Sunday, December 14, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Aqua
Artist's Statement-Annie DeVane
I thrive on circumstance and beauty. My first love will always be hand-drawing. Ink, pencil, marker and pens of any sort are my preferred tools and I'm striving to translate my skills on paper into meaningful digital projects. I see movement in every drawing I do and am frustrated when they don't immediately animate themselves. All still drawings have movement when I look at them.
In this particular piece, I'm combining the hand drawing of a still image with stop-motion frames that animate the process. As an added bonus, I used a clip from my father's composition "If It Itches" off of his album Strutting the Dog. My father always entertained my fanciful drawings and songs, so his presence here carries on that tradition of playfulness.
Chili Dog, Triumphant - revisited
For this piece I wanted to capture the rhythm and timing of working in the kitchen, as well as capture the monumental accomplishment of creating the chili dog. The entire piece is meant to feel like a crescendo, a build up to the final explosion of sensory elation. When cooking any meal this escalation is obviously evident; you start with raw ingredients and climb your way to the finished plate.
However, on a more personal level the culmination of sprinkling cheese on top of a child dog is the pinnacle of my college football Saturday. It is a conquering feeling knowing that I get to watch football, drink beer, and eat chili dogs for the next several hours. For me, finishing the meal preparation is truly triumphant and is the highest point of the day.
The synchronization of the scenes with the music is meant to exemplify the need for rhythm in the kitchen. Obviously the music lends greatly to the feeling of accomplishment, but it also creates the rhythm of the piece. The pace of the music is meant to match what happens in the kitchen, with periods of frantic rushing, but also with slow, more sensual moments, like the spreading of the chili. The heroic music and the scenes from the kitchen meld about as well as chili and hot dogs.
Music: Frederik Magle - Rising of a New Day
Artist Statement
While far from boring, my life has become fairly predictable. I came to this realization while working on my film "Rob Goes to Work"
I am not sure if I should be worried about this.
My second film tries to show viewers that basically, this is my life, and this is where I am coming from.
Toothpicks with Artist Statement
I initially had not intended to continue the zombie theme. I had shot footage of my parents home, my father, and a cat. I was going to juxtapose the comfortable situation I had as a child, with the situation i am in now; a little broke and in school. It was highly exaggerated, I don't eat toothpicks obviously, but I have always been afraid I won't have any money when I need it. The scene with the three poor men is also my hyperbolic take on the current economic recession. We don't eat a lot of filet mignon in my house.
Music and Sound
From the good to the great movies, I've often realized that the feature which enhances a movie (or sometimes provides its sole redeeming quality) is usually the music and sound. Images and sound are the primary contents of a movie and while images can deliver a message on their own, for me music can be just as powerful. It can enhance or detract from the scene it is linked to. Sometimes even music that is in discord with its accompanying image can bring forth a desired reaction (such as a feeling of unrest or agitation).
I wish to expand on my knowledge of composition and matching scenes to sound and interesting music. I listen to all kinds of music and I have as much love for the classic pieces as I do the modern tracks (there's nothing wrong with appreciating both Lil' Wayne and Chopin).
Adel Abdessemed
I liked the two adjoining videos. They first caught my attention because of their names (even with my paltry German vocabulary I understood the titles). Both videos conveyed the message of departure, a “goodbye”. The first piece, “Tschüss”, featuring Adel's son waving goodbye was gentle and almost wistful. The second video “Schnell” was a free-fall from a helicopter, a more violent send-off. The contrast between the two was what kept my interest. Why would anyone choose such a violent end? Wouldn't the pull of a child's love not be enough to keep them? For me, it was the most compelling of Adel's work on display.
Artist Statement
Most of my work exhibits layout, color, and design. Throughout college my art work leaned towards painting or drawing people and still lifes. Color and contrasts of lights to darks have always fascinated me. My work captures things in my surroundings.
For the final project in this class I chose to revisit my composition of Transformation. The definition of Transformation is, "A marked change, as in appearance or character, usually for the better." I have always been on the print end in the art world. I feel my life is in transformation. I am now going back to school to learn the digital end too move forward and change some direction in my life.
I have read how artist's should write their statements by analyzing all of their work and then talk about what inspires them. Since I am in this "time of change" I felt this piece symbolically shows my life now.
B-Movie: The Shredder
Enjoy the thrills. Spooky.
