. I also like the simplicity that she used in order to get her point across. The animation starts out with the worm befriending those who he approaches and then eats them symbolizing murder or possibly greed. The fairy, which represents justice, casts a spell on him turning him into a mushroom, which becomes a home for a toad that doesn’t treat him very well. The worm ends up with what he deserves, which is to be punished, not by enforced laws, but by fate, or in other words, karma. This project as a whole definitely fits into the theme “invent a perfect world,� because justice being served as a part of everyone’s destiny verses by an act of free-will is a very utopian idea and concept. And Tanya was able to convey this idea in a very real and simplistic way that people of all ages can interpret. The style reminded me a lot of South Park, not only because of the paper cut outs, but the moral aspect of the project as well as adding a little bit of adult humor. The narrative follows the same conventional narrative that is used in children’s books in order for them to use a linear thought process to come to a conclusion. “The Hungry Worm� also follows the same structure as the song “Little Bunny Foo-Foo� This was very clear because the song was being hummed during the introduction to the animation and then in the end, however, the audience would have understood this even with out the theme song. I really liked the sound in the animation because it was simple and funny, and Tanya produced all of it. All of the sound effects were pretty straightforward and were timed to fit the actions in the animation. I thought that Tanya’s project was one of more successful animations in the class because of the style of using paper cutouts. She was the only one that used this style and perhaps that is why it stood out so much. Her project also was effective because of the use of the analogy. I always appreciate work that is simple in content but has a much larger deeper meaning.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Critique for Tanya
I really enjoyed Tanya’s animation because it had a very homemade feel to it and everything was created and produced by her. I also like the simplicity that she used in order to get her point across. The animation starts out with the worm befriending those who he approaches and then eats them symbolizing murder or possibly greed. The fairy, which represents justice, casts a spell on him turning him into a mushroom, which becomes a home for a toad that doesn’t treat him very well. The worm ends up with what he deserves, which is to be punished, not by enforced laws, but by fate, or in other words, karma. This project as a whole definitely fits into the theme “invent a perfect world,� because justice being served as a part of everyone’s destiny verses by an act of free-will is a very utopian idea and concept. And Tanya was able to convey this idea in a very real and simplistic way that people of all ages can interpret. The style reminded me a lot of South Park, not only because of the paper cut outs, but the moral aspect of the project as well as adding a little bit of adult humor. The narrative follows the same conventional narrative that is used in children’s books in order for them to use a linear thought process to come to a conclusion. “The Hungry Worm� also follows the same structure as the song “Little Bunny Foo-Foo� This was very clear because the song was being hummed during the introduction to the animation and then in the end, however, the audience would have understood this even with out the theme song. I really liked the sound in the animation because it was simple and funny, and Tanya produced all of it. All of the sound effects were pretty straightforward and were timed to fit the actions in the animation. I thought that Tanya’s project was one of more successful animations in the class because of the style of using paper cutouts. She was the only one that used this style and perhaps that is why it stood out so much. Her project also was effective because of the use of the analogy. I always appreciate work that is simple in content but has a much larger deeper meaning.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I really enjoyed Tanya’s animation because it had a very homemade feel to it and everything was created and produced by her. I also like the simplicity that she used in order to get her point across. The animation starts out with the worm befriending those who he approaches and then eats them symbolizing murder or possibly greed. The fairy, which represents justice, casts a spell on him turning him into a mushroom, which becomes a home for a toad that doesn’t treat him very well. The worm ends up with what he deserves, which is to be punished, not by enforced laws, but by fate, or in other words, karma. This project as a whole definitely fits into the theme “invent a perfect world,� because justice being served as a part of everyone’s destiny verses by an act of free-will is a very utopian idea and concept. And Tanya was able to convey this idea in a very real and simplistic way that people of all ages can interpret. The style reminded me a lot of South Park, not only because of the paper cut outs, but the moral aspect of the project as well as adding a little bit of adult humor. The narrative follows the same conventional narrative that is used in children’s books in order for them to use a linear thought process to come to a conclusion. “The Hungry Worm� also follows the same structure as the song “Little Bunny Foo-Foo� This was very clear because the song was being hummed during the introduction to the animation and then in the end, however, the audience would have understood this even with out the theme song. I really liked the sound in the animation because it was simple and funny, and Tanya produced all of it. All of the sound effects were pretty straightforward and were timed to fit the actions in the animation. I thought that Tanya’s project was one of more successful animations in the class because of the style of using paper cutouts. She was the only one that used this style and perhaps that is why it stood out so much. Her project also was effective because of the use of the analogy. I always appreciate work that is simple in content but has a much larger deeper meaning.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Bax’s animation starts out with King Arthur and the one evil villain left in the world. Eventually, a crew of super hero/good guys from various niches of the super hero spectrum enters the scene to take on the one bad guy in order for the world to be a peaceful place once again. It is interesting to see that whenever somebody uses an action figure as a prop, the original name and specific super powers are kept. This adds humor to the piece because viewers understand the “inside jokes� that pertain to each character when reading the dialog. The narrative follows conventional methods, so this animation was easy to follow. First there is a confrontation between two characters and the good guy is eventually distinguished from the villain, second the good guy runs into a dilemma, third, the plot unfolds into an intense, action packed fiasco where the good-guy prevails, and all is good in the world. This fits the theme; “Invent a perfect world� quite well because in the end, there is peace and everyone can live harmoniously due to the courageous acts of the “good guys.� The structure was done in a timely fashion, however I wish that there were dialogue instead of text. Because this is an action animation where there is a lot going on, and many characters, it seems appropriate to use dialogue so the viewer doesn’t have to concentrate on reading and watching at the same time. It also would have been helpful if there were an introduction for each character so it would have been easier to place a name with each character. Other than the text being in place instead of voices, I really liked the tone of the animation, it was very innocent as if the dialogue was being made up by three or four young boys all adding in their own commentary and all wanting the same goal of being the super hero who saves the world.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:36 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Bax’s animation starts out with King Arthur and the one evil villain left in the world. Eventually, a crew of super hero/good guys from various niches of the super hero spectrum enters the scene to take on the one bad guy in order for the world to be a peaceful place once again. It is interesting to see that whenever somebody uses an action figure as a prop, the original name and specific super powers are kept. This adds humor to the piece because viewers understand the “inside jokes� that pertain to each character when reading the dialog. The narrative follows conventional methods, so this animation was easy to follow. First there is a confrontation between two characters and the good guy is eventually distinguished from the villain, second the good guy runs into a dilemma, third, the plot unfolds into an intense, action packed fiasco where the good-guy prevails, and all is good in the world. This fits the theme; “Invent a perfect world� quite well because in the end, there is peace and everyone can live harmoniously due to the courageous acts of the “good guys.� The structure was done in a timely fashion, however I wish that there were dialogue instead of text. Because this is an action animation where there is a lot going on, and many characters, it seems appropriate to use dialogue so the viewer doesn’t have to concentrate on reading and watching at the same time. It also would have been helpful if there were an introduction for each character so it would have been easier to place a name with each character. Other than the text being in place instead of voices, I really liked the tone of the animation, it was very innocent as if the dialogue was being made up by three or four young boys all adding in their own commentary and all wanting the same goal of being the super hero who saves the world.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:35 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Bax’s animation starts out with King Arthur and the one evil villain left in the world. Eventually, a crew of super hero/good guys from various niches of the super hero spectrum enters the scene to take on the one bad guy in order for the world to be a peaceful place once again. It is interesting to see that whenever somebody uses an action figure as a prop, the original name and specific super powers are kept. This adds humor to the piece because viewers understand the “inside jokes� that pertain to each character when reading the dialog. The narrative follows conventional methods, so this animation was easy to follow. First there is a confrontation between two characters and the good guy is eventually distinguished from the villain, second the good guy runs into a dilemma, third, the plot unfolds into an intense, action packed fiasco where the good-guy prevails, and all is good in the world. This fits the theme; “Invent a perfect world� quite well because in the end, there is peace and everyone can live harmoniously due to the courageous acts of the “good guys.� The structure was done in a timely fashion, however I wish that there were dialogue instead of text. Because this is an action animation where there is a lot going on, and many characters, it seems appropriate to use dialogue so the viewer doesn’t have to concentrate on reading and watching at the same time. It also would have been helpful if there were an introduction for each character so it would have been easier to place a name with each character. Other than the text being in place instead of voices, I really liked the tone of the animation, it was very innocent as if the dialogue was being made up by three or four young boys all adding in their own commentary and all wanting the same goal of being the

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 4:32 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

In Grant’s video, the beginning he seemed to be stressed, worried by homework and things. He was tired and went to sleep. The focus becomes the alarm clock on his bedside. The speed of the clock went increasingly faster along with its sound. Then he woke up, but suddenly found that every single clock froze. He went out and found that leaves stopped in the midair, and the entire world has stopped. His stress and frustration went away that he could finally get his work done. He could finally get do something that he always wanted. Such as watching the entire series of a movie that he borrowed from a friend, read all the textbooks that he had been behind. He tried to talk to his friends, but realize that he was the only one in that world. He was bored and tired of being the only one. The time finally started moving again. The perfect world is never perfect. There is always something that we don’t idealize. The stopping of time allows us to do things that we always wanted, but it also posts many problems. The concept becomes what is the perfect world? And do we really want to live in an idealized world? We would perhaps want the imperfect world back.
It is a narrative piece that runs with time. The space and time melted together and coherent into one. It attacks the idea of perfect world through freezing of time. The pictures were well shot. The lighting was clear and uses of tripod helped to keep images moving. The editing reflected the change of angle and photoshop was used to add the unmoving leaf into the frame. A small fracture of video was used to reflect the unstopped part of the video. The sound was well, seamlessly used and incorporated into the work. The narratives timed well with the video. Also the clicking sound from the alarm clock and the flipped sound of DVD covers left me memorable impressions. The idea of this work stands out becomes it displays the idea of imperfection. The perfect world is not perfect. The graphic details also leave audience with great impressions. The angle of picture taken and outdoor effects were powerful.

