Blog posts Year 3 and 4

Daily Create Blog Posts.

CyberARTS Year 3 & Year 4.

There are 20 options here for sound/image, still photography and video assignments. Choose 10 to do before the winter holidays. You must complete at least two by the end of the week.

You must have at least two from each category. The rest is up to  you. Year 3 MUST DO #15. Year 4 MUST DO #

1.    Take a close up photo of an object with unique texture or pattern; make us guess what it is.

2.    Make a photo of anger, or something that makes you angry.

3.    Make a photo that emphasizes one color much more than any others in the shot

4.    Record some outdoor sounds. Pair them with one, three or five still images.

5.    Fabric: we wear it, sleep on it, decorate with it. Make a photo of an interesting cloth design or texture.

6.    Take a creative photo without aiming in the viewfinder

7.    Take a photo that shows two contrasting things, e.g. light & darkness, life & death, cats & dogs etc.

8.    Power plugs are ubiquitous. Can you make a creative photo of such a common thing?

9.    Mix a sound from nature with a musical selection so both can be heard clearly.

10. Make a short audio of the sound of water pinging, flushing, splashing, roaring, tumbling...and add an image, or three or five.

11. Draw a flower with your eyes closed. Then turn it into a vector illustration.

12. Make a photo of an outdoor scene free of any human artifacts.

13. Take a picture of an object that is a metaphor for your learning style

14. Make a photograph of a plastic object that you’ve used today.

15. Make an extreme close up 30 second video of someone playing a musical instrument, using at least three different shots.

16. Record 30 seconds of ambient sound in your environment. Pair it with images that contrast the sound you've recorded.

17. Take a closer look at where you spend a lot of time. Photograph something there you never noticed before.

18. Take a picture of construction.

19. Make a 30 second video with sound of a typical street scene using wide, medium, close-up and extreme close-ups.

20. Find a grid pattern somewhere (brick sidewalk, ceiling tiles etc.). Make a photo of an interesting slice of it.

Year 3 TECH: Music videos through the decades

Before looking at these videos, take a look at this website and read through the shooting tips from introduction to labeling your tapes.
Shooting techniques
And also this one on ShotTypes and also camera movements at the bottom of the page.

 Take note in particular of the terminology used and use it in your review of the videos.

First, just for fun, check out the technology used in this music video. You need to open it in Google Chrome. It uses HTML 5.

www.thewildernessdowntown.com

Also, please take a look at the history of music videos - which began in the 1980s with MTV. According to U.S. Time magazine, these are the best 30 music videos of all time.

Best 30 Music Videos

Here is another "Best 30 Music Videos of All Time" by Music Radar

These seem a little more underground. Also more contemporary. Check them out as well.

Check out #22 Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar for some amazing editing and perfect sync-ing.

Take a look through both the Arcade Fire video and the article on the 30 best music videos. Watch a minimum of 9 of the videos and read the summaries below - making sure you watch at least 2 per decade. There are 10 per decade in the article.

Exercise:

FIRST Write a blog post...Title it Music Videos through  history

1. Summarizing your thoughts, opinions and inspiration from the 9 videos you watched.

2. Which ones do you consider works of art in their own right? and Why? Note: The first video - Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime" was exhibited in New York's Museum of Modern Art.

3. Also, comment on the types of changes you noticed through the decades. (Lighting, editing, sophistication, pace etc.)

4. How does the Arcade Fire video compare to the earlier decades?

5. What's next in music videos in your opinion?

THEN...

Choose one video (the one you find the most compelling, artistically) to post and embed into your blog post

1. Comment on the pacing, artistic style, lighting and artistic intent/meaning of the posted video.

2. How does this music video visually express the emotional theme of the music? Look at specific imagery, content and shot types, pace, style, lighting etc.

Year 3 Tech - Post your Progress

At this point you've done some preliminary research to discover some examples of experimental and art videos out there that might help inspire the Palladio project. These links should be embedded in a blog post so they can be shared, along with a written explanation of what you find compelling and important about them and how they are relevant to the project.
Also, you have all participated on some level in pre-production by developing a storyboard, a treatment and shot lists, shooting schedule etc.
We have heard your pitch and we've come back to tweak and redevelop your initial proposals.

NOW...you have spent the week experimenting yourselves with painting, ink blots, tesselations, sharpies...

Post your progress!
First of all, you should have something to post that you've worked on this week. Stop-motion animation, or a test video of something. Post your experiments from the week and discuss the following:
1. Post the video
2. Discuss your process. What did you do and how did you do it. Tell us about the technique.
3. Discuss the content/meaning. How do you think this might fit into the project. Does it have a connection to the music? If so, how? If not, why not?
4. Discuss next steps. This is IMPORTANT!!! Here is where you are taking this aspect of the design process (namely testing...) and making it useful. What worked and what didn't? Why? What do you need to do differently? Where do you think this could fit? Do you have any other ideas?

