Blog Assignment #9 Freak Factor

I really enjoyed this article by David Rendall. "Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness" is written to suggest ways to take your weaknesses and make them into awesome other things.

In number 2, "Whats my problem", I found his suggestions to be very valid. I feel like everybody grows up getting told how to fix their "problems". I had a lot of similar "problems" to Rendall, and still do. I think it is definitely beneficial to take away my apparent flaws and find them to be clues to my true strengths. I have not yet found the right fits for ALL my problems, but I can definitely see where some would fit in. I like that Rendall also blatantly tells us that it is good to be a freak, and weaknesses make you a freak. I think the idea of a "freak" is awesome, and often love feeling out of place because of a difference.. It can definitely benefit me to add more creativity to my life. Taking the little problems I have and transforming them into mind builders and creative nick-nacks could add so much to my creative processes, and any other sorts of work I can do. Being loud and obnoxious in class when I was a kid has now let me see it as being not shy and friendly! Many other examples fall into play when thinking about this topic.
In number 5, Rendall writes "Foundation: Build on Your Strengths". He says that our strengths are patterns of passion and proficiency. They are what we love to do. I completely agree with this, and enjoy his suggestion. He suggests that we should take our strengths that we can recognize, and constantly build on them to improve ourselves. He gives building on our strengths reasons like "feeling good". It is enjoyable to work on our strengths. He also states that our well-developed strenghts often make our weaknesses irrelevant. I feel like taking our strengths and building upon them comes quite naturally, especially when they come as compliments. If somebody compliments you on what good work you've done, or something you are talented at, you have motivation to keep working at it, thus building on your strengths. This type of thinking can definitely heighten creativity.
The last point that Rendall wrote that really stuck out to me was his number 8. "Freak: The power of Uniqueness". I think this is a great point and suggestion because it really displays the awesomeness in being unique. He talks about the story being the Leaning tower of Pisa. The building was supposed to be straight, but started to lean even when building it. He notes that this was a very lucky break for the city of Pisa because so many people come to see it and appreciate it because of it's uniqueness. He says that fixing the flaw in the tower would ruin it's uniqueness. He compares this with disorganized geniuses, dyslexic billionaires, famous reindeer and discount retailers. He says that our success is directly related to our uniqueness. I find this to be extremely true. If we were all the same people with no creativity and no uniqueness, what kind of world would it be? Boring. We need to take our uniqueness and given flaws and run with them. We can build upon on our flaws, and discover new points of creativity through them!

As for my strengths and weaknesses as far as the creative process is concerned, I have found many things. My strengths are that I see the beauty in most everything around me. I try to appreciate all forms of art, whether it be a painting, a sculpture, a scenery, or even a building. These are skills that other people possess and I admire. Admiring the other types of art help my creativity flow. I try to mimic other work, and try to use other work to display beauty in my own sometimes. looking at the finer things in life helps me discover new ideas and new ways of art. I think that is a major strength of mine. As far as weaknesses go, I feel that I have a lot. I'm not good at accepting my strenghts, which is obviously necessary to do in order to build upon them. I'm also not good at even having a "creative process"!  I just think of an idea and usually roll with it. No process involved. I can't tell if that is a strength or a weakness though. All in all, I feel that my strenghts and weaknesses help me become a better artist. I think acknowledging that being unique is special, and finding beauty in all things is beneficial to not only my creative mind, but to my life in general.

Blog Assignment #8 Brainwashed

In Godin's article, he talks about seven different layers of reinventing yourself. Examples of his layers are 1.) Acknowledging the Lizard, 2.) Making Art, and 3.) Fail. Acknowledging the Lizard basically is to ignore being laughed at, and resume our Art. Making art is to literally make art, which could essentially mean just to collaborate ideas and MAKE SOMETHING. Lastly, Fail is to actually fail. If we fail at what we do, we learn, and keep pushing.

I feel that these layers mentioned in Godin’s article are very important on improving yourself as a person, or “reinventing” if you will. The layers mentioned above are things that I regularly try to acknowledge to make me a better person. As for our blogs, I’m not entirely sure how they have helped, but I do know that each individual layer does in fact help push a person closer to their desired limits. There have been many times in my life that I did not acknowledge the lizard, and limited my abilities. All throughout growing up, I feel that everybody experienced being laughed at or criticized, and it slowly but surely guided them into grooves, and limited them. There was one point in my life that I realized how awesome it was to be a little different and creative. Hopping out of the normal groove changed me, and made me a better artist, friend, and overall person. As for making art, this is a NECESSITY. When you start to make art, you start to appreciate more forms of art, and art as a whole. When you can see beauty in anything created, you can see a whole new world. Life is full of art, and so many people neglect it. If people would just open their eyes every now and then, they could really learn a lot. If you make art (which we do every day unknowingly), and understand that what you are doing is actually art, your life is taken to a whole new level. Lastly, to fail. Failing may be the most important layer. There has never been anybody on the earth that has totally succeeded in everything they did without ever failing. Failing is practice. Failing made me who I am today. The many things I failed on in the past have pushed me further and further. Success can only be found after failing. Whether it be sports, art, asking out a girl, or even getting a paper cut when folding paper, WE LEARN. We add it to our brains what NOT to do, and this helps us be more aware of what to do next. Like I mentioned earlier, It is practice.