Posted by Xi Wu at 3:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I found Sean’s stop motion project to be very creative because it reminded me of being a kid when I played with action figures and made up storylines. Firstly the use of the action figures like Leonardo, Splinter, and the yellow power ranger was interesting because kids are the ones who mix different figures together, so I found this variety of characters kid like. This variety worked well, because they all had their own style that added to the group; there was Leonardo the fighter, Splinter the serious one, that blob like creature (with a garbage face) was the dumb one, and the yellow ranger the funny one. I found the scenery worked with the theme but I felt a better one could have been made. The scenery reminded me of where a kid might play with his/her action figures. One scene that could have been used instead of the living room could have been a place like a city or sewer, since characters like Leonardo, and Splinter live in the sewer, and the blob creature looks like he might live in the sewer. I found that the sounds fit perfectly, and were very entertaining. The voices for instance fit each character well like Leonardo’s voice emphasized a serious and funny character. Splinter’s voice emphasized a serious person, while the power ranger was rather silly, and the blob creature just sounded crazy. I also liked the villain’s sound when he was flying and laughing, it added much humor to the animation. The villain and the blob creature were the funniest characters because of their voices. The idea of the hero choosing to be sort of a bad guy rather than live in a world without any problems is rather interesting because I really wonder how people will act in a world that does not have any crime, wars, and social problems.

Posted by Samuel Ayala at 9:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I found the Manda’s stop motion very interesting and imaginative because of the scenery, the characters, the sounds, and the idea. The scenery used was very creative with all the different shades of green, blue, and the plane in the background. The Christmas tree was also imaginative because it added to the feel of a forest environment. The scenery reminded me of little red riding hood, the part were she was walking through the woods. More specifically the little red riding hood movie entitled “Hood Winked� is the version which is the most similar to this piece. I found each character, the people and the animals to be well made. The characters reminded me of a mixture of two cartoons, Gumby, and Rocky and Bull Winkle. Obviously the use of clay and the eyes is what reminds me of Gumby, and the use of the squirrel reminds me of Rocky from Rocky and Bull Winkle. The guy who was hugging the animals did not remind me of anyone but I still found him interesting because how he walked and how he hugged each animal and how they all followed him. The soldiers, in my opinion were a good choice to show aggression because they are soldiers used in situations that require aggression. I found the color blue for soldiers was a little off, maybe I am over analyzing this but perhaps the blue color was used to show how they are separate from nature. I found the sounds to be cool, because of its use between the person and animals when he first saw each one in the beginning. The other sound I liked when one of the soldiers started screaming, it sounded like a movie scream. I also liked the sound when the turtle ate one of the soldiers, how the deer rammed one of the soldiers, and how the squirrel hit the last soldier standing with his tail. They were also very good action scenes. The timing of the sounds was very good is not perfect. I found the idea of this perfect world to be quite good because it involved nature, and wars, similar to what is going on in our society.

Posted by Samuel Ayala at 9:46 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Guidelines for Written Critique
Written response to be posted on Blog by Wednesday, 28 November

1. Describe and interpret the work. How does it contextualize (form and content) the theme of our assignment – “Invent a Perfect World� in stop-motion animation?

2. Evaluate the use of narrative (or non-narrative) structure – What is the works structure? How does it reflect ideas about time and space? How does it help to convey the goals of the work? Is it well edited and shot, why or why not?

3. Evaluate the sound – how is it used and incorporated into the work? Is it seamless or fractured? How does the sound help to convey the ideas behind the work?

4. Evaluate the effectiveness of the work. What stands out and why?

To help you get started:
Your critique should address form and content, and should consider the work of art in and of itself, and in the context of the assignment.

Terry Barrett, in his book Criticizing Photographs, defines criticism as "...informed discourse about art to increase understanding and appreciation..." As such, criticism involves much more than the relatively simple act of judging--of determining whether one "likes" or "dislikes" a piece. Rather, it is a means toward the end of understanding a work of art. Critical consideration usually consists of at least three main activities:

1. Describing the work (what does it look like? what is it made of?): Assume the audience has not and will not view the piece and that you are the sole mediator for their understanding of it's formal qualities.
2. Interpreting the work (what does it mean?): Here you are asked to synthesize any contextual or biographical information you have with your own subjective interpretation of the work's significance.
3. Evaluating the work (is it art? is it interesting? does it "work"?): This is, perhaps, the most difficult critical task, yet it is usually the one to which most people skip when criticizing a work of art. To thoughtfully evaluate a work of art, you must determine what your criteria are for judging its relative worth or effectiveness. Only you can provide this information. Do not assume the reader (or your fellow student) shares your point of view. Explain why you feel the way you do. "Thumbs up" or "thumbs down" will not cut it. This is college.

Most people new to the critique forum fail to understand that criticism of a work does not mean the work is "bad", or that the artist has failed in some way. In order to refine our ability to produce effective artworks, we must listen to what the participants in the critique have to say about it. This is not to discourage robust debate, by any means. Some of the most lucid insights arise out of heated arguments about a work of art. Rather, it is imperative that each point of view be expressed so as to maximize the benefit of this most unusual form of public discourse. The whole point of the exercise is to go make better work.

Posted by Katinka at 4:16 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

a perfect world

Posted by Donny Sollars at 1:40 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

I decided to approach this project in a more abstract way than I normally do. The beginning was kind of supposed to be a metaphor of a cluttered mind as the messy room and loud music. Then through getting to be creative, making music, the clutter vanished and the music continued instead of the beating drum.
Erasing the random letters and design was also a metaphor for clearing ones mind and to have a less hectic outlook on life.

Posted by Mike Koenig at 1:28 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

Most people in today’s society are hounded by these two words: carbs. and calories. I admit that when I eat something “not-so-healthy� I often think about the effects it will have on my body. Who doesn’t anymore? American society has put body image high on a pedestal. A part of me feels guilty for eating some of the things I eat. But is that fair? Wouldn’t it be nice to eat this or that without worrying about gaining weight? Wouldn’t it be the perfect world if those ideas were pushed out of our minds? The pleasure of eating those delicious treats is taken away from those negative voices swarming in our heads. “You’ll get back fat!�…. “Think of you thighs!�…. “Don’t eat it!�.. or “You’ll regret it!� are just a few of those thoughts all of us wish would go away. Wouldn’t you love to eat a brownie or say a chocolate chip cookie without having to hear those nasty thoughts?

Through my project I tried to portray the very thing I just described. A young girl finds some chocolate chip cookies on her kitchen table and doesn’t know if she should eat them or not. Her body sure wants them, but the voices are trying to stop her from eating them. Finally, the voices get too overwhelming and the girl breaks down. She screams so loud the voices go away. Time stops (as you can see on the clock in the animation) which demonstrates how the girl has escaped reality. She’s in a world where she can finally eat in peace.

This project was a pretty complex process for me. First I had to draw all of the frames, which ended up being a total of 235. Then I had to photograph the drawings and edit them in Photoshop. I needed to crop all of the images and add more light and contrast to enhance them. If I would have had more time I would have liked to play around with the lighting more in Photoshop. It turned out to be a little to dark for me. Then I had to add sound. The sound was fun to make for me. I recorded all of the sounds after watching the animation play through and matched it with the movement of the character. I didn’t leave much time for sound in the end, but I wish I would have, because I think I could have done a little more with it. The program I used didn’t allow much room for manipulation either.

Posted by Laura Rask at 1:00 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

In my final project I show my perfect world as a state of mind where my imaginary world gives the main character a break from the rushed real world. The idea of portraying a perfect world as a fantasy world is based on my daily experiences, where my daily schedule is so packed with things to do that it does not leave me any leisure time to dream or think. In my opinion it is very important to pursue leisure time because it stimulates creativity and productivity instead of constantly being tired from a hasty daily rhythm.
As such, I decided to present my fantasy world as colorful and playful to illustrate, first of all, a personal perfect world and secondly to give a sense of refreshment, which elevates my mood. I also placed my dreamlike world in between scenes of a rushed street life to better demonstrate the contrast between the two.
With respect to the sound in the video, I tried to record a variety of noisy sounds for the rushed and busy scene that we usually encounter on the street. Those noises include cars going by, people talking - but not understandable talking so that it does not take away from the visual aspect - and construction drone. The sound effects that I created for the fantasy world were created by instruments such as harmonica, guitar and sounds made by two metal objects. I then tried to transform their original sound by playing with effects in audacity using normalizing, reversing and echo effects as well as some others. I chose to transform those noises to indefinable noises to underline the dream effect of the scene.

Manu's Perfect World

Posted by Emanuela Porcelli at 12:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

Posted by Alan O'Neil at 12:57 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Within my video, I have provided a situation where happiness (which i find to be the root of any "utopia") is made apparent through a somewhat atypical situation. While this is not meant to be dissected in any deeper manner, feel free to do so. Using a train and an old man who finds peace in an apple was merely a playful attempt to juxtapose a sort of chaos or tension with the simplicity and singularity that happiness entails. I kept things fairly minimal in this video, and used audio samples as a form of emphasis rather than a constant presence. I believe this was effective, and provided a sort of audible outline of the story. Apologies for the missing title in the middle...(Chapter 4.) Things became rather hectic toward the end, and it was forgotten in the mix. Tragic, really. Overall, as I explored somewhat in the last video project, I find charcoal sketches as a form of animation to hold a nice aesthetic value. Also, the constructive element which it provides (where images leave "trails" or shadows) is something which I would like to continue to play with.

Posted by Alan O'Neil at 12:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For project three I felt that there was something missing from it, the project felt a little dry like it needed music. I wanted to put a small part of a song but since it could only go on a small part of the animation I felt that it would have sounded weird, so I left it without music. Some of the sounds that I had to make were a little difficult because I had no reference point like the buildings being deconstructed, so I just used a sound that which was like a drill. The other sounds like sun and moon passing by I got from the movie “The Time Machine�; to make it sound alike I just made a whoosh sound. When I got to the Garden of Eden I did not want to make it seem like the traditional view so I added some things like I researched on like dinosaurs. In many pictures or videos nobody ever thinks of having dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden, everything else was basically traditional. In my opinion I wish I could have gotten better voices because I do not think they fit in the way I wanted them to. Overall I am pleased with the frame rate because the speed allowed the film to be the right length, and still kept the smoothness that I wanted.

Lost Eden

Posted by Samuel Ayala at 12:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

Let me start off by stating that stop-motion filmography is a monster. I don't know how people who animate for a living keep hair. It's a good thing I'm bald or half of my head would have been pulled out in the process.

The hardest part of making my piece was the video capture. Trying to get 8 unstable figures to go through a series of unique movements and interact was painstakingly difficult. In the end, I ended up going through almost half a roll of duct tape, 2 sheets of double sided tack, and 2 cases of red bull just to get the photos i needed captured. Still, as the figures continued to fall over and ruin series of takes, I ended up tossing many a turtle across the room.

