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When I attended my first day of Art and Technology class, I was freaked out. With all of the blog topics and the previews of projects I knew I would have to do, I didn't think I had the creativity and computer skills to successfully complete them. However, when previous students came in to speak about there experience, they encouraged us to stick with it. I am glad I did. With everything I have learned from my other classes, this is the only class that forced me to step 100 percent out of my comfort zone, both in class and out of class. I now know the true definition of art, and that if you put your mind to it, anything can be made into art. I am now an overall more creative person, as these projects have stretched the outskirts of my mind and have forced me to become openminded about everything in life. Before this class, I have never blogged, used iMovie, or been any kind of artist (except maybe in art class when I was seven). I believe I have become well-rounded and have expanded my horizon to great lengths, and I thank this class for that.

Massive Attack

Massive attack was one of the most influential groups of their generation, and set the trend for a lot of the (then) upcoming dance music that emerged in the 1990s. Through my research, I found that their music gave way to many artists such as Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Beth Orton, and Tricky. Massive Attack formed in 1883 in Bristol England, and were actually originally called the "Wild Bunch." I thought this was funny because it's very similar to the name they later developed..so I wondered to myself why they changed it in the first place. Maybe they wanted to sound more sharp, or scary? Their signature sound was a combination of many different genres, and their music brought about the drug era of their time, included the usage of cocaine, crack, and speed, drugs that are much different than the average ones used in today's generation.

Video Art Project

I used myself and accessories to create a difference between overall presentation, and then the little things that can you can use represent yourself. When it's just you, you are present. You can always present yourself wherever you are. But to represent you may need other objects that may not naturally be there, and they can each mean different things. It I had a more advanced software, I would have made the second half of the video a different shade or filter, to add on to the representation. Hopefully I will have access to some in the future and add to it!

Critique:

Gina- I liked how she came up with her own music. I actually enjoyed it and I think it amplified the video very well since there wasn't too much going on. I also love the idea of using a mirror, and I'm surprised she's the only one who used one for her video!

Kyle- Loved it! He definitely had access to software that made his video awesome, but his overall idea of representing himself through his resume was extremely creative..didn't know he had it in him! I also agree that it would come to more of a shocker if he wore the resume at the end instead of the beginning. From the title, we already know he is doing something with the resume, so we wouldn't be completely confused. Awesome job.

Spencer- I like how the video was consistent and kept speeding up. If I hadn't heard his explanation, I would think he may be trying to show the presentation of representing a video game that we didn't see. Cool idea.

Andrea- I loved this idea. The fact that the whole thing was a dream made clear of the ultimate reality vs non reality. We have dreams all the time and wake up from them not know if they are real or not, so it was a really great, relatable concept.

Ralph- So cool! My favorite part was how he pored red paint on the "falling soldiers," relating it to the past reality of himself in the army/marines. I also liked how he used the needle in between his fingers, but then layered it out for the camera to get a glimpse of what it was he was holding. Good videoing!

Marvin- This was my overall favorite! I had no idea what it was about until he explained, but once he did it all came together. I was not expecting this from him and he made an amazingly powerful video. If it were anyone else besides his girlfriend behind the iPad, it would have worked as a "presentation vs representation" but it wouldn't have been nearly as powerful. AWESOME!!!!!

Brian- I thought his idea was comical in a way. It was funny how he presented the oranges in the beginning but than represented them with facial expressions. I was waiting for something more to happen about half way through, and it did (the water bottle poring). Good job.

Kaitlyn- This was also one of my favorite videos. I don't know if I wasn't paying close enough attention but I had no idea she was holding up a picture until I saw the side of the screen when her hand moved a little. I also made no connection between the title and the video until I saw the flames. So I was surprised and shocked when she lit the picture on fire. This was EXTREMELY creative, I loved it!

Holly- I like how she made her video out of something that she actually was planning to do. If she didn't film the beginning of the purchasing of the ticket, it wouldn't have worked. It was well planned out!

Leah- Creeeeepy! I was startled when I first saw her face. But when she began talking about the negative aspects of technology, everything made complete sense. I really liked how she added a theme on top of the "presentation vs representation" theme. Also, I didn't hear anyone mention this..her face looked like it was half normal, adding to what is reality and what isn't reality. Nice job.

