Friday, February 25, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
How to be Creative article response
You can read the article I refer to here
if the video above doesn't work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf3t4cUJ8TI
if the video above doesn't work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf3t4cUJ8TI
Fargo scenes
I already did my absolute favorite scene in my first blog entry, so I decided to do the opening scene of Fargo. Since this scene wasn't long enough I also did another one of my favorite scenes from the movie as well. (I apologize that the screenshots stick out like a sore thumb, I couldn't figure out how to take a screenshot in iMovie)
In case the above video doesn't work here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V69YINvjP-8
In case the above video doesn't work here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V69YINvjP-8
Monday, February 14, 2011
Reframing an Image and subsequent loss of meaning
I chose this work from Ben Goossens because not only is it aesthetically pleasing to me, I like the message that it is conveying. The message that I believe it is trying to convey is that this world that we live in is bleak sometimes, no doubt about it, yet we must not let that overwhelm us, because there are definitely brilliantly beautiful things about this life as well. I interpret the picture this way because the background of the picture, which constitutes the majority of the picture, is a very grey and dark stormy sky, which is contrasted with a photograph of bright blue skies on a clothesline. This suggests that since it is a photograph, these happy times symbolized through the picture are very much real, and this photograph had to be pinned up on the clothesline by someone, so it seems as if someone is remaining hopeful through harsh times. There's also contrast in that the photograph is tilted in a way that the lines that it is comprised of is juxtaposed with that of the clothesline, which is fairly parallel to the border. Also worth noting is that the clothespin and photograph have affinity in that they are both brighter colors, while the clothesline and sky are both grey.
Stark contrast aside, what also drew my eyes to this picture was that it follows the rule of thirds where the clothespin lines up with a vertical line and the clothesline lines up with a horizontal line. And due to the way lines are perceived, my eyes are drawn to the clothespin first when looking at this picture and follow them downward into the photograph. This is because in Western culture we read things from left to right and downwards. So our eyes are essentially trained to look at things this way, even if it isn't text.
Stark contrast aside, what also drew my eyes to this picture was that it follows the rule of thirds where the clothespin lines up with a vertical line and the clothesline lines up with a horizontal line. And due to the way lines are perceived, my eyes are drawn to the clothespin first when looking at this picture and follow them downward into the photograph. This is because in Western culture we read things from left to right and downwards. So our eyes are essentially trained to look at things this way, even if it isn't text.
The reason I reframed the picture the way I did was to attempt to retain the meaning to a certain extent, but showing how it still changes the impact of the picture greatly. The reason for this is because you lose the vast amount of grey that almost overwhelms the small amount of bright blue in the photograph. In my reframed image, theres just about as much blue as there is grey. This is not nearly as drab a scene, which would explain why Goossens framed it the way he did. Virtually any message portrayed through a picture is active rather than didactic information that the viewer has to interpret for themselves. So, you want to make sure your message is as clear as possible. I think Goossens already did well in depicting the bleakness of reality, while still showing that there was still a decent amount of good in this world. My reframing simply does not do this as well.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
"Brainwashing" article
This post pertains to the "Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself" article by Seth Godin.
One of the ways he describes is "Acknowledge the Lizard" and what he means by this is you need to acknowledge that there is a part of your brain that will tell you "Hey, don't do that! There's a possibility of a negative social consequence in that action! You should take the safe route..." so you can better overcome it in order to go on and make creative, original works. Another point that really hit home was the 1st one: "Connect". I love the internet. I probably spend way too much of my free time on it, but it's just amazing all of the information and creative inspirations you have access to on it. What this point emphasizes is the importance of making connections via the internet in order to foster your own personal development and life.
I believe that both of these points are legitimate and apply to my own life, and therefore this blog. The "Acknowledge the Lizard" one I actually inadvertently touched upon in my first blog assignment when I talked about how I would be majoring in engineering right now if I listened to my "lizard brain" and went with my obvious strength which happens to be in a field that historically has great job security and salaries. Note that my "lizard brain" has not been silent since I made this decision, so I continuously have to acknowledge it in order to overcome it.
