Farewell, Fond Friend!

Time passes by like crazy... I'm almost done my first semester of RTA. That means I'm almost 1/8th into getting a university degree! This is my last blog post for the class, but I hope to continue blogging about RTA-related topics throughout my years of study here at Ryerson. 

As a visual learner I really enjoyed digital media lectures. They were my favourite of the week because there were so many visuals and examples that kept me focused and interested. My professor is a very clear and expressive speaker, which was a great help educationally, as I understood the lectures and did not need to take many notes. Although the lecture size is quite large (consisting of about 150 students) the classes felt intimate and interactive, even compared to my other class lectures with only 40 people! We also had a 2 hour lab for this class. First off, I obviously like the fact that the class sizes were small because it allowed more interaction with the teacher. I liked the way we presented our projects in front of our classes, as critique sessions where we viewed, and commented about our peer's final products. You learn a lot from understanding other's opinions and reactions about your work that can be applied to future projects. I also liked that in the beginning of each class we sat in a group, in front of the teacher's desk to discuss the day's outlines and tutorials. It cleared things up and gave us a head start to our tutorials. 

I wish we had more one-on-one time throughout the week with helpers (the professor or TAs) however being forced to figure out an unfamiliar program really made you learn! It was brutal at times but it all paid off in the end for me! 

So, after the meetings in the front of the room we did the tutorials on our own with our own computers. This is the only aspect of class I didn't like too much of. I don't know about other students, but when I'm left to do something on a computer on my own , I get distracted. However, that's just me and my procrastination at its best. I got most of the tutorials done. Therefore, I kind of wish we all did together, following along with the teacher. Sounds childish, and we usually did this in libraries at my elementary and high school but it worked for me and forced me to get it done. The good thing is, as I crafted my digital media assignments and I couldn't figure out how to do something, it was usually in a tutorial sheet online, so I learned on the way anyways!

This course has made me reflect on my future. Before studying at Ryerson, I had a feeling I'd want to go into TV. To be honest, I didn't know that I was going to take a digital media class. So I haven't experienced EFP or TV courses yet but I think that my career aspirations may involve some strand in tv or digital media. I am thinking of digital media, because I enjoyed all the projects we did, specifically web design and I remember my professor telling us back in the first classes that we are great resources for companies as our generation is very knowledgable of social media. I like that digital media is always growing and changing. Also, as stated before, although I really needed help at some points in the production process of my work, being on my own forced me to learn by myself, which was rewarding in the end. So now I feel more confident with digital software, especially After Effects. I do not know why but I don't feel as confident as I should with photoshop but I think I'll get into it more on my own. 

The most important skill I am taking away from this course at the moment is embracing the social global network and building a positive online identity. Building my online identity involves everything I have learned in this course (after effects = youtube, photoshop = logos + photography portfolio, blogs = growing as an online writer). I have obviously learned so much in this course but the online identity and digital footprint is an aspect that always caught my attention and I can relate it to so much of my freshly acquired knowledge. The digital footprint idea is very relevant int his age and should be considered by everyone.

Well this is my last blog for this class, honestly it makes me sad how fast time goes by but I'm excited for the future. 


Anyways, it's been a blast - thanks for this fantastic 1st semester!

- Karoline

(week 13)

Web Design & Interactivity

There's always been discussion in RTA about the interactivity of storytelling in the modern age.

If you think about it, in the past we only "listened" to stories being told - be it in television, radio, music, paintings, dance, theatre, and so on. Today, however, the division between medium and audience is fading, allowing us to take part in the storytelling! Early interactivity trends started with participatory art, fluxes, and in terms of technology the GUI - Graphics User Interface, the first computer that had graphics! Before this, computers were only used for writing. Introducing graphics into home computers introduced graphic editing, video games, and everything went from there. Then when the internet started in 1993, it opened a new world of possibility and storytelling! I think that interactivity is important because it stimulates and flourishes our creative minds and imagination (which we should have - not only at a young age). Watching is a passive action, you have no control - but when you can DO, you're being active and exercising your mind.

