Project 1: Anitcipation

This project asked to create a video using still images and sound. After going to a junkyard and seeing all the different "pieces of junk" laying around I began to take macro pictures. All of the junk was actually very beautiful in its own form. I thought about how these scrap metals would soon break down and create something new for someone else. Essentially.. "trash to treasure". SO that is the idea behind my piece. The sound is a classical piece by Mozart and the disturbing sounds throughout are there to stop the viewer from successfully watching the video in a relaxed manner. It is a symbol to remind the viewer of the "junk" they are seeing across the screen. Instead of being able to bask in the true beauty of it.

Project 2: VIdeo

The purpose of the project was to look more closely at YouTube and how it is used in our current society. Upon looking around, I found a lot of simple testimonials from people expressing their feelings towards a breakup they are going through. I found it so interesting that people used YouTube to express such personal issues about their lives, and to the entire world no less! I began to think about my own breakups and how I deal with the emotions that follow. Music, my favorite artist being Joe Wilson of Feeling left out was my outlet in that situation. So I cut a few of his songs together and placed the various videos people had posted online discussing their grief or anger on top.

Project 3: Experimental Animation

This was by far my favorite project. I utilized the process of stop motion animation. The shoes represent an enity all their own, as though they do not need any clothing or accessories, or even a body for that matter! Shoes are such an integreal part to an outfit that they begin to gain their own personalities. I chose the track "I'm too sexy" by Right said Fred, to further the idea that the shoes are "too sexy" for your shirt, or body.

Project 4: Media Infusion

Being the final project for the class, the purpose was to create a video which incorporated 3 different components, Video, animation, and still photography. I found it difficult to get an idea in motion, until the idea of using old fairy tales came out. When I was younger the only nursery rhyme I knew was Humpty Dumpty. I used animation to make Humpty (the egg) and other surrounding ojects come to life. The video aspect was used to capture the demise of our dear Humpty. After looking online and realizing there was more to the small rhyme, I deicded to add those aspects of the story.

another poem

Choosing Shoes

by Frida Wolfe

New shoes, new shoes,
Red and pink and blue shoes.
Tell me, what would you choose,
If they'd let us buy?

Buckle shoes, bow shoes,
Pretty pointy-toe shoes,
Strappy, cappy low shoes;
Let's have some to try.

Bright shoes, white shoes,
Dandy-dance-by-night shoes,
Perhaps-a-little-tight shoes,
Like some? So would I.

BUT
Flat shoes, fat shoes,
Stump-along-like-that shoes,
Wipe-them-on-the-mat shoes,
That's the sort they'll buy.

poem choices

39 Shoes

39 shoes....39 shoes

what does that tell you?

What's a gal to do

when she's only got 39 shoes?

Wouldn't you know it

It's the very pair

I wanted to wear.

I've hunted and grunted.

searched low, then high

I'm plumb mystified

"Dang it!

Where's my other shoe?!" I cried.

Only so many places

a shoe could hide.

Retraced my footsteps

every inch; near and wide.

This has made me insane.

I've gone quite mad;

things are looking hazy.

I tell ya, I think I'm going crazy.

I've looked under chairs

and couches

up and down the stairs

I need my 40th shoe!

Now what am I going to do?

They were the perfect shade of blue.

But wait! I've got an American Express.

No need for this girl to get depressed.

You tube.

The assignment is to use you tube ... why havent I?

PRESS

You Tube is a tool for all kinda of people to display anything and everything for the world. Our exhibition is using youtube videos and remixing them to articulate a deeper meaning or deeper issue that faces people TODAY. The videos range in all types of media outlets examples being music videos, movies, news, and video blogging.

Youtube can be problematic because anyone has access to any number of videos and can post almost anything, that's also the reason that it is compelling because of the same reason, it allows for people to express themselves, or look up a large amount of video information at the click of a mouse.

The best way to inform the world / campus about our exhibition, is to utilize any form of highly visible media. Including flyer's posted on popular building walls, sending out mass emails to everyone at TCNJ. Creating a facebook even group would also be beneficial because almost the entire world is connected through either that site or others like it. By inviting one person, they will invite another and so on, this allows for alot of exposure to the Art Show.

Brainstorming

How do I feel when I listen and watch Joe Wilson:

His songs are so poetic and romantic, he makes me feel all mushy inside.
He reminds me of my boyfriend, and all the fun we have had together.
He helps me to remember that I am not alone.
The intensity in his performances allow me to really lose myself in the song.

now, how can i put those emotions into a video?

i could take video of myself watching his live shows,
what I think about when I listen to it.
or still pictures of me and my boyfriend. or even pictures of other couples together in romantic settings.

what do i feel:
heartbreak,
saddness,
betrayal,

the song is about a break up... a break up that existed because one half of the relationship stopped giving there all.
what do you think about when you break up?.. the bad times, all the things that went wrong maybe things you never realized before.

what do you do when u break up
cry
sleep
cry
facebook stalk
look at old pictures
everything you see reminds you of that person


why did u break up?
a drawer full of unread love notes
I could include images that show distance from one another.

