Blog 10A

http://changethis.com/

Rendalls article talks about how everybody has specific character traits which all have an upside and a downside to them. He says people think of the two sides as strengths and weaknesses within the individuals’ character. The idea is that some traits have certain traits that generally go along with the pairs of traits to be more specific. For instance creativity and being unorganized go together. He goes on further to explain how we can better ourselves in different ways, a few of them being to grow our strengths, to get rid of our weaknesses, or to do both at the same time. He talks about how each has its drawbacks.  Also he goes on to say that our weaknesses actually are good because they are what make our strengths exist he says you can’t have one without the other. He ultimately explains that for us to be the best we can be we need to stop trying to get rid of our weaknesses and just play our strengths. We need to put ourselves in situations where our weaknesses are not going to hinder our strengths for instance if you don’t work well with others find a job where you don’t have to. He says that if we don’t like doing something because we suck at it do something else. He says you find success when you find the right fit.

            I think that Rendalls 9 nine suggestions are valid. I believe that many of these things are things that most people kind of already inherently knew. Some of them are obvious common sense things and others are good points that make sense and make you think “well duh”.  The 9 suggestions were.

1.     What’s your problem should you fix weaknesses build on strengths or do both?

2.     What’s my problem? (Apparent flaws are clues to your true stregths.

3.     Flawless: there is nothing wrong with you.

4.     Forget it don’t try to fix your weaknesses.

5.     Foundation: build on your strengths

6.     Focus you can’t do both.

7.     Fit: find the right spot.

8.     Freak: the power of uniqueness.

9.     Freak Factory: putting your quirks to work.

I think that his suggestions are valid because they make sense to me. I have tried to fix my weaknesses and it has never worked and when I focus at what I like and what I am good at my strengths just get stronger.

I think that I am already implementing a lot of these suggestions into my life but this has definitely made it clearer for me and It enforces my thinking about what I am doing with my life and I think these suggestions will help me.

Of the 9 suggestions I think the 3 that most stood out to me were:

1. Forget it don’t try to fix your weaknesses

2. Fit: find the right spot.

3. Freak factory: putting your quirks to work.

For the first suggestion I can implement this in my life by realizing that I don’t work well with a lot of distractions and I am not good at writing or math or science but this leads me to realize that I work really well in a computer lab when there is some kind of flat white noise and I am a great artist. So now I draw using a tablet in computer labs with Photoshop and I am pursuing my artistic talents in a field where I can put them to good use. This also covers the second suggestion. For the third suggestions I can pretty much just try and do the things he lists in that part. I can avoid things I don’t like and try to increase my energy efficiency also I can surround myself with people that are strong where I am weak, which I think I have always subconsciously done.

Blog 9B

http://www.collapsus.com/

I think that Collapsus was great because of the style and the ideas behind it.  Not only was Collapsus a video game but also it had video elements in it and also illustrated artwork in some sections.  The entire thing was just fun to watch. And the piece was used to inform an audience about important issues that they might have never taken an interest in. I’m mostly interested about how they used the illustrations to tell parts of the story. It has led me to take an interest in possibly making an interactive story that has parts of it were you play through it like a video game. It made me think about how there are tons of video games out there that are story driven and a good deal of the game content is watching cut scenes were you have no control over anything that is happening and its like watching a movie. I thought what if there were movies where you had to make decisions for characters my choosing certain major decisions which would affect the story and then there could be a few areas of the movie that are game parts where you completely control the character like in a major fight scene or something.  Think of a story driven video game. Say 70% of it you are playing the game and fighting and controlling the character and then maybe 30 % of it you are just watching cut scenes like a movie. Now for my idea you would switch those values. Think of it as a videogame driven story instead of a story driven videogame. 70% of the time you are watching it like a movie with real actors and then in key areas of the movie it switches to a game. That way the game part could be higher quality because the game developers would have less that they would have to work on so they could put more detail and effort into the game parts and the video parts would be higher quality than a cut scene for a regular video game. The “Movie Game” would be less involved then a full out game but more involved then a movie.  It’s the best of both worlds. Collapsus has changed the way I look at trans-media and has influenced my own work. I try to think of how I could possibly make my work stand out and be original not only as far as content but also how the audience will interact with the content of my work.

Blog 7

In our first movie “Trouble in the Kitchen” we really tried use different kinds of space in our shots. We tried to show limited space and deep space by using the position of the characters and the furniture. We attempted to really focus on specific camera angles and creative shots while still following the 180-degree rule to give the viewer a clear understanding of the layout of the scene. We also really strived to show movement in the frames using complex movements and simple horizontal and vertical movements of the characters. 

In the second video we focused less on showing space within the frames and more on line and shape. Because of the toys were some of the main characters we really had to use the background and the other objects in the scene to make lines within the frame that were balanced but also directed the viewer’s attention to the POI. We wanted the subtext of the story to create affinity among the different shots because since we used toys it was hard to find a way for the audience to consciously know who was talking in the scene and whom they should be paying attention to.

Blog 8B

One of the people I am supposed to critique did not have there assignment posted. I emailed Makella.

Yichen Li and her partner created a sense that the hero and villain were from the same universe well by using affinity in the shapes of the characters and by using an analogous color scheme between characters.  The villains shirt uses color brightness changes well to show wrinkles. The hues used in the hero are blue and yellow which are complementary to each other and the red cape makes the hero’s color scheme analogous. I think that the characters could be improved by adding more saturation of the colors used to suggest depth and shadow in certain areas. I think that the villains main color hue was a good decision. Purple was perfect because it helps us as viewers subconsciously realize that the character is a villain because purple is a very sinister color. Great work.

Yuxi Li did a great job on her character design.  The lighting on her hero was especially well done. She did a great job using different values and amounts of saturation of green on the characters clothing to show depth and detail.  The position of the characters arms and body are in a pose that helps to show the symbolism of being a peaceful, serine, and almost godlike protector. The hues she chose were also well thought out. The majority of the character is made up of different saturations of green blue and yellow which are all analogous and the orangish red scarf helps create contrast and guide your eye through the image in a way that didactically feeds the viewer information about the character. 

Blog 8A

www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/178/superpowers

I know this is supposed to be an audio assignment but my macbook crashed and I am writing this on a computer in the library.

So if I had to choose between flying or invisibility I would choose invisibility. Invisibility would be more useful no matter the situation.  First of all flying would be fun but it would be hard to fight crime just by flying because it doesn't mean your invulnerable. Think ironman or superman they can fly but they are only successful because they are invulnerable and strong and have other superpowers. Invisibility on the other hand is useful because you could go anywhere and do anything you want whenever you want with out fear of being shot or hurt because nobody would notice you. Yeah it would be hard not to steel and spy on people and be a villain but not everyone would do those things. I would like to think that personally if i had the power of invisibility I would use my power for good. I would learn to kill without weapons so that I wouldn't have to use them because people would see the weapon floating and know I was there. I would steel from big corporate businesses and use the money to be like batman except better because I would be invisible. I would be able to steel jets and helicopters if I had to fly and I would be able to go on special ops missions overseas and do things like rescue captives and assassinate dictators. I would make the world better. I don't think choosing invisibility means anything about my personality except that I am smarter then the people who would choose to fly.

203GamePresentation

Hero Animation