#7 Animation Deconstruction

#1- http://images.mylot.com/userImages/images/postphotos/1807378.jpg
#2- http://images.wikia.com/en.futurama/images/7/76/Futurama100poster.jpg

One large difference in the color choices between the two pictures is the amount of saturation in the colors. While there is a decent amount of colors in #1, those colors are not very saturated.  This lack of saturation leaves less colorful elements such as the characters' faces as a point of interest instead of letting the eye quickly wander around #2.  Also, the amount of hues in #2 helps to set it apart from #1.  The varying amounts of colors gives the scene a very active feeling, with many different colors occurring very closely to one another.  When comparing the two pictures, #2's saturation prevents it from being as bright as #1.  The colors are vivid and deep, offering a much richer palette.  This also causes #1 to look much more serious in comparison.
The movement is a huge difference between the two, offering very different ideas.  #1 features forward action, suggesting that they are moving toward us.  Their legs mid step, and their arms slightly forward, it is easy to see that they are walking.  This not only gives them movement, but instills emotion into their rather blank faces.  This compared with the obvious dancing motions of those in #2 offer up a significant amount of movement and line in one picture.  #1's parallel movements instill a sense of a group into the the 3 characters, adding an extra layer of determination to their faces.  Weight plays a much larger role in #1 than #2. In #1 it completely describes the movement and momentum of the characters, while in #2 it play very little role, because the characters are motionless at this moment.

Project #5 Song Deconstruction

Bombay Bicycle club "Shuffle"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDuif301F-8

Bombay Bicycle Club "Always Like This" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QKj62RKBrM&feature=relmfu

Listening Phase 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

Medium

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

Keyboard and drums

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

Jumpy, happy, groovy, melodic, upbeat, dreamy

Listening Phase 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

Keyboard, Synthesizer, drums

Structure/Organization [how is the song built?  Order, patterns, etc.]

Builds off of the base piano beat, stays on a similar level for most of the song, eventually breaks into vocal harmony

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

                                     ------------------------------

___-------------------------                                       -------------------------_______

Balance

-       Height [high and low of frequency]

Remains about the same throughout most of the song, doesn't venture too far.

-       Width [stereo panning left/right]

None

-       Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

About 6 with all the vocals at the climax of the song, usually about 4

Song #2

Listening Phase 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

Fast

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

Bass, guitar, drums

Groove [describe the personality of the rhythm]

forward, progressive, jamming, regretful

Listening Phase 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

guitar, bass, drums

Structure/Organization [how is the song built?  Order, patterns, etc.]

Builds strongly on the guitar in the beginning, eventually depends on the drums and bass to carry it to the climax

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

                                                          ----------------------

              ___________------

____----                             ------------                           ------------------------

Listening Phase 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

-       Height [high and low of frequency]

Significant difference during bass + guitar parts.  Relatively flat during most.

-       Width [stereo panning left/right]

None

-       Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

About 6 at max.  No huge overlapping

Both of these 2 songs by Bombay Bicycle Club feature the vocalist/guitar player as one of the driving forces behind the development and structure of the song.  In both songs, his presence and driving beat push the song toward the break and resolution.  Although his voice gives break for instrument solos, he is present at the climax of both songs.  

One important difference between the two songs is the role that the drums play.  In "Shuffle" the drums largely help to keep the beat afloat and poppy; in "Always Like This" the drums are a much stronger driving force behind the song.  This results in a much larger emphasis on the piano and vocals in "Shuffle."

The presence of a synthesizer in "shuffle" helps to distinguish it from "Always like this."  It adds an airy feel, helping to isolate his voice by temporarily taking over for the instruments.

#4- Reflections

The Listening modes can be identified as Casual and semantic only.  The subtleties in the sounds that represent EVE and WALL-E contain their voice and character.  Because the two characters do not form sentences to get their message across, sound plays a huge roll in individualizing and characterizing the two; very small sounds, such as WALL-E’s tracks turning, or EVE’s floating sound, help to give the characters very literal signs of life.  The tones that is used for their voices follows what we would expect from their appearance using literal sound.  By using clear pitch and intensity changes, the sound designer managed to convey very clear emotions without dialogue.  The semantic sounds would be the over exaggerated sound effects and “dialogue” from the two characters.  For example, when WALL-E tries to say his own name, or when he compacts the trash, the sounds are semantic.