I found that as I continued taking shots, I got better at making smooth movements and did the process quicker. I hate the beginning of my piece. If I had more time (and less academic load) I would reshoot the whole first half. I was pleased with the ending but I really dislike the discontinuity in the framerates throughout the film. Since I was trying to make it look like a cheap, bootlegged work, written by a kid, making the sound was easy. I did a narration in the mindset of a kid playing with his toys. The product was reminiscent of my childhood afternoons. I feel the storyline, mixed with this sentiment of play and levity, emphasize the idea of a perfect world I was attempting to convey.

Posted by Sean O'Rourke at 12:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download

I found that this project was difficult for me. Maybe because I'm not a patient person, and stop-motion/animation requires a lot of patience. I do think animation and the whole stop motion style type of filming is really cool t hough. I guess I enjoy watching it a lot more than making it. I'm glad that I learned how to do this though.

My video is basically about super heroes trying to make a utopia world, or a perfect world by eliminating all villains so that they can retire from being super heroes. I used action figures for this project because I thought it would be a lot easier for me since I'm not good at drawing, painting or anythign involving creating pictures. Now that I think of it though, I might have done a lot better if I did something on people or motions of everyday life instead of action figures. I tried to bring humor into my project, but I don't think I succeeded much in it.

There were a lot of troubles for me while I worked on this project. From the beginning, it was impossible for me to keep the action figures standing, and making them move smooth was just too hard so that explains why my video is choppy. The second problem that I had, which I think could've made my project so much more better was the sound. I spent hours creating sound, and I thought the sounds I created would've been such a great addition to my project. It turns out I spent a lot longer trying to synchronize the sound with my video. Because of how my video moves, I felt like it was impossible for me to ever get the sound and video in sync. I tried to speed up the voices, but after I speeded up all the voices, all the characters voices sound the same, and that couldn't work. Even after t hat it was still hard to sync the sound and video for me. So I finally decided to let the sound go, and worked with subtitles only for my character dialogues. Again, I think this was the most trouble I had with my project.

After thinking about the sound for a very long time though, I thought of an idea. Maybe if I could redo this project I would have had my sound recording setup differently. How I did it was that each character recorded their lines. For example, person 1 recorded what he was gonna say, pause, then his lines again, pause, lines again. I initially thought I would be able to bring them all into Audacity and just put them all together, but that failed. So my other idea that I came up with was to just have the friends that helped me come over and we just read out the dialogues all together. Go back and fourth during the recording and have the video play. It was too bad it was already too late when this idea came up because two guys already left town.

So anyway, I don't think I'll be doing anything with stop motion for Project 4, if so it'll definitely not have action figures in it.

Posted by Bax at 12:25 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I’m not quite sure how I feel about the execution of my project. Although I like my idea, I feel that it would have been better as a film rather than a stop-motion animation. This doesn’t mean than I didn’t like the process of doing stop-motion because I love photography and I’m glad that I can finally say that I’ve done a project using this technique, however it was rather difficult to judge whether I took enough photographs for a particular scene. The reason it was difficult was because all of my sound was a voice over and I did the photography completely separate from the narration. When I was trying to merge these two pieces together in final-cut, I realized that some scenes weren’t long enough for the voice over and visa versa. I eventually was able to make both pieces coincide with one another, however I had to speed up the narration in order to make it match. I don’t know if this was a good idea because certain words are a bit distorted. I wish there was more instruction on how to do effects and other technical strategies for final Cut because I feel like my level of ability to use the program is very basic in comparison to some of the other students in the class. I feel like perhaps I could be more creative with my execution if I knew what the program offered.
I changed my idea for my animation quite drastically from my initial proposal. I still wanted to stay in the context of social issues, and for this project, my “perfect world� is reviled in the end, which is “Cultural Unity.� This scenario with my cheese curds has a direct correlation with the genocide that took place in Rwanda between the Hutus and the Tutsis. These ethnicities where fabricated by the Belgians and has since created a deep social divide. There are no physical characteristics that distinguish one from another, just as nobody is able to tell if a cheese curd is filled with cheddar or mozzarella cheese on the inside. This was meant to be a satirical comment on the absurdity of ethnic groups fighting each other. I also wanted to do this on Rwanda because ethnic divide is so common in Africa and there are so many people dying and being killed every day, and nobody really knows about it. The American media does little reporting on foreign social events happening in the world. A massive human genocide in Darfur is happening right now, and there is very little reporting being done by American media. Along with this issue, comes another, which is the perpetuating ideal of cultural unity. Because these ideas and constructs of different ethnicities are so deeply ingrained in people’s beliefs and culture, is it too much of a utopian idea for every one to live peacefully on this earth?
I end my animation with the last two people alive, each one being from the opposing ethnicity. They unite by becoming drug buddies because it is ridiculous, just as every other mode to which people have tried to be diplomatic towards each other and live peacefully has been a failure.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 11:15 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

In my project I chose to represent the perfect world by using cartoons within a dream. My character is an older male who is no longer enjoying life and goes to sleep in hopes something will change. As he falls asleep he dreams about numerous different cartoons he watched and grew up with as a child. The cartoons have a lot of random interactions with each other within his dream. The dream starts to get weird at times, but the whole time the cartoons are bragging about how they have a perfect life and they’re having so much fun. The guy wakes up and wishes it wasn’t only a dream. I believe I portrayed my vision of a perfect world very well in this art project. Stop-motion was very difficult, but I think it helped give a dream like feel to my clip. I did not have time to add sound to the project, but I think it works very well without sounds because it makes it seem more old school. After finishing the project I wish I would have time to go back and add more frames to make all the images more smooth.

Posted by Nohman Baysudee at 9:57 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For my stop motion video I thought a lot about what issues arise on a daily basis that I wish were different, more perfect to my standards. The most reoccurring thought is that I always want to be in multiple locations at the same time. All throughout college I have been very involved with numerous activities and organizations aside from the 20 credit semesters I continuously find myself registering for. Because of my insane schedule and determination to stay committed with each of my affiliations I constantly struggle with conflicting events and obligations. My perfect world would be to stay FULLY committed to everything, including my homework and still have an exciting social life.
My video starts with regular film of different people asking me to be places all at the same time. I want to do it all so I multiply myself so I CAN do it all. The rest is stop motion with clips of me doing all different activities. It was hard to make it clear to the observer that I was doing all of these activities at the same time. I have a clock showing at one point and then figured since the beginning of the video introduces four people all wanting me to do something at 12 and then what follows are scenes from each requested activity the observer can put the two together and understand that I DID do each activity even though they were all at the same time. This project has certainly been the most time consuming of all of our work but also a constant learning process. Like with all art this video could continue to be worked on and improved. Adding text was one thought I had but decided against doing it. At first I thought it coud be used to clarify that I am doing everything at once but after watching my video I think text would be superficial and just a distraction to the scences. Split sc
The sound I chose to go in my video is different for each scene and it is natural sounds related to the images being displayed so for example, the study sequence has sound from pages of a book turning, computer typing and students in "group discussion". While working on this project I certainly wish I could do multiple things at once because I would have liked to have time to work in the lab while attending my regularly scheduled classes and meetings.

Posted by Jenna Stangland at 8:11 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My Utopia

A perfect world after the apocalypse...

For my utopia i originally wanted to show the world after the apocalypse, and show the battle between humans for survival, but after working for a week or so on the fight scene it really didnt come out to my liking at all, so i opted to not but it into my piece. Instead i went for a lighter theme and in the end of my video it shows that even though the world has ended their are still survivors and inside the egg is a child, my symbol for our hope in the future. I will hopefully be able to some way be able to put the fight scene in that i worked so hard on into my 4th project.

The story:

The story for my project is this:

As humans rest staring up at the sky all over the world a strange light is seen all over the world. As it falls from the heavens the star explodes creating a worldwide sand storm to kick up. When the dust settles humanity and the world we know has been buried. There are some survivors however scattered throughout the world. A group of these survivors notice a strange light and follow it. It leads them into the ruins of the city, where they find an altar with an egg and a chest. The people are frightened by these strange objects that seem to each have their own unique aura. The egg glows blue while the chest glows red. A voice softly invades the mind of the travelers and tells them they must select one of the items. The leader of the group says that he can sense something evil coming from the chest, the others agree, So they choose the egg. The egg begins to crack, inside is a little girl. Shocked by this the group stands back, the little one is clearly frightened of them and begins to cry, the leader steps forward to her and says do not cry, do not be afraid. The voice from above says, " this child is the hope of humanity, your future, cherish her and care for her, and your kind will live on." At this the child smiles.

I chose to do this animation in Russian, i love the way this language sounds its beautiful ^_^ Not to mention i was growing a little tired of everything being in english, so i thought i would try something different. It took me a while to figure out how to work it so i used a poem called Ulybnis, which means smile. It fit exactly with what i had in mind for my story and animation.

I did run in to some problems with the stupid subtitles though, i dont like that they are covering some of the picture but there was no way i could move them down much further due to the cropping of the images. Also i know we were supposed to not use any music but after listening to it with just my voice talking it sounded like crap and was well very boring, so i went into a program that lets you make the music i picked some of my favorite songs and played them using the software and i changed it so they were all in a music box format since i wanted it to sound childish. Since i made the music myself i figured that should at least somewhat make it my own sounds :P

Posted by Amanda Berglund at 12:05 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file (Tiny, hosted on blog)

High-quality version (Huge, link to media mill)

I usually don't have nearly enough time to do all the things that I want to do, let alone all the things that I think I ought to do. In my perfect world, I imagine this not being a problem: time simply stops for me to give me a chance to catch up while the rest of the world stands still. The inevitable end of this sort of thing is terrible boredom if it lasts too long. Although I mostly showed all the cool things I could get done if time actually stopped, I wanted to show a couple of the downsides, too. For example, I can't communicate or do anything with anybody since they're all frozen in time. In the end, I am bored and tired of my perfect world and wishing for it to end. In this case, I'm released and time goes back to normal, but it could have gone on a lot longer and gotten worse.

Stop motion was useful in showing all the things I did in my "perfect" world because it allowed me to accelerate some of the things I did. Since stop-motion animation is a bit jerky by nature, it didn't seem too odd for me to suddenly write a tall stack of papers, read through all of my textbooks while the pages move from one side of the book to the other, or do dishes in a matter of seconds. It also let me do cool things like freeze a leaf in midair, stop cars on the highway behind me, or spin the camera around as I fall into bed and back into real time.

Sound plays two roles in my project: most of the time it is merely in the background, in places where you need to hear something or it will sound odd, though you don't really notice it too much. These are things like the sound of me sitting on my chair, the sound of my hand touching the top of the microwave, or my footsteps when I go outside. Oftentimes, I drastically shortened sounds I recorded to make them fit the accelerated video: for example, the sound of me filling the sink with water as I do dishes was chopped up to shorten the amount of time it took. Sometimes, sound plays a much more important role: it serves to measure out time along with the clock during the night and as time stops. It accentuates the "rate" at which I am reading through the books or watching DVDs. All sounds in this video were recorded completely separately from the images and added to my Final Cut project.

