Final Task pt.4

I love it! I absolutely love my work of art. It portrays exactly as I wanted it to! I have my inner thoughts clashing and working with the words I hear about myself on the outside, and it blends nicely. I had to learn how to use LunaPic to figure out a few things about text and changing how the image worked, but I positively love how it came out. The fact that there are more inner words than outer shows how little I hear about myself, and for most of those words to be nice? It makes me choke back a few tears of happiness. It gives me hope and power to move on towards my goals of finishing high school, moving away and learning so much more as to what the world can offer me. I think that without context, an audience might see words plastered on a body that describe the body and to tell the truth, that is all I can ask for, as that is fairly accurate. I do wish I could have asked more people what they think of me, so that I could fill in more space, but to all the people that helped me I can only give you my thanks for making this project so much fun.

I learned a lot about myself doing this product, especially from what others think of me. I can only move forward with this knowledge and I plan to use it all to the best of my ability. This wasn't something I could do by myself, and I understand that. But now I know what my strengths and weaknesses are, and I can work on all of them.

If anyone was looking at doing something similar to this, I could only tell them that they need to have fun with their product and to relax. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you are the greatest beholder there is.

Final Task Pt. 3

These are images documenting my progress into creating my final project. I used Microsoft paint of all things to edit out the original background of the image. I couldn't decide which I liked more, a black background with my regularly colored body, or a black background with my negatively colored body. Eventually, I decided to white out the background and negatize it, as I believe the negative with help me portray what I want more. I used Lunapic Photo Editor to make my photo negative.

Final Task Pt. 2

For my final project, a self portrait, I want to be able to fully express who I am in my thoughts, as well as what I hear around me. What I say vs. what others say of me. I want to focus on my strengths and weaknesses from both sides. I want what people see to reflect what they SHOULD see when they first meet me. I want my self portrait to be ME. All of me. My physical, mental, emotional sides.

I plan to take a photo of myself, and run it in negative colors using photo editing software. This will give off the illusion of reading my thoughts. Then, I'm going to place words outside of my person in white, which will be the descriptive words from the outside world. Then I'm going to place black words on my body, which will be my "inner workings". I will edit it all on the computer, starting with this photo.

Final Task Pt. 1

1. It wasn't the tasks that I found difficult at all.. It was myself, having to deal with lack of motivation and a soul crushing internet bill that positively drained my spirits. I had to get a job to pay for the bill, which took away from time I had for not only this class, but all of my other classes as well. I apologize for not being able to make the time, and to tell the truth, I'm still positively scared that what I am doing now is still not enough to get a high mark.

2. I'm positively pleased with my shared values project. I am happy that I was able to share my knowledge on our SAGA group and it makes me proud to make a difference like that. I got to be more open than I usually find myself, and I'd love to do it more often if I can find the strength to.

3. If I could go back and improve on one of the tasks, it would be my stop motion project, without a doubt. I feel like I rushed it so hard and that there was so much more I could've done to make it a greater product. The video looks choppy, and there's no music even! It's definitely not my best work, and to put it in the same light as my shared values assignment makes me feel ashamed.

Making the Stop Motion (What is stop motion Pt. 4)

For my stop motion activity, I'm going to use popcorn! Simplest tool in the book. I'm going to snap photos with my iPhone, and slap them all together with Windows Movie Maker.

I have all this popcorn to use..to use for creating anything my mind can think! Of course.. that's not all!

 I have tons more! And I've started lining them up for the beginning of my video.

I really suck with handling a camera straight, I really hope it doesn't come out too terribly in my stop motion video.

 

Man, this was something else. Trying to keep my hand steady to take the photos kind of sucked, but I'm glad that my stop motion came out nice! It was something new, and I have a bit more appreciation for those who make these types of videos, as their materials move only really small bits at a time, while mine move quite sporadically. This was actually sort of fun (especially eating the popcorn after) and I'd like to look into doing this again.

GIFS! (Stop Motion, Part 3)

So, now onto GIF's! These are little images that play as videos! Pretty handy stuff. I made this one.

