Tic Toc

My final project was a video that was edited and developed in Premiere. Initially the video revolved around the idea of someone stuck in time. However, as I developed the video further, it turned out to be a portrayal of how my life has been like recently. The sensation of not having enough time to do everything I want in life has been constantly present in my mind.
For the background music I used "twisted nerve" by Bernard Hermann, and distorted it in Premiere as well. I enjoyed making this video project very much, seeing the images come alive on the screen just as I had envisioned was an awesome feeling. I intend on working more with this medium in the future.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

        I have very mixed feelings about the movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop". I enjoyed the first part of it very much, I felt like I was being taught the culture of street art. I think they were very successful in portraying the excitement, adventures and even sometimes dangers that are part of a graffiti artists' lifestyle. However once they began focusing on Thierry I was a lot less intrigued. I thought the movie was going to be about the great legend, Banksy, and not about an amateur artist like Thierry. He didn't make art with the intention of sending a greater message to society or to create images with greater concepts to them, his art was completely commercial, it was all about earning profit and making a reputation for himself. It was like a factory, the number of pieces he had to exhibit was ridiculous. In the documentary they even show people being interviewed and commenting on the absurd quantity. It's like he didn't understand what all those graffiti artists he was filming were trying to do out there. Nobody even knows Banksy's identity. How could he have distorted the idea of graffiti art so much, after being in the presence of Banksy for such a long time? 



Which elements are believable?
very realistic footage (filmed with a hand camera)
interviewing the person they are filming (thierry, all other graffiti artists)
having filmed the police kicking them out from spots + chasing them 
including actual famous graffiti artists 
having the artists’ (especially banksy) identity concealed

Which elements are not believable? 
narrator’s voice (reminds me of someone who would be telling a fairytale)
the fact that the faces are concealed 

Animation Project

For this assignment we had to choose an action to animate. In my animation the eye starts closed up, and then slowly opens up. As the eye opens, the details in the drawing get gradually more complex and eventually the eye is complete and open. In the end there is the detail of tears coming out of both corners of the eye, but if I were to change anything about the project that would be one of the aspects that need improvement. I would emphasize the drop of the tears more.

final project proposal

Response to Memento

Memento was a very confusing movie. Not confusing in the sense of "I don't understand what's going in",  but confusing in the sense of how unexpected it was. The whole movie leads the audience (or at least me) to believe that the main character was the victim, that he was being played. The fact that he was the one responsible for creating this whole "labyrinth", this whole "game" was very disappointing. I just really didn't enjoy how the movie ended. 
I thought the way Christopher Nolan played with how time is portrayed and how the main character remembers things was genius, especially because of the fact that the movie is moving backwards. However, the plot itself was not very appealing to me (the fact that people in the class spoiled some parts of it for me might be influencing this decision). 
In general what ruined it for me, I guess, is the fact that throughout the whole movie I was already expecting something bad to happen to the main character. I don't know, it's possible that I am having this strong reaction because it didn't end the way I wanted it to. 
Other than these complaints I thought the idea of him tattooing himself was very interesting, and also the way they changed the color scheme to differentiate when he was remembering things and when he wasn't gave a very interesting touch to the movie. 

Short Story Response

In the short story “circular ruins”, the narrative revolves around a man who has a task of dreaming another human, somebody who would serve as a sort of “substitute” for his own existence. Borges describes everything the dreamer must go through in order to create this other being. In this sort of “journey”, the concept of labyrinths and cycles can be seen. As I began reading the story, I pictured the dreamer at the entrance of a labyrinth (literally), but as the story developed, it was like in order to accomplish his task he had to find his way in this labyrinth. In order to create the human he wanted so much, he would have to first figure out a way to reach the other side of the labyrinth.

When he first thought he was finally being able to choose from his “class”, the perfect student, he suddenly wasn’t able to dream anymore. Following the metaphor of the labyrinth, this occurrence would in reality be portrayed as him making a wrong turn. Every obstacle he had to face in order to reach his purpose would be like him making a wrong turn in the labyrinth, until he was able to find the ideal method of dreaming another being. Once he found the correct way to approach the matter, he was then able to achieve his goal (creating the human) and reach the end of the labyrinth.

Other than the labyrinth concept, as mentioned before, there was also the idea of cycles incorporated in the story. The idea of cycles is not uncommon for authors to use. For example, in “The Odyssey”, King Sisyphus is shown in the underworld having to eternally attempt to push a rock up a hill and roll it over to the other side. Whenever he would reach the top, the rock would then roll down back to the bottom again. In “circular ruins”, the same idea is grasped as the dreamer realized in the end that he, himself, was part of a cycle. That he was a simulacrum just like his “son”.

graphic novel text

- author explains what the process of closure is
- how our mind assumes things based on past experiences
- expresses how important it is for comic artists to understand that the audience plays a major role in the story’s success (by allowing readers to imagine situations instead of making them so obvious the artist is able to keep the readers engaged) 
- graphic novel craft: 
- moment-to-moment 
- action-to-action 
- subject-to-subject
-scene-to-scene
- talks about how important it is for artists to know the right length of the comic (can’t be too short/can’t be too long)
- explains how the concept of time works in graphic novels