Sight Short Film

I was really confused when I first started watching this, but when it started showing the video game aspect of it I thought it was awesome! After falling for a short period of time, it started to make daily tasks like a game. Isn't life fun!!! It was almost comical when the character was on a date and the technology was telling him how well he was doing. Overall, the clip was creepy because I feel like this is what is going to happen in the near future, if not to us then to our kids or grandkids. Technology is moving so fast and after taking this class, I have learned how fast it will continue to progress.

UK Underground Music and Smiths

This Smiths were the definitive indie rock band of the 80s, marking the beginning of guitar rock in England. Known for their rebellious songs and after listening to a few of their pieces, I can tell they were a very influential group of their time. I have come to actually really like some of their music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiFzKNmeeSw


http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/see-the-smiths-discography-as-a-transit-map
Here is something I found about their discovery that's pretty interesting as it compares it with others.

Video Art Examples

http://www.videoartes.com/videoartes/Macro.html

This video was awesome and creepy in a way because it almost looked like the insides of the human body (maybe the cells and organs), but it was actually the inside of a flower (shown in the beginning). It was strange because all of a sudden, the camera changed/jumped to what looked like the solar system, and then back down to where the video began. Weird!!!!

http://www.videoartes.com/videoartes/Arte_Publicitario.html

This video was unique in that it took different sea creatures and intermingled them within each other. It also mixed our human life within theirs, since they came out of the ocean and started performing a massive orchestra. Very interesting idea.

http://www.videoartes.com/videoartes/Video_Arte_Familiar.html

This video was different from the other videos I have been exploring because it had two screens. At first I thought it was going to be the same play, just filming two different times when they performed, but then the second screen skipped to a more specific person or thing, when the screen on the left was more of an overview.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWOxArn3L_4

This is just another video are piece I found on youtube that I thought was funny and cute. It features someone in a very colorful, goofy outfit, dancing around what looks like some type of balcony. Technology is used to make the character jump around from place to place. He even bounces a soccer ball without even touching it! I would really like to learn how to use software to do something like this sometime in the near future.

TR 808 Examples

Video Mapping Examples

Sheryl Oring

Oring's work focuses on critical social issues through projects with a goal of telling stories and examining the publics opinion (mostly political). She receives the public's opinions via typewriter, and sends them off to the president. I think it is a great way to get voices heard that wouldn't have had any type of oppionion otherwise. I think she is an extremely worthy artist that wants to make a healthy difference and is using her creativity in positive ways. She's awesome!

http://iwishtosay.blogspot.com

Here is the link to one of my favorite letters that I found, focusing on funding of the arts at a school in Arizona, where the writer's job was just eliminated due to lack of funding.

Persuasive Games

I thought it was cool how some of the games target a specific audience. For example, the game "Jetset," targets business travelers who are continuously waiting at airports. I found the game "Fatworld" very interesting because it connected politics and nutrition together in the United States, since our obesity rate here is over 30 percent. The game's goal is not to tell people how to eat well or how often they should workout, but it demonstrates the connection between having money and BEING ABLE to eat well. These games were intriguing because they all had meaning and could be in someway educational.

Advertising vs Propaganda

Advertising can encourage your desire for consumer goods using images and captions that lure you in. An advertiser's main goal is to sell, and to sell they have to make the product look desirable, and make you think you want/need it. Advertising uses multimedia techniques to promote products, and persuade the audience. However, the motivation to buy the products comes from propaganda. While propaganda is also a powerful media tool, it does not try to encourage the sale of a product. It is usually used to change or promote attitudes about a particular person or subject, most commonly used in politics.

Video Game Revolution

Over the past few decades, video games have become a HUGE part of our culture. As kids, we begged our parents to play games for a few minutes, and today there are kids playing the games all day long! The game industry has become a multi-billion dollar behemoth. The coming about of video games was very similar to that of computers, sort of like a fascination that turned into billions of dollars and spread all over the world. Through this I've learned that these video games create false realities for the consumers, and start up a line of addicts. These games may be fun and kill time, but they may trick kids into not know what is real verses what is not real.

