Thursday, March 10, 2011

Manifesto

Here are a few things that i have found in life. It may not be a good manifesto, but these are some things i thought i would share about what i think. In no particular order.

1. People will try to put you down if they are jealous of what you've done.
2. There will always be someone to criticize.
3. Just live your life in the way you want too.
4. Work hard, play harder.
5. Prioritize everything you do. Think what should come first
6. Build on what you know works.
7. Don't always follow the crowd.
8. Be the leader of the crowd.
9. Don't start something your not willing to finish.
10. Everyone may appear like something on the outside, just be wary of whats inside.

Blog 10

Freak Factor
In this piece of reading you get to read about the strengths and weaknesses that people in society and people nowadays are told to have. In the piece is talks about listening to others about what your weaknesses are, and what they don't like. It says that you can use this advice from them to not fix your weaknesses, but to use them to find your strengths and what you are best at. It also talks about not listening to what others say to try and change you, and also don't say things to try and change people. Find the good things with people and try to promote their strengths; let them be freaks if it means that they are better at something than someone else.
I agree with the first point that tells you about getting feedback and evaluations from different people, like your boss, co workers, friends, parents or just about anyone. With this you can find out your weaknesses, fix your weaknesses, build on strengths and a combination of the two. People normally try to fix weaknesses by building on their strengths Like it says in this passage, children and such are expected to be able to do things but they are looked at differently if they cannot.
Another part of the reading i liked was point 3. I liked this part becuase it had a list of Weakness to contrast to the strengths. I also agree with some of these while at the same time i disagree with some of them. Some of those Strengths i feel that it is a mixed scenario with the weakness. I feel like this because some of the strengths apply to me, but like the very first one, i feel that with my creativity i am still very well organized, if not more organized than others without creativity.
The final point that i agreed with was point 5. This point said to build on your strengths. This is feel works and agree with their bullet points of it feeling good, you have the greatest potential in your area of strength, and your strength makes up for your weakness. I agree that it feels good making what you know you are good at better. It is also true that you have the greater to  potential to do something really good in your area of expertise because its a strength that came from having a weakness. If you continue to make your strength better it can butt out the weakness or increase the weakness which can be an acceptable choice to choose between.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Blog 9A

Two points I think that didn't come off to well in our video game design presentation i feel might have been the description of game modes, and of the customization extent. I think that maybe if the more than one person of the group had shown up sooner on the days i tried to get everyone together,maybe i would of had time to think of a way to better elaborate the points in the presentation better.
The concept area's i thought were a little bit more difficult to explain and design points for were Mechanics and Objectives. I think Mechanics was difficult to explain to others becuase it was defined as "Ways of play". This made me think that it was how the player wanted to play; but then it would make me think that, that was too similar to Goals. So i found it difficult to think of something to say to keep them separate. With Objectives, it was kind of wierd to talk about becuase sometimes peoples Goals, would already be the objective; and with that there wasn't much explaining i was able to do apart from explaining  the difference.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Video Jokes

Joke #1
Joke #2

With the video's its easy to see affinity becuase you can easily see the videos are in different places being filmed. There are different props used, different lighting, different people, and clearly different take on the joke. To contrast the jokes you can see that it is the same joke idea. Tension and Release is shown where the blond woman gets up which initiates Tension between the actors and in turn makes you feel the same way. Release is then shown when the ventriloquist starts to explain.  The Line is displayed by showing that many of the actual lines in each of the frames led to the speaking characters at that point in the videos. There are also lines on the objects in both videos. Most of the objects, and the placing of the actors are all within an area that draws you in and points to the the most important point at the time.  Shape was shown between  the blond woman and the ventriloquist. The size of the woman compared to the ventriloquist and the dummy, were both different.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Reimagining Visual Framing

