Sunday, March 13, 2011

Blog Prompts #20-21

Describe some common aesthetic/formal qualities, content, and conceptual threads in “snapshot” photography.
Snapshot photography tends to be less purposefully composed. Parts of the subject are not within the frame. Also, the lighting tends to be less purposeful, using ambient lighting or flash most of the time. The low-lighting can mean a longer shutter speed or a higher ISO, which means the images might be blurry or grainy. Many times snapshots are taken by folks who do not know how to photograph, therefore the images tend to not follow the guidelines of photography. 

a. Ideas sometimes grow out of irritation. What is a negative thought you are having about your project? What is the opposite of this negative thought? How could you implement a change in your project so that this negative thought will subside?
I do worry my thesis for my photography class is not very related to photography. But after I think about it I realize I use a lot of photography in my work. What I'm doing is using photographs and scans I've created as textures within my work that I assemble on the computer. I could not do any of this without a camera (and scanner). The final piece would be drastically different. The texture is the main reason I enjoy designing these pieces. Without texture it seems unseasoned. I think I do want to somehow incorporate photography more into my project, as in, instead of having vectored text, I hand do the text, at least on one of my projects, if not all.

c. What is a consistent theme/visual element in your project? What would be the opposite of this? How can you implement that into your project? 
The consistent theme within my thesis project is textures creating spaces that never actually existed, that are assembled on the computer and some sort of motion applied to the graphic. The motion aspect was the main draw-in for me to do this assignment, I really wanted to play with motion graphics, like motion posters for films and motion book covers for kindle! The opposite of a consistent theme. None of my pieces are for the same type of "client", one piece is a film poster, the other a book cover, and the other a motion logo for a production company. (Each piece will also have a still counterpart).

e. At the deepest core, describe why you like this project. Dig deep!
I love what I chose for my thesis. It is not at all where I imagined it would be, but I love the direction it is going because it is helping me learn After Effects, and it is combining literally everything I enjoy creatively. I am using Photoshop extensively, I am using my camera to create so many different types of photos, such as textures and hands, and learning how I can use photography to create a larger piece rather than having the photo as the final piece. I love learning After Effects. The experimentation reminds me of learning Photoshop in high school and how I would (more often than not) create artwork that I am embarrassed to show people today. After Effects is like a moving Photoshop, and I love creating something in both programs at the same time!
I love that I am making different types of promotional graphics, a poster, cover, and logo. I just thought - I could make a motion magazine cover!
f. Expand your project. If time, money, materials, etc would not affect you, how would you expand your project?
I would have for sure used a slow-motion camera. Originally that was the plan, but after speaking to many student filmmaker's, I could tell that it was not as easy as I originally thought. Normal cameras shoot at 24-30 frames per second, and a slow motion camera shoots twice as fast at around 60 fps. Renting one of these cameras can be very expensive. I could slow film down on the computer, but it would not be as smooth, especially if I slowed it down a lot, and my plans were to slow it down to the point where it was hard to tell if anything was moving. I wanted the hair to be moving slowly, too, so that takes away the option of the actors moving slowly to make up for the frame rate. Also, the image quality of a still frame from a video is considerably less than that of a still camera, so although the video portion of the assignment might look nice (unless I did slow-motion), the still part of it would be pixelated, especially if I wanted it at higher sizes.

o. Think of one of your most memorable dreams. How could you add elements from this dream to your project?
My most memorable dream is where I suddenly had the amazing abilities of Spider Man. My sister did too, and together we spun our way to the top of a tower, bypassing the staircase altogether. Flying dreams are also amazing, because that feeling flight and weightlessness is something we rarely feel and it makes one feel so alive! Even if it is just in a dream.
I also had a dream where my sister suddenly began to lie to me and once I caught her in a lie she shrugged it off and shooed me away. The utter confusion of an absolute truth no longer existing was one of the most powerfully a dream has ever affected me. I woke up panicked. For my motion logo I could possibly have something flying that should not be flying due to absolute truth.

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