blog Assignment #9

Freak Factor

Foundation - Build on your Strengths

This suggestion is one of my favorites because it is easy to do and can be very effective. Everyone has skills or talents that make them unique and if you can concentrate on these skills you can be very successful. I am not a very loud person for instance, but i have a decent amount of patience which i dont think many people do. Instead of trying to always be the center of attention and making things happen iv learned to wait for the right opportunity because that strategy best fits my strengths. Rendall says that many people believe that their strengths will always be there, but he claims that like almost everything else in this world if you don't use it you lose it. If you are a fast runner then you should continue to run regularly or you could fall out of shape and possibly lose your edge. If you have a good memory, you should read a lot or do activities that stimulate your mind as opposed to laying around all day. It also feels good to know your good at something and it is especially satisfying to use and build on the talents that you already know you possess.


Flawless - Theres nothing wrong with you

This claim seems far fetched to most people because there is a lot of insecurity in the world. We see someone in a magazine and believe that we can never look as good as them, or we see a successful person on television and we envy them because we are not in their position. people tend to place blame on themselves and imagine everything as an imperfection. Rendall states that every imperfection basically has an equal and opposite strength. For instance, an unorganized person may be a creative person, a lack of emotion could mean someone is exceptionally calm, or a boring person may be very responsible. I personally am very unorganized but i consider myself to be creative. There are many other pairs of strengths and weaknesses that Rendall mentioned which i believe could describe me.  Our efforts   to clear weaknesses  are destined to fail because they are a part of us that make us unique and can lead us to find our strengths in life. Without them we would never know who we can be.

Fit: Find the Right Spot

The importance of finding the right spot means that there are situations that are better suited to fit a person's individual strengths than others. If you can find the right spot that correlates successfully to your strength then you have a better chance to succeed. People are often ashamed of their flaws or imperfections and so they try to hide them or cover them up. Everyone has a natural fear of rejection and our flaws are what we believe to be the source of rejection. In reality though, our flaws in the right situation can become a new strength. In the right setting a flaw can become an irreplaceable advantage.The fallacy is that you need to adapt to fit the situation. This is a fallacy because people are ashamed of their flaws so they try to change to fit the situation when what they should be doing is changing the situation. It is the only manipulatable part of the equation. The fact is you need to choose situations that fit your strengths. Don't try to hide or fix your flaws, instead promote and use them in the right, helpful situation. Find the right fit between who you are and what works with your personality.

My Weaknesses

As far as the creative process is concerned, i am unorganized and inconsistent. I have never been one to clean my room or have a certain arrangement for keeping things together. Instead i trust chance and leave things in the most convenient places rather than the most organized. I do not lost things however as much as you might think. I put my keys, wallet, phone etc in random places all the time. However, i am usually able to find them because i have a good memory, but more importantly because my creativity allows me to find convenient locations for my possessions. Therefore, when i go to find something i can usually locate it in a very accessible spot. For instance, i often leave my wallet in my jeans. This seems odd but think about it. When i get dresses i i also found my wallet and am set to go. My inconsistency shines through when it comes to my dedication and commitment. Tend to lose focus and not always pay attention to what i should be doing. I get distracted easily and my mind wanders off topic often. This helps me think of new ideas for stories and such, but at the same time it kills any chance of completing a project or story when i lose focus halfway through. I have been trying to work on my dedication for a while and have seen some improvement. I am oddly proud of my lack of organization because i believe that it helps my creativity in a corresponding manner.

Blog Assignment #8

http://changethis.com/
search - BrainWashed

1.) Acknowledging the lizard- the lizard part of our brain is the part that worries about safety and controls anger. According to Seth Godin, this part does not like being laughed at and that is why it is so easy to shut down. Because of the resistance, which is the part that shuts down the lizard. So Seth says we need to ignore the voice of the resistance (Criticism), and acknowledge the lizard instead
2.) Fail - To fail means to attempt and falter. It means embarrassment and discouragement. However unpleasant failing is, Godin says that it is important for people to be able to fail and to do so on occasion. Failure is one of the best methods for learning. It is important to learn from mistakes, not only because you don't want to repeat them, but also because mistakes present the single greatest opportunity for learning and adaptation.
3.) Learn - Godin calls learning the key to all 7 pillars of reinvention. You can't move forward if you do not know how. In other words. if you do not know how to do something, you will never be able to do it. Learning also goes hand in hand with failure. As i previously mentioned, there is no better opportunity to  learn than learning from a mistake or failure.

