Midterm

Sights:

    This is a picture of 10 people from class, including Doc Chris. We are standing outside of Dorothy Day, the building where class is held and that I so happen to live in. The photo overall doesn’t have a lot of direction, seeing as how there are many people in the designated shot. But because of this gathering, it makes the crowd seem bigger than it is and makes it seem like there is more going on. There is also a lot of repetition of the color green, from the grass to Dan’s shirt to James’ Hoodie (all with different hues). Since the sun isn’t as dramatic and we are slightly in the shade, there are no interesting shadows or much dynamic lighting. 

    This is a funny team photo of The Red Pandas, albeit missing a few members. There are five people in this shot, however only four of them are actively looking at the camera. As much as I enjoy the people in the photograph, I know that this picture is very much overexposed and off balance. Working with a camera phone creates a difficult task when it comes to correcting lighting and composition. The shadows are pretty drastic since the sun seems to be to the right of the people in the image and probably starting to come down in the sky, creating strong vertical shadows on the left. There is no soft box or filter to diffuse the lighting that is blinding everyone in the picture, and the only person who seems to be correctly (or at least somewhat correctly exposed) is John. That is because the shadow cast from Dan is acting as a diffuser in order to make it the correct exposure. Because the lighting is so harsh, colors aren’t accurate or even seen. Mairead’s jacket is over saturated because of the sun and is a bright teal color, while you can’t even tell what Genna’s clothing looks like. That could possible be because she is wearing grey and white, which tends to reflect light back to the camera lens.

 In this picture, Doc Chris is looking straight at the camera (and/or the viewer) and is explaining to us what we have to do as far as our outdoor assignment goes. There are four people in this picture and the lighting, except for on Doc Chris’ tie, seems to be acceptable. There is a good balance of dark and light when it comes to the peoples faces and clothing. There is a focal point of the red car in the background because of the bright saturated red color that stands out, even though it is all the way in the background. The foreground is closely occupied, without much breathing room. John’s body isn’t fully in frame and is creating a barrier at the end of the picture. Since they are close to the camera, all people look to scale.

   This is a team photograph of the No-namers as they capture sights, sounds, and motions for their own projects. There are a total of five people in this picture and there is quite a bit of drastic shadows and highlights due to the directional force of the sun (main light source). There are also some vibrant colors of reds, greens, and oranges that if the photograph began to desaturate, these colors would probably take the longest to become black & white. The people are in the middle of the image, which creates a central focus. The shadows on the right are balanced out by the bightness of the people and by the open space closer to the foreground of the shot. The people are generally on one plan so no one appears large or out of scale in comparison to the entire picture. I believe this is a good example of static balance. Though you cannot see it in the photo, the temperate outside was warm. One can assume since the sun is shining, that the temperature would be nice. 

Much like the first picture, this is a shot of many people in one designated area. However, everyone fits in the one frame and no one has their body cut out of the picture. I think it is interesting that everyone is positioned at different spots but for the most part are looking one direction, at Doc Chris and Dan. They are playing patty cake as The Red Pandas (my team…the winning team) capture the noise and movement for our assignments. The most saturated and eye catching color would have to be Mairead’s shirt again, which is reflecting the sun intensely and not losing its color. This photograph has frozen motion in the patty cake and there are a total of seven people in this image. Because John is closer to the frame than James or Mairead, he appears slightly larger than if they were all on the same plane. The image was probably taken around 3:45 PM on a Thursday, seeing as how the sun has begun to set lower in the sky, created more shadows than if it were directly above.

This is a still frame shot of Doc Chris and Dan dancing and singing a song together. It is much like if you took a still frame from the video we took of the same seen. There are only two people in this shot and as the sun gets lower and lower in the sky, the highlights and shadows become less and more intense (respectively). Dan is moving toward the side of the image, where it is implied that he would soon leave the frame. Again, the red cars in the background provide a bight color that is a main focus despite not being in the foreground or even midground. It is a standard angle, on the same plane as the subject.

Motions:

   This is a video of two longboarders as they were riding through the Gardens parking lot during our class time. Doc Chris had pointed them out as they were speeding past and Dan whipped out his camera and started to chase after them in order to capture the motion up close and personal. It is a short clip but it captures a lot of motion, from Dan running to the long boarders skating. You can also hear the noise from the class and Dan screaming as he chases after them. 

This next video is both of sound and motion, it is 40 seconds long of both Dan and Doc Chris singing and dancing “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. You can hear the rest of us laugh at their entertaining performance and you can clearly see and hear the snapping that the two guys are doing. In the beginning sequence you could see James and Miles, but as the frame gets tighter, they are removed out of the shot. This shows the importance of all three aspects of sight, sound, and motion in film and video.

