For this video project I decided to film an average day at the mountain bike trails, with my dog Clover. I hadn’t shot any film for the class, so i decided to grab a Go-pro, and create a short narrative. I thought the idea would make for an entertaining edit, and knew I would enjoy creating it.
Mountain biking is a major passion in my life. I have been riding for almost fifteen years and was lucky enough to race at a professional level for a couple of them. Its the way I connect with nature and blow off steam. Clover is my loving puppy, who i enjoy sharing my time on the trails with. Nothing makes her happier than chasing bikes down the trail. We usually go out riding once or twice a week. She gets pretty worked up if she doesn’t get her weekly trail time.
I hope that everyone enjoys the video as much as Clover and I enjoyed making it.
For this final project I wanted to explore more of the way sounds effect the viewers experience, I took pains to only make references that are already established in The Incredible Hulk’s and Marvel’s universe. Even the Doctor mentioned is a lesser know hero form the sixties and seventies. The Hospital is also a lesser known location in a few Spiderman comics.
My primary concern with this project was to make it sound as close to a real life hospital phone call as I could given the limitations of my hardware and software. The overall story was of my own invention. I thought it was an interesting idea to explore.
All sounds were downloaded from open source and used in accordance with the varied term and conditions of the varied sites I used.
“David Dassey is one of the healthiest men in Los Angeles. At 62, he can still run a sub-four marathon. Last April he competed in Boston for the fourth time and almost made it to the finish—just past the 25-mile mark—when the bombs exploded. Many of his fellow runners sprinted to the nearest blood donation centers, fearing the worst. Dassey, a doctor who works for the county’s public health department, didn’t join them. “I’ve known for 30 years that I can’t donate,” he says. “It doesn’t even go through my head anymore” Men’s Health Magazine, Banned for Life, 2013.)
My personal experience stems not so much from a dramatic experience as David’s, but, I was denied donation not even knowing it was a law to begin with. I prepped myself physically and mentally for weeks making sure everything was perfect for the local blood drive. I showed up, filled out the questionnaire, waited, and was denied right then and there in person. It was incredibly awkward standing there listening to them try and explain why they were denying me the right to give my blood. Looking at my doctors records and knowing there was nothing wrong with my blood, they still turned me away resulting in a lifetime ban. At this point its completely inaccurate scientifically because the blood can be tested. Its one thing for society to be upset about gay marriage and the heated debate of equality and its another to deny someone life by denying healthy blood. Like David Dassey, he witnessed the bombing at Boston and knew he could do nothing. To force someone to walk away from saving a life is inhumane and as corrupt as it gets to me.
I personally cant change the law. I can only spread awareness regarding the issue and hope that my words and creativity can help change hearts and breathe life into people.
Robert Henke is multi-talented digital artist. His website details succinctly every aspect of his productive life. From his cutting edge laser based visual performance to the custom made max4live patches everything is easy to find. Yet the simplicity of the site hides its depth, you could spend a day or two learning new thing form his writings section and many times that from his engineering page. This is not to mention and extensives musical discography reaching back over 20 years. This website is a one of a kind resource created by an impressive individual.
For this project I was trying to capture the essence of a hobby of mine, glassblowing. This footage was shot in the summer of 2014 in downtown Eugene at an event called DFO. Glassblowers from all over the world come to downtown Eugene to gather and enjoy this wonderful activity. Glassblowing has brought me much happiness and peace throughout the months. When you can bring a community of people together under a common idea, you can do anything. Glassblowing is a way to bring people together and build a community of awesome people creating things and doing things they love. Everyone deep down has a message or an expression to send out into the world and glassblowing is a way to send that message or express yourself. I used very calming music to reflect how relaxing glassblowing is.
