Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Feline Dream



In addition to animation, I've always wanted to make a stop motion. This is my first attempt at making one, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. But then again, Ruby is so adorable it would be hard to botch a project featuring her.

The founding idea for this project was to transition from the real world into the dream world, specifically, the dream world of a cat. I wanted the dream world to be quirky and fun, and also hand-made instead of digital.

It was kind of hard getting the star to cooperate with me as far as sleeping and sleeping position and waking up. I really wish I had more time at home to catch her sleeping and shoot this a few more times because I felt like I was making the best with what I had. Even though it is admittedly adorable, I felt like it could have been better if I had more tries.

It's unfortunate how hideous the embedded video looks, all stretched out and whatnot. I promise the actual video isn't that way.

In Your Closet...



My inspiration behind this short little animation was the childhood fear of having a monster in your closet. Well, everyone knows there are no such things as monsters, right? WRONG! They are real! And they DO live in your closet! But they're not all that bad. In fact, this one is rather caring and helpful. It will even turn on your night light and close itself in for the night so you can sleep without being afraid of monsters.

I really wanted to dabble with animation, because that's something I've always wanted to try, so I decided now was my chance.

I wanted to make the tentacle kind of cartoonish and fun so that it wasn't too scary, so I used bright colors and didn't try to make it very realistic and didn't worry if each tentacle was identical to how it really would be from shot to shot (as far as suction cup placement, etc).

I had a hard time with the background images. I don't know what in the world I was doing when I shot them, but even though I used a tripod, it seemed like none of them matched up with one another. I think this could have been caused from my own indecision though, because I kept changing my mind on what was the best way to shoot them. It was hard fitting the right amount of door in the image because the door is a lot taller and thinner than I was imagining it to be.

Work in Progress Video...

Monday, November 22, 2010

Blog Post #23

Reactions to previous project

It was a quiet afternoon, until...

This project was my favorite one overall, but unfortunately it was also the one that could have used the most extra work. Overall, it did have a positive reception. People tended to view it as cute or funny, and someone even said it would be terrifying to be eaten by a giant cat. It seemed like in general, everyone liked the idea behind this project. However, the lighting was off on a couple of the frames- the human subject should have been a bit darker in a few of them.

Recycle

I was surprised how popular this one was. Personally, I was worried that it wasn't interesting or edgy enough on its own, but the class seemed to think the opposite. Someone even said it was her favorite piece I've shown yet in the entire class. She also said that it was the first one where she couldn't see any little changes or adjustments that I should have made to it. I was very pleased with this, and as I said, surprised at its positive reception. Someone else suggested that a jumping off point could be to show the human bodies and body parts in their final destinations- show what they are being recycled into and used for.

Monstruo de los Ojos

This one didn't really elicit any kind of reaction from the audience this time around. It seemed to be a general consensus that the eyes on the hands were well done and convincing and that it was kind of creepy though. I'm not sure if this was because no one is familiar with Pan's Labyrinth and the scene this is based from, or because the image isn't interesting enough to capture people's interest.

Carve

This image was mostly received as being kind of creepy. Not much was said about it, except that the knife should have been a little brighter to make it stand out more. I did brighten the edge of the blade, but I guess I didn't do it enough to make the whole thing visible. Someone thought an interesting secondary image would be showing the pumpkin man's reaction to seeing a carved pumpkin, which I thought would be amusing.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Blog Post #23

One type of project that I've always wanted to make is a stop motion movie. I've always thought stop motion was a really fun medium and enjoy viewing short stop motion animations. I've never really had a chance or the right software available to me to try this until now. I'm not sure what I'd want it to be about, but I'm pretty sure that I want to explore this type of project and make one of my own. I've heard that they can be extremely frustrating and time-consuming, but most of the things that are worth doing are, so I'm trying not to let that intimidate me from making an attempt.

The biggest problem I can think of is trying to think of a good, worthwhile idea and finding the necessary materials to make the idea happen. It would be fun to do a claymation stop motion, but I also think that might take up even more time than I could put into it. Either way, I'm excited to start working on making a stop motion animation of my own!

