Welcome

Hello all!

I'm am looking forward to the new school year and what lies ahead. We have changed the course around a little bit from last semester, so there are sure to be some fun and exciting things for you during the semester. Brace yourselves for the fun ride of Media Arts!

Here's the course outline-
Page 1 https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BybhPZFDUUrzTHZiYTJfeW40bkE
Page 2 https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BybhPZFDUUrzVXY3Yi1Va1FrNVE

Given that this is just the first week of school, we have been talking about the Elements and Principles of Design and how to use them successfully in photography and your artwork. For more information on the Elements and Principles you can refer to these websites:

http://www.projectarticulate.org/principles.php
http://new.4-hcurriculum.org/projects/kidspace/E-P.htm

We have also started to get to know our cameras really well, learning their likes and dislikes, and all the different functions and meanings behind those 'symbols' that show up when you change a setting. For more in depth and complex functions, it's best to refer to your own camera manual as each camera and depth of functions are different. Here's the basic layout of symbols and what's on your screen.
http://www.inspiredart.biz/Digital%20Symbols.htm
http://www.photonhead.com/beginners/cameramodes.php

Hopefully by the end of this you will have superior knowledge of all the Elements and Principles and also become best friends (besties) with your camera!

For your reference if you're ever stuck at home, at a friends, late at night, or on the weekend trying to work on something and you just can't seem to find that piece of paper with the assignment details (because it's lost in the depths of your locker, underneath that old sandwich) or for what to do- please use this blog as your guide. I will post handouts, assignment sheets, checklists, rubrics and pretty much anything you'll need to make sure you can successfully complete each assignment ON TIME!

Elements & Principles

For your Elements & Principles, refer to the many handouts you have gotten for clarification or check out these links.

http://www.projectarticulate.org/principles.php
http://www.slideshare.net/kpikuet/elements-and-principles-of-art-presentation

there are tons of resources on the web if you need them!

For Monday's class please come prepared to start editing your photographs. If you have not done so already, your photos will need to by copied to a USB.

Bring to class
- your camera and memory card
- the camera cable to connect it to the computers AND
- USB


As a reminder- you should have 14 photos in total for the following categories

Elements                                               Principles
- Colour                                                - Balance
- Value                                                 - Proportion
- Line                                                   - Unity
- Texture                                              - Pattern
- Shape                                                - Movement/Rhythm
- Form                                                  - Contrast
- Space                                                 - Emphasis

Masters of Photography

So now we've had a brief overview of the great masters of photography, you are ready to get started on your research assignment. You are to write an essay on a 'Master' photographer of your choice. In your essay you must include:

• A brief biography of your photographer
• Which photograph you've selected to talk about and why
• Your analysis of the photograph including at least 3 Elements and Principles of design (see prior blog entry of more details on the E&Ps of Design)
• Your interpretation of the photograph (What does it mean? Why are they showing you this? What's the story behind it?...)
• Your personal critique (Do you think it's successful? What do you like about it? Dislike? Why?...)

Make sure you attach a copy of your photograph to your essay for reference!

Here is the handout and the guide sheet on how to successfully analyze a photograph.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BybhPZFDUUrzV1VjZ0JwbzB0bVk

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BybhPZFDUUrzZEMxUG5CN3doeFk


In case your pen ran out/pencil broke/lost your notes, here is the list of photographers and some of their images that we looked at.

Alfred Stieglitz- study for insight into early photography as art and capturing the moment

 Ansel Adams- study for the beauty of nature and living in harmony with our environment

Diane Arbus- study about capturing difficult and different subjects and pushing boundries

Phillipe Halsman- study about portraiture and portraying their real selves

David LaChapelle- a current photographer with bright colourful photos of famous people and highlighting social and political issues at the same time

Annie Liebovitz- an excellent example of balance between artistic expression and commercial appeal

Sally Mann- a current photographer on how to keep a consistent style even when working with drastically different subjects (her children, landscapes...)