The space in this scene is portrayed very directly.  Because the two characters are placed on a linear surface, the sound direction is flat.  However, slight changes in the characters movement and camera angle changes the way that the sounds are heard.  For example, when watching WALL-E compact garbage from EVE’s point of view, it is heard differently than when shown from WALL-E’s side.  This is a result of positional sound in relation to the point of view, which ties into distance and perception.  It may seem obvious, but as the scene becomes closer and more intimate, the character’s sounds become much louder, as does the ambient music

#3- Brainwashed

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/66.01.Brainwashed

Acknowledge the Lizard: We all have a built-in tendency that gravitates us away from any sort of criticism, or being laughed at.  This defense mechanism or, “the resistance,” is what pushes us to stay in line and follow orders for the sake of safety.  This barrier is the sole contender between today and art.  This resistance cripples acts of genius, but if we acknowledge and quell it we can successfully bypass it.

Connect: It is essential for us to utilize the incredible amount of global presence that we have access to right now.  By using the Internet and connectivity, we have the opportunity to change people and gain influence, power, and authority.  Instead of measuring our online footprint, we should be aiming to have an influence, having a hand in a change in someone’s life.  We have spent so long isolated, now is the time to utilize this overwhelming global consciousness.

Learn: School is outdated and has lost its purpose in today’s society.  Therefore, we must take schooling into our own hands and apply learning and self-betterment into our daily routine.  Because we are so different, and everyone has personal goals and aspirations we must take daily events and interactions and use those to learn what we need to learn.

Acknowledging the Lizard is an essential part for any essential development to begin in an artists’ career.  By fighting and pushing with this lizard we confront the root of our downfall, our own consciousness.  This blog serves as an essential confrontation of the lizard, which is making it known and beginning the struggle to control it.  By bypassing our own negative preconception of others’ judgment, we are able to submit our mind’s work for judging by others; realizing that criticism is inevitable and necessary begins the process of development.

The idea of the lizard connects very well with the idea of finding your howl. By fighting through fears and inhibitions, we are able to push ourselves into a new consciousness, a new prospective of our own being.  The push from this blog to ignore social forces pushing us to subdue and normalize mesh very well together; by pushing us to individualize our passions and minds, a large step is being taken towards artistic betterment. 

To successfully connect to the world around us, we must first analyze the way to best do so.  With so many tools like social networks and blogs at our fingertips, it is truly not that difficult to get your work to vast amounts of people in a matter of hours.  The largest issue that we face is being able to set content apart from others and having a significant influence on another’s life. This blog is a strong start in that direction, by letting us express ourselves in a public setting.

Being able to actively learn and apply daily happenings is an essential aspect of being an artist.  Because art is very give-and-take, we spend much of our time attempting to pinpoint and materialize feelings and poignant ideas. This results in frustration and a strange development of ideas.  Because learning is an interactive and changing process, it is important that we consciously put effort into applying our daily experiences toward future musings.  This blog helps us to apply our previous knowledge and access new knowledge simultaneously.  By throwing us blindly into an environment of meshing new and old knowledge, it is bound to create new ideas and thoughts within an individual.  It would also be quite interesting to analyze the different answers and threads that run through these blog entries throughout the class, as I’m sure previous experience and knowledge has a large effect on writing style and content.  This blog is an excellent exercise in putting our thoughts into words, and our words into public space.

#2 Find Your Howl

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/51.01.YourHowl


Within his article, Flaum describes a story of a tiger attempting to hatch and escape plan to get out of his cage at the zoo.  In this story, the tiger leaped out of the top of his cage, only to wake up and find that he had landed in a new cage in a new zoo.  The story continues in an identical fashion, with the tiger continually waking up in a new cage in a new zoo.  The situation seems impossible to escape, but what the tiger does not realize is that he is bringing the cage with him, as they have become a part of him. 
For the tiger to escape, he would have to dig down under, and uproot those fears and feelings of the cage that have formed over such a long time of being trapped. The cage lies within him, not around him, and for him to escape he must confront those internal fears and dispatch them.
 

Bibio- Lovers’ Carvings

Lovers' names, carved in walls
Overlap, start to merge
Some of them underneath
Maybe they appear
In graveyards
Maybe they fade away
Weathered and overgrown
Time has told
Meaningful hidden words
Suddenly appear, from the murk
Maybe they're telling us
That the end
Never was
Never will
The words have gone
But the meaning will never disappear
From the wall