I hope everybody enjoys watching what I imagine might happen were time to stop for everybody but me!

Posted by Grant Miller at 11:10 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

This movie follows the excursions of an evil inchworm and the misdeeds he does along his path.

For my final project, I for the most part stuck to my original proposal theme of a perfect world being just. I chose to interpret the theme in a more playful manner, simply because the materials I had available (plus the style of my artistic skills) set a more playful mood. By infusing rather dark humor into the project, I hoped to mix both the serious with the playful. The moral of the story “Karma’s a bitch� references the popular taunt (mostly of avengers giving their targets what they deserve) “Payback’s a bitch.�

I decided to use construction paper as my exclusive medium since it works so well in 2-D cartoons, and was quicker than drawing so more detail could be realized in the final product. I thought 2-D would also be more appropriate than clay or action figures since the characters themselves are fairly 2 Dimensional. For example the worm is strictly evil, the characters he eats are all good, and we never get to know them long enough to know anything else about them.

The audio was all my voice speaking into my laptop, and I felt it worked well in portraying the simple storyline. The movie itself certainly doesn’t look professional and more child-like, so I thought the audio fit by being all vocal.

Posted by Tanya Wacholz at 9:14 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This video is based on the theme of a Perfect World. I attacked the topic from the view of sportsmanship. The video illustrates an act under temporary temper, and different perspectives on it from various numbers of others. I used stop motion techniques with pictures for the beginning and the end, and a video with several flashes I made at the middle. The sound were made by me to match up with the video. Finally it ends with a friendly hand shake by both sides.

Download file

Posted by Xi Wu at 8:28 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

What would a perfect world be like? Created in a stop-motion style, my video is about nature. The underlying concept about my ideal world has to do with taking the time to notice the beauty that surrounds our ever-busy lives. In our world today, I hate the fact that it’s so easy to overlook the amazing images and landscapes that have been around us since day one. With that in mind, my perfect world is more of an allegory for what my perfect world would be like - not so much that what I’m presenting is what it would visually look like, but more of the effect I think it would have on us as human beings.

This project has been a relief in a way because the actual process of creating the visuals has forced me to take time out of my ‘busy life’ to, in essence, notice nature. For me, the process turned out to be just as important as the work itself - after all, I was more or less forced to test out my “perfect world�. Building this collage of visuals created in me a collaged idea of what nature is: it’s never simply just nature. Nature is a part of us. We need nature to live and breathe. For me, just by creating this project I have come to appreciate nature more.

With this collage of images also came my collage approach for the audio. I wanted to create a sonic world with similar sounds we may hear everyday; sounds that often times we become fixated on: cars, phones, traffic, industry, etc. All of these things have a tendency to distract our attention away from nature. In the same manner, however, I created a collage of peaceful, serene sounds to contrast both the images and the sounds of the previous segment. These calm sounds carry into the circular narrative, suggesting that, just maybe, by heightening our senses to the beauty around us, such tranquility will manifest itself in our actions, behaviors, and attitudes as human beings.

Enjoy.

Posted by Chris Hirsch at 8:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This video conicals the day in a life of a typical college student and a 9 to 5er. I'm not sure that I made the message completely clear. The goal was to compare the two mornings (wake up time, breakfast, mode of travel, ect.) and through that show how good we as college students have it now. I think the split screen helped make this more clear. To make the sound I simply used the digital audio recorder to tape some of the more interesting actions in the film and overlayed them depending on the situation on the screen.

Posted by Charles Holley at 6:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As per the past assignments:
please up-load your quicktime export (DV-NTSC compression format) to Media Mill.
Then make 2 derivatives -
* one large quicktime (for in-class viewing)
* one small quicktime (to post on our blog)
SHARE WITH ME BY 12:30 PM MONDAY!

Also write and post 200-300 words on your "perfect world" - what and why you chose this interpretation of the topic and how you have realized tyour idea given the process of stop-motion. Also talk about your sound and how it is incorporated into your project!

Posted by Katinka at 10:01 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The non-sound sound piece is to invoke thought about what sound really is and how we perceive sound. This is to stimulate ideas about what we anticipate when we think about hearing sound. Historically there has been this idea that sound is something that makes noise and is something that we hear, however the idea behind this project is that even though you didn't hear noise, does that necessarily mean that you didn't hear sound. Is sound only limited to noise, or is sound more than that? Sometimes not hearing anything can be louder than noise itself.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 10:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The idea behind this project is to listen carefully to a dinner being made, the process of eating the dinner, and cleaning up after the meal. This is all done very fast to imitate this day in age where everyone is in a rush. People don't take the time anymore to make a meal, sit down and enjoy it. This piece is intended for people to take the time to listen, not only dinner noises, but subtle noises in general that we don't pay attention to on a daily basis. Do we take these noises for granted?

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 10:08 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Technology is so ingrained in our daily lives that its hard to take a step back and count all of the uses that are out there. literally it is unending because technology keeps advancing every day. The most fascinating thing about technology is all of the converging of devices that are being invented such as cell phones that you can not only talk on but check your email, listen to music, watch videos, take pictures and so on and so on. Technology is wonderful in that it makes a lot of daily tasks very convienent and a lot less stressful. However whenever there is something very good that is present there is always a negative component. Humans depend on technology to make it through the day, and i think that we depend on it a little too much. If there was a major crash in all the servers world wide, everything would be in complete chaos. We should all be fortunate that we have the privilege of having access to a wide variety of technologies, but we should also be conscious of how we go about things in case technology is not readily available to us at any point in the future.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 10:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My initial idea is to use a large ball covered in toilet paper as the “model� or “actor� for my video. I will kind of be playing off a previous project that I did with the ball but consisted of taking photographs of it instead of a movie. The idea of my previous project was “a day in the life of a college student� with the toilet ball being the college student. I did it in a sort of mocking way and also very extreme. My idea for this project would be to use the ball of toilet paper in “how do live in the suburbs� I would film the ball in various spaces such as the mall, chain stores, and neighborhoods in a suburb of Minneapolis, such as Plymouth for example. Since I have moved up here to Minneapolis when I was a freshman, I have taken a peculiar interest in suburbs, mainly because I grew up no where near a suburb and find it interesting to meet groups of people from them.not that they are a different species or anything, but a lot of people that I have meet have this tension between themselves and everyone else around them in a competition sort of way. I worked in the Ridgedale mall over the summer and I had a nagging feeling about it the entire time. I was really disturbed by the fact that there wasn’t any family owned businesses and all the homes were track homes. Nothing seemed to be original, and it really bothered me. It bothers me even more so that some many people strive in life to live in these kinds of places. I really don’t understand what is so spectacular about these areas. I found these places really easy to ridicule and make fun of so I thought that a ball of toilet paper would be the perfect suburban actor for this role.
My ideas for filming this will either consist of a friend pulling a string with the ball attached, so the ball is independent or I will have my friend hold the ball in the palm and away from her body so the ball will seem to be off the ground. I really want this to be a silent film for a least part of it. I’m thinking of using the song “Little Boxes� or have a Beethoven song. I might add some dialog in the film if I think it’s appropriate. I really don’t want the sound to be the focus; I want the images to be the main focus.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 9:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My initial idea is to use a large ball covered in toilet paper as the “model� or “actor� for my video. I will kind of be playing off a previous project that I did with the ball but consisted of taking photographs of it instead of a movie. The idea of my previous project was “a day in the life of a college student� with the toilet ball being the college student. I did it in a sort of mocking way and also very extreme. My idea for this project would be to use the ball of toilet paper in “how do live in the suburbs� I would film the ball in various spaces such as the mall, chain stores, and neighborhoods in a suburb of Minneapolis, such as Plymouth for example. Since I have moved up here to Minneapolis when I was a freshman, I have taken a peculiar interest in suburbs, mainly because I grew up no where near a suburb and find it interesting to meet groups of people from them.not that they are a different species or anything, but a lot of people that I have meet have this tension between themselves and everyone else around them in a competition sort of way. I worked in the Ridgedale mall over the summer and I had a nagging feeling about it the entire time. I was really disturbed by the fact that there wasn’t any family owned businesses and all the homes were track homes. Nothing seemed to be original, and it really bothered me. It bothers me even more so that some many people strive in life to live in these kinds of places. I really don’t understand what is so spectacular about these areas. I found these places really easy to ridicule and make fun of so I thought that a ball of toilet paper would be the perfect suburban actor for this role.
My ideas for filming this will either consist of a friend pulling a string with the ball attached, so the ball is independent or I will have my friend hold the ball in the palm and away from her body so the ball will seem to be off the ground. I really want this to be a silent film for a least part of it. I’m thinking of using the song “Little Boxes� or have a Beethoven song. I might add some dialog in the film if I think it’s appropriate. I really don’t want the sound to be the focus; I want the images to be the main focus.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 9:44 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For this project I want to do a stop-motion using photography. My initial ideas are to photograph around Minneapolis including campus, areas around campus, downtown and hopefully areas of suburbs, and basically anywhere I feel like. I want to juxtapose these contrasts next to each other with the idea that although people live radically different lives according to what part of town they life in; everything in its natural state is somewhat miraculous in a sense. Isn’t human struggle kind of perfect, and kind of necessary? We all do things to better our lives and consistently look for a utopian sanctuary where we can rest at ease, but sooner or later, we become restless of resting and we intentionally search for struggle only so we can find incentive to hold our hands above our heads to climb that invisible latter of integrity.
When I take myself outside the realm of being human and living within these social inequalities, I have come to realize that everything in this life has a certain quality about it that makes it beautiful. If you take all of the poverty and all of the wealth and everything in between that we all share not physically but emotionally, don’t we all realize on some level, that life is wonderful?