Joe Wilson's love song to me

a smart man once said, you can be wise and be in love at the same time
and I still believe you said everything, you ever said, cuz you meant it
I gave you this kiss that i was waiting for, you to ask for, and that you deserve if only for having lips like that , if only
Now its all coming back, hitting as hard as a heart attack
baby i'm sorry, for pushing you away, baby i'm sorry, is all that i can say

I'm just asking for honesty now
If i could relive the last three years, i would have spent more time, kissing all thsoe places I missed
We only fight on holidays and anniversaries,and anniversaries
I miss that face, before the damage was done
It turns my stomach and my heart plummets to think of what you think of me
baby i'm sorry for pushing you away, baby i'm sorry is all that i can say
Tonight i walked right next to you just like the way that we used too, but my hands never left my pockets
I'm trying to change, and i'm so scared
Its a sin that i cant touch your neck, and bring your lips to mine
I liked you better when you were, you were not who your turning into
even though you needed me, something you regret
You've lost your value losing face your fallen from the pedestel that i held up so high for you yaaa
Baby i'm sorry, for pushing you away, baby i'm sorry is all that i can say
Wait before you hang up the phone, listen to reason
I made one gesture, sat a little closer, touched my arm and looked at me, for longer than whats approprite, i would have been all over you, guess my vibe was not as powerfull as i had though it was, wouldnt have been able to, resist my charm
I need a reason to keep you at arms length
It hits me like a bag of bricks each and every night, when your not there to my right
And i know that your happy to be rid of me and i hope its gonna change your personality cuz when your laughing its magnetic, and amazing how it comes through the static
Baby I'm sorry for pushing you away, baby i'm sorry is all that i can say
Baby I'm sorry for pushing you away, baby i'm sorry is all that i can saaayyyy

PROJECT 1 FINAL CRIT

TRASH IS TREASURE

How I could further my project:

My project could absolutely have been better. The idea was there but he execution was poor. I know if the video was shorter (it was torture in class when my video went on FOREVER!!!) If I changed the seconds length of each picture and varied each depending on how interesting the content was It would have come out much stronger a piece. Also my sound needed work in the fact that the sounds effects were too annoying and were too shocking for the mind to absorb. I should bring down the levels and vary the sounds a little bit more. Other than that I like the overlay of each sound from the Mozart piece and the different crashing sounds effects. I also liked the pictures and the order of which they were displayed in my slide show.

My biggest successes:

My biggest success was just getting the project out on time! I had and insanely hard time adapting and learning final cut. I have been working more since, and i cant say that i have learned much more, but my skills in what I had already learned have grown. The best part of my slide show are the pictures themselves, the content and the sharpness of each photo draws the viewer into what it could be, or because of the fact that perhaps they have never seen that object so close up before, or at that angle. Overall I would say that my biggest success came from the initial idea. The beautiful pictures of junk mixed with the disturbing sounds over layed or covered by a soft instrumental musical piece.

The relationship of sound & image:

My video and audio should have come together both formally and uniformly. Uniform in the fact that the pictures moved with the slower and softer Mozart piece, and then uniformly in the way that the breaking and crashing sounds interrupted the peacefulness of the picture and Mozart relationship

My Editing Process:
I first put together my video in iphoto and then imported it into FCP. I then downloaded the Mozart and the different sounds clips and cut them with the razor tool. After that I placed them in the order I wanted and overlayed them where appropriate.

Viewing my project without sound:
When I watched my video without the sound on. I started to play a song in my head, a soft musical song again but without all the interruptions. And i actually liked the idea a lot more, just because maybe the extra sounds were unnecessary, the "ugly junk" in the pictures and the soft sounds were more than enough to get my message across that One mans trash is another mans treasure. And then I realized an even bigger meaning to my video of which has to do with the environment and all the problems that have developed over the years. All the metal I was bringing there was to be recycled and made into different things. It is such a simple thing that could have such an amazing impact on how we treat our world if everyone thought that way.

Change of pace

I have decided to use a more recent artist for my idea. I looked on youtube and found it idfficult to get good or even semi-good quailty videos for my project.
I have come to the conclusion to use one of my favorites, JOE WILSON.
He plays an indie folk melody with soft and touching lyrics that have helped me get through all kinds of situations. With his songs I feel like he is speaking to me. His songs comfort me and pump me up at the same time. I can listen to him no matter what kind of mood i am in.