1.    This is a simple video of motion using the fire hydrant and it’s bar that Dan has flicked up. It is a short 5 second clip that demonstrates a repeated movement. There is also a glare on the car in the background which makes it hard to focus on the main subject of the hydrant in the foreground. The green of the grass is highly saturated due to the angle of the sun and the closeness of the camera. 

Sounds:

These are all great examples of sounds and some of my favorite Bands. The first is a music video for a group named Best Coast. The cool thing about the video, other than a good plot line that is reflected in the music and in the video, is that actress Drew Barrymore directed it. The second sound out of these examples is a song by De La Soul called Eye Know. I think that this is an awesome old school 90’s hip hop song that has an up beat melody throughout. The whistling sample is also a nice touch. The last sound is from one of my favorite bands, Death Cab For Cutie. I work at WLOY and I just recently put all of these songs into the automation playlist so it would play on Loyola’s campus. The video is also cool because it is a sequence of shots that use the lyrics in its message. Since I work at the radio station, I deal with sounds on a regular basis and I understand the importance of difference kinds of music, melodies, or beats.

This is an 8 second clip following Doc Chris as he creates sound for our team. Dan starts to stomp his feet as Doc Chris claps his hands. You can also hear the chatter of the surrounding people talking about their assignments. The sound is very much like a step team would do, making the beat with their feet and hands. The lighting is a little bright but other than that it is exposed correctly.

This is a 7 second clip of Dan doing the same thing in the video of Doc Chris, but now there are more people in the focus along side Dan. There are a total of four people showed in this video at a certain point. And as the video begins to end, the camera pans closer to him. 

Exam questions

   

1.     I have to say that I am definitely glad that I took this class. Since Introduction To Multimedia is a part of my core requirement for my minor, it wasn’t my choice to take this class. However, it was my choice to take this specific professor. Having taken Doc Chris in the past, my second semester freshman year, I knew his style of teaching and how he preformed in a classroom setting. After my Video Production I class, where my partners and I created 3 videos (one which showed at our campus wide Relay For Life event), I knew that this was the class to take in order to have an exciting introduction level course. He gives you a certain level of trust in order to complete tasks to his liking. It is very much up to us as individuals to do our work and do it well, which I like. The first time I had Doc Chris, there was never a dull moment. The second time around, I can safely say the same thing. Every class is started off with a bang to get everyone’s attention and throughout the class and the course, Doc Chris has proved to be a good professor when it comes to his approach to multimedia and the inclusiveness of all forms of social interaction. So yes, I am happy that I took this particular class with this particular professor.

2.     Since I am a Photography major and a Digital Media minor, a lot of what I work with are these three attributes: sights, sounds, and motions. I can’t say that I didn’t know all that much before taking this class. However, what it is doing is refreshing my memory of things that are vital to both my major and my career. Things like perspective, color balance, lighting, all of these things are necessary in order to succeed in my chosen field. I also think that the weekly presentations have strengthened my ability to stand up in front of an audience. I was Vice President of my high school, so I already had that skill, however I think that practice makes perfect and we are certainly practicing a lot of necessary tools that can help us in the real world. One thing that I have learned though would be the importance of networking and utilizing all forms of social media in order to do so.

3.     I think that The Red Pandas is a group of extraordinary people who have always seemed to come up on top, even when missing a few members. Honestly though, I think that our group functions well together and each have a pivotal role in the cohesiveness of our presentations, group assignments, and all around functionality. Everyone has a particular strength in the group that allows us to perform well. I think that we have all improved in certain regards and I think as the class goes on we will continue to improve (and win). Overall, I think that I have grown in knowing how to use these types of media and how to update and regulate a blog. I feel that I am now utilizing and growing in knowledge toward things such as Google+. I think that the direction of the class is going well because we are becoming more and more educated in all of these aspects. I also enjoy the format of the class. Where each group presents a chapter, instead of every individual reading it on their own time. It is much more hands on and shows the importance of working together to achieve a common goal, which is in this case learning about multimedia and social networking.

4.     Like I said before, I have taken Doc Chris in the past. One thing that hasn’t seemed to change is his eagerness to make sure that we are understanding the material in new and exciting ways. When I had him, we didn’t have the “Judge Doctor Chris Show”, which I believe is a great way to push students to doing their work and doing it well. Since there are good and bad trials, I think that people strive to be complimented on their good work and strive to not have a bad trial in front of all their peers (and people who watch the youtube channel). I think that Doc Chris sees everyone’s potential and tries to cultivate it into something special. If he sees that you are slacking, he tries to lift you up to a level that he knows you can reach, instead of letting you slide down a letter grade. The edutainment aspect of the course is and has always been a staple. It gets students excited to come to class and to complete the assignments, which is generally a hard thing to do. It’s entertaining and a learning tool, which is exactly its purpose.