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 9:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For this project, I had a dilemma because I was satisfied with the raw footage and the ideas that I was able to capture, however, I wanted to have the experience of learning Final Cut Pro, so I opted to add in music and title cards to make my movie look like the rest of the class. I realize now that I should not have done this because my initial ideas were originally to contradict the template that most of the class used in order to execute their movie. Everybody in the class used a “Step One, Step Two, and Step Three� format which was a part of the “templates� that people use in our “do it yourself� culture. The execution process that I used was completely counter-intuitive to what I was trying to get across in my video. One hand I am glad that had the opportunity to learn Final Cut Pro, but on the other hand, Final Cut Pro was not a necessary tool to use for my footage.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 9:40 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

It was really interesting to see everyone’s take on the sound piece. I felt like each person’s audio was radically different from everyone else. I also felt like there were only a few people commenting (including myself) and I really would have liked to hear other people’s comments. Perhaps a lot of people just had nothing to say. I also feel like the assignments are geared more towards being conceptual in the ideas rather than really focusing on how to use the technology. I like that the assignments are trying to get everyone to think, but I feel like the pressure to come up with a really good ideas is taking away from the involvement in using the program.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 9:39 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I was very exited to see Lee’s work because admired her way of depicting American subcultures. I wasn’t aware that she was from Korea. I thought that she was born in the United States. But the fact that she didn’t grow up in this country makes it even more interesting that she bases her work on commenting about American subcultures. Americans are aware of these different niches, but everybody is so use to it that it and the majority of Americans choose to fit into one of these categories.
Lee’s work was humorous in many ways because it was commenting on the stereotypes, but I found that the message that she was bringing forth about the different subcultures in American society is quite alarming. The fact that just anyone can so readily immerse themselves into any category is frightening. The clear message about these “subcultures� is that they contain no substance. A lot of Americans choose to identify with some type of subculture, because these identities are convenient and easy to assume. One thing that Nikki didn’t comment on is that a lot of younger Americans (teens and twenties) dress according to what music they listen to. This isn’t as prevalent in other countries. Lee did a punk, swingers and hip-hop project, but it wasn’t commenting on how young people dress like the music that they listen to.
I was also really amazed at how Lee was able to drastically change her physical appearance to fit into these niches of people. The senior citizen project was especially intense. It just goes to show that these American “subcultures� are based on physical appearance more than anything, and if one can assume the role, then they are very likely to be accepted with really no questions asked. I can imagine that it would be strange to grow up in a country were everyone is the same race and all very similar and then travel to a country where people live drastically different lives which heavily depends upon what part of town you live in.

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 9:21 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

I chose to use clay in my stop-motion video because it has always interested me. I watch Tim Burton's claymations in awe.
The idea behind my video is that you can solve all the world's problems by huging it away. I became frusterated with the main character and decided to put in a surprise ending. I hope that everyone sees it in the lighthearted way I ment it to be and I hope that it is enjoyed.

Posted by Manda Burger at 3:30 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

SO, here is my proposal after a couple weeks of progress. I am working on a short narrative that makes use of sketch-based animation (once again.) This time I am attempting to put more of a focus on timing and a more seamless integration of audio. I am also playing with different modes of stop motion to set a mood. For instance, I hope to merge smooth animation (higher frame rates) with a "one image fades into the next" approach, which will be used to give a sense of broken time or slow motion. The narrative, in contrast with other projects I've done thus far, is less conceptually heavy and a bit more playful.

Posted by Alan O'Neil at 1:12 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Assignment IIII :: Design Your Own Project

The fourth and final project is yours to design and develop given your interests in the processes and ideas introduced in class.

Project IIII :: DYO Project
There are no limitations on the realization of this project, except that it must engage some form of a digital process and be conceptually, technically and aesthetically coherent, well thought-out and developed.

Some ideas:
Refine and develop a project or idea that you have already presented in class or been thinking about.
Work collectively with others in the class to develop a collaborative project.
Introduce new processes that you are interested in working with.
Create an installation and/or engage other disciplines that you’re currently working with (such as sculpture, painting, photography, music, design, architecture, etc.)

You will be graded on:
1. Concept: a well-developed and thoughtful idea, its representative clarity, and conceptual strategy.
2. Technique: a well-crafted and developed project. This is dependent on your chosen process and how it incorporates image, narrative, sound, and editing into its structure.
3. Aesthetics: the form your project takes must be intrinsically related to the subject matter and concept.

Waypoints and Due-dates
* 26 November
Project Research and Proposal: Write a 400-500 word project proposal: a description of your final project, including a set of initial ideas, techniques and aesthetic concerns. Post it all on the blog. Be ready to discuss your initial ideas.
* 5 December
In-process review
* 12 December
Final projects due for group critique. Post your video and a brief 200-300 word reflection on the blog by 12:30 pm.

wk 13
11.26 proposals due
11.28 introduction to DVD Studio Pro

wk 14
12.3 open studio
12.5 in-process reviews

wk 15
12.10 studio workday
12.12 critique project IIII

final
12.19 Final DVD of all projects (and CD of all project QuickTimes) DUE by 10 am.
(scheduled time 8am-10am)

Posted by Katinka at 11:58 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

1601-3 Time and Interactivity
Assignment III :: Stop-Motion Primer

Your third project will be an introduction to working with stop-motion animation techniques and home made sound.

Project III :: Invent a Perfect World
What would your perfect world look like and sound like? In thinking about this theme ask the question what does a perfect world mean to you? What is it in opposition towards given your everyday experiences and thoughts? In other words, what is not ‘perfect’ our contemporary lives and how would you change it to make a better place for yourself and those around you. Try to engage in social, political, and cultural issues, the imbalances you see acted out in everyday life.
Allow your personal perspective and interests to guide you.

This project will allow you to think broadly about this topic and express your ideas using stop-motion animation and home made sound. You can use any form you would like. The only exception is that it can not be all made in the computer! Your hand must be involved some how; drawing, clay, photography, shadow puppets, collage techniques.

Technical Goals
* Build on your knowledge of narrative techniques
* Build your knowledge of basic lighting techniques
* Learn the basics of stop-motion animation
* Build on your knowledge of creating sound and incorporate this in to the project

Way-points and Due-dates
* 5 November
Project Research and Proposal: Write a 400-500 word project proposal including: your description of your “perfect world� and how it might change something in a real world context, also include a set of initial ideas for making your animation and sound (technique, location, style etc). Post it all on the blog. AND bring a hard copy to class! Be ready to discuss your initial ideas as a group, in class.
* 14 November
All images must be imported into your computer!
* 21 November
Final animations due for group critique. Post your video and a brief 200-300 word reflection on the blog by 12:30.

wk 10
11.5 project 3 proposals due / group discussion
11.7 shot and export short animation

wk11
11.12 open studio
11.14 all images shot and imported into computer, build sound.

wk 12
11.19 open studio
11.21 critique project III

Posted by Katinka at 4:10 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Lisa Lapinski has very interesting works of art and it was also interesting to know what inspired her. Most of her work comes from the inspiration of other Artists like Gustave Miklos, whose sculpture of a bird was bought by Lisa for use in one of her works. One type of medium that Lisa seems to use frequently is paper. Such works like Clown typeface, and Rainbow (untitled) use a lot of paper. The Rainbow series seems more planned out because Lisa admits using paper but it doesn’t look like she does; the mosques and bird houses. Clown type face is basically several pieces of paper on the floor, with a box at the corner of the room, all white, except the room. There are some drawings at the back of this box which is wired to me (why is it in the back?), a practice which she continues in other pieces. Night Stand is a piece which Lisa breaks from using paper and instead uses wood. At first glance it looked like a broken hen house, but closer examination reveals it to be much more. The way that several pieces of wood are arranged in Night Stand make it look like it is revolving around something, perhaps the Star of David in the back of the piece (still wondering why Lisa does this). After seeing some of Lisa’s work I would say I like how she gets inspired by other artists and her use of some of them in her art work. Some of her pieces seemed like not enough effort was placed into it (like Clown typeface), while others seem like she put months into them (like Rainbow). It is very interesting and sort of mysterious to me why she has drawings or symbols in the back of some of her work.

Posted by Samuel Ayala at 4:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This lecture experience was very unique. In the beginning I was excited to see an emerging artist whose art I find inspiring and appealing. Her works of art had already captured my attention in the past due to her intricately crafted work and the incorporation of a wide range of materials in her sculptures; such as drawing, painting, photography, cement, clay, wall-paper, wood and snoopy figurines. However, as I was listening to her presentation I got very confused. I could not follow her train of thought about her work. This I found very surprising since her sculptures, especially one called " Nightstand", are structurally organized and well executed. Another irritating aspect of her presentation was that she always referred to other artists, whose names were not revealed, in order to explain her own work. She even read her own reaction piece to an unknown artist to give a better understanding of her own work. All in all, even though I got very confused, I was able to see where she draws her inspiration. Her sources of inspiration are literature, religion, philosophy, psychology and history. Although this seems to be a negative response to the artist lecture, I still do not think negatively about the artist and her work. After all, one of the reasons that people decide to be artists is because they can better express their ideas visually than verbally.

Posted by Emanuela Porcelli at 8:54 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I was very surprised at the number of people that showed up to the visiting artist lecture. All in all, it was nice to see an artist that really doesn't put too much thought behind her work. Although i did not really find her work all that interesting, I did like the way that she spoke so informally but at the same time, fore a lecture like that it would have been nice to have more organization. The work of hers that had the symbols of religion and the swastica and stuff on it really stood out to me, but not for any reason other than the fact that i recognized the symbols that were on it. I do remember when she was talking about how her friends work was criticized for not having enough meaning and she defended her friend. This part i liked because the work that i do does not have all that much meaning either, i just like to make things that look cool.

Posted by Donny Sollars at 2:33 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Lisa Lapinski holds and M.F.A. and has an upcoming show at the Midway; the title is Lint’s Wedding Song. I decided to go see this particular speaker because I am very interested in sculpture.
However, I was not impressed with Lisa’s work. I could see that she drew a lot of influence from religion and some from sexual or regressive themes. It seemed to me that she saw a piece of “artwork� and got all of her influence from that one piece to make a bunch of her own artwork. And then for some reason she just had to have art deco hands in everything. The religious meaning behind the work was really obvious because of all the symbols she just stuck on her pieces. I think the only work of hers I actually liked were her early drawings.
Lisa talked a little about how a critic said that her work had no deep meaning and how she argued that, but I was not really convinced. Anyone could see what she is interested in by looking at her work but I do not see any profound deep meaning behind the pieces; they just look like experiments.