B-Movie: The Shredder
On a related note, JOIN THE BOSTON DIGITAL MEDIA NETWORK!!! Post your work, your bio, and network with classmates and other digital media professionals. Work it!
www.bostondmn.com
Quincy to Cambridge
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Final Assignment
Artist Statement
I have enjoyed photography for over 20 years; discovering digital in 2005. The program at Northeastern has allowed me to further my artistic vocabulary in the digital arts. Several years ago I acquired a collection of family slides dating back to 1958. I’ve wanted to incorporate these slides into my artwork through collage to explore themes of family, memory, and culture.
WBUR recently aired a segment about a special exhibit from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, at the Russia at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, MA. I was able to visit with my parents over Thanksgiving, and later interview my Mother about the exhibit, and our family history with the Russian Orthodox Church. My personal history with the church was intermittent and I never became grounded in the religion, but certain aspects of the culture are inescapable.
With this collage of video, family slides, and music I explore an important element in the cultural backdrop of my childhood and our family history.
Backdrops by Ted Garland
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
I've been interested in photography for as long as I can remember, but it was a friend who lived in my dorm freshman year of college who inspired me to start taking classes. I went into her room one day and she had these really amazing black and white photos tacked up on the walls. We started talking about photography and she showed me her portfolio. The next semester, I enrolled in what was to be the first of several classes. And I've been hooked since then.
I've noticed a theme in my own work, one that shows up over and over. I am fascinated by architecture, but not just by the buildings themselves; I like to explore the way light and angle can transform them, making them into something abstract. Sometimes I'll be walking down the street and, looking up, I'm shocked by what I see. I grew up in a small town in Michigan, so I think my love of architecture and cityscapes comes from the fact that they still seem so foreign and exotic to me.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Adel Abdessemed
This exhibit was nothing like I have seen before. Immediately entering the exhibit all of the combined noises and the different films going on portrayed a lot of emotion with out even reading any statements or articles. For example the films with the foot crushing different objects showed anger and frustration.
This exhibit is a perfect example of one that the audience would need some type of artists statement. For example, I was confused with all the small TVs with the cats until reading about them in the second room.
All in all my favorite two pieces were the burnt car and the short film where camera was dropped out of the helicopter. I walked around the car a few times. Just standing next to this piece was very powerful. When I first entered the next room the loop of the helicopter film was at the end. I almost overlooked it. Then it was interesting to see it start up again after realizing what it was.
My least favorite two pieces were the short clips that showed a man talking. One was in the first room and he was wearing fangs and the second he was wearing a clown nose. Even after reading about what they meant in the statements on the wall, I just found them not interesting at all. I found the last one that he was laughing and talking about being a terrorist especially annoying to even watch.
I do feel this exhibit made me feel uneasy and a little confused. This is not something I normally would go to see but I would like to go back on the 20th to hear what the guide would have to say about my unanswered questions.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Assignment for December 11
2. You can download FrameThief if you want to work with that.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
B-Movie (task is shredding)
https://myfiles.neu.edu/devane.a/B-Movie%20The%20Shredder.mov
Saturday, November 29, 2008
redo of assignment 2
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Taking the Dog Out
Yeah... just viewed it. No matter how large I make the dimensions in Final Cut it gets squished within the black area around it. help.
Toothbrush
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Reaction to Adel Abdessemed: Situation and Practice
I entered the larger installation and the first thing in my eyesight was one of his earlier pieces of the woman removing the veil. I thought it was effective and lovely. Short, but not sweet, is how I would describe most of his works in the show. One of the reasons I like the installation was because Abdelessemed wanted the window out onto the construction area to remain open and unblocked as a supplement to his show. I thought this was a great use of spontaneous installation because the window added a lot by continuing the vein of realism and street-life from which much of Abdelessemed's art springs.
The guide said something that really helped my understanding of the show as a whole. He described Abdelessemed's view of video as a conduit of sonic art, not necessarily a visual experience. With his still photos (where there existed quite a bit of movement and tension as well), he catches things he feels would not be any better presented on film as moving images. I closed my eyes and stood in the room and heard the sounds of a factory, a hammering, a cacophonous place in time.
Surprising to me, the foot crushing the lemon was one of my favorites. It had a very erotic quality to it that was amplified by the size of the projection screen. I took the show as a whole piece and came away with a million thoughts spinning. Usually a good sign when leaving a gallery.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Assignment for November 20
2. Export as QuickTime, testing out different compression schemes. For standard 4x3, I recommend 320 by 240 (ie. QVGA), for 16x9 you can use 480 by 370 which is becoming a de facto standard.