For those of you who’ve already read my brothers post, history’s going to somewhat repeat itself, sorry! I had a hard time coming up with something to do this assignment on, and am a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to find something better. Water under the bridge I guess. Friday, February 27th, was the last Friday artwalk in Eugene. As some of you probably already know, this event takes place the last Friday of every month. This month, most of it took place in the Whiteaker area in west Eugene. The event was scheduled to run from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm. My brother, and some of my other family, left right around 5:30 to head over and see what we could see. It was the first time I’ve ever been through there, that I can remember. It takes up most of the residential area over around Blair Boulevard. It was pretty dark by the time we got over there and found a place to park on the corner of 4th and Blair. Since it was the very first time any of us had ever attended a last Friday art walk and didn’t quite know what to expect, we decided to walk some of the streets in the area and observe some of the neighborhoods interesting features. I thought to myself as we were walking along, for it being an “art walk”, I’m sure not seeing a lot of art, as far as paintings/drawings. There was a really interesting mosaic sculpture made up of colorful shards of glass right on the corner of Van Buren and Blair that we stopped to take a look. It was four figures all standing back to back of each other. I snapped a picture of my brother giving one of them a high 5, and then we moved on! Further up Blair Blvd. was a Serbian Orthodox church that I thought had unique architecture with its onion domed roofs and arched windows and entry ways. We also walked past the Ninkasi Brewing Company building which also had an interesting design, especially the big gates which had the logo branded into the steel. Must have just been built within the last couple years, because I went on Google Earth to find out where it was located and as of September 2011, the only building that was there was a garage. We then retraced our steps and cut across W 3rd Ave. to Van Buren St. At a tattoo shop across the street, there was a guy twirling a flaming baton, which was kinda cool to watch. Before heading back to where we parked, we wandered up Blair in the opposite direction of where we had parked. I finally spotted the first painting that I had seen on the trip, though it was difficult to make out all of the details, because by then it was completely dark. As best as I could tell, it looked like a landscape mural. That was pretty much the last place we looked at before heading back. We wanted to stop and get a bite to eat at the little Papa’s Soul Food place there on the corner of 4th and Blair, but we would’ve been hard pressed to even get in the front door! Not a bad trip, but never was quite sure where all the art was!
Standing next to the mosaic sculpture on the corner of Van Buren and Blair.
For X4, I had originally intended to go with the informational interview option and try to find somebody in the multimedia or art field to interview, but as time became less and less and I wasn’t able to find someone I decided to change my mind and attend one of the events listed for the assignment. The event that I chose was the Last Friday Art Walk in Eugene. Neither my brother or I had really been to the Whiteaker area in Eugene (even though we had heard of it’s infamousness) so we thought it would be interesting to go check it out!
The drive over was interesting in and of itself because we left at about 5:30 and had to drive through Eugene right in the middle of rush hour so the traffic was insane, plus we didn’t know exactly where to go or what to expect. Once we got to the Whiteaker area we found a spot to park on Blair Blvd. and started walking down the street past the various shops and restaurants. I was kind of surprised that it didn’t seem like there was a lot going on at least on Blair Blvd. so we turned around and walked back up and took Van Buren Street. There was a little more to see on Van Buren. We stopped for a while at the very beginning of the street to examine a cool sculpture of 4 figures standing in a group. The sculpture was a mosaic crafted out of shards of glass and clay. The longer you looked at it the more it seemed you discovered. There were several smaller objects embedded in each figure that created scenes in the sculpture itself so it was like an image within an image!
Standing next to the sculpture on Van Buren St.
Continuing on, we walked a little further until we came to the Ninkasi Brewing Company and stopped to take some pictures. We didn’t go inside but had a fairly good view of the factory and equipment looking through the window. Our last stop was a Tattoo parlor where there was a guy twirling a fire baton. It was hard to get a very good picture because we were on the opposite side of the street and there was a lot of traffic.
Gate outside Ninkasi Brewing Company.
Flame Dancing outside of Tattoo Parlor on Van Buren St.
This pretty much concluded our little adventure. We got back to where we parked which was outside of “Papa’s Soul Food” restaurant. We had planned on going in and eating but it was jam-packed as were many of the other restaurants in the area so we decided to go eat at Buffalo Wild Wings in Springfield instead.
Overall I thought the experience was interesting! Even though we didn’t stay a long time and see a lot, it was cool to get the opportunity to explore an area of Eugene I had never really been to before. I think if I was to do it again I would try going inside a few more places and hit a few more streets because I don’t think we covered the entire area that it was going on.
I had the honorable pleasure of getting a chance to speak to and interview one of, in my most humble of opinions, the most inspiring concept artists, Don Carson. He went to school at the Academy of Art University (at the time he went there it was known as the Academy of Art College) in San Francisco California and studied illustration. At the time he was a student the idea of a concept illustrator was unheard of, when he spoke with the current head of the department.
“You know, honestly, I really do not particularly care for doing finished paintings; I really like doing just the roughs. Is there a job where I can do nothing but the roughs?”
And she said.