Original Image
Croped Image

I chose this Salvidor Dali image because it just is so appealing. One of the best i think out of all of the other photos that could have been used. I like it because there is just so much action going on in the picture. It seems like if there was any more going on, it would not fit in the frame. I also like it because it just seems so random and there are thins happening that would not happen in the natural world. It is just over the top and full of things that cannot be explained and you can see that it is only something that can be created from the mind of someone truly creative.
As you can see in the photo's above, i chose to crop the image around the tigers. I did this because i find it one of the most appealing parts of the image. You can see that the two tigers are not just leaping out towards the front of the image and the woman. But instead they are leaping out of a goldfish, leaping out of a glove/planet sort of thing.
I think the artist chose to frame it like this because it captures more of whats going on. Maybe in his mind it is explaining different aspects of things by showing more. In his mind each part of the picture is explaining another part and giving a reason why it is shown the way it is, and placed where it is.
The visual intensity is greatly portrayed in this since, everywhere you look there is something strange and confusing. Basically there is a lot of action bursting out everywhere making your eyes dart around and your mind try to contemplate what on earth is happening in the scene.
Line and Shape are shown thanks to the direction that each of the things are facing. The tigers are leaping towards the right side of the frame from the left. The elephant thing on stilts has its legs, that if you follow them down, are pointed towards the bottom right where the tigers are also leaping. All the lines and shapes are pointing to the woman laying in the corner of the frame.
Space doesn't play much of a role here, apart from that it is cramped and closed to make you look to the front of the image. If your to look into the background of the image, you would not see anything bu bland colors and nothing occupying the space. Instead your eyes are brought to the front showing off the different things going on.
This picture would be Active since it is not explaining any kind of story that you can follow. It is basically giving you images and making you think up some kind of story to explain what is going on and why.
You are Consciously looking around and thinking about what is happening and you are constantly thinking of what kind of things are behind the reason for these images. The key is that you are thinking about whats going on but you are not really understanding what it is that is being done. 

Friday, January 28, 2011

Brainwashed

"Brainwashed"

In the "Acknowledge the Lizard" part of the reading, we are told that we have a basic underline of what is right and what is wrong. We are told that a part of our brain tells us what is "right" to do, so that we don't do something to have us laughed at. This part of the brain blocks our artistic sense and keeps us following the "rules". But if we ignore the sense of being shunned ad we break free from that and follow what we think we should do, that is where artistic thoughts come from.

In the "Fail" article it tells how breaking out of the lizard brain train of thought, allows us to produce artistic thoughts that we turn into a product. The fail part of this is that we may be held accountable for the decisions we made and things that come out of ignoring the "norm". We may and normally will fail, or flop, but even then, we have conquered the lizard thought and are moving the normal ways of life in a new direction, a different direction.

These two layers pertain to my blog, because we all are going to have our own individual way of laying it out, working on it, and filling it with content. We are also learning what works, and what doesn't, but even with that we are learning what not to do, and how it should be done. These exercises  make me a better artist because i am learning how to have a basic understanding of how to get my content out to others so it can be critiqued and i can find out and understand how it is supposed to be done.  

Monday, January 24, 2011

SoundScape Movie

Download

Go to the Download above to see my soundscape presentation. 

Song Compared and Contrasted

Better Off Alone - Alice DJ

Say Yeah - Wiz Khalifa

These two songs, clearly both have the same beat, which would be called Affinity (Same). The first song is from  Alice DJ and was a longer time ago in nineteen ninety nine, instead of more recently like the one from Wiz Khalifa; who's came out more recently in two thousand and seven. The two have the same basic song beat, except the Contrast is that some parts of the beat are sped up and/or looped at certain points. Another major Contrast is the lyrics; Alice DJ's is more centered on the sound of the song and the beat, with limited singing. Wiz Khalifa's version is more up to date and is has more of a rap quality to it, with more singing; where Alice DJ's is more Pop, and Euro-Dance. Another thing is that "Say Yeah" is a bit longer than the other song. Something that they both do in each song is doing is making you know what the next beat is going to be like, which is know as effecting your Subconscious. The beat starts off and you hear the lyrics being sung by whoever is singing it, or depending on which version your listening to and at what part, and you hear the beat is in the background and Subconsciously you know what is going to come after the first few beats because its basically the same every time. Consciously you are listening to the lyrics being sung if there are any at that point in the song.

Intensity is portrayed in both songs best with the loud boom of the bass, and different soft electronic beeps over or below the bass. Also when there's a more softer lyrical part of the song the bass will die down and a more relaxing beat will come into tune.
Pitch comes into play when the beat starts off in the beginning of either of these songs is either a higher beep or lower pumping/pulsing sound. Both songs have a high beat during most of the song but they both also have a lower pitched beat while the singer is doing a specific part of the song.
Speed plays a large part in both songs. In Alice DJ's version its a neither fast or slow, but more intermediate. Wiz Khalifa's does both, it goes slow while he sings and also mixes the beat up and goes faster at different parts of the song. Sometimes it will go faster as it builds up to go into a lyrical slow part.
Organization is mostly ordered  with a constant predictable beat, but in both songs it will change to a more chaotic fast beat that will start and stop and mix in a few pauses or other sounds.