Year 4 Photography Process

Blog post Assignment - Concept. Technique. Process.
Due: Monday

On your blog, post a statement that describes the concept of your photography project, the technical aspects, and the process of creation.

1. Concept. Describe your intention in terms of the meaning, symbolism and message behind the image(s) your are making. Remember that this assignment requires you to take on a photography project that challenges you as much in terms of technique as it does concept. You photos should work together as a whole to send a message (that could be interpreted by the viewers in multiple ways), but also must have meaning for you. Your artistic intent must be clearly explained here.

2. Technique. Describe the photographic technique or style that you were drawn to. Explain the technical aspects as well as why you were drawn to them. This part should also be challenging you in some way. What are you learning technically as you are mid way through this project.

3. Process of creation. Discuss your creative process here. How is your project unfolding? Is it as you had intended? Now that you have begun, are you changing course or direction at all? If so, why? Describe as best you can the evolution of your ideas.

4. Post some work. Here is where you can post either a sample image from your project. If it is not finished, explain where the image lies in terms of phases of the project.

Digital Surrealism Introduction

Surrealism is an artistic movement that was founded in the early 1920s. It's influences include Sigmund Freud (famous psychoanalyst who was fascinated by the subconscious mind and dreams). "Surrealism style uses visual imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehensibility." In other words, it doesn't make sense in the real world, only the surreal world. Surrealism includes an element of surprise and uses unlikely juxtapositions and blends dream and reality.

Please research Surrealism in Art and/or photography and create a prezi presentation that includes the following: (Please post your finished presentation on your blog by Thursday, January 16, 2014. Ready to present please!)

1. What is Surrealism? (In your own words please!)

2. Pick one Surrealist artist and:

• briefly discuss their view on surrealism
• the years they produced art (or birth-death)
• and what their interests were as artists--subjects they addressed, issues they focused on
• were they part of other artistic movements?

3. Show 8 examples of Surrealist art by the artist you have selected.

Please pick one artist each so that we can cover all of them. Or, you might find one on your own.

• Max Ernst
• Andre Breton
• Man Ray
• Maurice Tabard
• Dorothea Tanning
• Salvador Dali
• Rene Magritte
• Joan Miró
• Marcel Duchamp
•  Giorgio de Chirico
• Leonora Carrington
• Alberto Giacometti
• Hieronymus Bosch
• Yves Tanguy
• MC Escher
• Erik Johansson (modern day photographer)
• Jerry Uelsmann (modern photographer who worked with negatives to create surrealist photos).

4. Please include any and ALL links that you have used to find your information. Please do not copy and paste directly from these links!! That's called plagiarism and it's a big fat NO-NO!

5. You can include a reference list at the end of your presentation, but you MUST embed a minimum of 3 links (they could be videos, audio interviews or just other websites with more information) into your prezi presentation.

6. Make the presentation surreal, but make sure we can clearly see and identify the artist's works, as well as the text that answers the questions above.

Year One Tech Blog Post #4--Photo Composition

Why is your photo awesome? What compositional decisions did you make either in the taking of the picture or in the editing you did afterward which make it an interesting or unique or engaging or powerful, etc.

Identify one thing you would have changed in the taking of the picture if you had unlimited time and resources.

Post Your Chess Piece

To complete our drawing assignment, you need to photograph, scan and post your chess piece drawing on your blog. Please make sure you have used the copy stand AND taken a photo using overcast or shade lighting outside (this will ensure a very soft flat light that will reduce shiny reflections). Also scan your art work as well.

Once you have made enhancements to the three images in Photoshop, make sure you SAVE them with the appropriate title and your name, as .jpgs. You should have three images, Name_scan.jpg, Name_copystand.jpg, and Name_outside.jpg. When you post the three, make sure they are labelled accurately.

Write about the three techniques you have learned about to copy your work and discuss the pros and cons of each as they relate to YOUR artwork in particular. For example, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Does one cause a bright spot on your paper? Does one not allow you to copy the entire image? etc.

Write another paragraph about how you used line and value in your drawing. Describe how you created movement, if you created rhythm or pattern, how you contrasted light and dark values, and what you were trying to achieve with your background. Also, discuss the techniques you used to help accentuate the chess piece as the focal point. This will be marked as an artist statement for your drawing assignment. Have fun!

Chess Piece Drawing Inspiration - Year One Visual Art

Here are a few images to help inspire you.

The following images are by artist MC Escher. Please google his images for more fun!

Additionally, try googling pattern and rhythm in art for even more artistic inspiration such as these:

Year One Tech Blog Post #3

This week's is an easy one: Take a photo (or sketch) something that you see in your surroundings (indoor or outdoor) that is a powerful example of an element of design in action. What element of design is your photo or sketch capturing and what impact does this element have on your experience of the image?