Posted by Manda Burger at 10:29 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Listening to Lisa Lapinski present her work was an interesting experience. My expectations as to what to expect from a presentation were shaken. This was an excursion into a wildly creative, somewhat chaotically organized depiction of an artist’s inspiration.
It was certainly hard to draw direct connections to specific experiences she mentioned and their apparent existence in her work. Rather, it is probably more accurate to say that there was never a moment when a piece of her work was about one concept or one story. She drew from multiple references across a wide range of ideas and sources. For instance, I found it interesting that she explained her current piece as somehow related to Hitler and Wittgenstein, but also drew influence from another artist who recently stopped producing art. The stories she told all seemed significant enough to hold meaning within her work, it was just a matter of seeing it realized in the pieces.
Lisa Lapinski also mentioned the Shakers in relation to a sculpture she had constructed. I found this source of information to be fairly intriguing, with potential to be almost ethnographic in nature. However, she claimed as a conclusion that the piece actually had relatively nothing to do with the Shakers. I found this confusing, yet could see how in contrast with the other artists she mentioned, this was probably true.
The segments of the presentation I enjoyed most were the written pieces she shared with us. These consisted of a reaction piece to another artist’s work (which she claimed may as well have been about her work) and an e-mail exchange with a curator. Both were intense and captivating. They offered a glimpse into the kind of creativity and unique interpretation that she holds. More than anything else, these two written pieces helped me understand a bit more exactly where Lisa draws her ideas from.
I also enjoyed seeing her drawings and student work, although she did not spend much time elaborating upon them. I thought it would be interesting to hear a little more on some of those pieces, such as maybe an explanation (or any ideas, really) on how the massive amounts of wallpaper played a role “conceptually� (even though this word draws out the issues of function mentioned in the e-mail to the curator who wanted to know something similar . . . )
As an overall reaction, I was a bit thrown by her atypical, scattered approach to presenting her work. Looking back, I believe I was actually also confused in the same way by most of her work. However, this is by no means a negative thing. It’s somewhat refreshing to have no idea what’s going on, and have the creator of the work add to this sensation by offering a background.

Posted by Alan O'Neil at 11:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Lisa Lapinski is a sculpture and photographer from Los Angeles. A portion of her work is currently being displayed here in Minneapolis. The presentation started out with her showing pictures of some of her work and then talking about them. However, she did not talk about what they meant to her because as she put it "they lack meaning." This was an interesting thing for her to reveal because some of the pieces she showed had the Star of David and swastikas in them. She also read an email that she wrote to a critic who criticized one of her friends work for not having meaning. This was probably my favorite part of the presentation because she actual took the time to organize her thoughts and spell out what she was trying to say. A lot of the rest of the presentation lacked flow and meaning, she was somewhat hard to understand.

Posted by Charles Holley at 3:35 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Seeing and hearing about Lapinski's work from her visiting was a unique experience. It was unique in the way so many people showed up to here her talk in a very informal and unprepared way. This was refreshing to start but ended up annoying me. She had multiple pieces of work none of which I remember the name of. The first was a display including various historic and religious symbols including a swastika, star of David, and the cross. They were positioned on various designs of fences surrounding a historic podium. A lot of her work included the star of David, which I dont recall her explaining. She often used an arm emerging from nothing and wall paper, also things that she did not provide an explanation for. I was disappointed in the lack of explanation on these reoccurring items.

Also, I noticed that my response for the Designing graves was not up. Contrary to the article I think the easy access to amateur work and flood of media is a great thing. It helps the world discover great artist that may have gone on undetected. I cant remember what else I wrote about it but overall disagreed with his negative outlook.

Posted by Mike Koenig at 2:34 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Lisa Lapinski had some interesting concepts with her sculpture art, some of which I thought were engaging and others I did not find anything special about. I enjoyed her knowledge of the cultures from which she based her designs on, such as the Shakers. However, I had a difficult time understanding what she meant with some of her artwork, since she seemed a bit nervous throughout the presentation and I often felt disengaged. Perhaps this could be because I was in the overflow seating and had to watch her on a screen, which did take away from the experience. Honestly I preferred her drawing to her sculptures, mostly since I found a more aesthetic quality to them and was better able to connect to them than I did to the sculptures. I did find her love for art pleasing, however, such as her recreation of some swimsuit model drawings that had been covered up (this happened when the building on which they originally were located was converted into a pre-school.) She seemed very at ease when reading other people's work, and I found those readings quite fascinating, and was glad that she shared them with us. Mostly, the presentation could have been amplified by Lapinski's confidence in her own work, which did not show through as well as it could have by her nervous demeanor.

Posted by Tanya Wacholz at 11:10 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

“Prints, Drawings and other things� was the title of the slides Michael Kruger presented last week of his work. Michael Kruger is a well known print maker and has experimented with the medium for awhile. He mentioned during his presentation that he likes to use techniques where he is able to scan and recombine images.

At the beginning of his presentation, Michael mentioned what influenced him and his work. He talked about German Impressionism and how he idolizes certain artist based on how they use lines. Michael also explained his fascination with personified objects and how they strongly influence his work. He talked about how he likes the idea of “animating the ordinary world,� or “making the natural world extraordinary.� Michael collects books, figurines, and other objects that might be of inspiration to him.

I found one of his most interesting ideas to be the notebook series. He collaborated his old doodles on his notebooks with recent drawings of his. He likes to comment on cultural parallels, especially those that reflect political issues. One of his works entitled, “Shopping Jefferson,� made a statement saying how “we all live beyond our means.� Jefferson abused his creditability and was thousands of dollars in debt by the time of his death. Michael was making a point that we all live at the expense of others.

Posted by Laura Rask at 11:21 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My idea of this project is based on my personal interest. I have been playing soccer since I was in elementary school, and it certainly brought me many memorable experiences. It is a sport full of skills, teamwork, and moreover, the sportsmanship. I will attack the project from the view of sportsmanship and use this to reflect our world as a whole.
I shall use the form of photography to display pictures frame by frame. A tripod will be necessary, and I will either choose to use a regular digital camera of a professional one if I can find one. Several friends of mine will be performing the acts as I take pictures. Five to ten pictures will be taken for each second elapses, and the final image sizes will be reduced for the purpose of the project. Shatter might be used when someone moves in a slow motion, so smoother movements can be captured. The project will start with a normal soccer game. At last minute of the game, a player will slide tackle another which results into a feud between. I will find a video from FIFA World Cup 2006 where a cartoon is made to reenact the head to chest impact during the championship game. Then I will display some words to transit to a replay, which shows what would happen in a “perfect� world. Instead of fighting, one will give a hand and show sportsmanship to another. The audio techniques can be shown through the sound of kicking the ball, sliding, hand clapping, sound from referee’s whistle, the crown noises, and so forth. I will use a microphone that connects to the computer to record inside a room to make the sound clearer and easy to be edited without noises. The location will the soccer field. However, for some parts of the project, green screening might be used so that the background can be replaced.
This idea can address the sportsmanship issues we seen in modern day’s competitive sports as well as different situations in our normal day life. We should treat others the way we want to be treated. A simple act of kindness can let the relationship between each other be much more easier.

Posted by Xi Wu at 6:02 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For my first stop motion project, I thought I would use construction paper since that seems like an easier medium to work with. After all, that is why the show South Park is able to churn out an episode based on recent events, since it takes much less time to create their construction paper shows than an episode of The Simpsons or Family Guy. I figured that if I use this medium I had better keep the story fairly simple and keep characters to a minimum, since I will have to create different sections for them to show movement. I figured that I would have the main character be an inchworm, since it has a repeatable movement pattern and is a fairly easy creature to create.
My story so far is to have the inchworm be an inchworm from hell, who seems friendly to his other insect friends but ends up gruesomely devouring them. I hoped to relate the story to the theme of a perfect world by having the evil inchworm receive his comeuppance, and have the theme of justice be part of my perfect world. I suppose I am loosely basing the story on the children’s song “Little Bunny Foo Foo,� and will probably have the tune of that song whistled or hummed in the background. I chose insects to be the creatures devoured since that might not be as horrifying for some people as, for example, seeing a person eaten alive. I hope to create the illusion of traveling by moving the ground as the inchworm inches along it. Instead of creating the inchworm’s movement by constructing different entire inchworms, I will make small sections of the worm that can be rearranged accordingly.
I am not entirely sure what my perfect justice for the inchworm will be. I suppose I have a few ideas. One way would be to reflect the human want for things to be equal, such as, for example, if someone kills, they in turn deserve death, or something of that sort by just having the inchworm be devoured by a vengeful friend of the murdered insects. Or perhaps I’ll just leave it to the viewer’s imagination by having the inchworm get captured and placed in a cage with a bird or some other worm eater, to show how karma usually takes care of things in the end. In the world today, so many feel like they have to take revenge into their own hands, and in some cases, perhaps they do. But in my perfect world, justice should just exist as a part of life. Humans (and animals) should be able to let fate take care of those who wronged them, especially if the wronged have no means of allowing the antagonist to see the error of their ways.

Posted by Tanya Wacholz at 1:07 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For my perfect world I want to do something with super heroes. I’m actually not sure yet of how I want my scenes to look like but, an idea I have right now is to hold a super hero gathering where each super hero introduces themselves to each other. Probably show off their powers, brag about their success at saving the worlds and then maybe go into what the world would be like if they weren’t around. The message I’ll be trying to get off is that because these super heroes exist the world is always being saved. Although the perfect world I’m creating isn’t a utopia, it shows that there are good and evil in the world, and good always prevails.
Using some form of stop motion for this project, I’m thinking of working with action figure toys. Since my nephew has tons of action figures I’ll be borrowing a lot of them to star as super heroes in my perfect world. I never had many action figures as a child, and I wasn’t really into them as much either so when playing out my scenes for the project it might be a challenge. For the sound, I’m thinking of making my own sound effects and voices. I also want to try to get my two nephews involved with my projects. I’m hoping they can help a lot with the voices because it would be pretty boring having me voice over the toys by myself.
I’m hoping to gain more ideas while working on this project. At the moment I’m not really sure if I want to stick with the idea of super hero gathering or if I want to play with other scenes.

Posted by Bax at 12:53 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

When I think of my “ideal� world or what would need to happen in order for me to have a perfect world I think about all the things I enjoy doing. Then I think about why I don’t have these enjoyments ALL the time because in a perfect world I should be able to control what goes on and when because ideally, that would be perfect. I love meeting people. I think what can make something perfect is seeing all the differences that exist and being a part of those differences. That is what I consistently find myself doing on a regular basis, interacting with new people. For my project on creating my perfect world I want to be able to socialize and bond with multiple groups or cliques of people. Basically defy the phrase “You cannot be everywhere and do everything all at once.� I will be everywhere and do everything.
I am going to use digital photography and create a series of images that will run together into a stop-motion film. Through the use of the photography I am going to have more than one of me established right at the beginning and then spread out with different people doing different things so going shopping with one group of girls, hanging out with guys watching a soccer match, going to the science museum with some of my science peers, cooking with my mom and more possibly more settings that are each unique in themselves. I have yet to decide on the sound aspect for this project. I know I want it to be different for each group that is shown and since the sound all needs to be natural and not music I think I may attempt to generate sounds from materials associated with what the group is doing. So for the guys watching soccer the sound could be a series of cheers, groans, feet running and hits on the ball. Then the sound would be drastically different when the film goes to another setting. This is all to contribute to my idea of being everywhere and doing everything and how because of the fact that each activity is so unique it realistically is impossible to do at once.
I will probably be using one of the digital cameras for taking pictures and then for the sound I might record that separately and check out a sound recorder to get really quality sound clips. This should be fun to put together!