“Absolutely not”
And so when he left the academy he did have a portfolio, but it was of the same items that he and his fellow students worked on and so, he had no real work to show. At that moment down the road he decided to take the skills he learned and to do a project just for him just for the heck of it and so he did paintings of Disneyland a sketchbook of the details of Disneyland. Even though he did not find a publisher it did however expand his portfolio with one hundred and fifty pieces of art that is quite a bit to have under your belt not bad for “just another Academy student”.
He has worked on numerous famous projects such as The Dickens Christmas Faire in San Francisco California, The Southern Renaissance Pleasure Faire in both Agoura and San Bernardino California, creating 3D products and environments at IMVU Inc. in Palo Alto California, and of course his work for Walt Disney Imagineering, The Jim Henson Company, Universal Studios, and his current work for Dreamworks. His full résumé is available on his website at http://doncarsoncreative.com/ as well as his blog.
This experience has inspired me to keep going at this full steam ahead! From hearing of his experiences to learning about what tools he used and still uses to the techniques he applies. Learn solid design basics, never be afraid of learning something new, look back on what you have learned, keep drawing and designing, understand good composition, color, value, anatomy, design, and the correct way to use art supplies will be something you will depend on every day of your career. The best structures, even artistic ones are only as good as their foundations, and never be afraid to use your imagination because you never what magic you can create with your own two hands.
In closing I am most grateful to have had this experience and I look forward to the experiences ahead I only hope to do proper credit to those who work and study in the field of concept and design. And so I sharpen my pencils and fire up my computer and will continue to work as hard and as best as I can. To the Undiscovered Country I set forth, excelsior!
I was happy to attend the “Portfolio Workshop” hosted by the Lane Media Arts program. It took place in classroom connected to the chroma-key studio in building 17. I personally feel it was wonderfully organized and very interesting. The speakers were energetic and well prepared. The seminar itself was very informative to learn the intense importance of a proper online portfolio for future business ventures. Most of the speakers were either my current or past instructors, with the addition of a few future instructors. Meredith did an outstanding job as the main host, her emphasis on why having a very professional online portfolio was important. I immediately began refining my current online resume/portfolio based mainly off her advice that your clients do not want to be “bored” and have “little patience” when searching for the right freelancer.
Knowing that I am going into my second year in the program, this workshop and Meredith’s business practices class really sparked my effort in collecting every bit of my past work to present to potential employers, since I want to be a “jack of all trades” media arts freelancer, it’s important to refine some of my past work, and really showcase my current projects to my fullest potential. Jeff Gooslby spoke about how dire it is to enter into as many local art shows as possible since recognition really reflects great work ethic and ability. I did miss the deadline on the current student art show but I defiantly plan on entering the spring Media Arts showcase.
One speaker in particular (Jon Christopher Meyers) really intrigued me with is presentation and current work, I am excited to enroll in his class in the future and really refine my photography skills. I noticed he used Squarepace for his online portfolio, and since I use the same company for my own portfolio, I was able to really gain some great ideas on how to present my photography based off his examples. Jon’s work with the raptor center was fantastic and not only interesting to the viewers, but beautifully showcased with a well produced video and presentation. When I originally entered into the media arts program, I did not realize that not only am I decent at photography, but it’s a great skill to marker for clients who want a full re-branding or design work. My biggest take-away is that I want to refine my photography skills to the same level as my cinematography and concept development talents therefore a lot of photography and lighting classes are in my future as direct electives.
Though I did have a little bit more knowledge than some of the other attendees (since I am currently taking Meredith’s business practices class), I still gained a wealth of information on my current major and excitement in selling my skills in the media arts market.
I really did not find any shortcomings in the event other than the location appeared a bit cramped and there was a class directly behind us in session, my only recommendation would be having future events in the theater room located directly above the classroom.
Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take a photo of the event, but I did speak with Teresa and various instructors during the event.
I appreciate the amount of effort our instructors put into helping us succeed in this field of work and in our own personal lives.
Fencing has become a passion of mine and I just wanted to convey that through this video, when I was a kid younger than I am now I wanted to sword fight if anything I wanted to be a samurai, but when I took kendo I felt kinda hollow so with that skill set aside I planned to do something that could fill my emptied self, something to fill the void, this term I came across fencing and instantly felt overjoyed each still shot has or picture has something to do with fencing,
1 beginning of video: LCC’s facebook page profile picture
2 is the type of basic moves you can do
3 the four basic equipment you need to fence Mask, Vest, Foil, Glove, the fifth is not pictured The Lemma
4 the scoring board
5 a fencer saluting (a very fitting image to end the video with)