The "Connect" point is an inherent characteristic of a blog, or any social website. Through the internet I've met people from all over the world- even way back in 3rd grade on Neopets.com where I was friends with a girl named Claire from England. I've been a part of multiple online communities, some of them being small enough where we actually got to know one another. Even if these online interactions don't explicitly spur a creative collaboration or project, they are invaluable in being introduced to new ideas from people from different areas of the world and different walks of life from yourself. Since you draw from what you know when you create something, the greater your pool of knowledge and understanding, the more you have to draw from. The importance of the internet can be seen in the Egyptian government shutting down the internet as a means of suppressing their people.
One of the ways he describes is "Acknowledge the Lizard" and what he means by this is you need to acknowledge that there is a part of your brain that will tell you "Hey, don't do that! There's a possibility of a negative social consequence in that action! You should take the safe route..." so you can better overcome it in order to go on and make creative, original works. Another point that really hit home was the 1st one: "Connect". I love the internet. I probably spend way too much of my free time on it, but it's just amazing all of the information and creative inspirations you have access to on it. What this point emphasizes is the importance of making connections via the internet in order to foster your own personal development and life.
I believe that both of these points are legitimate and apply to my own life, and therefore this blog. The "Acknowledge the Lizard" one I actually inadvertently touched upon in my first blog assignment when I talked about how I would be majoring in engineering right now if I listened to my "lizard brain" and went with my obvious strength which happens to be in a field that historically has great job security and salaries. Note that my "lizard brain" has not been silent since I made this decision, so I continuously have to acknowledge it in order to overcome it.
The "Connect" point is an inherent characteristic of a blog, or any social website. Through the internet I've met people from all over the world- even way back in 3rd grade on Neopets.com where I was friends with a girl named Claire from England. I've been a part of multiple online communities, some of them being small enough where we actually got to know one another. Even if these online interactions don't explicitly spur a creative collaboration or project, they are invaluable in being introduced to new ideas from people from different areas of the world and different walks of life from yourself. Since you draw from what you know when you create something, the greater your pool of knowledge and understanding, the more you have to draw from. The importance of the internet can be seen in the Egyptian government shutting down the internet as a means of suppressing their people.
COVERS
Debating between Alanis Morissette's hilarious cover of "My Humps" and Gary Jule's cover of "Mad World" among other songs, I decided to do Cake's cover of "I Will Survive".
The original: Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive":
The cover: Cake's "I Will Survive":
Released in 1978, Gloria Gaynor's song "I Will Survive" was an incredibly huge hit, and is still widely known even in our generation. This makes is a perfect song to cover, especially from the perspective of a different genre (considering disco died a long time ago....). With my experience with all the Punk Goes Pop, Punk Goes Crunk, etc. albums, what makes a good cover song is the level of Contrast and Affinity the two songs have between each other. If they're too similar, the cover is rendered irrelevant- you might as well just go listen to the original, but if they're too different then it can't be considered a cover song really. What makes Cake's rendition of "I Will Survive" so great is that it is clearly founded in Gloria Gaynor's song, however it takes on a life of its own through the differences.
The glaring difference between the two songs is the different instrumentations and speed. While Gaynor's song is a fast-paced upbeat disco song, Cake uses the vocals and bass to slow it down, which encourages the listener to lean back and bob their head to the tune rather than get up and dance like Gaynor's. With the different instruments and vocals used, the timbre of each aspect of Cake's song is different than the original, even the guitar and trumpets would have different timbre due to being probably being different models, and possibly with different settings or tunings used (You can hear the difference, although it's obviously more subtle than the timbres of two completely different instruments.)
The affinity between the songs is what is probably the most conspicuous aspects of a song: the lyrics, melody, and rhythm. The only difference in lyrics is where Cake switches out "stupid lock" for "f***ing lock", which is a very noticeable difference that gives Cake's song more personality. The melody is the same, it would be hard to identify it as a cover if it weren't. It's a little hard to tell that the rhythm is retained, however when you ignore the fact that Cake's vocalist characteristically sings with not much inflection in his pitch, and focus on the rhythm of the lyrics itself, you can tell that they're the same. The pitch is also essentially the same, he just takes it an octave down.