Posted by Jenna Stangland at 12:46 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The one thing I fear in my life is that ten years from now I’ll be stuck going to a job I hate from 9-5 5 days a week. Nothing scares me more then the prospect of sitting in a cubical staring at a computer all day. So, I guess my idea of a perfect world would be anything that is in opposition of that. For this project I plan to show what a perfect world would be to me by illustrating what is imperfect about many people’s jobs.

The main outline of my project will follow something along the lines of the movie Office Space. It starts with getting up in the morning driving to work in heavy traffic. Then the main character Peter stares at a computer screen for a significant period of time. Several bosses then come and yell at him for a mistake he knows he made. Later on he has a revelation that he doesn’t want to work at his job anymore so he stops showing up. Through this he gets a promotion because some consultants feel he isn’t being challenged enough. This however, isn’t what Peter wanted and he finds out that two of his friends are being fired. They then come up with a scheme to steal money from the company before they are fired. Through the entire movie, countless almost philosophical situations about the modern corporate workplace are brought up and discussed. This will hopefully provide me with a jumping off point to further discuss and examine this situation.

For the technique portion of the project, I intend to use stop motion camera work to take us through a typical day in the life of a cubical worker. However, hopefully, I can make it a little more abstract then just a remake of a movie or television show.

Posted by Charles Holley at 12:45 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For this project I want to do a stop-motion using photography. My initial ideas are to photograph around Minneapolis including campus, areas around campus, downtown and hopefully areas of suburbs, and basically anywhere I feel like. I want to juxtapose these contrasts next to each other with the idea that although people live radically different lives according to what part of town they life in; everything in its natural state is somewhat miraculous in a sense. Isn’t human struggle kind of perfect, and kind of necessary? We all do things to better our lives and consistently look for a utopian sanctuary where we can rest at ease, but sooner or later, we become restless of resting and we intentionally search for struggle only so we can find incentive to hold our hands above our heads to climb that invisible latter of integrity.
When I take myself outside the realm of being human and living within these social inequalities, I have come to realize that everything in this life has a certain quality about it that makes it beautiful. If you take all of the poverty and all of the wealth and everything in between that we all share not physically but emotionally, don’t we all realize on some level, that life-as it is- is wonderful?

Posted by Jennifer Whalen at 12:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My “perfect world� is one where animals are treated with respect and care. At times this idea seems so radically different from reality because of things like factory farms. If everyone treated animals better then I believe there would be no factory farms and therefore meat consumption would go down, as well as deforestation and pollution.
My initial idea for my video is of a person taking a journey and hugging animals along the way to represent healing and respect towards our fellow creatures. I am unsure if I will play the person and hug real animals or if I should do claymation. If I were to be the person traveling through and hugging animals then I would start with hugging household pets and travel to a friend’s hobby farm to hug their dogs and cats and chickens and goats and llamas. If I were to go the claymation route I would have a nondescript person traveling along and hugging animals starting with small domesticated animals and moving to big and wild animals. I would use myself and objects to make the sound of some of the animals, and walking, etcetera.
I want the style to be lighthearted and kind of cutsie; because my idea of a perfect world is kind of naive and I think that that aspect of it would be best represented by using a “Disney� like style.
I have always been interested in claymation and do not particularly like to be on camera so that is the way I am leaning, but I am still not sure about any specifics at this point. I wonder how I can make it more disgustingly cute than just hugging furry creatures.

Posted by Manda Burger at 12:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Project Proposal
A perfect world means many different things to almost everyone. Although I have not worked out all of the details of my project, I can begin to tell what direction I am planning on going with this project. I will be working in a way that is similar to how South Park was made. Of course the ideas will not really coincide with the show, it will be completely original. I will create my own fictional characters to use in the filming. As far as I'm concerned, the things that would make up a perfect world are; no crime, no disease, no hunger, no taxes, and no douche bags to mess up all of the good things that modern society has to offer. Imagine if all the uptight and insecure people that find it necessary to cause problems or start shit all of a sudden vanished or something of that nature, leaving only those who wish to enjoy life and make the most of it. Now imagine unrestricted world travel, free trade everywhere, no taxation, a food surplus to end world hunger, and no illness. Now that sounds like someplace I'd like to live for a while, but since it can't happen, we can watch a little bit of what it might be like... I was thinking that the setting of this perfect world might as well be someplace with pleasant weather, so I'd have to say a beach community where it is sunny every day and warm all the time. Outdoor activities can go on year round and there is no excuse to just sit in the house for 5 months straight, and in this world, nobody will try and mug you if you go out of your house. Just think of not having to worry about going out in the middle of the night, or walking home from a friends house or the bar when its dark out, in this world, its always safe. And since this is a perfect world, nobody will have a stick up their ass shouting orders at you telling you what to do and what to think. I know that this idea doesn’t necessarily sound the most entertaining or interesting, but I will do my best to make it that way. Given these things, I really hope to make this a good experience, so I guess we will have to wait and see how it turns out.

Posted by Donny Sollars at 11:49 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

To me a perfect world would be one without animosity, but total peace. Being a non-white immigrant, I have experienced racism firsthand. In this day and age, though most people are careful to be politically correct and just, there still exists an inherent racism. I am not one to criticize the white community because they are not the only ones who have shown racist tendencies. I believe it is up to each and every person in a community to accept the fact that life is a mix of culture. From this day on, we will only become more diverse so we might as well accept each other’s differences.

My focus in this project is to show a perfect world by using either drawn characters or photograph cutouts for visuals. I had an idea where I would make colored figures of people and then make them interact with each other. I will probably sample sounds and/or record them myself. I will probably integrate different languages.

I want to show confusion and chaos in my animation. For example, I want to show different people criticizing each other and committing acts of violence upon each other. Locations will probably change as different groups of people are shown. It will be almost like a historic piece documenting different conflicts from the past leading up to present day. Finally, I want there to be an explosive ending where the serious tone of the piece immediately changes to one of happiness where all the characters are shown getting along as one.

Posted by Jonathan Pereira at 11:39 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Instead of talking about my perfect world for my project III assignment, I’d like to point out what many people would want in their ideal worlds. So many people today, especially in American society, rely on fast food and TV dinners for their everyday meals. Yet, they wonder why they are overweight. I don’t think enough people realize what good eating habits are. People binge eat and then try and work out to compensate for it, but that doesn’t always work. Some people don’t work out at all and deny that their eating habits are unhealthy. For my stop motion animation project I’d like to focus on a theme of unhealthy eating. If people could have it their way they would eat whatever they want and not gain any weight. People wouldn’t have to worry about working out because their metabolisms would do all the work for them. I also might like to incorporate how people try to diet by fasting and not working out.

I think I’d like the animation to only have one character. I don’t know if I should have the main character be a human or an animal. If I use an animal I wouldn’t be directly commenting on American society, but I could still play the idea up a lot. Maybe I would have the character wearing an American pop culture symbol on his/her shirt. What would work better?

I’d like to start the scene out by having the character eat a normal American meal and then there will be a noticeable weight gain. The character then feels pressure to work out and goes to the gym. It tries to work out but it doesn’t seem to work. Then the thing goes home and decides to go on a diet. It doesn’t eat anything it all (commenting on societies poor dieting habits). The character goes to bed hungry and has a dream. The dream setting allows the character to eat anything he/she wants without gaining weight. The character goes over board and eats everything in sight. When the character wakes up it is sadly disappointed to be brought back to reality.

The style I would like to use for this project is a flip book drawing. I am not sure how the pictures are brought to the computer, but so far I plan to take pictures of the drawings and import them onto the computer and then sequence them together. I do not want to use any dialog in this animation, but instead just sounds, sounds that you would hear when one is alone (i.e. eating sounds, grumbling stomach, disappointed noises).

I think this animation will noticeably comment on how American society today treats health and dieting. Many people see working out as burden and wish they didn’t have to do it. Others seem to avoid all foods that could harm their image. Perhaps this animation will allow viewers to find a happy medium in their diets.

Posted by Laura Rask at 10:32 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

A perfect world seems more and more impossible to achieve as you get older. You start to see everything in a more mature way, which normally gets rid of a lot of your imagination. Without a creative imagination a perfect world is impossible to acquire. As a child almost everything seems like a perfect world on the TV. Cartoons seem like real life and Disney World is a utopia. If everyone could just tap into their child roots again I think we could live in a perfect world.

To show what a perfect world looks like I will use stop-motion animation. I plan to use drawings to show this imaginary land that all kids live in. I want the video to be like a very unreal dream with fantasy characters. As a child I used to watch a lot of cartoons and try to draw what I see on the TV. I’m going to incorporate my interests into this movie by adding my favorite cartoon characters and Disney characters. The setting of my video will be a dream a boy is having. It’s going to show the animation in a dream bubble and in the end he will wake up back to the real world.

Creating sounds from scratch is one of my biggest concerns for this project. I believe that if you pick the right music or find the right computer generated sound it can be very helpful in a video. I will probably have a lot of difficulty trying to make sounds that will make the images seem cartoon like.

Another one of my concerns is how well my drawings will look and how I’m going to draw the images enough times to make them seem like they’re moving. It seems like it’s going to be a very difficult task to make the images seem like they’re moving with the little technology will be using to create our projects.

Overall, I think this will be a great experience and I’m excited to learn how to make these drawing come to life.