Cindy Sherman- look at her for manipulated self portraits or portraits revolving around a manipulated story

Jerry Uelsmann- excellent surrealist and superimposed photographer

Triptych

So, for the next assignment you are all working on here is what you need:

1 photograph in moonlight or candlelight

1 photograph in natural light from a window

1 photograph outside facing the sun

1 photograph outside away from the sun

1 photograph indoor evening with the flash on

1 photograph indoor evening with the flash off

1 photograph using only a flashlight

1 photograph under a street light at night

1 photograph using a spot light

You then take the best 3 of all your photographs and hand those in. Remember that the three you hand in should all represent the 3 different 'faces' of your portrait subject. It should be all the same person, just in 3 different 'sides' of your subject.

If you need MORE time make arrangements with me to come in early or stay in a lunch! This is due on Friday.

Here is the handout in case you need it.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/148kki1ypUytDyVbv4QcKrC66ok7DCRQXKbkb84sOko8/edit

and a few examples of a triptych


http://electronicalrattlebag.tumblr.com/post/1168982257



http://www.andrewtift.co.uk/portrait-artist/art/ronald-triptych-wins-peoples-choice-in-wales-portrait-award-2/

Double Exposure

Double exposures used to be an occupational hazard when using film cameras. A dodgy loading system or a careless photographer would often lead to two exposures accidentally being made on the same piece of film. Today this does not happen with the new digital camera, but through Photoshop we can recreate a similar effect. Using a portrait from your Triptych, recreate a double exposure that combines 2 different images into a single image. 

The idea is not to take away from the portrait but to enhance it. Make sure you use an image that compliments it and doesn't detract from the focal point (or the face). You may need to do some editing so that the face does not become busy and distracting. 

Here some examples. 

Surrealism

Surrealism is about recreating a world. A world of the subconscious, a dream like reality. As we discussed, you are to recreate a dream like rendition using a mix of your own photographs and some images from the internet. There needs to be a minimum of 3 original photographs of your incorporated into the collage. 

A written explanation must also be handed in, that discusses how you used the elements and principles and the symbolism behind your 'collage'. (What does it mean? Why did you create it?)

Refer to some of the artists (Dali, Magritte, Uelsmann) and artworks we looked at when exploring surrealism for inspiration. 

Typography

Hello all-

As most of you will find, once you understand the basics of Photoshop and how to work with your brush presets, the rest will fall into place quite quickly. As you prepared for the mad rush of getting your portrait done. Use the step by step tutorial handout available in class if you find yourself getting lost. 


When you are working on them, remember to set several words as brushes before you start filling in your tones and shades (grays & blacks). This will make the process much simpler and easier overall for you. Once you've done that, it's just a matter of "select similar" for your layers and putting in your words. 

NOTE: Keep your white area, WHITE. Do NOT fill it in with words. The contrast will enhance and sharpen your portrait. If you fill it in, it will just add noise and distract from the piece.

Soundscape

For those of you that haven't finished your soundscapes- you really need to get working on things. If you need to download Audacity (for free, yay) you can go to:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Here are also some websites with free sound effects.

http://eng.universal-soundbank.com/
http://www.soundjay.com/
http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html
www.soungle.com


For questions about using Audacity- and if you didn't remember to bring your handout home with you- there are lots of good tutorials online showing you how to use the basic functions for editing. Here are a few for your reference:

http://www.screencast.com/t/Tggu2evbTrtA (This is a very basic tutorial on opening, importing your sounds, editing and then exporting the finished product- Use this as you work on your project)

You tube has others:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorial_ed_beginner2.html (pictorial guide)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrPGMjZORCM (video)

Your soundscape needs to be a large part of your own creations, but you can use sound effects from online sources should you need it. Make sure you save your file to a USB and then bring it to class once you've finished it.

Stop Motion

So, now we move onto stop motion animation.

You are going to be using your name and a lot of construction paper to make this happen. Remember that your name letters should enter the screen, do something interesting and then find a creative way for them to leave. 

Write down all your ideas on your storyboard and then show it to me so we can troubleshoot. 