I'm going to talk a little about something I mentioned already: Fluxus. Fluxus was a type of participatory art that relied on the chance encounter between a participant and materials. An example I saw in my lecture was by an artist named Allan Kaprow.
He would place a plate in a public place and attach a note beside it, saying:
" This is a free plate. If you choose to take it, please leave a chalk outline of the plate and write what you plan to do with your new plate. Thanks and enjoy."
It's quite random but that's what makes it intriguing! I'd be interested in seeing the answers from people who took the plates. And that's the beauty of interactivity - people can view, share and react to others and communicate with each other thanks to this form of art.
I experienced a fluxus once in high school. As I sat in my desk I put my hand underneath the desk and noticed something taped underneath the flat writing surface. I forget what the note said exactly, but it was a list of rules relating to my high school written by various anonymous students. They were really random and funny and at the end they included an email for you to add to the list anonymously. They were taped under very few desks every month in the school.

In addition to interactivity flourishing creativity and your mind,  I'd say it also gives us well-being, because bonds are created that weren't there before. For example, some modern forms of interactive storytelling is cross-platform storytelling. This is when a story is told through various forms of media. So if you're a fan of a music group that introduces a cross-platform interactive story, like when Nine Inch Nails were promoting their album Year Zero (check it out! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_(game), this gives the fan a intimidate connection to their group. The fan gets to meet and make friends with other fans in some cases, they could even meet the artists somehow or get closer to them, etc - simply a bunch of things can come out of the interactive story experience that are great, positive things.

Websites are obviously interactive and I have one now and trying to make it the best I can - it's my last assignment. Then it'll be bye-bye digital media (Time goes by fast, eh?!)

- Karoline
(week 12)

Artist Statement - Motion Graphics (Mean Girls Teaser)

So after a few weeks of familiarizing myself with after effects, this is my final project! And as you can see I did a teaser for Mean Girls, one of my all time favourite movies. The tutorials we did in class made the program seem so simple but when I actually had to execute my idea without the tutorials I needed, I'm not going to lie - I was freaking out! I had all my elements ready (audio, photos) and I had this great vision but when I opened up the program I had no clue how to start right. I was so discouraged and thought I wouldn't be able to make look how I want it to. However, after searching online for tutorials and information and after help from my peers in the lab (We were all helping each other out and having a good time - a great reason why I love my program) I DID IT!!!!!

And I am actually happy with it - Which is pretty rare for me!

Now let me tell your hat I wanted to show through this piece in terms of the actual movie. I wanted to tell the story through the 5 seconds the best I can. The first, central doll symbolizes Regina. The next frame is Regina and the 2 other original mean girls, Karen and Gretchen. In the final 2 photos the numbers increase greatly to show how Regina is the nasty popular girl, who is powerful with a growing following of girls who strive to be just like her - that means looking like her and acting like her too. This is shown through the fact that all of the dolls are identical and they are all positioned behind her. They are followers! I used scissor cutting audio for the sequencing to prevent it from becoming boring and I think it goes really well with it!

I made the title into stamps because I just felt like it gave this BANG effect. I used pink since it's a very significant colour in the movie, and I chose hot pink instead of a soft pink to show more power, or at least to me it felt more powerful and had more attitude. Soft pink is too cute. So even though the cutout dolls look cute and angelic, in the end when the girls are laughing (audio) you see the horns growing out, showing that they are not what they seem. The girls in this movie are mean, as you can see through the title. So the horns at the end show how they are fake and simply really rude to each other! I chose to make the photos black and white because they are standard, contrasting colours that are a good base to anything in my opinion.

Overall my project was made pretty simply but it was still a HUGE learning experience! At first it's scary kind of being left to figure out things on your own (that happens in nearly all my classes in RTA) but it's the best way to learned. You are forced to and it's worth it in the end. So, again, it was a simple concept but I think the simplicity worked. 

