OK so for my final project I wanted to sort of show what I interpret the mind set of my roommates cat to be. She is kind of psycho and unlike any other cat I've ever been in contact with. She hisses and bites her tail and bites people when you pet her multiple times (which is unusual for cats). At first I wanted to show her daily activities which mostly consists of eating, pooping, and sun bathing. Then I was thinking of showing how she hides from me when I start to bother her. Its funny because she literally serves no purpose in our apartment but she is fun to mess with regardless. She is a lazy fat cat and it is funny to me to image what is on her mind all the time.
Once I started making the project I tried to think of different scenarios that she would possibly be thinking of as she is sun bathing or just hanging out. To me cats seem so quiet and sneaky so I wanted to show how her thoughts were exactly the OPPOSITE of what it appears she does on a day to day basis. I originally wanted to show her having a blast on a roller coaster or sailing in a boat. Pretty much doing things that no cat will ever do unless they are just extremely privileged.
It is sort of a joke with my roommate and I that Elsie (that's the cat) is plotting to kill me. She is just not very nice and the fact that I harass her doesn't help either. Also when I take pictures of her her eyes glow and it looks completely creepy. My final project is Elsie day dreaming about the time where she will take over Hell and have all the dogs in chains under her command. In Elsie's Hell clones of her are the rulers and they rule over the dogs. Its ironic because usually people tend to have this notion that cats and dogs don't get along and that dogs are the dominant animal. In Elsie's version she is the ruler and the dogs are the submissive ones. I think she would be very pleased with this fantasy that I have conjured up :)
For this project I was thinking of either making it about me or completely NOT about me. I first got the idea of capturing the view if I had eyes on the back of my head, from Mr. Kellner. I thought this could turn out pretty interesting. I changed my mind about this idea when I realized that I didn't really have an eventful week to capture....at all lol. I also had ideas of doing a photo narrative of my journey through school each day (also boring). Eventually I thought it would be interesting to involve my dog in the project. I had ideas of doing a narrative from his eyes or point of view. That idea changed to me capturing his play sessions in which he goes from completely calm to totally amped up to exhausted in a matter of like 15 minutes. I toyed with this idea and the idea to capture his bathing session because it is HILARIOUS how much he hates getting in the bath. Its really funny to watch. Needless to say the ONE time I needed Playboy's cooperation, he chose not to participate in the fetch/play session and I wasn't going to take the chance with giving him a bath.
I ended up taking photos of my roommates cat. She is sort of mean and psycho so I mess with her from time to time. To be honest, I am not a huge fan of cats but their purpose in life amuses me. This cat literally eats, poops, chases her tail, and chills 24/7. That is all. Her name is Elsie and she does absolutely nothing but lay around and get fat. As a hobby when I'm extremely bored me and my dog will chase Elsie around the house and make her crazy (she is not harmed in this just annoyed mostly). So I decided to capture our "hide and seek" game. At this point I'm not sure if I want to make sort of a comic book narrative or add graphics....I'm still deciding how to make it more interesting and comical.
I think I had 2 "failures" this semester. Both MP 2 and MP 5 didn't really turn out the way I had originally imagined it.
I wanted MP 2 to flow more naturally. I feel like the photos looked choppy and amateur. I also could have improved the graphics that were on the photos. They weren't as distinguished as I wanted.
The fact that I was (am still..) pretty inexperienced with PhotoShop, GarageBand, and ANY Mac product, was the main reason I had such issues during MP 2. I feel like I have improved and been able to learn more with these programs as I became more familiar.
For MP 5 I had also another technical issue. I was unaware that it's not as easy to transfer songs from an iPhone to a computer as it is to transfer songs from a computer to the iPhone. So my project ended up being silent instead of having a rather obnoxious song in the background. I actually liked it and it set a different mood with the silence.