ESSAY

This blog assignment has shown me a lot about myself as a student. My first set of blog assignments was not great, while the second set was. I found out which strategies for completing the blogs correctly and in time worked best from me. I was able to look at the first set of 3 i completed and learn how to better accomplish the task the second time. I took into account my personal study habits and the amount of work I had to do. The seven layers works well because every layer connects to another and they are all necessary for a complete reinvention of ones self. For instance, being generous can help you connect with other people. Being generous and connecting with different people allows for good karma, which can provide you opportunities for development and growth as an artist. Acknowledging the lizard part of your brain allows you to more freely express yourself and create your work indifferent to the criticism from others. Being able to fail allows you to become a braver artist and also provides you with ample chances for development as an artist by learning from previous failures and correcting mistakes. This blog assignment required me to plan and dedicate time for me to finish each assignment by the final date. These exercises helped me to figure out how I was going to work with my strengths as a student and as a person to complete my task in time. The reason I struggled with the first set of blogs was because I waited to long and did not leave enough time. I am a notorious procrastinator and instead of taking this into account on the first blogs I decided to wait and try to complete them last minute. When I was planning for the second set I decided to set aside one night and try to knock them all out at once. That way I wouldn’t be going against my instinct to do large amounts of work all at once. I am not the type of person to go one page at a time so to speak and contradicting this by trying to do the assignments one at time over the course of three weeks would not go well.  By utilizing these seven layers of  self reinvention one can learn to stop and reevaluate themselves instead of moving through life without truly knowing how to be yourself to an artistic quality 

Blog Assignment #7

Donnie Darko end
THEME
There are many themes to be found in the film Donnie Darko. The main one in the story is the theme of fear and love. Donnie reveals that he is scared to die alone and throughout the story he is only able to overcome this fear when he finds love. Also, several times the theme of love and fear is mentioned by characters in relation to Donnie and his problems. The narration of the story can be described as both didactic and active. It is didactic because the narration is not always clear and is often purposely misleading to keep the audience interested. However, despite the unreliable order and detail of the narration, when the story concludes loose ends are tied up and the narration turns out to be telling truthful information. The theme of sacrifice always plays a pivotal role in the film. Donnie is faced with the choice of self sacrifice for the greater good. He elects to sacrifice himself to restore order to the universe and save Gretchen and his family.

Critique

This scene of Donnie Darko conveys these themes through it’s use of movement and shape. The song, “Mad World”, which has a slow melody with light instrumentation that focuses on strong lyrics, drives the pacing of the scene.  The theme of the song matches the themes of the film very well. I think this part is a strong reminder that this film is about more than a bizarre time travel story. It really casts light onto the human experience and just how much so many of us suffer but just continue to go through the motions of our every-day lives. "All around me are familiar places, worn out faces" - this line from the song seems a perfect account of Donnie Darko’s story. The shape of scene also helps focus the audiences attention on the characters in the scene. The point of the scene is to show how every character was affected by their time in contact with the tangent universe, so this is especially effective. For instance, every character outside of the family in the last scene is shown in a dark room and they occupy the only lit portions of the room. This way they can stay true to the rule of thirds and still keep the focus where they want it. The combination of the silent images of the characters mixed with the emotionally powerful lyrics effectively create tension and release by revealing each character individually in their own light. Overall, I think this scene conveys the theme of love and fear and also self sacrifice very well.