Additionally, using a photograph to be the background and placing animation over the top of it is something that I think would be interesting. For example, having a picture of a closet and having it appear to be just a picture of a closet, but then after a little while of looking at it, a tentacle monster reaches out of it or something. I wish I knew enough about animation to make this happen. I wonder if I could learn fast enough to try that for this class...

Another type of multimedia project I'm interested in doing is doing a paint-over of a photograph and recreating it as an illustration. I would take a picture of either someone or something and use bright, vibrant colors to turn it into a cartoonish image. I wouldn't be aiming for accuracy and loads of shades and colors and details, but rather, a stylized new version of the image. It would retain the same composition and subject matter and everything, but it would be a digital painting instead of a digital photograph.

I also think it would be interesting to use photography to either disguise or incorporate someone into their surroundings. I'm not sure if it would be printing the images and having the person hide behind them and then take a picture of that, or if they would become a part of the clothing or what, but this idea seems really fun to me. I'm also not sure how obvious I would want it to be- if it would be really hard to find them ad have their face painted and everything- or if it would be just their torso hidden and  their head and arms and legs visible or what.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

It was a quiet afternoon, until...


This is my favorite image of the group. I thought it would be really fun to work with putting people into miniature situations, and I was right!

I set up some of my mom's childhood dollhouse furniture and took pictures of it, then took pictures of her acting out her parts sitting on a normal couch and edited her into the pictures. I also decided to include my cat, but at life size and invading the miniature world. I wanted to sort of play tricks with the eye, where you can't tell at a first glance that it's a miniature scene set up, but then introducing the cat in so that you have to decide whether the cat is huge or the person is small.

Overall I'm happy with the idea and the scenes, although I wish that I had more time to get the lighting right on a few of the images. I plan on going back and editing them until it looks right because I really like this one and I don't want it having parts that drive me nuts (like pretty much all of my pictures do).

Recycle


This image started out with the idea of having someone coming out of a box that they clearly wouldn't fit into in the real world. After going down to the recycle room to obtain a box, I found more inspiration. I thought it would be interesting to imagine a place where dead human bodies are dumped and then recycled into other things. This image is the dump, the waiting place that is between where they came from and where they will end up. They are abandoned and alone, stuck in limbo in the dumpsters.

I also kind of thought of the movie Repomen when working on this, although I haven't actually seen it yet (but I want to!).

Although this image is finished, I still feel like it too is missing something, and I wish I knew what.

Monstruo de los Ojos


This image is a recreation of a scene in the movie Pan's Labyrinth.

It's not supposed to be a 100% direct copy, but rather a slightly different take on it. I decided not to change the subject to look more monstrous so that I wouldn't cross that boundary.

I basically created a "feast" out of items I found around our rooms, and digitally edited the dish in the background. It's actually a pie tin sitting on a tupperware, but I tried to make it look more fancy like the one in the original image.

I felt that getting the eyes onto the hands was the most important part of this image, because that's what sets it apart from reality and is the biggest focus point of the monster. Overall, I was pretty pleased with how they turned out. I think I actually had a harder time getting the foreground to be blurred the right amount than I did working with the eyes, although the eyes did take much longer.

Even after finishing this image, I still feel like it's missing something. The only part I'm really satisfied with is the eyes on the hands.

Carve


This image came from the idea of imagining what a pumpkin might feel like when someone is about to carve it. I also wanted to see how hard (or easy) it was to edit someone's facial parts onto an object somewhat convincingly.

Although I personally imagine that pumpkins are excited to become Jack-o-Lanterns, this image illustrates the idea of the pumpkin already having its own face and personality, watching helplessly in horror as it is approached with a knife to carve it. It is supposed to be sort of funny and light while also being sort of dark and creepy.

The hardest part was trying to get the eyes and eyebrows to flow into the rest of the pumpkin, especially the color transitions from yellow to orange because of the lighting. 

Monday, November 8, 2010

Created Realities Works in Progress...

Some of these are more done than others, but none of them are completely finished.

