BLOG 4B

http://crwill.blogspot.com/: Collin
http://mdia203marchetti.blogspot.com/: Gabe
http://joshuap51290.blogspot.com/: Joshua

The crop shop.

To me this photo seems haunting, which is exactly why I was drawn to it.  Immediately, I was drawn to the little girl in the white dress, which made it easy for me when I was trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to frame in my rendition of the picture. I really wanted to leave out the fact that she had a cigarette in her hand, because I felt as if it is the focal point when you see the full image because it seems to give off negative energy and a discomforting feeling to the audience.  However, at the same time I still wanted to see some of the background, so what I did was crop the picture as close to her head, crop out the cigarette, and kept depth. Although there isn't a lot in the depth of field, the legs that are out of focus in the background, still indicate that there is someone else there. Creating this depth cue also allows the spectator to feel a lot closer to the little girl since she is right upfront to the camera and make you feel like you have a personal relationship with her. I also used Rule of thirds the little girls face lies at one of the intersections of the Rule of Thirds. Although these are reasons as to why I framed the picture a certain way, I will now discuss why the artist framed the picture the way it is.  The artist uses contrast by using the black and white coloring. By having this color palate it makes the photo a more dramatic photo. There is also a use of lines in this photo, in particular Visual Lines. There were visual lines involved because the little girl is looking directly at the camera. The visual rhythm in this photo seems to be that there is some kind of movement within the frame because the background is somewhat blurred. 

MUSIC/SONG

Brainwashed.

http://changethis.com/

MAKE ART.
Godin makes it quite clear in his "Brainwashed" piece, that there are more than plenty of ways to reinvent yourself, in ways that most people wouldn't even considering as "reinventing". One of the layers that I found most interesting that Godin make appoint was to simply make art. Art. The one thing that we can truly say that in this economy can potentially be free if we wanted to make it. It is an 'original gift' and the 'human ability to make a difference' as Seth would say. However, what catches most people off guard is that there are absolutely no limits or boundaries  when it comes to art, any body and everybody can do it. By going through our daily routines and interacting with a variety of people, we have the power to make something that expresses who we are, what we are feeling, and how we interpret art. Art can truly change everything. As I previously stated, there are no boundaries to making art, which means no instructions, no rule book, nothing at all to make you feel like you are doing it incorrectly. As Gordin said "it is the art of creating the uncreated," and it is so true. We have the ability to create something that isn't created already, and if it is already created, it isn't in such a way that we see it as art. And chances are, when others see your work someone will ultimately be able to relate to it and it will be you who had impacted them most. So go draw that piece of architecture that found striking while walking down court street, go on a photography craze throughout all of Athens (thats me currently, and have been all year..literally.), write a story/screenplay/song, make a video (i know most of us can do this, obviously.), and furthermore just make art. 


SHIP.
Take the plunge, jump for the stars, ship. What do these all have in common? They all three refer to the same general meaning which is take a risk and jump or "ship." The kinds of people who "ship" are the ones who pursue the most and ultimately who we can't live without. Because without those who ship, who would be the one to be the leader? The one who takes charge? We wouldn't have one. Shipping has a tendency of being hard to do, because as we learned in the previous layer the lizard of our brain (the voice inside us who makes us follow the rule book/instructions). With that inner lizard, we tend to hold off and pull back from taking risks and chances at the thought and fear of failing. God forbid we have to fail at something or at the very least take responsibility for our own actions. In order to reinvent yourself, we all have to learn to be able to ship and take those risks that we all dread.


While writing my last choice of layer to summarize, I suddenly realized something. Not only as Video Production majors, but for all Scripps students including Communication Studies, Journalism, and Visual Communications, we  are doing both of these layers. The whole point of the Scripps school is to open a wide variety of career options that challenge us both academically and creatively. We are the future journalists, photographers, and directors of this world and we have already "shipped" by even taking the risk into going into such competitive industries. As far as these layers relating to the Blog, I think it can relate to the blog because all of us students have been making art by writing down our personal thought, expressions, and creativity through a public blog, in which case we have "shipped" because we have allowed our writing to be seen by the public eye and face the inner lizard in our brain. 

Soundscape

Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got til it's gone.

ORIGINAL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp2iGyl8Sek
COVERED:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVD6_BGV8mM


The song that I chose to further discuss is "big Yellow Taxi," originally done by Joni Mitchell and covered by Counting Crows featuring Vanessa Carlton. Although the songs are essentially the same, they are numerous differences; to start lets discuss the melody.
Listening to the Joni Mitchell song, you are quickly introduced to the sound of an acoustic guitar which gives you the feeling of the song being very relaxed, almost giving the sense of it being either spring or summer. It's also extremely light because of the lack of instrumentation (guitar, triangle, and a little bit of drum). If I had to classify this song under a specific genre, I would have to say that the original is close to Folk, where as the covered version sounds more like Pop. Counting Crows also had a relaxed feeling, bit gave this impression in a much different way than Joni Mitchell's version, in a sense that it's something that you could listen on your way to class, regardless of season, and be in a good mood. Although very similar, the covered version gives you something that the original doesn't which is it coming off as being more personal. It makes the listener feel as if he is actually have a conversation with you or singing to you about how his love was taken away from him (or her in Mitchell's case).
From melody, lets move onto the difference in musical quality, starting off with the difference in pitch. In Mitchell's version the pitch goes to an extreme high during the second chorus, where she beltches out and unforgettable "PLEASE.." where as in the covered version there is barely a pitch change throughout the entire song. I imagine this is from the contrast in singing styles from the artists. The speed in the original version can be considered as
Ultimately, I'd have to say that my favorite is the covered version. Solely because Joni Mitchell's version is not only out of date, but as we learned from Jeff Redefer, the way the song was produced in the original. Although it sounds like her version was more meaningful, but the covered just sounds more personal.

