Week 12 - The End

Well it's time to say farewell to BDC 192. Along with that, my great instructors in Maayan, Lisa, and Laurie. In general I found this course fun, delightful, and challenging. I was tested and expected to make projects in programs I have never used before; programs which are essential to the industry of digital media. I found it quite difficult because I had never worked with Photoshop or AE before, but it forced me to learn these wonderful and complex programs and make the process a bit easier for me.

The aspects that I thought worked well with the course were: the freedom of expression in our projects; we could basically do anything we wanted to do, the style of the lecture; very laid back, entertaining, and insightful, the style of the lab; we could watch/listen to Maayan and her tidbits before going off to work on our own projects and tutorials. I thought this was a very effective way of learning; the laid back feel in the lecture and lab, the freedom, and the help through the tutorials in creating a better learning atmosphere.

The aspects that should be improved is maybe having more instructors at the lab, or having some assistants have a concrete lab schedule where they could be there to help students with problems or technical issues. Many classes I would get stuck and I would have so many questions that I felt embarrassed to ask since I was so lost. Another thing is that when I would want to ask a question, the instructors would be busy helping someone else. So I think the only thing to improve on is to get more instructors in and out of class time.

This course has changed the way I look at digital media and things in general. Today I was looking at a magazine and examining how a picture was cropped in there probably by the use of Photoshop. I envisioned this process and knew how it was done. I also saw some films with special effects and realized that AE or a program similar to it was used to create these effects, and I had a basic grasp of how it was done. Now working on html, I saw some complex websites and was astonished at their complexity as I know the basic codes and I could now appreciate the work put into them. The course has made me realize how digital media is created and where it comes from, it has allowed me to appreciate everything much more.

 

I think the most important skill I have learned in this course is the use of Photoshop. Photoshop is essential in creating images for basically any medium whether it's a magazine, newspaper, personal photo, website, film/video, or anything else. I now have the knowledge and skills to manipulate a picture or photo and create my own spin on it and I find that very important.

In the end, I had a great semester full of fun, entertainment, and learning. I hope all you guys have a great holiday break and enjoy your time off!!!!

Bouncing Ball Movie Trailer (Week 10)

Artist Statement

Nem Stankovic

My trailer is a very simple animation for a short film I saw a long time ago. In high school I randomly watched a short film about a bouncing ball that travelled through a city of geometric shapes and was scrutinized for being a ball. I thought it would be a comical idea to incorporate a ball that is bouncing across the screen in slow motion along with bouncy letters that wiggle and move with the same theme.

I initially wanted to create a basketball bouncing across the screen and then have it explode into the words “Space Jam” to do a trailer for that film. This was too difficult because every time I tried to do the explosion it would not work properly. The lighting and 3D aspects of the explosion kept messing up and I had no idea how to make the explosion turn into the words.

I then decided to just create the bouncing ball and bouncy letters. I watched a few tutorials on how to make the ball bounce and squish when it hits the ground, and make the words “bounce” when they come in. I downloaded a couple expression codes which are basically shortcuts for animations you paste into a layer and they create specific animations like the wobble/bounce of the letters when they swing in. This initially created the biggest problem for me because when I tried to render there would be an “error” sign that stated that it could not render because of the expression code. I then played with the aspects and ratios of the expression codes for hours and eventually it was able to render. I then added Jay-Z’s song “The Bounce” that went along with the video and it worked!

A very random film that I doubt anyone has seen or remembers, but I figured out how to make my problems into advantages.

Week 11 - Interactivity and Media

I liked what Laurie talked about in the lecture regarding interactivity and how its changing. She talked about how for example the audience is not just watching or listening anymore but they are talking, showing, and sharing! For example, back in the day we would go to the movies and learn to remember and reminisce or rewatch a film. Now a person can easily download or find the film online, share the link on facebook or twitter (or other social media sites) with the click of a button, their friends will see their posting in an instant, talking about the film and every aspect about it, and showing and sharing it to all their other friends.

One film trailer I would like to interactively share:

Another aspect of the lecture I enjoyed was the history of Interactivity and the fluxus and dada movements that incorporated the creator/artist, viewer/audience into one. For example the artwork of the girl being covered in whipped cream etc. and the artists carried out ideas based on the spectators' reactions! Great works by John Cage and Allan Kaprow created this genre of art and new media.

Changing Tires - Allan Kaprow 1967

I enjoyed the bit about interactive advertising and how ad agencies are becoming more savvy in breaking markets by appealing to young crowds in different ways. Today a huge part of advertising is done online, where there are less strict regulations and a chance for the advertiser to directly interact their product with the consumer/user. This enables a dynamic that is powerful in creating more interest in a particular product/company, but also creates a whole new culture of media (i.e. some people go on saying a phrase from a commercial for months or years and it becomes international slang with a short amount of time - Whazzupp commercial).


Old Spice Guy: LOL-ed and shared

Week 9 - Looking at different Adobe After Effects Tutorials/Videos

These young Italian nerds created an amazing video with After Effects. The dialogue and acting is very cheesy but the effects are phenomenal. If I were to study After Effects for the rest of my life, I doubt I would ever in my lifetime be able to accomplish special effects at this level of sophistication. I just thought this video was really cool. The one guy has blue ambient special powers, and the other guy has a similar version of powers in red. There are explosion and ambient forcefields, and auras. So sick!

I thought this animation was really cool since it was so short (5 seconds, like our assignment) and it was very well animated. It looks very visually striking and realistic. The meteor flies in, hits the building, and there is smoke trailing, an explosion, shattered glass and debris flying, etc. It shows the amazing things you can do with AE.

On a simpler note, this AE video is amazing, short, simple, and just as visually striking. I am thinking of having a bouncing ball exploding in my video so this is very appealing to my ideas!