Triumph of the Nerds

I had no idea there was so much behind the making of computers before watching this documentary. Even though I didn't think I had much interest in the subject, it was so interesting to expose myself to the competitiveness behind these computer companies, and the fact that what happens behind the scenes really does relate to us, because we are the consumers. This documentary was very detailed and offered opinions from VERY useful resources, included the top CEO of many companies. I thought it was interesting to see how these computer companies started off from nothing, basically as only a dream or fascination, to almost ruling the world.

I had no idea the Steve Wozniak was the big brains behind Apple, and that Steve Jobs was more of the marketer. It's funny how the name we recognize is Steve Jobs, not Wozniak, because everything is about selling. If you don't know how to sell, you can't succeed.

Bill Gates' goal was to have his software running on every computer existing. He cut down people who got in his way, and his promotional launch of Windows 95 was amazingly successful. He used pictures instead of words in order to make OS more intriguing, which ultimately worked. Steve Jobs became an icon in the "personal computer" world, while Bill Gates was a developer of Operating Systems. However they still competed with each other. Jobs predicted that soon all computers would have graphical interfaces, and was correct.

I thought it was mainly interesting to watch this movie now that it's almost two decades later. Computers and technology have advanced so much, included iPods, iPads, iPhones, Driods, etc. It is so amazing to see the rapid progression of technology and how its affecting the world/its consumers, and how it will continue to affect the future.

Flip Book Projects

Brian- I liked how he had an overall theme of basing his flip book around the history of the operas. It was extremely creative and well though out. You could tell that he knew what he was going to do before he started drawing, where some of us just started drawing with no plan.

Gina- I like her idea of basing the book on nature because it was very similar to mine. The colors were very vibrant, especially when you get to the pages with the tree, sun, and water.

Leah- I thought her idea was very cute. It was almost comical how the bugs had conversations with each other, and I really like how she created dialog.

Holly- Her book was extremely well drawn and detailed. There were very cool elements of nature and she tied the themes and ideas of the pages together very well.

Kaitlyn- My favorite part was the rope in the beginning, and how the little frog character popped out. It was drawn so well that it seemed realistic. However I thought she got burnt out after that and lost the detail and creativity. After an AWESOME beginning I was expecting more.

Andrea- Amazing! I liked how she basically made a picture story-book. It was not only EXTREMELY well drawn, but very easy to follow along with because you kept wanting to know what happened next.  Awesome job.

Kyle- I liked his Boston themed book, because you could tell it is a city that means a lot to him by the Red Sox logo (he was obviously "repping"). My favorite part was how the building grew and became very detailed, and I also like the handwritten fonts.

Raph- Loved the colors! The hot air balloon and circus theme really lit up the book and made it vibrant and attracted. The colors matched the theme perfectly. I could tell all of the pictures took great patients because they were so well colored-in.

Spencer- Nice job! I loved the skateboard idea (similar to mine) and my favorite part was when the pokeman character stuck out it's tongue. Very well detailed and thought out.

Stop Motion Animations

Stop motion animation is one of the most influential and/or trendy film-making techniques today. It is a type of art that makes a physically animated object appear as if it's moving on it's own. It works by shooting a single frame of an object and then slightly moving the object, and then shooting an other frame. This then creates an illusion that the objects (that are still frames) are actually moving. Here are a few videos I found through my research that I found as interesting examples.

This animation called "Gulp," is the world's largest stop animation set, stretching over 11,000 square feet. I like how they used live characters, but my only question is how they filmed sideways, because the person looks as if he is standing. My favorite part is how they drew in the sand to create what looked like real life nature and/or animals, and changed it after every frame to make the surrounding sand look untouched. I thought that was fascinating.

This video, "Post-it Note Arcade," took great patience and creativity. I like how the artists took two of his favorite arcade games and and made the video look like an actual arcade game. It kind of felt like you were actually playing it!

Stage Door Broadway

Stage door broadway offers the audience to get up close and personal with the broadway cast after the performance. This has given broadway a uniqueness that has attracted people from all over the world when they come to New York City, and is intended to create a level of closeness with the audience. This also gives the audience an opportunity to see what the real character under the custom looks like.

Bertie Carvel as Miss Trunchbull in the Broadway play Matilda.

Lindsay Mendez as Elphaba in Wicked.

Peter Joback as the Phantom in The Phantom of Opera.

Joey Calveri as Stacee Jaxx in Rock of Ages.