Is it just me, or does this feel like it's missing something? Maybe should I add something into the foreground or crop it? I'm not really sure what I want to do with this, but I do think it probably needs something.
Should the features be bigger or does it look alright how it is? I'm not really sure on this one either, but it seems like something is missing here as well. Thoughts?
Original Image
This was my recreation of the ojo monster (or whatever he's actually called) from Pan's Labyrinth. Blah I'm not really satisfied with this one either. I feel like they're all missing something but I can't tell what. Is it the background? Foreground? The monster himself? Should I try and make him look more monstrous or leave it obvious he's human?
This one is probably the closest to being done. Mostly I just have to work on the technical aspects in order for it to all appear more seamlessly integrated, which I know is far away right now, but conceptually I think this one is mostly all there. Are the frames varied enough? Too varied? Does the empty couch bother anyone? Should it have anything it doesn't or not have something it does? PS- I know some of the frames are the wrong size, this was just a quick compilation of screen grabs, not actually put together properly.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Blog Post #21

1. In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?

One of the best ways to see the contrast between when I "construct" my identity and when I behave normally is to compare a day I have class or some social function with a day that I have completely free. I wake up and shower every single day I'll be going out or seeing anyone, I shave, I brush and dry my hair, get dressed in nice clothing- I do a whole bunch of stuff that gets old and annoying and takes up time in order to get myself to a point where I feel comfortable going out. I don't think I do anything too drastic to please others or alter my appearance- I don't even wear make-up-but the fact remains that I'm not comfortable unless I do these things.

By contrast, if I won't be going anywhere or seeing anyone, I usually take a break from all of these formalities and sit around in my underwear unshowered. I don't know if this says more about "who I am" so much as it points out that the rest of it is a performance that I get tired of, from which I enjoy a break every so often.

Using the word "perform" or "construct" when talking about personality makes it seem so... fake, when really it's hard to look at yourself and point out this kind of thing in that way. Ideally, I'd rather think about the way I act and the things I do around others and in social situations as expressions of the way I'd like others to see me. I try to be nice and sincere and treat others with respect most of the time, but not so much that it comes off as fake, because I like to think it isn't. If I really don't like someone, I'll avoid them before I'll put on a completely false front and pretend to be their friend, but I certainly won't go out of my way to make sure they know I dislike them.

When I'm with people I care about, I try to do thoughtful things for them every so often to make sure they know I care about them. I guess this is an example of positive construction, since most of the others sound so negative.


2. Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.

One custom in my personal social environment I had a hard time adjusting to was the mealtime ritual. Before I started spending a lot of time with my current friend group, I pretty much ate my meals alone and didn't really think anything of it. If I was hungry, I'd go down to the caf and get some food. If I wasn't hungry, I wouldn't.

But the others started coming to get me and asking me to go down to get food quite often. Initialy, I turned them down a lot. Hey, I wasn't hungry, it didn't make sense to go down. But then I started to notice they seemed annoyed and discouraged by this.

Or I'd be hungry and I'd go down, then bump into someone on the way out, and again they'd seem annoyed or discouraged.

Then I realized- eating was about more than the food, it was a social event and the socially "correct" thing to do in this situation is to invite others when you go to eat, or accept invitations to give them company when they are going down.

For quite a while, this felt sort of like a social experiment I was taking part in, learning the customs of some strange "other" group and infiltrating the ranks, but as time went by, I got used to this and it became the new "normal." Visits to the caf started feeling less like social performances and more like bonding opportunities, which is how I imagine the others must have viewed it all along.

This dining behavior is completely constructed for me- this is not how I normally functioned when left to my own devices. I had to reconstruct my own habitual norms in order to fit in with the new social environment.


3. Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.

In a sense, my physical environment is constructed in every way possible. I live in a building that was build by humans, on land that was cleared and paved by humans. My room is full of manufactured things that I have arranged in a certain and specific fashion. There is no aspect of this space that isn't "fabricated" in some sort of way. But if we are to back off and look at this less literally, I suppose my efforts to put things away and keep the floor and (sparce) seating spaces free for other people to use would be a bid example of fabrication.

When I am left alone and completely to my own devices, these spaces are often consumed by school books, clothing, papers- anything that needs a place to go. But my efforts to keep these things in some sort of organized order is almost entirely me doing this for others, because it's embarrassing to live in a mess and have nowhere for anyone to sit or stand, but if I am alone it doesn't matter if my additional seating is covered in my things, since I am only one person who only needs one place to sit and it makes more sense to have my things easily accessible than to have seating for people who aren't here (it's also less effort).