p.s- did you notice the SLIGHT lyric change from the original to covered?

Is willing to accept that she creates her own reality.

http://changethis.com/
Jonathon Flaum, author of Finding Your Howl, writes two short stories. One about the remaining 14 red wolves that were left in the 1970's and the other of a personal experience of his with another peer in his fifth grad penmanship class. The story I have chosen to summarize is that of his personal experience.

While being a student in Mrs. Horowitz fifth grade penmanship class, Flaum had instantly expressed his unwillingness and hate for two things. The first was his hateful relationship with Mrs. Horowitz and the second was his fellow peer, Nick Thompson. After being given the task to writing a ten page short story, Flaum seemed to have found something else to add to his list of things he hated. Not only was ten pages a bit much to ask out of a student who was only in the fifth grade, but it didn't help that once the grades were returned back that Flaum had once again received a failing grade and Nick had received an "excellent" grade. Most thought that Nick must have cheated somehow to get this excellent grade, but Flaum suddenly realized that he hadn't cheated at all and rather had just underestimated what Nick was capable of.

The story nick wrote was about a tiger who lived in a cage at the zoo. He had went into detail about the cage, the zoo, and the immense amount of strength that this tiger had. As time went by the tiger came to the conclusion that he was going to escape late at night. After the plan had taken place and the tiger peacefully fell asleep, once the tiger finally woke up he found himself in another cage in another zoo. Eventually the tiger calmed down and reinforced his plan once again, but each time he did this he consistently found himself in another cage in another zoo and as the story came to an end, Flaum had found the deeper meaning to Nicks short story. He had written about life and the way it works. The only way that the cage could go away is if we go away with it because we are one with the cage. We have to become aware of the looks of the cage and from their we automatically become identified with it because it is ultimately your home. There is no easy way to get out of a situation that we get ourselves into, because it not only takes over our lives on the outside, but inside as well and the only way to get over it is to "over come ourselves."

LINK TO PODCAST:
http://www.podsnack.com/playlists/7f13b08bfb8f792862b5dbda9a499148

14 Ways to Make it Big

Copy and Paste to have access to Mitch Ditkoff’s “14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas”: http://changethis.com/

According to our friend Mitch, “there’s a lot of talk these days about innovation,” and quite frankly I couldn’t agree more with him. In Mitch Ditkoff’s article “14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas,” he narrows it down to the simples and most basic ways for almost anyone to find that inner breakthrough idea within us. “What sparks innovation?” he says, “People. What sparks people? Inspired ideas that meets a need.” Everyone craves that genius idea that will either make or break their career, but as Ditkoff states, we need to stop having the mindset that these ideas don’t exist, because ultimately they already do. We need stop searching for them and rather allow them to come to us.  From this we learn the two basic approaches, Western and Eastern. Western is best summarized as “I think therefore I am”, where as Eastern is best summarized as “I am, therefore I think.” More thank likely, most find they relating towards the Eastern approach because it focuses on, “intuitive knowing,” as Mitch would say. But as the saying goes “to each their own,” meaning everyone has their own opinion and personal taste, just as this could relate to specific styles of approaching ideas. It is from here that Ditkoff goes into explaining his 14 ways of constructing those breakthrough ideas.

1.     Follow your Fascination: if you find fascinated with something, there are chances that this could be a breakthrough for you because fascination is an indication that we are “being called.”

2.     Immerse: if you what a better chance at creating this breakthrough idea we have to be immersed: becoming completely involved in something.

3.     Tolerate Ambiguity: don’t be afraid to fail because chances are you are going to have plenty of ideas that will fall through.

4.     Make New Connections: Find connections between common things.

5.     Fantasize: this is the time to bring out your inner dreamer. Although we are often told not to fantasize because it is a childish trait, this is often when we find our greatest ideas.

6.     Define the Right Challenge: before coming up with your breakthrough idea, you have to find the “breakthrough problem.” This will help you figure out what you are trying to exactly create.

7.     Listen to Your Subconscious: when trying to figure something out or achieve something over a period of time, we tend to put these thoughts to our “subconscious mind” which then figures it out on its own.

8.     Take a Break: do not insist on forcing yourself to figure something out if you have been “stumped” for a significant amount of time. Walk away and come right back after you take a break.

9.     Notice/ Challenge Existing Patterns and Trends: don’t be afraid to challenge old patterns and find the solution to them in a new way.