Here are some past examples for you to look at. 

Exam

Ok, so for those of you feeling the crunch of exams coming up... here is your guidelines for your areas of study. Use the Art Dept. website (www.gcvivisualarts.wix.com/home) as your point of reference for all this information. It has all the Masters of Photography on it as well as the Surrealist artists and artwork we studied during the semester. 

For the exam you must:

1. Know your Elements & Principles and what they are... 

Elements: Colour, Value, Line, Texture, Shape, Form and Space

Principles: Balance, Rhythm/Movement, Unity/Harmony, Pattern, Proportion, Contrast, Emphasis

http://www.projectarticulate.org/principles.php  (for reference)

2. Know your Masters of Photography (Artist and what they're known for)

Adams, Arbus, Burtynsky, Cunningham, Erwitt, Friedlander, Goldin, Halsman, Karsh, LaChapelle, Liebovitz, Sherman, Uelsmann

3. Know about the Dada movement. 

(Where did they get their name? What were they trying to do? Why were they created?)

4. Know 3 major Surrealist Artists and their artwork. (Be able to tell the difference between them) Hint: The ones below MAY be on the exam specifically.

Salvador Dali, 














Rene Magritte




Marc Chagall




Joan Miro




4. Know the 5 guidelines for Surrealism

They followed a formula for painting. 

—Surrealist art is about:

—JUXTAPOSITION (joining objects in unusual combinations)

—NATURAL LAWS are reversed

—SCALE CHANGE (things are bigger or smaller than they should be)

—DOUBLE IMAGES (repetition of objects)

—SYMBOLS (things that are meant to represent other things)

5. Know the difference between frottage and grattage. 

Frottage:
—a sheet of paper is placed on a textured surface and then the artist draws the shapes they discover underneath – believed the unconscious guided the shapes and lines revealed as the artist randomly drew





Grattage:
—layers of dry paint are scraped off a dry canvas in order to discover patterns, some of which would be incorporated into paintings







That's it in a nutshell. For images, use the website as a reference. They're all on there. You will see the same images used in your exam, so it's the place to go to see what sort of things will be on your exam!

Good Luck!!!!

The Final Culminating

For the end of the semester!

Finally, everything you've been working towards is coming to an end. For your final assignment we are working on putting together your digital portfolio. As we discussed and saw in class, here are some exemplars of previous semesters for you to refer to. This way, as you sit at the computer pondering what's next, you now have some points of reference to help you along the way. (Also, don't forget you can always look at our class website as well for layout ideas) http://mrsmuscatsmedia.wix.com/asm20

Remember the things you need for your digital portfolio are:

1. Elements & Principles
2. Triptych & Double Exposure
3. Typography
4. Surrealism
5. Soundscape
6. Stop Motion Animation
7. 10 iPad photos or reworks

You also need written explanations for each assignment as well as your Manifesto/Artist statement. 

Here are some of the websites we looked at:

http://nikmacmillan.wix.com/nixwix#!
(This is a terrific website in design and layout. Also look at the original reworks for examples of Photoshop used creatively within his photography)

http://lisanguyen1234.wix.com/home1#!
(This is a terrific website in design and layout. Look at how she used her title image successfully to match her design style)

http://frosttbytte.wix.com/rdphotography
(This is a terrific example of using a title image with impact)

http://andytakespictures.wix.com/portfolio

http://arron597.wix.com/photos

http://meghanrs.wix.com/photography

http://xoexo6.wix.com/onedayatatime

http://cindy930.wix.com/mediaartsportfolio

http://deeperthanarock.wix.com/stopanimation

http://chantalmusic98.wix.com/chantalphotography

http://helenrox25.wix.com/mediaartsculminating

http://gatornation.wix.com/grizz

The next important thing to remember above all this is to make sure you do NOT put any personal revealing information on your website. This includes things like your full name, your age, your home town, your address, your phone number, your email... you get the idea... 

I look forward to seeing all the great progress you've made over the semester. AND once you're done, you get the share this progress with all your family and friends!