            With all of these layers, we can become better artists, people, students, etc. It just takes a little bit of recognizing, and a little more practice, and we can improve not only ourselves, but the world around us!

 

Blog Assignment #7

Jeepers Creepers Scene (Click)

I think that the theme of this movie is Thrilling Horror. The scene gives a sense of a scary, intimidating figure attacking innocent people. The theme seems to be didactic, because the audience has no idea what is happening, and very scared of this creature that is on the hunt for the innocent human beings.


In the scene, there are many different evident topics that help direct the audience towards the theme. As for line and shape, the trees in the beginning of the scene represent a couple different things. Most of the trees around the "Monster's" house are straight up and down, almost like arrows pointing down. In the movie, the two humans find themselves trying to go back to see what the monster is throwing underground. Some of the other trees, though, have odd shapes to them, letting the audience see a for-shadowing that the thing that is throwing the bodies down the pipe is in fact not human. For space, in the woods where the monster lives, you feel very constricted, and limited to where you can go. On the open road, we see a wide area to run to, letting us feel safer on the road.
For CONTRAST, we see in the scene that the two vehicles involved in the chase are totally opposite. The vehicle doing the chasing is a large, beat up, rusty, and brown old truck, while the car being chased is a small, bright colored, nice vehicle. This displays the two differences in characters driving them. For AFFINITY, we see the car that was being chased crash into a field of bright, green grass that compliments the car's colors. This lets us feel that they are in a safe place once again, away from the monster.

Animation Sample

Blog Assignment #6 Animation Deconstruction

The two images displayed above are from the movie Wall-E, a personal favorite animation of mine. The colors of the two images are very similar, while the brightness is quite different. Both images have a blue tint to them, or a blue hue. The blue hue might reflect that they are in the future, which they are. The brightness though, is very different in the images. In the first image, the brightness of the blue hue is a lot brighter than the second image. The lighter blue displays a more intense, mid-day, fast working environment. The darker blue in the second image displays a more sad, calmer, night time sort of environment. The saturation of the second image is clearly more evident in that the blue is the richest of blues. The first image is quite saturated as well, but not nearly as much as the second.

As for lighting, the light is quite different in both images. In the first image, the light seems to be coming from overhead, as well as from the machinery behind the subjects. It is a brighter light than the second image, and displays more of a daytime feel. The shadows in the first image are pretty evident, and lets the viewer see that the light source is in fact coming from overhead because everything below is covered by shadow. For the second image, the light seems to be coming from the sky, perhaps the moon. the light reflects off of some of the trash that Wall-E is standing on, and it also makes Wall-E glow. This sets a melancholy mood, for Wall-E is looking up at the light source. Because the light is coming from the sky, and Wall-E is looking up at it, it seems as though there is symbolism that he is looking up at the light for hope. The images shown clearly compare quite nicely. They are different in some ways, and similar in others. Between Color and Lighting, the images are unique in their own ways.

Blog Assignment #5 Storyboard Imitation

This scene is a difficult one to talk about because it is based off of two shots. It just cuts between the two. As for the 180 Degree rule, the director DOES follow it. In the first shot, it shows Cameron directly head on. We see the background, and get to see where he is in the car. In the second shot, we see a wide shot the car in the middle of the driveway. We can still see the front of the car, but get to see exactly where the car is, thus the director is NOT breaking the 180 degree rule.

As for the Rule of Thirds, The director decides to steer away from those types of shots. In the two shots we see in the scene, the subject is in the direct center of the shot. Cameron, in the first shot, is head on, and we can see that he is in the driver's seat. He is centered in the shot. For some reason, though, this does not look bad. In the second shot,  we see the car in the center of the screen as well.

For the 30 Rule, the director follows it. Between the first and the 3rd shot, we move both at least 30% out, and 30 degrees to the side. This is a completely different shot, almost as an establishing shot as to where the car is. When we get to the third shot, we see that it is the same as the first, thus following the 30 Rule.

Blog Assignment #3 Reflections on Sound Design

In the scene from Ferris Bueller's day off, the sounds are very apparent. There are Casual sounds, and Semantic Sounds. The sounds of Cameron talking are not so unique as we expect them, but when the far away shot shows Cameron screaming in his car with the horn blasting and the engine revving, we hear all of the sounds, seeing the frustration and absurdity of the scene. We also hear the gravel moving from under his feet as he walks away very angrily. This shows us that he is moving fast and is pissed off.