Blog Assignment #6

ESSAY:

            The first image is a still from season five of South Park. South Park is an animated comedy on Comedy Central. The content of the image is one of the main characters, Eric Cartman celebrating his victory over his enemy Scott Tenorman. The shows humor comes in large part due to the crude animation of the characters. The animation uses bright colors to keep the mood upbeat at all times and very little shading or depth is added to the characters. This is to keep the image as simple and basic as possible allowing for distinct facial expressions and character reactions. The movements are choppy and quick. There is very little overlapping in the images, as everything is 2D and as simple as possible at all times. The focus is centered on the faces, which is why they are the lightest color on the screen and the heads are abnormally large in comparison with the rest of the characters bodies.

            The second still is taken from the show DragonBallZ. This is an action adventure anime television show.  As you can see there is much more detail to this image than on South Park. That is because the show has much more story and character development. The plot is much darker and there is a lot more emotion than in South Park. This is illustrated by the darker colors and contrasts between them. There is much more shading to show the muscularity and the characters are drawn to a realistic scale.  There is more overlapping of images and excess details such as blood and wrinkles in the clothing to portray movement and action. DragonBallZ animation uses narrow, slitter eyes and facial expressions to symbolize the darker emotions and convey the characters anger. The movement is often parallel and the fight scenes are often repetitious.  This allows for the animators to take more time on each image but still have enough content to fill the duration of the show.  Overall, the amount of detail that goes in to DragonBallZ is immensely greater than that of South Park, and that all has to do with the type of show and the emotional content that each contains.

Blog Assignment #5

ESSAY

            In the first scene the director stays true to the 180 rule because the camera is dolling right to left. This doesn’t break the rule because Denzel is moving in the same direction and the camera never switches sides. It does not break the rule of thirds either because it is on a dolly so therefore even though Denzel may be in the center of the frame; he is in motion so the background changes and the image as well. As for the Rule of 30, it is one shot so there are no jump cuts. In the second scene the camera is in motion so the 180 rule does not apply and either way it never comes full circle around the actors.  The rule of thirds is untouched because it is in motion and neither Denzel, the car, or Ethan Hawke are in the center of the frame even when the camera ceases to move. Finally, the rule of 30 again does not apply because it is a single shot.  The third scene also stays true to the 180 rule because it stays on one side of Denzel and although the camera appears to be in-between Denzel and Ethan, Ethan’s location in relation to Denzel has already been established so there is no confusion. The rule of 30 is not broken because it is again a single shot, and the rule of thirds works because Denzel is not centered in the shot. The fourth scene does not break the 18 rule as it keeps both actors in the shot without moving or switching sides. The other two rules are not broken because of how abstract the shot is, nothing is centered and the steering wheel and the two actors each make up a third of the frame. The final shot also does not break the 180 rule because both actors are in frame so it is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and does not switch sides or rotate. The rule of thirds is not broken although Denzel is centered because Ethan Hawke’s position in the shot counters it. And finally the rule of 30 is once again untouched because it is a single shot and there are no jump cuts as a result. The director, Antoine Fuqua is very talented. This is one of my favorite movies. The acting definitely drives the film and is the main reason it is so good, but credit has to be given to Fuqua for his shot selection and use of close ups to convey the emotion of the actors.

Blog Assignment #4

John Denver - Take Me Home Country Roads

Pretty Lights - Country Roads Remix

LISTENING FRAMEWORK ----John Denver – Take me Home Country Roads

(SIMPLIFIED)

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

-The speed of the song is mostly driven by John Denver’s vocals and to a lesser extent the instruments drive the melody.

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

-Piano and Guitar and vocals

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

-Country/ Swing

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

-Piano and Guitar

Structure/Organization [how is the song built? Order, patterns, etc.]

Guitar intro, then vocals followed by piano at the chorus which continues throughout the rest of the song.

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

John Denver’s vocals increase the pitch until the chorus and then maxes out as the chorus starts. The guitar also speeds up before each chorus.

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

- Height [high and low of frequency]

The pitch rises and falls each time the chorus repeats.

- Width [stereo panning left/right]

The stereo pans to the right

- Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

The vocals are the first layer followed by the guitar and piano respectively.

LISTENING FRAMEWORK ---- Pretty Lights – Country Roads Remix

(SIMPLIFIED)

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

The tempo changes. It starts out slow then builds up to a medium speed and after the drop it switches back from fast at the hook and medium for the rest.