3. Post online -- preferably to blip.tv -- and cross post to our class blog. Remember to cross post with blip, you need to add our class blog by logging in with your blogger/gmail account name/password.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Royalty free music
http://magnatune.com/info/
Interesting concept with support to the artists.
Making Breakfast
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Field Trip - Adel Abdessemed
Field Trip - Adel Abdessemed
The ceramic cast of the torched car was very interesting and I feel this was his strongest piece. We can see burned-out cars quite often on the news, but I think the seriousness of actually burning a car in rage was really captured by having that replica.
Overall I think that his work is interesting, just not as incendiary as the guide suggested.
Field Trip - Adel Abdessemed
Overall I thought the show was effective at making me feel uneasy and uncomfortable. The use of video I think was much more effective than still images because the movement and the sound really captured my attention, and the constant repetition really nailed it into my head.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Field Trip: Adel Abdessemed
Field trip: Adel Abdessemed
Field Trip: Adel Abdessemed
The one exhibit I did find interesting was the transcription of holy texts by street workers. I thought the question posed -- are holy text still holy when transcribed by prostitutes -- was thought-provoking.
I realize this post has nothing to do with time-based media, but these are the impressions I took away.
Adel Abdessemed
The camera falling out of the plane didn't really fit with everything else. After seeing this piece the first thing that jumped into my head was: "Boy, that is dangerous; what if the camera hit somebody?" And then I realized how funny that was because that is not going to go through one's head if they themselves jump out of the plane. This piece fit well with the video of the artist's son waving obviously, but I felt it could also have been powerful on its own. It made me think about a difference between life and death; in life you (might) care about other peoples' well being, but in death, especially in suicide, one is going to have a tough time to consider other people. In the end, the piece shows how selfish suicide is.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Field Trip: Adel Abdessemed
The piece that struck me the most were the large scale dual videos showing the fall from the plane next to the image of his son waving goodbye. If looked at separately, each video tells its own unique story and/or one's own interpretation of the story. Together, the images add another dimension. They feed off eachother and allow the viewer to construct a reason why the individual in the plane would want to commit suicide with a young child eagerly waving. Is the image of the child from long ago and has since died, leaving the jumper distraught? Is the jumper so distanced from reality that the child is insignificant? The combination of images basically makes me try to read into the story rather than take each video at face value.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Field Trip / Assignment for 11/13
A reminder that we will not meet at the classroom this Thursday (11/6) instead we will gather over at the List Visual Arts Center at MIT at 20 Ames street (see map) for a 6 pm gallery talk. Let's meet there at 5:45, please. This IS mandatory, so if you can't make it Thursday you need to let me know and also schedule time to see the exhibit.
Please complete your video edit for our class on 11/13.
Here are some resources for editing:
-- links from videomaker.com
-- tips from metacafe.com
-- transitions tips from Ken Stone (lots of good stuff on his site)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
DIY storyboard-POCKETMOD!!!!!
http://www.pocketmod.com
i've also included an image of a completed storyboard one, but the sky is the limit as far as variations go...
drag n drop, print, fold
super awesome fantastic time
Story Treatment
After a passage of time the protagonist can keep his eyes open no more. As he sleeps his friend reawakens, in a changed state. He can only moan and shiver on the floor. Awakened with a start the hero jumps from the room as his once friend reaches an ashy hand towards his ankle.
While locked in the bathroom the newborn zombie lashes at the door and raises his moans. It is here we find out how to deal with a zombie in your bathroom.
storytreatment
Characters: Me
Narative Arc:
I cook the hotdogs and the chili, pop open a beer, and I watch some football.
Story Treatment - Ted Garland - Assignment 04
Story Treatment
Story treatment - Organized chaos
Organized chaos
A girl gets a call. A friend is coming over. She then realizes just how messy her room is. She starts cleaning.
She gets distracted by a book she was putting away. Continues tidying.
Takes a snack break. Continues cleaning.
Makes her bed. She's done.
Goes to open the door for her friend.
The end.