My most successful project was MP 3. I had just downloaded PhotoShop on my personal laptop and was able to experiment more. I definitely improved my computer skills and PhotoShop skills. I learned that these programs aren't that difficult and actually pretty beneficial for what I am trying to do in the future.
If I could do any project over again I would have to choose MP 2. It just looks so amateur now compared to what I have done and seen in class from classmates or videos we have watched. Obviously I'm not an expert (yet) but I think anyone could definitely tell that the "artist" was inexperienced with this project.
I would change the flow of the photographs together.I don't care for the square pictures and sharp edges, I would have preferred rounded photos fading into each other. This would make it seem dreamlike and cohesive. I would have also improved on the graphics. I know how to basically cut shapes or photos out and layer them on backgrounds now. This is what I would have chosen to do if I knew how. Again I feel like this could have improved the look/quality of my project. The graphics would have been significantly viewable compared to my crappy drawings. (lol)
Action words: curve, roll
I chose a garbage can as my "mundane" object. I chose this because everyone uses this at least once a day and I guarantee most of us don't even think of this act or what it says about a person. I think to use a garbage can verses just throwing trash on the ground or wherever shows that you have a care for the Earth and your surroundings. Obviously people who don't use a garbage can probably could care less about how littering affects the Earth and everyone living on it.
I wanted to show the garbage can "rolling" down a hill full of garbage at first then becoming empty as the garbage falls out. The video shows what the ground would look like if we did not use garbage cans and what it would look like if we always used garbage cans. I think this is important because taking care of our only Earth is vital to humans survival.
There was supposed to be a song included as well but because of technical difficulties was unable to be used. The song actually had a very pro-nature message but was also kind of violent as well. I wanted to make a statement with the sound and be attention grabbing. I think the silent video works as well, making a statement but not as strong of one as with my music choice.
This is actually a very good article for me at this point in time. Me and my roommate have been having conflicting views on living situations in the apartment and it seems as though we can't compromise. Both of us have the "my way makes more sense than your way" or "you are wrong and I am right" type of deal. In the article it talks about "blind certainty, a close-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn't even know he's locked up." I feel this is EXACTLY how we as humans think and especially in my case with my roommate. I can relate very strongly with this article and I am going to try and have my roommate read it if she can be more open minded.
I guess the one thing I was confused about at first was the fish metaphor. I didn't really understand what the older fish was getting at when he asked the two younger fish how the water was. Now that I have thought about the article a little more, I guess he was asking the fish how their life was. The author does elaborate and says that the most obvious things in life are often the ones we overlook or don't pay much attention to. I do understand the concept but that particular example with the fish didn't make that point obvious to me.
The area I chose was right outside of Scott Laboratory. I liked this spot because sometimes I sit at the bench right across from the building and just people watch and enjoy the scenery for a few moments before class. I liked the noises around this area because there are usually a few different sounds I hear on a daily basis. From birds chirping, to construction, and the underground noises that the Ohio State buildings make, there is a lot going on.
Originally I liked the birds chirping so I wanted to incorporate them into my movie. All of the other sounds I picked up were sort of opposite of the birds chirping so I decided to make an erie kind of horror film. This is the scene in the movie where someone is running from the killer and everything out looks nice but the person knows they are being chased and its only a matter of time before they are caught. At the end I did a slow motion shot of the underground vents where most of the "scary" noise is coming from and that is the place where the killer hides his victims. Very creepy...
I liked this reading because it made me think about things that I normally wouldn't think about. Brushing my teeth as an art form. I thought about walking or showering as an art form. I guess the way we do things can be seen as art. Movies are considered an art form which means that the actions the characters in movies do is also art. Our life is sort of an ongoing movie; in other words life in general is art.
This reading made me see normal everyday things as art which is interesting BUT if that is the case what in the world is not art? I can see what the author is getting at when he talks about paying attention to the movements and the feelings while doing everyday things. Normally we wouldn't pay attention to things that come second nature to us but everything can't be art. Or can it?
