Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Sights, Sounds, & Motions: The Final

Sights:

A picture from our off campus trip to the Cupcake shack. A great memory from Introduction to Multimedia and a nice reward for working so hard all semester. Doc Chris is clearly commanding the crowd.

The Red Pandas being extremely festive during our Halloween Thriller party, gathering around Judge Doc Chris.

A tilt shift photography picture that I made the other day. This is a good way to explain scale, relative size, and perspective to someone. Because only a limited area of the photograph is in focus, and because the colors are boosted up, the image looks as if the contents are that of a miniature set.

A new series that I am working on where I recreate famous images. This one is of Barry Lategan's photograph of super model Twiggy. I reinterpreted it with a male model to change it up a bit.

The all around best group in this Multimedia class. Lay your eyes on The Red Pandas via this polaroid that I took during our outing to Panera.

An image of Matt & Kim's drummer from last years Loyolapalooza. I took this image for my coverage of the show, after I had an interview with them, for WLOY.

A part of a series where I used art history to inspire silhouetted images. This is inspired, loosely, on the sculpture of The Thinker.


Sounds:

This is a song that I just recently found out about from a friend at WLOY. I've been trying to update our music selection at the radio station so I focus on the aspect of 'sound' a majority of the time.

One of my favorite male singers, M. Ward, who often collaborates with Actress/Singer Zooey Deschanel. Their harmonies sound really great together, which is something that singers should definitely look for.


A great cover of The Beatles' I'm Only Sleeping, performed by The Vines. Everyone loves a good Beatles song. This is a great example of quality sound.

Motions:

I shot all of these videos at an impromptu mini concert held on the fourth floor programming room back in November. The band is a group of Loyola Juniors who call themselves The Palace At 4 A.M. They also happen to live on the same floor as me. I really enjoy their music. All of these videos are a mixture of both motion and sound. Enjoy.








Final Questions:

1. Are you glad you took this class and please explain why you are glad and not because I am a wonderful person? No sucking up! 
I am, in fact, glad that I took this course. I think that the class incorporated many aspects and lessons that I will be able to use throughout my career here at Loyola and as an artist.  We were given the liberty to explore certain aspects of multimedia that I may not have necessarily been able to prior to this class and I think that it gave us many avenues to begin to network for jobs and connections. It was challenging but at the same time I think that it was a good way to grow in this field and Doc Chris was always there for any guidance that we as groups may have needed. Having had Doc Chris before, I knew what I was walking into. So not only was I excited to have this course, I knew that I would be able to gain certain things from it, which made my decision to take it easier. My knowledge for sights, sounds, and motions has definitely expanded and I feel more confident explaining specific facets of each category. That was not only done through group presentations and lectures, but also through practice. I definitely enjoyed this once a week course.

2. What did you learn that you did not know before coming into this class?
What can you do that you could not do before taking this class? 
I learned a lot from this class. The majority of the textbook that we went over was very informative, especially the way it was conducted. The aspects of color, perspective, lighting, and scale, are now all in my memory bank ready for me to use in my major/minor courses. I am always working with aesthetics so taking a course where we focused on sights was a huge advantage to me; it helped me garner strong foundations for why I do things in photography and what other things I can try. Our presentations were a valuable lesson that we will all be able to use in our chosen fields. Being able to clearly layout your thoughts in an informative, lucid way is difficult. Adding in an audience makes it that much worse. But with constant practice, I think that everyone in the class broke out of their shell and can now successfully deliver a pitch or a presentation. Again, because I've had Doc Chris in the past, I knew that my ability to speak in front of a crowd would strengthen as well as my knowledge of multimedia outlets, such as Facebook, Google +, and Twitter. I think that, especially with my generation, it is all about the online networking systems so this class helped me learn about those greatly.

3. Evaluate your group's performance, your own personal growth in this course and please give your opinion on the direction of this class.  
What is there to say about The Red Pandas. We were a dream team if I've ever seen one. Everyone got along really well and had interesting and productive input to bring to each assignment or group project. Besides the fact that Miles made our Logo (and was the first in the class to do so), I knew from the start that our personalities would mesh well. Even though we had a few bad trials, we always backed each other up which was usually rewarded with several good trials. Even Mairead talked some trash in defense for our team. Overall I think that we have grown in comparison to the start of the semester. Having weekly presentations was difficult to divide amongst the group, but we always got it done timely and efficiently, with a little bit of added creativity. I really enjoyed being in this group. I've become a better public speaker as well as writer (through our blogs). I also feel more comfortable using Google +, more specifically the hangout feature. I liked the direction of the class. I think that it was the perfect mixture of fun and learning. A true edutainment course. The work was weekly but it was still done in an interesting way to keep our attention.

4. What did you learn from our field trips, exams, prompt two exercises (Edutainment and 
Convergence), and projects?
Even though I had Doc Chris before, the field trips was something that I hadn't experienced before. I think it gave us a new atmosphere to learn new things and get out of the dim lights of Dorothy Day. It also allowed us to capture diverse sights, sounds, and motions that we wouldn't have been able to get just sitting in a classroom. Many of our trips were also meetings and on-location sites, so that was a fun way to work with people other than our class, like Mike Scott. I enjoyed the edutainment and convergence part of the class, as I have in the past. I think that it keeps everyone on their toes and interested in what is being discussed. I felt that Doc Chris is a good job getting his points across and keeping us excited to learn. The exams were held in a way where we were less nerve about the outcome and more focused on the actual moment of the exams, which is something that very few classes can successfully do.

5. Finally, you must evaluate me. Be fair but be truthful. Have I been helpful, did I listen to concerns that you had, have I tried to work with you through individual and group situations? Do you like the way the class has been conducted? Do you understand the purpose of putting people on trial? Here is hint, it is not to embarrass you.
I think that Doc Chris has been consistent throughout my years of having him. He knows what he wants and how to explain to you how to achieve it. But after that, he puts it into your hands and allows you to grow as a student. If you have questions, he is there to answer them but he isn't going to do it for you. I think that is a positive way to conduct a classroom, with a certain level of independence and flexibility. It creates an atmosphere that is easy to learn in and to build strong bonds in. Even though we all experienced his trials, they were meant to be constructive rather than critical. If we only had good trials, no one would really learn anything new or figure out how to change their weaknesses. The bad trials are a way to improve our techniques and understanding so I definitely do understand the purpose of them. The course as a whole was very encouraging, fair, and enjoyable. Being in the same groups throughout the semester made it comfortable to work as a cohesive group on all assignments, something that Doc Chris really focuses on. We got to explore parts of Baltimore, which was an added bonus to an already great class too. He has a way of pushing his students to be better but in a way that is positive rather than negative or condescending. We were all held accountable for our actions or lack of actions and it was a good tool for this sort of class.

Extra Credit:


1. Knowing everything that you have learned in this class using Edutainment & Convergence and gone through in this class, would you take this class again with me? Why or why not? Would you take another class with Dr. Chris? Why or why not? Would you recommend a friend take this course or another course with Dr. Chris, why or why not?
I would definitely take this class again with Doc Chris. Even though he was the only professor offered for this class, I would have opted to take his class anyway. His teaching style and my learning style are very similar and I appreciate how the class is conducted. It was, overall, very entertaining and helpful. When students are at ease in the classroom, it allows for more open conversation and participation, which I think we saw in this course. I always recommend Doc Chris to my friends because I think that they will be able to come out of it with a good approach to these topics, maybe more so than with any other professor.