Déjà vu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOp-S0n6Ma4

I initially could not think of an idea for the final project. I debated doing the verb list since I had done poorly on Micro Project Five, and wanted to try and fix my problems with it and improve upon my poor ideas and execution in Micro Project Five. But, I decided I wanted to do something that wasn't Photoshop and was different. This led me to think about what looks "cool" on video. One of my first ideas was reversing the video to make it look different and cool, something no one had done before in our class and a rare idea I doubted anyone would come up with. So I searched backwards videos on YouTube, and the most popular video type was backwards eating. Backwards eating was interesting and confirmed my idea that I wanted to do a backwards video. But the idea was taken further when Ben Korobkin told me he wanted to work together. We thought it would put an interesting spin on the backwards idea, by working together. He decided that doing everything we did backwards, but still making it appear as if it was possible in the forward direction also allowed us to add a creative spin the project. Not only was everything we did together and backwards, but it appears like it was possible in the correct order, and the goal was to see if the viewer could tell everything was done in reverse but played in reverse, so that it appeared in the correct direction. 

During the project, Ben and I had initially thought we could just film everything we did, but the choice to do only things that could be done forward and backwards was chosen by Ben, and later I decided that would add an artist touch and was a good idea. We knew right away to do the building and destruction of the AEV, which is an engineering project that we have been doing for about the past two months together, along with two other guys. The second idea we had was to do some sort of CSE programming. We are both in introduction to C++ programming and we decided we should write a program that says "Hello" and "Goodbye" in order to do something cool. Unfortunately, the final project comes out blurry when the words are being displayed, which is unfortunate, but I tried to fix by slowing down the video. Our third idea was leaving for class every day, so we recorded getting on the elevator and leaving our rooms, preparing for the morning. This turned out fairly well. This is when we got stuck though, because the only other class we are in together is this class, and couldn't do anything besides this project together. So we brainstormed and since he is violent, we decided that we should hit each other, since we often disagree on things, and it can get violent. Lastly, we decided since we both enjoy football, we should throw one back and forth to each other. This was hard to achieve but came out better than I thought it would. 

My final thoughts on the project are that I think it turned out very well. I think it is hard to tell everything was done backwards, but there is definitely something off about everything we do, but I like how it worked out.  The idea is also very unique, something I don't think anyone has come up yet in this class or in general. It shows how Ben and I's lives are intertwined and everything we do impacts each other. The importance of what we do together is emphasized by the fact that every video only has Ben and I doing things together. The video making sense back and forth is my favorite part, and it will be interesting if anyone can tell that is what is happen during the video and not that we just look awkward. This final project is different enough from my other projects that I am happy with it. Ben contributed to the idea of forward and back, while I had the original idea of backwards in the first place, and our ideas complimented each other’s. 

Initial Final Project Thoughts

For the final project, Ben and I decided to work together since we live our daily lives together and go through many of our days together. We share three classes together, and those classes meet three times a week, excluding digital art, which is only two times. We decided we wanted to see how we affect each other’s work, and how that changes the outcome of most of everything we do this semester. We didn’t know what we wanted to do at first specifically, but decided a video would be a good direction, first of all because I’ve done a lot of Photoshop for the last projects, and because it would be the best way to convey how we effect each other. I can definitely say I see Ben’s influence in the things I do, and I think for him, visa versa. When you share Computer Science Engineering and Engineering together, it is harder to see the change that we affect on each other, but throwing Digital Art into the mix definitely brings out how much we influence each other. Our ideas bounce off each other, and often, are rebutted. This is due to our personalities, which I think are too similar to mesh in a peaceful way, but this changes things for the better for the most part. So for this project, we want to take our finished projects and reverse them into their beginning form, because I think it will be an interesting way to see how the final product begins, and will surprise viewers on how it started out in the beginning. Our first attempt at showing our influence together will be the building and destruction of our AEV. An AEV is an engineering class project that has been the main focus of the class for the past two months. Ben and I were tasked with building it, and both our influences went into creating and shaping its look and function. So our first video will be of building and destroying the AEV, and adding the reverse and forward aspect to it, making it hard to figure out which version is which. We’re hoping this makes it more captivating. In this post is two of the first clips we hope to include in the project, unedited and uncut, of both Ben and I. I recommend muting the video, the sounds are unrelated talk between my roommate, his friend, Ben, and I.

Quarterly Failure Report

1. I think my biggest failure this semester was my most recent project, Micro Project 5. There are a couple reasons why. I was not able to spend as much time as I wanted to and was able to with my other projects, and had to complete in a smaller time frame, this was due to being preoccupied with other things. The second reason, which stems from the lack of time, is that I do not I was as creative as I could have been or thought hard enough about what to do, which makes me feel like I strayed from the prompt or guidelines. I had the words “cut” and “suspend” which, with an everyday object, I should have been able to create something cool and interesting. I fault myself for not using my time the best, and hope not to repeat that problem again.