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

Guitar, piano, vocals, techno beats, electric keyboard

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

Techno, country, dubstep

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

The underlying techno beat carries the song but the melody is driven by the guitar and electric keyboard riffs.

Structure/Organization [how is the song built? Order, patterns, etc.]

Begins slowly with the guitar similar to the original, then a light techno beat comes in that slowly builds up and then the vocals and the drop.

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

The song builds from a lonely guitar to a techno beat behind it and then right before the drop the techno stops and it is only John Denver’s vocals with a light guitar then the techno bass hits.

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

- Height [high and low of frequency]

The height of the pitch changes frequently and is controlled by the electric riffs of the keyboard as well as the vocals.

- Width [stereo panning left/right]

The song pans to the right at a much slower pace than the original

- Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

The first layer is the electric riffs and techno beat with different layers of guitar and vocals overlapping throughout the song

ESSAY:

The first song is Take me Home Country Roads by John Denver. It is a classic country song with folk and rock elements.  John Denver, Taffy Nivert, and Bill Danoff wrote the lyrics. The windy roads of West Virginia inspired the song.  The song is mostly lyrically based with the lyrics personifying West Virginia. For instance, “West Virginia mountain momma” and “All my memories gather round her” portray West Virginia as a powerful, mother like figure in John Denver’s life. It is a simple melody that places emphasis the chorus. There is build up to each time the chorus starts although it is slight and most of the build up is from the pitch of John Denver’s voice. The instruments used are the piano and guitar. The intensity of the song is very mild and laid back. The rhythm is steady and consistent throughout the song. In Pretty Lights’ remix the rhythm is much faster although the beginning starts out with a pace similar to John Denver’s. The pitch changes throughout the song in relation to the melody and rhythm.

In 2011, the DJ Pretty Lights did a remix of John Denver’s song for one of his albums. The song is techno based and incorporates several lines and musical notes from the original. He uses layering to place these original parts where he chooses throughout the song as his version has an unorthodox design. This remix is much faster than the original. It uses many different layers of instruments including the guitar and piano from the original as well as techno beats and synthesizers. Like the original version there is a buildup to each chorus although the chorus itself is what is known in the DJ world as a drop with techno riffs, and the lines from the original chorus are used for the build up as opposed to the actual chorus.

I am a big fan of Pretty Lights and his version, but I have to admit that the original is still the best simply because it is the original and it is how the song was meant to be heard. They are both great though and I would highly recommend either of them.

Blog Assignment #2

http://changethis.com/


In the short story "Finding Your Howl", Mumon is a red wolf who along with the rest of his pack is facing extinction. In order to survive he must find his howl. In other words this is a story about someone finding their own voice and coming of age. Mumon encounters  a deer and a raven who both give him advice on finding his howl by telling him how to look for it. However, it isn't until he is shot by the farmer and sacrifices everything that he finds it. The point of the story is that everyone has their own distinct voice and you just have to look inside to find it.

"Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward" - Victor Kiam

Victor Kiam is a philosopher who has written several books on philosophy. This quote is appealing for several reasons. It has a good message that can apply to a lot of people's lives, and a lot of people can most likely relate to it. Also, i feel it could really be applied to the film industry. It is a tough market where one is probably going to encounter some failures before they have any luck.
The quote is basically saying that even if you don't succeed at something right away you still gained by making an effort. Trying something new is better than doing nothing at all. When you fail at something the first time you always have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. Therefore the first time is always the hardest and once you get it out of the way everything gets easier. In the film industry it is always good to put yourself out there, even if the result is bad because thats how you make connections and learn. Many people have trouble trying new things, which is why i think this quote will be understood so easily. It is a very good motivator for people who need that little extra push to be adventurous and try something new. I think the quote is also appealing because it is a bit comical in the way it is written. A lot of people find humor as a good means for dealing with embarrassment or failure which is what the quote is all about. I think this quote has a really good message and works well because so many people can relate to and understand the meaning of it.