Final Project

https://vimeo.com/216572614

Blog#4: Visit to MOMA

The shape of things exhibit had a lot of parts to it that relate to the lecture material. Each shot was more than just a simple image, but played with different elements of photography.  Some of the still pictures  used depth of field to make an image stand out. There were a few images that used close up shots that allowed me to see more details of the object in the shot. I cannot remember the name of the artist, but there was one shot that was simply a wall. The close up let me see the details of the wall, the chipped paint, the paint blisters, etc., that made the picture different. The exhibit as a whole was interesting seeing older examples of still images and contrasting them to ones that we see today.

The film Handsworth Songs has similar examples as well. The film was very unique to me because the film used three separate screens to give the experience. At first it was hard to know where to focus on the film, but when I realized where to have my focused I enjoyed the film. To me, I think that the side screens added a separate picture to the music and foley. It is hard to even call it foley when the footage from the sound was right there. This experience was something that I feel can only exist in documentaries.  

I enjoyed both exhibits and I feel that they both show different aspects of what we learned in lecture.

Relationships Between Shots

For my post, I took a look at a scene from the movie Cloverfield directed by Matt Reeves. The entire movies it shot to look as if someone took a camera with them as they went through a monster attacking, making a lot of POV shots and look amateurish in a way. The scene I chose is when one of the main characters get up close to the monster and killed. The scene getting blurry when the monster is breathing at the camera helped create the feel of found footage the movie tries to go for.  At the same time the camera being still as the monster simply looks at the person beneath it, then shifting to the camera being flung around as he being attacked is another great moment in the scene. I would describe it as a calm before the storm. We get a different feel to the monster during this shot as well. Rather than just a mindless killing machine, we get a glimpse of it being curious and more innocent. It makes one think it is just like a dog seeing a new object, but we are reminded that it is a killing machine as it attacks the character in a brutal way. The scene ending with the camera trying to auto focus on the lifeless corpse is also well done. It is similar to a heartbeat. Being through such an experience, one's heart would be beating fast and the camera focus shows that off.

https://youtu.be/ocb7pXndlug

Project 2: Interview

https://soundcloud.com/devante-thomas-179489544/art-pastpresent-future

Soundwalk

For my soundwalk project I decided to walk from 59^th Columbus circle and walk downtown for an hour. Just from the start I heard cars driving by since it was Columbus circle. In the background, I could hear people doing tricks on skateboards from the circle. As I started walked, the sound of skateboards died down and the sounds of cars was not as loud. I could hear people talking more than the other sounds, especially when it was in a group of people. When I reached 42^nd street, the sounds of people and cars seemed as if it was trying to compete with one another. With traffic moving slow, cars were honking their horns when they had to move. Since 42^nd being a huge tourist attraction, I could hear so many conversations going on at once. Some were families saying “look at that” or people just hanging out talking about what they are going to do for the night. They only constant noise that I heard was people footsteps. Usually I would just hear heels hitting the concrete floor, but the sound of footsteps was more noticeable when I was simply listening. As I walked further downtown, the sound of people and cars went down. People were less grouped together and less people trying to stop others to sell something. Traffic was less packed, so the noise was not as loud. It was interesting to see the difference in noise when only walking a few blocks. Overall, I would the theme of my soundwalk was competing noise.

Assignment#1

https://vimeo.com/208229904

Artist Statement

I am a geek. When I was younger, I was not able to interact with other people besides in school. Video games was the only thing that kept me entertained and I still enjoy them today. Along the way I picked up anime, manga, and a few other things that fall in the geek category. I do not really like to say I am a geek because I feel like many people of my generation have a lot more interesting hobbies when mine is simply playing games and watching anything animated or hero related. Even though I enjoy all of these things I cannot see myself creating these things since I do not have the artist talent or skills needed to make these things.

I am a media major, but I have no experience with anything to do with the subject. Photography, editing, film making, and other topics that are under media/film are foreign to me. I have friends that are doing a lot of things in this field. Seeing the stuff they create, I always think that I am not able to do what they do because I do not have the skill and  passion that they do. Even though I have no direction, I know I want to create something that has a story. Video games interest me when there is a story to them and the same goes to anything else. I feel that I have to know the end of a story when I watch or play something, so I think that I would want to do something after college that involves creating a story that other people can enjoy like I do.