SO i have cut up his songs and taken out pieces of his songs of which speak to me the most, and i have compiled them into my own order in a way thats means and tells a story to me. Then I am going to get videos of him playing songs live and I am going to run the music as video clips of him playing fade in and out of the screen

EUREKA!

I think I got it. Kinda.
I am going to do my video on Frank Sinatra. I am unclear on the "plot" or story line,
Actually I think i am going to try to cut up his songs and make my own love song!

Its like he would be singing to me! OMG

I melted.

PROJECT 2

This project just might be the death of me, all this time spent in the lab working on FCP, and I feel just as lost. How am I going to do this? And I don't even have a concrete Idea yet! I just have alot of little thing swirling around in my head.

I have read and reread the parameters for this project, With no avail.

WILL THE CREATIVITY GODS PLEASE SHINE A LIGHT ON ME!!!

(preferably before the day before that it is due!)

Project 2

I have little idea as to what I want to do for this project, I cant think of any subject that I a,m interested in enough to want to know about its history. I immediatly thought about the cliche history subjects which included, war/violence/civil rights. I do not want to have a bunch of old disturbing pictures up there that just explain how horrible our world is because of the choices of all the people in it!

maybe my subject could be:

- Hitchcock fims
- The history of the New York Rangers hockey team
- The major changes in fashion over the major decades
- The history of the sharpie marker
- Reeses Peanut butter cups

Conclusion.

I have come to a conclusion as to what I am going to do for sound for my slide show.
I have a friend who is a music major, he plays violin I want to record a freestyle song from him and then while he is playing interrupt it with ugly crash and breaking sounds. This way the viewer will not be able to relax and watch the "junk" smooth across the screen. It will remind them of what the images are perceived to be and how they must look beyond the outside and see the potential from the inside.

Progression?

I have been sitting in front of my computer completely blocked from any idea what to do for this project. I want this to be good because I have become very interested in making these slideshows, but I cant seem to get the right amount of artistic expression within them.

Maybe I should think about telling a story.
Or do something that conveys opposites, beauty vs. ugly
I could do a bunch of random pictures from my albums, things that convey to me a special memory.. and then mess with it as though to make it look to the viewer as if it was a bad event.

hhhmm......

5 commercials

In my house with my family, Commericals pay the bills. This is not the first time that I have seen a commerical without the sound off. Commercials use the loud and obnoxious technique to get the viewers attention. The better attention they pay, the more likely that person may go out and buy the product in question. The channels I usually stay on while in my dorm room are VH1 & MTV. These channels have countless episodes of mindless entertainment which make it easy for a person who is mentally fried do something without having to think. These channels have lots of "partners" and advertise lots of materialistic things on their TV. From cologne commercials for designers to the tons of hair product commericals that air every five seconds. The way these advertisers reign in their buyers is by misleading them into thinking if they buy this product, they will transform into a 5'8 blonde model.

With the sound off on these hair and makeup commercials, the girl looks really confident and as she walks down the stairs the light shimmers in her long hair and her eye winks with clumpless makeup. With the sound on, the voice over is saying just that. The sound off allowed me to wander even further and not only look at her hair and eyes but all the other perfect parts of her body.

When I caught myself in envy, I realized that even without the extra push of sound the commerical had done its job exactly. It made me want to go out and buy these products, and us them everyday so that I may look and feel as good as that women in the commercial.

Project 1 ideas.

In thinking about pictures that I already have taken, I could do all kinds of things I am just having trouble finding a way to pull it all together and make it a dynamic project that will make some kind of an impact. Recently in my college art career, I have been trying to make my projects include some kind of emotional draw or connection with myself and my experiences. It is the first time that I have been willing to try to draw from these experiences to create my "art" project.

HERE IS WHERE I AM AT IN THE IDEA PROCESS:

Family: pretty pictures with a not to pretty sound.
playing off of the idea that what is on the outside is not always what it is behind closed doors.

Close up shots (MACRO) of objects in a Junkyard:
I thought this because the objects in the pictures are considered "junk". I could play on the trash to treasure idea and play nice soft sounds with a mix of sounds that could bother a person, or just nice music throughout.

I already have the majority of this slide show done, I am just missing music.

My third idea would be pictures of locations:
From park benches to a table at a restaurant, to symbolize the walk through life and how we end up at certain places.

but the music end of that idea is completely blank for me.

It is at this stage in the process where I become the most stuck. I have these preliminary ideas but I haven't gotten to the place where I can pull all of them together.

Slide Show

My Theme for this slideshow came from the pictures of objects that were given to me.
I played on the idea that these objects were or represented things of which a person would strive to get in their lifetime.The black and white and the high contrast is to show a sense of difficulty and make the viewer seem a little uneasy seeing these everyday objects completely different than their usual perception