Field Trip

At the beginning of class, we were informed that we would be taking a field trip up to the fourth floor of the building. We saw a lot of interesting stuff. I forgot what it is called already, but the 3d VR type room was pretty incredible. I'm surprised how much went into making it. I thought that it was cool that it could detect where the player was by using the floor and the glasses. We then saw the block tv that had super-high resolution. This thing was interesting but it didn't seem all that useful. Google maps was awesome on it though. We saw some more 3d while we were up there, but I can't honestly remember why. To be honest, I'm not all that interested in 3d but I thought that what he showed us was done well and served a purpose. All in all, it was a good field trip and I saw some interesting things. I was surprised to hear that some of the things we were shown were available for us to use. I'm not sure if I'll ever take advantage of it, but at least I have the option to.

Does It Add Up?

Inspiration>Idea>Concept>Trial>Refine>Product

I feel like this is a process that I have been following for a while. Actually, this is the process that I want every project to utilize, but sometimes, I either make it so I don't have the time or I'm not motivated enough to go through all of the steps. Most of the time though, I think that I follow something close to this.

The discussion in class was very interesting. I was surprised how many people agreed on the same basic process. For some reason, I expected the conversation to result in many different types of processes. Getting to the order we have now seemed to almost be common sense. As for the discussion of New Media = Target Audience and Art = Me, I think that it is a fairly agreeable statement. I don't think that most artists think about their target audience extensively. I think that they more or less do whatever they want and hopefully someone else likes it. With New Media, I believe that people have to consider their target audience to be successful. I think that one of the reasons that people in New Media worry more about their target audience is because the internet is such a big place. Of course, being in New Media doesn't necessarily mean that your work/project is going online but their is definitely a high percentage of it. Anyway, with an audience the size of everyone on the internet, you have to shoot for specific goals or your project might end up with no one interested. I think that when you are too general with your potential audience, many people will see it as generic.

Now, on to the actual project. My inspiration for the project was my little brother, Mark. I chose him because I felt like doing something with Photoshop or Illustrator and I found a picture on his computer that seemed like it would be fun to mess with. I started this project with Photoshop. Here are my first two ideas/concepts.


First, I took the photo and made it black and white and left color in the reflection on the glasses. I was fairly happy with this one, but I thought it wasn't enough to turn in and thought that I would try some other stuff.

The second try was just me kind of messing with my brother. I basically made him look like he was from Twilight. It's a funny image, but after I completed it, I wasn't really happy with it and just thought that it worked better as a joke. It was also fairly easy and was really just a matter of making things lighter and darker and a little blur.
Finally, I took the original photo into Illustrator and traced it out. This is my favorite version of the picture. I view the other two pictures as trial and refinement and this is definitely the product. This might not be the hardest thing to do, but it did take some time. I also think that it has the best look of everything I've done to the picture.

The process worked pretty well for me and I believe it helped me end up with an interesting final product. Without using the process, I'm sure that my results wouldn't have been as good. I believe that this was a pretty good exercise and I plan on using this method on future projects.

Class Response - 1/31/2011

Concepts and final products are obviously very closely related. A good concept is needed to achieve a good final product. A concept, to me, is something that can always be evolving. Until the project is finalized, I think it is good to explore many different options. The intended target audience is impacted mostly by the final project. The concept can also be used to drum up support for a final project. If you tell someone the concept, it could change their mind about the project a little, but the final project is what makes the main impression.

As for class this week, I enjoyed it. I thought that the projects that were shown had a lot of creativity behind them. I like Beth's idea of letting the students control the class. It does, however, get a little annoying when that leaves the class sitting there in silence. I do wish that she would sometime take control a little quicker in those dull moments. Besides that though, class seems to be progressing smoothly.

Breaking the Rules - Script Writing

The rule that I would like to discuss is proper script formatting. The format of script that I will be using is master-scene. When a script follows this format correctly, the script is usually easy to read and looks professional. The content of the script may be lacking in some way, but the format makes it look "correct". This is a format that everyone expects your script to be in if you are making something longer than a couple minutes with a narrative. The rules of a master-scene script are fairly odd and unusual if you aren't used to producing them. Character dialogue should be in the middle, actions are set to the left, and scene headings must be properly used. It really isn't hard with some practice, but I have seen quite a few scripts that are written without the guidelines in mind. The scripts written without using this format are usually confusing and strange to look at. They also look extremely unprofessional. I used an excerpt from a script that was written by me. This is me, breaking the rules of master-scene script formatting.

INT. BAR - LATER

Jim is sitting awkwardly at the bar. The music is loud and

Jim looks like he isn't having any fun at all. A cute girl

walks up to the bar right next to where he is sitting and

orders a drink. Jim stares at her for a moment, trying to

think of something to say. He starts to say something but

the girl walks away with her drink before he builds up the

nerve.

Jim looks fed up after this and grabs his coat and stands

up. As Jim is putting on his coat, a "hot" girl in her

early 20s stops him. She is clearly a party girl and acts

like one.

AMY

Where are you going off to?

JIM

(Befuddled)

I was actually just leaving.

AMY

Not before you buy me a drink, you

aren't.

JIM

S-s-sure.

Jim buys an expensive looking drink for her. Amy knocks back

the drink in one swig and slams her glass on the bar. After

she slams her glass down she grabs her purse and throws her

coat over her shoulder.

AMY

This place is just too loud. How

'bout we go back to your place and

hang out?

JIM

Uh, I don't know.

AMY

Oh come on, man. I'm not going to

hurt you. What's wrong with a

little fun?

Jim thinks it over for a second. He gets a determined look

on his face.

JIM

Sure, let's go.

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT

Jim and Amy walk into the apartment. Amy looks around at her

drab surroundings.

AMY

Man, this place sure is lonely. You

mind if I invite some friends of

mine over to put some life into

this joint?

JIM

(Unenthusiastically)

That sounds like it could be fun.

After doing that, it doesn't seem like much good can come from ignoring formatting rules of the master-scene script. In this instance, the rules just make everything easier for everyone. It might take a little effort to remember them, but I believe that they are worth it. I chose to do this because I have had to write quite a few scripts for various classes lately and many people can't remember how to write a script, even with it being explained to them multiple times. I think that this is a rule where nothing is really gained by breaking it.