Overall I think it depends on what mood i am in if i was going to choose what version i like best. I would choose Alice DJ's version because its a more classic dance song. But if i was in a more current music mood i would choose Wiz Khalifa's. They are both basically the same but one has more lyrics so it depends which i like more. If i had to choose it would Alice DJ's, because that was released before the other and set the base of the beat for his.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Find Your Howl

Read It, Find Your Howl

: For spoken summary click link and download :
Audio Download Link

One of Jonathan Flaum's stories was bout his one his childhood memories that he recalled; pertaining to the Find Your Howl article. His story of his childhood memory tells of a paper he had to write as a boy. It was a difficult assignment since the criteria wasn't exactly that of what you would expect for a fifth grade paper.
Flaum go's on to say how he highly disliked the teacher, and due to that he never learned a few things as he should have. He talks about his memory of how he had to write ten pages, yet the whole class got a bad grade becuase the could not fulfill the length requirement, except one boy; Nick. He exceeded the amount of pages and due to being the only one to get a good grade in the class he would boast about it. The content was explained by Flaum, and back then he said, he disliked the story and Nick because he got a better grade. Now after looking back he finds the story to be very deep and interesting.

Quote Link

Saturday, January 8, 2011

14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas

Link

Summary: Mitch Ditkoff  says nowadays there is a lot of need for innovation in companies to get ahead in the industry. There are two schools of thought, a group that is naturally able to conjure ideas and those who believe ideas already exist they just need to be accessed.
The article then goes on to talk about the different "Breakthrough Ideas" that he believes put you in that mind set, and can enhance what kind of thinking you are doing. It also describes with increased detail about that particular idea and use it to easier understand what your thinking of, or just understand the concept of the thought. It tells you to listen to what you have planned in your mind, it tells you to notice patterns and trends in your thinking. The article also says about hanging out with diverse groups of people, this could give you a whole new level of thinking that you wouldn't expect or would have found.
The part of the article that I feel is a good suggestion is Part 3: Tolerate Ambiguity. I feel this is a good suggestion becuase failing is one of the best ways to be able to create something better. Just becuase you don't succeed at making what your thinking of, or what your aiming at, doesn't mean you have failed necessarily. You have learned what did not work in that particular situation,  or what needs to be improved upon. Once you have attempted what you were aiming for you can see what needs to be changed or you get a completely new idea based off of what happened during the previous goal.
Another part of the article that i believe is a good idea is Part 9: Notice and Challenge Existing Patterns and Trends. This is a good idea becuase if you notice current patterns and trends in the market and what is going on around you, you are able to think what needs improved on, or what people want, or overall what can be created to make things better in life due to what the patterns and trends are creating in society. Using this idea you are able to notice the patterns and trends that are sweeping the country or the area around you. Trends and Patterns are different from place to place most of the time, but even then they can be relatively similar. The breakthrough of ideas is almost always based upon something that already exists or everyone has a basic thought and understanding of. But there are always exceptions to that, for example people knew about light, and they would use light in their homes, except they would use lanterns and candles. With this Thomas Edison created the light bulb, a revolutionary piece that we all use now a days. He took a concept that everyone knew about (light), and created something completely new that still had the basic fundamentals of what we needed and used.  Even today we use different forms of light, built upon the idea of the light bulb. Just noticing trends and patterns in society will help you create mentally what could be the next big thing that everyone is going to want and be using in the very near future.
The third idea in the article I believe is good is Part 11: Brainstorming. This is how a lot of ideas are created, and not just from impulse "ahha" moments. The "ahha" moments can be a starting point for the brainstorming ideas you start to generate into your creation. Brainstorming can be done by yourself, with another person, or a group of people. Chances are you are normally around people with relatively the same ideas as you. Just meeting up with them and sitting down to talk about your idea can spark it into a something much bigger and better. You may even have a part of the idea that you need more insight on, a more professional viewpoint that you can use to figure out how to make a certain aspect of what you want done shown to you, so that you can expand your thoughts and make it easier to get exactly what your trying to think of work.  
For the final part of this blog entry i have decided to answer the Part 9 prompt. The part nine prompt says asks me "What trends in the marketplace most intrigues you? In what ways might these trends shift in
the coming years—and how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift?" 

