NFB animation Workshop

Here it is! These are the short animations that we completed in an afternoon workshop at the NFB!

Photoshop techniques

So some of you may have no clue how to use Photoshop. No worries. There is ample information out there on the world wide web to help you out. Once you have completed your presentation on surrealism, you can start this little task.
1. Explore the internet for cool tricks and techniques using Photoshop and find one that you not only think is worthwhile, but one that you might make use of.
2. Try it out step by step. Most sites offer free step by step instructions on how it's done. People love sharing their knowledge. Take advantage of that and thank them!
3. Share your results on your blog. Show your before and after work AND give a brief analysis of whether or not the site was user friendly. Were the instructions well written, easy to follow, confusing and misleading etc.?
4. Include the link to that site in your blog posting so that your fellow cyberartists can also have access to your internet research.

Next step will be to begin brainstorming and sketching some ideas for you own surrealist photo composite. You must use a MINIMUM of two photographs that you took yourself. You may use others, but you MUST use two. Keep exploring the internet to spark your imagination, or dream something up all on your own!

Stop Motion Inspiration

Here are some creepy stop motion animations I found on youtube. Check them out and find your own to post on your blog to share with the rest of the class!

Anti-racism P.S.A. analysis

Find a PSA on racism that you think is really effective in getting it's point across. Embed the video into your blog posting by copying the embed code and pasting it in "edit html" mode. Watch the video you choose and write an anlysis based on the following 3 questions. I have written below each question an example of answers based on the 30 second PSA above to give you an idea of what I expect. Please complete this assignment today!

1. What is the main focus of the video? (i.e. the impact of prejudice, discrimination, systemic discrimination, racial slurs?)
This video focuses on prejudice.
2. Describe how the video gets this point across.
The video shows the pre-judgement of the store owner against the "Mexican".
3. What techniques are used in the video to help convince the viewer of the point of the video. (Look at shots, music, content, text, voice, voice-over, sound fx etc.)
This video is shot as a narrative. There are close-ups of faces. The under-the-breath utterance of "Mexican" by the store owner - the tone of his voice and look in his eyes indicates his disdain. The video also turns things upside down and makes us think about prejudice and how wrong it can be when the "Mexican" shows up as a blood donor match for the store owners wife, thus saving her life.
Sound fx used are the siren from the ambulance, cross-fades and close-ups to show pain, anguish and fear when the wife's life is at risk. The final shot when the "Mexican" walks in shows us how wrong prejudice can be as the store owner's face shows shame.
This video uses facial expressions and close-ups a great deal to set the tone. There is little in terms of effects, music, sound etc. The bare bones of the video is the narrative of the story. Also the final sentence at the end written in text drives the point home. This video is very effective and in only 30 seconds tells a complete story and lets us know by really pulling at our heart strings the impact of making pre-conceived assumptions and judgements about people based on their race or nationality.

Photographer Videographer Joey Lawrence

I thought all of you could use some inspiration. Check out the photography by Joey Lawrence on this site. Let me know what you think! You can check out his blog too.

Charcoal Grid

OK Year one students, your next blog assignment is to take these raw photos and make them publishable. You will need to crop, rotate, colour correct and post the improved image on your own blog with a short description of the original assignment.

You may choose either "The Third Class Carriage" by Daumier or "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" by Picasso. Your goal is to correct theimage to make it look as lifelike as possible with crisp, clean contrast of value.

Copy the images onto your desktop and then open them in Photoshop to begin. Remember to save the final version on your desktop.

Welcome to CyberARTS at LCI

Get ready for an exciting and creative semester! If you have found this post, you are well on your way to becoming web savy. I have included the CyberARTS logo here for you to use in your own blog. Also, notice the links at the right. These are blogs from our senior students. Feel free to check them out and comment on them if you like.

Post your URL in the comment section under this entry so I can add you to the sidebar too! (Make sure you read the post below called Pottery Blog.)

Pottery Blog

Here is a great blog to check out. It should inspire you for our next Unit of Study. Make sure you watch the video so you can pick up some tricks on how to work with clay! click here

Thanks Niem!

I am reposting this little gem of a video that Niem offered to us as inspiration.



More to come....

Cool Tool for a New Start at LCI

I have been thinking about all of my Cyber Artists that have been relaxing and having adventures all summer. Don't worry, it has been while I have been sitting on the beach enjoying the sun...

I found this fun thesaurus tool that I think could be useful to us this upcoming year.


Enjoy your last week of freedom! I'll see you all soon!

Color Testing

Year 2 and 3 students: Follow this link and try the color tests on the site. Complete it carefully and record your score as a comment for this post.

Color test

Welcome to Year 2

Welcome back to CyberARTS! Year two has started off at a furious pace so I hope you can keep up. Please add your blog address in the comment section below so I can create a new link list. Yay!