10.  Hang Out with Diverse Groups of People: sometimes just by changing the atmosphere of people you surround yourself with will give you a more well rounded perspective and can give your great ideas.

11.  Brainstorm: don’t jump into this process alone. Find that meaningful question and have people help you find the solution to it.

12.  Look for Happy Accidents: Always keep an eye out for the unexpected. Look for those moments that seem like hell at the moment, but ultimately have a happy ending.

13.  Use Creative Thinking Techniques: Everyone needs that spark to light the fire within them to start thinking about what their idea should be. Don’t be afraid to go through some of your favorite music, books, or a quote to help you.

14.  Suspend Logic: “Suspend judgement. Suspend evaluation. Suspend your addiction to the practical.” It’s that simple.

Use Creative Thinking Techniques: Personally I have found that this technique is very useful. Ever since I participated in script writing on Fridays Live, I have been dying to write something, but haven’t had the slightest idea on what to write on. My life surely wasn’t anything interesting to write about, so what to do? I turned to my favorite book, Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. I plan on rereading this in the nest couple of weeks and try to construct something from this.

Hang Out With a Diverse Set of People: I also find that this technique is very useful. I knew that coming to college and being a part of a major where I needed to network, that would mean interacting with people that I typically wouldn’t. From doing this, I have not only learned a lot about myself, but have certainly been able to take a step back and find the meaning behind “Never Judge a Book by it’s Cover.”

Listen to Your Subconscious: This “breakthrough idea” I find doesn’t particularly work. I feel like, for myself at least, I wouldn’t really realize whether or not I have transferred that idea to my “subconscious” part of my brain, thus I don’t think I would ever recognize it.

Applying: PROMPT 12

            What “failed experiment” or unexpected outcome might be interesting for you to reconsider? Who else might you invite to participate in this effort?

à An event that I would highly consider would be when I won Homecoming Queen my senior year of high school and completely tripped in my skirt and high heels when I walked out onto the football field to get the crown.

à In this effort I would invite my mom because she was beside me when this happened. 

It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt

If I were to pick a quote that summed up what kind of creative person I am, I would have to simply restate what my good friend Elliott Erwitt said. To those who may not already know, I am not a Video Production major, rather a Journalism major who is transferring into Video Production. But why you may ask, I mean, I am only a part of the top school for my field of interest, or so I thought. You see, the more I got involved with AVW and the Multimedia Club, I really found my niche with seeing something through the lens, that maybe some wouldn’t, and turn it into a piece of art. Although photography isn’t quite exactly like Video Production, we still are able to see the same things through the lens and interpret it in our own way. I’ve found through the past two quarters of my freshman year, that my once aspiration of taking my creativity to the Washington Post and becoming a columnist have now turned into wanting to take this creativity to a theatre near you. But obviously, this can’t be the only thing that has swayed my change of major. If that were it, calling me crazy would be more than just an understatement. My biggest inspiration would be my sister, the infamous Jessica Kardos. My sister is a recent graduate from the Media Arts School as a Video Production major. It wasn’t the constant nagging of her trying to convince me to switch majors, rather seeing her drive and determination to overcome the female stereotype in the film industry and suddenly my mind was set. I never felt that kind of determination with journalism, I always loved writing, but not like how my sister loved video production.  

            About a year ago my sister directed a 419 film called the Schartz-Metterklume Method and can be related to a dark version of Mary Poppins. Conveniently enough, during my spring break I had the pleasure of coming to Athens to be a PA on the film. Although my sister acted more like my boss in terms of being stern and straightforward when I wasn’t doing something correctly, it made realize how seriously she took this and her passion for it.

            After reviewing the terminology that we learned in class, I reread my copy of the Shartz script to figure out what concepts could relate to it. First I noticed how they used DIDACTIC, which as we learned is when you tell the audience what to think. This is demonstrated in the first few opening scenes when we meet Claretta, a mysterious woman, who is mistaken by a wealthy family for their newly hired nanny. The audience is aware that Claretta is not who this family thinks it is, but are forced to continue watch this scenario unfold. Next, I noticed how Shartz used CONTRAST, explaining the difference between “things”. Shartz demonstrated this by showing the difference in values between the Atwater family and Claretta. Claretta believed that the only way the children can learn history is by acting it out so they can, as she would say, “truly experience it.” However, Mrs. Atwater believes that the children should learn the old fashion way, by text book. Finally, Shartz demonstrated CONCIOUSNESS, which is being aware of choices reflecting on past events. Throughout the duration of a dinner scene as Claretta continues to converse with Mr. and Mrs. Atwater she learns more about them and their values and then proceeds to use the values in which Mrs. Atwater does not approve of and those that Mr. Atwater does approve of, such as writing and using their imaginations, to make the children more interested in learning.

            

Below are links that show examples of work done by my sister:

1.     SCHARTZ-Director

http://www.schartzmetterklume.com/watch.html

2.      WEATHER OR NOT-Director (2010 48-Hour Shoot Out)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugMpHxn0j2g

3.     STYLIST SOLUTION-Producer (2009 48-Hour Shoot Out)
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N95G98pEyRc

Photography