Roller Coaster Face Swap

This is what I did in class the other day for practice in using Photoshop. First I imported the original picture into Photoshop, used the lasso tool to draw around the funny face, and copied and pasted it onto the image for as many faces as there are in the picture. Then I dragged the faces over to the other faces, used transform (control+T) to resize them, deleted the face underneath, and then blended the new face with the rest of the old face. And BAM, here it is.

Favorite Cover from "Albums Without Sound"

Courtesy of: http://albumswithoutsound.tumblr.com/

I love this album cover. The past few weeks I've been obsessed with minimalism, so I'm a huge fan of the simplicity of the cover. The text on the top right is small and unobtrusive and colored with simply colors. It also strangely seems to fit with the picture. "Mass Flow Rate" makes me think of the movement of the water, and the title "It Goes On Forever" fits because the water and sky on the horizon seem to continue on forever as well.

The color are also awesome. Those shades of purple and yellow complement each other perfectly. The image is just a beautiful picture, one of the best sunset pics I've seen.

The album cover also makes me think that if this band actually put out this album, it would be maybe atmospheric, electronic, indie, that it would sound somehow nostalgic and emotional. It would be mellow, soothing music, and I'm a fan of that. So that's why this album cover stood out.

Weekly Summary

Sorry these have been coming in so late; I've been filming all weekend for my SAC 423 class (literally! Friday-Sunday from around 9 am to 2 am). Last week we finished up the audio section. I enjoyed making the audio projects, and I'm happy with how they turned out.

We also started the visual images section with a response and a couple creative projects, both of which I enjoyed. As we move forward, I'm looking forward to using this opportunity to teach myself Photoshop, since I'm not very familiar with it right now.

I really enjoy looking at online memes, and it seems like this section will give me an opportunity to make some of my own!

Response to "Sound Reporting"
Response to "Living with Cancer"
Audio Projects
Response to "Images" by Robert Hass
Picture + Vintage Filter + Helvetica Text
Turn a Photo Into a Comic

Turn a Photo Into a Comic

For this picture, I started with my current Facebook profile picture that was taken from the shoot for our nerf gun video a while back. I imported it into Photoshop and added the color halftone filter, then set the maximum radius at 4 pixels. It was looking a little bit dark so I added a sharpen filter too and used the preset "linear dodge (add)" which brightened it up a little bit. Then I exported it and uploaded it!

Picture + Vintage Filter + Helvetica Text

My Workflow:

I started with a photo from my iPhone camera roll -- I think this was on our way down to Florida during the long car ride. I emailed the photo to myself and then downloaded it to the computer. First, I opened it up in Photoshop and tried to add a filter, but I was having trouble finding one that I liked that was "vintage" enough. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place; I'm not too familiar with Photoshop (yet).

So then I imported it into iPhoto and added one of their filters, then imported it back into Photoshop to add the text. And it's done! I hope it's pretentious enough.

Response to "Images" by Robert Hass

"Images" by Robert Hass is, predictably, full of images. He begins by describing his house late at night when everyone is asleep. And immediately, the reader visualizes the scene in his mind.

Hass then goes on to discuss several poems, namely haikus. He discusses the the images contained in such few words and tries to articulate what makes them so compelling. As I read through the various images Hass describes in the article, I kept thinking about something I had been told about writing descriptively: write using all the senses. Describe what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled (smelt?), and tasted in a scene. I think that, used correctly, this evokes an emotional reaction, a feeling.

For us Midwesterners, I'm sure this image evokes a very strong emotional reaction.

At one point Hass says:

"Images are not quite ideas, they are smaller than that, with less implication outside themselves. And they are not myth, they do not have that explanatory power; they are nearer to pure story. Nor are they always metaphors; they do not say this is that, they say this is" (275).

When I read this, I thought about my own process as a filmmaker. It's not uncommon for me to first come up with an image: an old man in a long coat and top hat, holds and umbrella waits outside at the shoreline in pouring rain as an old ship emerges from thick fog and begins to dock. The image comes first, and along with it a feeling, and then I develop a story based on that. Good imagery conjures up these feelings.

Audio Projects

The first project was for the dating radio show. I was trying to think of some questions that I could ask people that would elicit contradictory responses, depending on the person. And the "love at first sight" and "soul mates" debates are always interesting to hear, so I went with that. I went around and asked a couple people their thoughts, and then put it all together and added some music. And this is the result:

The second project I decided to do was a audio segment that showed what it's like to work at the Instructional Support Services (ISS) on campus. So I went into work and used one of our audio recorders that I set up by the loan desk. I recorded about an hour of footage and then sifted through it to find times where the employees were helping patrons, as well as some moments where they were just fooling around. A common theme I found was that a lot of people came in asking to use our collaboration rooms. This is how it turned out:

Overall, I enjoyed making both projects and didn't really have any trouble making either of them.

Response to "Living With Cancer"

Credit John Klein Wilson / Michigan Radio

I found this broadcast to be really interesting. I've had several family members diagnosed with cancer and most have turned out to be treatable, thankfully. I find the stories of people who live through cancer and beyond very inspiring. The story of the couple who decided to take a trip to try and do everything and they spent all their money -- I feel like that'd be what I would do. Try to make the most out of life while you still can. And though many healthy people can't just drop everything, I think this message of living in the moment, of experiencing life, is something that everyone could use more of.

I'm also inspired by the stories of support people receive during their treatment. A number of people in the broadcast mention that support from family and friends is so important to the healing process, almost in a spiritual sense. Knowing that you have someone who is there for you, who wants you to get better, must be a great feeling, and I'm sure it helps.

As inspiring as these stories are, not everyone who is diagnosed with cancer survives. There are many different kinds of cancer and some are much more difficult to treat than others. Hearing about kids getting cancer, even newborn babies, is horrible and is something that shouldn't happen. Parents should not be losing kids to disease like this, and the good news is that doctors are continuing to try their hardest to find better treatment options and a cure. It may still be a ways off, but we get closer to finding the answer every day.