The trends in the marketplace that most intrigue me are the gaming. I feel that there is already so much evolved in that aspect of the market that it is going beyond reasonable thinking. It seems that the more the gaming marketplace progresses the more new and intuitive ways games play and are created come out. Not long ago the gaming market was simply of a console and a controller, and it would simply allow you to access the game and play it. Now a days the whole concept has been twisted and created so differently upon what it was originally, that, its not just about gaming consoles. What we have now, due to intuitive thinking and creation, is systems that not only play games, but give you access to whole new and different forms of media. We have systems now that are loaded with online play, which was not possible in the past, and extra content. The systems come with access to new forms of media like movies, music, and pictures. New ways of playing those games have been created. Now instead of having just CD's that play the content we have fancier bigger storage capacity discs like BluRay, or not having to use any of that and instead use the internet to download it straight to the system. Not only do we have new ways to access the content of the games, but we have new creative new ways to play the games. Controllers have advanced heavily from single buttons and nobs, to multiple buttons and sticks that have alienated some people. Recently we have even gone another step of being able to control the games, by not even having to use a controller. We have motion gaming and camera's, that capture your movements and voice. While this is still far from perfect, it has been very well done and is easily seen as a building block to something new to shift the trends in upcoming years. In the upcoming years I think that these ideas can be built on and perfected to then open up a whole new world of thinking that goes beyond any level of thinking that can be explained easily. My ideas and others' ideas may be most synced so that we think and access technology in other areas and bring them together to make something completely new to the genre and the world.

Friday, January 7, 2011

3rd Influential Person

Steven Spielberg 

This man is so influential to me because he makes so many great movies that are just so entertaining and that everyone enjoys. He inspires me to try to make the best thing that i am working on.
In multiple films Spielberg works on using Tension and Release. All movies created almost always build up tension and make you on the edge of your seat, then at the best moment release you. Text and Subtext are used with all other underlying aspects such as unreliable narrator and misdirection.
His movies are always either Didactic, not giving information but making you figure it out yourself, or Active, giving you a significant amount of information as you progress throughout it.
With using those features and a lot more, Spielberg always manages to create a entertaining movie  narration that always sells well. So i would like to be able to learn how to work towards being as well known at making things as him.

2nd Influential Person

Notch

This person is influential to me becuase he also started out as a gamer and having the same thoughts as me. He had the same thoughts "I have good idea's, i could make something better". It was with that attitude he decided he was going to start making a video game. I have the same set of mind and i feel that i could pursue the same sort of path.
With the game that he is still currently making, there is a lot of Affinity with his game and others, but they're not directly stripped from others, they are what all games are basically. Even though there are a lot of affinity's, there are lots of Contrasts that make it stand out.
There are many deep elements thrown into the simple game play as well. There are many things Objective  in game that are told and lay the basic fundamentals of playing. These are facts and are what is going to happen. But there are also the Subjective aspects in the game that you will have to be told from a friend or a game forum.
A lot of the game, whether you have been told about how to play it or not, most of the information you find out will be Active, because you will have to figure out how to do certain things yourself. But there are some things Didactic; you will already be given the information in game, or rules that have applied to real life that you have also been already told.

1st Influential Person

DeadMau5

This artist in influential to me because he creates the kind of music that I enjoy listening to the most. After finding this artist and listening to more of his songs, I found that he was quite widely represented as one of the genre's most favorite artists.
I feel that in most of his songs there is a Tension and Release aspect to how the song plays out. It will build up with a somewhat low tone/speed then drop into a faster speed to build tension. After a bit of fast paced exciting music it will slow back down again for release. A lot of  his kind of music is Active and Didactic, it gives a different sense to quite a few people, it also, unless you have heard it before makes you think of what it is going to sound like next. Which applies to it being active. But then it also gives you a sense of what kind of beat will be coming up next. Which would be didactic.
The music can affect people in different ways, some will listen consciously while others will subconsciously listen to it in somewhat of a trance.
I am inspired by DeadMau5 because I would like to provide people with the same kind of affect that i am given, but with my kind of twist on it.