Final Project

For my final project I decided to film myself drawing a fashion illustration, and then speed it up.  Before I started making this movie I thought it would be interesting to see the process I go through to create something. I thought it would also be interesting to see a blank piece of white paper transformed into something.
While making it I kept forgetting I was filming so their are parts of the video where I am drawing, but it is cut off.  It was also  quite difficult to hold the camera and draw with one hand.  I did not think it would be since you would think the hand with the pencil would be all you need.  However, drawing a figure is a very involved process for me- more so then I realized.
After I finished filming and attempted to start editing.  I noticed how much erasing I do.  I had no idea;  I also noticed that I really think about every line, there is a lot of hesitation with my hand before I actually put it to the paper and draw something.  I also thought this drawing took me around 15 minutes, when it actually took over 27 minutes.  I get so wrapped up in what I am doing that I have no idea how much time has passed. I tried editing the movie in imovie and taking out all the hesitations and pauses of my process, but imovie would not let me convert my files to be able to speed up the time.  I ended up using Adobe After Effects to edit my project.  The fastest I could make it be was 5:00 minutes, and I gave it the cartoon effect because I thought it brought out the colors and the light better.

Failure Paper

I think I had a few failures this semester, mainly the last couple projects.  First is MP4.  I think I could have put a significant amount of more effort into the project.  I should not have used an old recording of my friends and I singing.  I think if I had put more time into the project I could have made a much more creative and interesting piece.  I was not as enthusiastic about iMovie and Garageband as I was about photoshop.  My second biggest failure was MP5.  I did not read the directions, therefore I created something irrelevant.  Another failure was the pictures we took at the beginning of the semester.  If I had put more time into it, I could have taken better pictures.

            For most of these failures, I learned that if I am more enthusiastic about the medium used or what the assignment is I put more effort and time into it.  I think I feel this way because this class is not a graduation requirement for me, and I took it solely for the photoshop practice.  Also, since it is not a graduation requirement I know I put the other projects on the backburner for various reasons (mainly lack of time between my other design classes, I work for a start up fashion line, senioritis—I’m graduating Dec. 16th, and the never ending semester by week 11 I was ready to be done with class).  As a fashion major, I think that having that skill is extremely important.  I use photoshop and Illustrator all the time at work now.

            I think my two biggest successes were the two photoshop projects.  I thoroughly enjoyed those two projects and the creative process that went with it.  I learned so many new tools for Photoshop. 

            If I could redo a project it would either be the Garageband project or the last project. 

Brainstorming

One option for a narrative is to film myself drawing a fashion illustration-- just my hand, the pencil/paint and the paper and then speed it up.  I'm not sure what the point would be, but I think it would be interesting for someone to watch the design process and see it from start to finish.  It is definitely a process; there is a lot of erasing and starting over involved, but by the end there's always an interesting finished product.

That's all I got so far..

MP5

For MP5, my words were "to differ" and "entropy."  I decided to create a photoshop image mainly because I really enjoy that application.  I remember learning about entropy in chemistry, and it deals with thermodynamics and temperature.  The idea of heat is why I used the beach scene.  My next thought was to include "to differ," and I felt the North Pole was the opposite of the beach.  This is why I placed Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, and elves at the beach having fun.

Carver Cathedral

The article “Cathedral” was interesting.  I think it somewhat ties in with the last article.  They both deal with trying to understand where someone else is coming from.  The husband is so skeptical of the blind man because he is different that him.  However, this man has stayed constant in his wife’s life, so the husband knows he has to give the blind man a chance.  It was interesting to read about how awkward he felt and by the end they were drawing a cathedral together while he was trying to understand the blind man’s perspective of the world. 

This is Water

I really enjoyed the commencement speech, “This is water.”  The message of the speech reminds me of a quote I just read: “Promise me you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much you have always loved to swim.” I think it is a good reminder to not get too wrapped up in the monotony of daily tasks.  I also liked the description of the average adult life and going to the grocery store.  In high school I used to work at a grocery store, and I noticed the people who went through my line at the check out.  They seemed to hate being there- and the scenario he describes is exactly what happens at a grocery store.  I graduate this December, and I hope this doesn’t turn out to be my life! 

MP4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRSxA1bTWe0&feature=youtu.be


For this project, I used a recording of my friends and I singing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."  We were at our favorite restaurant/bar that we frequently go to.  We got the entire place to start singing with us.  In the recording you can't hear any other noises of the restaurant because our loud, off pitch voices cover it up.  However, my favorite place to be is with my best girlfriends, and you can find us singing obnoxiously just about every time we're all together. I thought it would be fun to distort our terrible voices-- and it was!