Final Project

Well, it's finally here! The final project of my ARTEDU 2520 class. I must say, I'm pretty proud of it. I took my ability and the abilities of the iMovie software to their limits. When brainstorming for this project, I really didn't know what direction to go. I was pretty set on making a video, and by video I mean a real video that took a lot of time to create and edit. I also knew I wanted to make the process of filming the video fun and enjoyable. So one afternoon I walked into my suite to find all of my suite-mates playing the iconic Mario Kart game, and it hit me!
It was quite easy to find volunteers once I said I would take them all go-carting. We all settled on a night and drove to Magic Mountain at the Polaris Mall here in Columbus. If you couldn't tell, they weren't the fastest vehicles on earth, but they got the job done and I think we all had a great time. I got back with all the footage and I couldn't sleep until I finished the whole video. Now, you may say that it's a short video, but I put in a lot of editing time and made it exactly how I wanted it. Hopefully you can notice all of the little details! All the components that go into making a video like this are usually overlooked, but I think the final piece justifies all my time and work.
At the end of the day, I have to say that this has truly been a fun and educational class that I would highly recommend to anyone. I grew a lot this semester and looking back I can easily say that it has been the best 4 months of my life. Creating this final project was just the icing on the cake. Thanks for everything Michael! Good luck with everything and I hope our paths cross sometime in the future!

Blog 10 / In Progress Critique

Well, once again I do not have a set idea of what I would like to do. In the past I feel that this has lead to a disappointment with my final product. Just to try it out and see what happened, I borrowed the "life proof" camera and started recording my entire day after I left class on Wednesday. Since this week is my last week of no work or studying before finals, I got back to my room and enjoyed a nice lunch. Then, right on cue, my suite-mate Conner got back from class and came into my room. We decided that it was such a beautiful day and we wanted to do some activities. We settled on going to the RPAC because frisbe golf (our first choice) would be too time consuming and I had to be at work by 4. So I started recording our "adventure" to the RPAC and made use of the camera's under-water capability as we played around in the pool. If I like the footage (which I havent gone through yet because there is an hour and half of it) then I'll make a short film about our adventure. It will definitely have a sound track and a story line, perhaps even some special effects if I can pull it off. For a back up plan, I might record an event that comes up and see how that plays out. In all, I plan to make a short film, that may or may not be a defining text of my generations. Let's cross our fingers!

Failure

I would say that my biggest failure this semester, so far (we'll see how my final project turns out), is definitely Micro Project 3. There are many reasons that contributed to my pethetic attempt at art making during this project. I'm not sure which could be the main reason, but I suspect that it was my lack of creativity with the prompt. I had no final image in my head and I just decided to make it as I went, spontaneous if you will. But honestly I am the type of person that has to have a plan. I plan everything out, I like structure, and without it I tend to stray from what I am fully capable of accomplishing. So this project reinforced my need for structure. I also learned that I look like a completely douchey brand whore (thanks Jacque). It just doesn't represent me at all. It was quite disappointing. This is also the one project that I would redo. I need to spend some more time on the self reflection aspect of the project and really think about what defines me as a person.

My biggest success this year would have to be my video for MP 5. Not that it was technically elaborate but I really enjoy constructing the project.

MP 5

The two words that I was assigned were: to crumple and to smear. The object that I chose was a dollar bill. I use cash or some form of it every single day. Lately I've been thinking a lot about many different political issues, and I have also started to learn a lot about how our economy functions and how our currency works in the rest of the world. For starters, in 1971 the U.S., while under the Nixon Administration, decided to drop the gold standard from our currency. Essentially, what we told the rest of the world is that we were 100% defaulting from all of our loans, and the value of our money would no longer be back by a raw material, but instead be valued at what we thought was appropriate for the worth of our nation. So, you might ask, what does this mean to me? "I work to make money which I then use to buy the things I need to live. No one has ever questioned the money that I give them for a good or service." This assumption is correct, our money has now become a simple median of exchange, and everything has a value, or worth that is predetermined, agreed upon, or set by the market price. So to sum up this rant about the value of our dollar, basically it's play money. All these pieces of paper which we hold so highly and what seems like we never stop chasing until we die is really only as valuable as the material its made out of. The crumpled dollar may represent whatever you see fit. I think I've pretty clearly expressed my opinion about it. 

