October 22, 2013

The Visual Qualities of Good Photography

• remember Arthur Klass?

1. Focus

• if you are trying to show the subject, make sure it’s in focus  
• a typical start for marking
• bad focus comes from low lighting and distance from subject
• smart phone has autofocus - choose carefully

1. Lighting

• where the highlights are is where the lights are - opposing area is shadow
• there are two styles of lighting we will think about
• a) naturalistic - sunlight, typical, we see it everyday and it’s “normal”
• b) expressionistic - more emotional, designed and chosen or built by lighting kits

1. Angles and Focal Length

• angle is the horizontal orientation
• angle is also on the subject
• the orientation of the subject IN the frame
• long, medium, close

1. Balance

• the layout of “things” within the frame
• subject, BG, FG, etc

1. Dynamic Line

- angles and diagonal action, lines and energy in a frame

October 21, 2013

The Poetry Analyses Are Revealing!

1. Show the references

• when you are writing that “something” happened, you need to actually make reference from the poem - by line, in quotation, etc. 
• ie making reference to the Third World line - you need to give me the quotation and then:

1. Explain the things that you’re saying 

• if you are going to say that you noticed X in the poem, and then you make reference to the line or whatever, you then need to explain in some detail WHY and HOW
• SHOW THE CHAIN OF LOGIC
• what is the thinking by which you arrived at that conclusion?

• you need to show A (the thing I read) + B (this idea I have) + C (this thing out in the world) + D (this way of connecting these things together) = E (this conclusion)
• this is how essays are written
• this is how good paragraphs are written
• this is how arguments are won

1. Don’t ever refer to yourself - no me, no I, no you

• simply state your point without saying “I think” or whatever else is like that

1. You need to figure out the meaning of things at a deeper level.

• when you’re looking at a symbol or an idea, you need to go a) this is the obvious and then b) this is the meaning
• you don’t have to do this on paper, but you need to think this way
• this will then fit into that mode where you explain that deeper meaning (point 2 above)

“one fine day a Third World struck back”

• what is the Third World? - answer
• that group was responsible for 9/11
• and then you could move on

We need to dig in - struck back? - the history of American war on poor nations

Third World - First World - the relationship between America and poor nations

reasoning behind their actions - Al Aqaeda is doing something that they think is right

October 17, 2013

How do we use music in accordance with images? 

The project we’re doing - making a soundtrack and linking it to imagery

Garageband, real-life, Fruityloops, etc

Make a song that fulfills the role that music does when we “see” it

 What does the music do in accordance with images? 

• the music acts as a cue to the emotion that the Creator intends for the photos to evoke in the viewer
• the music also acts as a counterpoint to the action - sometimes the music acts in opposition to the emotion that seems obvious - the music is “in on the joke”
• the music in a scene could be almost subliminal and affect us in a more psychological way - “the bass tone” “ch ch ch” “Psycho strings” “heartbeat emulation”
• a most common and kind of simplistic use of music (but awesome) is called NEEDLE DROPS - we saw one in that Rushmore clip (You Are Forgiven)
• a song comes in with meaningful lyrics at just the right time
• the other idea here is that the lyrics somehow correspond to the pix - this is SO OBVIOUS and it isn’t layered enough to be interesting

choose something INTERESTING to feature visually 

create mood

create some counterpoint

PLAN the cohesion of images and music

try to make something that CHANGES and has multiple sounds and feels

build the music yourself

you can use images from anywhere - CHOOSE ONLY HIGH QUALITY IMAGES

if you take your own shots, you will get higher mark

EVENTUALLY, we will do this with ONLY your own shots

October 9, 2013

What am I actually marking in your music project/songs?

1. Originality - don’t copy something else 
2. Dynamics - changes in the structure of the song - volume, part of song, instrumentation, flow, speed, etc
3. Tracks - multiple tracks with changes in the tracks
4. Length - over 1 minute, aiming for 2
5. Interest - hold the listener’s attention
6. Clever use of musical elements - different “things” - sounds, loops, parts, mixing genres or bits of this and that (remixing)
7. Evokes a certain feeling or mood
8. Visualize something - emotion that translates to an imagined “scene” 
9. Some people actually put some visuals to their song - slide show - this will REALLY help if you’re doing it in a soundtrack style
10. Fits into a genre or recognizable form