Story Treatment-Annie
in the morning, waking up, digging through clothes to find something to wear. after various outfits, our hero walks through the door victorious in outfit selection.
fin
Story Treatment
Taking place in front of a desk, a man on a fake How-to-draw TV program teaches the audience how to draw a penguin. Using simple geometric shapes he creates a silly looking penguin. Much to his surprise the penguin moves around on the paper and gestures and winks at the audience.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Assignment 3 Ted Garland
storytreatment
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Story Treatment
A middle aged woman is home in bed on a sick day. While on a conference call on her cellphone, following a presentation on her laptop, she is watching a muted cooking show where they are preparing beer battered coconut shrimp (This part is a true story).
Several weeks later, she and George will make the shrimp. We will see her shopping, and then see the couple preparing and cooking the shrimp as Nemo and Bo (cats) look on with rapt attention. All will then share in the feast. Settings include the bedroom, hall, and kitchen in a small ranch house, with additional scenes in Market Basket and Whole Foods.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Story Treatment
The setting of my video will begin upstairs in the house, then down the stairs, in the kitchen, out in the backyard and then in the car. The main character will be my husband with appearances by my son and dog.
My husband will be rushing to leave for work but needs to take the dog out. Trying to get organized to leave he is unable to find his wallet. While searching for it, he is bothered by the dog wanting to go out. He takes the dog out and waits for the dog to finish his business, only to find that his wallet is among the gift left in the lawn. He grabs the wallet, checks it out, puts it in his pocket, sends the dog back in the house and gets in the car to leave.
Story Treatment
Sunday, October 19, 2008
storytreatment
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Assignment for 10/23
Be descriptive:
where is the setting?
who are the characters?
what is narrative arc? -- the flow from beginning to end
Post your treatment on the class blog, please label your post "storytreatment".
2. View this post about camera shots to gain an awareness of shot styles in advance of storyboarding your simple task project (which we will do in class next week).
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Assignment 3 - Table scene
Assignment 3
Assignment 3
Notes on video and tonight
We WILL talk about compression and posting, so hopefully some of the quirks and headaches encountered will be resolved. I'm fine with all of you showing work "locally" off of a drive tonight.
I'd like to look at the work you've done tonight, but I'll save deep commentary for the class blog in the interest of continuing to move forward with our class objectives.
Also -- there's a slight chance I might be a bit late for tonight's class as I have a conference call here at work until 5 -- but I WILL be there. I can stay later if other people can as well (not sure if there's a class in that room after ours).
Assignment 3: The music is the 'Main Titles' track from the soundtrack of 'Delores Claiborne'. Since I was not able to get out to buy final cut express, this was made in imovie. I can verify that it is one of the least user friendly software packages I have ever used. For some reason this file is 62MB. I nearly killed the internet uploading it. I made another version in iphoto, which is much smaller (~3MB), but I was not able to synchronize the music. I would like to try another verision with final cut express.
Assignment3-ArtBook
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Links for Sequence Assignment
http://www.csparks.com/Bookbinding/index.xhtml
http://www.zumgaligali.com/projects/bookbinding/book_5st_1.html
http://strangelittlegirl.com/books/stabbindings/instructions.html
And a link on working with Key Frames in Final Cut:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/basic_fcx_keyframing.html
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Assignment for 10/9
Thursday, October 2, 2008
assignment2-transformation of transformation?
i hope this turns out decently! i'm including the pictures that this came from, i had to redo last weeks assignment so the fence w/tree trunk is my pick for that.
(redo of last week's)
(2nd component of picture)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Assignment02
Assignment02 |
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Transformation
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Transformation - Light
Assignment for 10/02
2. Extend your single image concept into an image sequence of five -- so you can start shooting "fresh", you don't need to incorporate your first assignment picture. You can use tools like photoshop to scale, crop and juxtapose. Post on class blog -- tag with "assignment02".
3. Here are the images we looked at quickly!
Transformation
In this class I would like to learn ways I can improve the composition, overall look, feel or other aspects of my work by actually creating new works. Also, I'd be happy if I could find inspiration to create some movies or more animation (I've been neglecting it in order to do more 2-d graphic design and artwork). Also, anything I can create during the class to add to my portfolio would be a big plus. I'm more interested in the practical application of certain techniques than reviewing theory (because my background is already in a related field).
This was taken at the golf course where I work. You could say the sun is transforming night to day. I also hope this class transforms my career, because I don't want to cut grass much longer. I want to get a better understanding of the various forms of digital media beyond video. I've never done animation and I've only done web editing in passing. I've done video, but I have lots of room for improvement. Help me Ravi Jain.