Posted by Nohman Baysudee at 10:24 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My proposal for project three is going to be about the Garden of Eden or the world in post end times. In my view the Garden of Eden would be a perfect world because at that time there was perfect weather, perfect animals, perfect humans, everything was perfect. Eden is considered the definition of perfection to some because it was before anything wrong came into existence. In post end times Christians believe that Jesus is coming and he will usher in heaven on Earth. Everything will be fixed when Jesus comes back; immortality will be restored, animals will revert to their previous state, and people will be happy. For my first idea I was thinking of setting the scene of a present day city and reversing time until I get to the point when the Garden of Eden was created. The city will have several buildings and several people. Perhaps I will have some dialogue between two people that will connect present day to ancient times. The garden will have trees, plants, animals, and maybe people. For my “time reversal� I plan on deconstructing the city, have things move faster and faster in the opposite direction and when I have made it to the Garden of Eden I plan on running it forward in real time like “Cold Play�. If I were to use my other idea I would have a war scene and a bright light appearing suddenly depicting Christ’s return. I would have to more reading to find out exact scene of the “new world� but it will probably be close to what the bible says. My technique for recording will be to simply use a digital camera (still mode) or a web camera set at video mode (taking pictures every second). The camera may be set on a tripod facing the city having it perform its normal functions (cars moving in the streets, and people walking). I will probably use Legos for the buildings and people. The Garden of Eden will probably be a diorama while the animals will probably be figurines. For my dialogue I will probably have two people wondering what a better world will look like for my first idea. The dialogue for my second idea may be panic from people, and/or a political leader giving a radio address similar to the stop motion video “Revolution�. I would like to have music and perhaps I will use several instruments if it is allowed and that is pretty much what my video will be about.

Posted by Samuel Ayala at 11:36 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

What is a perfect world? It’s a question people have been asking for centuries, yet many have accepted as an impossible dream. But what if it’s around us already and we’re just missing it? This is what my project is going to attempt to tackle.

Through real life, stop-motion photography, I’m going to create this perfect world by simply showing what’s always around us - nature. In our ever-increasing, fast-paced society, it’s so easy to get caught up in everything else and fully miss the beauty in our own back yards. I know it’s quite Norman Rockwell, Walt Whitman, and pretty cheesy, but I think it’s a genuine truth in our time. Therefore, my “perfect� world would be our same world, only with us having a heightened sense of what’s around us, to fully enjoy our time on this earth. I feel that taking these things for granted has caused a lot of the problem’s we see today, and if we all just took the time to see the serenity in nature, it would reflect in our behaviors and ourselves. At least in my world it would…

Some locations I was thinking of, and subjects to film, include: crunching leaves in an everyday walk, the movement of water (probably shot down at the Mississippi), the movement of the sky and trees, and probably relaxing in the grass. I will more than likely have a human subject in there somewhere, maybe walking through and observing these different aspects of nature and taking it all in, or at least relaxing in the grass at the end.

I’m playing with the idea of a circular narrative to convey my project, perhaps starting out with a subject “relaxing� in our present day world - with the busy noises of traffic, people, cell phones surrounding him - and flowing through my perfect nature world, ultimately ending with similar composition of our subject finally being able to relax, surrounded by nature.

Now to the sound aspects of the project. I’m kind of torn on how I want to present this, struggling where I want to even use sound. I’m playing with the idea of presenting this calm world with almost no sound added to it, or at least have a legitimate use of sound throughout, but completely cutting all sound at the point of pure peace. I thought that would be kind of cool. Otherwise, I was thinking of using a collage of sounds similar to those of the images shown (i.e. rustling leaves, the crunching of leaves, water, and maybe some bells like the ones heard around West Bank - I like those…). I’ll probably capture said sounds with those microphones we used for the Sound Primer, and mix my sound collage together either using Audacity or Garage Band.

I’m hoping this turns out the way I’m seeing/hearing it, and not like some Soundscape CD found at Target. I’d like to think that I can separate the two, but I suppose time will tell.

Posted by Chris Hirsch at 11:14 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For project three we have been asked to come up with our idea of a perfect world. We have been asked to do a stop motion primer for this topic, which I think shall prove to be challenging at least for myself. I have seen a lot of stop motion work but not known how it was done. I am a huge fan of cartoons and clayamation which in essence is stop motion. I’m not sure which medium I’m going to work in, originally I was thinking of using legos, since that would be hilarious, but since my last two pieces were funny I would like to try a more serious piece. So I’m thinking I will try drawings, although my worry is I can’t really draw so it might look really crappy. As far as the homemade sound I’m kind of disappointed because I think good music, if used in moderation, can pull a piece together well. So I will just have to come up with my own. My idea for the utopia is the “scrapping� of today’s society for a whole new world… As I previously stated I want this to be a darker piece since the last two had more of a comical feel to them. I’m not quite sure exactly what will be my main focus but I do know that I want two have 2 main characters to create a bit of a ying-yang feel; a balance between good and evil. I am a huge fan of technology but I do not like the way society has been corrupted by ignorance and lack of common sense. It drives me insane that so many people throughout the world are so selfish and heart less. My biggest pet peeve is people who think they deserve handouts. Technology has made people lazy and greedy; I want my utopia to force people to “earn� their life.
How I will accomplish will be interesting to say the least ill have to come up with an idea for this force. I would like it to be a physical entity and not some idea, something you can see. So the setting of my video will be set in the future from our time. As for the sound I will do my own voice along with my friends, perhaps I will write some music for the piece or just simply “construct� some using other sounds. As for my location for filming will be paper.

Posted by Amanda Berglund at 10:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Today, we are living in a world that values productivity over every thing else in life, for example working longer hours instead of pursuing leisure time. Consequently, our daily rhythm is becoming more and more hasty. People rush from one place to another. Fast-food chains are popping up all over the world because we do not even have any more time to eat. In the cultural climate where people are struggling through their life by keeping up with the speed of time I am thinking about showing my perfect world as a state of mind that allows for leisure in my next project.
I am planning to work with clay. My initial thoughts are to build up a stage that represents a busy street with a lot of skyscrapers where my clay puppets are rushing all over the place to get to work. With those equipments I will be able to create the beginning of my narrative stop-motion project. To enhance the feeling of a chaotic morning rhythm I will try to incorporate streets sounds that include car noises, honking horns and annoying people voices. After that I will start to focus on one character maybe by focusing light on the character and slowly zooming in on it.
For the middle part I am thinking about using the same stage but only as an empty place. The pictures will then lead from the main character’s face to the background city scene, which will be the screen for the puppet’s imaginary world. Here the viewer will see objects transforming and the gray day becoming a nice, beautiful day.
For that part, I intend to blend all the noises into one main, washed-out sound, which will be the source of individual sounds. Here, I will try to play with the individual street noises to create interesting sounds. I might also incorporate some humming to show that the main character is feeling inspired and pleased by the fact that she is able to be creative with the visual objects and the sounds.
To give the story a cohesive structure, I will end the project by pulling the viewer back to the busy morning by using the same busy stage and the same soundtrack that I had created at the beginning.
Furthermore, I would also like to play with time, maybe by showing the beginning and the end in a slightly faster speed than the middle part of my narrative project, or by slowing the middle part down.
To get my point across more effectively, I would like to create a more evident boundary between the real and the imaginary world. Here is how I intend to make those two different worlds more apparent: Everything will be presented in black and white besides the middle scene, where the city landscape will be transformed into a imaginary landscape.

Posted by Emanuela Porcelli at 10:01 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

If we really were given free license to change the world in order to make it into what we think a "perfect" world ought to be, I wonder what the consequences would actually be? I can't help but think that things would never work out quite so perfectly as we might have hoped, and we'd find ourselves wanting to go back and revise our changes to undo the mess we had made.

If I were able to change anything about reality to make things more pleasant for me, I think the first thing I'd want to do is give myself more time. My biggest problem is that there are a lot of things that I really want to do, but I can't possibly have time to do all of them. I think it would be great if I could slow down and "stop" time so that I had time to do all these things. I could leisurely get caught up on my schoolwork, other work, play games, read, and investigate all sorts of topics that interest me.

Of course, if I really was suddenly granted an unlimited supply of time, like I wish I could be, things might not work out quite the way I think they would. I might find that when time doesn't pass, I get very bored very quickly. It's this progression from the realization that time has stopped, to actually enjoying the sudden excess of time that I have, to getting really really bored that I want to show.

On the technical side of things, I plan to do this using almost entirely photography. I'll probably also want to include some ordinary video for the periods when time is working normally. Since I rarely leave my apartment if I don't have a reason to, and I wouldn't have a reason to if time stopped, I'll do everything from my apartment.

I'll get through the useful stuff fairly quickly. I'll finish all my homework. I'll do dishes. I'll vacuum. I'll play a video game or two. I'll read all the books in my apartment. I'll write a novel. I'll read through Wikipedia. All this time, the clock will stand still. Eventually, I'll run out of things to do and be very bored and wish that time would move again. And, as it resumes its normal uninterruptible march forward, I'll suddenly think of something I would love to do, if only I had time...

Posted by Grant Miller at 7:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Michael Krueger's work covers a broad range of mediums and ideas. Whether he's dealing with digital media/images, print making, or drawing, his themes and personality always shine through.

One theme he demonstrated in some of his works was the idea of making and animating something that is ordinary, and transforming it into the extraordinary. One way he did this involved a series of images of fruits and everyday foods or objects and giving them distinct human features (like a face, arms, legs, etc.) I thought this was a really cool concept because I have always looked at everyday objects in a very human-esque way, giving trees faces, or looking at the shapes of things. On top of that, the images he showed were pretty funny, which is fitting because Michael Krueger is a pretty funny guy.

Another concept in his works involved cultural identity. Having found his old high school notebooks one day, he decided to use those and create something new out of them. Filled with sketches of heavy metal band names and images of his teenage years, he made color prints over these images, and created works of art. I like this process of creating something new out of old things (and especially pertaining to pop-culture or lifestyles of that time).

Besides this, Krueger presented work heavily influenced by American History and Kansas History (he teaches at the University of Kansas), as well as works construced with amazingly accurate symmetry. Overall, I liked his works and ideas that he presented, and thought that his fresh (and humorous) views on pop-culture, history, and human nature are a breath of fresh air to the boring, day-to-day images around us.

Posted by Chris Hirsch at 12:39 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Michael Krueger thinks narrative is crucial to his work. Every drawing or photograph he had contain a story. He started with video game character imaging, involves many uses of technology. He is also intoprint making. Lines are an essential part to his art. They are extraordinary according to him. He has a hobby of collecting fruit items with faces on them. These things inspire him to make works that others would not think of. His latest work involves Medival woodcut, everything in the picture is related to a part of the American history or simply the history in general. He went back to his high school notebooks, they brought him some detailed memories. He started make drawings on the notes.
Michael's work is very meaningful. They don't simply contain only artistic beauty, but also the beauty of the past, of the world, of our everyday life.

Posted by Xi Wu at 12:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Download file

For this assignment I decided to make a film commenting on how hard it is sometimes for young teens to communicate with one another. I poked fun of different situations that cause awkward moments between two people interacting. In the piece I made the choice to use a journalism approach because I thought it would be fun to make the people victims, similiar to something you would find on a news broadcast.

Posted by Laura Rask at 3:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)