Now, let me explore the second part of the piece. "In God We Trust" printed bold and clear in the center of every bill. Why would the U.S. Treasury put this on all of our "legal tender"? Because we were founded on Christian beliefs or because the constitution declares a separation of church and state? If I'm not allowed to pray in school then why is the world God on our money? And if you think about it, I'm sure money is the last thing God would like to be associated with. You can mostly like trace every horrible thing that has ever happened in history back to one thing, money. It's disrespectful, and I don't think anyone should have the right to decide if we put God on our money. Also, I realize that this piece didn't take a lot of altering or some crazy Photoshop technique, but I made this for the message. Take it how you may.

MP4

Well first off, some background details might be needed for this video. My suite mate, Conner Nagel, has a skin condition that causes his skin to become very easily irritated and actually puffs out in a scar-like fashion. At the time of this conversation, I had just learned about his condition, and to demonstrate his "ability" he took a plastic fork and gently scratched all over his chest (to look like a cat clawed him up). The scratch would not hurt anyone and could barely be felt. After he inflicted the scratches he said they would need some time to "ripen" and would soon look like some vicious scars.
This conversation took place in my bedroom, which I share with Jacob Butman (the third voice in the video). I definitely visit this place quite often and probably spend the most time in this room. The walls are not of ideal thickness so there is usually random sounds from other rooms. The room above me must love sporting events or something because they always seem to freakout and yell as loud as possible throughout the day and night. Also there is always a constant sound of air blowing from the vent over my roommate's bed, it literally never goes off, no matter how much you adjust the temperature. Living quarters are used to serve a purpose, but with so much time spent within them, they can be the place that many memorable events occur. Some pretty great conversations have taken place within its walls. I would say this was one of the more humorous conversations. Maybe it's only funny to my friends and me, probably a little bizzare to others, but I hope this piece evokes a couple of laughs. Really, the only decision I made was to record this event because I wanted to have his "scars" on video.  Other than that, I just let it play out which I guess was by accident. Then I realized that it was a pretty funny and complex conversation that I could use for this project.  I really enjoyed the process of making the video, I got really into it. I stayed well past the time class had ended to finish it. I probably have the entire conversation memorized I've heard it so many times. Yes, this was a silly idea but I had fun with it. The only thing I really didn't like was my lack of knowledge and ability to utilize the iMovie program to its full potential. The process I used to create the video was very time consuming and I think it didn't have to be. Other than that, I really enjoyed the project and I hope I can develop and utilize my skills in future projects.

Blog 9

Once again, not what I was expecting to read but I was thoroughly entertained. At first, I really wasn't sure where the story was going and it seemed to drag on with setting up the scene, but then the pieces started to come together and I began to connect it with our projects in class. By just taking the sound away from a video and listening to it with no visual aid gives one a very different perspective. I can only imagine what it would be like to be blind, and I wont even try to imagine what it would be like to   experience everything from that perspective. Without visual aid, the mind relies on its other senses to guide it to conclusions. I found the detailed conversation of how Robert attempted to translate his feelings to the author, Raymond Carver. Robert simply had Carver close his eyes draw what he saw from watching a TV show about cathedrals. Carver was so moved by this thought that he had to sit and take it all in for a moment.
The only thing that I could point out and could be seen as negative, however it was later resolved, was the lack of appreciation on the part of Carver. He took for granted the most important sense in the human body and could barely describe a cathedral to a blind man. At least he recognized his poor ability to do so and later realized his fault in that. In all I thought this was a great piece and really learned a valuable lesson.

Blog 8

Why does everything I read in this class blow my mind? Honestly, I don't know if I don't read enough or live under a rock but Wallace's commencement address was phenomenal. Though I found it challenging to relate it to art, the ideas expressed by Wallace can translate into any aspect of life. I really enjoyed how he started and ended the piece with the fish and water analogy. It was a great way to tie everything together. Getting to the meat of the article, Wallace decided to speak about some of the more subtle things that life has to offer once entering the "real world".
You would think a person speaking to a group of graduates who were preparing to enter the workforce would give some enlightening advise from past experiences. Instead he discussed life as a whole and dissected some attributes that we as human beings possess. This topic focused on the "me" factor and how everyone makes every experience about themselves. This concept I'm sure is a bit hard grasp for some people, as they can't comprehend any situation where they were not the center of their world. This idea is elaborate and difficult to grasp, but the situations and examples that Wallace provided has challenged me to think about my own life and the people around more deeply. In all I would definitely recommend some people I know to read this.