Website Assignment

For the hyper haiku assignment, I decided to go back to my childhood and feature Pikachu on the site. I found a haiku about Pikachu online, and made the background a picture of it. For the banner, I found a custom Pokemon font online, made it the classic yellow and blue color, and inserted a japanese style "aik" to play with the words (pikac"haik"u...). I centered everything and made it clean and simple.

file:///Volumes/kitsonc/Sites/index2%20pikachu.html

Just in case that file path doesnt work (I'm not sure how to post the link, but everything is under my Sites folder under the name "kitsonc" on the edam server), here is a screenshot of the page and the html text as well.

Reflection on the Video Process

The process of making a video proved to be very difficult, but in the end I’m glad how my video turned out. If I had the chance to redo this assignment, I would have put a little more work into planning every aspect of the video beforehand (in other words, making a better storyboard). I only had a rough idea of what I wanted to do when I interviewed Steve, and I wish I had filmed the interview as opposed to just getting the audio. It would have been nice to have an actual clip of Steve talking in the final project. Since I didn’t have any good visuals, I decided to make a few short animations to use as footage. This was a lot more time consuming than I expected it to be; for a 10 second animation I had to work for at least a half hour. I think they turned out well, so no regrets there. I really liked the footage of Steve walking up the escalator along with his opinion on how hard it is to move up in both the culinary world and the military. I didn’t take too much footage of him around Hunter, but the few shots I did take fit nicely with what he said.

I can’t imagine all the work that goes into making a feature length film, but after this project, I definitely think making a storyboard is key. Just like when writing an essay, making an outline can be immensely helpful. It keeps you on track and makes sure that your idea doesn’t stray from the main point. It’s also important to film more than you intend to use. At times, I was struggling with what I was going to use as video clips, and ended up taking some off YouTube so that I had enough footage. You can always edit footage and make clips shorter, but its vital that there’s enough material to mess around with.

            Overall, I really enjoyed this project but I know that the video making process is extremely time consuming and requires a ton of effort. If I were to make another video project, I think I’d be a little more comfortable with it and know how to better plan out my project.

Animation Assignment

Animation Assignment

Interview with Steve Knudsen

Blog Assignment #2: David Ellis

Last year I met a graffiti artist named David Ellis who demonstrated his method of “live graffiti”. He basically makes a continuously changing work of art, so a piece is never really finished. When I watched him live, I kept getting upset at the fact that he would make a  beautiful painting and then immediately paint over it. However, when I did a little bit of research about his work and stumbled upon some of his Youtube videos, I was absolutely amazed. The video below shows one of his creations:

The artwork itself is visually stunning, but I feel that the editing makes it even better. The sound effects are very simple and fun, and play along nicely with the images on screen. They do not draw attention away from the moving art, but instead enhance the illusion that the art is really “alive”.  There is no smooth transition between shots; this video is more of a stop motion style of filming. The thing I like about it is that the shooting angle never stays the same, which I think helps the moving paintings look more realistic. Each shot is under a second long, and when played quickly, the delusion of movement is very successful. The cuts are obvious but in this case I feel that they are necessary to make the paintings seem life-like. 

Interview with Steve Knudsen

I can't seem to get vimeo to work so until i figure it out heres the interview on youtube.



Interview with Steve Knudsen

What I Hear

For this assignment, I walked along the East River from 30th street to 10th street. First, I tried to pay attention to the background noise - sounds that I wouldn't normally try to listen for. The most obvious one was the sound of the water hitting the pier. When I closed my eyes, it was actually very calming to listen to, almost as if I wasn't in New York City, but rather a remote tropical island. However, the fact that there is a highway just a block over quickly took me out of my mini-escape and landed me right back in the city atmosphere. I could hear so many cars speeding by, and if I listened more closely I could hear the sound of bicycles whizzing by me on the bike path that runs along the river. As many times as I've walked up and down the river, I never even took notice to the loud noise created by traffic. In my hour walking around, I didn't seem to hear many sounds that were meant to attract attention. I heard a couple of ambulance/police sirens, a boom box blasting hip hop music from a car, and the beeping of a streetlight intended to notify the blind as to when it was safe to walk the street. Even though I left my cellphone at home, I found myself checking my pocket anyway when I heard the classic iPhone text jingle coming from a strangers pocket. It was around 9pm, so there weren't many people outside making sounds or having conversation. I was pretty surprised by how many different noises I heard, but I live across the street from an ambulance garage, so I normally have to deal with obnoxious loud sounds coming through my window. Living there has made me more aware of the noise that is produced in new york city, but it was interesting to just get away from my ipod and listen to the natural sounds around me.

stamp art

i wish it was always like this

My Artist Statement

I have been involved in the world of media for a couple of years now, though I am not exactly sure what my motives or goals are quite yet. In high school I learned how to use Photoshop and Indesign, along with other image editing programs. I was an intern for the producer of VH1's "Best Week Ever", where I learned how to use professional film equipment, learned interview and shooting techniques, worked with Final Cut Pro, and gained hands on experience as a film maker.

This year I started an internship at The Film Society of Lincoln Center, where my job is to promote upcoming movies and shows at LC. I've been working as a web designer since last July, which I really love doing. I've gained experience in many different fields of media, but I am not interested (nor great at) any particular field. I'd like to further my involvement in various forms of media and hopefully find something I'm really passionate about.

I love watching movies, I take a decent amount of pictures, and I find it enjoyable to mess around with any pictures I take. Basically I'm just a normal media user - I use my laptop, my iphone, my cameras, etc. I don't know if film or another field of media is where I want to end up, and that's why I'm taking this course. I'm not sure if theres any message I want to send the world right now, but when I have one, I'll get it out one way or another.

test post

just a test