HOW I DID IT ON AFTER EFFECTS: I knew I wanted to do stop motion because I just love the way it looks, perhaps because I am a photographer. Then I created the title in photoshop using a stamp effect tutorial. Finally, I added in the growing devil horns. The devil horns took me a while to figure out. I left it to the end, after I had the image sequence and stamp title effect. I finally figured out how to do it! I selected the central doll in photoshop, made it a png file and pasted it on top of the original image in after effects. I drew the two devil horns in photo shop and pasted them in after effects too and put them under the duplicated central doll. Then I put a position keyframe so that the devil horns would move out from under and expose themselves to full size. Voila! I was going to add in a devil tail that grew out and wiggled but I was happy the way it looked just with the devil horns - it was subtle but effective in my opinion.

- Karoline

(week 11)

Showing you my motion!

Hey! This is my update to you about how my motion graphics assignment is coming along! So far I have the elements needed to create my motion graphics - that's the photos and my audio. I will need to create some animation but that will be on the program. 

I have the audio I made in class using the sound effects from the iTunes library. I want to upload it on here but I cannot upload mp3 files unfortunately. It's 4 scissor cuts for each photo sequence and then girls laughing until the end, when the devil tail and horns appear on the centred cutout doll. For my title I will try to animate it as if I'm writing it on. I may need to add audio for that so before I render the entire movie I'll edit and add to the audio files to fit the video. 

Those are samples of 2 of the photos I'm going to use. The colouring is faded so I will need to use the burn/dodge tool to increase the contrast. First, a little history behind these photos. Looks like it would be simple to shoot and get the footage but you are wrong. I'm a photographer but for some reason I was having a lot of problems with this part!

So I started off with sequencing 4 photos I took at home. I used a black bristol board and made cutout girl dolls out of white printer paper. The 4 photos were really annoying shoot because I couldn't find my tripod for the first few hours at home so whenever I had to take the next photo, I was always shooting from the wrong angle. After trying for like an hour, I got the 4 photos and it looked cool because the lighting was different ever so slightly, giving a cool stop motion effect, and then.... I accidentally deleted the last one - the most difficult to get right. And I already cleaned up my workplace! I didn't want to spend another few hours to redo it so I really searched for my tripod and I found it.

So I wanted the cutout dolls in the photo to be in the same general area and have the lighting to be different ever so slightly (as stated before) but I realized I could just change the lighting values in photoshop so that didn't concern me. Well, I got the 4 new photos quickly and I was finally happy! I moved the dolls around a very tiny bit in each photo to give it a cool motion graphic effect. I'm happy with the positioning. 

To be honest I'm kind of scared right now. I have my elements but since after effects is new to me I'll have to figure out a lot of stuff on my own - the thing that's concerning me most right now is the animation aspect - the devil tail, horns and the title. You'll see how it goes. It's crazy how by Tuesday it'll be done - I have no idea how the final product will look!

- Karoline

(week 10)

COLOUR

Hey, so this post is about "blogger's choice" so I decided to expand more on colour and its importance. I'll also show you some examples. I had a colour lecture in the beginning of the semester, but I'm also talking about it again in my media tech class, which is why I decided to discuss it once again. I've always loved visual arts and managing colours. Anyhow I'm going to put up 3 cd covers that I believe effectively used colour.

1. MGMT - Time To Pretend

I believe this is an excellent cd cover and the colour is great. There is a focus on pink/red tones with splashes of blues and yellows. Therefore, as you can see, the primary colours are shown in the cover. I like the fact that there's a lot of patterns in which the different shades of these colours are shown. I really like the type used for the title and the fact that it is simply outlined thinly in white. It balances the photo. The position and colours found in the title and the subjects make both elements equally noticeable - not just one over the other.

2. Deep Purple

I personally love posters/covers that include the classic black and white contrast element while adding in colour on just the subject. This is a cool, abstract cd cover and the fireball is the only thing coloured. It's coloured with 3 main colours, that are triads. A triad is 3 equidistant colours on the colour wheel which results in a colourful, yet balanced scheme. In this case, the three colours are yellow/ orange, purple/pink and blue. Overall I also think this is a very balanced cover in terms of placement and colour.