4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?

I feel like there are two ways to approach a response to this question. The first answer that came to my mind was "Well, the only time you're not really performing for anyone or fabricating anything is when you're completely alone, so I guess that would be the most "real" picture of someone- the things they do and don't do while they're alone." Which is true in a sense, and I think it would be really interesting to be able to secretly (here comes the creeper inside me) see how people act and what sorts of things they do when they're completely alone with no one there to watch or judge them.

But after thinking about this, another thought pressed its way into my head- who is to say that the constructed and fabricated behaviors aren't also real in a sense? Even when acting a part or differently, the things you choose to do still portray something about you. You wouldn't be acting a certain way if you didn't have some sort of message you were trying or wanted to convey or express.

I guess in short, I guess that I would consider almost every moment that is spent in someone else's presence to be constructed or fabricated in some way, because everyone is working under certain expectations, challenges and has a general "image" they would like to be seen as, but I would also consider these moments as "real," because in some way or another they convey some sort of desire or truth about each person.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Reactions to Night of the Living Dead, Shadow Grave, Zombies in the Graveyard and Horizonscape

Night of the Living Dead

Overall, this image got a very positive reaction. Everyone seemed to think it was entertaining and well done. However, it did get two criticisms, which I agree with. One of them was that I had too many shadows in the image, which takes place at night. I had been assuming the giant looming full moon would be a pretty bright light source and although I frequently looked at the original, somehow I seemed to remember it having more shadows than it actually does. I think mine shows more (maybe too much, but I couldn't do much about it) ground than the original, which makes this shadow problem more evident. The second was about the mounting and applies to all three in the zombie series. I mounted this and its two sibling images on gravestones I bought from a Halloween store. However, the tombstones had various markings and raised decorations and it proved to be very difficult to get the images the right size and orientation on the stones to look good and hide extra decoration  that distracted from the images. Someone pointed out that it would have looked better if the images were fit into the tombstones better. Maybe if they were cut out in a shape to fit around the decorations, done bigger or smaller or something. I thought of all of these things, but it ended up becoming a time and supply issue, and in the end, my scissors were just too lousy to trust them to accurately cut out details, and I just physically didn't have enough time to go find better ones or even spend the time cutting the images out or reprinting them a different size.

I really liked the idea of mounting them in an interesting, related and non-traditional manner, but I hope it doesn't distract from them instead of add as I was hoping.


Shadow Grave

This image also seemed to get a positive reception. Some people commented on how spooky and scary it was, and even wondered how I got the shadows on there (which I thought was kind of funny because this image has almost no editing, while "Night of the Living Dead" was extremely heavily edited). The only criticism it really got was the mounting issue, which I already detailed.

However, I kind of wish I would have shot the attacking zombie from a slightly different angle, because he looks a little misshapen, which I guess isn't unusual for a zombie, but I wish his head was more pronounced at least. I also already mentioned in its original post that I wished the text on the tombstone looked better, but when I asked a couple people, they thought it was fine as it is now.


Zombies in the Graveyard

I would say this image got a positive reception, but rather, it was more like an apathetic reaction, or simply a lack of criticism. I'm not sure if nothing was said because it was alright, or if was simply "alright," with nothing bad but also nothing exceptional to draw people's attention. A couple people muttered that it was neat or cool, but nothing concrete. I'm also not sure whether it was because the class wasn't exceptionally talkative that day or if that idea of it being too common is simply my own, because I'll be honest, I spent so much time working on my "Night of the Living Dead" poster, that I ran out of time to work on the others when the sheer amount of time I lost to computer problems is factored into the equation.


Horizonscape

I was surprised how much attention this image got compared to some of the other ones. People seemed to enjoy the colors of the sky the most. They also liked the vertical orientation of the image. I was considering turning it on its side so the stripes were vertical and the picture itself horizontal shaped, but everyone agreed that it looked best being tall and long. Someone even suggested that I should capture images of all different horizons for the rest of my life until the picture gets infinitely longer and longer and longer, and I do think this would look better and accomplish its idea if it were either bigger or had many more stripes to it.