One could argue that the contrast and affinity between a cover song and it's original version causes tension and release in the listener. I say this because when you hear a cover song for the first time you're constantly thinking "oh, I wonder how they're going to do the trumpet solo" or "hmmm that's weird. They're screaming the lyrics to a Britney Spears song. I wonder if they're actually going to sing at all?". While listening to a cover song, you're adventuring into the unknown, yet it still remains somewhat within the realm of the familiar, so you're constantly developing expectations and discovering if they're met while listening to a cover.
Although I feel bad for liking a cover song more than the timeless original, I'm going to have to go with Cake's rendition as my favorite of the two. The reason I just have to go with Cake is the brilliant bass line in it. Despite the grammar, I have to agree with one youtuber's comment (that 68 other people liked): "The bass drove me crazy, omg is so great! i just had an eargasm!" It's simply my favorite bass part from anything I've ever heard (and this includes a good deal of Red Hot Chili Peppers stuff, just so you know I'm not ignorant of good bass lines).
The original: Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive":
The cover: Cake's "I Will Survive":
Released in 1978, Gloria Gaynor's song "I Will Survive" was an incredibly huge hit, and is still widely known even in our generation. This makes is a perfect song to cover, especially from the perspective of a different genre (considering disco died a long time ago....). With my experience with all the Punk Goes Pop, Punk Goes Crunk, etc. albums, what makes a good cover song is the level of Contrast and Affinity the two songs have between each other. If they're too similar, the cover is rendered irrelevant- you might as well just go listen to the original, but if they're too different then it can't be considered a cover song really. What makes Cake's rendition of "I Will Survive" so great is that it is clearly founded in Gloria Gaynor's song, however it takes on a life of its own through the differences.
The glaring difference between the two songs is the different instrumentations and speed. While Gaynor's song is a fast-paced upbeat disco song, Cake uses the vocals and bass to slow it down, which encourages the listener to lean back and bob their head to the tune rather than get up and dance like Gaynor's. With the different instruments and vocals used, the timbre of each aspect of Cake's song is different than the original, even the guitar and trumpets would have different timbre due to being probably being different models, and possibly with different settings or tunings used (You can hear the difference, although it's obviously more subtle than the timbres of two completely different instruments.)
The affinity between the songs is what is probably the most conspicuous aspects of a song: the lyrics, melody, and rhythm. The only difference in lyrics is where Cake switches out "stupid lock" for "f***ing lock", which is a very noticeable difference that gives Cake's song more personality. The melody is the same, it would be hard to identify it as a cover if it weren't. It's a little hard to tell that the rhythm is retained, however when you ignore the fact that Cake's vocalist characteristically sings with not much inflection in his pitch, and focus on the rhythm of the lyrics itself, you can tell that they're the same. The pitch is also essentially the same, he just takes it an octave down.
One could argue that the contrast and affinity between a cover song and it's original version causes tension and release in the listener. I say this because when you hear a cover song for the first time you're constantly thinking "oh, I wonder how they're going to do the trumpet solo" or "hmmm that's weird. They're screaming the lyrics to a Britney Spears song. I wonder if they're actually going to sing at all?". While listening to a cover song, you're adventuring into the unknown, yet it still remains somewhat within the realm of the familiar, so you're constantly developing expectations and discovering if they're met while listening to a cover.
Although I feel bad for liking a cover song more than the timeless original, I'm going to have to go with Cake's rendition as my favorite of the two. The reason I just have to go with Cake is the brilliant bass line in it. Despite the grammar, I have to agree with one youtuber's comment (that 68 other people liked): "The bass drove me crazy, omg is so great! i just had an eargasm!" It's simply my favorite bass part from anything I've ever heard (and this includes a good deal of Red Hot Chili Peppers stuff, just so you know I'm not ignorant of good bass lines).
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