            With only seventeen lines total, and most of them consisting of four or less words, this song is extremely minimalist in what it is verbally saying. Because the lyrics are so sparse, it really helps to give the few that are there emphasis and importance. “The words have gone, But the meaning will never disappear, From the wall,” this line really helps to define the spirit of the song.  It agrees with the cowbell, upbeat clapping, and synthesizer by reinforcing the idea that life is impermanent, but the meaning of that life can be lived on.  A link can also be drawn to a pertinent, meaningful howl.  If you truly struggle with your howl, and find it through intense efforts, it will help you to create something deep and powerful that will connect with a huge amount of people.  That your howl and message will live on.  “Maybe they're telling us, That the end, Never was, Never will,” I am not sure if I will ever understand this lyric, and that is one of the reasons that I keep coming back to this song.  As this refers to the lovers’, I have trouble determining what exactly “the end” is referring to.  It seems that they are either referring to the end of a relationship, or some greater end; while the melodramatic in me would love for this to be a grandiose statement about the end of humanity, it is a beautiful line to think of it in reference to “true love.”  Or rather it could be looked at in reference to the end of an existential existence, in reference to finding one’s howl.  As an individual struggles with himself in attempt to find his true self, pushing his perception and idea of self to the limits, I may suggest that it is not an ending of one existence and the ending of another.  Rather, it is likely a rebirth of the current self into a more aware, enriched version of the previous self.  “Meaningful hidden words, Suddenly appear from the murk,” This line plays with the idea of creative expression quite interestingly.  Many people attribute, or attempt to, creativity to some higher being; to a muse or divine inspiration.  This may be somehow true when applied to great creative minds.  The idea that we may not be wholly responsible for our creations has helped many creative people flourish in their creative aspirations.  This also plays with the fact that we may not be finding some of the most beautiful parts of our lives within the murky, disgusting features of our lives.  Although it may seem like murk from an onlooker’s perspective, it has the ability to contain gems that we may treasure for the rest of our lives.  Pushing ourselves to examine the undesirable, “gross” aspects of ourselves and the world around us will help us to overcome those and apply it as motivation and inspiration.

Blog Assignment #1

The Buzz

 

The Buzz’s color scheme is focused around yellow, with purple being a strong accent to it.  This hero’s color scheme is based on that of a bumblebee, with purple being a main color instead of the usual black.  Because The Buzz fights for the good of his city, I chose positive, bright colors that associate him with flowers and bright natural colors.  This association with flowers also connects to the design of his costume being bee-like.  Another strong element of The Buzz’s color comes from the thin stripes, which add to his element of speed when he is flying around.   

This photo depicts The Buzz’s life and popularity.  Because he is such a renowned figure within the city, he is constantly in the spotlight, wherever he goes.  While he does retain a hidden identity, the city is in constant peril, which forces him to be in action during most of his waking hours.  As a result of this, he is put on a constant spotlight for everyone to see.  His actions are judged daily in the press, and his psyche is put on for the city to see.  He is also the lone superhero, which is why there is no other character alluded to in the photo.

While this shape doesn’t seem to be very descriptive or detailed, it does a good job of depicting The Buzz’s lean, angled figure.  While much of his design is based on a bumblebee, his shape is much more similar to that of a wasp.  With very sharp angles, his design closely resembles that of an acute triangle. Because much of his power comes from his speed, this small profile and ergonomic shape provide him with the mobility that he uses to defeat crime.  His strong lines and angles help to create an iconic shape that people associate with him.

 Bad Bomber

The Bad Bomber’s colors are thick and directly oppose one another.  Because the stripes are so thick, they seem to counteract The Buzz’s thin ones.  The Bomber’s two colors also directly oppose one another, presenting an odd juxtaposition to the viewer’s eyes.  This juxtaposition helps to establish the essential innate dislike for the hero’s antagonist.  The deep saturation also helps to show that this character is full and passionate.  Red and blue are also classical opposite colors, which lead an onlooker to have an instant distrust in someone wearing such vibrant versions of each.

The lighting here emphasizes the Bad Bomber’s dark, brooding personality. Because he typically appears at night, he provides The Buzz with very little opportunity to study his face and body. Commonly lurking in the shadows and avoiding full exposure to light, the Bomber’s lighting is often very spotty and lead to his ambiguousness.   The lighting in this photo also helps to emphasize his menacing nature, though.  Because the light is so frontal and has an obvious source, it causes the viewer to feel uncomfortable.  The environment surrounding him is dark, much like the environment that he thrives in.

The Bad Bomber’s shape very much resembles that of a sphere, with little definition or distinguishable body characteristics.  The bulbous elements of his suit provide him protection and the ability to carry many gadgets with him.  It is also a direct juxtaposition to The Buzz’s lean, sharp design. Because the protagonist and antagonist have such stark differences between their designs, it helps to establish their conflict and rivalry. The round shape also adds to the difficulty in distinguishing his physical characteristics as there is no definition shown for his actual body, but rather the suit.