I took a video and chucked it into GIPHY's gifcreator. Then I set the video to the time where I wanted it, and set the duration (4 seconds!) Click Create GIF and that's all she wrote!

What is Stop Motion Part 2

This artist's work is different from the professional stop motion artists as it is done from his home and not in a studio. It is completely his own work and it is one of his passions. He made "Water" simply for fun, but once he saw how many views it was reaching (Now over 4 million!), he wishes to turn it into a money making job. From there, the connection between the professional and homegrown style connect.

What is Stop Motion? Part 1

Animation is incredibly hard work. It takes hours of time to draw even just a single second of animation. Stop motion can be slightly easier, but shakiness of a camera or blurry shots can completely ruin a stop motion film, as everything needs to be put back into place.

Text and Art, combine!

Today we review a video, titled Steal Like An Artist: Austin Kleon at TEDxKC. This video revolves around Austin Kleon who reveals the fact that nothing is truly original, that everything we build in the now, the inspiration came from something in the past. A good example of this would be fairly early in the video when he talks about people drawing over the words of newspapers dating all the way back to the 1760's. However, he talks about "stealing" from other artists, using their unique patterns in a way that he could combine them. I believe this is genius. To blend artists together and make an art piece that others would enjoy and come to admire, those older artists are being passed down to other generations who may wish to take their hand at art as well.

Another video we will review today, is  Serendipidoodle with Amy Burvall. Serendipidoodle (what a mouthful!) is a project that was created by Amy Burvall, combining the words "Serendipity" and "Doodle". The project consists of a word randomizer that will always spit out one adjective and one noun. Amy will then upload these words together to her twitter and tumblr, and receive posts containing pictures of the object the words had made. Some such randomized words were "information corset" and "paranoid avacado".  I truly believe people would love to be a part of the serendipidoodle challenges, as there can be many different unique combinations each and every day.

Having said all this, I believe one of my favourite text+art artists is Jean Jullien because of how simplistic yet funny his art is. One such image is this one comparing Pilates to Pie and Lattes.

Ultimately I find that I enjoy light hearted imagery more than others, and text can really help bring that to life. Another artist that follows this is who we originally talked about at the beginning, Austin Kleon. His art can be humourous at times and it brings a smile to my face to read his pieces.

Coding Part Two, an Adventure.

The coding website I opted to use was Scratch.  I used it because it was the website that had originally gotten me into coding back in elementary school. It is extremely easy to use and is designed with beginners in mind.

When clicking on the "Try it out" button on the main page, you will be brought to this page.

Here, you can click on the buttons (The one shown being Motion) to select different actions, events, and sounds that will take place after all the coding is finished. You can also set a background for the image as well, by clicking the icons underneath the stage at the bottom left.

Ultimately, I ended up naming the small cat character Holly, and lined up the blocks so that when the green flag at the top was pressed, Holly would walk 30 frames to the right, and ask what your name was, prompting a text box to appear on screen. When you type in your name and press enter, Holly would meow!

It was fun to return to one of my favourite childhood activities, and would definitely recommend Scratch before any other coding website, as there is many tutorials designed for children to gain a grasp of what they can do with coding.

Coding

I know quite a bit about coding. For last Christmas, I was given a Raspberry Pi, a device that is basically a mini computer. It's function is completely based around making your own code to make it do almost anything that it's computing power is capable of.

Coding is actually very important to me, because I plan on becoming a computer engineer and video game designer when I am older. Both of these jobs require a great handle on coding as it is a central part, being the language of computers.

A Simple Meme for an Exciting Time!

Here we are! So close to the release of Captain America: Civil War. So I decided, why not bring up an older meme related it to it? The premise of the meme involves two characters, Captain America and Iron Man (played by Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. respectively) arguing over trivial things, which often hilariously, lead to the spark of a "Civil War" between the two. Another example which has made it's way across the internet is this one.