2. I learned that, based on old projects also, I must give myself an ample amount of time in order to do my best work and do something I am proud of. All my projects I am happy with, and it is only this one that I feel didn’t seem up to my standard.

3. My biggest success this quarter would have to be using Photoshop in a constructive and creative way. My two favorite projects so far, the “campus map” and “daily used objects” (Micro Project 1 and 2) both used Photoshop in an excellent way that I am quite thrilled with. Both are very creative and I like the way they ended up being presented and their finalized versions. I like using Photoshop to convey the projects the best, I think it is my best medium to use.

4. I learned from my success with Photoshop that I excel using Photoshop and using it for the final project might be a good idea. I am not going to lock myself into using it, but it seems my best work comes out when using Photoshop, and I want my final project to be my best work.

5. If I could redo one project it would definitely be Micro Project 5, for the reasons stated above. It could be so much better with more time put into it and I feel like what turned out from it wasn’t done justice.

Cutting the Suspense

Cutting the Suspense is the name of a comic I created using my words "cut" and "suspend". At first I was clueless about what to do, but I realized I could use something I receive often in the mail. A package is what I chose and was the perfect thing that could be cut and in a stretched way, suspended. I wanted to incorporate both words into my work but didn't think I could fit suspend into it the way I wanted to and a way that made sense, that's why I decided to stretch the word and come up with "suspense". To me, nothing fit better with the theme of suspense than a comic. Comics are usually slower paced since each individual panel had to be read in order to comprehend the entire thing. So with this in mind, I knew I needed the project to be a Photoshop image. I then went in and documented the receiving, cutting and opening process of the package with my camera. I had about six cutting action pictures, but decided only one was enough to get the point across and not be redundant. After getting this photos, I had to place them in order in the document and then look up how to "comic book-erize" photos in Photoshop since this is not an everyday thing to do in it. I found excellent tutorial on YouTube and used that to help guide me, with slight modifications. After adding all the effects, which include Poster Edges and Color Halftone, I added a text box with a texture and added a stroke (outline) to every image and the text boxes. The text I found online from Dafont.com and is called Badaboom BB, it fit perfectly for my needs. 

I don't think my project turned out at all like most other projects will, since looking back, most people will probably do more to their actual objects, unlike my approach, which was to create a story of sorts and make the presentation more artistic. I am still happy with the outcome, and the open to interpretation idea of this project left me to experiment with something I can say I have never attempted before, and that's creating a story with few words  on an everyday object and make it look good while doing it.

Things Aren't As They Seem

The place I chose was the place that I am at the most while spending my time at OSU. And that is my dorm room. I do 99% of my homework in my room, and pretty much live there when not attending classes. I also have gotten used to many of the sounds of my room, which include the sounds I recorded for my video. Closing my eyes, all I can hear is a fan that is placed on my desk and running all day everyday, my speaker system playing some kind of music, ranging from rap to country, and often, people talking and conversing with each other. These are all sounds that are the dominant sonic landscape of my dorm room. 

The aftereffects of my tinkering with GarageBand have changed most of my recordings dramatically. Two of them are still recognizable of what they were originally, but my fan turned out completely different. Most of the results are the result of completely random testing of sound effects from GarageBand, and choosing the ones I liked the best or took the sounds in the direction I felt I wanted to go. The fan was the first sound I was playing with, and this is why it ended up unrecognizable. I was originally going for its amplification to make it sound like an airplane, since, next to my ear, it is quite loud, and I wanted to exaggerate it. But after adding “thickened drums” and “intense whispering” it sounded like a train yard, which was a surprising, but great result. I think it sounds a lot like some sort of industrial location, which just is cool to me.

After making the fan something it wasn’t, I decided to go with a more familiar approach with my other two sounds, trying to see how much I could change them and keep them recognizable. My second changed sound was my speaker system. I knew right away I wanted to make it seem like the speakers were close to their max volume with someone standing right next to them, like at a concert, maybe with a headache or something. I knew I wanted to make it uncomfortable for the listener to get through. And I think I succeeded – it is painful to listen to. I used the effects “microphone”, “crunchy drums”, and “fade out drums” to achieve my end result. My favorite clip, just because of the overpowering sensory barrage from it.

The last recording change is of my friend and her friend talking to each other about some trivial woman gossip. It was planned and recorded without them knowing, which makes it by far the most entertaining clip of all three. It’s topic is almost perfect when someone thinks of pointless chatter. To make this exaggerated, I wanted to make it sound trippy. I missed my mark though and instead it sounds extraterrestrial, which in hindsight only makes it funnier and to me makes the joke that women are unrelated to men and from another planet. I used the effects “orion vocals”, “filter can”, and “wandering around”. Finishing with the weirdest seemed the best way to end to me.

My pictures go in order from most familiar to weirdest, because concerts and train stations are pretty normal, but end with the alien theme. I decided to use Google images to find the pictures I needed for the video, and added a credit title to the end with a popular beat that ends too soon, begging to be played longer. I liked this project the most so far, just because I could mess around with something I haven’t used much, GarageBand, and could make interesting sounds and video with it.