3. SPICE GIRLS

This CD cover has a lot of colours going on, but I can see where the producers wanted the main focus to be. The first focus is in "SPICE", where they use large font and the primary colours in slightly varying shades. The additional first focus is the 5 girls, dressed in many different colours but since the background s white and the girls are small, I think the fact that the girls wear colourful clothing gives the cover a playful feel and the business adds to it. The colours really appeal to a fun, pop-loving audience.


- Karoline
(week 9)

After Effects & My Work

As of a few weeks now, my class moved on from photoshop and started After Effects!
I'm happy to finally be able to work with this program. For years I kept running into ideas for videos and I never had the program to do any of it! (The programs are expensive and I didn't have a good computer for it).

That being said, I'm excited to keep learning. I'm going to apply my knowledge into my own youtube videos, coming soon! So far, it's pretty straight forward. I pity movie-makers who lacked helpful programs like After Effects in the past, since the program is easier than I thought - you mark with your keynotes and After Effects does everything in between.

I'm doing my motion graphics assignment on the classic movie: Mean Girls. From the start, I had a clear idea but it took quite some time to decide on the final idea because I kept thinking of alternate ideas that revolved around the same topic. The topic/idea I'm focusing on is dominance, since these mean girls were obviously dominant.

I'm going to incorporate girl cutouts that grow... you'll see what I mean when the product is finished. At the end, the girl in the centre will grow devil horns and a devil tail to show her evilness. So far I've got my audio and the vision of it in my head. Excited to put everything together and hopefully I won't encounter too many problems!

I'm glad that we were able to pick any movie/show/etc. to promote, since we are familiar with what we choose and probably enjoy it a lot. It was same with our photoshop cd cover/poster assignment. That's a reason why I enjoy this class!

- Karoline
(week 8)

What's Your Type?

AMADEUS.

The typeface in this dvd cover seems to be Times New Roman or something similar. The typeface is formal and elegant, reflecting the setting of the movie and also appealing to the target audience, which are older adults. Older as in probably 30 and up. However, I'm 18 and this is personally one of my favorite movies, probably because I grew up with it. I know many people my age who can never get through the movie without falling asleep!
Back to the topic. The letters are straight and toned down, different and plain compared to some outrageous and curvy movie cover typefaces. However, the typeface is definitely suitable because there is a strong contract of white on black and the type is large, bold and almost centered. The first and last letter are larger than the rest to add that little extra it would have needed. The typeface is consistent throughout the poster, which is good. There are few keywords on top that are small and lead into the huge typeface of the title, creating further contrast.
* got this movie poster from http://ca.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-18717/Amadeus.html - thanks!
 
THE BREAKFAST CLUB.

The typography in this movie poster is meant to look as if it were written by chalk, since it is on top of a chalk board (duh). The font doesn't seem to be written by a teacher since it is casual and curvy and very large. Therefore, the font is most likely meant to be appear student written, which is suitable since the major target audience of this movie are high school students. The typography is effective since it clearly addresses the target audience. Also, the large size of the type across the blackboard provides an appearance of rebellion and dominance, which are themes in this movie. 

* got this movie poster from http://www.amazon.com/Breakfast-Club-Flashback-Emilio-Estevez/dp/B001AEF6BI - thank you!

MOULIN ROUGE.
The typeface in this DVD cover are capital, tall, letters. The letter's color is light yellow, like lights, and there are even vegas-style lights aligning each letter. It's literally an attention-seeking typeface, which works with the themes in the movie. These typeface qualities suggest that the movie may be set in the city, in an entertainment district or venue. The typeface also gives off an energetic feel. I believe that the typography is effective because it clearly clues the audience into the mood, setting, and perhaps plot. The target audience are people over the legal age and perhaps late adulthood since the typeface gives off a feel of nightlife, entertainment, casinos, sex, and so on.

* got this movie poster from http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_poster/moulin_rouge_2001.htm - thanks!

- Karoline
(week 7)