This meme plays on "The Dress", a internet sensation that revolved around the true color of a dress.
I made my meme on Imgflip.com, as did the other person who made the one revolving around "The Dress." Here's the source image if you'd like to make your own "Civil War" meme!

Gender and Sexuality Photo Essay

Gender and sexuality are becoming thriving topics of conversation in today's youth. Many are trying to find their "voice" and place in society where they stand, and see sexuality as a major factor in such things. As such, many Gay-Straight Alliance groups (GSAs) are rising up in schools all across the continent.

  

GSAs promote the learning of gender and sexuality in a safe and judgement-free zone. The GSA at Geraldton Composite High School (GCHS) is spear-headed by the students, even though teachers are a part of the group as well. To promote the virtue of healthy learning, the group holds its meetings in the library, claiming that the room does not give off the same pressuring vibe as a classroom, and lets the members be who they want to be.

The GSA at GCHS did not truly take a liking to the name Gay-Straight Alliance, as they felt it left out other groups of the LGBTQ community. Pictured is a member of the group taking down group names that were being thrown around the library, creating a list of names that would be voted on later.

When it came to start voting, three names were chosen. Sexuality and Gender Acceptance (aka SAGA), No Labels, and Diversity Acceptance Alliance (aka DAA) were the top three names chosen for the vote. Ultimately the group stuck with SAGA. Note that also on the board is fundraising ideas. These fundraisers will go towards the groups goal of spreading the word of the group, as well as paying for a trip to the pride parade in Thunder Bay at the end of the school year.





This assignment taught me more than I thought it would to tell the truth. I learned of the evil of backlight (the two wide shot photos with everyone in them came out obnoxiously dark quite a few times.) But I had to persevere to get the shot I wanted, with the window blinds up to portray the fact that SAGA was open to all who wished to come and check it out. It also taught me how much I hate my internet service provider, who was ultimately preventing me from publishing this post at home not only on here, but also on my personal website (like, what?) But I digress. This assignment also helped me see how creative I could get with just an iPhone photo, but I think that If I had a real camera, complete with all kinds of useful accessories, I believe I could have made my photo essay more visually pleasing. As for the topic, I think I subconsciously chose it, as it affects me as too, being someone of the LGBTQ community. It is just one of those things that comes to me naturally I suppose.

Video or Photo Essay?

I believe after viewing these three links, that I will be doing a photo essay for my assignment. I'm choosing to do a photo essay because I believe I can convey my message of shared values more easily, and stronger than through a video. Thanks to those links, as well as a few videos on youtube, I have a better idea of how take my photos, how to describe them, how to empower them in the eyes of those who read my essay.

After all that, that is to say I am not perfect in the way that I take photos, or edit them. I need more practice, and this assignment is nearly the most perfect way to better myself and my skills. By taking photos time and time again about shared values, I can only get better...right?

Shared Values

Shared Values in a business sense are explicit or implicit fundamental beliefs, concepts, and principles that underlie the culture of an organization, and which guide decisions and behavior of its employees, management, and members.

But in the sense that we are looking for (presumably), shared values have more to do with the things that we love to do, our passions, goals and hopes. They are what can connect us to other people, in the sense that we can bond through these interests. But, they can also separate us if we do not share the same values as those less fortunate than us. That is why making a documentary on the topic is important. It will spread the truth about shared values, and how we should share them with everyone we can.

Parts of a Website

The "Parts of a Website" video was refreshing to watch, despite already knowing the material discussed, such as search bars, headers, side bars, and navigation bars. It was rather short, which was enjoyable as it didn't take it's time lulling over every detail. 

As for the "Canada Council" website, the navigation bar is seen at the top of the webpage. A search bar hovers just over it as well. Just to the right of the search bar, are links to their facebook page, as well as their twitter, youtube, and blog. To the left, is a list of subtopics, as well as additional topics not related to media arts. In the top right corner you can change the language from English to French. On the footer there are more specific links that navigate you through the webpage or to other sites. This is what I could see on the Canada Council website. Overall, it was relatively simple to traverse.